COLUMBUS, Ohio - Depth has been preached as one of the defining features of the 2019-2020 Ohio State Buckeyes, and in few areas does that depth display itself more than with the unit of linebackers that Greg Mattison and Al Washington have at their disposal.

With a group of veterans such as Tuf Borland, Pete Werner, Malik Harrison and Baron Browning anchoring the unit and up-and-coming guys like Teradja Mitchell and K’Vaughan Pope nipping at the heels of the starters, the present and future of the squad is bright.

Having that veteran presence gives the young players additional mentors beyond their coaches, and Mattison is happy to see the lessons that are being passed on.

“One thing that really stands out to me here being new here is our veterans and our young men that have been in this program, do an unbelievable job of teaching,” Mattison said. “When they see something that isn't right, I mean, it's not done wrong the way they are saying it. It's corrected and they help the young man and they move on. That's why I think the young guys improve a lot faster than they would.”

Two of these veterans in Werner and Borland received their share of criticism last season, as did the rest of the defense, but Mattison is only looking at what they bring to the table now, saying that he does not judge what happened last year to Ohio State’s defense.

Through fall camp and what Mattison had seen of Werner previously, the new co-defensive coordinator had nothing but positive things to say about the third-year linebacker.

“I really believe he is a top guy at his position. I've had the opportunity to see a lot of pretty good football players and I am really impressed with him. I mean, he plays extremely hard,” Mattison said. “He's very physical. He's got great size and strength and he can run and he's got unbelievable character. There's not many other things that you need to be a good football player and that's what he's showing.”

Similarly, Mattison had praise for the way Borland conducts himself on and off the field. With a newly overhauled defensive staff, it can be difficult to get everyone on the same page, but Borland and the rest of the unit have been able to coalesce.

“I like everything about Tuf Borland's game. Tuf Borland is another one that comes out to practice every day, extremely intelligent. Takes great pride in getting the front lined up,” Mattison said. “A linebacker can be an unbelievable player, and before I finish on that, our backers have all bought into the one thing I think is really, really important and that's communicating.”

While the veteran trio of Borland, Werner and Harrison are expected to start this season, Mattison doesn’t want to let the linebacking unit get ahead of themselves while there is still plenty of fall camp left.

Coach Ryan Day said he expects some positional battles to go into the third week of camp and figuring out the pecking order among the linebackers will presumably be one of those that goes down to the wire before the season starts.

“I don't know that yet,” said Mattison when asked about who would be starting. “And I don't mean to be vague on this. You know, we won't talk about the starters until we get close to that game. In our opinion, anybody that is doing well could be a starter. With the tempo we're going to see, with the way teams are going to try to attack us, we'd better have a first starter or a second starter and a third starter, and that's how I look at it.”