COLUMBUS — Ohio State coach Jim Tressel swears tailback Chris “Beanie” Wells will be back this season. Tressel either doesn’t know or isn’t saying for sure when that will be.
Wells, sidelined since hurting his right foot in the season opener against Youngstown State, is still taking baby steps in his attempt to get ready to play in a game. He has run through some drills with the rest of the Buckeyes running backs, but has not faced contact and has not done much other than gingerly running in a straight line.
“I did see him sweating,” tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator John Peterson said with a grin after Wednesday night’s practice. “I saw a bunch of sweat on his head. So that was a good sign.”
Peterson said he did not know what Wells did in practice, how he was feeling or if he was sore or tired. Ohio State’s practices are closed to media.
Team spokeswoman Shelly Poe would only confirm that Wells practiced.
Tressel said at his weekly news conference Tuesday that Wells is questionable for the 13th-ranked Buckeyes game Saturday game against Troy, but added that Wells had been participating in conditioning and workouts.
“Beanie’s still in a day-to-day evaluation process,” Peterson said.
Asked if Wells’ mysterious injury — no Ohio State official has given its exact nature or severity, and Wells has not been permitted to speak to reporters — might require surgery, Tressel said no. Asked if there’s a chance Wells might miss the rest of the season, Tressel answered, “I have not heard that once.”
Several Ohio State players have said Wells is looking and feeling better every day.
But if Wells is close to being ready to go, that’s news to Ben Person. And Person starts at right guard on Ohio State’s offensive line.
“I don’t think he even practiced,” he said after Tuesday’s practice.
Yet safety Kurt Coleman, while conceding that Wells did not participate in team workouts, gushed about the possibility of Wells returning.
“He’s looking good,” he said. “I didn’t get to see him much on the offensive side of the ball. But I saw how he’s working out. Hopefully he’s going to be back this week. He’s looking a lot better.”
Tressel and several members of his coaching staff said last week that they were encouraged by Wells’ workouts Monday. But when asked to do more in Tuesday’s practice, he was extremely sore.
With Wells watching from the sideline the last two games, Ohio State has not been able to run the ball effectively. In a tight 26-14 comeback win over Ohio two weeks ago, starter Dan Herron, Brandon Saine and Maurice Wells combined for 113 yards on 26 carries.
Then in Saturday night’s deflating 35-3 defeat at top-ranked Southern California, those three mustered 59 yards on 14 attempts.
“I think our guys have confidence in Danny Herron and Brandon Saine and Mo Wells,” Tressel said.
Herron, a redshirt freshman, has started both games that Wells has missed. He said the team missed Wells, but needed to get past that.
“We have a great group of running backs,” he said. “Of course, (Beanie) is a great part. But we’re all working hard. The team is taking it all on.”
Wells’ status has reinforced Troy’s confidence coming into Ohio Stadium.
“With Beanie (playing for Ohio State), I think we’ve got a good chance,” Trojans safety Tavares Williams said. “Without Beanie, I think we’ve got a great chance to win. It takes away what they want to do and that’s come out and power it right at us.”

BUCKEYES PERISCOPE

BUCKEYES BUZZ: It’s an unwritten rule, but one that has been followed for years at Ohio State: Coaches take the blame, they never lay it on their players.
Yet many are criticizing coach Jim Tressel for pointing the finger at QB Todd Boeckman for what appeared to be a blown assignment by a blocker that led to Boeckman getting creamed on a blind-side hit late in the first half of Saturday’s 35-3 beating at the hands of USC.
A reporter asked Tressel on Tuesday: “On the play where Todd was blindsided before half and fumbled, what is the responsibility there?”
Even though Boeckman didn’t even see LB Clay Matthews roll up untouched from the right side of the defense and level him with a massive hit, Tressel made the case that the sack and Boeckman’s subsequent fumble were exclusively the quarterback’s fault.
Tressel explained that Boeckman had assumed USC was running a defense similar to the one that it had on the previous play.
“He (Boeckman) thought, ‘Oh, he (Matthews) is going to peel off on the back again and he thought, ‘OK, I’m safe back here,’” Tressel said. “(He) took his eyes off of it, and he erred. Now, he knew he erred. When he came off, after he peeled himself up off the turf because he got whacked, he knew exactly the mistake he made.”
TAKING BLAME: Defensive co-coordinator Jim Heacock, by contrast, repeatedly said the coaches were also to blame for a lack of defensive pressure in Saturday night’s rout.
“Probably you can attribute a little bit (of the blame) to everybody. Whenever you’re blitzing, the front has to get there, the back end has to lock them down, and everybody has to do their job,” Heacock said. “We didn’t win enough battles. There’s no question about it. I certainly wouldn’t say the scheme was all that great, either. We can all share in the downside. The guys and coaches realize we have to improve drastically and swiftly.”
MISSING STARTERS: The next time anyone talks about how a team suffers when it loses a lot of talent, consider this: heading into the season, USC replaced its starting QB, leading rusher, leading receiver and four-fifths of the OL, plus three first-round draft picks from the defensive front seven, not to mention 26 lettermen.
— The Associated Press
 

In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement and discussion guidelines.

Need help? Email Us.