Link
Capital idea: Buckeyes take show on the road
Friday, August 25, 2006
Tim May and Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
<!--PHOTOS--> <table class="phototableright" align="right" border="0"> <!-- begin large ad code --> <tbody><tr><td> <table align="center"> <tbody><tr><td align="center">
</td></tr> <tr><td class="credit" width="200"> KYLE ROBERTSON DISPATCH </td></tr> <tr><td class="cutline" width="200">AJ Gogan, front left, Andrew Kobil, front right, Michael Hayes, rear left, and Stephen Hayes take in the Ohio State practice at Capital. </td></tr> </tbody></table> </td></tr> </tbody> </table>
The top-ranked Ohio State football team put on a semiprivate block party in the middle of Bexley last night, and stayed until the lights started to go out.
Coach Jim Tressel took the Buckeyes to Capital University for their second night practice of the week. Instead of the 28,000 who showed up for the shindig in Ohio Stadium on Monday, though, only 1,500 fans were on hand last night. They were almost all from the neighborhood — the Capital players had gone door to door hanging flyers to let folks know they were invited.
"The only other time I’ve seen this type of excitement here is the Fourth of July parade when everybody comes out on the street," said Don Lewis, whose garage is just outside "the 42-yard line" on the east side of the stadium. "It is so cool to see guys 50 feet away that you usually only see on national TV."
Ohio State has been here before; it even made two trips to practice on the Bernlohr Stadium turf during the 2002 national championship season. The Buckeyes came again yesterday, a Capital representative said, because they wanted to do something a little out of their comfort zone and to experience bad lighting.
The lighting was provided by Corna Kokosing Contruction Co.; the six four-light pods were the same as you’d see on a highway construction site, and about as tall. The one in the northeast corner shut down about 80 minutes in, and Tressel shut down the practice soon after.
But when asked whether he got what he wanted from the short trip, he said, "We sure did. It’s kind of fun, to come over to the East Side. We don’t get over to the East Side very often.
"And it’s good to be around Capital. They have a great football program. It’s always good to be around a winner."
Tressel spoke to the Crusaders, rated No. 5 in the Division III preseason poll, before the practice. Capital coach Jim Collins said Tressel spoke from the heart on what it means to be Division III athlete, which he was at Baldwin-Wallace, and what it means to take part in the playoffs, which his teams did regularly at Division I-AA Youngstown State while winning four national titles.
"The message he gave our players had to do with realizing our goals, of being successful, of putting ourselves in position to make the playoffs, and then to go on through and win the national championship," said Collins, whose team advanced to a national quarterfinal last year. "With the experience he’s had, if some of that message got across to our players, that’s going to help us this year."
Coleman shines again
Once again, with fans and media getting to watch, freshman cornerback Kurt Coleman made a couple of plays that were easily noticed, and this time on special teams.
He came off the edge to get his hands on two field goals tried by Aaron Pettrey. Pettrey’s 30-yarder still made it over the crossbar, but Coleman smothered a 50-yarder, which wound up being the last play of the practice.
tmay@dispatch.com
kgordon@dispatch.com
Linear Mode
