![]() ![]() Lenny Willis’ son, if you remember Lenny who played here and was on our staff here, his son has just done a tremendous job and I think, too, their field goal kicker may be one of the one or two best in the conference. I think they have a good stable of runningbacks, they have a couple good old guys and a young one there. He’s a guy we recruited very hard and he’s a student of the game, he’s a good football player, he can make things happen. He does a great job with his feet as well. I think the freshmen quarterback, Isiah Williams has got over 60 yards throwing. Offensively, they spread you out all over the field. If you really watch the film, you can see that conceptually they’re starting to understand what a new coaching staff a year ago was establishing, and you can see the culture they’re trying to create, a very aggressive defense that puts a lot of pressure on you, and has to have guys in right position so that things work properly. I think Penn State rushed the ball for 40 yards and Illinois rushed it for over 200. They played Penn State right off their feet and was nose to nose and I think the score ended up one thing, but it was 17-12 game, was really what it was, and an on-side kick was returned for a touchdown. They’re ahead of Wisconsin, very well could have beat them. We have a tremendous challenge as we travel over to Champaign-Urbana, because I think Illinois is a good football team. So we have to make sure that as we take the practice field today, one last time in October, that we’re preparing ourselves to have great performance in November. There have been a lot of good teams at Ohio State over the years, the ones that are considered great teams are the ones that played great in November and that’s just the way football is. You do a lot of work prior to November, but the month of November really is the legacy that you leave. The most important task at hand as we flip the calendar over to November is to make sure we’re playing our best football in this month. I marvel sometimes at the time and effort that those scout team kids put in to make sure they give our guys a great look and I know our coaches appreciate it and they do an excellent job there. The scout team players that did a good job preparing for us on the special units, Will Crall, a youngster from Bexley, Walter Dublin was our defensive scout player from Sarasota, Florida, and Ryan Franzinger was our offensive scout player, a senior from Cleveland St. It was just one of those things that happens, but he’s just doing fine. He probably won’t play this week, but he seems to be getting along just fine. They might have had one, but we didn’t have one, and Ray will be fine. ![]() We didn’t have a Jack Tatum hit of the week. The attack force player was Marcus Freeman, who had a very productive day, was flying around the field and continues to grow in the various roles that we have for him. Downing, and he had the highest grade on the offensive front. Our Jim Parker offensive lineman was T.J. And I just think he’s one of the best backs in the country and we’re awfully happy to have Antonio Pittman. Antonio Pittman was the offensive player of the week. He plays various positions, and just does an excellent job. The defensive player was Antonio Smith who continues to grow and be a great leader and a great production guy from his position. Occasionally you’ll get one in or outside or whatever, and he just had an extraordinary week and was the special units player. He had seven field goal snaps on Saturday, which every single one of them was in the perfect window, which is a little unusual. Our special units player was Drew Norman who has been a solid snapper all along. And we had a chance to get out there and get some guys playing and we did have some outstanding performances. Minnesota, I felt, was a little banged up, and that’s tough when you go on the road to start with, and when you’re banged up, to take the next step is even more difficult. I think we had about 21 guys with a winning performance. So it’s been tough on them because they’re out there night and day and I feel for them. It’s been a difficult battle and the weather has not been the greatest and they have worked like crazy and we certainly appreciate their efforts and they’re going to get us the best possible surface to play on that we can get in these situations and we appreciate their work. ![]() COACH TRESSEL: That group that just visited with you from our turf science have been working like crazy. ![]()
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