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Back's slow start this season blamed on sore ankle, lack of focus in opener
By George M. Thomas Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Thursday, Sep 20, 2007
COLUMBUS: One of the bigger questions Ohio State's offense faced as it prepared for the season was whether sophomore running back Chris Wells could carry the load.
Three games into the season the answer is an emphatic yes. In three games, Wells, a graduate of Garfield High, lugged the ball 60 times for 332 yards, a whopping 5.4-yard average, and two touchdowns. This despite starting the season with a 16-carry, 46-yard performance against Youngstown State University. In that game, he failed to score from the 1-yard line on three attempts.
Showing that he has little problem with honesty and self-assessment, Wells said after that game that he wasn't focused and just wasn't into the game.
Even in the Buckeyes' game against the University of Akron, he seemed to struggle in spots. He finished with an impressive 145 yards on 20 carries, but much of that yardage came in huge chunks. It wasn't until his 24-carry, 135-yard game against the University of Washington on Saturday that fans saw what made him one of the nation's top recruits: a blend of speed and power packed into a chiseled 6-foot-1, 230-pound frame, accompanied by a stiff-arm that stops defenders in their tracks.
What has been the difference? Practice.
An ankle injury one that he still keeps taped kept him out of most of the Buckeyes' training camp.
''I think practice played a major role. I didn't practice a lot in camp,'' he said Tuesday. ''In the first game, you could really tell I didn't.''
Coach Jim Tressel pointed out that the offensive line did its job Saturday, but he agreed with Wells, too.
''I think the fact that he could get 24 reps carrying the ball certainly was a good thing for him in a lot of ways. It allowed him to learn on the run,'' Tressel said. ''But as we've said from the last two or three weeks, you need to play this game to get good at it.
''And unfortunately, he missed a little bit of time, nothing we can do about that, just keep working on it, and he got a lot of reps on Saturday.''
That time off the field hurt him in other ways, teammates suggest. It can affect how a person plays when they return, fullback Dionte Johnson said.
''It is just a confidence thing,'' Johnson said. ''It was just like coach said in Week 1, he hadn't had a lot of practices at full speed, so he was just getting his bearings about himself.
''Now he is back to where, 'I can do this, I can do that, and make a good cut with the rest of them,' and he has really started to run the ball like we know he can.''
If Wells lacked confidence after that first game, it doesn't show now. He also heard the criticism from fans and the media about that performance.
''It doesn't have an effect on me at all because I know I can play,'' Wells said. ''I just take it in stride and try not to pay it that much attention.''
For Wells and the Buckeyes, that is probably the best attitude he can take.
The OSU defense has helped Wells, too.
The unit is ranked third in the country in yards allowed per game and first in the Big Ten. It has allowed the offense to come around from slow starts, much in the way it did last week against the Huskies.
In Seattle, Wells got stronger and the yards piled up because he was able to get into a rhythm, and that is something the Buckeyes will need as quarterback Todd Boeckman matures into his role as the starter.
Wide receiver Brian Robiskie attributed Wells' earlier struggles to a number of things. He said the primary one might have been that Wells knew he is The Guy this year, and so he was pressing.
''He was going to have a big season. Everybody knew it,'' Robiskie said. ''It was just a matter of getting relaxed in the offense, and I think he's starting to do that.''
Robiskie also knows that when Wells is having a game like the one against the Huskies, that means only good things for the offense. ''When he's doing the types of things he can do, that means everybody is clicking,'' he said.
George M. Thomas can be reached atsportswriterabj@sbcglobal.net Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/sportsblitz/.
COLUMBUS: One of the bigger questions Ohio State's offense faced as it prepared for the season was whether sophomore running back Chris Wells could carry the load.
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