Ohio State Football: Five mid-season awards
By Ryan Stano
Ohio State football Best Freshman
This award could easily be given to Henderson. He certainly has been the best freshman on the offensive side of the ball. But we knew that Henderson was going to be great before the season. He came in with more hype than any running back recruit in a long time.
That’s why this award goes to Denzel Burke. The freshman cornerback has truly been sensational this season on a subpar defense. He has gotten to the point that other teams have started to throw the ball away from him because he locks down receivers so well.
Burke wasn’t expected to be this good this early. In fact, he wasn’t even expected to start. Sevyn Banks was supposed to be in his position. But Burke was so good that he overtook Banks in the preseason and has put a stranglehold on that position opposite of Brown.
Burke has 16 tackles, 6 pass breakups, and an interception returned for a touchdown. He has been one of the few good pieces on the defense so far. It’s been really great to see and he should only get better as the season continues as well. More reps will do good things for this man.
The next award on this list is the player who has come back from the most adversity and this pick wasn’t very hard to make either.