The Buckeyes face Miami on Saturday, with QB Terrelle Pryor still looking for the first winning performance of his career, as graded by the Ohio State coaches
OSU defensive end Nathan Williams should be back Saturday, but he may not play as much as he usually would.Notes from Ohio State interviews today
* Jim Tressel played the I-can-barely-remember card several times when asked about the 2003 national title matchup with Miami. The revelation? Tressel said he has never seen that game.
"Some day I'll invite you all over and we'll sit in our rocking chairs and we'll break that game down and I'll tell you what I was thinking, if I can still think by then," Tressel told reporters.
* Starting defensive end Nathan Williams, who missed the Marshall game with a knee injury, is expected back this week. He practiced some Sunday, the Buckeyes were off Monday, and he is expected to practice today. But Tressel doesn't sound ready for Williams to see his typical amount of playing time.
"I think the thing that you have to be careful with is guys that miss some training camp and all of a sudden if you think they can go out there and play 50 some snaps, I think you're risking a little bit," Tressel said. "So what we have to figure out in the course of this week is just how many snaps is he ready to go."
* In other roster news, freshman running back Rod Smith, whose arrival at Ohio State was held up as his transcript was approved by the NCAA Clearinghouse, is on campus and practiced for the first time Sunday. Tressel said he looked good, maybe because his legs were fresh. Tressel said a redshirt isn't a sure thing, but I would be absolutely shocked if he played at all. I think it would take at least two major injuries to tailbacks, maybe three.
And linebacker Etienne Sabino, a junior, is probably looking at a redshirt season. It's not for injury or any off-field reason, but Sabino has shifted to middle linebacker now, after getting beaten out by Andrew Sweat for the starting strongside linebacker job, and he probably wouldn't play much behind Brian Rolle. So a redshirt would give him a chance to have two seasons to start, if he wins a job next season after Rolle and Ross Homan graduate.
Finally, linebacker Storm Klein had been out with an injury and should be back this week, which would make him the backup middle linebacker behind Rolle.
* Quarterback Terrelle Pryor has still not been graded as having what the coaches call a "winning performance" in his career. Tressel has said repeatedly that the quarterbacks are graded especially tough. Center Mike Brewster earned the first winning performance of his career against Marshall and said he missed only one blocking call on the line.
Jim Tressel on preparing for Miami, a bowl loser to Wisconsin last season