Our Honor Defend

After another extended absence in light of Evan Turner news and spring practice observations, the third edition of this now-19 part series titled Better Know A Buckeye.  This fourth installment documents David Durham, a potential outside linebacker or defensive end from Charlotte, North Carolina.  David Durham was a surprise commitment for the Buckeyes, giving a verbal commitment in February 2009 when his family was living in Austin, Texas.  The subsequent change of scenery to Charlotte, North Carolina did not entail a change in his commitment status.  Below, I discuss David’s brief recruitment and commitment.  Later, I discuss strengths and areas for improvement before concluding with miscellaneous things of minor importance.  I conclude as I usually do: with the image and the board.

Height: 6’3
Weight: 225lbs
40: 4.7
High School: Charlotte Christian HS; Charlotte, NC

His Recruitment: Buckeye fans, even those who follow recruiting extensively, only discovered David Durham when he committed.  As such, a narrative of his recruitment is difficult to distinguish from his commitment.  However, while Buckeye fans, including myself, were late to the party, college football programs had entered the David Durham sweepstakes before Ohio State.  Georgia Tech was interested in David early in the process, courting him to an unofficial visit in 2008 to watch the Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech host the Virginia Cavaliers.  The visitors won that contest, the first Homecoming loss for Georgia Tech in thirteen years.  Nevertheless, David liked what he saw.  Interest in David remained, for the meantime, at that kind of second-tier southeastern region level with occasional forays from second-tier powers in other regions of this country.  He ultimately acquired offers from the aforementioned Ramblin’ Wreck, as well as Colorado, Illinois, Stanford, WVU and Virginia.

How David got on Ohio State’s radar is worth noting.  David was also a high school wrestler.  While still enrolled at Austin Westlake, David’s wrestling team took a trip to Columbus, Ohio for a wrestling camp.  Apparently, his wrestling coach (who is originally from Columbus, graduating from Grandview High School) called Ohio State and informed them that there was a recruit in town that the Buckeyes should check out.  Ohio State already knew who he was; his family had sent film to the Buckeyes for their consideration.  While there, David checked out the Steelwood Training Facility and eventually got in contact with Luke Fickell, who himself was a former wrestling standout at St. Francis DeSales.  David kept in contact with Luke Fickell for the next month before their paths crossed again in late February.

His Commitment: Durham and family took a mini-vacation to potential university destinations, such as Virginia and West Virginia.  Their trip concluded in Columbus.  After being shown around for the day by Fickell and Jim Tressel, Fickell informed the Durham family that they were going to offer David a scholarship.  He accepted on the spot.

It was certainly an interesting turn of events for someone with no ostensible connection to Ohio, nor any professed fandom of Ohio State in his youth.  An interview with Alex at Eleven Warriors allowed David to best explain why he ended up committing to the Buckeyes.

People say you’ll know when you have found the right school, and I knew right away that there was something special about The Ohio State University and I wanted to be a part of it. On my second trip, about two weeks later, I was offered a scholarship and the rest is history.

The commitment was Ohio State’s fourth in the class, giving them yet another option at both linebacker and defensive end.

Where He Excels: I do not know what position David Durham will be playing by time he exhausts his eligibility.  His career path may follow that of Thaddeus Gibson.  Gibson came to Ohio State as a linebacker before ultimately finishing his playing days as a weakside defensive end, or “Leo”.  Likewise, Durham is already a sizable 6’3 225lbs.  He may start as a linebacker for Ohio State before moving to the same weakside defensive end spot.

A review of his film while at Austin Westlake and Charlotte Christian yields no clues.  He played both spots often for both teams.  He started as a defensive end his senior season before being moved to outside linebacker and, later, middle linebacker in order to help his team neutralize the double teams he was getting.

Durham will bring a keen understanding of the primacy of leverage and balance with him to whatever position he ends up playing for the Buckeyes.  I have a feeling Fickell and company would recruit an entire defense of high school wrestlers if they could because performing well in that sport instills that important trait in potential football players.

Overall, I think he has a better ceiling, at least at the college level, as a weakside defensive end.  He is too fast and has too good a burst out the gates for most blockers to handle at the line.  Initially, I thought he was limited as a linebacker in what I thought was some hesitation on his part.  He’s gotten better with age, but I still think his speed is most pronounced at the line of scrimmage.  He could be a handful.  Importantly, David seems to have the often overlooked right attitude for excelling in major college football.  A feature on him by Dave Biddle for Bucknuts, picked up by ESPN.com, underscores his work ethic and the faith he has in Jim Heacock and Luke Fickell.

Must Work On: About a year ago, I was called into work at around four in the morning just to sit around and do nothing.  Cranky, I ended up writing this post about David Durham based off what I saw in his junior film.  I’m going to copy-paste part of it, because I think most of it holds for this section.

A few things things came to mind that David should be mindful of moving forward.  First, he gradually creeps up the longer the play continues.  Playing too high invites pancakes.  It doesn’t seem he gets punished for it enough at the high school level, but he certainly will at the college level if it happens.  He thrives in the one-on-one matchups on the perimeter, but may get lost in traffic when he’s attacking the interior of the line.  I saw what looked like some confusion or hesitation when he was playing linebacker.  On a related note, I don’t think I saw a single inside move from David.  He goes to the outside every single time, using straight-line speed and active hands to get past his man.  He’ll want to develop some kind of inside move, spin move or otherwise.

It’s a minor point, but David will soon adjust to life without having to “make weight”.   After football, he had to lose about 10-15 pounds for wrestling.

Redshirt? Maybe.  Here are David’s thoughts on the matter.

“Obviously, it’s my goal to play early and get on the field as much as I can and play as much defense as I can,” he said. “I think I would fit in well on special teams right away. You see a lot of true freshmen linebackers and defensive ends fit best on special teams and they get in there a lot. (Ohio State head coach Jim) Tressel said if they need me, I will play. If they don’t, I’ll redshirt.

“I know a lot of guys complain about redshirting – obviously that’s not what you want to do – but if I redshirt it just gives me an extra year to study everything. It would give me a chance to get bigger, stronger and faster. It would give me that much more time to get ready for my upcoming time at Ohio State. And it’s kind of a long shot and I’m looking too far ahead, but as far as even getting ready for the next level, it would give me a whole extra year to get ready for that and be more prepared.

Highlights: Austin Westlake highlights are followed by some senior footage.  There is going to be a clip of him roughing up Garrett Gilbert, the unlikely story from that unfortunate BCS championship game in Pasadena, so badly that it looks he may have broken him in half.

Miscellany:

• Parents are Ken and Dani.  Ken played football at Ole Miss.  He graduated in 1980.
• While David spent most of his high school football days in Austin, Texas, he spent the better part of his youth in Charlotte.  As such, the move to Charlotte was like a move home.
• David has a twin brother who is surprisingly half his size.  He will play college tennis for the Ole Miss Akbars.
• He was all-state in football and wrestling in both Texas and North Carolina.  I wonder how many people can boast a feat like that.
• Charlotte Christian was actually a state champion program before David got there for his senior season.  They again reached the championship game, this time losing to a Charlotte Latin team they beat on the road earlier in the season.
• Interviews with blogs: Eleven Warriors (aforementioned), Bleacher Report.
• Durham played in the Hawaii-Mainland exhibition game, which was the same game that the Monroeville Gateway boys (Dorian Bell, Corey Brown) played in last year.  Sharrif Floyd was also at that game.  He tried to recruit Floyd to Ohio State, but God instructed Urban Meyer to tell Sharrif Floyd that he should play for the Gators.  Oh well.
• He became close friends with Scott McVey.  They may be roommates as freshmen.
• Pre-compiled stats, courtesy of Bucknuts:

* Vital Statistics: Durham spent his first three years of high school at Austin (Texas) Westlake before transferring to Charlotte Christian School for his senior year. As a senior, he tallied 86 tackles and 9-1/2 sacks. Durham played on the defensive line and some linebacker during his sophomore season.  He had 50 tackles and four sacks as a sophomore in 2007.He played defensive end his junior season and had 11 sacks to go with over 80 tackles. Westlake ended the year 9-5 and advanced to the Class 5A state quarterfinals. He was also an all-state wrestler in Texas and made his initial visit to OSU while in town for a wrestling tournament. He projects primarily as a linebacker at OSU.

* Rankings: Durham is rated as the nation’s 33rd-best defensive end by ESPN Scouts Inc. SuperPrep considers Durham as an All-American, ranking him as the seventh-best prospect in North Carolina and the nation’s No. 12 linebacker.

I think David Durham is now better known.

Might as well put him on the board too.

Class of 2010
Name	Position	Hometown	Better Known?	Name	Position	Hometown	Better Known?
Darryl Baldwin	DE	Solon, OH		James Louis	WR	Delray Beach, FL
Drew Basil	K	Chillicothe, OH		Scott McVey	LB	Cleveland, OH
Corey Brown 2010	ATH	Springfield, PA		JT Moore	DE	Youngstown, OH	02.15
Christian Bryant	DB	Cleveland, OH		Andrew Norwell	OL	Cincinnati, OH	03.29
David Durham	LB/DE	Charlotte, NC	04.12	Verlon Reed	ATH	Columbus, OH
Taylor Graham	QB	Wheaton, IL		Bradley Roby	DB	Suwanee, GA
Adam Griffin	ATH	Columbus, OH		Roderick Smith	RB	Fort Wayne, IN
Chad Hagan	LB/S	Canonsburg, PA		Jamel Turner	DE	Fork Union, VA	03.08
Johnathon Hankins	DT	Detroit, TSUN		Tyrone Williams	WR	Cleveland, OH
Carlos Hyde	RB	Naples, FL	06.29.09