"We're Team Fickell now."It’s been a busy week for Buckeye nation and it’s only Tuesday night. The addition of new linebackers coach Mike Vrabel has excited a fan base which has had to endure hard ship after hard ship. But on the other hand, fans also had to watch former Buckeye recruit Kyle Kalis run off to Ann Arbor with his tail between his legs.
However even with all this news coming out of Columbus -- good and bad -- seniors J.B. Shugarts, Tyler Moeller, and Tony Jackson, along with junior Jake Stoneburner, have only thing on their minds: getting back on the football field.
With self-imposed sanctions recently introduced by Ohio State, offensive lineman J.B. Shugarts admitted that it’s frustrating having his work on the field erased from last season, but he’s not letting it distract him from next year.
"I mean there’s nothing we can really do about it," Shugarts said at Tuesday evening’s press conference. "The university decided to make that call and we gotta accept it. We just gotta be worried about next season and worried about winning all fourteen games next season."
Shugarts went on to say he hoped that the NCAA would accept Ohio State’s self-imposed sanctions and that those sanctions would be the last of it. Shugarts also explained how he’s excited to work with new coaches Luke Fickell and Vrabel.
"Coach Vrabel, I haven’t really gotten a chance to sit down and talk with him, but you know, just look at his resume and he’s a great football player with great knowledge of the game, you know and he brings a lot of intensity, same with having coach Fickell."
Linebacker Tony Jackson also expressed his excitement to work with Vrabel, mentioning that he has already talked to the former Buckeye and 14-year NFL veteran a lot. Jackson stated that the teams’ focus is to stay out of the media and concentrate on football, while learning from new coaches Fickell and Vrabel. But the coaches weren’t the only ones Jackson was impressed with as he says the freshman have been excellent thus far.
"(The freshman) all wanna learn," said Jackson. "They’re all in this together."
Tight end Jake Stoneburner seemed very committed to the new coaching staff saying that the team was ready to move on from Tressel and play for Fickell. Stoneburner even went on to say that "we'd like to keep him around," referring to Fickell.
With Ohio State’s receiving corps very young and inexperienced next year, some have speculated that the tight end will be much more involved in the passing game. Stoneburner believes this is true.
"I hope so, that’s the plan," said Stoneburner on if he expects to be more involved in the passing game next season.
Defensive back Tyler Moeller says he expects to be ready to go for the season after sitting out virtually all of last season with a torn pectoral muscle. Much like Jackson, Moeller is also excited to work with Vrabel and has already started watching film with him. About the only thing Moeller wasn’t excited to talk about was the possibility of not playing in a bowl game.
"My feeling is come August 10, something like that, (the NCAA is) going to make a decision," Moeller said on his feeling if they’re going to play in a bowl game or not.
While it’s certainly been a tough year for buckeye players and fans alike, this new coaching staff seems like they have the team going back in the right direction. The upper classmen leadership on this team of Shugarts, Jackson, Stoneburner and Moeller certainly will be one of the major reasons Ohio State football will eventually overcome the possible NCAA-sanctioned hurdles.
The shadows that Jim Tressel and Terrelle Pryor once cast on this football power house are finally starting to shrink. The start of fall camp on August 8th will be another small step towards the players taking their mind off of the shame of last season and moving on under a new regime.
"We’re team Fickell now," said Stoneburner. "We gotta play for our coach."
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