Boom Herron is back this week

Here is video from OSU coach Jim Tressel's Thursday press conference.

Well, starting left tackle Mike Adams doesn’t have the flu after all.

That’s the positive news for Ohio State as it prepares for its game against visiting Wisconsin on Saturday (3:30 p.m.; ABC).

Head coach Jim Tressel told the media on Tuesday that he thought Adams was one of several Buckeye players that had come down with the flu. However, it was a false alarm and he will be ready to go when the Badgers come to town.

Junior left tackle Andy Miller – Adams’ top backup and the man that started the first three games of the season – will not play against Wisconsin. He has been out since last Wednesday with the flu, but OSU did say that it’s not the H1N1 virus.

“Andrew Miller we won’t have and we’re hoping to get him back by Tuesday,” Tressel said.

There are a few other players that are questionable for the Wisconsin game due to the flu.

“At (Wednesday’s) practice, we didn’t have Nate Oliver, Justin Boren and Jake Ballard. But as we mentioned (on Tuesday) the game is at 3:30 on Saturday and we have to be ready to go.”

If Boren is unable to play, Tressel said that fifth-year senior/former walk-on Andrew Moses would get the start at left guard. The coach added that “Jimmy Cordle is coming along well and he practiced a little bit (on Wednesday) and frankly surprised me. I don’t think we would put him in the game this week, but he might be back a week earlier than we thought, which would be tremendous for us.”

Tailback tales

Sophomore tailback Boom Herron missed last week’s Indiana game with a sprained ankle, but it sounds like he will play against the Badgers (and will likely split time with junior Brandon Saine).

“Yeah, Boom was really … I don’t know if I’d call it 100 percent, but he’s up there,” Tressel said. “He looked very good (on Wednesday).”

The news isn’t so good for true freshman tailback Jaamal Berry who was starting to flash before his hamstring started barking at him again.

“I tell you what, two days in practice this week he looked good,” Tressel said. “Now, maybe his legs were fresh and all that. But he had a little bit of a setback (Wednesday) and re-aggravated it. So, we’ll see how it is (Thursday). But if he was looking like he did on Tuesday and Wednesday, you would certainly consider playing him in the right circumstances.”

Newsome done for the year

True freshman defensive end/outside linebacker Jonathan Newsome received his first playing time against Illinois two weeks ago, but suffered a knee injury and is done for the season.

Fortunately for Newsome and the Buckeyes, he won’t lose a year of eligibility – this will still count as a redshirt year.

“He went in the game for the first time and got banged up and luckily that was in the first half of the season and he will be able to apply for a medical redshirt,” Tressel said. “But if you have played in more than three games – or if you play in the second half of the season – your year is spent.

“It looks like (Newsome is done for the year). But the injury isn’t as severe as we thought at first. All the talk was that he would need surgery, but that’s not the case.”