By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) — Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said OSU sophomore quarterback Terrelle Pryor is one of the most compassionate people in the world and he meant no harm when he wrote the name of NFL quarterback and convicted felon Mike Vick on his eyeblack patch for Saturday’s game against Navy.

Tressel said though he is a micromanager, he does not approve or deny what players write under their eyes, and he does not plan to change that policy.

Here is video from part of Tressel’s comment on the matter today.

Here is the full transcript of Tressel on this subject:

Bill Livingston, The Plain Dealer: Jim, what is your policy on, for want of a better word, maybe on personal expressions such as the Michael Vick eye black, I know you weren’t aware of it during the game, but do you have a policy about that?

Tressel: Right. You know, I really don’t. In fact we talked a little bit about that because it’s not the first time that we’ve had letters and emails and so forth about something that someone has personally expressed, whether it’s on their eye patches or someone might write something on their shoe, or on the tape on their wrist and those kinds of things.

So it’s a little bit tough in this country to have too much of a policy on personal expression, but it’s unfortunate when that distracts from situations that were so extraordinary as the weekend we had. And I guess you’d have to know Terrelle like I know Terrelle. There’s probably not a more compassionate human being in the world than Terrelle. We were sitting watching film last night and a text came in from Terrelle and he said, hey, Coach, we’ve got to pump up T-Wash. He’s a little bit down. He dropped a ball or whatever. And that’s just the way he thinks all day long.

I remember about 1:00 in the morning after we lost the National Championship to LSU I got a text from Terrelle saying, hey, don’t worry about it, Coach, we’re going to get it done in the future. And unfortunately I couldn’t text him back, but –

Livingston: He’s a kid, but he had to perhaps expect that this could be controversial.

Tressel: I think that’s probably — you would think, but on the other hand, Terrelle’s of the opinion that, you know what, I’m not any big deal, I haven’t done anything, and like anything else, whether it was a coverage read or a defensive guy not playing a gap or whatever, these are all moments that we can learn from, but again, I guess I would refer back to the fact that you have — you would have to know him the way I know him to understand that he didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings, to be insensitive to something that someone feels strongly about, that’s just not him.

If there’s ever anyone that feels bad about something or downtrodden about something, he’s the first one there with his arms around them, that’s just the way he is. So as they say, it is what it is and you learn from what you learn from and it’s — to go back to your original question, I don’t know the answer to that because if someone came in and wanted to put “Mom” on their eye patch or their wrist, I’ve got a tough time questioning that.

And so that’s part of life and I’m sure Terrelle — he’s one of those guys that he feels terrible about anything that’s not just right. And I know he doesn’t feel good that that disappointed someone. And his intention would never be to make anyone disappointed about something and that’s just his nature and we all sometimes miss the mark, but as I say, teachable, learnable moment.

Tim May, Columbus Dispatch: Will you tell the players, though, that their eye black now will be subject to review before they go out?

Tressel: No, haven’t even had a discussion about it, and I’m open for suggestions from the body of free speech. Anyone have a suggestion?

May: You used to have big Buckeyes on those things at one point or Ohio State emblems, now they’re blank.

Tressel: Are they? I’ve got to be honest with you, I am a micromanager, but I haven’t micromanaged that one honestly. So I apologize, I’ll get a little more hands-on. But we live and learn. And as time goes on, you’ll grow to understand Terrelle like I do and there’s not a more compassionate, caring person than I’ve ever run into.

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