What are the NCAA rules regarding

the coaching staff observing workouts and agility drills prior to official spring practice? Is M now getting together every day on the practice field?? Just wondering............ Check this: Buckeyes get going early Grueling predawn workouts build team chemistry FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 2010 3:18 AM BY TIM MAY THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH KYLE ROBERTSON | DISPATCH Terrelle Pryor shows no ill effects from knee surgery as he carries a team manager during a 50-yard sprint. | More photos KYLE ROBERTSON | DISPATCH Defensive lineman Keith Wells makes waves with two 120-pound ropes in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. The last of these six, hour-long workouts is set for Saturday morning. KYLE ROBERTSON | DISPATCH Coach Jim Tressel Brian Rolle is not much different from most other college students. Given the choice, he'd prefer sleep over rolling out of bed at 5:15 a.m. "But there's hard work to be done," the Ohio State senior linebacker said yesterday. "I've got to get to it." He and the rest of the football players had just finished an hour-long workout that started at 6 a.m. It has become tradition for the Buckeyes to wrap up their winter conditioning with a week of beat-the-sunup drills. Yesterday, they included making waves with 120-pound, thick tugboat ropes and taking one another on 50-yard piggyback wind sprints. "This was a good one. I think we really tired them out with this one," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said, smiling, as he recapped the session. "There wasn't quite the shouting at the end like yesterday." There was a lot of heavy breathing. Conditioning is the primary reason for the sessions, which run through Saturday morning, but they also serve another purpose. "As hard as they are, it's the first time you get to see the team come together," senior receiver Dane Sanzenbacher said. "This is going to be our squad, and this is the first real activity we do as far as team-building." With the team divided mostly by positions, the groups took turns at drill stations that included flipping the ropes, leaning down and pushing small wooden sleds, pulling weighted sleds, running patterns around cones, tiptoeing over obstacles in agility work, chasing one another in a figure-eight pattern around hoops, playing tug of war and, in the end, running various shuttles, including the piggyback and the wheelbarrow. Taking part was junior quarterback Terrelle Pryor, about a month removed from arthroscopic surgery, which cleaned up some things in his left knee. Though he stuck out because of the white tights on his legs, he appeared to go full speed in every drill. "It doesn't surprise me," Sanzenbacher said. "I don't think we were worried about it because I think we all know we've got the greatest doctors and trainers, and they take care of you. "And a lot of times you'll hear guys say they don't want to be hurt during this portion, because our strength guys will put the injured guys through just as hard of a workout, if not harder. So guys are out here trying to get better, trying to get on the field." For example, all of the regular offensive linemen were taking part - Michael Brewster, Justin Boren, J.B. Shugarts, Bryant Browning, Marcus Hall and Mike Adams. All seemed fit and trim, especially in the agility drills. The enthusiasm within the team has been there since winter conditioning started, without much push from the seniors, Sanzenbacher said. "And to be honest, it might have all started on Jan.1" with the win over Oregon in the Rose Bowl, he said. "When you get a positive thing going into the offseason, everybody is more excited to work." What's also different is the new set of leaders. Seniors such as Rolle, Sanzenbacher, defensive lineman Cameron Heyward and others are stepping into those roles in a program that's riding a streak of five Big Ten championships. "You're a senior now and you feel that entitlement, like this (team) is your baby and you've got to raise it," Heyward said. "The seniors, we come out here every day trying to push these guys. We want to go out right. "It's a big challenge for the seniors coming up. You want to live up to that reputation. You don't want to be that first team to not get that Big Ten championship. It's a big step we've got to take." [email protected]