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Football
Buckeyes Looking for New Weapons in 2010
By Brandon CastelCOLUMBUS — A pass-happy Jim Tressel offense? It sounds suspicious, especially considering the way they ran the ball down the stretch last season, but it has happened before.
Led by Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Troy Smith, the 2006 Buckeyes were one of the most efficient passing teams in the country, but if the 2010 team is going to have anything resembling that kind of success, they’re going to need new weapons to emerge in the passing game.
With nine starters back on offense, the Buckeyes have one of their most talented and experienced groups of the Tressel era.
Tressel said he plans to throw the ball more in 2010. We know what that means for quarterback Terrelle Pryor, but what is in store for the rest of the offense? And more importantly, where will the catches come from?
The second-ranked Buckeyes return starting wideouts DeVier Posey and Dane Sanzenbacher, who combined for 96 of the Ohio State’s 174 catches last season, but they lost nearly a quarter of their pass-catching production in Jake Ballard, Ray Small, Duron Carter and Lamaar Thomas.
The 6-foot-7 Ballard was a large target at tight end last season while Small and Carter split the No. 3 receiver role before both were suspended for the Rose Bowl victory over Oregon. Between the three of them, the Buckeyes will have to replace 42 catches from the 2009 season.
“Whoever steps up to be the third receiver, obviously we need three receivers, but we have Jake Stoneburner and we have Zach Boren who can catch the ball as well as all those receivers,” Pryor said.
“We have some weapons to tell you the truth.”
A sophomore out of Pickerington, Boren returns as the team’s starting fullback after catching four passes for 23 yards and a touchdown last season. He should catch more balls in 2010, but it’s Stoneburner who should see the single largest jump in production this season. The 6-foot-5 redshirt sophomore out of Dublin Coffman caught just two passes last season as the backup to Ballard, but he expects that number to skyrocket now that he has moved into the starting lineup.
“I better be ready to catch the ball because I don’t think they expect Dane and DeVier to each have 15 catches a game,” said Stoneburner, who came to the Buckeyes as a wide receiver before moving inside to play tight end prior to last season.
“I think the ball is going to be spread out between a lot of people.”
Along with Stoneburner and Boren, that list will likely include wideout Taurian Washington and tailback Brandon Saine, who caught 17 passes for 224 yards and a pair of touchdowns last season, including a big one in the Rose Bowl.
“Brandon is such a solid player across the board,” Tressel said of his starting tailback.
“He's a heck of a receiver, a heck of a pass protector, he's a great runner. He's got a gear that not too many people have in college football. I expect great things from him.”
With an inexperienced receiver group after the top two and growing list of playmakers at other positions, the Buckeyes could be a much more diverse offense than they were a year ago.
“Brandon probably catches the ball as good as any receiver on this team,” Stoneburner said.“With him being able to do that and with his speed, and with Zach being able to catch the ball, and me being able to catch the ball it’s just not going to be the receivers out there making plays.”
Wide receivers combined for nearly 72 percent of the team’s passing offense last season, but it was a year in which the Buckeyes finished last in the Big Ten in pass attempts, completions and yardage. Pryor threw the ball a total of 294 times as a sophomore, almost 200 fewer passes than Northwestern quarterback Mike Kafka, who led the conference with 492 attempts.
Ohio State is never going to be Northwestern or Purdue when it comes slinging the ball around, but a year in which Pryor averages 35 attempts per game would mean a jump to 455 passes during his junior season. That might be a bit of a stretch considering Tressel’s conservative nature and the fact Pryor has only topped the 30-attempt mark twice in his OSU career.
Any significant jump in passing, however, is going to mean more action for those on the receiving end, especially if Pryor improves on his 56.6 percent completion rating from last season. He completed 167 passes last season, and a jump in both attempts and percentage could mean well over 200 completions in 2010. Assuming Posey and Sanzenbacher each catch 13 more passes (an average of one per game) than they did a year ago, that would leave more than 80 receptions on the table for other plays.
“I think I’m going to catch around 30 balls with how Terrelle is throwing it and how much Tress says he’s going to throw it,” said Stoneburner, who appears to be the No. 3 target for Pryor heading into the season-opener against Marshall.
“I don’t feel like three catches a game is out of the realm of possibility.”
That would still leave 50 catches on the board, which is why the Buckeyes are searching desperately for a No. 3 and No. 4 receiver to compliment their big two.
“T-Wash always makes plays. Chris Fields, Corey Brown, that freshman coming in, he's fast. I call him DeSean Jackson. He's good,” Pryor said in reference to the Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro wideout.
“We have Jake Stoneburner, he could be a possible third receiver depending on the grouping. Brandon Saine can have maybe 30 or 40 catches this year. That's our goal, to get Brandon Saine a lot of catches and get Jake Stoneburner 40 catches and also DeVier and them guys.”Donate by Check :
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