Byars Backup Enjoying His Day in the Sun

Ohio State tailback John Wooldridge realizes that his moment in the sun may be soon be eclipsed by the team’s biggest star.

It was Wooldridge who stepped into the gap when first-team tailback Keith Byars went down with a broken right foot on Labor Day. Ever since, Wooldridge has been a focal point of the media and of opposing defenses.

But Byars finally had the cast taken off his foot 10 days ago. He has been working out and is making excellent progress, Coach Earle Bruce said.

And when Byars finally is able to return to the lineup, Wooldridge, after some six weeks in the spotlight, would once again step into the background.

“I’ve just tried to enjoy it all while it’s here,” Wooldridge says amiably. “I’m trying to stay relaxed and remain at ease and let it come natural. I’m not looking at starting as being a life or death situation. I just want to have fun. I’ve found that when I do good, the team does good. And if the team does good, then I’m satisfied, too.”

Still, it is only human to want to play the game.

“That’s absolutely true. I can’t sit here and say that I didn’t want the opportunity to play. It’s just a shame that it had to happen this way, with misfortune to Keith,” he says.

Now it becomes apparent that although Wooldridge is glad to have Byars back, he’s not about to step into the shadows just yet.

“This is going to be a coach’s dream,” the junior from Akron, Ohio, says of the impending battle for the starting tailback slot. “We’ll probably be alternating for quite a bit. But right now we don’t know when he’s coming back and we don’t know what to expect when he does come back.”

Through the Buckeyes’ first four games, Wooldridge has totaled 308 yards rushing, has caught 13 passes for 116 yards, and helped the team to win its first three games before last weekend’s 31-28 loss at Illinois.

In that last-second defeat, Wooldridge rushed for 38 yards on 10 carries before being sidelined with a concussion midway through the second quarter.