Presser Notes: Wisconsin Week
DJ Tressel gettin’ loose (via the late Tressel’s World)Without question, the highlight of yesterday’s presser was the revelation that one Terrelle Pryor was nominated for the Jack Tatum hit of the week award thanks to his pasting of gum-running Minnesota LB Rex Sharpe.
Etienne Sabino won the award, which was a no brainer after he knocked out a Minnesota defender on kick coverage. Sabino also picked up Special Teams player of the week honors. Well deserved. Dude brings the wood.
When asked how he felt about TP dishing out the pain and if he was worried about defenders targeting him after such a blow, Tressel broke it down:
That’s good, I’d rather have him be there than on their Tatum list. He likes to play football. I’m sure they’re going to be looking for him reprisal or not, but he likes to play the game.
More on Pryor..When asked about TP’s recent response addressing Mark May’s comments about whether or not the freshman could handle the big stage, Tressel again backed his QB and his veteran-like demeanor:
I know this much about Terrelle and maybe some of our guys that don’t get a chance to be interviewed as much, they’re anxious to compete, and Terrelle’s the kind of guy that, someone asked me on the Big Ten call, do you like that maybe he’s a calm guy out there and that’s all I’ve seen. Whether it was the first scrimmage, he was calm. He lined up against the first defense, he was calm. First game, Ohio Stadium, he was calm. Now, maybe inside he was dying, who knows, but outwardly and performance-wise, he was calm. I thought at the Coliseum, he had command. Has he been perfect? No. Has he executed everything exactly right? Absolutely not. Every experience is going to be a valuable one for him and this is up another notch.
Can it be any more clear that Tressel is amazed at the kid’s moxie? Or that there’s no question as to which QB on the roster should be leading this team?
Moving to the status of the offensive line, Tress shared some info on whether or not Rehring will be back this week and confirmed Brewster should be the starting center Saturday but stopped short of naming him as the long term solution:
We were told this morning in the medical report that we thought that Steve could probably go this week, that we should be a little bit careful about the volume and practice today, especially until we see just how good — you know, today’s really the hardest workday of the week, so what I envision is getting a little help from Steve exactly where and what, I think, is going to be determined how he looks. Steve is a guy that has the ability to play both guard and tackle. (On Brewster) There’s nothing from here on out, we’ve been through that, but today’s practice, he’ll be working with the first group.
That doesn’t sound like a ringing endorsement of Brewster, which I can understand after last week but Tress obviously sees the potential in Brewster or he’d likely move Cordle back and plug in Rehring at guard. Personally, I’m just glad to hear him at least pretend he’s evaluating those linemen week to week. Expect Rehring to see limited action this week.
It sounds as Beanie suffered no ill effects from the Minny game and was refreshing to hear Tress speak mostly of Beanie the running back instead of Beanie the patient:
Beanie has great vision. When his shoulders are square to the line of scrimmage, his ability to cut laterally for a man his size is, I think, outstanding, and then he’s hard to tackle. A lot of times, you can ask Anderson that, I’m sure Anderson is, in scrimmages or whatever, all of a sudden he sees this hole and here comes this guy through the hole and it’s like, okay, what do I do? Do I go after his ankles? Do I go after his thighs? Do I go after him up top? You know, what is it? So he adds that dimension, but he’s not a guy that will just run straight at you and run you over. He’s got excellent lateral quickness. He can go sideways and accelerate for a man his size about as well as I’ve seen.
I know what I’d do. If Beanie was coming through the hole toward me, I’d start running in circles like a 4th grade girl. So good to have #28 back in the fold.
Of course, if you fumble on a Tressel coached team you’re gonna miss some snaps. When asked if Beanie missed the series following the fumble due to the running back rotation or as punishment for the turnover, the Vest offered this witty retort:
Maybe both. I can’t remember. But say the message, because we can’t fumble.
On the subject of playing everyone with shoulder pads and the subsequent illegal substitution penalties, I got the feeling Tressel wasn’t overly worried about it. At first, I wasn’t a fan of his response but it’s obviously logical to expect the liberal subs won’t be as frequent in a tight game though rotating the wideouts and backs is definitely a good idea if the talent warrants the playing time:
Well, we’re going to have to do it better than we did it, because not only did we get two penalties, we were warned, hey, you know, you’ve got like 15 guys out there at a time. And I told the ref, I said, obviously it’s not to deceive them, because we’re deceived, we’re not even sure who’s supposed to be out there, but we’ll just have to see.
Though large chunks of the fanbase and some media types agree Laurinaitis isn’t exactly setting the world on fire this season, Tressel is certainly singing a different tune:
Oh, he’s definitely playing as well as he’s ever played. He’s so disciplined. He’s so instinctive. He’s right where you want him to be. It’s hard to double and triple team, whether you’re double and triple teaming a linebacker, that means about three other guys are killing the linebacker. Guys have said why don’t you double and triple team Minnesota because they don’t throw it as well. It’s not that easy because those other guys, I imagine if no one’s around, they’ll throw it to them.
So I don’t know that James is getting — now, maybe people are real anxious to block him. If I was an offensive lineman wanting to scoop up, if I can get after 33, I’m going to get noticed or whatever. James is playing extremely well. Leading extremely well. Preparing extremely well. He and Malcolm, everyone talked about those were the two that might have left and all that stuff and sometimes you wonder, gosh, I hope they’re even half as good as they were before, they’re both preparing and practicing and playing even better than they’ve ever been and it’s great to see.
I’m not sure I fully agree however I do think the scheme and lack of great defensive tackles has to be considered when evaluating his play.
On the Saine front, I was astonished to hear Tressel indicate he’s pleased with what Saine has shown in the return game though he did admit finding him carries at tailback would be difficult with the emergence of Herron as Beanie’s primary backup:
Brandon lost some reps because Danny Herron got all of a sudden ahold of the ball and Brandon was on the sideline for 20 some practices and it’s hard at that position. If you don’t get your rhythm and get rolling and get opportunities and so forth. I thought Brandon did a good job bringing kicks back on Saturday. He got in a little bit on the offensive side. We continue to talk about how we can utilize him, but right now with all of a sudden Beanie getting back, and Boom, I think, doing very well, the tailback reps become even more rare.
I think my favorite response of the day occurred when Tressel was asked whether his squad is back in the national title picture after all the upsets last Saturday:
That’s probably why there are upsets because people talk in September about whether they’re in the National Championship picture. You better be in the picture that’s in that frame right now and the one that’s in the frame right now is Wisconsin.
How true is that? Just an example of why there shouldn’t be rankings of any kind released until at least 4 games into the season. Sure, this is typical coach speak but there’s no doubt this team isn’t good enough to do anything but concentrate on the current week’s opponent.
That pretty much covers the main topics. On the injury front, Nicol and Spitler won’t play this week and Andre Amos is done for the year. Meanwhile, Rehring, Moeller, Jamario and Rasta will be ready if called upon.
i feeel really bad for andre amos, and also i’ve been saying this for years: aside from the power and speed, Beanie’s biggest asset is his insane lateral movement. i’ve never seen a back that size able to bounce it to the left or right with that kind of speed
It is refreshing to see a QB cool and patient in the pocket. TP is a true talent. I love to study people’s demeanor under pressure and natural surroundings. When the rush is on, TP moves out of the pocket and most importantly, he keeps his eyes down the field. I see flashes of McNabb when he scrambles and makes plays.
bup bup bup, I agree with you. It is actually a joy to watch Beanie run. He has great instincts and can see a play develop.
LANE KIFFIN IS NOW AVAILABLE….. HE DID GREAT THINGS AT USC AS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR…. TIME FOR BOLLMAN TO GO!!
The best lateral movement on this whole team is Tressel. Man can that guy side-step questions……I love it.
Read on a Badger site that they are doing their best not to be down after that implosion in the outhouse, and they are only focusing on us. Well how are you not down after a performance like that? If TP can get in there and not be rattled by the noise, which he won’t, and get a score on the first drive we are gonna be in great shape. We took care of that “white out” last year at state by scoring early and playing buckeye football…..no reason we can’t do the same at Camp Randall. Can’t effin wait till Saturday
wisconsin: “well, steven threet and sam mcguffie destroyed us last week. at least we only have to go up against terrelle pryor and beanie wells this week – phew.”
Lane Kiffin = not experienced enough for Ohio State. Come on, USC and the Raiders?
Will you guys let that hit go. Wow it was so clear that the minn. defender was letting up so he didnt get a late hit o.b. and whattaya kno…pryors scared shitless tht HE will get smashes and he doesnt want his ego to have any little dent now would he? Please quit talkin about this.
Are you kidding me morgan??????????? Our DEFENSE DESTROYED wisconsin last week not threet and guff. I GURANTEE wisconsin beats you this weekend.
Uh, Hello!!, no QB should be able to do that to a MLB. Sorry, but no one’s letting that hit go. Rex Sharpe, no matter what he does the rest of his career, will always be the guy who got flattened by Terrelle Pryor.
Wisky is soft… stop the run and you win… simple.
Carence – I don’t think Pryor looks all that “cool” and “patient.” He really wants to throw the ball, but it is obvious that his reads are limiting him. This is absolutely no knock on him it is just going to take time. The refreshing thing is he is not forcing things that aren’t there or he isn’t sure of. He’s thrown one pick and that was a hail mary heave at the end of the half v. Troy. He had one other ball that should have been picked, but was dropped by a Troy defender.
He is making sure throws and falling back to his feet if things aren’t there. His restraint extremely impressive. His skills will continue to get better.
Too bad about Andre Amos. He’s been hobbled quite a bit, so it’s no surprise.
PRYOR IS GONNA CREATE ALL KINDS OF MISMATCH PROBLEMS FOR WISKY
Can’t wait to watch LiC running in slow-mo past all the Wisky defenders on Saturday Night. Pryor is faster than the mo-ped Cassillas got a DWI on
WHEN THE RUSHING YARDS START PILING UP, THE PASS LANES WILL BE OPENEND…… PRYOR 100 + YDS RUSHING, 100+ YDS PASSING, 2 TD PASS, 1 TD RUSH
Hello!! is funny. Michigan gets one legit win and the fans think they have a right to talk smack again. Sorry Wolverines but you’re still terrible and your team is trying to average an NBA amount of turnovers per game.
Face it, it was a great hit from a freshman QB no less answering an opposing coach calling him out. That’s the kind of moxie you want to see in a young leader. If anyone on Michigan’s deep, talented roster could even fathom landing that kind of hit on an opposing team you’d be changing your pants.
HELLO!!! You have been smelling too many Queefs from Rita Rod!!! Get your head out of the clouds, the only reason ScUM won that game, Wisky was already thinking of the game this week against the bucks at halftime and played accordingly, and threw instead of running to work that game clock down. We know what would happen in OT. The michigan D blows, like you blow RichRod.
If an opposing coach challenged Threet to lay someone out he’d probably fumble the ball right there.
you guys are hilarious. get ur big head outta ur ass our defense is the only reason weve won 2 games. look the stats up michigan is 16th in the country rush defense….suckeyes 22nd. so dont say our defense blows w/ nothin to back it up. our defense is 34th in the country total defense…not bad for a defense that has to watch the offense turn the ball over 6 times a game. dont worry, we’ll be good and tuned up for you this year. also funny how after USC kicks ur ass, you need a new oc, new this new that, but pryor starts and now everything is perfect again. we’ll see how that works out.
flip that was probably the dumbest, lamest comment ive ever read. what are you 9 years old?
Hello!!! said – Are you kidding me morgan??????????? Our DEFENSE DESTROYED wisconsin last week not threet and guff. I GURANTEE wisconsin beats you this weekend.
Destroyed? If you mean gave up 19 first half points (25 total) and lost the T.O.P by almost a full quarter… Yea, you Destroyed them!
It was a good win by the team up north… A MUCH needed win at that, but it was U-G-L-Y! If Michigan can use the term “Destroyed” to discribe any part of that game, they are in more trouble than I thought they were…
I’m not taking anything away from Michigan’s defense. They have played great up to now and are the reason behind their wins. The majority of their points allowed are largely due to the offensive and special teams blunders (read: turnovers). I also fully believe RichRod will have this program turned around eventually. I just think your premature ejaculation of smacktalk is just that… premature. Michigan still isn’t legit. They played a great second half last weekend but that’s about the only highlight of their season so far.
In regards to your USC comment, yeah a lot of us are calling for changes, and we got a lot of the changes we wanted. We still want a new OC. I don’t know how that’s a knock on us, he’s terrible and we want a new one. And yes, Pryor makes this offense 10x better. Again, what’s wrong with that?
I think after last week Wisky is looking to rebound. We will get more than their best shot. how pissed off would you be if you just gave up the 4th quarter like that and lost to Meatchicken.
jb…….19-0 at the half was pretty damn good compared to the 42-0 at the half it could have been. so yes destroyed is a pretty good word, how many times did wisconsin start their off. series on michigans side of the field. and you should be glad we won i gurantee you have a lot more confindence playin wisky now dont ya?
Hello!!, no one said anything about Michigan’s defense. We were responding to the fact that you made an idiotic comment about Terrelle Pryor.
I’ve always wondered how someone can be so lazy as to use a non-word like “ur” for “your.” It’s only two letters. Does it really save that much time?
On the other hand, considering the amount of time “Hello!” saves by not troubling himself to punctuate, capitalize or spell correctly, he’s probably getting lots of work done around the trailer.
(m*ch*g*n boy, who works with me here in the office, had tickets to the Bucky game. He left with two minutes to go in the second quarter. He got back just as m*ch*g*n scored their final points. Priceless.)
I live in the South. The DEEP South. All of the Alabama fans are coming out of the woodwork and the Auburn fans have suddenly shut up down here based on Bama’s recent performances. Seemingly justified.
For some scUM fan to start talking smack after stealing a game from an underwhelming Wisconsin team is not justified and, frankly, is pretty funny (lame).
You are still Michigan, and you are still owned by Jim Tressel. Speak only when spoken to. Otherwise sit down, shut up and take your beating like the whimpy Wolverines you are, and always will be.
Enjoy it when the Buckeyes beat you with your own coach’s offense and the Quarterback he so desperately wanted.
My wife is from Wisconsin and a UW grad. As a life long Buckeye fan, the quality of my life for the next year depends on how well we do in at Camp Randall this Saturday. Those cheeseheads may appear benign but, they can be ruthless if given any reason to talk smack. I am excited and scared at the same time! I really need TP and Beanie to put an ass-whopping on them and take their fans and my bride out of the game. Go Bucks!
I think Wisc is the team we match up the best with in the Big Ten. They don’t run a video game offense its cut and dry. Which is good for us, we should not have to make alot of adjustments. As for the hello blogger, we do want changes i think Bollman and Heacock should go to Youngstown State. We want national championships, which if you are a SCum fan you aleast have to wait till the next decade before you are in the conversation. As for your Pryor comments we got him for aleast 2 1/2 more years so sit back and enjoy the real deal.
amazing to me that Tress is happy with Saine as a return man. It is embarassing to see that guy run back a kick. Im sorry.
Hello!…get a life and a spelling tutorial. There are plenty of Um blogs you can go spout your worthless banter on and people will love you for it. If you want to talk about how good and how “ready” you will be for us, at least live up to your fanbase’s arrogant stereotype and spell like an adult and bring relevant arguments. You beat UW (who is TBD on the toughness scale) and lost to…Notre Dame. I don’t care how many turnovers you had…you lost to Notre Dame. Enjoy getting beat by the likes of MSU, Northwestern and Purdon’t this year (did I mention Notre Dame?).
Dan Sanzenbacher how does he play more then Posey, Small and Washington, seriously i dont care if you forget some plays or whatever if you can’t block, get open or make plays knowing the playbook means nothing. The SEC is full of dumb players who make plays listen to there interveiws not bright but athletes who make plays. Bottom line College Football is a business and you put your best talent out there. Anyone who says its about education go to the IVY league! There’s too much money in college footbal espically at OSU where its everything.
I agree Sam. The coaching staff knows the players better than I do, but I have to question why we are not seeing other guys back there.
Posey doesn’t have Ginn like speed, but he isn’t slow. State Champ im hurdle’s seems like a good platform for kick returns. Thomas has the speed, but I haven’t seen enough from him ( would like to though ) to say if he can field KR and PR.
There are some more guys ( on paper ) that seem they would be a good fit. It all comes down to vision though, and I have to believe that JT and company have looked at it and saw that they just are not seeing the field as they should in that posistion.
Don’t feed the troll, folks.
I’m taking Toledo over Michigan next weekend. Well, even though Toledo lost to Florida International (35-16), they went 55-54 against Fresno State.
I say they put up 40 on sad BLUE.
el caballo de sangre,
do me a favor a stop being such a faggot.