The Ohio State football team has been searching for linebacker help, and coach Urban Meyer has tried to bolster the position by playing fullback Zach Boren and defensive lineman Nathan Williams there in the last couple of weeks.

The two have had moderate success, but Meyer can’t help but wonder why the Buckeyes have had to resort to such desperate measures when there are several healthy linebackers loitering on the sidelines.

Sophomore Curtis Grant was considered the nation’s No. 2 overall prospect in 2011, and the Buckeyes landed five linebackers in their celebrated 2012 class: Josh Perry, Camren Williams, Jamal Marcus, Luke Roberts and David Perkins. Only Perry has played meaningful minutes.

“We’re dealing with a roster that’s around 60 or 59 players, and of those 59, not everybody’s playing, obviously. So the call to arms is still there,” Meyer said. “I’m rather disappointed in several handfuls of guys that haven’t contributed.

“That’s why I’m trying to put as much pressure as I can on the guys that are just eating that (post-game) sandwich and eating a victory meal but had nothing to do with that. The great teams, you don’t have much of that. Obviously, we’re not a great team yet, but we have far too much of that right now.”

The young linebackers reportedly have been slow to pick up the defense, but co-defensive coordinator Everett Withers hinted that those second- and third-stringers may be thrown into action against Penn State today.

“We have the players,” he said. “We just need some of those twos and threes to step up when they get an opportunity to play, and we’re going to find out if they can play.”

Meyer also has been disappointed with the depth at defensive line. Freshmen Noah Spence, Tommy Schutt and Adolphus Washington were all five-star recruits, and they’ve contributed sporadically this season. But the Buckeyes are still leaning heavily on veterans such as senior John Simon and junior Johnathan Hankins.

Sophomore Michael Bennett is trying to work his way back into shape after being sidelined the first three games with a pulled groin.

“We have some guys playing an inordinate amount of plays — 600-some snaps for some players when you really shouldn’t (do that),” Meyer said. “There are D-linemen that we should be starting to develop in that rotation.”

The Buckeyes actually are coming off perhaps their best defensive game of the season against Purdue. They gave up an 83-yard TD on the first play after a missed assignment by linebacker Storm Klein but they allowed only 264 yards the rest of the game.

They were especially strong in the fourth quarter and overtime, giving the offense enough time to pull out a 29-22 comeback victory.

“The first play of the game, we repped it like crazy,” Withers said, meaning the Buckeyes knew it was coming and had the scout team run it repeatedly in practice. “The guy gets paralyzed, and we don’t make a play. But overall, I think our kids bounced back.

“I think you saw that in the fourth quarter. You saw that in overtime. Our kids felt like they were going to make the play. There wasn’t any time, even when we were down, that our kids didn’t think we were going to get the ball back to the offense, and they were going to score.”

Not that there aren’t things still to work on. Meyer has said his job consists primarly of trying to motivate 18- to 21-year-old players. And there are plenty who often need to be pushed.

“God bless the ones that are self-driven, self-motivated, but that’s very rare,” he said.

Meyer believes the prospect of playing time should provide enough incentive, and the Buckeyes’ dwindling numbers means no one is buried on the depth chart.

“Any time there’s staff transition, you get a little transition of roster as well, and we had that. And then we had some behavioral issues we had to deal with,” he said. “The biggest thing is some guys have got to step up, and you’re just disappointed. My gosh, what are you waiting for? Let’s go, man. You come to Ohio State to go play. You don’t come to watch your team in a game like that (against Purdue) and sing the fight song afterwards. You go to be a part of it.

“That (should be) the motivation for everyone involved. Let’s go. Let’s push. Let’s grind.”