We have video of Ohio State coach Jim Tressel's presentation at today's Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon media event at the Chicago Hyatt Regency Hotel.
Tressel spoke for about 15 minutes on a wide range of topics, including the upcoming season, Terrelle Pryor, the USC game, Joe Paterno and much more.
Ohio State was the media's preseason pick to win the Big Ten championship. Wisconsin and Illinois were picked second and third, respectively. OSU tailback Chris "Beanie" Wells was picked as the preseason Big Ten offensive player of the year, while linebacker James Laurinaitis is the pick as the defensive player of the year.
We are able to provide this video through our affiliation with ESPN, which carried the Big Ten media event live on ESPNews. Special thanks to ScoutingOhio.com for producing this video clip.
Here is the link:
http://scoutingoh.com/Bucknuts_Jim_Tressel_072408_ESPN.htm
Stay tuned for complete coverage of the Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon media events later today and on Friday.
Here are updated links for the OSU football roster:
http://bucknuts.com/football/roster/
And the latest depth chart:
http://bucknuts.com/football/depthchart/
The roster and depth chart are from the fall football media guide, which was printed before defensive back Eugene Clifford's recent brush with the law. Tressel told reporters today he does not expect Clifford to be with the team when it reports Aug. 3.
Here is a transcript of Tressel's comments at the podium, courtesy of the Big Ten:
COACH TRESSEL: It's an exciting time for all of us coaches to get ready to get back at it.
It's hard to believe when you look at some of your older guys and think about the fact they've been with us for four or five years and they're getting ready to head into their last go-around and think about all the growth they've had and the experiences they've had. And we have goodfortune from the standpoint of returning a number of guys who have experienced a lot of things, a lot of great things and some things that weren't the way that we'd hoped they'd happen. In fact, we have I think 40 guys on our rosters right now that are entering years four or five and there's a little challenge there in our eyes to make sure that those guys come back into training camp, theydon't think it's same-old-same-old, and I know what's going to happen today, tomorrow and the next, so it's a lot of fun. I'm sure the reason you like doing what you do is because every day is different, every year is different and that's the fun of heading into another preseason. We're excited about our football team. We have a number of kids that we know, enjoy being at Ohio State and being a part of the great tradition and living with the great expectations.
We think we'll have excellent leadership. We don't know much about our leadership until it's tested, until there's some adverse times and some times that they really need to take charge. We're excited about our guys who are moving from rocky status into the status of having the opportunity to contribute a little bit more, and we're also excited about new guys that are coming into the program. All of our freshmen had a chance to be with us this summer and all reports that we got is that they seem to be a good bunch of guys working extremely hard, and we're excited about August 3rd as we return for the preseason.
Q. Coach, you're 6-1 against Michigan in seven years. To what do you attribute your success against Michigan and is this perhaps the best rivalry in all of sports?
COACH TRESSEL: We've had very good players. I think if you look at the last six or sevenyears' draft boards in the NFL, we've had a significant number of guys that have had a chanceto go on to the next level. We've had excellent quality leadership over the course of time. We've been very fortunate.
I think guys that choose to come to Ohio State, a large part of it is they have a chance to play in a great rivalry. It's exciting for them. So the ball has bounced right a few times, we're not afraid to admit that, and it's just tremendous being part of that rivalry, and what's important to us is what happens in 2008 not what has happened in the past.
Q. You probably heard Carson Palmer's comments?
COACH TRESSEL: I didn't see them but I caught wind of them.
Q. Did you celebrate by sending him an Ohio State jersey?
COACH TRESSEL: No, it just tells youone thing, he's proud of the place he played andhe lives with us in Ohio and I'm sure he gets tohear a lot about the Buckeyes. And I'm sure he'sexcited about the fact that we get to play againsthis alma mater and you know Woody used toalways say, whether they're talking good or talking bad, keep them talking.
Q. Coach, I just wanted to know howsoon you plan on incorporating Terrelle Pryorin your offense and how much of a role he'll have this year?
COACH TRESSEL: August 4th he gets tostart practicing. He's going to be incorporated intoour offense that day. He's got a lot of things thathe's got to build as a foundation. Thecommunication system, the way that we do things,the way that our things work together, but he's thekind of guy that as I've gotten to know him moreand more, knowing exactly what's going on is veryimportant to him. He loves to train. He loves tocompete. He's got great ability, so I would thinkthat from day one he'll be a guy that you're going totake notice of.
Q. Coach, 20 returning starters thisyear. Can you talk a little bit about thedifference in preseason preparation coming offof the two National Championship games thelast couple years, if any?
COACH TRESSEL: Well, you mentioned20 returning guys, and I mentioned that we have40 guys that have been there, entering their fourthor their fifth year. One of the things we'vediscussed a lot is making sure that you continue tochallenge guys and not have them come intopreseason camp thinking it's the same-old-same-old.
So we'll challenge them intellectually, we'llchallenge them physically. We'll try to get a handleon where we are. I think an assumption that youmake with 20 returning starters is that you'realready at a certain level. I think that would be afalse assumption. You have to go back and makesure fundamentally we are very, very good.I think our guys love to compete. I hopethey've learned lessons from those two games youbrought up. Hopefully they learned lessons fromthe other 24 games they've had a part of over thelast two seasons, but I think you can't forget aboutthe fact that there are some guys that need to start from square one also.
So there's a good blend, a good mesh ofwhat you've got to try to do in the preseason camp,and the fun part of preseason, it's a two-and-a-half,three-week time where you're really focused allday long on football unlike any other time of theyear. Once school begins once you're in springpractices, whatever you've got, X number ofminutes and hours with them.But preseason you get to make a lot oftracks, a lot of work and hopefully we'll make itcreative enough and new enough and challengingenough that we can take them from wherever they are now into the next level.
Q. A lot of interest in your game out at USC.Talk about that challenge of going out toLos Angeles and playing a team that has only lost one home game in the last six seasons.
COACH TRESSEL: One of the things thatphilosophically we decided on a number of yearsago is that we always wanted to have a nationalhome and home series in our every-two-yearschedule. That's why we set that up with Texasand that's why we have that set up here withSouthern Cal. And it's an exciting thing when youtalk to guys in recruiting, that hey, you're going tohave a chance to not only play in the great Big TenConference and have a chance to see if you canearn a bowl game opportunity, but you're alsogoing to have a home game with Southern Cal andtwo years later with Miami Florida and so forth.And how difficult is the challenge? Tremendously difficult.
You go into the Southern Cal team,Coach Carroll has done a great job not just withthe fact that he has great talent, but his folks havetremendous fundamentals and they're wellschooled. They bring a lot at you, so it's atremendous challenge.I think every single one of our guys knowsthat and we look forward to having that opportunity.
Q. Jim, you guys are the overwhelmingNo. 1 pick in this conference in the preseasonpoll with Wisconsin, Illinois, but there's noMichigan or Penn State in that top three. How accurate do you think that poll is?
COACH TRESSEL: It hasn't been veryaccurate in the past, which is a little frightening.But, you know, it's really kind of irrelevant becausethere is Penn State, there is Michigan, there isMichigan State, there is Purdue, there is Minnesotaand on and on and on, and you have to line up.You get to line-up against eight folks in yourleague to see who the champion can be, andoutside of this next week or two there's not much discussion on the preseason poll.
Q. Good afternoon, Coach. Like youjust said, you guys were picked to win theconference, and is there any pressure, and do you like buying favorites this early on?
COACH TRESSEL: Well, among the OhioState faithful we're expected to win the conferenceevery year and just like the other coaches are attheir places. I don't know that that adds anything.I think had our guys come to play at Ohio State orcome to coach at Ohio State they understand thatthe expectation is that we want to deserve to bethe Big Ten Champions, and that's what it is. Andjust because a poll said so before the year, I don'tknow if that adds anything.We've got a lot of guys who have beenhere and seen a preseason poll come up whilethey've been here and seen that it hasn't alwaysbeen accurate, so maybe that will be a good reminder for us.
Q. Coach, what differences have youseason in quarterback Todd Boeckman now in his first full year as a starter?
COACH TRESSEL: Well, Todd now has abody of work that he can evaluate, and he hassome experiences that he now has seen instead ofbeing in a practice field or sitting in a media roomhaving a ball cap on and signaling a player. He'sgot some real-life experiences. There's no pricetag on experience, and he can now evaluate thingsfrom a whole different perspective.I think it's a lot easier for him to step upand take charge of a football team. I'm sure as hecame into last year, part of him was saying, hey, Ihave to prove to these guys I can be a quarterbackand now he has proven to them that he's beentheir quarterback, and I think it will be a little easierfor him to take things and take charge and be incommand and all those things that you would lovefrom your quarterback, and along the way, though,evaluate himself where he needs to get better with his individual performance.
Q. Jim, I asked Coach Tiller the samequestion. Joe Paterno is in the last year ofcontract. His future won't be decided until thelast game of the season. There's a possibilitythat he won't return. Can you imagine Penn State without Joe?
COACH TRESSEL: It hasn't been in mycoaching lifetime, that's for sure. This is my 34thyear of college coaching, and he's been the headcoach at Penn State throughout my coachinglifetime. He's been extraordinary for the game.He's helped not just the game of football but he'shelped intercollegiate athletics through hurdles andso many things. It will be hard to imagine, but if I were a betting man I'd say he'll be there in 2009.
Q. Coach, did you pick out a dark horse in theBig Ten Conference this year or do you think that might be overlooked?
COACH TRESSEL: Well, you know, it'sgot to be one of those eight that we play. Thatwouldn't be right if it's not that. You know, I reallycouldn't. We look at every team we play the weekwe play them as being the folks that we have tobeat to become the Big Ten Champions, and everysingle group on our schedule, you could go rightdown and we could talk about why we think they'regoing to be a better football team.I think the Big Ten in 2008 is going to bebetter than it was in '06 and '07. I think there aremore returning players. Obviously we think thatthis is the finest group of coaches in America. It'sjust what we believe of one another. So when youdo line up in the Big Ten, I'm sure like every otherconference feels about themselves, every teamcould be the champion, and it would be impossible for me to see a dark horse.
Q. Coach, do you think it's fair thatperception of the conference of you guys inparticular has been kind of pinned to likebasically four BCS games, two by you guys thelast two years, two Rose Bowl games the lasttwo years, as the conference being down or theconference might not be what you guys mayhave first thought? Is that a fair assessmentand do you understand where that comes from?
COACH TRESSEL: Well, I know from ourstandpoint where it comes from is we played theNational Championship the last two years andhaven't been successful, so is that fair? I thinkthat's fair we haven't been successful. Should thatpaint a picture of our whole conference? I don'tthink so.But it also makes me feel a littledisappointed that our performance in twochampionship games I guess brushes with a widerbrush or whatever they say, but I don't think it'sfair. But what I think doesn't matter and what youthink doesn't matter, either.What happens in the games matters, andso that's why we are excited about preseason andwe get to play the games and we'll find out how it looks in 2008.
Q. Coach, would getting to a National Championship Game and losing it again, wouldthat have a positive outlook looking back on itfor you or would that be a negative or adisappointing season for you if it happened again?
COACH TRESSEL: Well, if that happenedagain that means we were the Big Ten Champions,and I would never be disappointed about being theBig Ten Champions; I would be very proud of that.If we got to the game and didn't win it and didn'tplay as well as we were capable of playing or didn'tprepare as well as we were capable, obviously Iwould be disappointed in that, so I guess that wasa bad answer.
Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema
OSU quarterback Todd Boeckman
Minnesota head coach Tim Brewster
Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio
Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald
OSU linebacker James Laurinaitis
Penn State head coach Joe Paterno
Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez
Purdue head coach Joe Tiller
Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel
Illinois head coach Ron Zook
