OSU’s Torrence is top DB

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

After years of sharing so much with graduating college teammates, those left behind have to let go in order to move on.

Starting cornerback Devon Torrence learned a lot from his good friends in the secondary, safeties Kurt Coleman and Anderson Russell. But it hit him this spring that it’s the nature of the college sport that some careers end as others begin.

“It’s always a big loss when you lose players like that,” Torrence said during Ohio State’s spring workouts. “They really knew the defense. It’s a really big loss but we ’bring ’em in and bring ’em out’ here, so it’s going to be pretty good to see how the new guys do.”

Filling holes left behind by the departing seniors are Jermale Hines and Orhian Johnson, their backups a year ago and now considered the starters.

Hines talks about Coleman and Russell, the third- and fifth-leading tacklers for Ohio State a year ago, in the present tense.

“I learned a lot from them,” the senior said. “Those guys are real film junkies. They work hard at everything they do, are real leaders. Whatever happens, they take the blame for it and keep it going.”

With the starters gone, their jobs — film work, knowledge of the opponent, working hard, leading, assigning blame — have to be assumed by someone else.

Ohio State’s safeties coach, Paul Haynes, said he is pleased with how Hines and Johnson are picking up the slack for a defense ranked 13th in the country in 2009 that returns six starters.

“We’ve got a long way to go but they’re doing the little things that we’re trying to get taken care of: the communication, the alignments, the assignments, and things like that,” he said. “That’s really what spring is for, just to see if those [younger] guys can do it.”

Torrence and Chimdi Chekwa both return at the corners, giving the Buckeyes a powerful building block. For a change, the position is a strength instead of a lingering question mark because no new people have to be integrated into the system.

Torrence intercepted two passes last year as a junior and expects much more out of himself in 2010.

“I have very high expectations for myself, man,” he said. “I’ve been working at the left corner, so that’s the corner that a lot of the primary receivers go to. Hopefully, I’ll wrap up that side of the football.”