WR Ray Small (official thread)

[briegg]

I though Ray handled the baited question about Coach's handling of his discipline really well. I cringed when the question was asked thinking Ray might put one foot right back in the doghouse, but he handled it perfectly. Congrats on the big return Ray - let's have a few more this year.

[msj2487]

Originally Posted by pnuts34

but Tress should bench him and move on with the rest of WRs who do go to class and can still play at a high level!"...I could care less if you give me an infraction, but many of US as well, think as I do, and are sick of this kid getting into trouble and making a mockery of his opportunity to play the Ohio State University!

So glad this guy doesn't have a say in how Tressel runs his program. Congrats again Ray for the huge kickoff return, keep 'em coming for the rest of the season!

[Buckskin86]

Ohio State WR Ray Small finally in fold
By RUSTY MILLER AP Sports Writer
October 15, 2009

COLUMBUS, Ohio - As hard to tackle off the field as on, Ray Small breaks out into a wide grin before the question is even completed.

Yes, he confirms, he has officially moved out of Ohio State coach Jim Tressel's doghouse.

Based on the past, no one's sure how long it will last.

In his four years returning kicks and catching passes for the seventh-ranked Buckeyes, Small has spent almost as much time on Tressel's bad side as he has in uniform.

Most of the problems between the two are protected by the inner sanctum of Ohio State football, where team matters stay private. But injuries, academic problems, perpetual lateness and a memorable flare-up between Small's family and Tressel have characterized his promising but perpetually rocky college career.

Small even offers himself as an example for younger players NOT to follow.

"Coach Tres taught me a lot in my four years here," the senior speedster from Cleveland said earlier this week as Ohio State prepared to play at Purdue on Saturday. "I've always been a team player. You know me. I always say, 'If I was that bad I wouldn't have been here for four years.' You know what I mean? It's just an example for a lot of the young people to look up to me and be like, 'I'm not going to do this, I know that's not a good example.' But that's just how my four years in college went."

Ohio State WR Ray Small finally in fold -- chicagotribune.com

[sammyjenkis]

Can't believe NFL scouts are going to like his muff history. Or the fact that he fumbles so many punts.

[Steve19]

A game ball should go to Ray Small for his performance against Penn State. That first exciting return set up the Buckeyes for a quick score and put Penn State on their back heels immediately. The second long return really cemented the momentum on the side of Ohio State and put us in excellent field position.

Ray Small played one heckuva role in that victory.

[Timmah]

Congrats on a couple great returns when we needed them Ray!

Job well done!

[SEREbuckeye]

Originally Posted by Steve19

A game ball should go to Ray Small for his performance against Penn State. That first exciting return set up the Buckeyes for a quick score and put Penn State on their back heels immediately. The second long return really cemented the momentum on the side of Ohio State and put us in excellent field position.

Ray Small played one heckuva role in that victory.

I agree, Ray is and always has that dangerous threat to be a momentum swing at any moment. Later in the game, his reverse (which was called back for a penalty) was also big.

Small is certainly playing himself into a 5-6 round draft pick.

[Buckskin86]

OSU notebook: Small gets Buckeyes going
His 41-yard punt return sets up OSU's first scoring drive
Sunday, November 8, 2009
By Ken Gordon, Tim May and Bill Rabinowitz
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


Craig Holman | dispatch
Ohio State's Ray Small shows his frustration after being stopped on a punt return. Small wasn't easy for Penn State to catch, averaging 18.6 yards on seven returns.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- The football came sailing toward Ray Small, and, with it, the chance to make the game's first big play.

The Ohio State senior caught the punt at midfield and raced 41 yards to the Penn State 9-yard line. Two plays later, OSU scored a touchdown for a 7-0 lead in an eventual 24-7 victory.

"There was no wind and the punt was kind of short (37 yards)," Small said. "I came up on it, and then I looked up and I saw Anderson Russell and (Brian) Rolle gave me a couple blocks, and I just hit it straight up the middle."

It proved huge for the Buckeyes' psyche. They never trailed.

"That made momentum shoot sky high," Small said. "We get a good punt return, got in (the end zone) on offense and scored, and we know our defense is real good."

Small later got Ohio State out of a potential hole, fielding a punt at the OSU 8 and racing 45 yards to the Penn State 47. The Buckeyes converted that into their final TD.

Small finished with seven punt returns for an 18.6-yard average. He entered averaging 5.4 yards per return.

BuckeyeXtra - OSU notebook: Small gets Buckeyes going

[kippy1040]

Originally Posted by Steve19

A game ball should go to Ray Small for his performance against Penn State. That first exciting return set up the Buckeyes for a quick score and put Penn State on their back heels immediately. The second long return really cemented the momentum on the side of Ohio State and put us in excellent field position.

Ray Small played one heckuva role in that victory.

After the Win i figured this Thread would be 2 0r 3 pages full of comments from many of the nay sayers for Ray Smalls terrific efforts against Penn State saturday. His two punt returns were huge in making the difference in this game. Granted our defense was what we expected they would be but Ray Small can be proud of his efforts. I said 2 months ago that he was going to be a difference maker for Ohio State down the road and well............here we are. Great Game Ray Small.

[WoodyWorshiper]

Originally Posted by kippy1040

After the Win i figured this Thread would be 2 0r 3 pages full of comments from many of the nay sayers for Ray Smalls terrific efforts against Penn State saturday. His two punt returns were huge in making the difference in this game. Granted our defense was what we expected they would be but Ray Small can be proud of his efforts. I said 2 months ago that he was going to be a difference maker for Ohio State down the road and well............here we are. Great Game Ray Small.

Great points and post!

Ray wasn't just a "difference maker" yesterday, he WAS the difference. In a damn near perfect game of "Tressel-Ball" Ray gave them the field position that is just so huge in a game like this. We knew points were going to be tough to come by for both teams, and Ray's contributions certainly gave the offense that much needed "edge."

Job Well Done #82!

(Oops, that kinda sounded like Cooper).

Peace

[NateG]

Ray,Justin,and Cam answer questions in this vid... mostly Ray and Justin

Ohio State Foottball

[NateG]

Ray received Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week.

Great Job Ray!

[bkochmc]

Getting tackled by the punter...

Just kidding... great game by Small, congrats on the Big10 Special Teams POW and looking forward to what he can do against Iowa and scUM!

[Rookie]

You can give all the credit in the world to our O-line, Pryor, our Defense, but Small was the difference in this game. We didn't do much offensively in the first half and he continually gave us the field position necessary to win the field position battle. I would love to see him get the ball more.

[BB73]

From JT's press conference today. That Tress, what a kidder with the LeBron reference.

Official.site

REPORTER: Is there anybody in that class that's really surprised you with a leadership role or someone you've seen take step this year that you necessarily didn't see coming into the year?

COACH TRESSEL: I think everyone fully expected Kurt Coleman because he had a firm handle on who he was on the field and just in his personality, I found it very interesting to see just the influence that a guy like Doug Worthington could have. It's not just that big, deep voice, but it's the respect that the kids have for him, and it's a little but unusual for a guy that never started to be named a captain in Austin Spitler. Here's a guy that's going to be your Sam backer which what percentage of the time are you in base defense, hadn't started before, yet the players elected him the captain. So it was an unusual group. The offensive voting was all over the place and so that's why we made the decision to go with weekly captains. I think that Jimmy Cordle and Jake Ballard, Ray Small in his own way, have done a good job showing their teammates that they want to do all they can do to help the group in their senior year and so I think, in general, like I said at the outset, it these guys have done a good job taking the challenge of what everyone thought might be one of our biggest challenges was going to be that void and in leadership that just graduated I think they've rolled up their sleeves and filled that void.

REPORTER: Ray Small in his own way. What does that mean?

COACH TRESSEL: Ray has grown and hung in there and taken it right in the nose and made it very obvious to everyone involved that he wants to figure out a way to help and even if it was -- you know, he took the long road. He's, in his own way, I think shown some guys, and I've heard him in whether team settings, unit settings, whichever say to guys, you don't want to do some of the things I did and that takes a little bit of leadership in its own rite.

REPORTER: He said Saturday night he was basically thanking you for giving him another shot, I don't know how many shots it's been, but --

COACH TRESSEL: More than LeBron takes.

REPORTER: But what is your view of that. Obviously you could have said -- washed your hands of -- what is your view of that like, dealing with players that have those sorts of challenges?

COACH TRESSEL: We're here to help the kids and we're here to prepare them for down the road and if they're not here, we can't help anymore. If it ever gets to a point where it's counter-productive to the group and you have to make that agonizing decision that, can't have this anymore, you don't like those days so you do all you can, but I always felt about Ray, is that Ray deep down is a good, young man and at times would be distracted and never anything premeditated, never anything, I'll show everyone, just didn't always stay on task, and hopefully he'll keep growing.

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