Ohio State Football: What Terrelle Pryor, Other Suspensions Mean for Buckeyes
So much for bowl season being about, you know, the bowl games and all.
News burst out of Columbus today as The Ohio State University announced that five players—quarterback Terrelle Pryor, running back Dan "Boom" Herron, wide receiver DeVier Posey, offensive lineman Mike Adams and defensive end Solomon Thomas—will have to sit out the first five games of the 2011 season due to NCAA rules infractions and will each have to repay between $1,000 and $2,500.
The aforementioned Buckeye players are being punished for selling various apparel and gifts in 2009, including Big Ten championship rings, Fiesta Bowl awards, jerseys and pants, among other things.
Additionally, linebacker Jordan Whiting must forfeit the 2011 season opener and repay a mere $150 for discounted services he received at a local tattoo parlor.
All the money repaid will go to charity per NCAA guidelines.
Details aside, what does this rash of suspensions mean for the Buckeyes football program going forward?
No Suspensions for the Sugar Bowl
1 of 10
Luckily for Jim Tressel and company, none of the aforementioned players will be held out of the Sugar Bowl for their NCAA infractions.
According to Kevin Lennon, the NCAA's vice president of membership and academic affairs, Pryor and his teammates in violation will be allowed to play in the Sugar Bowl because they "did not receive adequate rules education during the time period the violations occurred," which would seem to be an indictment of Ohio State's rules education practices.
Either way, the Buckeyes should be fine on the field in New Orleans, aside from the fact that they'll have to deal with Ryan Mallett and the explosive Arkansas Razorbacks.
However, the media firestorm surrounding this announcement could very well become a distraction for the team as a whole, which may, in turn, affect the Buckeyes' preparation for and performance in the team's sixth consecutive BCS bowl appearance.
Will the Rulings Affect Spring and Fall Practices?
2 of 10
What's not clear in all of this is whether or not Pryor, Posey, Herron, Adams, Thomas and Whiting will be allowed to participate in Ohio State's spring and fall practices before the 2011 season.
As crucial as it is that these six will miss games early next season, including five for the first five mentioned, the Buckeyes will be in even more dire straits if Jim Tressel and his coaching staff cannot work with these players in practice to get them ready to play.
After all, the practice field is where true progress and improvement are made, where veterans like Pryor and Herron intermix with freshmen and sophomores to establish who will play and how they will be utilized throughout the season.
If these players, all of them important, are held out of a significant amount of practice time, they and, in turn, the Buckeyes will not be nearly as effective on the field in games as they would have been with that absent tutelage.
Replacing Terrelle Pryor
3 of 10
The biggest challenge for Jim Tressel and his staff will be grooming a replacement for Terrelle Pryor for the first part of the schedule.
All eyes will naturally turn to incoming freshman Braxton Miller, an Under Armour All-American out of Huber Heights, Ohio known for his speed and mobility as well as his arm, much like Pryor was coming out of high school.
Of course, a conservative coach like Tressel would likely bristle at the thought of starting a true freshman from the get-go, especially one as raw as Miller.
Hence, Ohio State will likely turn to senior-to-be Joe Bauserman, a three-year backup for the Buckeyes whose previous accomplishments read as follows:
25-of-47 for 320 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
In other words, there will likely be something of a problem at quarterback in Columbus that nothing short of the return of Terrelle Pryor will solve.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Who Steps in for DeVier Posey?
4 of 10
Like any true college football powerhouse, Ohio State will have some good options to turn to at wide receiver without DeVier Posey in the lineup, though those options will be quite young.
With Posey out, the Buckeyes will be without their top three pass catchers from 2010 due to the graduations of Dane Sanzenbacher and Brandon Saine.
Whoever is under center at the Horseshoe will still have tight end Jake Stoneburner to throw to. At 6'5" and a solid 245 pounds, the junior-to-be will be the Buckeyes' most experienced returning pass catcher.
Outside of Stoneburner, Ohio State will be thin on experience at wide receiver, with rising sophomore Corey Brown, with all of seven catches in his Buckeye career, being the most experienced returning wideout.
Who Will Lay Down the Boom While Herron Is Out?
5 of 10
Pryor's replacement at quarterback will also be without the luxury of a 1,000-yard runner like Boom Herron to rely on, though the stable isn't exactly empty in Columbus.
Jim Tressel will likely divide the running back duties between rising sophomores Jordan Hall and Jaamal Berry and sophomore-to-be Carlos Hyde, each of whom ran for more than 100 yards in 2010.
Don't expect to see any true freshmen filling in for Herron, as Tressel's staff has yet to sign one in the Buckeyes' 2011 recruiting class.
And Filling in at Left Tackle for Mike Adams...
6 of 10
Few will talk about the impact of the loss of Mike Adams, but his absence may turn out to be the most glaring for the Buckeyes in the early part of 2011.
Adams, of course, is a behemoth of an offensive lineman who mans the left tackle position for Ohio State. For the uninitiated, the left tackle is essentially in charge of protecting the quarterback's blind side so that he doesn't get pummeled when he least expects it.
Not exactly a spot that's a cinch to fix, especially when the next guy up on the depth chart, Sam Longo, was a redshirt freshman in 2010.
Should the Buckeyes fail to find a capable fill-in for Adams, the only difference between Miller and Bauserman at quarterback will be who hits the turf harder.
First Five: Buckeyes Should Survive Early Schedule Without Stars
7 of 10
As troubling as the loss of guys like Terrelle Pryor and Boom Herron is to the team, the Buckeyes should be in decent shape after their first five games without their suspended players.
Four of the five will be played at the Horseshoe in Columbus, where a hefty home crowd should provide a warm welcome for whichever youngsters take over for the sanctioned parties.
Those dates include walk-overs against Akron, Toledo and new Pac-12 member Colorado, which will be breaking in a rookie head coach.
Ohio State's lone early season trip will be to Miami to take on the Hurricanes, who will also be under the auspices of a new coach in the person of former Temple head man Al Golden. As such, the Buckeyes should have a good shot to win that game.
The Buckeyes' biggest challenge will come against 2010 Big Ten co-champion Michigan State, which will travel to Columbus at the start of October. The Spartans didn't play Ohio State this season but will return quarterback Kirk Cousins and running back Edwin Baker among other key players from a team that went 11-1.
Hence, the Buckeyes' Big Ten title hopes may be in trouble before Pryor and co. play a single down.
Might Pryor, Posey and Herron Now Jump to the NFL Draft?
8 of 10
Perhaps the biggest point to consider in all of this is how these suspensions affect the professional aspirations of Pryor, Posey, Herron, Adams and Thomas.
All five of these players are currently juniors, meaning they can jump early into the 2011 NFL Draft.
Terrelle Pryor, in particular, made it clear earlier this season that he would be returning to Columbus for his senior year after having a very good, but not spectacular, junior year in which he posted passing statistics of 2,551 yards, 25 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
However, with such a huge chunk now gone from his senior season, Pryor may consider reneging on his word in light of the circumstances, depending on his projected draft status.
The same goes for Boom Herron, the team's leading rusher, who ran for 1,068 yards and 15 touchdowns this season.
Wide receiver DeVier Posey has similar options, though as Pryor's second option this season, he may be more inclined to return, with the possibility that he may be the team's top target after his suspension.
At 6'7" and 320 pounds, offensive tackle Mike Adams certainly has the size that NFL teams covet but may be expected to bulk up a bit more before he can fulfill his pro potential.
Defensive end Solomon Thomas figures to return, as he has yet to crack the Buckeyes' starting defensive unit but will have an excellence chance to do so with the graduation of Cameron Heyward.
Carelessness in Columbus?
9 of 10
One of the interesting tidbits to come out of this whole fiasco is the fact that the Ohio State compliance department allegedly failed in its duties to keep its athletes informed of the NCAA's rules.
Buckeyes athletic director Gene Smith admitted as much, saying, "We were not as explicit with our student-athlete education as we should have been in the 2007-08 and 2008-09 academic years regarding the sale of apparel, awards and gifts issued by the athletics department."
Smith went on to explain that the department has stepped up its efforts to educate its student-athletes in the ways of the NCAA's extensive rule book since that time.
Even so, one has to wonder what the folks in Columbus were doing and whether the NCAA might choose to punish the program even further in light of this alleged institutional negligence.
Further action seems unlikely, but it would seem that, to some extent, Ohio State's athletics department shot itself in the foot on this one.
Stiff Penalties for Small Infractions
10 of 10
Ultimately, it's difficult to read about what went down at Ohio State and not wonder if the punishment really fits the crime.
After all, a five-game suspension seems like a rather harsh penalty for making an extra $1,000 or $2,000 for selling one's own memorabilia that just so happened to be provided by the university, though not intended for resale.
These sums of money are but a pittance compared to the hundreds of thousands that Cameron Newton's father, Cecil, attempted to extort from various universities, Mississippi State among them, for his son's football gifts.
Furthermore, what is so often lost in any talk of student-athletes receiving improper benefits is the fact that so many of them come from underprivileged backgrounds and likely sold the memorabilia with the intention of using the money earned to support themselves and/or their families during what is already a particularly tough economic time in this country.
So while college football pundits and media personalities wax melancholic about the missteps of these kids (and yes, they are kids) and how they should have been smarter, consider first their circumstances and the fact that Ohio State has made and will continue to make millions off these student-athletes while, in return, they receive an education that is supposedly a fair trade but is, in fact, compromised severely by their commitments to the game of football.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
