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Football
The Ozonies: the-Ozone 2010 Ohio State Season Awards
By Brandon Castel

COLUMBUS, Ohio — It took five hours for the Buckeyes to complete their Football Appreciation Banquet on Sunday. It only took five minutes for The Ozone staff to come up with our post-season awards for the 2010 football season.

Sometimes we agreed with the team, while other times we came to very different conclusions on who deserved recognition for the 2010 regular season. We even added a few awards of our own at the end.

Here are the inaugural winners of our post-season awards, the-Ozonies.

Team MVP

Team Pick: Dane Sanzenbacher

Our Pick: Sanzenbacher

Dane Sanzenbacher
Photo by Dan Harker

Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said the team vote for 2010 MVP was overwhelmingly in favor of Sannzenbacher, and we couldn’t agree more. He wasn’t the flashiest, he didn’t post the best numbers or break any school records, but Dane was the heart and soul of the Buckeyes in 2010. Despite being one of the smallest guys on the field, he brought toughness and resolve to the OSU offense. He also became the team’s go-to playmaker in the clutch, and even tied for the Big Ten lead in touchdown catches.

Outstanding Offensive Player (Archie Griffin Award)

Team Pick: Terrelle Pryor

Our Pick: Boom Herron

Boom Herron
Photo by Jim Davidson

If this were simply an award for the most valuable player on the Ohio State offense, then Pryor is a slam dunk. There is no question he was the most important person on the offense in 2010 and will be again next year as a senior in 2011. However, most valuable doesn’t always mean most outstanding. Pryor’s all-around numbers were solid this season, but the guy who really made things go for the Buckeyes—especially down the stretch—was tailback Boom Herron.

After not playing much in the opener, Herron ran for a touchdown in each of the next 11 games as he racked up over 1,000 yards on the ground. He finished second in the Big Ten with 15 touchdowns and averaged over 5.5 yards per carry. More importantly, he was the spark. He was the guy the others leaned on and the guy who always seemed to deliver. He also won more offensive player of the week awards than Pryor by a 5-4 margin.

Outstanding Defensive Player (Bill Willis Award)

Team Pick: Cam Heyward

Our Pick: Jermale Hines

Jermale Hines
Photo by Dan Harker

The team gave this award to defensive end Cam Heyward who certainly would have been the preseason defensive player of the year on the Buckeyes. But postseason is something different entirely. Statistically, Heyward’s season was a bit of a letdown in 2010. He finished with 2.5 sacks and 9.5 tackles for loss. Impact is not all about statistics, and there’s no question Heyward’s impact was far greater than what showed up on the stat sheet.

The same, however, can be said for safety Jermale Hines. Officially, he finished third on the team with 61 tackles during the regular season, but it was his steady play all year that earns him our outstanding defensive player award. Not only did he play two different positions because of injuries, but Hines brought it each and every week in a secondary that was not always the most consistent throughout the season.

Offensive Lineman of the Year (Jim Parker Award)

Team Pick: Justin Boren and Bryant Browning

Our Pick: Boren

Justin Boren
Photo by Jim Davidson

The Buckeyes gave this award to their two senior guards, but we’re going to stick with one and go with Boren. He tied with left tackle Mike Adams for the most Jim Parker awards during the regular season, and there was serious consideration for Adams, who earned first-team all-Big Ten honors from both the coaches and media. However, we felt strongly that having Boren next to him at left guard was one of the reasons Adams came into his own this season. The Michigan transfer had a fine junior season at Ohio State and an even better senior year as he picked up his first two pairs of Gold Pants.

Defensive Lineman of the Year (Jack Stephenson Award)

Team Pick: Dexter Larimore

Our Pick: Nathan Williams

Nathan Williams
Photo by Jim Davidson

Ohio State honored senior nose tackle Dexter Larimore with this award and it’s hard to argue with their selection. One of the nicest guys on the team, Larimore is also one of the most underappreciated. Clogging up the middle of the defense is a thankless job and this was a great way of saying thank you to a guy who has been fighting battles in the trenches for the last four years.

We’re going a different direction with our award, however, because the most outstanding defensive lineman on Ohio State this year had to be defensive end Nathan Williams. Not only did he lead the team with 4.5 sacks, he also tied for fourth on the team with 44 tackles. In a year where the defensive line wasn’t nearly as productive as it had been the previous season, Williams seemed to be the one guy making big plays. Heyward and John Simon came on late in the season, but Williams did it all year, and that’s after missing the season-opener with a knee strain.

Linebacker of the Year (Randy Gradishar Award)

Team Pick: Brian Rolle and Ross Homan

Our Pick: Rolle

Brian Rolle
Photo by Jim Davidson

Senior Ross Homan was having a fine season before he suffered the foot injury at Wisconsin, but it was Brian Rolle who played his best football during the most important time of year. After struggling a bit early in the year, Rolle turned it on the last five games of the season. He won the defensive player of the week award for his performance at Minnesota, and won it again in the team’s comeback win at Iowa. He seemed to be all over the field in the month of November, and became the team’s best blitzer down the stretch. He finished first on the team with 70 tackles, but also lead the Buckeyes with 10 tackles for loss. He added 2.5 sacks, two interceptions, a fumble recovery, a forced fumble and a blocked kick.

Inspirational Senior (Bo Rein Award)

Team Pick: Sanzenbacher

Our Pick: Devin Barclay

Devin Barclay
Photo by Jim Davidson

Tressel said in all his years as a coach, he has never seen the same player win the MVP award and most inspirational senior the way Sanzenbacher did in 2010. This was the hardest award to pick, as we considered Sanzenbacher, Bryant Browning, Taurian Washington and Aaron Gant, but our most inspirational senior award goes to kicker Devin Barclay. Nearly a decade ago, Barclay was a promising young prospect in the MLS.

He played for the Tampa Bay Mutiny, San Joes Earthquakes and D.C. United before being traded to the Columbus Crew in 2004. Injuries derailed Barclay’s pro soccer career a year later, and he thought that would be the end of his playing days. Instead, he resurfaced as a walk-on kicker at Ohio State, and last fall he sent the Buckeyes to the Rose Bowl with his overtime kick against Iowa. This season he has made 19 of his 22 field goal tries, including 3-of-4 from over 40 yards. He hit another big kick against this Hawkeyes, this time a career-long 48-yarder, to help Ohio State rally from a 17-10 deficit at Iowa City.

Outstanding First-Year Player

Team Picks: Philly Brown and Johnathan Hankins

Our Pick: Hankins

Johnathan Hankins
Photo by Dan Harker

Had he not gotten injured this award might have gone to freshman defensive back Christian Bryant who took over for Tyler Moeller as the starting nickelback midway through the season. It also could have gone to offensive tackle Andrew Norwell, who played a key role in filling in for J.B. Shugarts at right tackle when his foot pain became too great.

We’re going to stick with big Johnathan Hankins, however, because the freshman defensive tackle provided some much needed depth on the defensive line. After losing five key components from the 2009 defensive line, Ohio State came in very thin up front defensively in 2010. Fortunately, they managed to stay healthy throughout the season, but it wasn’t long before “Big Hank” became the unofficial fifth man up front. He was the first guy off the bench in nearly every game, and was getting time in the rotation even when Jim Heacock went with a short bench. He finished with 16 tackles and one sack, but set the stage for his emergence as one of the Big Ten’s best defensive tackles next season.

Outstanding Player Against Michigan (Woody Hayes award)

Team Pick: Jermale Hines

Our Pick: Terrelle Pryor

Terrelle Pryor
Photo by Dan Harker

Hines came up with a number of big tackles and two huge pass breakups in the red zone, but our Woody Hayes award goes to quarterback Terrelle Pryor. Just looking at the stats, Boom Herron had a much better day. He tied a school-record with his 89-yard run and his 175 yards was the third-highest rushing total ever by a Buckeye in the Ohio State-Michigan game.

Let’s not forget, however, that Herron had -1 yards rushing in the first half. That’s because Michigan was putting eight or nine guys in the box and daring Pryor to beat them with his arm. He did, throwing for nearly 200 yards in the first half with a pair of touchdown passes to give the Buckeyes a 24-7 halftime lead. At that point, “The Game” was essentially over and Pryor mostly just handed the ball to Herron in the second half and the Buckeyes pulled away for a 37-7 win. It was the third-straight win over the Wolverines for Pryor, who has a chance to become the first quarterback in school history to beat Michigan four times.

Breakout Player of the Year: Andrew Sweat

Andrew Sweat
Photo by Jim Davidson

The team didn’t award a breakout player for 2010, but ours goes to junior linebacker Andrew Sweat. It might have gone to safety C.J. Barnett if he hadn’t suffered a season-ending injury in week two, but it was Sweat who really emerged after senior Ross Homan went down with a foot injury at Wisconsin. Sweat had beaten out Etienne Sabino for the starting Sam linebacker in fall camp, but he slid back over to his usual Will linebacker spot while Homan was out and quickly became a noticeable force on the defense. He finished with 40 tackles despite playing part-time duty and set himself up to be OSU’s top linebacker in 2011.

Most Improved Player: Mike Adams

Mike Adams
Photo by Jim Davidson

The team also did not name a most-improved player for 2010, but there’s no way this award could go to anyone but left tackle Mike Adams. From a questionable starter at the beginning of the year to an all-conference first-teamer at season’s end, Adams had one of the most remarkable transformations in 2010. He was only games away from being labeled as a tremendous bust, but then Adams busted out. He won four Jim Parker Offensive Linemen of the Week awards and became a steady rock on Terrelle Pryor’s blindside. He still missed a few assignments as he matured mentally over the course of the season, but Adams held his own against some of the best defensive linemen in the country, including Miami’s Allen Bailey, Purdue’s Ryan Kerrigan and Iowa’s Adrian Clayborn. Adams also improved his run blocking during the season and running behind the left side is where most of Herron’s big plays came from.

Clutch Performance: Devon Torrence

Devon Torrence
Photo by Jim Davidson

Senior corner Devon Torrence was having a miserable day in the first half against Penn State. He was getting beat underneath time and time again, but one defensive adjustment lead to the biggest play of his career. The Buckeyes went with a cover-2 look in the second half and Torrence jumped an underneath pass by Matt McGloin. He bobbled the ball and it like he might lose it in the lights, but Torrence came down with it and streaked 34 yards into the end zone to give Ohio State its second touchdown of the game. From there, the Buckeyes rallied from a 14-3 halftime deficit to beat the Nittany Lions 38-14.

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