OSU FOOTBALL
Smith’s studies continue in summer
Quarterback seeking to master game’s nuances, build on 2005
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
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</IMG> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=credit width=200>LISA MARIE MILLER </TD></TR><TR><TD class=cutline width=200>Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith’s thirst for football knowledge has him poring over game film. </TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>
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Done properly, four years in college should only increase one’s thirst for knowledge. So it was that Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith, his freshly earned degree in communications in his hip pocket, settled into a classroom at the end of last week to start studying some more.
The classroom actually was the coaches’ offices in the Fawcett Center, the Buckeyes coaches’ temporary home as the Woody Hayes Athletic Center is being renovated. Smith’s aim is to reach graduate-level proficiency in the art of the game as he prepares for his senior season.
By the end of 2005, he had established himself as one of the nation’s top quarterbacks by displaying his cool and daring in a comeback win at Michigan and directing OSU’s 600-yard offensive performance in a Fiesta Bowl win over Notre Dame.
It’s obvious Smith has a strong grasp of the offense. But he said he wants more than that; he wants to know the why of it all.
"I am going to train so hard this summer, and I am going to just beat the film room up," Smith said. "I’ve got to get to the point where I know everything the same way (my coaches) know it. That’s my intention."
Smith was referring to coach Jim Tressel, offensive coordinator Jim Bollman and quarterbacks coach Joe Daniels. Bollman, recovering from heart bypass surgery, understands Smith’s motivation.
"As you master one aspect of the game, if you’re interested, you can open yourself up to other parts of it, and that’s what he is doing," Bollman said.
"Most good players, especially at that position, want to learn why we’re doing what we’re doing. Generally speaking, the more you understand why you’re doing something, the better you do it."
Smith’s thirst for knowledge is hardly a new thing.
"He’s always been a guy who wanted to know," Daniels said last week. "But I think the difference now is, because of his playing experience and the scope of it, his questions — there’s something more behind it. There’s always a good reason why he wants to look at the next step. That part has been very enjoyable.
"He is, thank goodness, constantly on the learning curve. He’s hungry to learn and he’s hungry to know as much as he possibly can. But he’s got a comfort level in that he knows he’s the guy."
That is, Smith knows he’s the starter for the Buckeyes. For the most part, he has been for much of the past two seasons, the only exception being the two games he missed (the 2004 Alamo Bowl and the 2005 season opener) because of a suspension for taking money from a booster
"What I think we saw from Troy last year is he went from a guy that had great ability to scramble, step up in the pocket and take off, to a guy who used that athletic ability to buy time to find an open receiver," Daniels said.
"That’s a giant step. That’s the learning curve he went through, and is still going through."
That explains why Smith late last week was back in the coaches’ offices, watching more video. He wants an intimate knowledge of line play on both sides of the ball, of linebacker reactions, of defensive backfield tricks and the like.
"What it is now is more cerebral, it’s more up top," Smith said. "It’s more of an anticipation thing. Like in the passing game, you know what’s coming, so you get to the point where you’re anticipating where the route is going to be, you’re anticipating where the defender is going to be.
"There are only so many ways they can disguise, say, a cover three (defense). You know where they’re going to be, and you know which spot to pick. It just has to be like the back of your hand now, and that is a level that’s not easy to reach, but every day, more work and more work is going to help you achieve it."
Not only does Smith want to go out by winning every game, including the national championship, he wants to erase all doubts about him being able to play quarterback at the pro level. When his collegiate career is finished by January 2007, he said, he wants to be considered a total package by pro scouts, without the doubts that some had about Texas’ Vince Young before the 2006 draft.
"That in itself motivates me, drives me," Smith said. "That was sort of a knock on Vince that I felt he shouldn’t have received. To a certain extent I think I am going to have to work that much harder for that not to be a knock on myself."
In that pursuit, the Cleveland native intends to knock on Tressel’s door often this summer.
"I’m trying to squeeze as much as I can out of him and his knowledge, because he has a brilliant mind when it comes to offensive schemes and things," Smith said. "I am going to try to get as much as I can out of him, out of coach Bollman, coach Daniels, and as much out of coach (Jim) Heacock from a defensive standpoint.
"Back where I’m from, we call this the grind period. These are the grinding days where as a football player, as a quarterback, I have to be sharpening the knife."
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