Football: Storm Klein: Storm heading for Columbus

Despite losing James Laurinaitis and Marcus Freeman, Ohio State football is stacked with young linebackers. Four freshmen players will join a number of returning players next year, all vying to lead the defense. One such freshman, Storm Klein, has potential to take the competition by, well, storm.

Klein, named Ohio's Gatorade Player of the Year last season, is one of four recruits who are already on campus, working out and taking classes. Participating in winter workouts will give Klein needed experience over the other incoming linebackers, said Kevin Noon, publisher of Buckeyegrove.com. However, it doesn't necessarily mean he is going to jump the guys that have already been here a few years.

Storm Klein

At six-foot-three and 220 pounds, Klein will be coming in as a linebacker, despite having focused a majority of his career on running the ball. He is the central Ohio all-time leader in rushing touchdowns, and was a star all four years at Licking Valley High School.

Steve Helwagen, managing editor of Bucknuts Media Network, says that Klein has played a lot of football, but has less experience as a linebacker. "He's got to get back into that groove of playing defense and if he can do that and manage a two-deep spot, it would be a tremendous thing for him," he said.

There are several things that Klein needs to do in order to prove himself this coming spring, Helwagen said.

"He's played offense predominantly the last couple of years so he has to work on his fundamentals. Certainly, he's a tremendous football player with the speed to be a great linebacker," Helwagen said. "I just think he has to get back into the flow at Ohio State."

Klein was also a running back in high school, rushing for more than 6,000 yards in his career. Noon said his offensive experience would not really affect his ability at the college level.

Where we can look to see Klein making an impact this coming season is on special teams, Noon said, comparing him to Etienne Sabino, a freshman who played in 13 games last season and returned a punt for a touchdown.

"It's very difficult to see a young guy jumping right up at this point. If we look back to last year, Etienne Sabino came in very highly rated and he still wasn't able to see much time," Noon said.

In order to do that, however, Klein needs to get a grip on the defensive schemes at the college level.

"The biggest adjustment that everyone has to make is going from high school defenses to college defenses," Noon said. "The game plans and scheme are very different. They are much more complex."

Klein's ultimate advantage is that he was an early commit and will have spent winter and spring with the team learning all things Ohio State. Although we might not see him for a couple of years, this Ohio-native is sure to be making an impact down the line.