I have had those words spoken to me often. Not verbatim, but I have heard them spoke. If Pryor isn’t making the right reads or isn’t making simple uncovered checks that are already built into the offense that falls on the Coaches, and they’ll tell you that.

If even a part of what Chris said was true, you best believe Tressell is kicking himself for not preparing Pryor well enough for this situation. You can’t expect kids to react the same way they do in practice when the bullets start flying but they have to take something to the field. They have to. It’s the hardest part of coaching. I can teach kids all sorts of cute stems and stunts, and tell them to key the LB and drone on and on and on. But its taking it to a game situation thats the toughest part

Perhaps the biggest criticism of this article is that it doesn’t put as much responsibility on Pryor as it should. It definitely kind of gives him a free pass–but don’t try and give Tressell a free pass either. He wouldn’t accept it, don’t try and pander it here.

Thank you for confirming what I knew to be true. You prove again that those who assume to know things without being in the thick of it are guessing and in this case Chris has made himself look very bad. Tis always wise to be quite careful about assertively declaring other’s shortcomings when you do not know of what you speak.

And Luke, you’re missing the point. It’s not that the coaches have not instructed most of these reads and fundamentals. It’s that someone isn’t taking them onto the field. Now a benching might be quite a good idea but don’t expect Tressel to roll one of his players under the bus just to clarify the real problem to anyone outside of the lockerroom(ala you or Chris). That isn’t his style. He may be ranting behind closed doors but all you’ll hear in public is ” We need to do better. ” Do you think when he recruits these kids he tells the parents ” If i have to I’ll roll you child under the bus so guys like Luke and Chris will have the clear picture of our coaching decisions? ” This is what coaches mean when they say ” people who aren’t in the room just do not get it. “

And I think he’s funny that he characterizes the article as an “infantile rant” yet then proceeds to admit that basically every point made in the article is correct except for one (about the wingback formation).

Anyway, the point is moot. You’ll never read this in all likelihood.

IF Pryor isn’t making the boots, who is that on-Pryor, or the Coaches, who have had two years of game film on him now? Is it Pryors fault he’s not making the reads, or the Coaches fault for not making sure that he understands the rules of the offense, and applying it in those situations.

As for this one liner

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Against Cover 1/3, adjustments need to be made in the hot routes, but that is for us to evaluate- not some two-bit hack who lacks the relevant information.
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DIDN’T he evaluate it? DID HE NOT point out that there were severe failures by the OSU offense to carry out the proper checks based on alignment and coverage? Is that on the players or the coaches? Because any coach worth his salt will tell you-that’s on him for not coaching it into his players. It wasn’t a physical failure or a one time brain fart–there was the same reaction, to the same play, for the same reasons.

What do you do within the organization by the way? GA…”video GA”…student video assistant…equipment manager who assists one of the coaches…

You may be right. If your argument is based on the fact that, “our starting QB didn’t make the right reads over and over and over again Saturday night”, you don’t really have an argument. The only difference there, is that it isn’t a failure of scheme, it is a failure of teaching the basics by the coaches.

Really though-which is worse?