It's been a while since we've updated you on the goings on in and around Columbus, so here's a quick look at what has gone down the past couple of days.
Yesterday, new football coach Luke Fickell addressed the media and predictably was asked if he knew what had been going on with quarterback Terrelle Pryor, former head coach Jim Tressel and others. His response?
"I wasn't going to say that I had blinders on, but (I was) very focused on the task at hand," Fickell said. "I was not informed of any information until it became public knowledge."
I'm inclined to believe him here, and maybe that's naive of me, but if we can't quantify how much the head coach should or should not know about compliance aside from passing along the type of information Tressel hid, how can we possibly quantify what an assistant coach should or should not know? The only reason I have to doubt Luke Fickell is that he's surrounded by liars. Is he guilty simply by association? Maybe, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now.
The topic of Terrelle Pryor came up in the press conference as well. Fickell says he didn't talk to Pryor before the quarterback decided to leave Ohio State and didn't call him back after Pryor had contacted him.
"The situation just didn't work out that we had the chance to sit down and talk," Fickell said.
That's the high road way of saying "Thanks for making my job way, way harder, dude." Can't really blame Fickell for playing it that way at all. It's time to move on for Ohio State and even attempting to keep that Pryor headache around for another year would have been an obvious bad idea.
Speaking of Terrelle Pryor, he's hired an agent, Drew "Next Question" Rosenhaus, and he's going to talk to the media today.
Rosenhaus told ESPN's Tom Farrey that Pryor will hold a news conference Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET at the Fountainbleau Hotel on Miami Beach. Pryor and Rosenhaus will both make statements, the agent said.
"There will be some heartfelt things he's going to say. It's going to be very genuine," Rosenhaus told Farrey.
If Pryor says a word beyond what is written on paper for him to say, I'll be positively shocked given his tendency to say, you know, really stupid things. Rosenhaus is the perfect agent for an arrogant guy like Pryor. Really, I doubt anyone really cares what Pryor has to say about anything at this point, but this press conference is going to go down regardless to do little more than massage both men's egos.
So that's what's happening. Stay tuned. I'm sure there's plenty of news to come.