Football
Bowl Prep and Personnel Update
By Brandon CastelThe Buckeyes will hold another Media Day in California, but they held their one for the local media Monday at the Fawcett Center in Columbus.
If you saw the scheduled list of players, you understand why many media outlets filed complaints with the university, as high as Gene Smith's mailbox. The result was the original 8 players plus a few extras (Jim Cordle, Kurt Coleman and possibly Jake Ballard).
OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel met with the media first to discuss his team's preparations for playing Oregon in the 2010 Rose Bowl.
LATEST INJURY NEWS
-According to Tressel, the Buckeyes are exceedingly healthy at the moment. The lingering injuries from late in the season are healed and they haven’t had a new ones in practice so far, although they have only had a few padded practices and a couple in shells.
-The one guy who is still OUT is tailback Jaamal Berry with the hamstring injury. He obviously won’t be burning his redshirt in the Rose Bowl either way.
-Kicker Aaron Pettrey, at this point would be listed as questionable. He told me that he is more than two weeks ahead of schedule on his rehab and really hopes to play in the Rose Bowl. He was supposed to be in a brace for 6 weeks before he could even start running, but he was out of the brace in four weeks and he’s been doing some running on the side. He’s also been doing some kicking on the side, nothing hard, but said his leg feels pretty good. He listed his chances of getting back for the Rose Bowl at 60-40 right now in favor of him playing. If he does play, the plan is for Pettrey to handle field goals and Devin Barclay to handle kickoffs. Pettrey said he could be 85-90% by New Year’s Day but won’t even start thinking about kickoffs until after the bowl game is over. He wants to be at 100% for the Texas vs. America all-star game on Feb. 6th.
-Tressel said he felt like quarterback Terrelle Pryor was 100% healthy in the Michigan game, but he’s definitely 100% right now. Both Jermale Hines and Dexter Larimore are back to being healthy and the same goes for the offensive line. Jim Cordle told me that Mike Brewster is still taping his injured ankle, but only as a precautionary measure. Brewster, Justin Boren and JB Shugarts are all healthy and practicing, although Boren may have a minor procedure done after the bowl game. Tressel said the entire line has been practicing with more confidence.
LATEST ON DURON CARTER
-There have been rumors swirling that freshman wideout Duron Carter could miss the Rose Bowl because of poor grades. I spoke with a few people today in the know and was told that these concerns are not only real, but serious. As of right now, I would guess Duron WILL NOT play in the bowl game, although nothing is official yet because Tressel won’t get the player’s grades back until 5pm today.
ON PREPARING FOR OREGON
-The one thing Tressel mentioned over and over today was preparing for Oregon’s tempo on offense. He seems focused on how quickly the Ducks run their offense and everything in practice has been fast-paced. They keep running fresh guys at the defense, whether it’s the scout team, the second string guys or the first team offense.
-Despite all the preparation, Tressel said one major key to the game will be adjusting to the different things Oregon does from what they showed on film.
-He said with less of a layoff this year, the players and coaches are feeling a little cramped.
-Defensively, he said the Ducks like to bring pressure often and from all angles. He talked about recognition from Pryor, but also mentioned the need to hit on their deep passes when the time is right. They missed a few of those late in the season and he said they have to hit those against Oregon.
ON THE UNDERCLASSMEN LOOKING AT THE NFL
-Tressel said that around 10 juniors filed paperwork with the NFL last month. They haven’t gotten anything official back yet, just some preliminary thoughts, but he hopes to have that stuff before the players break for Christmas. Tressel wouldn’t give the exact names, but said “you can probably guess.”
-Obviously Cam Heyward and Thad Gibson are two of them. My guess on the others are: Justin Boren, Chimdi Chekwa, Dexter Larimore, Devon Torrence, Ross Homan, Brian Rolle, Bryant Browning, Brandon Saine and Boom Herron.
ON THE 2010 RECRUITING CLASS
-Tressel called the month of December “a blur” because most of it has been spent on the recruiting trail. He said he expects this current recruiting class to be in the 20 range. When asked if that meant low 20s, Tressel responded by saying, “No, just 20. The lowest of the 20s.”
ON THE TEAM’S PLANS IN LOS ANGELES
-The team will leave for California on Christmas night. They will fly back to Columbus at 7pm the day after the game (Jan. 2nd). Among the events planned for the team in LA is a trip to Lawry’s Steakhouse, the Hollywood Improv, Disneyland and the ESPN Zone. They will practice at the Home Depot Center, home of the LA Galaxy.
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