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Darrell Hazell (official thread)

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Was Hazell calling some plays?


There were times last Saturday when it appeared Ohio State assistant head coach Darrell Hazell was calling the offensive plays instead of head coach Jim Tressel during the Buckeyes’ 38-0 win over Toledo.
When asked after practice today whether it was true, Hazell paused.
“I don’t know, I’m not sure,” he finally said, then offered no further clarity.
Media members laughed, but Tressel and his offensive staff were under fire this time a week ago after what many saw was unsatisfactory production in the 18-15 loss to Southern California, the Buckeyes’ sixth straight loss to a top-five team.
Against Toledo, there were a couple of times when quarterback Terrelle Pryor seemed confused about a play call, but instead of approaching Tressel for clarification he appeared to seek out Hazell.
The Buckeyes also used the quarterback sneak a couple of times, once for a touchdown, a week after being criticized for not making a similar call when they had the ball near the USC goal line on a possession when they settled for a field goal.
Tressel joked after the Toledo game that one reason for those sneaks was that in the emails he’d received following the USC game, he found many of them to be from members of his offensive staff.
No matter whether Hazell, the receivers coach, was making calls against Toledo, it’s likely the OSU mechanism for deciding on a play didn’t change. Tressel, though considered the triggerman, long has said he consults members of the staff by headphone from play to play before picking from the play list.
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http://blog.dispatch.com/buckeyesblog/2009/09/was_hazell_calling_some_plays.shtml

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xusV7S51zPE"]YouTube - Is Darrell Hazell now calling the plays for Ohio State?[/ame]
 
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Yes, Hazell called some plays

Jim Tressel acted like it was no big deal, but he did admit today that receivers coach Darrell Hazell did both choose and call some plays against Toledo last week.

Tressel also indicated that this has happened before, which would be news to everyone but the coaching staff.

I'm not sure how big a deal to make of this, really. Clearly, Tressel is always going to be a major factor in developing a game plan and calling plays. And we don't know how many plays Hazell may have called, or if Tressel gave him a restrictive list to choose from, or anything, really.

But was Tressel really stung by the criticism after the USC game? If so, that would be a first for Tressel to react so quickly to criticism. Is it possible that he "self-scouted" and determined that maybe it would be good to turn over a little control in a game they were likely to win, just to see what happened?

It's possible, sure.

Does this mean OSU's offensive philosophy suddenly does a 180-degree spin? Uh, no.

But it's interesting, certainly, and something to watch closely as we go forward.
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Yes, Hazell called some plays (Blogging the Buckeyes)
 
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JimsSweaterVest;1557885; said:
Did Hazell have any input on the play-calling last night? Sorry if I missed this elsewhere.
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Not 100% sure, but it sure seemed like Hazell was the coach in the middle of the offense TO huddles and Tress was there to listen in. I think the anouncers even stated something to that effect during the second half.
 
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I even think it was too the point that Darrell called plays all the way to the fourth and 1 against ILL and kept Pryor throwing until 6 minutes left against IND. When OSU scored the 4 and 1 against ILL they had a camera on him and he wanted to be REALLY excited but then saw the camera and had just a HUGE grin on his face and gave a fist pump. Either he's calling plays or JT has changed his mindset on things because of something his other coaches have told him. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a bit of both. (Tress still had a play call sheet on the sideline.)
 
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BuckeyeNation27;1557900; said:
If the announcers said it, I would be inclined to believe the opposite. Those guys were morons.
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:lol: I agree that they are idiots, they can't even get the names of some players right.

I didn't mean the announcers were saying the he was for sure calling the plays, merely that they had commented directly on what I was seeing during the time outs; that Hazell was in the middle of the offensive huddle talking while Tress was there with him, but just listening.
 
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Mr. Bucknuts' Bucket Of Bullets: Oct. 4 Edition | General Article

* More offensive coaching stories?According to one source very familiar with the Ohio State coaching staff, the OSU coach who is the best teacher on the staff is wide receiver coach Darrell Hazell. The source went on to say Hazell, from a technique and teaching standpoint, is the best coach he has ever been around. He lauded Hazell?s knowledge on the finer points of becoming a great wide receiver, and his ability to get his concepts across to the Buckeyes? receivers.

As to sideline stuff: Hazell isn't just calling some of the plays, he's calling a bunch of them. It was his idea to go almost-exclusively out of the shotgun against Illinois.

The changing of the guard? Not really, but Hazell is heavily involved. Some of the grumpy reporters thought Tressel was just saying that to get the media/fans off his back. But we?re hearing Hazell has definitely been handed the keys to some extent.
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