Ohio State Football: How Terrelle Pryor and Other Suspensions Affect 2011 Season

As OSU athletic director Gene Smith reported, five Ohio State Buckeye players, QB Terrelle Pryor, RB Daniel "Boom" Herron, WR DeVier Posey, DE Solomon Thomas and LT Mike Adams are suspended five games for the 2011 season pending an appeal from the university.

The suspensions come from an investigation which revealed that these students sold university apparel in 2009 for cash.

However, these five players will be eligible to play in the Sugar Bowl January 4 against Arkansas, which is good news for Ohio State.

But the problem lies in the future, where Ohio State does not have another QB with a start other than Pryor on the active roster, despite the arrival of blue-chip QB Braxton Miller in the coming days.

Looking ahead to the 2011 schedule, the first five games of the schedule are not the most painful portion of the schedule, with the toughest games being easily at Miami (FL) and at home against Michigan State.

The other question is who among these five players will even come back for their senior season.

Because of these suspensions, all five players could forgo their senior seasons and test the NFL Draft market, despite the rumors of a potential lockout.

And even though Pryor had come out and said that he would stick around for his senior season, this decision, pending an appeal, could mean he might leave Columbus as well with 30 wins as the starting QB.

Moving forward into the 2011 season, whoever starts at QB for OSU, whether it be Miller or sophomore QB Kenny Guiton, will have two games against MAC opponents, Akron and Toledo, to get himself going before taking his team to South Beach to play the Hurricanes on September 17.

Luckily for Ohio State, the team will only play one conference game during the suspension period, the MSU game on October 1.

And even more luckily, the suspended players will return to action for what could be the toughest game of the year, a trip to Nebraska on October 8.

The good news for Ohio State is that none of the current or possible starters on defense except for DE Solomon Thomas will be suspended, meaning that the problem will be left to the offense.

Another major concern is that with Posey suspended and Dane Sanzenbacher graduating, Ohio State will need to start two young players, most likely WRs Corey Brown and Chris Fields, who have combined for just 10 catches in 2010.

Running back, though, should be much less of a concern, with Jordan Hall and Jaamal Berry looking to get most of the playing time due to their experience.

In addition, freshman RB Roderick Smith, who reportedly has been a monster in bowl practices, could work his way into the rotation whether or not Boom goes pro or not.

Whether or not all five of these players decide to stick around for their senior seasons or not is their choice to make.

But it is important for Ohio State to move forward and use the suspensions to try to get their younger players into the active rotations more often.

Because at this point, it seems very unlikely that this team could contend for a national championship without these five players out for a good portion of the season.

For Jim Tressel, instead of thinking about playing for a national championship in 2011, that season may have just become a growing year because of these suspensions.

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