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WR Anthony Gonzalez (2005 All B1G, US Congressman)

Toledo Blade

Ginn watchers miss Gonzalez
Different styles produce OSU TDs

By MATT MARKEY
BLADE SPORTS WRITER


COLUMBUS - Anthony Gonzalez does not possess the same flash as teammate Ted Ginn Jr. The two Ohio State wide receivers use different routes and contrasting styles to often end up at the same place - the end zone.
Ginn is more dapper, in his Karl Kani ensemble with the four-button magenta blazer, and phat diamond stud ear-ring. He is more natty, hip. Gonzalez is more off the rack at JC Penney with his light blue oxford dress shirt, conservative striped tie, and Windsor knot. But line the two up on the same side of the football field, and the opposition is faced with a stylistic dilemma. Focus on the blazingly fast Ginn, and Gonzalez will pick you apart. Try to wrap up Gonzalez, and Ginn will burn you deep.

Texas dabbled with both scenarios Saturday night when it faced the No. 1 Buckeyes in Austin, and got scorched on both ends. Gonzalez had a career-best eight receptions for 142 yards and a touchdown, while Ginn caught five for 97 yards, including a 46-yard zip on the second play of the game, and another for a score. As Texas coach Mack Brown learned, Gonzalez might not have that drop-dead blazing speed that Ginn's reputation is built around, but Gonzalez's hands are as sure as they come, and his top end might be just a tick behind Ginn's motor. "We had such a focus on stopping Ted Ginn that Gonzalez made so many plays," Brown said. "He has sure hands and he got open, and he made great plays. He didn't miss anything." Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith said teams that overlook Gonzalez because they are pre-occupied with Ginn pay a steep price for that faulty strategy. "We've got a lot of great players, but anybody who tries to focus in on one of them is going to get burned," Smith said. "Ted is one fast football player, and people talk about his speed a lot, but Anthony Gonzalez can hurt you just as much. He runs great routes, he makes very precise moves on the ball, and his speed surprises a lot of teams." Ohio State coach Jim Tressel is not concerned about whose jets burn brighter, he just likes all of his options with Ginn, Gonzalez, Smith and tailback Antonio Pittman lining up together. "We've got a lot of pretty fast guys, and Gonzo, I guess they say he is sneaky fast, but not to those of us who watch him in practice every day," Tressel said. "We know Gonzo can run." Gonzalez, the philosophy major who knocked down a 4.0 GPA last semester and intends to go to law school, whether pro ball is in his future or not, said he still considers himself well down the list of OSU offensive options. "If I'm a defensive coach and I'm thinking about players to stop on Ohio State, I'd put Ted, Troy, Antonio and maybe the other running backs ahead of me," Gonzalez said. "If you think about the other weapons on our team, it would be hard to convince me I belong higher on that list." Cincinnati coach Mark Dantonio, whose Bearcats face the Buckeyes in Ohio Stadium on Saturday, was the defensive coordinator for the Buckeyes from 200-2003, and is very familiar with Gonzalez. "He's an emerging star," Dantonio said. "I watched them a little last year, and all Anthony Gonzalez was doing was making plays. He's a legitimate threat." Tressel was very matter-of-fact about the night Gonzalez had in Texas. He had seen the 6-foot junior from Cleveland powerhouse St. Ignatius do it before. Gonzalez had two touchdown catches in the 31-6 pounding of Iowa last season, and a dramatic, 26-yard, airborne grab that helped set up the winning score at Michigan. "Gonzo did an excellent job of doing what he does, understanding coverages," Tressel said. "If someone would ask me what's the thing that he knows maybe better than anyone else, it is that he knows when the quarterback is ready to throw it. He understands the timing of it. Gonzo does a great job with his awareness of when he needs to get where he needs to be." And on the issue of just who is faster, and by how much, Tressel will let the opposition decide. "There's some debate that Gonzo versus Teddy in a 10-yard dash, who would win, and I don't know," Tressel said. "But I don't think Gonzo cares if he's thought of as the second fastest or the 50th fastest. He's a smart football player. He's highly competitive. He wants to become the best receiver he could possibly become. He's healthy for everybody he works with, because he shows them the work ethic, he shows them what to be thinking about and how to prepare for things."
 
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Dispatch

Receiver sets goals high

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

20060913-Pc-B10-0600.jpg

ADAM CAIRNS DISPATCH Anthony Gonzalez hopes to attend law school at Stanford, but perhaps an NFL career will come first.
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Anthony Gonzalez sleeps in a hyperbaric chamber to improve his breathing.


Name : Anthony Gonzalez
Age : 21
Position : Junior receiver, Ohio State football team
Hometown : Cleveland
Family : Parents, Eduardo and Jenna; older brothers, Nick and Joe; younger sister, Cristina
Question : You had a careerhigh eight catches for 146 yards and a touchdown against Texas the other night, yet you seemed pretty unimpressed with yourself.
Answer : I didn?t play as well as I would have liked. I mean, that one ball I dropped (early in the fourth quarter), that probably would have been a touchdown. And that?s upsetting. The key for me is, and I have always said this, to try to ignore the score, ignore the statistics, but to play a functional game. Play each play, make sure you?re doing your job, make sure everything is working, and then the score takes care of itself. In that regard, I didn?t get the perfect game. As a receiver, as a football player, as a person, that?s what you strive for, the perfect game.
Q : That quest apparently has led to you to sleeping in a tent, a hyperbaric chamber. If we?ve got this right, it simulates high altitude, in terms of breathable air, which helps your body produce more red blood cells, so that when you emerge from the tent each morning your body makes more efficient use of the oxygen available here at about 900 feet above sea level. So, does anybody call you Bubble Boy?
A : My cousin Jorge called me that. He was making a reference to an old John Travolta movie, which I had never seen.
Q : What about the old Seinfeld episode?
A : That?s the one I was more familiar with. But to answer your question, yes, it?s been said.
Q : Do you worry about the public perception?
A : Let me phrase this carefully. No. It?s something I researched, and I found it?s safe, effective ? and I have noticed a difference.
Q : Doing that seems to be another example of you using your curious mind. That brings to mind the concussion you suffered in spring practice. You stated then that it was unsettling because you always felt that if your body gave out, you?d still have your mind to fall back on.
A : It probably wasn?t as scary as I may have made it sound. But it was worrisome because I sat down to write a paper, and something that normally would take me a half-hour took me a few hours. I was kind of taken aback. But, you know, it?s part of life. You can get a concussion driving in your car.
Q : What effect did the paralyzing neck injury to teammate Tyson Gentry a few days later have on you?
A : To have it hit so close to home was scary. But the part that has probably affected me the most is how resilient he has been and how high his spirits have been in the time since the injury. He seems happy as ever. It has affected me because I know how I would react, and it probably wouldn?t be in as positive way as he has. A lot of us, I think, would have a little bit of self pity, but his attitude has been unbelievable through this whole thing.
Q : What jump-started you toward what has been a significant upgrade in your academic work the past two years?
A : It was one look at the U.S. News & World Report law school rankings and seeing that I had no chance, given my academic situation back then. I took stock of how things were going in football at that moment, which wasn?t great. As a young player, you always think you?re going to make it to the NFL, but I suddenly realized nothing was guaranteed. I basically looked at myself and asked, "What are you going to do with your life?"
Q : Why law?
A : I came up with a list of what I?d like to do, and all of them required being a lawyer.
Q : Such as?
A : I have always been fascinated by real estate, and I would love to be a real estate attorney because there?s tons of money in that, and it seems like a lot of fun. Two, and this requires being in the NFL for a while, I?ve always thought that if I could take care of my future family, I?d love to do legal work for the poor, maybe doing pro bono. I?ve always thought there was a huge disparity in representation for the poor in this country. And three, I wouldn?t mind being in the NFL Players Association office or something like that; I also find that interesting.
Q : Why did you target getting into Stanford Law School?
A : Honestly? Because it?s the best.
Q : You seemed to handle the Rhodes Scholar rejection slip pretty well. Weren?t you disappointed?
A : It was a long shot, and for one thing, I don?t think I would have gotten it. Secondarily, my dream has never been to win a Rhodes scholarship. My dream has been to play in the NFL. I kind of got caught up in the scholarship thing because I had people telling me, "Oh, that?s something you should do." Why live somebody else?s dreams? Follow your own.
Q : In an earlier conversation, you were adamant about having seen few movies in the past year or so, other than Crash, that you?d recommend. Has that changed?
A : Yes. The Lost City.
Q : I haven?t seen that.
A : Not many people have. Andy Garcia made it. It?s about Cuba at the very end of Batista?s reign and then going into Castro?s. ? The Andy Garcia character owned the Tropicana, and that hit close to home. After watching that movie I probably learned more about the history of my family than I ever have. I saw it with my father, and there were characters in the movie we even know, and know well. And there were situations in the movie where my dad said, yeah, this is the one that Papi, his dad, is a member of. That movie taught me so much.
Q : What is your family thinking now, with Castro going through tough physical times and the scent of major change in the air?
A : Everybody is pretty excited about it. Our family has always wanted to go back to Cuba, but we can?t. It?s not safe, and we?re not allowed. So it?s an exciting time because we?re hoping things will change, where my grandmother can get over there a few last times, if you will.
Q : What?s you?re all-time favorite movie?
A : Life is Beautiful, with Roberto Benigni. I like it because it shows the power of attitude, of how a mind-set can alter a situation. And it shows the undying love that a father has for his son.
Q : Your approach to life seems paradoxical because you appear to have things in perspective from an off-the-field standpoint. How do you square that with your obvious desire to play in the NFL, to be a football star?
A : I wouldn?t say I want to be a football star. I?d say I want to be a productive member of this team, and I want to be successful in life in general. Football happens to be something I guess I?m good at, something I love to do. I decided it is an important part of my life, so I want to devote all the time I can to it and give it everything I can.
Q : Is that because the window to play football is small?
A : That is it. Law schools are going to be there forever. Stanford Law School, the best I can tell, is not going to stop teaching any time soon unless the big one hits, which my mother claims will hit as soon as I get there. Law firms aren?t going anywhere. Politics obviously will be around. The only thing that is going somewhere is my age, and that window you have to be successful before you get too old to play the game.
Q : With that in mind, at least you?ve left your mark. The catch at Michigan last year to set up the winning touchdown made you an instant all-time hero with Ohio State fans. How do you put that in perspective, how one play can change everything?
A : It may have changed people?s perspective of me, but it never changed my perspective. I always say if I don?t make that catch, Troy Smith was playing at such a high level that we were going to get down there somehow. It?s not something I think about or look at a whole lot. The reality is I have two more seasons left, and if that?s the moment people remember me by, I probably didn?t have the best finish to my career.
[email protected]
 
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OSUBasketballJunkie;605124; said:
...
A : Not many people have. Andy Garcia made it. It?s about Cuba at the very end of Batista?s reign and then going into Castro?s. ? The Andy Garcia character owned the Tropicana, and that hit close to home. After watching that movie I probably learned more about the history of my family than I ever have. I saw it with my father, and there were characters in the movie we even know, and know well. And there were situations in the movie where my dad said, yeah, this is the one that Papi, his dad, is a member of. That movie taught me so much...

This answered something I've been curious about, indeed have suspected for a long time. The Gonzalez family is among the many Cuban ex-patriate families living here because of Castro. More to the point, they are among the many Cuban-American families that would still be in Cuba if not for Castro. Before Castro, Cuba's economy was growing at such a rate that there would have been no reason for anyone to think of emigrating here.

[sarcasm]As an OSU fan, it's almost enough to make me glad that Castro took over...[/sarcasm]
 
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gonzo at db??

i may have heard wrong... but i was watchin my local news and they were going over some of the headlines for the next day and i could have swore that one of them was something about gonzales moving to cornerback.?.?.?.?
 
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donfish06;606109; said:
i may have heard wrong... but i was watchin my local news and they were going over some of the headlines for the next day and i could have swore that one of them was something about gonzales moving to cornerback.?.?.?.?

Early on in his career there was talk of that, I certainly remember that.
 
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CPD

Gonzalez still No. 2, but his stock is rising



Thursday, September 14, 2006 Doug Lesmerises

Plain Dealer Reporter
Columbus -- In light of his 142 receiving yards against Texas, the 37th-best total in Ohio State history, Anthony Gonzalez has a suggestion for how Cincinnati should defense the Buckeyes on Saturday.
"I've thought about that," said the former St. Ignatius star, a junior philosophy ma jor who thinks about every thing, "and if I'm a defensive coach and I'm thinking about players to stop on Ohio State's offense, I wouldn't put myself very high on that list."
Gonzalez went on to name receiver Ted Ginn Jr., quarterback Troy Smith, running back Antonio Pittman, and for good measure, the running game as a whole.
http://ads.cleveland.com/RealMedia/...w.cleveland.com/xml/story/s2/s2osf/@StoryAd?x "It would be hard to convince me you should pay more attention to me," Gonzalez said.
Others are convinced.
"Gonzalez, I think, is an emerging star," Cincinnati coach Mark Dantonio said. "With Gonzalez, I think you really can't double up on Ted. In the last year, you've seen him make some big catches."
Gonzalez made the memorable catch last season that set up the game-winning touchdown against Michigan. He gained 90 yards, previously his career high, and caught two touchdowns against Iowa last year. But the Texas game proved he could be a primary option as the No. 2 receiver.
 
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Great read here...

Link

A change of heart ... and colors, too
JASON LLOYD, Morning Journal Writer
09/14/2006


http://www.zwire.com/site/printerFriendly.cfm?brd=1699&dept_id=46370&newsid=17194344

To fully appreciate the irony of Anthony Gonzalez catching big passes for Ohio State, you first need to go back to his bedroom while growing up in Avon Lake.


The walls were slathered with Michigan posters, banners and jerseys. His father, Eduardo, went to Michigan, where he was a college roommate of LSU coach Les Miles. All the members of his family were big Michigan fans, including his grandmother, who was perhaps the biggest.

So when it came time to choose a college, Gonzalez went ahead and made the recruiting trip to Columbus, but he wasn't expecting much.

He had just been named the MVP of the Division I state championship game, when St. Ignatius won the state championship. Now he was sitting in enemy territory in Columbus.

Gonzalez was sitting on bleachers with the rest of the recruits when coach Jim Tressel approached, pulled him out of the crowd and took him into his office, along with then-defensive backs coach Mel Tucker, whose recruiting territory included Cleveland.

''(Tucker) tells me you were the best player on the field in that (state championship game),'' Tressel told Gonzalez. ''I trust him. That's good enough for me.''

All of a sudden, coming to Ohio State seemed a little more realistic. But there was one problem: Grandma.

''Coach, I'm not sure my grandma would like it too much if I came here,'' Gonzalez said.

So Tressel told him to bring grandma to Columbus because he would like to meet her.


In the meantime, Gonzalez also had a recruiting trip scheduled for Michigan. But when he arrived, Stan Parrish, Michigan's recruiting coach for Cleveland, was no longer on Lloyd Carr's staff. In fact, there really wasn't a coach Gonzalez could identify with, leaving the choice between Ohio State and Michigan clear.

Tressel's approach had won Gonzalez over. And eventually, grandma, too.

''He didn't say anything to her he wouldn't say to anyone else,'' Gonzalez said. ''His recruiting style is more 'I'm just going to be myself and if you like what you see, hopefully you'll come to Ohio State.'

''I had no doubt that once she met him,'' Gonzalez said, ''she would feel the same way I did. And that's what ended up happening.''

So Gonzalez enrolled at Ohio State, the school he couldn't stand while growing up, and caught eight passes for 142 yards and a touchdown last week against Texas.

''When you're deciding on a school, which is a fairly important decision, you have to kind of divorce yourself of your passion for or against a certain team,'' Gonzalez said, ''and just look at it as objectively as humanly possible.''

Before he settled in at receiver, Gonzalez wanted a chance to play defensive back. All of the other schools were recruiting him to play receiver, but Gonzalez wasn't ready to give up the dream of playing defense.

Tressel's recruiting philosophy has always been to let players who play multiple positions choose which position they want to play. Obviously, once camp begins, he reserves the right to move players around. It happened with Ted Ginn, who entered Ohio State as a defensive back but quickly switched to receiver.

Gonzalez didn't last long as a defensive back -- about three days, he jokes. Eventually he went into Tressel's office and asked to be switched to receiver. His career has taken off ever since.

''The thing that he knows maybe better than anyone else is he knows when the quarterback is ready to throw it,'' Tressel said. ''He understands the timing of a three-step drop, a five-step drop, play action, boot leg ... Gonzo does a great job with his awareness of when he needs to get where he needs to be.''

A philosophy major, Gonzalez is perhaps the first Ohio State player to quote Socrates during an interview. He enjoys the intellectual side of the game, so much that he made headlines before the season for revealing he spends most of his days in a $5,000 tent that is designed to feel like he's living 8,000 feet above sea level.

The technique is designed to improve the body's ability to carry oxygen, which in turn increases endurance.

Gonzalez said he hasn't heard much from fans about the tent, except for one belligerent customer in a local restaurant who was shouting at Gonzalez because he thought the receiver was on the take.

''He started yelling at me and told me I was taking money,'' Gonzalez said. ''Because it's expensive, he thought I was getting it for free.

''It was a weird situation. Then he was yelling at me for being at the restaurant because he thought I didn't have the money to pay for what I was eating. It was very uncomfortable.''

Ah, the life of a football player at Ohio State.

Now it's typically Gonzalez making opposing defenses uncomfortable. He proved last week what will happen when defenses forget about him and focus on Ginn.

While most everyone knows about Ginn's speed, Tressel and a number of the players this week said Gonzalez might actually beat Ginn in a race.

''If it's 40 yards, I'd say Gonzalez wins,'' cornerback Malcolm Jenkins said. ''If it's 100, Teddy probably gets him.''

When both are on the field? Forget it.

''I don't think Gonzo cares if he's thought of as the second-fastest or the 50th fastest,'' Tressel said. ''He's a smart football player. He's highly competitive. He wants to become the best receiver he can possibly become. He's just healthy for everybody he works with.''

[email protected]
 
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cincypost

Buckeyes' reluctant star
Gonzalez points to other weapons

By Josh Katzowitz
Post staff reporter

COLUMBUS - Sitting on a chair in the Jack Nicklaus Museum with reporters surrounding him, Ohio State's newest receiving star didn't seem real excited about his last performance.
Three days had passed, and by Tuesday it was easy for Buckeyes junior split end Anthony Gonzalez to forget about the career-high eight catches he made, the 142 yards he gained and the touchdown he scored in Ohio State's 24-7 win at No. 2 Texas last week. He was only concerned with what he didn't accomplish.
Therefore, it couldn't have been his best game ever.
"It was my most productive game, but I didn't grade out the best ever," Gonzalez said. "That's a fact. It's kind of the same thing of how a scoreboard can lie to you as to how a football team has played. There were a few plays that I obviously could have done a lot better on. No matter how great people think you played or how terrible people think you played, it's never as good or as bad as you think. That's just the reality."
There's also this reality. The offense of the top-ranked Buckeyes, who welcome the University of Cincinnati at 12:05 p.m. Saturday, is more than just quarterback Troy Smith or flanker Ted Ginn Jr. or tailback Antonio Pittman.
No matter how low-profile Gonzalez thinks he should be, the 6-foot, 195-pound Cleveland native will threaten the Bearcats. Even though Gonzalez thinks defensive coordinators shouldn't worry much about him.
"I thought about that a little bit, and I don't think it will change much," said Gonzalez, who entered the season with 36 career receptions and five touchdowns and who leads the team this year with 12 catches for 195 yards and two scores. "If I'm a defensive coach and I'm thinking about players to stop on Ohio State's offense, I wouldn't put myself very high. I'd put Ted, Troy, Tony Pittman and the running game in general above stopping me. I don't think it will change that much."
Seriously? After the game you had last week?
"I really don't think so," Gonzalez said. "If you think about the other weapons on our team, it'd be hard to convince me that you should pay more attention to me."
Which probably would be fine with Gonzalez. But perhaps Longhorns safety Michael Griffin would disagree, and he wasn't afraid to tell Gonzalez exactly how he felt after Saturday's game was complete.
"I wanted to tell him to his face that he is a great receiver," Griffin told reporters. "He's shown everybody what he can do over the last two years."
It's because the philosophy major actually thinks when he's on the field. Ginn certainly is the flashier Buckeyes receiver, but Gonzalez is scholarly with his approach. Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said the ability to cogitate while on the field makes him a better receiver.
"Gonzo did an excellent job of doing what he does, understanding coverages," Tressel said. "Someone asked me what he knows better than anyone else. It is that he knows when the quarterback is ready to throw it. He understands the timing of whether it's a three-step drop or a five-step drop. Is it a play-action? Is it a bootleg? How many people are they bringing? He does a great job of his awareness of where he needs to be."
His awareness, though, wasn't an inherent quality. He's had to adapt and learn those skills.
"That's something I didn't take up until I got here," Gonzalez said. "In high school, it's more just playing. There's not that much you can do mentally to gain an advantage in high school, because teams don't run that many defenses. In college, you get coordinators who are paid all kinds of money to come up with these great defenses, and a lot of times, it's difficult to figure out what it is they're doing unless you study it. That in turn leads to an understanding of what the quarterback is doing."
While Gonzalez wasn't as excited about his performance last week as he could have been, he also understands this. No matter how he performs, he wants to accomplish one thing each game. Reflecting back to the Longhorns contest, he was assured that he completed that goal.
"I played hard," Gonzalez said. "The one thing I want to make sure I don't have is loafs. When you go through the film and a guy is loafing, a coach will mark it off and you can see that you loafed on that particular play. You should never loaf - ever. It's strictly an effort thing. Anybody can go out there and not loaf. I didn't have any loafs. I thought that was good."
 
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#10Troy Smith;606681; said:
Anyone else realise that Gonzo is the most vocal player on OSU?

Yep. As well as selfless and a great spokesman for his teammates. Class all the way. Gonzo, Smith, and Ginn couldn't be classier "franchise" players for Ohio State. What was it that Musberger said during the Texas game about the ESPN magazine article on Ted Ginn Sr.? "I'd rather have Ted Ginn on the cover than T.O. but whatever..."

EDIT: Speaking of Musberger, I met him outside of Memorial Stadium in Austin. Nice guy, though he looks a lot older in person than on TV, if that's possible.
 
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