Ohio State's Boeckman ready for next step

COLUMBUS - Probably 99 percent of all descriptions of Ohio State quarterback Todd Boeckman will include the phrase "nice guy" at some point.

Even family members describe him as "kind of laid back."

Ask him about a trip to Las Vegas for a wedding this summer and the first thing he wants to do is make sure you know his friends had a dignified ceremony, not some late-night nuptials performed by an Elvis impersonator.

"It wasn't one of those quick ones. It was a nice ceremony. His girlfriend is from out there," Boeckman said, being careful that his friends weren't misrepresented.

Ask what's on his iPod and he will say, "You might not believe this, but I don't have one."

Beneath the politeness and placid exterior, though, there is also a tough competitor.

"Even if I don't show it, I am so competitive," the senior quarterback from St. Henry said. "I just love competing. If I can beat somebody, I'm going to go for it."

Need more evidence? The NFL quarterback he idolized growing up was the emotional Brett Favre. "I loved the fire, the competitiveness," Boeckman said.

When OSU cornerback Malcolm Jenkins looks at Boeckman, he sees "a laid-back, Jim Tressel-style guy." But he says that is only part of the picture.

"You can't take his kindness for weakness," Jenkins said.

Boeckman will be looking for another strong season as Ohio State's starting quarterback when the Buckeyes open against Youngstown State on Saturday.

The 6-foot, 4-inch, 240-pound senior threw for 2,379 yards and 25 touchdowns with 14 interceptions in his first year as a starter when Ohio State was BCS national runner-up last season.

A year ago at this time, he had thrown a total of 10 passes in his college career. Twelve months later, he has quarterbacked the Buckeyes to one national championship game and is trying to get them there again.

His 25 touchdown passes tied Joe Germaine for the most thrown by an Ohio State quarterback in his first season as a starter and were six more than any other OSU junior quarterback has ever thrown.

Because of that success, he enters this season as a much more confident quarterback.

"I'm so much more comfortable with the things I'm doing. Last year, I was kind of looking over my shoulder and not getting the full amount out of it that I could have. I was thinking, ‘If I do better than him or he does better than I do, what's going to happen?' " Boeckman said.

"The best advice anybody has given me is to take it one game at a time, be relaxed, be focused, don't be too tense out there. There were times last year where I was down and didn't know what to expect. I'm more confident in my ability this year."

He says he hasn't set any individual goals for this season.

"It's all about the team right now. We want to go out and try to win every game," he said.

Of course, Ohio State didn't win the last game of the season each of the last two years, losing 38-24 to LSU last year in the BCS championship game and 41-14 to Florida two years ago.

"To be honest, we're not going to forget it. That's always kind of in the backs of our minds," Boeckman said about those two losses. "Maybe it will drive us because we don't want to feel like that again. Two years, it's tough to swallow when you have two losses like that."

LSU and Florida might not be the only things to add fuel to Boeckman's competitive fires.

Despite his success in 2007, the two most popular topics in preseason interviews with him seem to be: A) freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor, and; B) the fact his numbers tailed off dramatically in the Buckeyes' final three games last season when he threw two touchdown passes and six interceptions against Illinois, Michigan and LSU.

Asked how many times he had been interrogated about Pryor, Boeckman smiled and said, "Probably a million." He quickly added, "But he's a great athlete, he's a special player and we're very fortunate to have him here."

And what about the questions about the season-ending games?

"I'm not too worried about who is criticizing me or why they're criticizing me. It's not a big deal," he said. "I'm just trying to be the best quarterback I can be and lead the team.

"I try to stay away from that stuff. I thought we did pretty well last year, we won the Big Ten and went to the national championship game. I'm not too worried about what anybody is saying."