Ohio State Football: Grading All 22 Starters from the UAB Game

For the second time in three weeks, Ohio State did not look crisp at all against a non-AQ team, just beating UAB 29-15 on Saturday.

This might be considered a trap game with Michigan State looming on Saturday, but the strange thing of this game is the Buckeyes only looked good when they wanted to look good.

They did just enough, and that won't work at all in East Lansing next week.

Here are the grades for the Buckeye starters from the Week 4 win.

QB Braxton Miller: B

Braxton Miller did not have a Heisman-esque game on Saturday, but he looked solid and didn't turn the football over.

He only had 12 carries for 84 yards but found the end zone twice, including an ankle-breaking spin move to the inside.

Miller still needs to learn how to throw the deep ball because he isn't sure when he needs to overthrow it and when he needs to underthrow it.

Urban Meyer deserves credit for limiting Miller's carries in the last two games.

RB Jordan Hall: A-

Jordan Hall may be playing his best football as a Buckeye, recording a career-high 105 yards on 17 carries.

His long was only 14 yards but this also is a a sign of getting consistent yards running the football.

He has yet to find the end zone in two games this season, but should get in there pretty soon if he continues to play like he did on Saturday.

WR Corey Brown: B

After struggling most of last week, Corey Brown returned to being the best receiver on the team, hauling in four passes for 67 yards.

He was a big target on a drive to set up one of Braxton Miller's two touchdowns, catching back-to-back passes of 20 and 25 yards, respectively.

OSU will have to throw more in the weeks to come against the tough teams in the Big Ten, so Brown might have to step up his game even more.

WR Devin Smith: C

As good as Devin Smith looked against Cal, he did not have a very good game against UAB.

He was second on the team in receiving with four catches for 37 yards, but he had a horrific drop on a third down in the first quarter on a ball that hit him right on the numbers.

Smith is a young player, so consistency is certainly a thing he needs to work on. He will need to prove, though, that he is more than a player who has one or two big games a season to account for a season's worth of production.

WR Jake Stoneburner: F

Stoneburner didn't have a catch, which is why he had an F for the game.

TE Jeff Heuerman: C

Jeff Heuerman hauled in a nice first down grab to set up one of the Buckeyes' three second quarter touchdowns, the only quarter in which the offense had any sort of consistency.

He may become a bigger part of the offense in the weeks to come, but has to prove that he's going to make the most of the limited opportunities he gets in the passing game.

So far, so good.

LT Jack Mewhort: B; LG Andrew Norwell: B+; C Corey Linsley: B+

The left side of the offensive line didn't have the greatest day as a whole, but it was solid for the most part.

Mewhort has been decent at the left tackle spot for the last month, and Norwell is improving a little bit, using his run-blocking ability to his advantage.

Linsley was solid as well from the center spot.

On the offensive line as a whole, when you average 5.5 yards per carry against anyone, that is a good job.

RG Marcus Hall: A; RT Reid Fragel: B

Very quickly, Marcus Hall has started to assert himself as the best offensive lineman on the roster, looking like a natural from his guard spot.

Hall is great as a pulling guard as he showed several times on the afternoon.

Fragel had a better game than he had the last two weeks, but will certainly still be at a disadvantage as a run-blocker because he is light for a right tackle.

DE John Simon: B; DE Nathan Williams: B-

Neither John Simon nor Nathan Williams had explosive games, but each were pretty solid.

Simon had a nice tackle in the fourth quarter when the Blazers were still in striking distance, but really was held in check for most of the game.

Williams looks like he is still laboring from the knee injury which probably will affect him all season long. He still put up a decent day in spite of the injury.

DT Johnathan Hankins: A; DT Garrett Goebel: B+

It's pretty much official: Johnathan Hankins is going to be a first-round pick, at least from a skills standpoint.

Hankins had another big game disrupting the middle of opposing lines, recording ten tackles and four solos, which is difficult to do from a defensive tackle position.

He just continues to blow plays up and cause all sorts of chaos. The biggest beneficiary of his play is Garrett Goebel, who's facing almost no pressure with all the attention being paid to Hankins.

Goebel doesn't wow you with big games, but he is still a pretty solid player in the middle.

OLB Ryan Shazier: B-

Missed tackles continue to be the biggest issue with the Ohio State defense, Ryan Shazier included.

Even though Shazier had a good game leading the team with 13 tackles, it always seems like he could be doing better.

He's missed a few stops throughout the season, and needs to focus on being good at not only making the big hit, but also knowing when to make the simple play and just wrap up and bring the ball carrier to the turf.

That, thankfully, is coachable.

MLB Storm Klein: F

After three games, Ohio State replaced sophomore Curtis Grant as the MLB starter with senior Storm Klein.

If you could hardly tell the difference, you would be right.

Klein had only two tackles, not acceptable at all for a senior middle linebacker.

It's understandable to an extent with Grant, who is learning the speed of the game having a lot of responsibility thrust upon him with limited experience.

For Klein, however, it's just not acceptable.

OLB Etienne Sabino: C

Etienne Sabino's day was quite an interesting one

He wrapped up a ball carrier but he got away because Sabino didn't take him all the way to the turf, and later dropped an interception that was right in his chest.

He made up for it though by breaking up a couple of passes and forcing one of two fumbles the Buckeye defense created on the afternoon.

You would like your senior to be much, much more consistent than Sabino was as he could have forced two more turnovers to go with the two interceptions he had coming into the game.

But considering how inconsistent the back seven is as a whole, Sabino looks decent when put up with the rest of the group.

CB Travis Howard: D+

Even with Bradley Roby out of the lineup, teams are picking on Travis Howard, who has become a boom or bust type of corner.

He had an interception wiped out by a penalty, and missed quite a few tackles on the afternoon.

Howard failed to record a pass breakup and just did not look like he had in the start of the season.

If he doesn't improve he could lose his spot to the next man on this list.

CB Doran Grant: A+

You could not have a better first start as a corner than second-year man Doran Grant had on Saturday.

Grant, who filled in for the injured Bradley Roby, was one of only a few studs on the afternoon. Here is his impressive statline on Saturday: seven tackles, five solos, one sack, one fumble recovery and one interception.

That type of game shows that Grant has the ability to be a player at this level, as his recruiting grades suggested.

Now the question is finding him time on the field when Roby comes back, because now he may give a challenge to Howard for the other starting job by season's end.

S Christian Bryant: D+

In two weeks, Christian Bryant went from being a hero to being a goat, as he committed an absolutely unacceptable unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Those types of penalties, especially in an unnecessarily close game, just are inexcusable.

Bryant missed a few tackles as well, but did force a fumble that Grant made a great heads-up play to jump on and recover.

S Orhian Johnson: B-

In relief of the injured C.J. Barnett, Orhian Johnson didn't have himself that bad of an afternoon.

He wasn't immune to the missed-tackle bug that the back seven had all afternoon, but he did register three solo stops, a pair of passes defended and a block of UAB's only extra point attempt of the afternoon following a blocked OSU punt.

The safety position as a whole is hit-and-miss for Ohio State, so Johnson will need to be solid off the bench to try to provide some stability to this group which desperately needs it.

The lack of stability at the position is extremely shocking because the safety position is one of the more veteran groups on the entire roster.

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