One more chance: Fifth-year Buckeye Andre Amos still hoping to shine on the field
by Doug Lesmerises/Plain Dealer Reporter
Saturday August 15, 2009
OSU photo
Fifth-year Ohio State defensive back Andre Amos.
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Devon Torrence carries the confidence that comes with health and talent.
"I feel like athletically you're not going to find too many people that can match up with me," Torrence said.
Three years and two injuries ago, Andre Amos may have said the same thing.
The competition between Torrence, a junior, and Amos, a fifth-year senior, for a starting cornerback job is one of the tightest in Ohio State's preseason camp. It is one of two jobs, along with left tackle, where the first-team repetitions were clearly divided between two players during the first week of practice.
Veterans such as senior safety Anderson Russell, understandably, seem to be rooting for Amos, who was good enough as a red-shirt freshman in 2006 to see serious action against Texas in the second game of the season. Since then, he missed much of the 2007 recovering from a torn ACL and last season with torn pectoral muscle.
"When I'm healthy, I feel like I can do a lot of things, and I know my teammates have noticed that," Amos said, "and their support is great. But it's all on me."
While the competition has occasionally been couched, even by teammates, as a savvy veteran against a gifted youngster, Torrence, a junior, isn't all that young, and Amos is more than just experienced. Amos is not an underdog along the lines of Antonio Smith, who went from a walk-on to a starter at corner as a fifth-year senior in 2006. Amos was a young stud, once upon a time.
"I think about it every day, but that's the past," Amos said. "I can only make the best of the time I'm left with now."
Taosman;1517096; said:That seems like ages ago, but I have always loved the guys potential. Hoping he has that special senior year that everybody likes.
Buckskin86;1516998; said:
Cornerback glad to be in the mix
Thursday, September 10, 2009
By Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
JEFF HINCKLEY | DISPATCH
Senior Andre Amos' playing time has been limited in past years by knee and shoulder injuries.
Andre Amos has some not-so-cheery memories of Ohio State's biggest football games, and not just because the Buckeyes usually lost.
While his teammates prepared for such games with visions of righting the wrongs that had befallen them the previous time they were on the big stage, he was in the training room "for treatment, (or) sitting around, helping the guys out."
Now, Amos, a fifth-year senior who has returned from a major knee injury and a major shoulder ailment, is ready to help No. 8 Ohio State as third-ranked Southern California visits Ohio Stadium on Saturday. He started at cornerback last week against Navy, sharing time with junior Devon Torrence -- a practice that is expected to continue.
Suffice to say, Amos' big-game routine has changed dramatically.
"Now I've really got to know everything," he said. "I've got to know what I'm going to face on Saturday and be a real big part of the defense."
Defensive tackle Doug Worthington said Amos always tried to stay involved, even when he couldn't play. But now there is a payoff for his perseverance.
"He's been in the wings waiting, doing everything he could to get on the field and produce for the team, rehabbing or whatnot," Worthington said. "He's been a vocal leader and now when he has the opportunity to play, I know he's going to take it."
Meet a Buckeye: Andre Amos
Thursday, November 5, 2009 10:00 PM
By Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
PHOTO (top): Andre Amos has battled through two serious injuries during his time at OSU and is finally getting a chance to play this season. (Fred Squillante, Dispatch)
Two years of dealing with serious injuries kept cornerback Andre Amos out of the spotlight in 2006 and 2007. But he has kept busy with his hobbies, bowling and fishing, as well as with chasing his 1-year-old son, Andre Jr.
Amos is back on the field again for his senior season, but it's all that other stuff that makes for a more interesting conversation:
Q: Because you haven't played for so long, did you have a lot of stored-up energy? Do you feel fresher?
A: No, not really. Every time I got hurt, I still did all of the workouts, and I haven't missed a camp. So I've really had to go through all the things that the guys on the team went through, except the 12 weeks of the season. I've done all the hard work, I just didn't get to play in the fun part.
Q: I hear you were the team's bowling champion last spring.
A: Yeah, I can bowl. Actually, it started after I recovered from my pec pectoral injury. A lot of the guys would go out and bowl every Thursday. And I used to be a really, really bad bowler up until college, and I started working on my curve and it paid off.
Q: What's your average, or your best score?
A: My best is a 247, I average maybe from 180 to 200.
Q: When did bowling become cool again?
A: I think it's just old age. The older you get, the more things excite you.
Q: When did you take up fishing?
A: As a little kid. I've probably been fishing since I've been 3 or 4. It's just something that all the guys in my family - from brothers, cousins, grandparents - every male fished back at home. I'm not really from a big city (Middletown) but there are a lot of lakes. So outside of sports, every chance I get, I go fishing, even in Columbus.
