Dispatch
8/3
BIG TEN NOTEBOOK
Smith tries to lift assistants’ spirits by talking football
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
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CHICAGO — Ohio State offensive coordinator Jim Bollman was barely out of the hospital following heart bypass surgery in June when Troy Smith knocked on Bollman’s door, wanting to watch videotape and talk football.
It was as much a welcome back, the senior quarterback said, as it was a needed meeting.
"I wanted to show him I’m thinking football all the time just like he is," Smith said during the Big Ten media day yesterday. "So I showed up a couple of times, went over film with him, just to let him know football is still in my thinking, and also him as my coach is still in my thinking."
He said he did the same thing with quarterbacks coach Joe Daniels, who went to the hospital because of a heart ailment and also found out he had cancer.
"I showed up at his house," Smith said. "I let them know I was coming, and hopefully they were happy when I got there."
Smith said he knew the visits were therapeutic for both coaches.
"I think if I was a coach in that situation and a kid who still has a lot of growing to do wants to show up at my doorstep and talk X’s and O’s with me, I think that would make my day go a lot better," Smith said.
It never stops
Ohio State coach Jim Tressel got a phone call from a recruit at midday Tuesday.
Indiana coach Terry Hoeppner said he received a commitment by phone from a highly prized recruit Tuesday night.
Recruiting never stops, no matter who the coach. Take Penn State’s Joe Paterno, 79. He had to leave early from his interview session yesterday.
"I’ve got to go guys, I’ve got a telephone call (from a recruit) coming. I don’t mean to be rude," Paterno said.
Speaking of calls
Hoeppner, who coached Ben Roethlisberger at Miami University before the quarterback went on to lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to the Super Bowl win last season, said he was playing in a golf tournament in Cincinnati when he learned that Roethlisberger had crashed into a car on his motorcycle in June.
"I left the course, jumped in a car, drove to Pittsburgh (and) spent a couple of days in Pittsburgh with him," Hoeppner said.
He knows it was a life-lesson moment for Roethlisberger, just like having brain surgery during the winter was one of those moments for Hoeppner.
"Having surgery didn’t change my perspective; it’s just the things I knew that were important, they’re just more important now," Hoeppner said.
Such as the call he received from his nearly 3-year-old grandson Quinn at breakfast yesterday.
"He said, ‘It’s a great day,’ " Hoeppner said, smiling. "And I said, ‘You’re right Quinn. It’s a great day.’ … That made my day."
For future reference
Athletic director Gene Smith said that Ohio State is nearing an agreement for a home-andhome series with Oklahoma in 2016 and 2017.
OSU also has scheduled home-and-home games with Southern California (2008-09), the University of Miami (2010-11), California (2012-13) and Virginia Tech (2014-15) and a game with Washington in 2007.
Gone but not forgotten
The Buckeyes will enter camp with just three veteran tailbacks after the transfer of Independence product Erik Haw, a sophomore, to Jackson State.
In making the move last month, Haw noted that he was fourth on the depth chart behind junior Antonio Pittman, sophomore Maurice Wells and freshman Chris "Beanie" Wells. Haw said he needed a fresh start and planned to make it at the Division I-AA school that produced Walter Payton.
"I was disappointed to see Erik transfer because I thought he had some ability," Tressel said yesterday. "He felt like he needed to go somewhere where maybe he would get more opportunities.
"If he goes and realizes, ‘Boy, I was at a pretty neat place, but I can’t look back. I’ve got to go to work here and get my degree and be the best I can be,’ then that’s success. But you always hate to lose your guys."
Link
Smith opening doors for Buckeyes
JASON LLOYD, Morning Journal Writer
08/03/2006
CHICAGO -- After he was released from the hospital, offensive coordinator Jim Bollman barely had enough time to slip into his recliner and exhale before Troy Smith was knocking on his door.
''Troy gave him a couple days to get on his feet,'' Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel said yesterday at the Big Ten meetings. ''That's all.''
When spring ball ended, Smith told the coaches he wanted to know everything about the offense. By visiting Bollman, who was home recovering from bypass surgery, he proved he meant it. The film sessions occurred on three or four different days and covered all of Ohio State's opponents this year.
Smith also went to the home of quarterbacks coach Joe Daniels to study film. Daniels is battling cancer and undergoing chemotherapy.
''I called them on the phone first,'' Smith said. ''I always set my appointments.''
If this season goes as planned, Smith and the Buckeyes may have a few more appointments to keep -- in New York for the Heisman Trophy presentation and in Arizona for the national championship game.
It begins with Smith, who has surpassed Ted Ginn as the Ohio State player all the other Big Ten coaches are marveling about. In conversations with other coaches around the league, Tressel said they're all asking about Smith now, not Ginn.
''That guy taking the snap is a pretty good football player and those receivers are really, really good,'' Illinois coach Ron Zook said of the Buckeyes. ''Ten to 15 years ago, you didn't have to have a great quarterback to win it all. They've always said in the NFL you've got to have a quarterback to take you where you want to. That game has drifted down to college. At Ohio State, you have a guy where on every snap he takes, he will make something happen, whether it's running the ball or throwing the ball. Anytime you have a quarterback like that, it gives you a chance.''
Smith is still a work in progress. Tressel saw the evolution during the 2004 season, when Smith first took over as the starting quarterback. As the season wound down, Tressel believed Smith could be the type of quarterback he could trust to lead the team.
Shortly after Tressel believed that came Smith's two-game suspension for taking $500 from a booster. Tressel says his trust in Smith never wavered, even through the suspension.
''Trust is a strong word,'' Tressel said. ''I can trust Troy with my life.''
Smith's first game back last year came against Texas, when Tressel rotated him with Justin Zwick throughout the game. Just as Smith seemed to be taking over the starting job again, Tressel reinserted Zwick in the middle of the third quarter. The two continued to rotate the rest of the game, which Ohio State lost, 25-22.
Now nearly a year later, Tressel admitted the Texas loss haunts him more than a typical loss, but he doesn't regret how he handled the quarterback situation.
''From the quarterback standpoint, I would (do it all again),'' Tressel said. ''The thing I regret is we were in the red zone, had a ball that was deflected, then we go backward and all of a sudden we have too long of a field goal. Those are the things I regret. If I had it to do again, I'd have run two quarterback sneaks and kicked it.''
Tressel stands by his ''it felt like the right thing to do'' reasoning for putting Zwick back in the game in the second half against the Longhorns. He said it had nothing to do with making Smith earn back his status as full-time starting quarterback, even though less than 48 hours after that loss, Tressel named Smith the starter and never looked back.
''We'd never do something like that, not in the middle of a game,'' Tressel said. ''I thought we handled that (punishment) during the spring and preseason. You don't carry those things into the game.''
Barring injury, Smith likely won't have to share snaps with Zwick this year in the rematch in Austin, Texas. Smith said revenge doesn't play into that game because he doesn't feed off revenge -- just improving every week. It's why he was knocking on the doors of Bollman and Daniels earlier this summer.
''If I was a coach and one of my players did that, of course it would (lift spirits),'' Smith said. ''The thing the '02 team had was leaders that kept everybody on the same page. For a guy to show up on the doorstep wanting to watch film on a summer day when a college athlete could be doing so many other things that doesn't pertain to football, I think that says a lot.''
Canton
SPORTS SPOTLIGHT: Problem child has become the Golden Child
Thursday, August 3, 2006 SPORTS SPOTLIGHT TODD PORTER
CHICAGO Just five years ago, Troy Smith was searching for himself and his place in Ohio State’s football program.
Boy, has he found it.
He was an afterthought at Glenville High School, barely recruited by the Buckeyes.
Watching Smith at a summer youth camp, Jim Tressel decided to take a closer look. Ohio State already had secured a commitment from Justin Zwick, who came out of Massillon Washington High School with a bigger arm and profile.
Smith was throwing tight spirals halfway down the field, barely with a flick of the wrist.
“Whoa, man,” Tressel said, recalling the memory. “We were very honest with Troy. ... We’d already had Justin commit. We made it clear, ‘Is coming to Ohio State under these circumstances the best thing for you?’ ”
Those circumstances included not getting a shot at repetitions under center until the following spring.
Smith accepted the offer, because “when Ohio State comes in, an Ohio kid should go to Ohio State.”
All he has done since is change his life, his future and the Buckeyes. Smith went from problem child to golden child. He’s been ripped from the top of the mountain, and he’s climbing back up.
On Wednesday morning at a four-star hotel in Chicago, the 6-foot-1, 215-pound senior looked the part. He acted the part. He talked the part.
Which part?
Heisman Trophy candidate.
Smith was named Preseason Offensive Player of the Year during the Big Ten’s media day and kickoff luncheon. He’s in a small circle of players labeled Heisman Trophy candidates.
“My life,” Smith said, “has been a complete 180-degree turn.”
He has sworn off the college party scene. He has dedicated himself to becoming a student of the game. Most importantly, he wants to be a good person.
“Coach Tressel always says ‘nothing good happens after 10 o’clock,’ ” Smith said. “I’m not into the club scene. ... As far as the late-night stuff, college student-athletes have to get that out of their system early. Your body is your temple.
“At night, my body is beat up, my arm is sore. I go lay down.”
Perhaps the lowest point in Smith’s career was two years ago. He sat home and watched his team play in the Alamo Bowl. He listened to the ESPN broadcast, which was highly critical of his mistakes.
He took money from a booster and had to sit out two games. The bowl game was one. The opener against Miami (Ohio) in 2005 was the other.
Smith had an awakening: All this talent, ability and promise was being wasted.
“It’s a process every athlete has to go through, or should,” he said. “You take it in stride. A lot of times they love you when you’re up, and then when you’re down, they step on you.”
During the summer, Smith has spent time and watched film with Tressel, Offensive Coordinator Jim Bollman and quarterbacks coach Joe Daniels. He showed up at both Bollman’s and Daniels’ homes after each recently were released from the hospital. He wanted to pick their brain and more importantly, “make them feel like they were back in the coaching fold.”
He doesn’t just watch film. He wants to understand the whys behind the offense, behind the defensive game plan.
“Our goal is to get him thinking like an opposing defensive coordinator,” Tressel said.
After the suspension, Smith pulled it together. He shook off the rust after not getting the snaps with the first team offense in summer camp. He swallowed his pride.
“There was a point in 2005 when Troy, to use one of his words, was just ballin’,” Tressel said. “Eventually, he came to learn we weren’t interested in just ballin’. We wanted to develop a quarterback.”
Smith has become one of the best players in college football. He’s beaten Michigan twice, almost single-handedly. He tore up Notre Dame’s defense in the Fiesta Bowl earlier this year.
There he sat Wednesday with two dozen tape recorders before him, flashbulbs bouncing off the wall. He should be proud and amazed at the man he’s become.
He isn’t.
Smith graduated this summer with a degree in mass communications. He is starting a second major in the fall in African-American studies.
“I wouldn’t have started it if I didn’t plan on finishing it,” he said.
To give you an idea of how easy life can be for a player with a degree in hand, last fall, Southern Cal’s Matt Lienart took ballroom dancing.
Smith is taking real courses.
“I don’t stop to look at the person I’ve become,” Smith said. “The minute I do that, I’ll stop becoming that person. ... You continually grow as a man.”
He is a work in progress, in many cases, already better than most finished products.
Heisman Trophy? It would be the perfect end to roller-coaster ride.
“Yeah ... but I think a national championship would be better,” he said. “I have to be there for my teammates, and that’s something I took for granted before.”
Link
Smith has added inspiration this year
OSU QB coach Daniels undergoing chemotherapy.
By Doug Harris
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CHICAGO — Ohio State senior quarterback Troy Smith is a proven winner, having gone 13-2 as a starter and beating Michigan twice. But the victory he’s yearning for most these days is not one that can be attained on the field.
Quarterback coach Joe Daniels is undergoing chemotherapy for malignant tumors. The cancer was discovered when the 63-year-old assistant submitted to a battery of tests after suffering a heart attack June 17.
Daniels can only work part-time during his treatment, and his condition is weighing heavily on Smith.
“He’s one of the few people who believed I could be a quarterback in the Big Ten,” Smith said. “He’s battling, and it’s given me added strength to keep moving on because of what he’s going through.
“He’s also given me another reason to show up at his house and break down film,” Smith added, smiling weakly. “Without him last year, I wouldn’t be where I am.”
Smith finds himself on the short list of preseason Heisman candidates. He led the Big Ten and was sixth nationally in passing efficiency last year, and he racked up 408 yards of total offense (rushing and passing) against Notre Dame while earning the Fiesta Bowl offensive MVP award.
“I think his consistency has become much better,” coach Jim Tressel said. “He showed back in 2004 that he could make plays and do some things, but would he do that consistently? In ’05, in the back half of that season, all of a sudden there was a consistent quarterback.”
Smith has a bazooka-like arm, but he’s just as destructive on the run. He rushed for 611 yards last season — second on the team to Antonio Pittman’s 1,331 but more than any Buckeye managed in 2004.
He’s had five games of 300-plus total yards, one short of the school record held by Joe Germaine. And Smith credits much of his individual climb to a renewed commitment to film study.
“It had always been there, but I neglected it before,” he admitted. “Now, I ask and reason with the coaches to sit down with me — even when they don’t want to.
“I have a thirst and hunger for the film room that, I hope, can’t be matched nationally.”
Smith’s diligence also extends to the classroom. The fifth-year senior graduated in June with a bachelor’s in mass communications and has begun work on a second degree in African-American studies. “It was the most exciting experience that I’ve had so far in school,” he said of completing his first major.
“It’s so time-consuming, getting up early in the morning, going to class all through the day and then going to practice, which I still have to do. But I understand that I have something now that everyone is trying to achieve.”
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