Ohio State needs to be mentally strong, Tressel says

ADA - Ohio State's football opener is still 100 days away, but coach Jim Tressel sounded as if he was gearing up for it already when he spoke to a dinner crowd at Ohio Northern University's Sports Center on Tuesday night.

Big things are expected of the Buckeyes, who have 18 starters back from last year's team, which finished runner-up to LSU in the BCS national championship game.

Tressel made it clear he expects big things too. But it won't always be easy, he advised a crowd of around 300 OSU fans.

"Probably the hardest years you have is when everyone thinks you're supposed to be good," he said.

Tressel had the fans salivating for more than their desserts as he rattled off facts like sophomore tailback Brandon Saine running a 40-yard dash in 4.28 seconds recently, or his backfield mate Chris Wells doing a 4.41 in the 40 while weighing 240 pounds.

Ohio State is definitely a physically mature team. Forty-two of its players are entering their fourth or fifth year in the program.

But Tressel said the biggest thing the Buckeyes need to master this season is the mental aspect of the game. "We'll be as good as our minds allow us to be," he said. "It's the most veteran team we've had. The question is if it will be the most mature team we've had."

He also pointed to quarterback Todd Boeckman, a sixth-year senior from St. Henry, as a key to the season.

Boeckman, who threw for 2,379 yards and 25 touchdowns last season, has to do three big things for his team, Tressel said.

"You have to have a quarterback who makes great decisions," he said. "It's going to be very critical with our quarterback that he is a guy who doesn't turn the ball over. And he has to make big plays. If you look at any touchdown drive, it typically won't be 20 four-yard runs."

Tressel said he feels good about Boeckman doing those things. "I think he made believers out of a lot of people last year," he said.

Tressel's was speaking in Ada for the second time in three weeks. He also spoke at an Ohio Northern function earlier this spring. Since then he has been to Cleveland, Philadelphia, Colorado Springs, Chicago and Dallas, along with other places.

"I haven't been here in three weeks. I've missed the place. It's like a second home," he said, noting that his father, Lee, was born in Ada and grew up there, and that his mother, Eloise, graduated from Ada High School.

Tressel's speech on Tuesday was part of a fundraiser for the proposed Wilson Sporting Goods Football Museum in Ada.