COLUMBUS — In marked contrast to his head coach, Ohio State offensive tackle Alex Boone isn’t afraid to let it all hang out. Ask him a question — any question — and he’ll offer an honest, usually funny, answer.
He vows that coach Jim Tressel has never told him what to say and not to say.
“Me? No. No, they know I’m pretty respectful about people and things,” he said this week during preparations for Saturday’s game between the 12th-ranked Buckeyes and Purdue. “They just tell me not to swear. I swear a lot.”
Following in the mammoth cleats of fellow lineman Kirk Barton — always ready to crack wise, detail a colorful story or tell a joke — Boone is this year’s most desired interview by the sizable corps of reporters who cover the Buckeyes.
Toss him a subject, and he’s just liable to write your story for you.
For instance, a couple of weeks ago Tressel declined to say anything bad about Ohio State fans who booed quarterback Todd Boeckman. Even when given a second chance to castigate the boo birds, Tressel would only say, “It’s disappointing, but we’re certainly not going to sit and scold anybody.”
Boone didn’t have that problem.
He ripped into those who booed, calling them rude and disrespectful.
A senior majoring in history, Boone likes to talk. A lot.
On the subject of those black, horizontal smudges under the eyes that so many of his teammates personalize with messages, he said it was best that he not wear them.
“Some people write their hometown area code. (Linebacker) James (Laurinaitis) writes Jesus and then Christ on the other one. Some guys put buckeye leaves on them,” he said. “It’s all for show. I’d probably put something really dirty on there and I’d probably get in a lot of trouble — and I’m trying to avoid trouble this year.”
In a 15-minute interview this week, he used the non-abbreviated version of the phrase “P.O.’d” three times.
He said this about the offensive line, which was criticized for its porous performance in a 35-3 loss at then-No. 1 USC a month ago: “We’re more (P.O.’d) now. This is the Big Ten. This is us. We’ve just got to pound the ball down everybody.”
Tressel grew to admire and even like the graduated Barton, who early in his career questioned (correctly) why a young guy was second string at quarterback. That player was Troy Smith, who went on to win the Heisman Trophy in 2006.
Barton, just like Boone, was a loose cannon and a quote machine. But both burned to win football games, and that’s something that Tressel recognized.
“He wants to be the best,” Tressel said of Boone. “And he wants this team to be good.”
At 6-foot-8 and 312 pounds, Boone has become the Buckeyes’ best offensive lineman. He is also the guy who breaks up the tension, as he did last Saturday night when the Buckeyes trailed 17-13 and had one last, pressure-packed drive to try to win the game.
Freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor, faced with the biggest series of his young career, stepped into the huddle — and was confronted by a grinning Boone.
“I mess with him a lot,” Boone said. “If you have a serious quarterback back there, then he’s thinking too much. So I try to get him to laugh a little bit. I’ll poke him in the stomach or I’ll tell him something (off-color) that I can’t tell you. You have to keep him calm and cool.”
It must have worked. Pryor scored on an option keep with just over a minute left to give the Buckeyes a 20-17 victory.
“Alex is a wild guy. Everybody knows that,” tailback Chris “Beanie” Wells said. “He’s the joker. He always has a joke in the huddle. We could be down in the game and he’s always making a joke.”
Boone holds court when surrounded by media for 15 minutes of rapid-fire questions. He only hesitates once.
He’s asked if he’s comfortable with the Buckeyes setting up in the shotgun formation at the Wisconsin 3, instead of just lining up and bowling people over to score a touchdown.
“No comment,” he says.
Then he bursts out laughing — and answers the question anyway.

BUCKEYE PERISCOPE

BUCKEYES BUZZ: Ohio State’s offense looks great at times, then not so great the rest of the time.
At Wisconsin, it put together superlative drives on its first and next-to-last possessions. In between, the Buckeyes were just so-so.
Here’s what a couple of the offensive players think, offering midterm grades for the unit:
FB Brandon Smith: “I think a C-plus, a B-minus with the curve. We’re doing pretty good. We’ve faced a lot of adversity with injuries and whatnot, and the quarterbacks changing around, and just people moving around in different roles and different situations, but we finally got our feet on the ground and we’re ready to move forward.”
OT Alex Boone, on what he’d grade the line so far: “Being honest? Probably a C-minus or a D-plus. We’re going to get criticism from everybody and we know that. But we need to really step it up. I don’t know how you do that. You just keep going and pushing guys and working.”
Boone later re-evaluated his grading scale: “There’s been a lot of great plays, but at the same time there’s been a lot of bad plays. We need to fix up, clean up and work on them. Maybe C-minus is being a little mean. Maybe it’s more of a C-plus or B-minus. But it’s not where want to be, that’s for sure.”
BRUISED BEANIE: Ohio State TB Chris “Beanie” Wells rushed for 1,609 yards a year ago despite having a bad ankle and a broken bone in his hand.
This year he’s already missed three games due to a foot injury. Nonetheless, he’s topped 100 yards in both games since coming back, including 168 yards and a touchdown in the 20-17 comeback win at Wisconsin on Saturday night.
Wells says his foot continues to hurt, but he will soldier on.
“I’m not really concerned about it because I think it’s pretty much at a point where it’s going to hurt and it’s not going to get any worse,” he said. “It’s just something I’m going to have to go through.”

NEXT UP

WHO: Ohio State vs. Purdue
WHEN: Saturday, 3:30 p.m.
WHERE: Ohio Stadium, Columbus
TV/RADIO: Channel 5; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM

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