Last night the NCAA denied the appeals of the five Ohio State players who violated NCAA rules by selling memorabilia and accepting discounts on tattoos. Those players — Mike Adams, Daniel (Boom) Herron, DeVier Posey, Terrelle Pryor, and Solomon Thomas — therefore will serve their full five-game suspension at the start of the 2011 season. Shortly after the NCAA announcement, Ohio State’s head football coach Jim Tressel declared that he had decided to voluntarily increase his suspension to five games as well. The University has accepted his request and is notifying the NCAA; no doubt it will be a while before the NCAA announces whether it is satisfied with Coach Tressel’s enhanced punishment.
The Columbus Dispatch story linked above quotes Coach Tressel as saying in a statement: “Throughout this entire situation my players and I have committed ourselves to facing our mistakes and growing from them; we can only successfully do that together. Like my players, I am very sorry for the mistakes I made. I request of the university that my sanctions now include five games so that the players and I can handle this adversity together.”
I’m not sure what to make of this latest development. Many in Buckeye Nation will see this as a noble gesture by Coach Tressel, who is standing in solidarity with his players and sharing in their punishment. In my view, however, this latest decision is strange on several levels. Why announce a two-game suspension of Coach Tressel only 10 days ago, endure a hailstorm of criticism from the national media, and then voluntarily increase the suspension to five games after the hubbub had died down? It makes it look like Ohio State’s earlier announcement was simply testing the waters. Are the players’ sins of commission and Coach Tressel’s apparent sin of omission really equivalent? And what about the players who didn’t violate the rules? Why should they be voluntarily deprived of their head coach for three games? Ironically, one of the reasons Ohio State cited in allowing the five suspended players to compete in the Sugar Bowl was that it would be unfair to punish the graduating seniors by depriving them of the chance to play in the bowl game as a complete team.
I remain convinced that we have not heard everything there is to hear about this story. Lingering questions remain to be answered.
At the time, some skeptics laughed at the quaint notion that the players had “given their word.” They said the pledges that Coach Tressel mentioned were just a fig leaf that would allow the players to participate in the bowl games but wouldn’t mean anything when the players had the opportunity to leave for the NFL draft. I’m happy to say that the skeptics were wrong. Each of the five players has kept his word; they all declined to declare for the NFL draft and will return to the Buckeyes next year. In fact, 
The players apparently accepted discounts on tattoos and sold items they had received from the University, including uniforms, Big Ten championships rings, and the tiny “gold pants” that Ohio State players receive when the teams beats Michigan. The incidents occurred two years ago, when the players were freshmen. Pryor, Herron, Posey, and Adams will be suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season, but will be permitted to play in the upcoming Sugar Bowl. In the meantime, Ohio State is appealing the penalties as being overly harsh.
When you are faced with such adversity, a football game can become a test of character. Many teams fold under the pressure and experience the bitterness of defeat. Good teams find a way to dig deep, overcome such obstacles, and win.
On the offensive side of the ball, Terrelle Pryor played a fine game after a somewhat slow start. Pryor clearly feels more comfortable with the deep ball at this stage in his career, and he made a terrific long throw to DeVier Posey. But Pryor also made other good throws, like the wheel route touchdown pass to Brandon Saine. More importantly, and unlike the Miami quarterback, Pryor had no turnovers. And, of course, the additional dimension Pryor offers is his running ability. His touchdown jaunt was vintage Pryor, and his runs helped the Buckeyes control time of possession and run out the last 7 minutes of the game. In short, I think Terrelle Pryor is still a work in progress as a quarterback — but good progress is definitely being made.
