Football
The-Ozone Note and Quotebook
By John Porentas

Roy Returns: OSU senior wide receiver Roy Hall entered the season listed as OSU's third starting wide receiver. Hall, however, has not seen action this season due to a preseason ankle sprain that has hobbled him. According to OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel, Hall will most likely see action this week against Cincinnati.

Roy Hall

"Roy Hall looked good this week," said Tressel.

"I was really pleased with the way he played today especially. With another 48 hours I might think that Roy is going to give us some time," Tressel said.

According to Tressel, Hall will probably see action, but is probably not yet well enough to reclaim his starting position.

"I don't know that Roy can go that much. He could be in there as the four or five, and really kind of gives you a chance to maybe have six with Ray Small and Brian Hartline and Brian Robiske. It just gives us more depth. I don't know that it would be fair to him to have him play 40 plays, but maybe if he could get a dozen or 15 plays that would be great," Tressel said.

Come Be Our Wing: OSU wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez described this week just what it was that swayed him to be a Buckeye. According to Gonzalez, it was a combination of some dead-straight honesty on his prospects for playing time, a soft-sell from OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel, a chance to play the position he wanted to play.

Anthony Gonzalez

"At some places you go and it's all football, it's all 'We think you can play the same position that so-and-so plays,' or 'We think you can be just as good as so-and-so,'" said Gonzalez.

"When I came here, I remember my dad asked him what position he thought I would play, and he said 'Honestly, I can't really tell you. He might be the wing on our punt.'

"I thought 'Great, I'll be the wing on the punt forever. Awesome,'" Gonzalez quipped drawing a good laugh from reporters.

"Not to discount that role at all, but it was a totally different approach," Gonzalez said.

"It wasn't one of those 'I'm going to blow smoke up your rear' type of things. It was this is the reality, this is how difficult it is here. This is the type of program I run. If you like it, great, we'd love to have you."

Gonzalez wasn't thrilled with the wing idea, but did want very much to play defensive back. OSU not only told him he could have a shot at being a DB, but let him begin his Buckeye career at that position.

"I kept thinking to myself that whoever tells me they'll let me play defensive back, that's where I want to go play for sure. Everyone else was recruiting me as a receiver. Ohio State said I could come play DB if I want, which they gave me a shot at originally...for three days," said Gonzalez.

"I walked into Coach Tressel and said I think I have to play offense because I'm not very good at this. I just wasn't mature enough to play at that point."

Shadow Dad? Just Turn on Pay per View: The story that James Laurinaitis' father was a professional wrestler has been written to death since he arrived on campus, but this week Laurinaitis talked about what it was like in the house on the days when dad was "at the office".

James Laurinaitis

"You have parties where you order pay-per-view and my mom might order a few pizzas and we'd all watch my dad's match, then after that was over we'd all go do our own little matches here and there," chuckled Laurinaitis.

"Sometimes when I go home I'll still put on his tights and his pads and joke around with my friends a little bit because they love to see that, but for the most part, that's only once-in-a-while. It's fun. It was fun going to matches and meeting everyone in the business from Hulk Hogan to The Rock to anybody you can name," Laurinaitis said.

Laurinaitis said that some of those personalities are now following his career and called his father following his big game vs. Texas.

"There's a guy named Undertaker, he's a huge Texas fan, so he called my dad to say congratulations but it won't happen again," Laurinaitis said.

Returning Warriors: OSU has excellent depth this season at practically all positions. According to Jim Tressel, they are about to get a little deeper as a couple of players who missed fall camp are now rounding back into form. One of them is wide receiver Devon Lyons who sat out fall camp with an injury.

Devon Lyons

"Devon Lyons is back in a blue jersey which means he can run around. He just can't get hit, but he can run around, so he's making progress," said Tressel.

The other is defensive back Brandon Underwood who sat out fall camp while getting his academic house in order.

"Brandon is working on the scout team. He's missed 29 practices and a lot of learning time. I would hope that by the next couple of weeks that he could start showing some things," Tressel said.

One player the Buckeyes will not get back is linebacker Mike D'Andrea who recently underwent knee surgery. Though he will not play this season for the Buckeyes, D'Andrea is embarking on a full rehab program.

"We're hoping that he can get back to pro combine day," said Tressel.

Fresh as a Daisy, A Fast One: Much has been said and written about the player rotation on the offensive line and at linebacker. Tailback is another position where there is a fair amount of rotating this season, and starting tailback Antonio Pittman says he can see the value of it.

Antonio Pittman

"I feel a lot fresher with it," said Pittman.

"I play like a quarter less with the rotation, but its fine because later on in the season I'll be a lot fresher while a lot of defenses are worn down," Pittman said.

"I think it makes me a lot better. It keeps me fresh and us throwing the ball a lot more this year and putting up points early in the game gives us the fourth quarter to chew down with three backs," Pittman said.

The other two backs are of course the Wells boys, Chris and Maurice. According to Jim Tressel, the plan is to use all three the remainder of the season, but Pittman is still definitely the main man. Tressel described the scenario he would like to see evolve with his stable of running backs.

"I would say maybe 50 per cent of the time Antonio Pittman is our tailback and maybe 25 and 25 for the other two. It does depend on what you're going to do, because playing tailback is more than carries, but I think that would be ideal," Tressel said.

Depth Chart Climbing: The depth chart is pretty fluid at this time of year. A player who has moved himself up on that chart of late is defensive back Donald Washington.

Donald Washington

"I think Donald has made a lot of progress," said Tressel.

"He's made enough progress that after game one he moved into the starting nickel package.

"We put him on the field and moved Antonio Smith into the nickel back position.

"I feel real good about Donald. He gives us a little ability to do some different things.

"Andre Amos is going to play some, Kurt Coleman will play some as well."

Seven Degrees: The weather is expected to be nearly ideal in Columbus on Saturday with sunny skies and temperatures in the low to mid 80s. That may not sound like the kind of temperatures that would cause a heat problem for the players, but according to Tressel, the temperature at the weather station is not quite the same as the one in a filled Horseshoe.

"They say it's seven degrees warmer when the people get in there," said Tressel, who wanted to be sure that people knew that it is video coordinator Mark Quisenberry who came up with that measurement.

With the warm conditions, Tressel expects to be in the rotation mode positions again at a lot of positions against the Bearcats.

"I think it will serve us well to play more people," said Tressel.

More Tough Times for Daniels: OSU quarterbacks coach Joe Daniels has had some tough times lately with serious health issues. Daniels' had another setback last week when his mother passed away.

Joe Daniels

"Unfortunately Joe lost his mom on Wednesday morning," said Tressel.

"He spent really from the time we landed from Texas in Pittsburgh. He drove back there and spent the last two days with his mom.

"It's been tough. He came back today and came to practice today. He's doing fine physically and hasn't missed anything for physical reasons. When you lose your mom that's sometimes more difficult than you physical woes. I'm sure its going to be a very difficult weekend because the services are Sunday and Monday.

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