Jim Tressel Making
Things Interesting this Fall
Coach Tressel spoke with the media at the Big Ten Media Day
about Fall Camp, the Michigan
rivalry, Terrelle Pryor, and making camp interesting for 20 returning starters.
By Steve Patterson
Fall Camp Begins
At the Big
Ten Media Day in Chicago
this week, Head Coach Jim Tressel talked about getting back to camp and making
things different and challenging for the returning players. “It's an exciting
time for all of us coaches to get ready to get back at it. It's hard to believe
when you look at some of your older guys and think about the fact they've been
with us for four or five years and they're getting ready to head into their
last go-around and think about all the growth they've had and the experiences
they've had.” he said.
“And we have good fortune from the
standpoint of returning a number of guys who have experienced a lot of things,
a lot of great things and some things that weren't the way that we'd hoped
they'd happen. In fact, we have I think 40 guys on our rosters right now that
are entering years four or five and there's a little challenge there in our
eyes to make sure that those guys come back into training camp, they don't
think it's same-old-same-old, and I know what's going to happen today, tomorrow
and the next, so it's a lot of fun.” Coach Tressel said about all the seniors
currently on the Buckeye roster.
Michigan Rivalry
Coach Tressel is now 6-1 against Michigan and attributed
his success to strong personnel and the desire of the team to play in the
rivalry. “We've had very good players. I think if you look at the last six or
seven years' draft boards in the NFL, we've had a significant number of guys
that have had a chance to go on to the next level. We've had excellent quality
leadership over the course of time. We've been very fortunate.” He said about
the team’s players that have made it to the NFL.
“I think guys that choose to come
to Ohio State, a large part of it is they have a
chance to play in a great rivalry. It's exciting for them. So the ball has
bounced right a few times, we're not afraid to admit that, and it's just
tremendous being part of that rivalry, and what's important to us is what
happens in 2008 not what has happened in the past.”
Terrelle Pryor
When asked about Terrelle Pryor,
Coach Tressel began with a small joke but mentions his hard work and
competitive nature. “August 4th he gets to start practicing. He's going to be
incorporated into our offense that day.” He joked about having Terrelle in the
offensive playbook. “He's got a lot of things that he's got to build as a
foundation. The communication system, the way that we do things, the way that
our things work together, but he's the kind of guy that as I've gotten to know
him more and more, knowing exactly what's going on is very important to him. He
loves to train. He loves to compete. He's got great ability, so I would think
that from day one he'll be a guy that you're going to take notice of.”
20 Returning Starters
Coach Tressell plans on making fall
camp a challenge for all the returning players for Ohio State
this season. “Well, you mentioned 20 returning guys, and I mentioned that we
have 40 guys that have been there, entering their fourth or their fifth year.
One of the things we've discussed a lot is making sure that you continue to
challenge guys and not have them come into preseason camp thinking it's the
same-old-same-old.”
Ohio State
doesn’t want to take anything for granted and the coaching staff is going to
focus on fundamentals once again. “So we'll challenge them intellectually,
we'll challenge them physically. We'll try to get a handle on where we are. I
think an assumption that you make with 20 returning starters is that you're
already at a certain level. I think that would be a false assumption. You have
to go back and make sure fundamentally we are very, very good.”
The last two National Championship
games have gone the wrong way for the Buckeyes and Coach Tressel believes that the
outcomes will be motivating to the team. “I think our guys love to compete. I
hope they've learned lessons from those two games you brought up. Hopefully
they learned lessons from the other 24 games they've had a part of over the
last two seasons, but I think you can't forget about the fact that there are
some guys that need to start from square one also.”
“So there's a good blend, a good
mesh of what you've got to try to do in the preseason camp, and the fun part of
preseason, it's a two-and-a-half, three-week time where you're really focused
all day long on football unlike any other time of the year. Once school begins
once you're in spring practices, whatever you've got, X number of minutes and
hours with them.”
“But preseason you get to make a
lot of tracks, a lot of work and hopefully we'll make it creative enough and new
enough and challenging enough that we can take them from wherever they are now
into the next level.” He concluded.