OSU BUCKEYES What they’re saying about YSU

TODD BOECKMAN (senior quarterback)

“They’re [YSU] a real good football team, as they’ve shown in the past. They’ve done some great things in Division I-AA. I know they’ve got a few guys coming back on defense. We’re looking forward to it. They try to bring a lot of pressure, blitz a little bit and get to you up front and play some man coverage. It’s definitely a surprise how quick they are and how tough they are. Last year it was butterflies, nervous, didn’t know what to expect, I didn’t know how to handle myself. Really looking forward to getting out there and doing it all over again.

(Upsets last year): “Like you’ve seen in the past with all of those upsets, you can’t take anyone lightly. You can’t take anything for granted. I know whoever plays us is going to take their best shot playing against us because that would demand a lot of respect if someone like that would go into our stadium and beat us like that. We’ve heard about it, we know about it. You never know what to expect. That’s why you’ve got to go out and play from start to finish because you just never know. There’s been so many upsets in college football. And the gaps narrowing between some of those top teams and bottom teams and you just never know these days. If you have one off quarter or one off game, you never know what could happen.

(Effect of Terrell Pryor on team): “It really doesn’t affect me. He’s a great player. He’s got all the talents in the world to be a great quarterback and I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do. I guess experience and having a previous year last year I guess helps a lot too. He’s a great player and if he’s going to go out there and play some snaps and do some things out there. If it’s helping us win, I’m all for it.

(Favorite win): “Any win against Michigan is a favorite win.

JAMES LAURINAITIS(senior linebacker)

“Youngstown throws a lot at you. They have a lot of weapons. It’s one of those sites where you have guys transferring in every year, you don’t know what you’re going to get, you don’t know what stars are coming in. You have to be ready for everything and anything. They’re obviously a very competitive team, a very, very good team, rich in tradition at that level and you know whenever you play another team from Ohio and you’re Ohio State, you’d better bring your A game because you know that the other team is.

(YSU no-huddle spread): “You’ve got to look a little bit at Illinois. They’re a team that has spent some time with Illinois and what they do. We have a good idea of what they try to do to us. There’s no really way you can prepare, you’re preparing for the unseen. You have to adjust in a game like this after the first two series to see what they’re trying to do to you. Once that happens, then you can kind of settle in and get the whole idea of what they’re trying to throw at you and move forward from there.

BRIAN ROBISKIE(senior wide receiver)

“We’re going to approach this game like we would any other game. The biggest thing for us, especially the older guys, we don’t have that many chances left to come out and perform on a stage like this. For us to come out and want to take a game for granted, I don’t think that’s something we do or that coaches allow us to do. We know the kind of work we put in through the offseason, the kind of work we put in through camp. It just wouldn’t be fair for us to come out and just kind of want to get through a game.

MALCOLM JENKINS(senior defensive back)

“It’s a game, regardless of who we’re playing. It’s a game. This is what we practice for seven months out of the year, is these games _ these 12 opportunities we have. This is our first one, my last first game, we’re going to enjoy it. It’s not hard getting up for this game at all.

Associated Press