That Running Back, What’s His Name?
After taking in Pryor’s opening performance, I began to daydream about what a backfield would look like with Beanie Wells joining him in it. I’ve been dreaming of that option combo for about six months now and most of us are hoping to get to see that in action soon.
Get well soon, plz.But when will Beanie be able to go again? Working under the assumption that it is turf toe, it’s really hard to to pinpoint when he’ll carry the ball again.
If you recall, Ross Homan went down due to turf toe in the Washington game last year and despite wanting to hit the field the following week, was held out the final 10 games of the season.
Besides describing the pain as feeling like he was stepping on nails every time he put some pressure on it and stating that he wasn’t able to perform even at 50 percent, he had this to say about treatment:
“It wasn’t like you could tape it up and just take some ibuprofen or some painkillers. It was constantly there. I just had to let it rest.”
Homan may have had a more severe case of turf toe and some athletes are able to return to the field sooner. Darren McFadden came down with a bit of the funky toe last week against the Chiefs, but was still able to put up 14 carries yesterday while splitting time with Michael Bush.
It all depends on how much the ligament is damaged and seeing him crumple in pain when it happened and the fact that he wasn’t on the field to play USC leads me to believe Beanie may have a more serious case of it. I think the current conventional wisdom is correct in that he most likely won’t play against Minnesota, with Wisconsin being a real indicator of whether he’ll be back this year or not. If he doesn’t play against the Badgers, I’m afraid we may have witnessed his last rush of 2008.
If that were to be the case, the next question is whether the he’d be redshirted and I think that’s a foregone conclusion. The redshirt costs the team and Beanie nothing — he can still leave early for the NFL because he’ll be three years removed from high school for next April’s draft. He would be eligible for the redshirt based on the fact that he won’t appear in more than 30 percent of the team’s games and you leave him with the option of having two more years in Columbus in the extremely unlikely event he’d want to play two more. At this point, it would be all about creating more options for him and redshirting him does that.
A silver lining in his injury — depending on how you want to look at this — is that if he had not been injured, we probably would have had to wait a year to witness the full talents of the super-freak that is Terrelle Pryor. Todd certainly had his own moments, but there’s no question Beanie made his job a hell of a lot easier.
Other Monday bits:
- It’s only one game, but if Pryor had the requisite number of attempts to qualify for the NCAA passing efficiency leaders, he’d check-in at fourth with a rating of 205.48. He will get better. And for a point of reference, Vince Young didn’t get his first start until halfway through his redshirt freshman season.
- With or without Beanie, the Minnesota matchup may be closer than the 19-point line already floating around. Gopher bloggers are in full taunt mode saying that the Buckeyes are not very good and to bring on Ohio State. Minnesota fans are not normally this feisty so deep into September, but 4-0 starts will do that.
- WFNY took a good look at recruiting classes during the last handful of years and have concluded that maybe there is a talent gap between Ohio State and USC and some of the other elite schools. 2008 and the 2009 verbals are outstanding classes, but the Buckeyes have pulled in classes ranked 25th, 11th, 13th and 16th during the past 6 years.
I live in northwest Ohio and went to the Bowling Green/Minnesota game a few weeks ago and saw first hand the Minnesota team.
BG played them tough: it was only 21-17, Minnesota, entering the 4th Qtr. That is when all hell broke loose for BG. Three BG fumbles that led to TD’s. An INT, and on and on. The final was 40-something to 17, Minnesota.
BG is probably the best of the MAC this year, so beating them is probably tougher than beating Troy.
I was most impressed with the SIZE, especially the linebackers, of Minnesota. BIG. I was thinking that some BG player might get seriously hurt after getting his bell rung by one of those guys. The Minnesota coach(what’s-his-name?Brewster?) is building a better program there, I think.
Hopefully Tressel will have the Buckeyes pumped and ready to play saturday because Minnesota is going to be tough.
I think Beanie would probably have his draft stock served if he redshirted for the rest of this year, and came back next year. He’s still probably a 1st round pick, but he has had a tough time staying healthy. NFL teams will be nervous about using a high draft pick (top 5 to 10) on an injury prone, high-carries, between the tackles running back.
Coming into this season Beanie was projected scouting services to be the number one pick in the 2009 draft. I think he would be well served to come back in 2009 and prove he can last an entire season healthy. But maybe that’s just me being selfish. I think Beanie + Pryor in 2009, plus new blood on defense would give us a real shot at the title.
I can’t see why it makes any sense at all to redshirt Beanie. Even if he doesn’t play again this year (his Jr in eligibility) it would be at best a 50/50 shot that he comes back next year, since the prevailing opinion is that he would still be a 1st rounder even if he is shut down.
If he was to come back next year (Sr season or RS Jr if we redshirt him) there is nearly )% chance that he wouldn’t go pro after that.
The only benefit would be if Beanie sat this year, came back next year AND the following year, which I can’t see any possibility of happening.
He needs to just sit till he is healthy this year, and see where it goes. I don’t think he comes back next year regardless of what happens this year.
Just my opinion.
Over in maroon and gold country we need to get excited when we can. After 1-11 last season, 4-0 has been a pleasant surprise. And I think this weekend’s game will be more competitive than the line indicates. The Minnesota defense has improved drastically. Combine that with a shaky OSU offense, and the game should be closer than 19 points.
Mike, good points. I think the reason you redshit Beanie if he doesn’t play again this season is because it doesn’t cost you anything to do so. Sure, he could still leave this year or leave after playing one more, but the redshirt is like a free insurance policy and give him more options.
I guess the one counter-argument is that he technically wouldn’t be eligible for some of the senior traditions, like senior tackle and various other things, but there’s no question he’d be picked as a captain as a redshirt junior.
PJS, I feel you. Gopher fans have a lot more to be excited about than Buckeye fans so far.
My dad was telling me, in his Buckeye Sports Bulletin the week after it happened, a source said it was a torn ligament in his toe. But he has heard nothing else about it since.
In looking at the depth chart for the Minnesota game,
(http://www.the-ozone.net/football/2008/minnesota/depthchart.htm)
I noticed two seniors at fullback, who is the third string? (If one exists…)
Get ready for every Big10 team to think this is their year to knock OSU off. I think (hope?) we will see a more cohesive and fired up team to take that 5th straight conference title.
Pryor will continue to grow and develop timing and repoire with the receivers. Boom is going to get better. I think the Brew Crew is going to push the current batch of inept offensive lineman for more playing time. Our defense will stiffen under the leadership of Laurinaitis, Freeman, and Jenkins.
Seriously though, of all people why Beanie? I was worried for the seniors who passed on the draft, not so much from a team standpoint, but more for their personal and professional standpoint.
Then Beanie goes down. WTF?
I was gonna say your crazy until I noticed you did say u were daydreaming… lol I love the scenerio, but this has a very small chance of actually happening.
With the way the NFL draft has been over the last 5 years, where they draft almost strictly on potential & combine results, Beanie just needs to get healthy for the last couple of games, have one big game which is on national TV, and show up for healthy for Ohio States pro day and hes back in the first round.
Granted he will not be in the top 5 anymore due to the injury prone label, but if he is healthy enough to run over a weak Northwestern/Illinois/Michigan D, theres a good chance he will generate first round attention, and there goes our potentially greatest backfield combo in Ohio State history of Pryor and Beanie.
I gotta agree with you though, I would love to see him sit this entire year and come back next year.
Greater than the Beanie/Smith backfield? With Pittman to spice things up?
Beanie is a much better back than he was his freshman year. He showed flashes of brilliance, but his vision and patience have gotten a lot better since freshman year. Would be incredibly sad for us to not see him beating down the big ten again, but his future’s more important than that.
There’s little doubt in my mind Beanie has turf toe – most like Grade 2 or 3 in severity.
http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/turf-toe?page=%09%09%09%09%09%09%09%09%094
Also, the 30 percent rule applies in college football? Didn’t know that – I thought it was a basketball only rule.
Definitley let Beanie rest until he’s healthy! With TP instead of Big Head Todd and the Backups, and Boom getting better each game, we have a solid running game that opposing D’s will have to respect. TP will see a lot fewer blitzs than TB would have faced. By the end of the season with Beanie hopefully back, the offense could look a lot it did at the end of 2005! TP looks to be far ahead of where Troy Smith was early in his career, and a healthy Beanie would balance the fact that this years recievers aren’t as good as the Holmes/Ginn/Gonzo trio. In my opion that was the best OSU Offense of the Tressel era. An offense close to that, and a D that can wrap and tackle, Is a good recipe for future sucess.
On the drive home today, I heard Spielman say on the radio that he has a hunch – not based on sources or anything, just a hunch – that we’re not gonna see Beanie again this year.
Beanie does not have turf toe, that’s an injury that evolves over time. I’ve heard from a doc at OSU that they are unsure about his injury. He hurt a bone connecting to his big toe, but to what extent is unknown. He may have a break, but apparently breaks on this particular bone don’t always show up on X-Rays. It sounds similar to what Keith Byars had many years ago. Not good for Beanie and the Bucks….I wouldn’t expect him to stay at OSU regardless of how this injury effects his draft status.
This may not be News and not to change the subject of the post but, I heard some interesting info about Small today…
From what I heard, Ray missed ANOTHER Practice during the week. Surprise, Surprise, but it wasn’t the first practice he’d missed amoung other meetings and check-ins.
He is expected to see the field in his “normal” role this weekend however.
You had to figure something else happened with Small. Leading receivers on teams just don’t sit out until the 4th quarter for no reason. Hopefully he (finally) learns the lesson of what’s expected of him while in Columbus.
Keith, yeah, I guess they changed the redshirt rule within the last year and a half or so and as long as a player hasn’t gone over 30%, he’s good. In theory, Beanie could play the Michigan and bowl games and still be eligible.
We will ball on Minny 45-10 just like we always do with or without Beanie. T. Pryor is for real 205 rating would be higher without that hail mary pick he threw. If we can get Beanie healthy this team shouldn’t have trouble running the table. Miami won’t be out of the question if we do and do it looking like the #2 team. Wisconsin should be ranked 8th or higher and Penn St could be ranked in the top ten as well. That would give us two good wins and if they could both be by two td’s or more it would make a good convo if USC runs out.
Tampa…
Love the spirit, but can you let me know where you got your blinders…I’m due for a new pair!
No doubt. The optimism is nice, but this team could win it’s remaining games by 70 points each and not come close to sniffing another MNC trip this year.
He’s playing this weekend. Mark it down. You heard it here first.
He will be a beast the rest of the year!
I’m not sure I want this team in another MNC game. It seems like the older players just don’t have the motivation after getting killed over and over again. Let’s hope for this young group of players a great non-BCS game or an average BCS game where they can build some confidence and then shoot the moon next year.
Looks like JD is a prophet.