Even-keeled Tressel ready for 2004

Clarett, the 2002 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, didn’t suit up in a game for the Buckeyes last year, so this isn’t a transitional season in that regard. What makes this year different is that the specter of Clarett is finally gone, too.

“I don’t know if it was a distraction,” Tressel said, “but it was disappointing.”

Trouble first popped up last summer in a New York Times article alleging that OSU football players (most notably Clarett) had received preferential treatment during the Buckeyes’ run to the 2002 national championship. It was an allegation later refuted by the school after a $100,000 internal investigation.

Clarett couldn’t run away from his problems, however. He was suspended for the season after it was determined that he committed numerous NCAA violations by receiving illegal benefits and lying to investigators. He has since been struck down in the courts in his attempt to gain early access into the NFL, his football career in a state of limbo.

With Clarett suddenly persona non grata last season, the rest of the football team was left to answer questions for him and about him in his wake.

Fairly or unfairly, every running back on last year’s team was compared to Clarett as the Buckeyes limped around with the nation’s 84th ranked rushing attack.

Those comparisons may linger again this season, with basically the same cast of characters in the backfield and three new starters on the offensive line. But at least the distractions Clarett caused are gone.

“I thought that was tough on the team,” Tressel said. “(Clarett’s saga) was something they had nothing to do with, yet they had to sit there and constantly answer questions. They have enough to contest with - competition, time constraints, academics, community service. To put any more on their plate was tough.”

It’s a tribute to the even-keeled tone set by Tressel that the Clarett-less Buckeyes came within a blown coverage by Chris Gamble at Wisconsin and a loss at Michigan - in which they were driving for the tying score in the fourth quarter - of playing for a second straight national championship.

“I thought our players dealt with (Clarett’s suspension) in a compassionate way,” Tressel said. “I don’t remember anyone standing up and saying, `I want this to go away.’ They felt for their teammate.

“The fact that it will be talked about less won’t change who our guys are ... but maybe they’ll get to talk now about what they hope to do.”

In a high-profile program of more than 100 athletes, off-the-field issues will never totally disappear. Tight end Louis Irizarry and running back Ira Guilford were dismissed from the team in the spring after being charged with assault and robbery of a fellow student. And heralded freshman punter A.J. Trapasso was twice cited for underage drinking. He will sit out the first two games for his indiscretions and, even though he enrolled in school last winter, will not be allowed to rejoin the team until Sept. 5.

Through all of the travails, going back to the 2001 arrest of starting quarterback/captain Steve Bellisari for DUI with the Buckeyes bidding for a Big Ten title, Tressel hasn’t flinched, snapped at reporters or sprouted a single facial wrinkle. He remains unflappable.

“I hope I’ve matured,” said the fourth-year coach. “I’ve grown to understand this is probably one of the most difficult places to be a college football player. We sit in the 15th largest city in the country without pro sports being dominant.

“You look at the polls in various cities asking if you’re a pro sports or college sports enthusiast. We’re one of the bigger cities where it would be, I don’t know, 90-10, college sports. So it’s tough on kids. That’s been a growth area for me.”