By: Steve Hemmelgarn (NewsAndSentinel.com) —
Spring football is in the air, so let’s talk about it.

Listen to Jim Tressel discuss his Ohio State team the day before spring drills began, and you get an indication who he is looking for to step up into a lot of those holes made by graduation and early departures for the NFL.

But of course, the first thought for most OSU fans concerns the maturation of sophomore-to-be Terrelle Pryor at quarterback, especially with his passing.

For Tressel, the ”hope is that Terrelle becomes a lot more comfortable in Amoxil price what he’s seeing and where he needs to deliver the ball, and enhances his own confidence in getting the ball to the playmakers.”

Tressel bemoaned the loss of star running back Beanie Wells. ”You don’t replace a guy like him,” said the ninth-year Buckeye grid boss. ”Without him, we’ll have to get a little bit more creative in some other areas. But I like ‘Boom’ (Herron) and Brandon (Saine). They can play.”

The linebackers are lining up to replace James Laurinaitis and Marcus Freeman. ”This will be a big spring for a lot of guys – Etienne Sabino, Brian Rolle, Austin Spitler, Andrew Sweat and Tyler Moeller,” said Tressel. ”But let’s face it, we’re a long way from knowing for sure how it’s going to unfold.”

At wide receiver in Brian Robiskie and Brian Hartline’s stead, Tressel thinks ”it’s a big spring for guys like DeVier Posey, Taurian Washington and Lamaar Thomas.” But ”an important one” too, he added, for ”our veteran guys, like Dane Sanzenbacher and Ray Small. But we’re looking for quantum leaps from Lamaar and DeVier and Taurian.”

How good, though, can the Buckeyes can be this season after losing 31 players, including 28 seniors, from last year’s 10-3 Big Ten co-championship team? Ask the always-optimistic Tressel, and his response is predictable, although he did mention that ”R” word (rebuilding) that coaches usually avoid using at all costs. ”I feel good about our talent,” he said, ”and I feel good about their interest in being good. But now we need to see good, rapid growth. We’re not rebuilding, just have holes, but we’ve got good players to fill them.”

* Congratulations are in order for the last Friday’s BACF Basketball Classic as well as the Ohio State wrestling team.

The BACF cage contests, with game director Bill Camp in charge after working with Joe Crislip on in the beginning, have become an event each year, and are getting better each year too. The basketball, for being one of those so-called ”all-star games” is amazingly good, and the other entertainment Camp procures to fill time is always first-class. And it shows in the attendance – 1,250 last year and then 1,500 this year. Kudos, Billy, keep up the good work!

The Buckeye grapplers finished second in the nation for the second straight year after leading the NCAA tournament is St. Louis going into the final day of competition. OSU’s J Jaggers captured his second consecutive national championship at 141 pounds and head coach Tom Ryan was named the National Coach of the Year.

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