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January 5, 2014
Ohio State linebacker Ryan Shazier will leave for the NFL Draft, multiple media outlets reported on Saturday afternoon. Quarterback Braxton Miller will stay for his senior season, however, as reported by Sports Illustrated’s Pete Thamel.
The news is fairly expected for Shazier. He was a First-Team All-American this season and is likely to be a first round draft pick in the pros. It’s not a surprise that one of the most decorated linebackers in the program’s prestigious history would take the jump to the riches of the pros.
This season, before Friday’s Orange Bowl, Shazier had 134 tackles (40 solo), 22.5 tackles for loss, six sacks, four pass deflections and four forced fumbles. He was a team captain and, on the emotional side, changed his number to No. 2 in support of injured senior co-captain Christian Bryant.
Miller was not likely to be selected in the first two rounds of the draft, thus making his decision a smart one. He won Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year for the second straight season, but was injury-prone throughout and disappointed at the end of the Orange Bowl.
Overall, Miller had 2,094 passing yards, 1,068 rushing yards and 36 touchdowns. He had been undecided in recent weeks about his NFL decision. The report of him staying for one more year certainly is a huge boost to the Buckeyes’ 2014 title hopes. He’s also likely to be among the favorites for the Heisman Trophy.
OSU cornerback Bradley Roby, who missed the Orange Bowl with an knee injury, officially declared for the NFL Draft earlier in the season. He was honored among the team’s seniors during Senior Day against Indiana on Nov. 23. Shazier was not honored during that day.
Thamel also reported that tight end Jeff Heuerman will stay for his senior year.
[Orange Bowl Recap: Watkins, costly turnovers too much for Bucks to overcome]
AP Photo/Jay LaPrete
6 Comments
A lot of Buckeye fans have mixed feelings about Braxton coming back as he’s never real dominated in a big game let alone win one. Does it make sense coming back only to play in the shadow of Rose Bowl Legend Conner Cook?
Those must be delusional Buckeye fans, because choosing Cardale Jones over Braxton for next year doesn’t sound appealing to most.
Miller made the smart move but he single handedly kept that Orange Bowl against Clemson close granted he also threw the INT that ended the Buckeyes chances. I’d say Reggie Roby and Philly Brown had just as much if not more fault.
I don’t know much about Cardale Jones, but if he can’t play QB, that’s a problem. Braxton Miller is quite a player but he is no quarterback. The bigger question is why Ohio State can’t land a great quarterback. Ever. The program has had an abysmal record with QB’s in the NFL. The only one to even be long term starter was Mike Tomczak. It seems every year the Buckeyes have the third or fourth best QB in the Big 10. How many of the teams of the past decade or two could have won national championships if they had a real QB?
That’s funny Scooter cause Jones would never get the nod over JJ Barnett. As a matter of fact Meyer may start CJ at QB over Brax next fall as it was obvious certain comments post the big game hinted he was okay with Miller moving on.. Miller remains a good high school QB but never possessed that special talent that can win the big game at the college level. Rudy is right about QB’s, take the Detroit Lions for example getting stuck with a good college QB who sucks as a pro. Takes some insight to pick QBs, Conner Cook sat on the bench at those Ohio camps when the media focused on Braxton, now look how Conner becomes a super star while Braxton is 2nd rate, nobody saw that back then, its difficult to judge those intangibles.
Unless the QB plays on defense, QB wasn’t the reason they didn’t win a national championship this season.