Who Gets the Week 1 Buckeyes!

Starting this week I will dedicate one article a week to announce who I believe were the top three performers of the past week. Buckeyes will not be handed out on stats or highlights alone, but improvement, making a key play that altered the game, or just flat out getting the job done. I have watched the Navy game several times since Saturday and have pulled out several positives from a game that truly was not as close as the score indicates. Tressel has opened the playbook for Pryor this year and it looks alot like the 2006 Offense. Hines moving to the outside linebacker spot could prove to be Heacock's smartest move to date, and may save his job. However these three guys showed me that little something special to earn this weeks Buckeyes!

Kurt Coleman

Buckeye #1 Goes to Kurt Coleman
While the secondary did not look up to normal Ohio State standards.... Cough Anderson Russell..... cough. Kurt Coleman looked like the playmaker we expected and then some. Coleman made one of the best breaks on a pass I have ever seen when he made a diving interception of a Ricky Dobbs pass. He also racked up 9 tackles 6 solo and caused a fumble. Keep it up Kurt.

Jake Ballard

Buckeye #2 Goes to Jake Ballard

Ballard gets the Buckeye for the simple fact that he was finally worked into the offense. Jake caught 3 passes for 51 yards and while you might say that those are marginal stats, I would have you look at the game tape. Ballard made an incredible leaping catch of a poorly overthrown Terrell Pryor pass. He made the entire crowd laugh when he snagged another pass and rumbled up the sideline and showed that you are gonna need more then 3 Midshipmen to bring him to the ground. I hope to see Tressel look to both Jake Ballard and Jake Stoneburner for big plays in the passing game.

Brian Rolle

Buckeye #3 Goes to Brain Rolle

I wrote in earlier this year on another posters article that I loved the move of Brian Rolle to Middle linebacker for the simple idea of him flying sideline to sideline. He showed he has tremendous speed throughout the game not just on his 99 yard sprint past Ricky Dobbs, but filling holes and getting to the outside. Austin Spitler showed why he lost his spot in the middle by not getting to outside plays when he was already lineup at the Sam LB spot. Look for Rolle to be a game changer this week against the boys from Troy.