Coming To Grips With Meyer v. Tressel

I have a confession for you before I continue--until last year, I didn't give two hoots about recruiting, and quite frankly, even less about the Spring Game. I was always of the opinion that whoever OSU got, Jim Tressel and company would 'coach 'em up', OSU would be very good to great, and the Spring Game? Well, it was about 6 steps below NFL OTA's, somewhere between a root canal and watching a WNBA game.

I'd watched snippets of spring games past, and I watched last year's more out of morbid curiosity than anything else, what with everything that was going on at that time, but for the most part, the college off-season was a black and empty void.

Much like the soul of Brady Hoke.

That all changed with Urban F. Meyer. And once Meyer hit the ground running and closed with a stunning recruiting class, I jumped in with both feet. So yesterday, I tuned in with genuine excitement, wondering what I'd see.

And I can honestly say, I was never so fired up watching the opening of the game practice with the Bullring. I hadn't really seen one since I played in high school, and was it me, or was everyone--the team, the crowd, the announcers--really geeked up about it?

I mean, we talkin' 'bout practice, man.

Braxton Miller v. Kenny Guiton? Really? Really. And it...was...awesome.

Some thoughts, after the jump.

Okay, I wasn't an Urban Meyer fan when he was at Florida, and I think almost all of us thought that way. But now that he's home, coaching the Bucks, I love him. I love his intensity, I love his atmosphere of competition, and I love how he is going to always be on the attack, on both sides of the ball.

I don't say this as a diss on Jim Tressel. Tressel's style couldn't have been more different, but it was hard to argue results. I have to say I sort of feel guilty feeling so good about the program under Meyer, while sort of kicking the Tressel era to the curb so nonchalantly.

And I'm not sure how to reconcile those feelings.

Even after everything that's gone down with Tatgate, I still have a hard time just stepping over the body of work from the last decade and moving on, almost as if it didn't happen. And technically, one season didn't. But between you and me, I still have the Sugar Bowl saved on my DVR, so screw 'em. Granted, there was a requirement to move on, and I think it was easier with the 6-7 bag of ass we had to sit through on top of all the other crap that happened.

But still, something didn't feel right to me in moving on so quickly.

And nothing swept all that tattoo crap, the SI hit job piece by Dohrman, and Gene Smith's incompetence (really, WHY does he still have a job??) away faster than the hiring of Urban Meyer. Meyer was the tonic that ailed us, and we've all drank from the fountain.

Because let's face it, Meyer has a hell of a long way to go to match or surpass Tressel's record---but other than maybe one or two coaches in America, he's very capable of doing it.

And that's part of the draw to Meyer. Championship-caliber coach, an Ohio guy that reveres the program history, and there's a reasonable expectation that he can take Ohio State football to levels that even Jim Tressel couldn't.

So how then, do we embrace the bright future that Meyer seems to promise without forgetting about everything good that happened under Tressel?

I don't have the answer, mind you, I'm just asking the question.

Am I the only guy that feels this way?