Redshirt senior Curtis Meyers has a quote from his father tattooed on his left bicep: “God can turn setbacks into comebacks.”
“I think with setbacks, you’ve got to turn it around,” he said, noting that the 2010 season was successful despite back-to-back losses to end the year.
“I wouldn’t think we had any setbacks last year besides the bad finish,” Meyers said. “We want to finish stronger this year.”
But making a strong finish will require more sizeable wins with less size up front. Ohio will play its 2011 season with a leaner defensive line — in more ways than one.
Experience was a strong point for the Bobcats in 2010, with four redshirt seniors anchoring the frontline of defense. Dak Notestine, Marcellis Williamson, Ernie Hodge and Stafford Gatling provided Ohio with quality play in the trenches, but four different players will have to step up to fill some rather large cleats — also in more ways than one.
“It’s big shoes, big shoes,” said junior lineman Carl Jones. “(We are) really just going in at a new position, trying to get us at another level for a new season.”
Last year, Ohio allowed 123 rushing yards a game, good for second in the Mid-American Conference. The Bobcats collected 24 sacks on the year (tied for sixth in the MAC), with 13 of those coming from the starting defensive line.
The defensive line was the only unit on the team that started the same players in each of the team’s 13 games last year. The four veteran big men combined for 109 starts in their collegiate careers. Meyers, who started nine games in 2008 as a true sophomore, is the only current lineman with starting experience.
Four of Ohio’s returning reserve linemen saw time and recorded a tackle in 2010. The bulk of that time went to the second-string linemen, including Meyers, Jones and redshirt junior Neal Huynh.
Meyers said next year’s starting line will most like be Jones, Huynh, redshirt senior Jeff King and himself. King has not yet practiced this spring.
“I think we’ll be solid with our starting D-line, and we’ll have some guys coming up behind us that have been in the program a few years,” Meyers said. “They’ll do fine and be able to step in.”
Regardless of who plays, the 2011 defensive line will have a different look than last year’s. The exiting quartet weighed a combined 1,127 pounds with an average height of 6-foot-3. The four linemen Meyers named are more than 100 pounds lighter and about two inches shorter.
But Meyers and Jones said the new-look line would benefit the team because of the increased swiftness that comes with less bulk.
“Ernie and Marcellis were 300-pound-plus guys. Big, big guys,” said the 262-pound Meyers. “Carl and Neil? Neil’s a pretty big guy, but I think one of the big things we’ve got is good speed throughout the whole defensive line, good agility.”
The up-tempo style that the coaching staff has implemented at camp also benefits the line, Meyers said. With more plays executed and less time between plays, the line will get plenty of reps to prepare for the fall.
“Having us run this no-huddle offense is going to get us in shape and have us moving around a lot better out there on the field,” Meyers said.
Another strength for the unit is depth. Between the spring roster and the incoming freshman class, the Bobcats will have 20 defensive linemen at their disposal.
“Our starting line is a pretty experienced team,” Jones said. “We know how to work together, and as far as our younger guys, we’ve got the speed and … the ability to do the things that we like. We just want to work with it.”
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