FB/LB Zach Boren (official thread)

[martinss01]

Originally Posted by Dryden

All of this assumes there are actually plays in the playbook where the QB hands the ball to the FB. I think Brandon Joe took that playbook with him when he graduated.

id argue he was actually playing tb at that point.

zach's blocking is looking a little better tonight. still nowhere close to where he needs to be. but definitely showing progress. excellent route and hands on the td for a freshman. congrats young man! get the impression the oline enjoyed that one.

[BB73]

After two questions for TP, Zach answers a few questions in this video.

Ozone.vid

[Buckskin86]

OSU football: Boren's TD breaks fullback drought
Freshman first to catch scoring pass since '07, only second since 2001
Friday, October 9, 2009
By Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The third and final touchdown pass that Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor threw last week was, from start to finish, as unlikely a play as the Buckeyes have run in a long time.

First, Pryor said he should not even have thrown the pass. He was rolling to his right, and threw back a bit toward the middle of the field, which sets off warning lights in coaches' heads.

"I get in trouble for throwing behind my body," Pryor said sheepishly. "But (the intended receiver) was open, from what I saw."

The second oddity about the play was that Pryor was targeting a fullback near the goal line. Only once in the previous eight years had OSU thrown a touchdown pass to a fullback: Trevor Robinson against Youngstown State in 2007. Before that, it was Jamar Martin in 2001.

And the third and most unlikely aspect of it was that the receiver was Zach Boren, a true freshman who nine months ago arrived at OSU as a linebacker with a shredded knee.

Yet, there he was, hauling in an 8-yard pass for a score that gave the Buckeyes a 24-7 lead over Indiana just before halftime. OSU went on to win 33-14.

"It was so exciting, I can't even put it into words," Boren said. "I couldn't even tell you what the play was like. It's a blur to me."

Boren was a running back and linebacker at Pickerington Central High School who committed to OSU in April 2008, not long after his older brother Justin, a guard, had transferred from Michigan.

On Nov. 22, the Tigers were playing Cincinnati Elder in a Division I state semifinal. Late in the first half, Pickerington was closing in on a score when Boren took a handoff and was hit on the side of the knee.

Two ligaments ripped: the anterior cruciate and medial collateral.

"It was a nasty one," Tigers coach Jay Sharrett said. "But he was out there in the second half coaching from the sidelines. We had to take his helmet away."

Surgery followed, then rehabilitation. He enrolled at OSU early, for winter quarter, and that's when coach Jim Tressel first realized that Boren might have a chance to play right away despite the injury.

"When we saw that first two or three weeks of rehab, there wasn't much question in our minds" that he would recover in time," Tressel said. "In fact, I'm sure he felt like he could play in the spring. That's just his mentality."

Boren was held out of spring drills, and over the summer he was asked to switch to fullback.

"He never put his head down, nothing like that," guard Bryant Browning said. "He took it as a challenge, and now he's excelling at it."

BuckeyeXtra - OSU football: Boren's TD breaks fullback drought

[calibuck]

Boren the Younger gets my vote as Offensive Player of the Game. I know that TP showed he's growing up, Posey did a great job, as did the two headed running game of Boom and Zoom.

However, I submit to the Buckeye Nation that several of the runs (TP's TD run, Boom's round the right end, plus his block and then catch for a drive sustaining first down), cemented many plays that will get more press than a seal-off block on the LB or end crashing in. Very impressed with the young man's play, and believe that he did as much to win the game as the O-line, which played great as well.

Let's crumble the Hawkeyes, and then 'all-in' against Meatchicken.

[SCBuck13]

"Little Boren" had a great game today!

And to think this time last year he was playin high school playoff football!

Awesome job by the true Frosh!

[Taosman]

His crushing block of #43 was a thing of beauty! Well done young man!

[MililaniBuckeye]

Someone a game or two ago was critical of Zach's blocking. I wonder what that someone thinks now...

[Tresselbeliever]

This is the kid that Duane Long said would never get on the field and that they hid him at three deep at MLB because he was so bad? Another reason not to jump to conclusions first week of camp.

[Bill Lucas]

Originally Posted by Tresselbeliever

This is the kid that Duane Long said would never get on the field and that they hid him at three deep at MLB because he was so bad? Another reason not to jump to conclusions first week of camp.

I'm not a fan of Duane Long. He's writing to promote himself IMO so I take what he writes with a grain of salt.

Great game Mr. Boren!

[jlb1705]

Originally Posted by Bill Lucas

I'm not a fan of Duane Long. He's writing to promote himself IMO so I take what he writes with a grain of salt.

Great game Mr. Boren!

Can't say I disagree. Granted, I can't say I've read too much of his work since the infamous "my computer only works on the premium boards" incident back in the day at BN, but everything I've seen linked on here recently has reeked of that.

[Dryden]

We threw to the FB twice in the same game today, and the Universe didn't explode.

It was a good day.

[OregonBuckeye]

He looked like he had a chance to be a good FB here in high school. Love that he's becoming another recruit who basically gives a middle finger to all the people bashing him in high school(aka bucknuts and scout.com).

[CentralMOBuck]

This can catch out of the backfield and likes to punish people every time he is on the field. I think we've got a solid fullback for the next 4 years. Love this kid!

[daddyphatsacs]

What I like about him is his physical play. He was starting to stand out to me today as a nasty football player. I have a feeling that over time he's going to become Pryor's enforcer.

[ysubuck]

Zach is on his way to becoming a fantastic fullback. He's being used and he's knocking people (Sean Lee) all over the place.

This kid is a bruiser.