Zwick vs. Smith (official thread)

[Naplesbuckeye]

Martins...that is fine if you are talking about the starter for the first and the second games..but Smith does have the opportunity to become the starter when and if he is reinstated and moves up the charts.

It is definately a good thing to have several kids competing and to have some great backups available.

 

[martinss01]

Damn Martinsso1!! It's February. Can't we have a QB controversy? What else are we going to do at this time of year? Quit spoiling our fun.

oh....ermmm.. good point!

zwicks hamstring could get... glazed... or... something... and then he could be out for the season! so hows this for a qb controversy?

boeckman
smith
ginn

ginn is after all the most recent guy to have field time and the best all around athlete on the list... :p

 

[stagtennis]

The job will be won during Spring ball. Zwick is the current leader with boeck waiting in the wings. I agree with many of you in that Smith will not have an opportunity to see the field until, at the very earliest, the 7th or 8th game. I also do not think that Smith has earned the playing time. Yes, he played great in the Michigan game (and that may be an understatement), but his mistakes will not be forgiven by the coaching staff so easily this time.

I also agree that Zwick was not the only player to blame for the three losees in a row. Though he did not play well, he also had no line surge and he did not have any other options outside of Holmes. Zwick or Boeck could realy look great this season with continued O-line improvement, a deep and experienced receiving corp, and some type of running game.

Again, this is all just my opinion, so take it for what it's worth. It does make for good debates during February.

 

[Oh8ch]

Has Smith been re-instated to the team? If not, and he isn't before then, will he even be allowed to participate in spring ball?

The coaches have already stated Smith will be participating in Spring and Fall practice.

Anyone expressing the notion that there will or should be carry over from this that will inhibit the coaches from giving Smith an equal opportunity to compete once he has served his punishment does not and should not coach athletics.

 

[AJHawkfan]

The coaches have already stated Smith will be participating in Spring and Fall practice.

I was not aware of this. Good to hear.

 

[Ratboy18]

the way he was about getting #12

OK, I'll bite - who else wanted #12 and what did JZ do to get it?

After all, he came in as #9, switched to #2, and is now wearing #12.

Isn't TGII supposed to be "taking" #2 from both EJ and Haw?

 

[exhawg]

OK, I'll bite - who else wanted #12 and what did JZ do to get it?

After all, he came in as #9, switched to #2, and is now wearing #12.

Isn't TGII supposed to be "taking" #2 from both EJ and Haw?

As far as I know he waited 2 years for it to open up. JZ has yet to do anything to harm tOSU's reputation or hurt the team in anyway.

 

[Pnut]

The NCAA, JT, and Troy

Please consider:
1. Geiger clearly would not have so quickly asked for Troy's reinstatement unless JT wanted it.
2. IMO, JT will have seen Troy's banishment for the entire bowl period, including both practice and the game as sufficient punishment. He will start, when the NCAA allows him to start, with a clean slate. No dog house. You get in JT's dog house through repeated actions.
3. Justin has a history of injury. This may not mean anything. But it is important to recognize that we need two quality, experienced QBs ready to go when we play Texas.
4. I cannot believe Boeckman would start either of the first two games, especially not the Texas game. He is unproven as a reader of defenses before and after the snap.
5. I used to go to Cooper's practices all the time and heard all sorts of pumping up by coaches of such luminaries as Garcia, Mocherman, and Bellisari. I take such comments as efforts to encourage the guy deep on the depth chart to keep working and remind the guys ahead of him that they must keep working. When JT is speaking publicly, he is speaking not to us but to the players.
6. Whether Troy or Justin starts may have as much or more to do with the state of our I-formation running game as anything else. If we can run effectively out of that formation, then Justin's play action passes will have a better chance of working. If not, then Troy would likely be favored because his ability to run has the same effect on defenses as the play action does.
7. Which of the two starts will also reflect the coaches views as to who is more likely to make mistakes. To be sure, Justin did not have Gonzo and Ginn at his disposal and a decent o-line and so perhaps some of his early mistakes can be excused but he made a bunch of them. Troy had a game with 3 mistakes (if memory serves) but 4 games with none. Remember the Super Bowl. The Eagles made the big mistakes. They lost.
8. Troy's most impressive game was against our strongest opponent and his play was so extraordinary that it has to be rated as the greatest game by an OSU QB in the history of the UM game. Justin helped us beat a very weak OkState team but, in his favor, it must be noted that he played with great courage and played well.
9. The only thing that worries me about JT is his tendency to go with underperforming QBs much too long.

 

[Steve19]

Well, I don't really put too much stock into a conversation in a car with a couple of unnamed players posted by a newbie. Can we please get a second opinion from the aliens that abducted Oprah?

I can't imagine that the job is not Zwick's to lose but I am battling a hammy right now getting ready for a half marathon and it is proving to be a recurring pain in the rear, at my age anyway.

The QB job was Troy's to lose and he lost it. The storyline that has emerged about MoC's influence on Troy's behavior in this silly affair does suggest why AG applied for his early reinstatement. And it suggests that he will return after his punishment with the coaching staff ready to forgive, forget and move on.

Of course, Boeckman is a good quarterback, he is part of The Ohio State Buckeye football team. And we all wish him well, as we do the whole team. But there was a big difference between UM and Oklahoma State. And it's very hard to compare quarterback performances given Justin's hamstring injury. But I still think that Troy Smith is our best quarterback.

So, it's hard to say but if I had to guess where we will be next year, I would guess that Troy Smith will be starting QB by mid-season either because of an injury to Zwick or his lack of mobility.

 

[martinss01]

Martins...that is fine if you are talking about the starter for the first and the second games..but Smith does have the opportunity to become the starter when and if he is reinstated and moves up the charts.

It is definately a good thing to have several kids competing and to have some great backups available.

i touched on that naples. the majority of my point is that smith has practically no chance to play against texas. i did however state that he could move up to being the starter mid season. but thats about as good as he can hope for without something major happening. but yes, i do agree that he does have the opportunity to move up in time.

Anyone expressing the notion that there will or should be carry over from this that will inhibit the coaches from giving Smith an equal opportunity to compete once he has served his punishment does not and should not coach athletics.

wow... chief this isn't carry over its cause and effect. the guy who gets the majority of the reps with the first team is the guy who starts game one. last i checked that won't be ts. the guy who starts game one has the odds on chance of starting in game two. why? because game 2 is a BIG game. smith will have no in game snaps in over a year. you don't toss him into a game like that and take chances of rusty play such as poor clock management, fubled snaps, bad exchanges, mental mistakes, etc... this IS NOT punishment. this is fallout from punishment. you don't toss a guy into a HUGE game to get his first taste of on field experience on the year if you don't have to. THAT my friend is poor coaching. when talent levels are this close, sometimes the smallest of mistakes can kill.

technically Schoenhoft will be eligible... lol.

isn't he getting a rs?

 

[Onebuckfan]

I for one hope we aren't changing QB's in mid-season unless its for injury. Idon't want another mid-season meltdown. Lets hope for steady quarterbacking all year and see where our talent(Hawk,Ginn, the defense) takes us. Hopefully, to a Big Ten title and a BCS bowl. I am thinking DT wants steady versus inconsistent.

 

[MARVYMARV14]

Smith would be my quarterback to start the season if he is eligible.
One thing I hate to here people say is that Zwick got the short end of the stick by starting off with an unexperienced line and TG2, as if T. Smith wasn't instrumental on them improving.
Smith's scrambling ability took much pressure off of the O-line thus overriding some mistakes by them, (at least until film day) with him not being sacked as much and also incouraging the O-line they seemed to start improving and if you have ever played football the line you know that pressure to protect an imobile quarterback is hell. The reason ginn got better is because Smith actually trusted in Ginns playmaking abilities having played on the same team as him, but one thing I would like to see is for Smith to look for Holme a little bit more. Smith = bigger threat than Zwick..............................
IMHO.

 

[bryanhd20]

just to add some validity to the original post, i was with gbuck and the osu players, and they were both emphasizing how todd b. is going to be the man in columbus. they kept stating how great all his passes are. i know that practice and games are two different things, but it's nice to know how confident the players are in todd b.

 

[jwinslow]

This just in... I was sitting next to Tressel's mailman and he said he's been peeking at JT's mail... apparently Ted Ginn will play QB & WR. While he has skills at QB, he actually is just going to heave the ball 20 yards past the last defender and then run after it and catch up to teh ball. He is clearly twice as fast as anyone in the history of the world, and since he'll be teh receiver they wont' be able to impede his pursuit fo teh ball. Bucks win each game by about 4000 points.

 

[BIATCHabutuka]

i can't speak for todays players, but in the past lots of buckeyes spoke their mind on all kinds of topics that would be juicy on a message board now a days.

one conversation the crazy bearded guy (my brother) told me he heard was back in the austin moherman, david priestly, steve bellisari days. the cbg was in the drake union (he was one of the long time bartenders at archie's alley before they closed down) and there were a bunch of players in the union hanging out or whatever. anyways moherman gets up from the group and being the best team leader he could pretend to be starts to lecture the guys about being good and staying out of trouble. soon as moherman gets about 10 feet away one of the players says 'fuckin faggot' and everyone else busts up laughing. needless to say the team was more divided than team back then.

these guys pretty much talk freely about their shit when they are away from the media. at least they used too.

i doubt moherman was a fag really, though he did kind of throw like a girl. and what the fuck was up with him bracing for impact before the sack. throw the fucking ball away and take the hit like a man. what the fuck was walt harris thinking with him and priestly? that recruiting class of qb's and then belli the next year cost coop his job more than any crime wave or lack of control did.