Zwick is taking a fresh approach
Although I don't get into the Smith vs Zwick debate, I think this is a good article on Zwick's attitude. Article also says Hartline's is coming back fine after is injury. :osu:
Zwick is taking a fresh approach to spring football
Sunday, March 13, 2005 By TODD PORTER
He looked like a starting quarterback again. As a line snaked outside Logan Sporting Goods in North Canton, Ohio State quarterback Justin Zwick signed autographs and chatted with fans.
He smiled a lot. He nodded his head. He posed for pictures.
His confidence, once shaken, is back.
Earning the respect of your teammates on national television and leading Ohio State to a lopsided 33-7 win over Oklahoma States in the Alamo Bowl will do that. Now, the door is open for Zwick to reclaim the starting job.
Fellow redshirt junior Troy Smith likely will be suspended for the opener against Miami (Ohio). Smith admitted violating NCAA rules when he accepted money from an booster.
It wasn’t the first time Smith crossed the line between right and wrong. Head Coach Jim Tressel said reliability is a factor in determining who his starting quarterback will be.
Spring practice starts March 31, and Zwick will begin his final two seasons with a renewed sense of confidence. When Smith took over the starting QB job after Zwick was injured, some fans wondered if the Massillon graduate would transfer.
There were rumors, but Zwick said he had no intention of leaving OSU. In high school, things came easily. This is the first real challenge to his skills.
“Competition is the reason we go to a place like Ohio State,” Zwick said. “You go there to get better. There are players there as good as you are, and they want it just as bad. That competition is good for everybody ... You know you’re going to have to compete to play, so you just saddle up and go with it.”
Zwick, who completed 17-of-27 passes for 189 yards in the Alamo Bowl, admitted last season was tough. He injured his shoulder in a loss at Iowa. Smith then led the Buckeyes to wins over Indiana, Penn State and Michigan State.
By the time Zwick was healthy, Smith was 3-0 as the starter. Smith struggled against Purdue, but then had one of the best days in the storied Ohio State-Michigan series when he had 386 total yards in a win over the Wolverines.
Smith took over a slightly different team than the one Zwick had. By the time Big Ten doormats Indiana and Penn State came around, the offense had matured. Ted Ginn Jr. emerged as a threat on returns and at receiver. The offensive line had come together.
“Any time you’re able to have good experience and win some games, it builds experience and confidence,” Zwick said. “ ... Early on, we had a lot of younger guys in there for the first time, and I was one of them. We started rolling at the end of the year and got our confidence back.”
When Zwick pulled his hamstring in the first quarter of the Alamo Bowl, he wondered if he had a cloud of bad luck hanging over his head.
But with Smith suspended and Tressel not wanting to burn Todd Boeckman’s redshirt season, Zwick played through the pain and earned the respect of his teammates.
“When the hamstring happened, I couldn’t believe it,” Zwick said. “I jogged to the sideline and just wondered, ‘What’s wrong with me?’ It was like there was something wrong that I kept getting hurt. ... People play through pain all the time. It was just something I had to do.”
The team seems to have a renewed sense of confidence in Zwick. During Alamo Bowl preparations, Tressel was impressed with Zwick’s attitude and how he threw the ball.
Zwick knows he will battle all season with Smith and Boeckman for the starting job. He is aware he can’t rest on his position in the depth chart. As quickly as something comes, it can be taken away.
But when spring practice begins, a new Justin Zwick will compete for a starting position.
“Every day, you’re trying to get better, and that has a lot to do with the guys around you,” Zwick said. “It has a lot to do with their confidence in you. What I do affects them, and what they do affects me. Right now, together, we have a lot of momentum.”
Relationship with team
There was a feeling in the middle of last season that Zwick’s relationship with his teammates had soured, particularly on the offensive line.
Judging by the way Zwick and fellow Stark County alums T.J. Downing and Kirk Barton interacted with Zwick during the Logan autograph signings, nothing could be further from the truth.
Hartline’s leg is fine
OSU-bound receiver Brian Hartline is healing well from a broken leg he suffered in the first game of his high school senior season. He had surgery to put a rod in his leg and a second surgery to remove the rod.
Hartline is running indoor track and said his leg is holding up well. In fact, Hartline has the second-fastest time in the state in the 60-meter hurdles and 12th best in the country.
Hartline is one of the favorites to win a state title in hurdles this spring.