Jim Tressel Time 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.

He's a competitor, he was excited out there and he wanted to make up for time missed. We felt that based on preparation and what we're doing, both (quarterbacks) could contribute to a win. As it turns out, when we put the film on, that very well could have happened. But it didn't.

I think remembrance of how good you better be because you have to play a lot better than the last time you played them. If revenge becomes a factor, I'm afraid you lose sight of what it is that you're trying to square away. It's our performance that we need to square away, but all of us have lived with our lack of performance that day.

I tell my players if they have a chance to be a first round selection, it's time to go.

I thought Troy did some real good things today. We'll go back and watch the film and I'm sure there will be lots of things that we say we need to do a little bit better, and maybe a ball or two we'd like to take a little off of or maybe not make that throw. But I think every time you're out there making decisions, you learn a little bit more, and I thought Troy progressed.

Troy did some realy good things, ... We'll go back and watch the film. I'm sure there will be lots of things that we need to do a little bit better. But I think every time you're out there making decisions, you learn a little bit more. Troy progressed and that's what we hoped for.

You just never know (about recruits). So who will do it? I don't know that any of us at this time last year would have thought ... (freshman) Malcolm Jenkins would start five games at cornerback.

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.

This is a tough defensive football team that he's going to face in a tough environment, and it's a great challenge for him and a great challenge for the guys that will be on the field at the same time with him, and we certainly hope that he can continue to be efficient, make good decisions and so forth, but that's what Saturday is for -- to find that out,

I learned a long time ago - I've been around football longer than some of you have been alive - and there's two things that you don't listen to: flattery, which can't help you, and abuse, which can't hurt you. You have to look at the facts,

The beauty of it is any time someone does something within their (defensive) package, then that's going to open up other things. Maybe if they change what they do on Teddy's side, then (receiver) Anthony Gonzalez has a chance, (receiver) Santonio Holmes or whoever.

Any time you can have a big play in the punting game, it's probably the difference. I suppose if you look at the game and really analyze it, it was a tie game other than that.

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.

I just thought, based upon who had had preparation over the course of time and where we were and what we were doing, that both guys could contribute to a win.

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.

The environment at the Fiesta Bowl, from the time you land until you play the game, is extraordinary. There are wonderful memories when you walk into that stadium. I think our guys are going to relish that feeling and enjoy every moment of that.

For his first time out, I thought Troy did some good things, ... I am sure there are some plays he would like to have back, but the only way to get better is to get in there and play as many snaps as possible.

We have a clock for each team, ... What we try to point out is you need to use every second to get ready for the opportunity to play a ball game because you only have, in this day and age, eleven opportunities, and next year begins twelve. You have to make sure you use your preparation time to get ready for that and most especially use your preparation time throughout the entire year so you're at your best in that last game. That's just something we believe in terms of preparation and something that we talk about and obviously have.

The kids we recruited this year, from the time they were 13 to 18, have seen us on TV more than any other team in the country and have seen us win big games and three BCS bowls. Ohio is where we're always going to begin, but we're trying to get better in all phases, and it doesn't matter where the players are from.