Article published September 01, 2008
Eyes to the ground ... on Wells' foot
Tressel plays wait-and-see on condition of OSU's running back
The right foot of Ohio State's Chris Wells' is covered in a protective boot after being injured in Saturday's game.
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Ohio State fans who gasped when running back Chris "Beanie" Wells went down with an injury in Saturday's win over Youngstown State are still holding their breath. They are blue in the face with anxiety, waiting to hear the prognosis for the 6-1, 237-pound Heisman Trophy candidate.
Ohio State officials have released little new information on Wells, who sustained an injury to his right foot in the third quarter of a 43-0 rout. Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel has said only that X-rays showed no fracture.
Wells, a junior from Akron, got hurt on a play that started at the Youngstown State 2-yard line. As he approached the line of scrimmage to take a handoff from quarterback Todd Boeckman, Wells appeared to stop with the intention of cutting to his right. As he planted his feet on the artificial surface, Wells buckled, recoiled in pain and landed on his back, fumbling the ball.
He immediately clutched his right foot, his face contorted in anguish. After a lengthy period of time with the OSU training staff huddled around him, Wells was assisted off the field by teammates Brian Robiskie and Lawrence Wilson, and put no weight on his right foot. He rode to the locker room stretched out on a training staff golf cart, and did not return to the sideline until just before the end of the game, wearing a protective boot and limping noticeably.
"When I went out there to check on him, I told him to relax and take a breath," said Wilson, a close friend of Wells. "I was crushed to see that kind of player go down, but I have a lot of confidence that he will be back. He's one of those guys who is hungry and wants to play."
Tressel defended having Wells still in the game with the Buckeyes leading 26-0 and totally dominating the Penguins, who had just 74 yards of offense on the day. Wells finished with 13 carries for 111 yards, including a 43-yard run for the game's first touchdown."That was early in the third quarter, wasn't it," Tressel said. "We were out there playing all of our guys throughout the course of the game, until a little bit later. I don't know how many carries he ended up, but he's the kind of guy that we want him to be a 20-to-30 carry guy. I don't know that he was overused or anything."
Wells was with team doctors following the game and was not available for comment. Wells said through Ohio State spokesperson Shelly Poe that he might have hurt his foot before his final play of the day.
"I may have rolled it or planted wrong a play or two before. Something just didn't feel right. Then I think I felt a pop. But the X-rays are OK, so we'll see how it feels in a day or two," Wells said in a statement.
Wells, who battled through wrist and ankle problems last year to post the best season ever by an Ohio State sophomore - 1,609 rushing yards - reportedly told teammates the injury was to his big toe. Tressel said following the game that the trainers had not mentioned "turf toe" in the preliminary discussions.
Tressel also did not want to speculate as to Wells' availability for Saturday's home game against Ohio, or the upcoming Sept. 13 showdown in Los Angeles against Southern California.
"We'll have to play that by ear because you never know how those things are," Tressel said. "Sometimes all of a sudden there's that adrenaline rush that, 'Hey, I'm not injured as bad as I was maybe afraid that I was' or whatever gives you a chance to get back a little bit quicker. But again, we just simply follow what the doctors tell us to do."
Tressel indicated that a decision on Wells' status would not be made until more was known about the injury, and the rest of the week played out.
"If he can go, he can go," Tressel said. "If he can practice, he can practice. If he can't practice, obviously we wouldn't use him [against Ohio]."
Robiskie attempted to put the uncertainty in the best possible light, expressing confidence that backup tailbacks Brandon Saine, Dan "Boom" Herron and Maurice Wells would be able to fill in if Beanie Wells were sidelined.
"We have great depth at the position," Robiskie said. "As you saw, Dan Herron is a great running back. Brandon Saine and Maurice Wells are solid. We are fine at that position."
- Matt Markey
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