Why is this news?: Urban Meyer's 2014 salary boost, Jalin Marshall's expanded offensive role

"After he amassed a 24-game regular season winning streak to start his tenure at Ohio State, Meyer received a raise of exactly $328,640 over his three areas of income -- base salary, media payment and Nike payment -- heading into the 2014 campaign."

- The Lantern

After the way that Urban Meyer has started his Ohio State coaching career, the head coach received a eight percent raise following the 2013 season. With performances like Buckeye fans saw on Saturday night in East Lansing, Meyer is looking like he is worth every penny of that pay bump. The letter that was obtained by The Lantern from Ohio State vice president and athletic director Gene Smith, was dated March 25th and stated that the increases were effective February 1st and would be reflected in Meyer's March 31st paycheck.

Meyer's base salary was increased from $758,000 to $818,640, his media payment was bumped from $1.9 million to $2.05 million, and his Nike payment was raised from $1.45 million to $1.57 million. In the performance review of Meyer by Smith, the athletic director felt that Meyer exceeded expectations in terms of compliance, student-athlete welfare, leadership, and public and donor relations. There other four areas that were evaluated Meyer was deemed to have met expectations. With a Big Ten Championship Game possibly looming and an outside shot at the College Football Playoff still out there, next year's evaluation could have Meyer rated as "exceeding expectations" in terms of competitive success of the program.

"I have always wanted Shannon to be very aggressive in terms of his ability to push the basketball - he's extremely fast, extremely quick. I think he understands what I want him to do and how I want him to do it."

- Thad Matta on Shannon Scott

With Aaron Craft graduated and playing professional, the reigns of the Ohio State offense are now placed in the hands of senior Shannon Scott. While the experience during his three years so far in Columbus haven't exactly gone as planned, the point guard from Georgia now has the chance to capitalize on the opportunity that he has been waiting for. When Scott committed to Ohio State, not very many people knew that Craft was going to turn into the type of leader that he was during his time in Columbus. While Scott was too talented to keep on the bench, it resulted into more time off the ball when he played with Craft, which wasn't exactly natural for Scott.

After spending much of his freshman year on the bench, and his sophomore year coming off the bench, Scott cracked the starting lineup at the beginning of last year, and while the duo created a dominant backcourt defensive force, they still were having trouble offensive, with both of them growing up as natural point guards. Scott pulled himself from the starting lineup after Ohio State lost five or six games, allowing him to gain more comfort playing point guard off the bench. This year Scott doesn't have to worry about sharing the point guard spot with Craft, and will be forced with distributing to players such as D'Angelo Russell and Sam Thompson. Now is Scott's time to shine, and with the skills that he possesses it wouldn't be wise to bet against him to capitalize on the spotlight.

"I think the wildcat is legitimate, especially with tempo. Jalin gives you (options) because he can throw. We have a couple passes ready for him, too."

- Urban Meyer

With the loss of Dontre Wilson to a broken foot suffered in the Michigan State game, the importance of Jalin Marshall not only in the offense, but also in special teams, takes on an even greater significance. Marshall came out of Middletown as a quarterback, and last year was redshirted as he made the transition to the H-back position. If the injury to Wilson would've happened last year, the Buckeyes might have felt the sting more since Marshall wasn't quite ready to step up as much as he has this year. While Wilson may have more game-breaking speed on returns and jet-sweeps, Marshall can more than hold his own in that area.

The biggest added dimension that Marshall gives the Buckeyes is his ability to throw the football. While Marshall isn't going to be pushing J.T. Barrett for his job anytime soon, the redshirt freshman does give defense something extra to account for. So far this season Marshall has only thrown one pass, but anytime he lines up in the wildcat he is a threat to throw a pass. Even if Marshall doesn't take to the air while in the wildcat, he also has the ability to find the hole for a big gain. The versatility makes what already is a difficult Ohio State defense to defend, even tougher to get a read on. Look for Marshall to see even more touches with Wilson's offense and really set the table for a big season next year.

"I look back on my senior year and I was watching film of last year, and I wasn't firing off the ball (this year) and I was playing cautious. I was too scared to make a mistake, I didn't want to mess up, I didn't want to get hurt, whatever."

- Michael Bennett

While Joey Bosa has been getting most of the headlines on the defensive line this year, senior Michael Bennett earned some of his own with his performance against Michigan State on Saturday night. After coming into the season with high expectations, the defensive tackle hadn't made a lot of noise so far this season. That changed on Saturday night, when the priority of the Spartans to shut down Bosa gave Bennett the chance to make some plays with less attention focused on him. Not only did the extra attention to Bosa help Bennett, but a couple weeks ago he swapped positions with Adolphus Washington on the interior of the defensive line, which freed up Bennett a little more to try and make plays.

Coming into his senior season a number of NFL Draft projections had Bennett as a first round pick, and those high expectations could have been weighing on defensive lineman. With a bright future possibly ahead of him at the next level, Bennett admitted that he was playing a little more tentatively because he was afraid not only of messing up, but also of possible injury. After going revisiting some game film of last year, Bennett realized the corrections he needed to make. If Bennett continues to put up performances like Saturday night in the final few games of his Ohio State career, some of the blocking attention that Bosa is now receiving could revert back to Bennett. Either way, opponents can't be looking forward to having to account for all of the tremendous talent that Ohio State has on the defensive line.

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