There’s an argument that no position will be more important to rotate during the 16 or 17 games required to win a National Championship under the expanded College Football Playoff than the defensive line.
The trenches are where the biggest bodies on a football field collide with each other every play. Conventional wisdom dictates – with good reason – that chemistry along the offensive line is too important to rotate players there.
That leaves the defensive line as the position that arguably needs the most depth to make a national title run.
“They (the backups) have gotta be able to come in and play 25, 35 plays a game and do it early in the season,” Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson said on Tuesday.