Posts from January 9, 2008

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Popularity: 42% [?]

As the rest of the college football world begins to see the Ohio State Buckeyes as the Buffalo Bills of college football, Jim Tressel has only one job: To pick up the pieces and try to put Humpty Dumpty back together all over again.

He is in the same place he was a year ago, having been thrashed in the BCS national championship.

As he says, he must recruit as hard as he can for another month, sign the best class he can and then coach as hard as he and his staff can through spring practice.

Then come summer, they must return to work with one mission: Make another run at the title.

In between, he needs to hope that as few juniors as possible decide to declare themselves eligible for the NFL draft.

“I’m guessing (defensive end) Vernon Gholston for sure, because being a fourth-year guy I don’t know how much more he can enhance himself draft-wise … and I’m guessing maybe (linebacker James) Laurinaitis,” Tressel told the Columbus Dispatch in the New Orleans airport Tuesday morning while rushing to catch his plane to the coaches‘ convention in California. “Now, if that’s it — don’t get me wrong, those are two great ones for the Buckeyes — but if you lose three or four, that will make it a little more difficult.”

To which, I have always been puzzled at how much he seems to encourage his juniors to explore their NFL options.

Remember this story that broke on December 13: “Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said that he has encouraged 13 of his underclassmen to fill out the paperwork to gauge where they might go in the NFL draft next spring.”

My take is for a head coach to put the best possible product on the field, year in and year out. Encouraging your juniors to leave for the NFL does not accomplish that goal. Having them pull a Peyton Manning and stay for their senior seasons either because they love Ohio State, want to improve their draft status or want their degree first, does help a coach accomplish it, however.

And to say Gholston could not improve his draft status, I would disagree. If he had a monster senior season, moving up 15 to 20 selections in the first or even second round would make him enough extra money in a signing bonus alone to make his final season at Ohio State pay for itself.

The Buckeyes do plenty to promote players for the NFL, starting with the exposure they receive while at Ohio State. Then there is the NFL day before the draft in which they all can work out in front of hundreds of NFL scouts and general managers. Pushing them out the door prematurely is not one of the head coach’s defined duties.

All it can do is help make your roster one year younger. You don’t think having Ted Ginn Jr., Anthony Gonzales and Antonio Pittman would have helped just a little Monday night in New Orleans?

That said, there is talent stocked no matter how many leave for the NFL. But will it be experienced talent?

As far as the 2008 schedule goes, there is one very good thing: A September 13 meeting at USC can knock down any skeptics’ arrows as far as making the Buckeyes’ schedule a target. It will be no laughingstock as it was in 2007. So an early win in the L.A. Coliseum can go along way toward restoring some credibility.

Also, there are Big Ten road games at Wisconsin, Michigan State and Illinois, where redemption is surely in order.

In the end, Ohio State must win its bowl game next season, no matter where it is. A BCS title in Miami, of course, would be the first choice.

But should the Buckeyes, who will face a Michigan team with a first-year head coach and first-year starter at quarterback at Ohio Stadium, win the Big Ten and get to the Rose Bowl for the first time in 13 seasons — they must win it, if only to eliminate this burgeoning status as a perennial runner-up.

Popularity: 34% [?]