Jim Tressel Hard Quotations

Occasionally, all of us, I'm sure, think back to, gosh, if I would have called a different game ... we might have beat Texas. But you better not spend too much time thinking about those things. Once you get into conference play, the guys are looking hard to see who beat who and who do we have next and what have we got to do. I think their focus is very good.

Mike is strong as a bull, and a surprisingly fast guy. And he's one of those players whose motor only has one speed - all out. He plays so hard that he gives the other team all kinds of problems.

He's hard to compare. I don't know exactly how fast he is, but I've never seen anyone keep up with him. He's a big, tall guy. He's a competitive guy. He's a special guy.

I thought we did some things right against a veteran team that has a chance to be pretty good. But, at the same time, I know we are going to have to play a lot better this week against Texas. Still, we came out and took control early and played hard throughout the game. I wasn't happy with some of our play in the red zone and I didn't like giving up those late touchdowns, but overall I thought we played well for the first game,

We need seven more (wins). Of course, you need a little reinforcement. That's human. We're going to keep working hard and somehow try to evaluate ourselves in an open week.

We recruited him as hard as we could.

We really work hard before the season and during the season ... at focusing on what's going on this second. I think there's a lot more people outside of our building that talk about that (the BCS), what's going to go on in January and whatever.

We always say the spring game is mostly fun because you've been working hard and now you get to compete. Any time you keep score, you'd like to win. It's probably a little more impact than a normal spring practice. But they (the players) all know we've got 29 practices ahead of us before we line up for real against Northern Illinois.

All of our guys are happy that we've got that guy. They've watched how hard he's focused this spring, they've watched the work that he's done. He proved that in front of 63,000 going down (the field) on that first drive.

This is one of those games that coaches and players look forward to. Shoot, we can't wait and I am sure they feel the same way. It matches two great research universities, two great football programs and two states that really support their teams against one another. Everyone has been talking about it since the end of last season. I know this; it won't be hard to get our players' attention this week,

You never know for sure in the preseason how teams are going to be, ... You can make your best guess based on the people that are returning, and that type of thing. But the thing about the Big Ten, we play a grueling out-of-conference schedule. And then, when you get into the league and you go into those opposing stadiums, it's hard to win. Our stadiums are incredible. It's like you're already down by a touchdown when you walk in the door.

You never know for sure in the preseason how teams are going to be. You can make your best guess based on the people that are returning, and that type of thing. But the thing about the Big Ten, we play a grueling out-of-conference schedule. And then, when you get into the league and you go into those opposing stadiums, it's hard to win. Our stadiums are incredible. It's like you're already down by a touchdown when you walk in the door.

I guess that says something about how much attention should be paid to recruiting rankings. What's made A.J. so special is that he doesn't really pay attention to what anyone says about him, whether it's good or bad. He just goes about his business and works hard and tries to get better every day, and that's why you see the results from him over time that have made him one of the best to ever play here.

They were never gone, ... You saw what their defense did a year ago. Offensively, I thought they struggled a year ago because they had (Zack) Mills part of the time and they had Robinson part of the time. They were different guys and it was hard to get a real flow.

They were never gone. You saw what their defense did a year ago. Offensively, I thought they struggled a year ago because they had (Zack) Mills part of the time and they had Robinson part of the time. They were different guys and it was hard to get a real flow.

It was good, hard work and good, physical, competitive kids. They want to be good. They want to uphold the tradition of excellent Ohio State defense.