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The Ohio State Autopsy | Part 3 of 3
What’s Next For the Scarlet and Gray?
By Paul Smith
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Michigan City, Ind. -- Picking up the pieces of a shattered dream of a sixth Ohio State national championship, coach Jim Tressel found out last week, would prove to be a delicate barefoot walk through an emotional minefield.
As he talked, for the first time since upstart Florida intruded on the best-laid coronation Jan. 8 by blowing up the entire night with a 41-14 nightmare in the Arizona desert, Tressel still seemed somewhat dazed and distracted.
Ohio State's flagship station, "The Fan", WBNS/1460, and its two best hosts -- former Buckeyes quarterback and ESPN "Game Day" co-host Kirk Herbstreit and Bruce Hooley, former Cleveland Plain Dealer O.S.U. beat writer, did not feed Tressel any easy "fair-catches," but the coach struggled for answers.
Which is where many stunned Buckeyes fans are as they look at the future. So many questions...so few obvious answers.
After losing nine defensive starters from the terrific 2005 team that devastated Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl, all coordinator Jim Heacock did was reconstruct a defense that basically gave up only a touchdown and field goal per game en route to a 12-0 regular season, including a 42-39 offensive outburst against "The Gang Up North" in the annual Ohio State-Michigan grudgefest.
It had been such a serendipity season, but the Gators, slighted by many, played with a predatory abandon that accentuated the one major edge they had on the Buckeyes -- speed -- and for once, Tressel and his fellow Jims -- Heacock and offensive coordinator Jim Bollman -- had no answers.
In as many words, Tressel hinted he felt his staff was outcoached by fellow Buckeye Stater Urban Meyer, a Sandusky native.
No Buckeyes fan wanted to read the coroner's report, the painful 3-hour, 41-minute torture spoke for itself. Precious few Ohio households would hang on to the DVDs of this one.
It was within this sobering backdrop, then, that collegeBLITZ.com, with the incalculable aid of Doug Lesmerises, The Plain Dealer's exceptional current Buckeyes beat man, takes a look at how the Bucks will try to build a 2007 season that they hope will make them far more bowl-ready. How they will deal with the loss of five more defensive starters, most noticeably All-American defensive tackle Quinn Pitcock and his next door neighbor David Patterson, defensive end Jay Richardson, but also cornerback Antonio Smith and safety Brandon Mitchell?
The loss of six offensive starters?
"The linebackers will be taking on a few more blockers without (Pitcock)," Heacock told Lesmerises. "He's an unselfish individual, very tough and strong and explosive and he just demands two or three guys to block him.
"That really (made) it nice for the linebackers to give them an opportunity to make plays. Next year as they realize they have some more guys blocking them, they'll wish they had Quinn back."
And of course, the offense will be wishing Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith and his Cleveland Glenville High School teammate Ted Ginn, Jr. -- one of the best wide receivers in the country and likely high first-rounder would have returned for their senior eligibility years.
But...with both opting for the National Football League draft, along with wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez and running back Antonio Freeman, Bollman will have a major reconstruction project of his own.
Thus, the question that enshrouds all of Ohio and Buckeye Nation everywhere persists: is this the biggest rebuild since Tressel took over for fired John Cooper in 2001?
Well, no. At least, not exactly.
Although, obviously, there will be questions that persist through the annual Scarlet-Gray spring game and fall practice and up through the first two Buckeyes home walk-throughs against I-AA Youngstown State and Mid-American Conference middle-ranger Akron.
Tressel, never one to let a blade of grass grow under his feet, continues to comb the gritty fields of the Rustbelt, and, with growing consistency, other areas where the game of football rules.
But we'll know how some of the replacement parts are functioning for sure when Ohio State visits former Notre Dame coach Ty Willingham and his much-improved Washington Huskies come Sept. 15.
The defense may respond with, oh, say 80% of the gusto it did this past fall. Will sophomore down lineman Robert Rose, who showed some signs of being a serious contributor in the late minutes of a few games, be a "playa" this fall?
Heacock may shift the talented 6-feet, 6-inch, 285 pounder from inside to out, depending on the down-and-distance situation, much as he had Darrion Scott and Kenny Peterson in the recent past.
"I'm going to make something happen," Rose insisted. "(The extra 20 pounds, built within O.S.U.'s outstanding weight-training program) happened naturally. I can't stop it, but I really don't want to stop it.
"It doesn't make me feel any different or look any different. And I can still move."
Mobility has always been a major plus from Will Smith through Peterson to players like Rose, defensive end Vernon Gholston -- a Michigander who somehow avoided Lloyd Carr's summoning finger, linebacker James Laurinaitis -- a true carrier of the tradition built by Scotty Carpenter, A.J. Hawk and Anthony Schlegel, and cornerback Malcolm Jenkins, one of the Big Ten's best.
It is a unit that will depend on athleticism, mobility and -- are you listening, Florida folks? -- SPEED! to get its point across to 2007 opponents.
The schedule's a bitch, quite honestly. Not only the early-season visit to Washington, but trips to Penn State and, of course Ann Arbor loom huge. And, of course, with Michael Hart, Chad Henne, Mario Manningham and most of a veteran offensive line and defense returning, this will be an ultimate challenge. A home game against Wisconsin is no bargain, either. Neither is one with Iowa.
With promising, athletic Joel Penton, 6-7, 270 pound Doug Worthington and Nader Abdallah rotating at tackle, the Buckeyes, it would seem, will have addressed the losses of Pitcock and Patterson.
The defense won't ever rest. Not with Heacock's tireless drive.
Offensively, replacing the above mentioned skill people -- not quite so easy...
Start with Troy Smith, who despite a brilliant senior season was the fifth of the last seven Heisman winners to lose his senior bowl game.
Three people of various talents will try to win Tressel's approval as this fall's signal-caller.
"I've waited four years to try to be the guy here," said junior Todd Boeckman, a product of the Ohio River valley town of St. Henry. "...I'm going to do whatever I can to do that."
If patience wins him a few cred points, it's because Boeckman, despite being two academic years behind Smith, is actually 42 days older. He will be a 23-year-old junior this fall.
He is the product of a rarely used N.C.A.A. system called "grayshirting," a sort of redshirting-on-steroids (not literally, figuratively).
He was recruited out of St. Henry High School in 2003, but redshirted to 2004. But Boeckman delayed his enrollment to winter 2004-2005, part of a process of lengthening eligibility until a player is truly needed. He played a total of six games in the 2005-6
seasons.
According to early projections, Boeckman, a 6-5, 235-pounder built along the lines of Peyton Manning, has a slight lead over talented Rob Schoenhoft, a 6-6, 240 sophomore and Georgian Antonio Henton, a 6-2, 225 soph who has some of Smith's maneuverability and skills.
With power running Akron Garfield product Chris "Beanie' Wells returning, the O.S.U. offense, regardless of quarterback, will assume a more traditional look this fall. Despite his innovative abilities, Tressel wants to adjust the offense to the available talent.
The receiving corps, depleted with the loss of Gonzalez and Ginn, will still feature Brian Robiskie and Brian Hartline, two who played key roles in the Bucks' passing game and soph Ray Smalls should restore at least some of Ginn's game-breaking speed.
"Troy sat in the pocket a lot more this year and threw the ball down the field real well and he didn't run as much," Boeckman said.
"I'm going to sit back there and read the defense and I'm not going to take off. I'm not going to beat people with my feet...but I'm going to make the right read and throw the ball in the right spots."
The offensive line will dearly miss center Doug Datish, a true drive-blocking/pass-blocking machine in the tradition of Nick Mangold, LeCharles Bentley and numerous others. But Jim Cordle has backup experience and knows the Bollman system. The loss of right guard T.J. Downing, perhaps Ohio State's steadiest lineman will leave it to Ben Person, Jon Skinner and Kyle Mitchum to showcase their skills in spring practice.
In general, the o-line should be productive, however.
And maybe, just maybe, Small/Hartline/Robiskie will emerge as a pass-catching force and Beanie Wells will plow his way to a 1,000-yard season.
One thing's for sure: This fall will be a study in how effective Ohio State's recruiting process truly is.
"The best thing about Ohio State is there are always players willing and ready to fill in the gaps," said Gonzalez. "It will be difficult to replace the Heisman Trophy winner, but nobody in our building believes our quarterback play won't be more than adequate."
Visions of blue-and-orange creatures harrassing them across Glendale, Ariz., may still cause a few cold-sweat 3 a.m. wake-ups, but this fall may be the most accurate window to Jim Tressel's world, one that gives the veteran Buckeyes fan a clear picture of what to expect in future Tressel years.
Paul Smith covers the Big Ten, Notre Dame and the rest of the national college football scene with his View From the Midwest.
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