Jim Tressel Quotations

We better go into a game wanting to get Teddy and Santonio the ball,

What's most important is that the quarterback takes what the defense gives and not make up his mind before maybe which it's going to be,

What we philosophically want to do is schedule games that are of great interest to our fans. Maybe the best pro of these games is it's something our players will remember for a lifetime. They'll cherish these memories.

What we philosophically are going to do, if we can pull it off, is have a home-and-home with a team of great interest to our fans. Every other year we can have eight home games and the year that we travel, have seven.

We tried like crazy to recruit them. They did extraordinary things in high school and they've picked up right where they left off.

We're anxious to get into Big Ten play. I think the Big Ten is going to be a very, very tough conference this year. As you look at everybody from side to side and throughout the conference, they've had some tough ball games, they've had some great wins. I just think it's going to be a very strong league, and we start out with an awfully strong one with the university of Iowa. They're a physical football team. They have dropped a game, but they didn't have their quarterback that day. They're just an outstanding team as they've shown over the years, and we have to be ready to compete.

We've seen him mature and grow into the role, and he is just going to continue to get better and better. He can be a very efficient running back here at Ohio State.

We've said for years that if you can run well, you'll be able to do a lot of things well. We did a much better job in the run game and then that opened up opportunities to throw it well.

When there's a little hole there, it's nice to go straight ahead. When there's another jersey, the instinctive part of any fast guy ... is maybe run sideways once too often. But that's the instincts fast guys have, that they can run around enemy jerseys. But you see a hole, hit it. That's what Teddy did.

Mike is strong as a bull, and a surprisingly fast guy. And he's one of those players whose motor only has one speed - all out. He plays so hard that he gives the other team all kinds of problems.

Mo Wells showed some things, that he is going to be able to help us.

Maurice is going to be playing tailback on our scout team.

Occasionally, all of us, I'm sure, think back to, gosh, if I would have called a different game ... we might have beat Texas. But you better not spend too much time thinking about those things. Once you get into conference play, the guys are looking hard to see who beat who and who do we have next and what have we got to do. I think their focus is very good.

No, I don't think we'll have any surprises or anything. Obviously, we regret if there were any surprises a year ago. They certainly were not intended. In this moment in history where security of everyone, not just the players and coaches but the fans and trainers and doctors and everyone who is there, media folk or whoever, that's part of the world we live in and we expect it.

Obviously, it was a different scenario than we've played under recently.

Obviously, my reaction to that is it's sad because, as I said the last few times people have brought up the subject, my hope would be that he would have an opportunity to go over to NFL Europe and make a comeback. I hope it's not true, but beyond that I don't know much.

Obviously, my reaction to that is it's sad.

One thing I always believe about recruiting is you end up where you should, and things work out. But you have to go and do the work, and Brady's gone and done the work. He's taken his experiences and grown from them.

I was hoping we would rush it for about 200, throw for about 250. I think we've got to get a lot better running the football than we were today.

I wouldn't expect him to have a big role in this football game.

I would question whether he'll play. You know, I've seen miracles before, so I'm not going to say for sure he won't. He was running around there last night, I thought, interestingly well, but not in the scheme of things. I don't know if he'll dress or not.

I would question in a game like this if we will have room for ceremony. Every play will be critical.

I would have preferred that he had gotten some live snaps and some live butterflies (last week), but that's not the case. As soon as he gets hit by one of those white helmets, he'll be ready to go.

If we do well, I would be comfortable doing just about anything,

I didn't really see it at all. All I saw was there was a big pileup.

I don't have a whole lot consternation about it. I've been here five years and can tell you exactly what our record was those five years. But I can't tell you where we ranked in recruiting. Having a top 10 class validates you a little bit, but until the players come in and do anything you're not truly validated.

I don't ever like to squash one's creativity.

I don't know that it will be much more than he did -- I don't know how many touches he had in the last game. So it probably won't be more than that.

Chris had all those expectations in high school, so I think he's been through that more than some players have. It will be up a notch here, but he appears to be the kind of guy to uphold those expectations.

I don't think we're going to change who we are and what we would like to be,

I don't think I've seen Troy yet totally in command and relaxed. He really wants to do well and couldn't wait to get in and play after sitting out a couple games there when we were playing two weeks ago. This week I thought was very, very valuable in that he got 71 snaps and that he got a lot of plays on tape and a lot of things he can learn from. I just think it's just relaxing and being in command with the whole situation. To me, that's the biggest task that he has to tackle.

For this football game, as it stands right now, yeah, we've got two starting quarterbacks, ... We're planning to play both guys.

If it's the last game you'd ever want to see in your life, it might be these two teams, and that makes it special. Two great football states, two great schools, two of the largest alumni in the world. The interest level is tremendous.

If the first game was today, Justin would start and Troy would probably play significantly. We'll go into preseason where both Justin and Troy will get work with the first group.

I always just pretend they're all cheering for me.

He looked like he did the whole spring, comfortable and patient. That's a big guy with the ability to accelerate. We're very pleased with him.

What I like about this group is that they all feel they can come in and make an impact. They know they've got to get caught up in the system and move ahead with their strength and speed and knowledge. But this class is spread so evenly in all areas that they all feel they will have that opportunity to come in and compete.

What you saw out there was total domination by the defense. After that first play, our defense was in complete control. Obviously, that pleases me. I am not as pleased with our offensive showing. We need to become much more consistent in order to be a good team. We made too many mistakes out there,

He's a dynamic young man. He loves to compete. He's working to become a complete quarterback.

He's a competitor, he was excited out there and he wanted to make up for time missed. We felt that based on preparation and what we're doing, both (quarterbacks) could contribute to a win. As it turns out, when we put the film on, that very well could have happened. But it didn't.

Good defenses will wear on you. Our defense just kept coming after them and as the game goes on, good defenses are harder to go against.

He's hard to compare. I don't know exactly how fast he is, but I've never seen anyone keep up with him. He's a big, tall guy. He's a competitive guy. He's a special guy.

He should get every right of any other student.

He's got something about him that people enjoy following. I don't think you can be followed if you don't produce, and he produces. He's got a certain confidence and aura about himself that, hey, if you guys will follow me, we have a chance, and I think he's grown a lot.

His skills have not diminished, that's for sure. There have been some times I thought maybe we could've gotten him the ball, but it's easy from where I sit. I think Ted is really coming along and I think he's going to be a great one.

He creates a lot of problems because he can make plays when there's no play to be made, ... You've got to affect the quarterback's job because no one has a harder job than the quarterback and if you make it even harder, I think you have a chance to stop an offense.

He can play the game of football. There are some guys who are just fast, but are maybe not football players. Derrick Williams is a football player. He's out there having fun.

I would think the only frustration Ted would have is that he loves to compete and he loves to win, ... He's not used to coming out on the wrong end of the scoreboard. He has some frustration there, as do all of us at Ohio State.

I would think that if I'm a guy going out and playing on Saturday that I'm assuming my future playing depends largely on what I do.

I think it adds a lot to this game. We've only played four times before in our history and the two great programs, here we are in one of the great settings in college football. I think it adds a little something to the intrigue.

I think in this day and age, you've got to be able to attack with a lot of different things. There are so many good guys out there that can throw and catch, and the evolution of football -- there's so many good ideas. Sometimes, things trickle down a little bit from the pros. Now, the pros don't allow their quarterback to get hit quite as much as we do in college football in our spread offenses and so forth, but I just think because people are so well-schooled on defense, you've got to give them more problems. I think if you have that as part of your package, it can give you a chance. Some of the people in our league do it very, very well.

It bothers you that he might be criticized. Does that mean I think he's been perfect? No. But I think Ted Ginn has done an excellent job for us.

I thought (Haw) did a pretty good job, ... It was good to see him. You can never have enough tailbacks, that's a truism.

I was disappointed we didn't get it closer for the field goal if we weren't going to score a touchdown,

I thought we gave great effort against a very good Texas team. Our defense, in particular, played with great emotion. Offensively, we have to do a better job in the red zone. That was a concern after the Miami game and it is still a concern. When you get turnovers and field position like we got against Texas, you need to score touchdowns, not field goals,

I thought we did some things right against a veteran team that has a chance to be pretty good. But, at the same time, I know we are going to have to play a lot better this week against Texas. Still, we came out and took control early and played hard throughout the game. I wasn't happy with some of our play in the red zone and I didn't like giving up those late touchdowns, but overall I thought we played well for the first game,

I thought that was the way it was supposed to be. You really become a part of the community, part of the institution. Joe Paterno is not just a part of Penn State, but a part of NCAA football.

I thought Troy did some real good things today. We'll go back and watch the film and I'm sure there will be lots of things that we say we need to do a little bit better, and maybe a ball or two we'd like to take a little off of or maybe not make that throw. But I think every time you're out there making decisions, you learn a little bit more, and I thought Troy progressed.

I think we got a lot accomplished. I think we know more about what the capabilities are of the guys we have and we know even more vividly how far we have to go at some positions as opposed to watching the films of last fall.

I think we learned some things about ourselves today. We saw some good things and we saw some things we need to work on. We didn't play a lot of our veterans because we know what they can do. It was nice to see some of our younger players step up and make plays. I thought we really played hard, but that didn't surprise me. Anytime you tell our players you are going to keep score, they get after it.

I think it's very exciting. It gives college football a great jump-start into the '05 season. We have the good fortune that a lot of people know who we are and who the Longhorns are.

I think Troy is aware of what stepping up and running can do to a defense, but he's also aware of what it can do if he steps up and, all of a sudden, distorts where the defense is going and makes (pass) plays from there. It is an example that he has more confidence and is in charge out there. While he's got the ball, you better defend the run and the pass.

I think Ted is a guy who believes he can find a way to hit the home run, and he's hit home runs many times, ... He didn't Saturday, but sometimes that's the risk you take, cutting back. I don't know that I would call that hesitancy. For him, it's almost like he's trying to make a big play. To me, hesitancy is you go up and you stop. He doesn't stop. He tries to sidestep and I think we've all seen that work. We've also seen that not work, but that's a result of good coverage.

I think the recruiting process, with all the Internet interviews and people checking up to see what things are said about them on the Internet, I think it's distracted young people a little bit. I'm not sure it's what they should be keeping their closest eye on, but I understand when someone's talking and you're one of the subjects, you're a little bit interested.

I think consistency is always the measuring stick to see if you're going to get good. Our goal is to become a consistent offensive football team that does its part and whatever needs to be done to win.

I saw him (Monday). Moving over to Dodd Hall is a good sign. He?s making progress and taking the next step in his road back.

I said, 'Well, you'd be alone because we're giving the guys the day off,'

Our guys are going to tell you that this is a better Indiana team than the one they last met. And if they don't see that, then, you know, they may be in for a rude awakening.

Our punt return game, those guys have done a great job up front, plus Tone (Holmes) and Teddy (Ginn Jr.) back in the back. Somebody told me (the Aztecs) had nine three-and-outs. When they're starting with the ball on their 11 and they're having a three-and-out, and our punt-returners are catching the ball around midfield, that's huge for the offense.

Our first thing is to stop the run, period.

Really, those first 10 (games) don't mean much and they know that, ... It's what you do up there on Saturday that makes the difference.

Recruiting is such an inexact science. I remember a former staff member here, when we said we were going to offer A.J. Hawk a scholarship, he said, 'Oh, man. That's like a (Division) 1-AA fullback coming here.' Now, A.J. will be able to buy a few things here in a few weeks.

That alone is a very valuable weapon. If you take the return out of the formula, and make the opposition start at their 20-yard line that often, that has to translate into a big field-position advantage.

My thoughts are, I hope our thoughts are on what's going on right this second. If you peek down the road - and I've said it a million times - you're not going to do as well today. We always say, 'You're as good as your work's deserved.' At the end of the year, whatever we deserve to be, we will be.

My standing rule has always been, let's discuss guys going out if they might be a first-rounder. And I don't know why he wouldn't be a first-rounder, but I'm not an NFL guy.

I think people want to follow humility and they want to follow production, and A.J. gives you both of those things. On the field he just has a sense to diagnose what's happening and then do the right thing.

I think remembrance of how good you better be because you have to play a lot better than the last time you played them. If revenge becomes a factor, I'm afraid you lose sight of what it is that you're trying to square away. It's our performance that we need to square away, but all of us have lived with our lack of performance that day.

I tell my players if they have a chance to be a first round selection, it's time to go.

I think he's significantly advanced, I'm sure just like Brady is.

I think he could be a real good one.

I suppose when I was here 20 years ago, I don't remember much discussion about anything other than winning the Big Ten and winning the Rose Bowl.

I think legacies are shaped everyday, ... Shaped in your film preparation, shaped in how you take care of everything that is your responsibility, and then of course every practice, and then of course it's magnified in the games because the majority of the people, that's what they see in your life -- what you do on Saturday and what you do on television and so forth. I hope that his focus is on day-to-day preparation and his performance play-to-play, and we'll let those legacy discussions happen long after he's gone.

I thought he was very efficient. . . . His distribution was good,

I think the strength of this class is its versatility. It has a little bit of everything: character, solid academic credentials and athletic ability. We went looking for help across the board at every position, and we feel as though we accomplished that goal.

Justin was very efficient, even though he had the one play that we all wish he had back. Outside of that play I thought he was very efficient.

Malcolm is a very mature player. He came to us ready to play. When the opportunity presented itself, he stepped in and did a great job.

We need seven more (wins). Of course, you need a little reinforcement. That's human. We're going to keep working hard and somehow try to evaluate ourselves in an open week.

That wouldn't have been my first choice. But I can't have it back.

That would have been the wrong message to send to Justin,

That was probably the backbreaker -- 24-10 is a two-score game. There is always pretty good hope even if you haven't been moving the ball. 31-10 and you haven't been moving it -- that probably took a little steam out of them.

That was probably the backbreaker -- 24-10 is a two-score game, ... There is always pretty good hope even if you haven't been moving the ball. 31-10 and you haven't been moving it -- that probably took a little steam out of them.

That was an emotional turnaround. It very easily could have been a 20-7 game, which is not an out of reach game. But it's a lot different than being down 17-14.

That's what a top-5 team should look like.

My biggest worry is they look awful good across the board.

Most growth is through adversity. You've got to fight a little bit to grow. That, in my mind, may be one of the reasons why Troy's had the extensive growth that he's had.

Most growth is through adversity. You've got to fight a little bit to grow.

Michigan has done an excellent job all along of being balanced. I thought they executed well. Michigan's always going to have excellent personnel, but your excellent personnel still has to execute.

You just never know (about recruits). So who will do it? I don't know that any of us at this time last year would have thought ... (freshman) Malcolm Jenkins would start five games at cornerback.

You know, I grew up in the early '70s in college and I had plenty of teammates who had a little hair. I don't have a problem with that, as long as they look -- I don't know what the right word is -- as long as they look sharp.

Where we are at this moment, ... is not where you'd like to be after three games.