OSU stars work with Lex grid campers

BY CHAD FISHER (Mansfield News Journal) —
LEXINGTON, OH — Todd Boeckman might wield the lowest profile of any returning All-Big Ten quarterback in Ohio State’s storied football history.
he Buckeyes senior led coach Jim Tressel’s team to a second straight undisputed conference championship and berth in the national title game. Still, his return has been trumped by the arrival of star recruit Terrelle Pryor.

“He’s a great player,” said Boeckman, who spent Friday morning as a counselor at Lexington’s high school football camp.

Pryor was rated the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit, and chose the Buckeyes over Michigan in a monumental recruiting war.

While numerous fans are anxious to see the 6-foot-4, 225-pound Pryor in action, he’ll have to wait his turn behind Boeckman.

The St. Henry graduate is an entirely different player than the athletic Pryor. Boeckman is a pocket passer who completed 191-of-299 passes (64 percent) for 2,379 yards, 25 TDs and 14 interceptions. But his subpar performances in OSU’s last three games, including another blowout loss in the national title game, colored the perception of an otherwise strong season.

“There’s definitely a lot of things we need to work on. Losing the last couple of national championship games that was tough on us,” Boeckman said. “We can’t turn the ball over and can’t have those dumb penalties we had in the national championship game that really cost us.

“It’s the dumb little things like that that you can’t do in a football game — the penalties and the mistakes. Because if you make those plays and the other team doesn’t you’re going to win the game.”

This year some have speculated Boeckman will shepherd the team through the rough spots and pave the way for Pryor to get his feet wet with intermittent action, a la Tim Tebow at Florida in 2007.

“(Pryor) obviously has a lot of skills to be a great quarterback — he can run, he can throw,” Boeckman said. “There’s a few things he still needs to work on here and there, but hopefully within the next couple weeks and months we can work on those things and help him become a more complete quarterback.”

Boeckman and All-American linebacker James Laurinaitis were the biggest names at Friday’s camp session, and they drew a large crowd of young athletes gathered at Lexington High School to learn fundamentals.

This was Laurinaitis’ third year at the camp.

“I really just remember being an eighth grader in Minnesota and my best friend’s little brother was Marion Barber III, who plays for the (Dallas) Cowboys now,” said Laurinaitis, who won the Bronko Nagurski Award as a sophomore and the Dick Butkus Award as a junior. “I looked up to (Barber) and was kind of wide-eyed and I know these kids do the same thing to us.

“You can influence so many lives the right way just by doing this.”

Laurinaitis said his relationship with Lexington head football coach B.J. Payne enabled him to contribute to the camp.

“I know Coach Payne and Brian Hartline and I are great friends. I did this my sophomore year and Coach Payne gave me an opportunity to work with the kids and I loved it,” Laurinaitis said. “I enjoyed working with the kids. I’m comfortable with all of the coaching staff and I just enjoy it every time I come up here.”

Boeckman said working with kids was a highlight for him, too.

“I always love giving back especially when you’ve got young kids out here it’s always nice to teach them some of the things you learn throughout the year,” Boeckman said. “It’s a blast.”

Other Ohio State players that attended the camp were Hartline, Mansfield’s Jamario O’Neal, Dexter Larrimore, Donald Washington, and linebacker Marcus Freeman. Payne said Illinois players Darrell Bellew, Mark Jackson, and Brian Gamble will help with the camp Saturday.

“That’s the great thing about these guys they put the pressure on the kids to react and rally around them,” Payne said. “They do a great job of working with them. I put on the show they put on the entertainment.

“The highlight for me was seeing every kid smile and not having any injuries,” Payne said. “When you’re bringing in guys that we’re bringing in that enables the kids to go cheap drugs out and have a blast. The kids had a great time and they just like being around these guys.”