Returning 18 of 22 starters from a team that played in the BCS title game, there's no question that expectations are once again sky high for Jim Tressel and The Ohio State Buckeyes this season.  The problem with returning most of your starters though, is that unless players drastically improve you are still saddled with the same problems that you had the previous season.  The problems that were exposed by Illinois and LSU.  In the first part of a series looking at the '08 Buckeyes, Furls takes a look back at the flaws that plagued this team a year ago, and figure to be issues again this season.

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Redshirting is so 2001.  The new paradigm in college football is the immediate contributor and this is facilitated by early graduation and early enrollment.  Early enrollment allows incoming freshmen to participate in spring drills, setting stand out players up for immediate impact.  Additionally, this development now makes the months of May and June (traditionally college football's slowest months) some of the most crucial.  This said, the Buckeyes are fully immersed in the formulation of their 2009 recruting class.  And it is shaping up to be specatacular.

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Coach Tressel has always managed to keep most of Ohio's best talent at home to play for the Buckeyes, and now any doubts that remained about his ability to recruit out-of-state talent in competition with the other national powers have been convincingly put to rest as the Sweater Vest is putting together a 2009 recruiting class for the ages.  Landing Terrelle Pryor and four other Parade All-Americans in 2008 has given the Buckeyes some momentum, and so far the Buckeyes are enjoying the ride. Dan Wismar takes a look at how the '09 class is shaping up for us in his latest.

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Jim Tressel has had his share of off the field issues to deal with in his tenure as the head man at The Ohio State University.  The Sweater Vest has a long history of refusing to comment publicly on doghoused players, but people that pay close attention to the team can spot the warning signs.  Furls says the doghouse is full of notable names this spring, and that there are several young players that may be able to take advantage of it and become key members of the 2008 squad.

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