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Football
Zwick Number One QB as Spring Drills Begin, But Competition Still Remains at the Position
By John Porentas
The 2004 season was as season of transition at the quarterback position for the Buckeyes.
Gone was two-year starter Craig Krenzel, and throughout spring ball and fall camp last year a competition raged between Justin Zwick and Troy Smith for the starting position.
When the Buckeyes opened the 2004 season, it was Zwick who was at the helm, though Smith saw action in both of the first two games. Smith's role, however, continued to diminish as the season progressed.
That all changed when Zwick was injured late in the game in the loss to Iowa, the Buckeyes' third consecutive loss.
Smith was called on to finish up against Iowa with Zwick on the bench injured, then got consecutive starts against Indiana, Penn State, Michigan State, Purdue and Michigan.
The OSU offense, which had been sporadic at best under Zwick, remained that way under Smith. The Buckeyes, however, had just enough offense to reel off three straight wins with Smith at the helm as the starter before slipping at Purdue.
Despite the loss at Purdue, the offense finally showed some spark in the second half of that game, then came to life in the regular-season finale against Michigan, a game in which Smith was spectacular. Smith rushed for 150 yards and passed for 249 more. He scored one touchdown and passed for two more.
Smith's shining star was suddenly dimmed when after the Michigan game it was revealed that he had been involved with a booster and received improper benefits. Smith was suspended by Ohio State for the Bowl game against Oklahoma State, leaving the door open for Zwick again.
Zwick not only got the job done against Oklahoma State, but did it in rather dramatic fashion, playing with a painful hamstring pull for most of the game. The Buckeyes were productive on offense, rolling up 404 net yards and 33 points against the Cowboys. Zwick threw for 190 yards without an interception.
So which quarterback was responsible for the Buckeye resurgence on offense? We wish we knew, because that question is made very difficult to answer in light of the fact that the quarterback position was certainly not the only position that was undergoing change at the time.
The Buckeye offense that took the field against Michigan and Oklahoma State bore little resemblance to the one that took the field against Cincinnati in the season opener. Along the offensive line, T. J. Downing had replaced Doug Datish at guard, Kirk Barton had replaced Tim Schafer at one tackle, and Steve Rehring was seeing playing time at the other tackle, allowing Rob Sims to move to the other guard. Fully 60% of the offensive line had been revamped at times.
That was big, but nothing was bigger than the sudden emergence of Ted Ginn Jr. as a receiver as well as Anthony Gonzalez. Big plays from those two players, coupled with improved performance up front, certainly had a huge impact on the OSU offense. The Buckeyes also began to find some semblance of a running game as Brandon Joe recovered from his ankle sprain and got more time at tailback, replacing Lydell Ross.
That's what makes the quarterback question so murky this spring. The Buckeyes unquestionably improved after Smith became the starter, but a whole lot of things changed during that time, not just the quarterback. To further complicate matters, the offense didn't seem to miss a beat against Oklahoma State with Zwick at the controls.
The question of who will start at quarterback in the opener was settled for the Buckeyes when the NCAA ruled Smith ineligible for that game due to his booster involvement.
"As we go into game one, Justin Zwick and Todd Boekman will be the guys that we prepare, with Ben Kasandi. Those guys are going to be the people who we will count on going into game one," said OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel. Tressel also indicated, however, that Smith is anything but out of the picture going forward from that game, and the Buckeye plan for reps in spring drills reflects that fact.
"As we go into the spring the way we'll start working our guys at quarterback will be 2/3 of the time Justin will be working with the first group, about 1/3 of the time Troy will be working with the first group, 2/3 of the time Troy will be working with the second group, 1/3 of the time Todd Boekman will be working with the second group," said Tressel.
"Then with the third group, 2/3 of the time Todd will be working with the third group and Justin 1/3 of the time. That's where we'll begin, but you never know how repetitions turn out, you never know how guys perform, you never know how people's health is."
The suspension of Smith for the season-opener against Miami makes Zwick and obvious choice for the lions share of the reps this spring, but Tressel was clear that the breakdown on reps could change as spring ball wears on. He also made it clear that it isn't just Smith who could benefit from divergence from the plan.
"Joe Daniels came to me and asked me to make sure that Todd Boeckman got some reps with the ones," Tressel said. "We'll probably make sure that that happens sometime during the spring."
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