Coach: Gholston better than his numbers

As Ohio State coach Jim Tressel watched the NFL draft and the accompanying video of Vernon Gholston Saturday afternoon, he was a little bothered.

"You know, in all the highlights on Saturday, I never saw any of those plays where he carried Jake Long into the quarterback's lap," Tressel said in a telephone interview yesterday from Columbus.

Tressel wasn't besmirching Long, Michigan's All-American left tackle selected No. 1 overall by the Dolphins, and he was happy that his standout defensive end, who will play outside linebacker in his new team's 3-4 defense, was taken by the Jets.

Tressel has had several players do well with the Jets over the years, including Mike Nugent and Nick Mangold. But he was perplexed at some of the criticisms directed at Gholston before, during and after the draft. His primary objection was to the charge that Gholston took plays - and sometimes entire games - off.

The one highlight played consistently was of Gholston beating Long for a sack - the only one Long gave up all season - but Tressel said that wasn't the only play in which Gholston bettered Long. There just wasn't a sack to show for the other ones.

It was part of the larger point Tressel wanted to make: The reason Gholston's sack and tackle numbers fluctuated was that his role in Ohio State's 4-3 defense wasn't always the same. For example, Ohio State occasionally had the speedy Gholston drop into coverage.

"When you're a D-end who is sometimes a drop guy, there are going to be times where you're not going forward," said Tressel, who later in the interview said he didn't see any difficulties ahead for Gholston in the Jets' 3-4 defense. "There are times where you'll be in the scuffle and sometimes when you're out in your zone."

In explaining the disparate reports on Gholston - many glowing, many not so much - Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum said in an interview yesterday that scouts don't always consider the factors Tressel mentioned.

"Scouting is very subjective," Tannenbaum said. "You don't necessarily know what a player's responsibility is on a given play, what the coach has him doing on a particular play. That's why scouting is an inexact science. We're very comfortable with Vernon. We feel the best days are ahead of him."

Tressel agreed, recalling the rapid development of Gholston, who arrived in Columbus having played only two years of high school football. He left the Buckeyes having recorded 22 1/2 sacks in his last two seasons, including a school-record 14 in 2007.

"I think his upside ... a lot of times you ask yourself, 'Is what we're getting a finished product or the tip of the iceberg?'" Tressel said. "I think this is the tip of the iceberg with Vernon, which is frightening."

Notes & quotes: Tannenbaum kept his answer similar to the ones he gave over the weekend regarding tight end Chris Baker, who recently left the team's offseason conditioning program and publicly criticized the team in another publication yesterday.

"Chris Baker's a really good player. I'm glad he's on our team," Tannenbaum said. "I'm expecting a lot of good things from him in 2008."

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