By: Tony Grossi (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -- COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Thaddeus Gibson was the Buckeyes player most of the 29 NFL teams on hand came to see at Ohio State's pro day workouts Friday. He did not disappoint. The Pittsburgh Steelers were the most visibly interested. They were in full force, with Kevin Colbert, VP of football operations, leading a contingent that included defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau and two other coaches. As if sensing their presence, Gibson, of Euclid, entered the Woody Hayes Athletic Center ... Read More

By: Aaron Wilson (The National Football Post via Yahoo) -- Ohio State defensive end-outside linebacker Thaddeus Gibson wasn’t the only Buckeye that delivered a strong performance during today’s campus Pro Day workout. Outside linebacker Austin Spitler, a 6-foot-2, 243-pound projected middle-round to late-round projection, clocked a 4.23 short shuttle and a 6.7 three-cone drill with a 32-inch vertical leap and bench pressed 225 pounds 32 times, according to a league source. We’re told that NFL scouts were extremely impressed with how ... Read More

By: Jemele Hill (ESPN.com) -- When ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Tim Tebow changed his throwing motion to become a better NFL quarterback prospect, the debate raged about whether Urban Meyer and the Florida coaching staff had done enough to make Tebow NFL ready. I believe they did. College coaches do have a responsibility to help their players transition to the NFL, the same responsibility chemistry professors have to equip students for the real world. Meyer made an earnest effort with Tebow, hiring Scot ... Read More

By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -- COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Does Thaddeus Gibson want to remind people of a former No. 6 pick in the NFL Draft? The draft slot is a dream, but it might be best if any other comparisons stop there. At the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis this week, Gibson will take his first step toward the same position change that former Ohio State star Vernon Gholston made two years ago, moving from a defensive end in ... Read More

By: JOHN KAMPF (MorningJournal.com) -- COLUMBUS — Neither the day — nor the feeling — will be forgotten anytime soon by Thaddeus Gibson. The Euclid product and his Ohio State teammates had barely come down from the emotional high they received from a Rose Bowl victory over Oregon on New Year’s Day when a blunt realization hit Gibson — who at the time had just declared himself eligible for April’s NFL draft. “I was in the shower,” Gibson said, “and a guy came back ... Read More

By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -- COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Former Ohio State defensive linemen Doug Worthington and Thaddeus Gibson were perfecting an agility drill with OSU strength and conditioning coach Eric Lichter on Tuesday. They were two of the dozen or so Buckeyes striving for every little edge in speed and strength while preparing to work out for NFL teams. Not Aaron Pettrey. Though he's one of four Buckeyes -- along with Worthington, Gibson and safety Kurt Coleman -- invited to the NFL ... Read More

By: Doug DiLillo (TheLantern.com) -- The senior leaders on the Ohio State football team ended their careers at OSU with a triumphant Rose Bowl win, but their work isn’t over. Several of the top seniors and junior Thaddeus Gibson have spent their time after the bowl victory not by celebrating but by preparing for the next step of their football careers. The process of moving from college football to the NFL involves intense training to prepare for the NFL Combine and Ohio State Pro Day. ... Read More

PORTLAND, OR -- Full nude pictures have surfaced on the internet of Portland Trailblazers' star and former Ohio State player Greg Oden.  HuffingtonPost.com first posted on Tuesday that the images have surfaced on WorldStarHipHop.com and that the face in images resemble Oden's, but could not be confirmed at the time. Now HuffingtonPost.com says: Greg Oden, the Blazers center and first overall pick of the 2007 NBA Draft, is sorry about the naked pictures of him that appeared online Tuesday. Oden told the media Tuesday ... Read More

By: John Cupps (BuckeyeCountry.net) -- According to ESPN's Adam Rittenberg, Ohio State's Thaddeus Gibson will forgo his senior season and declare his eligibility for the NFL draft, while two other Buckeyes decided to return for the 2010 season.   Defensive lineman Cameron Heyward and cornerback Chimdi Chekwa will return in the fall to help anchor the team. "I am not leaving the Buckeye family," Gibson said in statement released through Ohio State's sports information office. "I wish the team the very best in the upcoming ... Read More

By: Jim Naveau (RecoredPub.com)-- COLUMBUS — The standards have been set so high in Ohio State football that it seems like there are only two kinds of off-seasons anymore. There are the off-seasons where people talk about winning a national championship. And then there are off-seasons where people really, seriously talk about winning a national championship. Call them a Category One off-season and a Category Two off-season. With the possibility of as many as 16 starters returning from the OSU team that beat Oregon 26-17 in ... Read More

By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -- Los Angeles — Five senior starters should take the field for Ohio State in Friday’s Rose Bowl, but the Buckeyes could wind up having to replace several other starters in 2010 and having to rebuild one of the best defenses in the country. Already gone will be safeties Kurt Coleman and Anderson Russell, linebacker Austin Spitler and defensive lineman Doug Worthington and Todd Denlinger. At least four other defensive regulars have decisions about whether they come back ... Read More

By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -- Jermale Hines got a late start to his Ohio State career, his freshman eligibility held up for five games while the NCAA confirmed his high school paperwork in 2007. Now the Glenville High grad might be ending his career early. Defensive linemen Thaddeus Gibson and Cameron Heyward and cornerback Chimdi Chekwa are the players most often mentioned as the Buckeyes most likely to leave school early for the NFL Draft. But Hines, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound safety ... Read More

By: AP via SI.com -- COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Chimdi Chekwa has a big decision coming up, and it's not what to get with that gift card to an electronics store. The cornerback is among 10 Ohio State juniors who have filed paperwork with the NFL Collegiate Advisory Committee to find out their status for next spring's draft. The information is designed to help underclassmen determine if they should stick around for their senior season in college or if there is a market for ... Read More