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Buckeye battle Competition heats up for incumbent QB Bellisari
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- There's a new head coach and many other fresh faces at Ohio State's spring practices. Yet Steve Bellisari is still the quarterback, at least until someone takes the job from him. With two years as a starter already under his belt, Bellisari's name hasn't been written down in ink as a starter, but as the Buckeyes go through spring practices it sounds as if it will take a huge effort by one of the other candidates to unseat him. First-year coach Jim Tressel said he's in no hurry to decide on the starter. "There are 15 practices in the spring and 29 in the preseason," he said after Monday's workout was moved inside by bolts of lightning. "After those 44 practices, my hopes are we have emerged with a starting quarterback. But there are no promises there." Bellisari, a senior from Boca Raton, Fla., split time with the first offensive unit on Monday, as did sophomore backup Scott McMullen. Another sophomore, Craig Krenzel, is also in the mix, along with the newest contender, redshirt freshman Rick McFadden. McFadden was billed as 6-foot-7 while an All-Ohio football and basketball player at Struthers, but Ohio State lists him at 6-5 even though he towers over the three other candidates -- all listed at 6-3 -- by several inches. McFadden said the candidates for the job consider the race to be wide open. "Coming in, everybody has to prove themselves," he said. "I'm sure experience does mean something. But with a new staff, you have to show what you can do and see what they're looking for." Each of the four gets just about the same number of repetitions in practice, taking snaps and testing their footwork while lined up side by side by side by side. Tressel never seems to be far away. Bellisari said if he has been ordained as the starter, he doesn't know about it. "I've never been told," he said. "I know Craig and I know Scott are very competitive guys. I'm just as competitive. "I live with Craig and I have a good relationship with him. We're always competitive in a lot of things we do." Bellisari has been an enigma through his 22 games as a starter, during which the Buckeyes are 13-9. He is stronger and more athletic than the other candidates, but has also been prone to making huge errors in judgment. He is the most likely to slip a jarring hit on a blitz. But his track record also shows he is most likely to then throw a pass directly to a defender. Tressel -- who is also Ohio State's quarterbacks coach in all but title -- wants to avoid those extremes. He is seeking a low-risk offense with few turnovers and few mistakes. "I think there's a competition," McMullen said. "That comes with the territory. We all want to push Steve to make him better and that's going to make him better." Asked if he had seen anything that would lead him to think Bellisari wouldn't be the starter, McMullen said it is still too early to draw such conclusions. "It's hard to say right now," he said. "We're all starting from day one learning this new offense." Bellisari acknowledged that he's still making mistakes while he soaks up the new Ohio State offensive terminology, patterns, cadence and sets. "It's different. You get used to doing something for three years and it's always the same," he said. "Now, there's a lot of stuff going on, so it's like everyday you're running over it again. Which is a good thing. It's a fresh new start and everyone's really picking it up."
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