Ohio State Football: Putting together the all-time Jim Tressel team

Ohio State Football All-Time Jim Tressel team, Defensive Backs

This was a much tougher decision than the linebackers. Ohio State had a lot of really good defensive backs under Tressel, including several that went on to be first-round draft picks. This is the list that I ended up deciding on:

CB: Malcolm Jenkins

CB: Chris Gamble

SS: Mike Doss

FS: Kurt Coleman

Again, I fudged the safety positions a bit. Coleman was more of a strong safety at Ohio State but I had to find a way to put him on the list. He was a First-Team All-American in 2009 and was a Second-Team All-Big Ten pick in 2008. He was too good to be left off.

Doss is probably my favorite defensive back in Ohio State football history. He decided to come back to Ohio State for his senior year to win that national title in 2002. He was a no-brainer for this list considering he was a three-time First-Team All-American.

His teammate Chris Gamble makes this list because of his versatility. He ended up playing wide receiver for half the season in 2002 so he was hardly taken off the field. He played corner, and receiver, and was the return specialist that year. Talk about versatility!

Jenkins was an easy pick at corner as well. He was a Second-Team All-American in 2007 and then a consensus First-Team All-American in 2008 when he won the Jim Thorpe Award for the best defensive back in the country. He was truly a shutdown corner.

At last, we come to the special teams portion of our list.