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Buckeyes defensive end, pass-rusher will learn to be outside linebacker
By Marla Ridenour
Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Sunday, Apr 27, 2008
BEREA: New York Jets General Manager Mike Tannenbaum and coach Eric Mangini have talked to Ohio State coach Jim Tressel several times over the years, especially since the Jets drafted Buckeyes center Nick Mangold and kicker Mike Nugent.
But a story that Tressel recently told Tannenbaum made an impression, and the Jets selected OSU defensive end Vernon Gholston on Saturday with the sixth overall pick.
''They were getting ready to leave for the national-championship game and Tressel gave the entire staff, the whole football program the day off before they left,'' Tannenbaum said. ''Vernon came up to him and said, 'Just leave the keys to the weight room behind.' He was in there apparently by himself, getting ready to play in that game. It was very important to him.''
The Jets ignored the critics who harped about Gholston's inconsistency and nabbed the Detroit native to improve a pass rush that totaled just 29 sacks in a 4-12 season. Gholston's 14 sacks as a junior in 2007 broke Ohio State's single-season record held by Mike Vrabel.
Gholston will be groomed to start at outside linebacker in the Jets' 3-4 defense.
''I'm going to have to drop a couple pounds and be a little athletic,'' Gholston said on Sirius NFL radio.
Ohio State had a player selected in the first round for the third consecutive year and fourth time in the past five. He became the 11th Buckeye picked in the first round in the past five years and the 67th all-time, second only to USC's 69.
Mangini didn't seem worried about the notion that Gholston takes plays off.
''I'm always happy with sacks in bunches,'' Mangini said. ''There were a lot of games where he may not have had a sack, but he affected the quarterback quite a bit. The numbers may not go up as a sack, but he's either pushing somebody back into the quarterback, affecting the throw or forcing somebody to flush out. He had 221/2 sacks in 28 games, that's a good ratio.
''With a lot of college players, you see things you want to improve and adjust. Talking to Vernon and the people who know him well, he's a conscientious, hard-working young man who's going to continue to mature and already has a very mature work ethic.''
Ironically, Gholston will be tutored by linebackers coach Jim Hermann, Michigan's defensive coordinator from 1997-2005. The Wolverines failed to offer Gholston a scholarship when he came out of Cass Technical High School in 2004.
''He's had his two cents about that during this process,'' Tannenbaum said of Hermann.
Gholston, one of six players the NFL invited to New York for the draft, was the last chosen. But the pro-Jets crowd at Radio City Music Hall burst into chants of ''Ver-non Ghol-ston'' to welcome him.
''They've been telling me that all week, they'd love to have me here,'' Gholston said. ''It's a great feeling.''
Gholston was beaming, and even gave NFL commissioner Roger Goodell a big hug when he reached the stage.
Asked by Deion Sanders of the NFL Network what Jets fans should expect from him, Gholston said, ''Hopefully a Super Bowl in a couple years, if not this year.''
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her Browns blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/browns/.
BEREA: New York Jets General Manager Mike Tannenbaum and coach Eric Mangini have talked to Ohio State coach Jim Tressel several times over the years, especially since the Jets drafted Buckeyes center Nick Mangold and kicker Mike Nugent.
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