Ryan Shazier and a Look at Chris Spielman

*Photo of Shazier property of AP/Cleveland.com, photo of Spielman property of Sports Illustrated.

Ryan Shazier was our best defensive player in 2013. He was a first team All-American and led the Big Ten in tackles. He is going into the draft and will probably get picked toward the end of the first round or the beginning of the second. Shazier is 6-1/237 and had an incredible junior season last year. He is very athletic and has great vision. He has an ability to basically throw off the rhythm of an offense by getting to the quarterback, breaking up passes, tackling for loss and causing fumbles. He even has a pick-six. Shazier is one of those players that gets inside the heads of opposing players; they always seem to be watching him and running from him. He is reminiscent of the great Buckeye linebacker Chris Spielman.

Chris Spielman is from football-crazy Massillon, where they play at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. He was a Buckeye from 1984 - 1987 and was 6-0/247. He played under head coach Earle Bruce with greats like Kieth Byars, Cris Carter and Pepper Johnson. By the way, during Spielman's time at OSU, Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer were assistant coaches. Spielman was an All-American for three years and one of the consistent players that made the 1980s Buckeyes so great. He was not the most athletic player, but was one of the hardest workers the Buckeyes have ever had. Here he is with a pick-six against Texas A&M in the 1987 Cotton Bowl. He is one of the 23 Buckeye players in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Spielman was drafted by the Detroit Lions in 1988 and played in the Pro Bowl four times. He also played for the Bills and the Browns. In 1999, Spielman retired from football and began a career in broadcasting, working for ESPN, 97.1 The Fan, and Detroit's WXYT. He has devoted a huge amount of time to caring for his wife, who battled breast cancer from the 1990s until her death in 2009. Spielman was head coach of arena football's Columbus Destroyers in 2005. As Spielman's website shows, he is still a valuable source of insight into sports, and life in general.