The road to starter has been somewhat of a rollercoaster ride for sophomore linebacker, Ross Homan.
A heralded football prospect out of Coldwater High School just a few years ago, Homan has already shown glimpses of his potential, cracking the two-deep roster before the start of the 2006 season. That year Homan was ninth on the team in tackles with 28 and played in all 13 games.
Many people believed Homan was poised to have a breakout season last year, however, a turf toe injury during the Washington game ended his season abruptly.
"It was a tough year," Homan told Scout.com. "It was depressing, but everything happens for a reason, I just tried to get back on the field as soon as I could."
Now that Homan is 100 percent healthy, he says he has been working on every aspect of his game to make him the best player he can be.
"I'm trying to get as good as I possibly can," Homan said. "With practicing, watching film, everything, physically getting better - I want to be in the best shape ever."
Since his arrival on campus, he had been splitting time with Marcus Freeman on the weak side. Now that projected starter Curtis Terry has made the full time switch from strong side linebacker to fullback, Freeman has slid over, opening up the weak side for Homan.
"Ross is doing a great job filling in that position," Freeman said. "He's very instinctive and has a knack for making big plays. He's going to be a great player."
Even though Homan is penciled in as the starter, the talent behind him will be right behind vying for some playing time.
"I can't take that for granted because we have a great linebacking corps," Homan said. "The competition is always great so I'll have to go out there everyday and just compete."
Freeman is excited to see who really steps their game up to fill that void. He says Homan has really stood out as well as junior linebacker, Austin Spitler.
"Austin is doing a great job also and is a guy that can play all three linebacking positions," Freeman said. "So we're excited to see and it's going to be a great challenge to see who comes out of there as the starting linebacker."
Brad Hehmeyer can be reached at hehmeyer.5@osu.edu.
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