Seven Buckeyes make Athlon's All-America teams
There is never a bad day to talk about the upcoming football season and earlier on Wednesday our friends at Athlon Sports released their All-America teams.
The college football world can’t get here soon enough for most, if not all, Ohio State fans. The 2015 season saw one hiccup that took the Buckeyes out of the National Championship picture and now the 2016 team will be one of almost entirely new faces in the starting lineup.
But that does not mean that the Buckeyes will be without talent. Our friends over at Athlon Sports rolled out their All-America Team for the preseason of 2016 and there are plenty of Buckeyes in the ranks. Not bad for a team that only is returning six starters from the 2015 season.
The Buckeyes have seven players on the list between four teams (three on offense, three on defense and one on special teams) and that includes two on the first team.
Ohio State is third in the nation with seven on the Athlon list, only trailing Clemson and Alabama, both teams have eight players selected.
The offense sees Pat Elflein garnering first team honors at center, a remarkable feat since this will be Pat’s first year as a full-time center for the Buckeyes after a stellar career at guard and emergency center.
Elflein is joined on the line by Billy Price who has fourth team honors on the line. Price has been a multi-year starter for the Buckeyes on the line and will give the Buckeyes two returning starters on the ever-so critical offensive line.
J.T. Barrett is the third offensive player to make the team as the nation’s third team quarterback. In week three of the season the Buckeyes will go against the second team quarterback in Baker Mayfield of Oklahoma. It will be Barrett’s job moving forward with Cardale Jones off to the NFL and a young group of quarterbacks behind him on the depth chart. Ohio State fans are hopeful that Barrett can rekindle the numbers that he was putting up as a first year starter in 2014 before an injury in the Michigan game knocked him out for the year.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Buckeyes lost a lot on the line with the losses of players like Joey Bosa and Adolphus Washington. But that does not mean that the national pundits believe that the cupboard is bare. Both Sam Hubbard and Tyquan Lewis enter the list on the fourth team on the defensive line.
Linebacker Raekwon McMillan is on the list as a first team linebacker and many Ohio State fans know this will be their last time to see McMillan as a Buckeye with the NFL calling already. McMillian has already been named a captain for the Buckeyes and will be a valuable piece on the defense as many young guys are called upon to step up.
One returning starter that did not make the list is defensive back Gareon Conley. There are a lot of talented cornerbacks returning for 2016 and the first team sees a pair of Big Ten players with Michigan’s Jourdan Lewis and Iowa’s Desmond King. We have a sneaking suspicion that by the time the postseason All-America team comes out, Conley should be in the conversation.
Cameron Johnston earns second team honors at punter for the Buckeyes, giving Ohio State seven players on the list.
The Big Ten ranks 3rd overall with 22 players making the list of the four teams (108 players overall). The SEC leads the way with 32 while the ACC edges the Big Ten by one with 23.