Tressel raises warning flags about Navy

COLUMBUS — Jim Tressel returned to the same theme he has emphasized most of the summer at his weekly press conference on Tuesday when he looked ahead to Ohio State’s football opener against Navy on Saturday.

That theme is Navy is no pushover. And that the Midshipmen will be a challenge because their triple option offense is something the Buckeyes haven’t had to play against in a long time.

He said playing Navy is something special. And he alluded to the toughness ingrained in a team made up of students at a military academy, even if they might not appear physically imposing on the surface.

Tressel called the Midshipmen “a great Navy team” and said athletic director Gene Smith told him, “There’s been as much or more interest in Navy tickets as any game on our schedule and we may have a record crowd.”

Navy, which beat a Top 25 team, Wake Forest, last season might not be quite the cupcake fresh from the bakery that many traditional Top Ten teams like OSU usually schedule for an opener.

Navy has had eight or more wins for six seasons in a row and has beaten 13 opponents from Bowl Championship Series conferences since 2003.

Its triple option offense is a rarity in college football, where the spread has been the trendy offense the last few years. Navy has led NCAA Division I teams in rushing for four straight seasons.

Last year, it averaged 292 yards a game on the ground and passed the ball only 93 times all season.

But the Midshipmen are missing several key players from last season, including their two top rushers and their starting quarterback.

Part of Tressel’s message about Navy being more than it appears on the surface might have been delivered by the book he assigned the team to read over the summer.

It was “Lone Survivor,” an account of a deadly Navy SEAL mission in Afghanistan written by Marcus Luttrell, the only survivor of the mission.

Luttrell described how he fought off six presumed al Qaeda gunmen, crawled seven miles and eventually was taken in by some Afghan civilians before he was rescued. He also wrote about the arduous Navy SEAL training.

Senior defensive back Kurt Coleman recognized a message that could be applied to the football field in Tressel’s book choice.

“(Tressel) definitely sent the message they will never give up, they will never quit and they’re going to keep coming after us no matter what the score is,” Coleman said.

NOTES:

WHO’S IN, WHO’S OUT: Six Ohio State players are definitely out for Saturday’s game (Noon, ESPN).

Injured linebacker Tyler Moeller is out for the season and four other seldom-used backups, Melvin Fellows, Orhian Johnson, Travis Howard and Jermil Martin, will sit out because of injuries.

Offensive lineman Mike Adams is out for what Tressel called “doghouse reasons.” He would not go so far as to say Adams, once a highly touted recruit, was suspended, though.

“He won’t be with us this week,” he said, when asked if a suspension had been imposed. When asked if Adams might return next week against USC, he said, “We’ll have to see.”

TOP FRESHMEN: Freshman fullback Adam Homan, of Coldwater, was included on a list of first-year players Tressel expects to play against Navy.

Homan is currently listed No. 2 at fullback behind freshman Zach Boren on OSU’s depth chart.

Wide receiver Duron Carter, linebacker Storm Klein, defensive back C.J. Barnett, linebacker Dorian Bell, defensive lineman John Simon, offensive lineman Corey Linsley and running backs Jaamal Berry and Jordan Hall are the other freshmen who could get into the game.

COACHES CHANGE PLACES: Defensive coordinator Jim Heacock and running backs coach Dick Tressel, who were on the sidelines for games last season, will work from the press box this year.

Luke Fickell, the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, will go to the sidelines from the press box. First-year quarterbacks coach Nick Siciliano will also be on the sidelines.