Every Tuesday during the season, Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel addresses a panel of media members at the Fawcett Center to discuss the Buckeyes’ upcoming opponent, among a litany of other things. Some of which is your typical “coachspeak,” while at times it offers some very insightful information.

Yesterday, we learned some very valuable information, though sometimes you have to read between the lines.

In the battle for the starting quarterback position, fifth-year junior Todd Boeckman won the job as expected, but his backup, redshirt sophomore Rob Schoenhoft will see action early on against Youngstown State. But it appears that redshirt freshman Antonio Henton may not play, and he may have even dropped farther down the depth chart:

“At the quarterback position, you know, the one that everyone was waiting for, maybe we will go live, really it hasn’t changed from what we’ve been talking about before, Todd Boeckman is the guy that’s going to have the first chance to go out there and be nervous and have some fun and he’s been waiting so long for this opportunity. He’s been studying hard, paying close attention. He knows who we are and what we want to do. I think Jim Bollman and Joe Daniels and that group have done a nice job of seeing what he does best and building some things around that. I’ve been happy with Rob Schoenhoft and I expect him to have some opportunities to play on Saturday. Not a hundred percent sure if Antonio Henton will, we’ll have to see how it unfolds, and Joe Bauserman has been a pleasant surprise, a young guy coming in from Major League Baseball and hadn’t played football in a while and he’s going to be pretty fair.”

One blow for the Buckeyes’ is that flanker Ray Small will not play against Youngstown State, still feeling the effects of a high ankle sprain a few weeks ago during fall camp:

“Brian Robiskie and Brian Hartline have been the vets. Dane Sanzenbacher. Devon Torrence has come over. Even though he started a few days late on the offensive side he’s going to be impactful and will be without Ray Small, which hopefully before the year is out, he’ll be a significant part of what happens out wide.”

Later, Tressel was asked about the status of Small, and he replied, “I asked that same question to the trainers today and they stopped at he won’t be playing this week, so I think he’s termed questionable for the next week, I wouldn’t call him doubtful, I would just say questionable.”

One player who is one hundred percent and will see extensive action is sophomore tailback Chris “Beanie” Wells. Others who will get their opportunities toting the rock will be junior Mo Wells and freshman Brandon Saine:

“Chris Wells and Mo Wells are two guys that are battle tested and we need them to rise up and have great years. And we’ve been very impressed with Brandon Saine.”

Coach Tressel had said earlier that about eight of the 15 incoming freshman will play this year, while about six will more than likely be redshirted. One tailback that might not play and could be redshirted this season is freshman “Boom” Herron:

“Dan Herron has done a great job. He was one of the guys Clay was talking about, is he on the bubble, is he going to be number nine or whatever it happens to be, and he may, because he brings a little advantage on the special teams as well. So I don’t know that we know whether he’s going to get in the game or not. I think we’re still, because it’s Tuesday at noon, I’m not sure we know.”

As for the offense as a whole and what the difference will be this season as oppose to last year, one thing that seems to be a certainty is that the Buckeyes will implement the tight end more in the game plan:

“That’s a hard one to tell. I really feel good about our tight ends and we probably will be less percent of the time without a tight end in the game. If you remember back to last year, we were four wide, one back, or maybe even five wide, a significant amount of the time. I don’t know if we’ll be without a tight end that much. Beyond that, I’m not sure you’ll see a great difference.”

And it’s official, for the time being anyway, that’s there’s a new kicker:

“Aaron Pettrey will kick off, and Ryan Pretorius will do the placements, but I’d like to, throughout the course of the early season make sure they both have opportunities to do both.”

Also during the press conference it’s was pointed out that Michigan was charging $10 dollars less a ticket for their season-opener against Appalachian State, where as OSU is charging the same amount for Youngstown State as they will all others game. Coach Tressel was asked if that was fair:

“Do I think it’s fair? Yeah, I think it’s fair. I’ve been to a couple concerts and things like that and our tickets are very reasonable. I was out in Vegas to speak at a Nike clinic and Ellen and I went to see Celine Dion, I don’t know, or whatever, and it was like $200. You can go to three Ohio State games. And I knew the words to the song. At least when you go to the game you don’t know what’s going to happen, so do I think it’s a problem? No. And remember this about Ohio State football, it’s about the band. It’s about the pageantry, it’s about the tailgating. If we’re silly enough to think it’s just about us, then we’re a little bit short-sighted. So I guess the answer to the question is, no, I don’t think it’s unfair.”

Coach Tressel was also asked about the difference between Division I-A compared to I-AA:

“There’s less numbers, there is they’re not allowed as many in camp. You’ll probably not see the same size in every position. You take their punt return or kick returner, corner guy that transferred in, and he led, what’s Nevada in the WAC? He led the WAC in punt returns and averages 24 yards in punt returns or kickoff returns and I think there’s five guys on the roster that were at division one schools and then I look at number 96 playing against Penn State and he was incredible. He was first team all conference for them and so forth. And so are there as many? Probably not. That’s the difference is in the numbers. 63 scholarships versus 85.”

The good news is that it appears Youngstown State will be the only Division I-AA opponent that will ever be on Ohio State’s schedule:

“Probably not. Just from the standpoint of our philosophy being in state first, intrasectional rivalries, so I doubt if we would need to venture outside of that parameter.”

Last but not least, it was mentioned that Florida has a fundraising scheme where you can book a dinner with head coach Urban Meyer for a million dollars. Asked how much Tressel would draw?

“A buck fifty,” Tressel responed.

Then former head coach Earle Bruce chimed in, “And you’d (Tressel) buy the meal.”

Coach, I have my $1.50 in hand.

Tags: Buckeye Football //