Sugar Bowl Thursday: Press and Practice – Ohio State Buckeyes
12/30/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Thursday was an interesting day at the Sugar Bowl. Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, meeting with the media for the first time since the NCAA announced five players would miss the first five games of next season, said at his morning press conference that all five Buckeyes involved have pledged to come back next season.
The team, meanwhile, after opening the day at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes breakfast where they were enlightened by former New Orleans Saint Torrance Small, practiced for the first time in New Orleans, at the Louisiana Superdome.
Press Conference
Tressel spent about 25 minutes with the press, a vast majority of them local writers and followers of Ohio State football. Tressel opened with a timeline of the activities that took place regarding the NCAA issue in the week or so before Christmas. He then said, prior to making the trip to the Sugar Bowl, the coaches asked the five players – Mike Adams, Dan Herron, DeVier Posey, Terrelle Pryor and Solomon Thomas – to “make any decisions regarding their future on the NFL prior to our leaving for the bowl game.”
Tressel said those decisions were made, and when asked for clarification, he said “they wouldn’t be here if they weren’t coming back next year.”
And he added: “The players are in the family. They are on the trip. They want to be Buckeyes in 2011. They are remorseful for judgements they have made and they are anxious to have a great experience at the Sugar Bowl.”
Also coming out of the Tressel press conference…
No more comments The coach said that, because of the appeals process with the NCAA sanctions, it is “not in bounds at all for them [any player on the team] to talk about the situation.”
Playing time The five individuals will play “as to what they deserve to play from a football standpoint.”
High on the ‘Hogs Commenting on Arkansas, Tressel said “they are quick, fast, tough and extremely well schooled. … They have a great quarterback and an offensive line that has played 12 straight games together. … Their tight end is a guy who seems to get it whenever they need it. Their tailback is explosive and can take over. … They are a high pressure outfit defensively. If you don’t have outstanding protection and aren’t flawless in your communication, they will give you problems.”
Quick like Oregon Tressel believes Arkansas is the quickest team the Buckeyes will have faced since playing Oregon in the 2010 Rose Bowl. “They’re not X and O-wise similar at all [to Oregon], but quickness, which is the key to this game, they’re quick.”
Record is a reminder Tressel said he is aware that his teams have lost three games in a row to SEC schools and he doesn’t get tired of hearing it. “It’s a reminder to me how good SEC teams are.”
At the Superdome…
The team practiced in shells – shorts, helmets and shoulder pads – for a couple of hours Thursday. Media was allowed to film practice for 15 minutes. Following the practice, co-captain Brandon Saine, Mike Brewster, DeVier Posey, Aaron Gant, Jermale Hines and Devon Torrence met with members of the media.
Posey on any effect the NCAA issue may have on anybody: “…We’re just really trying to focus. It has brought us closer together as a team.”
Posey on the other players returning for next season: “I love those guys. It was a decision they had to make, but I am pretty sure they are [more] worried about finishing the 2010 season [than 2011]. We’ll get there when we get there.”
Torrence on TE D.J. Williams: “It will be everybody’s job communicating … being cautious of where he is because they are going to try and get the ball to him as well as to all of the receivers.”
A few more notes from Thursday…
Archie at coin toss It was announced Thursday that Archie Griffin would represent Ohio State during the Sugar Bowl pre-game coin toss. Arkansas will be represented by Jay Bequette.
All aboard The final two members of the team arrived in New Orleans…at about 2 a.m. this morning. Jordan Hall and T.Y. Williams were each stranded for 12 hours in Chicago yesterday, arriving there for a connecting flight at 10 a.m. and not getting a flight to New Orleans until 10:30 p.m. They were up in time for the FCA Breakfast, though, and looked in good spirits.
Life changer Ten-year NFL veteran Torrance Small was the featured speaker at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes breakfast that was attended by both teams Thursday morning. He spoke for about 25 minutes telling his story of “doing bad things” and then finding the Lord.
“There will be some lives changed by the opportunity we had [to hear Small] this morning,” Tressel said.
Small was half-serious when he said people are blessed after they are in his company, and he cited five specific examples:
1. He was with the Saints for five years and they had never won a playoff game…until he left.
2. Indianapolis was 3-13 the year he was with them. Then he left and the Colts went 13-3.
3. The St. Louis Rams had done nothing (in Small’s words)…until after Small spent a year with them. The next season he was gone and the Rams won the Super Bowl.
4. Philadelphia won four consecutive division titles after Small left that team.
5. And in 2001 he played eight games with the Patriots before getting injured and being sent home to rehabilitate. Later that season, New England won the first of its three Super Bowl titles in the decade.
Small said he was in a pickle, though, having been in the company of both Arkansas and Ohio State players at the breakfast.
###OhioStateBuckeyes.com###
