BUCKEYES BUZZ: One of the lingering questions heading into the opener Saturday at noon against Youngstown State is how much and when returning starting NT Doug Worthington will get to play.
Worthington failed sobriety tests when he was charged with two counts of driving under the influence in the early hours of July 26. The 20-year-old from Buffalo, N.Y., also was charged with speeding and with having a plate on his Cadillac Escalade that belonged on another car.
Worthington is listed as a backup to starter Nader Abdallah.
“Doug will be suited up and ready to go,” coach Jim Tressel said Tuesday. “Exactly when he’ll get (to play) in the course of the game, I don’t know that answer at this moment. But it won’t be at the beginning.”
A year ago, third-string QB Antonio Henton was suspended from the team for a week after he was accused of offering a female police officer for sex. He was then reinstated and was allowed to practice with the team but not in games. Henton later pleaded guilty to a minor misdemeanor count of loitering for prostitution. He has since transferred to Georgia Southern.
When a reporter asked Tressel if there was a difference between Worthington’s situation and that of Henton, Tressel replied, “Yeah.”
At least two reporters asked Tressel what that difference was but Tressel ignored the questions.
MISSING PRACTICE: Youngstown State head coach Jon Heacock skipped the Penguins’ practice on Monday because he was attending the funeral of team video coordinator Shawn Coin. Coin died suddenly after a practice on Aug. 18.
A team spokesman said it was the first time Heacock had missed a full practice since he succeeded Jim Tressel as head coach in 2001.
The Penguins will honor Coin’s memory by wearing stickers on their helmets with his initials contained in a football.
INJURY UPDATE: Backup TB and KR Brandon Saine has suffered from a slightly pulled hamstring throughout August practices. Tressel said trainers told him on Tuesday that Saine was 95 to 100 percent healthy and is expected to play against Youngstown State.
About the only Buckeye who won’t play because of an injury is OL Kyle Mitchum, out with a foot injury.
THE SPREAD: Youngstown State, which takes on the Buckeyes at noon on Saturday at Ohio Stadium, has gone to a no-huddle spread offense this season.
LB James Laurinaitis said he sees parallels between how YSU and another member of the Big Ten run it.
“You’ve got to look a little bit at Illinois,” Laurinaitis said. “They’re a team that has spent some time with Illinois and what they do.”
For the record, the Buckeyes lost their last game at Ohio Stadium, 28-21, to the Illini last Nov. 10.
Laurinaitis said that the Penguins’ attack, much like the spreads employed by other teams, is difficult to read until you’ve actually seen it in action.
“There’s really no way you can prepare — you’re preparing for the unseen,” he said. “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.”
