Eleven Warriors

The real conspiracy is by every media outlet everywhere to overblow anything embarrassing ever done by any buckeye, current or former. I'm sure Channel 5's Leah Richards giddily called ESPN's anti-OSU batcave as soon as this came across the wires.

This blurb is the appropriate level of attention. Something is wrong when this comment thread becomes the mirror image of the one on MGoBlog. Over there it's all snark about Cicero emailing Tressel, or just outright "Troy Smith is a cheating douche nozzle." Those guys are whiny bitches who need this for comfort after years of getting their asses handed to them. What's our excuse?

Thanks Orlando - I just actually laughed out loud.

I would just love to see what happens if Troy got a chance to for a full off-season to compete for a job. He only had a few weeks in Sanf Fran before he took over, and he put up respectable numbers. He struggled after Frank Gore and a few linemen went down with injuries. Give him a full season to work, and he'll be just fine. Remember, 2006 was the first season where Troy was the established number one starter and didn't have to split reps with Zwick in the offseason. It showed too in Smith's knowledge of the playbook. He always knew where each receiver was and he and the receivers developed a phenomenal feel for timing routes. I don't buy that he's limited by his height. Ohio State had a pretty big line in front of him in 2006, and he saw the field just fine.

I also can't get over how underrated his arm strength is. The guy has a cannon, and throws exceptionally well on the run. And I honestly believe his deep ball is WAY better than most. Deep throwing ability is something many QBs lack these days since they're used to running spread and West Coast crap their whole lives before the pros, where they develop great intermediate passing ability but no deep throwing skills/timing (This is part of the reason I believe Ginn has been so hampered; he hasn't had a QB with the ability to launch it deep on a consistent basis... if Ginn played on the Colts, his stats would be much better... and imagine Peyton Manning with the luxury of having to deal with a safety playing deep all the time... With the Dolphins and 49ers, I saw Henne and Alex Smith consistently underthrow Ginn... Hell those guys could never even hit him in stride on a slant like Troy used to).

As far as character goes, I think it all has to do with the one time he had that heated exchange with Singletery on the sideline. NFL coaches are like a fraternity; they're tight-nit group, and "old boys" club (that's why you see so many coaches bounce around... the NFL is essentially a carousel of the same 50 or so coaches). Singletery may have "blacklisted" Troy for that one exchange, becaue by all accounts, Troy is a phenomenal teammmate and a tireless worker. I'd expect Troy to be picked up by someone in the offseason, especially now that Tressel has more free-time to lobby for him. And then with more maturity and an entire offseason to work with a team, I expect that he'll make a run to be the backup somewhere, or even compete for a starting job.