McMillan mans up for Buckeyes
seven, along with junior cornerback Gareon Conley. Vying for playing time in the secondary are sophomores Marshon Lattimore, Denzel Ward and Damon Arnette at cornerback, while sophomore Malik Hooker and junior Damon Webb appear to be the starters at safety.
“What was Darron Lee two years ago? What was Josh Perry two seasons ago? What was I when I first came in?” McMillan said of the two Ohio State linebackers drafted this year. “I had no plays under my belt. The same way I was two years ago, the same way these guys are coming in with high expectations.
“And I’m only 20. I’m still one of the young guys.”
Fans got a preview of how the defensive line would look this season in the Jan. 1 Fiesta Bowl win against Notre Dame.
With two-time consensus AllAmerica end Joey Bosa getting ejected early for targeting and starting tackles Tommy Schutt and Adolphus Washington unavailable, end play was handled by Tyquan Lewis, Sam Hubbard and Jalyn Holmes, while Michael Hill and Tracy Sprinkle clogged things in the middle. All of them return. It was Lewis, not Bosa, who led the Buckeyes in sacks in 2015 with eight. He’s being touted as an All-America candidate. Hubbard picked up freshman All-America honors after compiling 28 tackles, eight tackles for losses and 61⁄ sacks as part of a rotation. He has earned a starting job this season.
“The defensive line we have this year, it’s crazy the talent we have here,” said Lewis, a junior from Tarboro, N.C. “We’re all going hard for each other. We try to lead by example. We believe if you do everything really, really hard, it will be easy in the end. That’s how (line) Coach (Larry) Johnson sets it up in practice, to always go hard.”
Hubbard, a star on back-toback state championship teams at Cincinnati’s Moeller High, arrived on campus as a safety, was tried at tight end and linebacker during his redshirt freshman season and eventually filled out (6-5, 266 pounds) and settled in on the line.
He has done well off the field as well with Academic All-Big Ten honors while pursuing a degree in finance.
“Last year I had a great foundation, and I just want to keep improving,” Hubbard said. “I’m never going to be comfortable or satisfied.”
Hubbard, Lewis and Holmes benefited from playing with Bosa, one of OSU’s all-time greats.
“Joey wasn’t necessarily a vocal guy, but you saw the way he practiced. If you want to play at a high level, you’ve got to do the things he does,” Lewis said. “He led by example, and it trickles its way down.”
If that’s the case, imagine what the Buckeyes are getting in freshman Nick Bosa. He has had years to emulate his older brother and is expected to make an immediate impact at end despite coming off of season-ending knee surgery during his senior year at St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale.
“He’s more mature than Joey was when he first got here,” coach Urban Meyer said. “Joey is a freak of nature; I still don’t know if we have that yet (in Nick.) But his ability to communicate ... Joey was introverted. This guy is not. I don’t want to take a shot at Joey. I love Joey. But they’re two different people.
“Joey was a loner and, I guess, a goofball. Nick’s more mature. Joey became a man’s man, but when he first got here, he was a different guy. He turned out pretty good.”
McMillan feels a little sorry for the younger sibling.
“All I see in him is his brother,” he said. “I feel bad for him, because he’s always being compared to Joey. But that’s not a bad comparison for me.”