Ohio State Football: Weight gain may not be all good

The Ohio State football team has been doing some heavy offseason workouts. They have been hitting the weight room hard in an effort to get stronger. They also have been putting on a lot of weight in certain position groups. All that weight gain may not be good for some of the players.

Gaining weight could end up slowing some of these guys down. Being slower is not what this team needs after getting whooped by speed against Oregon. Ohio State needs to be able to add muscle without letting that affect the speed of the team.

According to Eleven Warriors, the Buckeyes’ roster has collectively gotten 365 pounds bigger just since last Fall. That’s a lot of weight gain for these guys. Jack Sawyer alone has put on an extra 20 pounds. Some of that muscle will certainly help, but it may slow him down too.

I’m not sure bigger and fatter is the way to go. I’m not saying all of the weight gained by these players is fat, but some of it has to be. The Buckeyes need strength and speed. I would’ve liked to have seen Sawyer gain around 12 pounds instead of 20.

We’ll see whether or not these weight gains will pay dividends for the team or not. The Buckeyes need to get tougher up front on both sides of the ball, that’s not up for debate. Whether or not adding some extra poundage leads to that increase in toughness remains to be seen.

If it does, then the Ohio State football program has the answer to their problems. I tend to be skeptical, but I’m not a strength and conditioning coach. I’m sure Ryan Day has full trust in Mark Pantoni and his staff with what goes on in the offseason.