The man who forced Tyler Moeller to the sidelines last year faces sentencing Thursday, while the Ohio State safety reports for camp, ready to tackle again.
View full sizeSidelined a year ago as he recovered from being attacked in a Florida bar, OSU safety Tyler Moeller can't wait for fall drills to begin.COLUMBUS, Ohio -- There's one collision that every Ohio State player should be waiting for when the Buckeyes put on full pads next Tuesday. Tyler Moeller may hit someone for the first time in more than a year.
"I'll come out the first day I can hit again and hit somebody as hard as I can," Moeller said in April, "and I'll be good to go after that."
The Buckeyes report for camp Thursday and Friday is the first day of practice, though only in helmets and shorts. The NCAA mandates four preseason practices before full pads go on.
While Moeller moves into the team hotel, Ralph Gray Decker, according to court records from Pinellas County, Fla., is Thursday morning facing sentencing after pleading guilty in June to felony battery. That plea followed an incident a year ago when Decker punched Moeller at a Florida bar, causing Moeller to hit his head on the ground and suffer bleeding on his brain that required surgery.
Moeller missed all of last season, but practiced with the Buckeyes in April, doing everything except what he loves most about football -- the hitting.
Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said at the Big Ten meetings in Chicago this week that Moeller was probably 95 percent in the spring. The Buckeyes played it safe then, but now Tressel said Moeller is 100 percent healthy and cleared for all activity.
"We don't hit like crazy in the preseason," Tressel said, "but he wants to get a couple licks in."
It's an indication of the Buckeyes' needs, and how highly the coaches thought of Moeller before his injury, that he is penciled in as the starter at the star position as camp begins. That's Ohio State's fifth defensive back on passing downs, part of a defense the Buckeyes employ nearly two-thirds of the time.
There are coverage responsibilities that go with that job, but really, the star has a chance to help in the run game when teams spread it out and even get after the quarterback at times. If there's one thing a player in that position has to do, it's hit.
"I'm a hitter," Moeller said in the spring, "and that's the way I play the game."
Captain Pryor? The team won't vote on captains until the end of preseason camp, but with 12 senior starters, the chances of junior quarterback Terrelle Pryor gaining one of the four spots is probably slim.
"I think with Terrelle there will be some groundswell, but maybe not as much as you might have if you didn't have such a strong senior class," Tressel said. "We've got a good group of senior guys on offense, and that a lot of time spreads the vote a little bit. But we'll see. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't I don't think it'll affect his performance."
The two most likely captain candidates on offense are receiver Dane Sanzenbacher and guard Bryant Browning, who represented the Buckeyes at the Big Ten meetings in Chicago. Other senior candidates include guard Justin Boren and running back Brandon Saine.
There are even more candidates on defense, where defensive lineman Cameron Heyward, who was also in Chicago, is almost a sure thing. Linebackers Ross Homan and Brian Rolle, cornerback Chimdi Chekwa and defensive lineman Dexter Larimore are also strong candidates.