COLUMBUS — Tailback Chris “Beanie” Wells is likely to return for No. 14 Ohio State against Minnesota.
“It adds to our arsenal,” coach Jim Tressel said Tuesday, shortly after announcing that Wells was probable for Saturday’s game.
Wells has been out of action since injuring his right foot early in the second half of the opening victory over Youngstown State. Dan Herron has been the tailback in victories over Ohio and Troy and a lopsided defeat at top-ranked Southern California.
Ohio State could use the boost. Even though freshman Terrelle Pryor threw four touchdown passes last week in his debut as a starter against Troy, the offense has been erratic since Wells left.
His teammates were happy to see him doing all the drills at Tuesday night’s practice.
Asked how Wells looked, offensive lineman Alex Boone said: “Fast. Very fast. He was running all over the place. He looked physical and fast. He looked like nothing had happened to him.”
Against Troy, the Buckeyes led just 14-10 heading into the fourth quarter before punts downed deep inside the 20 helped Ohio State set up two short touchdown drives to pull away 28-10.
Pryor gives the Buckeyes a mobile quarterback who can avoid a collapsing pocket and transform a potential loss into a gain. He escaped from severe pressure on several occasions to frustrate Troy defenders and perpetuate drives.
The Buckeyes also experimented up front with several other fresh faces on the offensive line. Jim Cordle, who had started the past 16 games at center, moved to left guard to fill in for the injured Steve Rehring. Another true freshman, Mike Brewster, then took Cordle’s spot.
Brewster wasn’t the only youngster in the rotation up front. True freshman J.B. Shugarts and sophomore Andrew Miller also saw action.
Suddenly, the huddle that Wells returns to doesn’t bear much resemblance to the one he left.
Todd Boeckman, the fifth-year senior who led the Buckeyes to a second consecutive outright Big Ten title and the national championship game a year ago, played just two plays against Troy and is now cemented to the bench as a backup to Pryor.
With Pryor on the field at the same time as Wells, who rushed for 1,600 yards a year ago, defenses will be in a quandary.
“Who are they going to defend?” Cordle said.
Asked what it would be like for a defense to face both Pryor and Wells, safety Kurt Coleman just shook his head.
“Scary,” he said. “Scary.”
Tressel said Pryor did not handle himself like a 19-year-old kid who had yet to attend his first college class.
“He knows where everyone is,” Tressel said. “He’s got a great ability to keep his head up, a calmness about him.”
The presence of Wells — if indeed he is healthy and ready to play — should take some of the pressure off the young quarterback.
“Yesterday in practice (Wells) was running up my back and he was saying, ‘Let’s go!’” Cordle said with a laugh. “He almost ran me over on one play. He’s ready to go. You can see how bad he wants to play.”
Just two years ago, Tressel reined in quarterback Troy Smith so he wouldn’t run so much, increasing the chances he would get through the season without being injured. That approach worked wonders. Smith almost never missed a snap while leading to the Buckeyes to a perfect regular season and winning the Heisman Trophy.
Reminded of that on Tuesday, Tressel was asked how he would try to preserve Pryor throughout this season.
“Hand it to the tailback more,” he said.
With Wells now back in the fold, that’ll be a popular alternative.

BUCKEYES PERISCOPE

The buzz

A lot of critics have been ripping Ohio State’s offensive line play. At least last week, one of the critics was none other than head coach Jim Tressel.
Tressel walked over to the offensive line during Monday’s practice. He made his presence felt immediately.
“Now he’s the assistant offensive line coach and he’s always down there yelling at us and he’s always screaming for us to move faster, faster, faster,” tackle Alex Boone said after Tuesday night’s practice. “He’s down there every day. We thought it was going to be a one-shot deal. … I think we just needed a kick in the rear.”
Another lineman, Jim Cordle, said the change in Tressel is obvious.
“Coach Tressel came down last Monday and he said, ‘OK, this is no line-coach day. We’re going to play fast.’ They were just getting after us and yelling at us,” Cordle said. “There was just a lot more energy from all around the coaching staff and players.”
Maybe the Buckeyes needed to be yelled at. Cordle said his mother picked up on the difference, both in the line’s play and in the head coach’s demeanor.
“My mom even noticed it,” he said. “(She said), coach Tressel never steps away and he’s always calm but he was down there yelling.”

Injury update

TB Chris “Beanie” Wells (foot) and LB Tyler Moeller (leg bruise) are expected to play against Minnesota on Saturday (noon start). OL Steve Rehring (foot) missed the Troy game and will also be sidelined for the Big Ten opener. Also, LB Austin Spitler (leg) is expected to miss at least a couple of games.

Boo birds

Ohio State’s players, in particular the seniors, are really upset about QB Todd Boeckman being booed after throwing an incompletion in one of his only two snaps in the victory over Troy.
“A lot of the seniors were really upset when he got booed,” Boone said Tuesday. “I think that shows a lot of disrespect from the fans. A lot of guys were like, ‘This guy took us to a national championship game last year. How can you boo him?’”
He said Boeckman was bearing up under the disappointment of seeing so little action. He also said the blame for the lopsided defeat at USC couldn’t be put solely on the Boeckman.
“He didn’t play so great against USC, but who did? None of us did. We all got smashed,” Boone said. “People started booing him and everybody kind of got mad about that. … People should give him another chance. You know, stand behind your team.”
Tressel declined to be so vocal about the boos. Rather than rip those fans who were booing Boeckman, he shrugged and said, “It’s part of the deal.”
— The Associated Press

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