Wells to sit; Wells to start
September 4, 2008
BY KEN GORDON
How about that for a fun headline!
As posted a little while ago, coach Jim Tressel today said RB Chris “Beanie” Wells will not play Saturday against Ohio University, as he did not practice yet this week on his injured right toe, and trying to play with very little practice is not the prudent thing to do.
In Beanie’s place, the “other” Wells — senior Maurice — will start. But Tressel said not to read too much into that. He wants to play all three tailbacks — Brandon Saine and Dan Herron are the others — but the players like the honor of starting, so Maurice Wells as a senior earns that right.
Tressel said he felt good about Beanie’s progress and claimed he had no concerns about him not being ready next week for the Southern California game.
This is a smart move for two reasons: One, obviously, there is no need to risk Beanie in a game like Saturday’s, where the only question is whether OSU will cover the 34-point spread.
But the second reason is psychological. Think of the damage to OSU’s mindset if Beanie tried to play Saturday and hobbled off again — suddenly, there is another week of angst and doubt.
With Beanie sitting, the team now believes he will be fine for the big USC showdown and goes out west with confidence.
Also, after the other three backs get a whole game of action, now the team has more confidence in Mo Wells, Saine and Herron. So if Beanie does reinjure himself against USC, the team probably feels better about its backups, having seen them do well (hypothetically) when they’ve had to carry the load.
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