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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Between another painful championship-game loss last January and an early season showdown with Southern California coming up on Sept. 13, Ohio State has a lot of work to do.
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Since almost everybody's back from last year, not much time will be spent on introductions.
"You'd think we'd be a smarter football team with all the experience we have," coach Jim Tressel said on Wednesday, the day before the first official practice of the spring.
This is a veteran group of Buckeyes, with 47 players having been with the team for at least four years.
The Buckeyes were beaten 38-24 by LSU in the BCS National Championship Game Jan. 7. Since then, almost all of the news for the program has been positive.
Only one underclassman, defensive lineman Vernon Gholston, elected to give up his last year of eligibility to make himself available for the NFL Draft.
Gholston's departure -- along with that of senior starters Kirk Barton at right tackle, Dionte Johnson at fullback and Larry Grant at linebacker -- means the Buckeyes have 10 starters returning from one of the nation's top defenses and nine starters on offense.
The returning headliners are linebacker James Laurinaitis, a first-team All-American who won the Butkus Award and was the Big Ten's top defensive player, tailback and team MVP Chris "Beanie" Wells and quarterback Todd Boeckman.
The defense also returns the entire secondary (corners Malcolm Jenkins and Donald Washington, safeties Kurt Coleman and Anderson Russell) and has several solid players up front.
Despite the hoopla over the signing of blue chip quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who won't be on campus until the middle of the summer, Boeckman is a lock to be the starter.
After a year in which he completed 64 percent of his passes for 25 TDs with 14 interceptions, Boeckman will be counted on to be in tune with the rest of the veterans around him on offense.
"Todd Boeckman's got to make sure he and Brian Hartline and Brian Robiskie and Jake Ballard, Chris Wells -- whoever he throws it to -- that those guys really grow in understanding," Tressel said.
Even though Pryor won't start, he may compete for playing time, and quickly.
