Football
The-Ozone Note and Quotebook
By John Porentas
Small Addition: OSU wide receiver Ray Small has been out of action thus far this season as a result of an ankle injury. Small is expected to see action this weekend against the Huskies. According to wide receiver coach Darrell Hazell, Small almost got into the game last weekend against Akron.
Ray Small "We had a chance late in the game that I felt we probably could have put him in. I thought he was healthy enough to go in last week but I thought 'Lets hold him off one more week,'" said Hazell.
Hazell said that despite the layoff due to his injury, Small has looked good in practice drills this week.
"He's looked very sharp. I think he's been playing very fast," said Hazell.
Small's high school coach was Ted Ginn Sr. Ginn has said of Small that he is the most explosive player he has ever coached. That's saying something since he also coached his son. You may have heard of him, Ted Ginn Jr.? Ginn Sr. coached a few other names you might remember, like Troy Smith and Donte Whitner. That's rare company, but Hazell said the comparisons that put Small in that group are not out of line.
"Yes, he definitely has that kind of ability. Is he at that point yet where Teddy was his last year? I don't think so, but if he continues to work he's definitely got that kind of ability," said Hazell.
That sounds like a lot of pressure to hang on a young player, but prior the the season Small said he is ready for the comparisons and and expectations.
"Me myself, I'm going to say yes, I could be a game breaker," said Small.
"I just need the opportunity. Everybody says 'Are you going to be the next Teddy?' and I think that's a real good thing. I've been hearing that for a long, long time. Most of my career. When Teddy left Glenville everybody said there was nobody else there, but most of the media said that I was the next Ted Ginn. They even tried to give me number two in high school.
"I'm kind of used to it now so it doesn't really bother me. I know I'm my own person and I play my own game."
Small brings not only great speed, but is very tough to get your arms around once you get close to him.
"He brings shiftiness, that's for sure," said center Jim Cordle.
"In spring ball we'd throw him a little two yard stop and turn around and catch the ball and he just shook the whole defense and scored a touchdown. That's what he brings. Dane (Sanzenbacher) is kind of a natural slot guy, but Ray is a guy who is real shifty. You get him the ball and watch what he can do," said Cordle.
Small will be used as a slot receiver, but may also be used a kick returner as well against Washington.
"We'd like to use him back there (on kickoff return)," said Hazell.
"We'll probably have a rotation back there with four guys, so you may see him back there based on the situation."
If Small also returns kicks someone will lose reps at that position, most likely Brian Robiskie. Hazell said that Robiskie enjoys his role as a returner, but knows that if Small is back, his time will be limited.
"Absolutely. He's no dummy. He understands," said Hazell.
"Ray's pretty good back there. He's going to be exciting."
Small is exciting as both a receiver and returner and brings a little oomph to the huddle when he's in the game.
"If they call is a reverse and you see that Ray's in you want to get down field and maybe get a little nick on somebody because maybe he can take it to the house," said Cordle.
Measuring Stick: The Buckeyes are headed to Seattle this weekend to take on the resurgent Washington Huskies. The game will go a long way toward determining what kind of season both teams will have. For Washington, it's a opportunity to make a statement that the once-proud Huskie program is back by knocking off a ranked team.
"This is their saving game," said OSU center Jim Cordle.
"I remember Coach Willingham at Notre Dame. He recruited me and he was a good coach. I thought 'This is a coach that I could play for.' He's got that program back on track. He's got them going to where they need to be and this is a game where they can all of a sudden be on the pedestal nationally."
For the Buckeyes, it's a chance to find out whether this young team has the stuff that it takes or not. It will very much be a measuring stick game for both teams. For the Buckeyes, not only will they being going against a solid opponent, but will be on their first road trip of the season, something of a challenge for a young team with a first-year quarterback.
"In my opinion this is a very valid test," said OSU defensive coordinator Jim Heacock.
"I think going on the road is a test in itself and with the travel and the trip and taking a young group on the road, can they keep focused? There's a lot going on out there. It's a different part of the country, they're going to see things they haven't seen around here.
Many on Heacock's young defense, with only one senior in the two deep, will be on their first road trip.
"I think that focus is going to be critical and when you have a young group like we have with not a whole bunch of seniors that's a concern," said Heacock.
"Then we'll see how we play against a good offense with a quarterback that can legitimately make two guys miss on a play, a tailback that that can split the defense and score like they did against Syracuse. The quarterback can throw, they have wide receivers that can run, they have a fullback that can run. I think it's a very stiff test."
Malcolm Jenkins Though not a senior, corner Malcolm Jenkins is in his third season as a starter and has been to a few hostile places.
"I've been to Penn State, to the Big House, places like that. I feel like the stadium and the environment only affect you if you let it," said Jenkins.
"If you focus in on the game I don't think much can take away from your focus. As long as you try to get the crowd out of it early it should be too much of a problem."
Jenkins has words of advice for the young Buckeyes headed into a hostile Huskie Stadium.
"I think the biggest thing about playing away and the crowd is hostile is to use that as your fuel," said Jenkins.
"When I step into a hostile environment I just get hostile, you match the environment. You take your attitude and match it to whatever the environment is and you'll have fun and elevate your own game."
Telephone: OSU center Jim Cordle will be making just his third start of his career when the Buckeyes take the field against Washington. Cordle, who won the Jim Parker Offensive Lineman of the Week award for his game against Akron, said he had a definite case of nerves in the season opener against Youngstown State in which he made his first career start. Now he has to deal with making his first road start in front of a hostile crowd.
Jim Cordle "The nerves will be there I'm sure. The nerves were there for my first start," Cordle said.
Cordle's job is a challenging one. Not only does he have to block, but he's got to call the blocking schemes. From the time the team breaks the huddle to the time the ball is snapped, Cordle's is processing a plethora of input in order to make the proper play call. The number of keys Cordle must consider in those few seconds is astounding. Cordle listed some of them.
"Where the linebacker is lined up, you look at their normal alignment and then if they're running a different stunt , a different blitz they kind of move maybe.
"You've got to read the coverages too, where the safety is, where's the run support, on a lot of our plays we have to know where the support guy is, which safety is in support so we can try and block him.
"You look at d-linemen and where their hands are, you look at their stances, even a guy's eyes, maybe a linebacker's eyes will get bigger when he's blitzing," Cordle said.
It's a lot to think about, and it all has to be done quickly enough to make a decision then communicate that decision to everybody along the offensive line before the ball is snapped. That's a tough job even when the crowd isn't hostile, but when there is crowd noise as is expected at Washington, the play has to be passed down the line from player to player, just like the game telephone. That sometimes leads to the guys at the end of the line getting the message just in the nick of time.
"Sometimes we have to think a little bit faster than the tackles do and be in our stance faster just so we can be ready to get that call," said OSU tight end Jake Ballard who would have to wait for the call from Cordle to be passed to the guard, then the tackle before getting the call himself at tight end.
"We might get the call and the ball is snapped right after that, so we have to be prepared to think fast and move faster."
"Hopefully we'll be ready," said Cordle.
"We're doing a lot of things with different hand signals, making our calls, silent count, pointing to where we're going, passing the call, we'll have to pass the call down the line.
"Alex (Boone) and Kirk (Barton) and Steve (Rehring) played at Penn State and other places so they kind of have the feel for what it's going to be like. Hopefully I'll be ready for it because it will be my first time in that kind of environment."
Getting it Together: OSU's offense has drawn some criticism for its performance in the first two games. The Buckeyes have sputtered some against two opponents that probably aren't going to be in the top-20 anytime soon. The critics are vocal, but the people within the program are not ready to panic. They see an offense with plenty of talent and upside, one that has made costly mistakes early on, but mistakes that can be corrected.
"One guy on offense can make an error up front and the whole play happens to be shredded," said offensive coordinator Jim Bollman.
According to Bollman, the problem isn't a weak link on offense, just inconsistency from people who normally get the job done.
"You can have five different plays and five different guys making errors and everybody is grading 80 per cent and you've got five bad plays," said Bollman with a wrinkled brow.
"You wish if you're going to have a bad play that everybody would have a bad play at once. That has to get rectified," Bollman said.
Mistakes and turnovers have hurt the OSU offense. Also entering into the situation is the fact that the OSU offense really hasn't run much of the OSU offense.
"Obviously there wasn't a whole lot of package the first couple of weeks, and we'll continue to put package in," said wide receiver coach Darrell Hazell.
Jake Ballard "You've seen a little of the playbook," added tight end Jake Ballard.
"We're just trying to get the job done using the few plays we think that will get the job done. We're scheming to the teams we're playing and we're not trying to show our whole playbook all at once," Ballard said.
One of the things that has not yet been seen out of the OSU offense is a lot of passing to the tight ends. Before the season they were expected to be a big part of the offense, but according to Ballard, things just haven't been right for that to happen...yet.
"Our first two games we played defenses where it was packed in there. It's hard for a tight end to get those nine, 10 yard balls. We're not going to split a tight end out when we could have receivers work their way through and they're still getting tackled as soon as they catch it. We're just going by the other team's defenses. We think Washington's defense is actually more of a normal type of defense that we've seen that we're used to going against, so we'll see what happens," Ballard said.
Young Wideouts Still Impress: Ray Small is back this week and veteran wide receivers Devon Lyons and Albert Dukes are both available after missing practice time early this season with injuries, Lyons with an ankle injury and Dukes with a sore finger.
"Early they both missed considerable time. They're both pretty close to 100 per cent now," said wide receiver coach Darrell Hazell.
Hazell said that the Buckeyes will probably take nine wide receivers to Washington. That group will include Brian Hartline, Brian Robiskie, Small, Dukes, Lyons, Dane Sanzenbacher, Devon Torrence, Taurian Washington and at least one other receiver. The playing rotation will be much shorter and will include at least two freshmen, Washington and Sanzenbacher, to go along with Robiskie, Hartline and Small. According to Hazell, both Sanzenbacher and Washington have made the most of their opportunities to play while Lyons and Dukes were injured and will be tough to get out of the rotation.
"Saturday we'll probably play five guys based on how the game goes," said Hazell.
Hazell said he is impressed with how the freshmen have picked up the nuances of college football.
"They're probably a little further advanced at this time than what I expected." said Hazell
"I thought that maybe by week five or six they would be at this point. I think they've done a tremendous job of studying off the field and that's given them a chance to be good."
Sanzenbacher has already developed a reputation as a fast learner and heady player. According to Hazell, Washington brings his own set of assets to the table.
"He's strong," said Hazell.
" He's a very strong guy. Powerful but he has very soft hands. He's a little raw with his body right now in terms of getting in and out of breaks but he's going to be a special guy when it's all said and done."
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