Dispatch
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Zwick accepts fate as backup for OSU
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
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</td></tr> <tr><td class="credit" width="200"> ADAM CAIRNS DISPATCH </td></tr> <tr><td class="cutline" width="200">Quarterback Justin Zwick isn’t ready for his football career to end with his senior season with the Buckeyes. </td></tr> </tbody></table> </td></tr> </tbody> </table>
What Justin Zwick has experienced in the past six months or so is the equivalent of a sailboat drifting out of the doldrums and catching a fresh breeze.
"Every day now I’ve got the outlook that when I wake up I’m thankful for that day, and I go out and do whatever I can to make that a positive day for me," the Ohio State backup quarterback said. "I’ve just stopped dwelling on things and I go out and have fun, just get back to the high school days when it was fun to go out and throw the ball around to the guys, and hang out with the guys.
"I’ve been here for five years, and it’s gone fast. This season is going to go just as fast, and I’m not going to be able to hang out with them anymore and have the fun we’re having. So I make the most of every day that I can."
He was down in the dumps for a while, and who couldn’t understand that? He showed up at Ohio State the summer of 2002 as the school’s most celebrated quarterback recruit since Art Schlichter. Out of Massillon, he not only chose Ohio State but called on other top-level prospects to join him in what was ranked the nation’s No. 2 recruiting class behind Texas. He was poised to step in, if not right away, at least eventually.
But Troy Smith was in that class, too. While Zwick got the first chance to be the starter in 2004 with a rebuilding offense, it was Smith who stepped in for an injured Zwick midway through that season and took the job away.
Zwick gained a second chance when Smith was suspended for the Alamo Bowl at the end of that season and for last season’s opener. Zwick even got the start in the second game, a much anticipated matchup with eventual national champion Texas.
But Ryan Hamby’s drop in the end zone of a pass from Zwick and Zwick’s lost fumble on the Buckeyes’ last real shot to rally in that 25-22 loss sealed Zwick’s fate. He headed back to backup.
Talk about circumstances conspiring against a fellow. "I’m not going to say that it hasn’t crossed my mind," Zwick said. "But there’s a plan. I’ve had so many people tell me, ‘God has a plan for you, and that plan is going to work out in the end. You’ve just got to stay strong, and if he didn’t think you could handle it, he wouldn’t do it to you.’
"So I’m just taking everything in stride and trying to have the best attitude possible."
Even if he is in a peculiar spot. Like Smith, Zwick won’t be at Ohio State in a year. Underclassmen Todd Boeckman and Rob Schoenhoft want to be Smith’s backup this fall. Coach Jim Tressel and offensive coordinator Jim Bollman usually defer to a senior in such situations, but not if he isn’t deserving.
With that in mind, "I think (Zwick) has really had a great attitude this summer; he has worked really hard," Bollman said. "I think he is competing with the other guys for that backup spot. But I think he has taken a pretty good approach to it."
Again, the attitude adjustment.
"Right now it is just what can I do to help these guys out," Zwick said. "We’ve got younger guys; what can I do to help them?
"Then with Troy, when the season comes he’s going to have a lot of film to break down," Zwick said. "I was telling him that I went down to a camp with (Indianapolis Colts quarterback) Peyton Manning this summer; he said he will have his backup sometimes break down a game he thinks he’s not going to be able to get to. If Troy needs something like that done, I am going to be there.
"That is going to help him out, help the team out and it’s also going to help me out, because I’ll be breaking down the team’s defense and analyzing things. It’s all good."
Zwick is looking toward the future. He noted that New England drafted Southern California backup Matt Cassel in the seventh round in 2005. And Vince Young’s unknown backup Matt Nordgren — he threw 14 passes his entire college career —signed a free-agent contract with Philadelphia this year, only to be cut later.
As for Zwick, he has started nine games, winning five, and has thrown for 1,592 yards and seven touchdowns. Cassel and Nordgren’s college resumes pale in comparison.
"I definitely would not like for this to be my last year," Zwick said. "You’ve just got to get with the right people, find somebody who likes you, show them you can play and have someone give you a chance. Then when you get that chance you’ve got to take advantage of it and do everything you can to keep that job."
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