The Buckeyes’ secondary took another hit last weekend when Tyler Moeller went down to injury. He tore a pectoral muscle and will undergo surgery, meaning the season is lost. Doug Lesmerises talked with Tyler and turned up some amazing information about the injury-
“I kind of thought this was something that would happen eventually,” Moeller said. “I’ve been using my right arm to hit and get off blocks.”
Moeller said he first suffered a partial tear in the summer of 2008, but didn’t want to slow down while fighting for playing time, so he wore a strap on his chest and played with the injury that entire season. He sat out last season after he was assaulted in a restaurant last summer, but his chest still wasn’t healed all the way this year.
Moeller said he even tweaked it while putting his pants on before the game and suffered many partial tears in the past while playing. But he said he needed to suffer a full tear to have surgery, which is where he is now.
Wow. Here’s hoping Tyler gets his redshirt and can return to the Buckeyes for a full season next year.
This does leave the secondary in a bit of a tight spot. Moeller played the ‘star’ position on the Buckeyes’ defense, which is really a safety/cornerback hybrid. After the loss of C.J. Barnett, Moeller had to play a bit of a larger role. Now, that duty will fall on freshman Christian Bryant, and just maybe redshirt target Etienne Sabino. Sabino you may remember is the line backer that started camp in a virtual dead heat with Andrew Sweat. Sweat won the job and the team would like nothing better than to have Sabino red-shirt the season and save a year of eligibility. However, Sabino has worked the ‘star’ position at camp, and could be pressed into action if Bryant went down or is ineffective.
Indiana is a pass happy team. The Buckeyes are very strong at defending the run. Do the math. Whoever is playing that ‘star’ or nickel role will find themselves tested at every turn. The defensive line will need to get more pressure without blitzes this week in order to help out the damaged secondary.
