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AirForceBuck
No mercy
You got dinged mroe for beiong lazy and not going to ESPN.com. I didnt ding yo, but just obervations...therealndogg said:
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AirForceBuck
No mercy
a cool pic on what? ESPN? They could hjad found better had they looked around.lol....But then again, Im just hating on them.nicknc33 said:
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AirForceBuck
No mercy
No, it should actually be killed. Hawk IS on the cover of ESPN.com.jackson said:
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AJHawkfan
Wanna make $14 the hard way?
A.J. Hawk article
From today's Dayton Daily: I saw Matt Witt play, and that kid is a stud!
http://www.daytondailynews.com/sports/content/sports/osu/daily/0817hawk.html
Hawk wasn't a slam dunk for OSU
Buckeye senior gave up Duke hoop dreams, says modestly, 'Things have worked out so far'
By Doug Harris
Dayton Daily News
COLUMBUS | Ohio State coach Jim Tressel has no trouble rattling off the attributes that have made linebacker A.J. Hawk the preseason Big Ten defensive player of the year.
"He's smart," the fifth-year coach said. "He doesn't panic. He has an awareness for the whole field. He can tell by how you line up and who's in the game what might be coming.
"He's tough. He never misses a practice snap. You've got to drag him off the field."
But to Tressel, whose team begins fall camp today, those aren't Hawk's most endearing traits.
"It's his humility," Tressel said. "I love being around people who are grounded."
Almost anyone who interacts with the 6-foot-1, 245-pound senior is struck by his unassuming nature. And having become an instant star in every team sport he's tried, the Centerville native has had plenty of reasons to be full of himself.
He was a national Punt, Pass and Kick champion as a youth. But he had such a flair as a point guard in basketball that some folks thought he had even more potential in hoops.
"We all did," said Jim Trosper, who coached Hawk on AAU teams from third through seventh grade. "A.J. could have done anything he wanted to do."
Trosper's team also included Matt Witt, who would lead Bethel High School to a state title and Eastern Kentucky to the NCAA tournament. But the coach said Hawk was the real standout.
"A.J. would have been a big-time player," Trosper said. "I'd take him over Matt any day, and I liked Matt a lot.
"He'd take it to the hole and just play great defense. Everything he did, he was tenacious."
Hawk's single-mindedness extended even beyond the court.
"We'd stop and eat," Trosper said, "and A.J. would eat salads while everyone else was eating burgers. A.J. took care of himself from day one. He had a purpose."
Hawk and classmate Ben Rhoda were so advanced over their peers that Centerville High School basketball coach Jim Staley invited the pair to join the jayvees at a team camp in Louisville in the summer before their freshman year.
"The thing I remember about the Louisville camp is (Hawk) had the ball in his right hand, and this guard was closing in on him," Staley said. "Hawk switched to his left hand and, at the same time, elbows this kid.
"He flips him to the ground, makes a left-handed layup, jogs down court and doesn't change his expression. He was 13 years old and I'm thinking, dang, we're going to be pretty tough."
Hawk made 30 three-pointers as a ninth-grader for the reserves. But he played just one more season of basketball before the tug of football became too great.
Staley tried to convince Hawk to stick with hoops but sensed the player was slipping away.
"During basketball season in ninth grade, he was sneaking off and weight lifting in the morning like a madman," Staley said, chuckling.
After starting at linebacker as a freshman on the varsity, Hawk put on 40 pounds and become one of Ohio's top prospects. But he wishes his basketball career could have lasted a little longer.
"At Centerville, football was so important to me and I had so much respect for the coaches, I wasn't ever going to miss a football workout," he said. "That made it tough. Basketball was year-round, too.
"Luckily, I stuck with football. Things have worked out so far."
He turned down scholarships from Penn State and others to become a Buckeye and made several All-American teams last year. But he still gets an itch to lace up his sneakers.
"Growing up, I always wanted to play at Duke," he said. "And I felt I was going to for a while — until I realized I wasn't going to be 6-8.
"I still like basketball a lot. It was fun while it lasted."
Contact Doug Harris at 225-2125.
(It is not necessary to call Doug Harris, unless you want Buckeye autographs, of course.)
From today's Dayton Daily: I saw Matt Witt play, and that kid is a stud!
http://www.daytondailynews.com/sports/content/sports/osu/daily/0817hawk.html
Hawk wasn't a slam dunk for OSU
Buckeye senior gave up Duke hoop dreams, says modestly, 'Things have worked out so far'
By Doug Harris
Dayton Daily News
COLUMBUS | Ohio State coach Jim Tressel has no trouble rattling off the attributes that have made linebacker A.J. Hawk the preseason Big Ten defensive player of the year.
A.J. Hawk file
* Growing up: Was star of AAU basketball team with future All-Stater Matt Witt (Bethel).
* At Centerville: Played hoops and football for two years, then focused on football and was top recruit despite injury as senior.
* At OSU: Team's No. 1 tackler two years straight (141 tackles in '04 most by a Buckeye since Chris Spielman). 2004 All-American. Two-time All-Big Ten.
* By the way: A criminology major, he also hunts, does yoga.
* Growing up: Was star of AAU basketball team with future All-Stater Matt Witt (Bethel).
* At Centerville: Played hoops and football for two years, then focused on football and was top recruit despite injury as senior.
* At OSU: Team's No. 1 tackler two years straight (141 tackles in '04 most by a Buckeye since Chris Spielman). 2004 All-American. Two-time All-Big Ten.
* By the way: A criminology major, he also hunts, does yoga.
"He's smart," the fifth-year coach said. "He doesn't panic. He has an awareness for the whole field. He can tell by how you line up and who's in the game what might be coming.
"He's tough. He never misses a practice snap. You've got to drag him off the field."
But to Tressel, whose team begins fall camp today, those aren't Hawk's most endearing traits.
"It's his humility," Tressel said. "I love being around people who are grounded."
Almost anyone who interacts with the 6-foot-1, 245-pound senior is struck by his unassuming nature. And having become an instant star in every team sport he's tried, the Centerville native has had plenty of reasons to be full of himself.
He was a national Punt, Pass and Kick champion as a youth. But he had such a flair as a point guard in basketball that some folks thought he had even more potential in hoops.
"We all did," said Jim Trosper, who coached Hawk on AAU teams from third through seventh grade. "A.J. could have done anything he wanted to do."
Trosper's team also included Matt Witt, who would lead Bethel High School to a state title and Eastern Kentucky to the NCAA tournament. But the coach said Hawk was the real standout.
"A.J. would have been a big-time player," Trosper said. "I'd take him over Matt any day, and I liked Matt a lot.
"He'd take it to the hole and just play great defense. Everything he did, he was tenacious."
Hawk's single-mindedness extended even beyond the court.
"We'd stop and eat," Trosper said, "and A.J. would eat salads while everyone else was eating burgers. A.J. took care of himself from day one. He had a purpose."
Hawk and classmate Ben Rhoda were so advanced over their peers that Centerville High School basketball coach Jim Staley invited the pair to join the jayvees at a team camp in Louisville in the summer before their freshman year.
"The thing I remember about the Louisville camp is (Hawk) had the ball in his right hand, and this guard was closing in on him," Staley said. "Hawk switched to his left hand and, at the same time, elbows this kid.
"He flips him to the ground, makes a left-handed layup, jogs down court and doesn't change his expression. He was 13 years old and I'm thinking, dang, we're going to be pretty tough."
Hawk made 30 three-pointers as a ninth-grader for the reserves. But he played just one more season of basketball before the tug of football became too great.
Staley tried to convince Hawk to stick with hoops but sensed the player was slipping away.
"During basketball season in ninth grade, he was sneaking off and weight lifting in the morning like a madman," Staley said, chuckling.
After starting at linebacker as a freshman on the varsity, Hawk put on 40 pounds and become one of Ohio's top prospects. But he wishes his basketball career could have lasted a little longer.
"At Centerville, football was so important to me and I had so much respect for the coaches, I wasn't ever going to miss a football workout," he said. "That made it tough. Basketball was year-round, too.
"Luckily, I stuck with football. Things have worked out so far."
He turned down scholarships from Penn State and others to become a Buckeye and made several All-American teams last year. But he still gets an itch to lace up his sneakers.
"Growing up, I always wanted to play at Duke," he said. "And I felt I was going to for a while — until I realized I wasn't going to be 6-8.
"I still like basketball a lot. It was fun while it lasted."
Contact Doug Harris at 225-2125.
(It is not necessary to call Doug Harris, unless you want Buckeye autographs, of course.)
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A.J. is on his way to becoming my favorite Buck of all-time. Right now I think he is only surpassed by Chris Spielman.
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smithlabs
Heisman
smithlabs said:
I was reading the O-Zone today and came across this interesting quote
At tight end, there were some new faces as well in the jersey scrimmage, one of them not so familiar, and one of them very familiar. Former linebacker Brandon Smith has moved to tight end, and standout linebacker Bobby Carpenter has gotten some snaps on offense at tight end as well in the continuation of an experiment that started last spring.
"The guy who is playing a lot of tight end is Brandon Smith," said Tressel.
"He did a whale of a job today. Bobby Carpenter played some tight end today. He caught a pass. We used him some there because Rory (Nicol) has been banged up and Ryan Hamby we have not worked night and day because he's coming off injury. He (Hamby) ran all the ones stuff, but we didn't double him up on multiple groups. Brandon Smith probably played more than anyone," said Tressel.
"I though he (Carpenter) looked good. One time today he thought it was a run and it was really a pass where he was supposed to be going out, but the guy he blocked ended up about 12 yards down the field on his back."
http://www.theozone.net/football/2005/fallcamp/playershuffle.htm
It helped me feel validated about star LB's playing both ways. Of course, I wasn't 100% correct. It was Carpenter instead of Hawk but still, close.
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bucks4me
"Dry" Humor
Bashful Backer
A.J. Hawk remains modest despite superlative career
By Ken Gordon
The Columbus Dispatch
A.J. Hawk is not going to like this story.
It will make him uncomfortable, because he dislikes anything that draws attention to himself.
Other people might applaud him, might note his All-American awards, his Butkus Award candidacy or his steady climb up the Ohio State Tackle list, but Hawk will not pat himself on the back.
A few weeks ago, fellow line-backer Bobby Carpenter was standing in the lobby of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. Asked about Hawk, he gestured up to the photos of OSU's all-time greats that ring the room.
"That's always something special, when your in the presence of someone who's going to be up here probably someday," Carpenter said.
Confronted with praise like that, Hawk gets sheepish. he bows his head a bit, hair hanging down his forehead, and flashes a smile as crooked as the scars that crisscross the bridge of his nose.
He will not compare himself wiht the Spielmans, Gradishars and Cousineaus of Buckeys lore, even when he clearly belongs in their company.
"That's too hard to really think about right now, because you grew up hearing about those gusy," Hawk said. "Those gusy are like your idols. That would be a huge honor, but you can't say anything like that right now."
"I think a great start would be to come out and try to go 12-0 as a team, and I think that would help everyone on this team be named with guys like that."
The humility, Hawk said, stems from his childhook in Centerville, Ohio, as the youngest of three boys. Matt was a high-school wreslter and football player. Ryan graduated from Ohio University last spring after starting at quarterback for the Bobcats.
"I don't know many people that like talking about themselves," A.J. said. "I kind of grew up my whole life as the underdog to my two older brothers. I had two guys older than me that would beat on me and let me know that I wasn't much compared to them, and they're still like that.
"I think guys like that taught me to be humble-being around them every day and realizing that I'm still a little brother to them."
He has come up big on the football field, though.
Hawk played in every game of the 2002 national-title season as a true freshman. He logged an interception (of Kent State quarterback Josh Cribbs) in his second college game.
Over the past two seasons, Hawk has started all 25 games and posted back-to-back 100-tackle seasons.
In contrast to the effusive Carpenter or Anthony Schlegel, the third member of the linebacking trio, Hawk plays wiht a more quiet intensity.
His teammates appreciate both what he does and how he does it. Attitude means a lot, apparently.
"He's in a kind of position that a lot of people would love to be in, and he's not flaunting it like 'Oh, I'm A.J. Hawk, I'm the man'" safety Nate Salley said. "People admire that about him, becaus a lot of people do get like that once they get that type of stardom. He has maintained his humility, and I believe everybody looks up to that."
An unassuming team player who also is fast, smart, and intense. It's no wonder a player like Hawk is a coach's dream.
"The guys in the huddle know that they're sure that (no.) 47 is going to be exactly where he ought to be," coach Jim Tressel said. "And that gives even extra onus to the rest of us to make sure we're where we're supposed to be.
"He's a leader, he's quiete, he's humble - he's everything you would want in a footbal player."
Salley told of a time when Tressel asked the team what they needed to do to be a little better. Offensive tackle Rob Sims spoke up.
"Rob told coach, 'Everybody needs to try to be like A.J.'"
A.J. Hawk remains modest despite superlative career
By Ken Gordon
The Columbus Dispatch
A.J. Hawk is not going to like this story.
It will make him uncomfortable, because he dislikes anything that draws attention to himself.
Other people might applaud him, might note his All-American awards, his Butkus Award candidacy or his steady climb up the Ohio State Tackle list, but Hawk will not pat himself on the back.
A few weeks ago, fellow line-backer Bobby Carpenter was standing in the lobby of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. Asked about Hawk, he gestured up to the photos of OSU's all-time greats that ring the room.
"That's always something special, when your in the presence of someone who's going to be up here probably someday," Carpenter said.
Confronted with praise like that, Hawk gets sheepish. he bows his head a bit, hair hanging down his forehead, and flashes a smile as crooked as the scars that crisscross the bridge of his nose.
He will not compare himself wiht the Spielmans, Gradishars and Cousineaus of Buckeys lore, even when he clearly belongs in their company.
"That's too hard to really think about right now, because you grew up hearing about those gusy," Hawk said. "Those gusy are like your idols. That would be a huge honor, but you can't say anything like that right now."
"I think a great start would be to come out and try to go 12-0 as a team, and I think that would help everyone on this team be named with guys like that."
The humility, Hawk said, stems from his childhook in Centerville, Ohio, as the youngest of three boys. Matt was a high-school wreslter and football player. Ryan graduated from Ohio University last spring after starting at quarterback for the Bobcats.
"I don't know many people that like talking about themselves," A.J. said. "I kind of grew up my whole life as the underdog to my two older brothers. I had two guys older than me that would beat on me and let me know that I wasn't much compared to them, and they're still like that.
"I think guys like that taught me to be humble-being around them every day and realizing that I'm still a little brother to them."
He has come up big on the football field, though.
Hawk played in every game of the 2002 national-title season as a true freshman. He logged an interception (of Kent State quarterback Josh Cribbs) in his second college game.
Over the past two seasons, Hawk has started all 25 games and posted back-to-back 100-tackle seasons.
In contrast to the effusive Carpenter or Anthony Schlegel, the third member of the linebacking trio, Hawk plays wiht a more quiet intensity.
His teammates appreciate both what he does and how he does it. Attitude means a lot, apparently.
"He's in a kind of position that a lot of people would love to be in, and he's not flaunting it like 'Oh, I'm A.J. Hawk, I'm the man'" safety Nate Salley said. "People admire that about him, becaus a lot of people do get like that once they get that type of stardom. He has maintained his humility, and I believe everybody looks up to that."
An unassuming team player who also is fast, smart, and intense. It's no wonder a player like Hawk is a coach's dream.
"The guys in the huddle know that they're sure that (no.) 47 is going to be exactly where he ought to be," coach Jim Tressel said. "And that gives even extra onus to the rest of us to make sure we're where we're supposed to be.
"He's a leader, he's quiete, he's humble - he's everything you would want in a footbal player."
Salley told of a time when Tressel asked the team what they needed to do to be a little better. Offensive tackle Rob Sims spoke up.
"Rob told coach, 'Everybody needs to try to be like A.J.'"
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scarletngrey11
All right, all right, all right.
Nice article, especially the last line. That shows how much everyone on that team respects AJ.
Hard to believe that anyone could beat on him though.
Hard to believe that anyone could beat on him though.
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