Five starts, 1,202 passing yards, and 16 touchdowns ago, Tyler Tettleton scored his first career touchdown in a 27-24 win on the road at Buffalo.
Two years later, Tettleton is Ohio’s starting quarterback and has accounted for all but two of the Bobcats’ 17 offensive touchdowns this season.
This week, Tettleton will return to the field where he scored his first collegiate touchdown and will aim to lead the Bobcats to their best start since 1997.
“I obviously didn’t play that much but was able to come in for two or three games and get my first touchdown,” Tettleton said. “That familiarity should help going back up there. Hopefully, it won’t be as cold this time.”
So far this season, Tettleton has completed 104 of 162 passing attempts for 1,202 yards, 12 touchdowns and only one interception — which came on the opening drive of the season.
Tettleton is just 134 yards shy of becoming Ohio’s all-time leader in passing yards by a sophomore — a record now held by Sammy Shon, who threw for 1,336 yards during his sophomore campaign in 1979.
Ohio coach Frank Solich surprised a few people when he announced that Tettleton would be Ohio’s starting quarterback at the team’s media day in early August, but since, the Bobcats have stuck with Tettleton and have had no need to look back.
“He’s handled it extremely well, and he’s off to a great season so far,” Solich said. “He’s taking great care of the ball; he’s scrambled and made plays with his legs; he’s obviously thrown the ball extremely well and made big plays for us.
“He’s the catalyst of most of our big and explosive plays.“
For a coaching staff loaded with Nebraska graduates, pulling a player from Norman, Okla., is no small task.
Ohio quarterbacks coach and Nebraska graduate Gerry Gdowski said all the credit should be given to offensive coordinator Tim Albin, whose Oklahoma ties helped reel in Tettleton.
“(Albin) does a little bit of recruiting down there through the people he’s known from his past experience as a coach and growing up in Oklahoma,” Gdowski said. “That’s really how that happened.”
Much of Tettleton’s success this season has stemmed from his ability to create plays with his legs.
Tettleton leads the team in rushing touchdowns and has used his mobility to scramble out of the pocket and find open targets when protection breaks down.
After sustaining a contusion in his lower right leg during the win against Kent State last weekend, Tettleton said he does not expect the injury to affect his mobility moving forward.
“They want me to take it easy on my leg for now, but I don’t think it will have any effect come Saturday,” Tettleton said.
Solich said he expects Tettleton will be ready to go Saturday, but backup Kyle Snyder has seen more reps in practice this week just in case.
“I’m not going to get into too much detail there,” Solich said about revealing the nature of injuries. “Guys can go after you when they know what’s aching on you.”
Despite a nagging leg for much of the second half against the Golden Flashes, Tettleton was able to throw for at least 250 yards for the third consecutive game.
In his seventh year as quarterbacks’ coach at Ohio, Gdowski said Tettleton stacks up well when compared to previous Ohio quarterbacks.
“You look at his first five games and he’s played better numbers-wise and what he’s done than anybody that we’ve had,” Gdowski said. “You look for that consistency, and hopefully, he can continue to do what he’s doing.”
In his return to Buffalo, Tettleton said going in with a target on their backs is a good thing for the Bobcats.
“Everybody’s trying to aim to beat us,” he said. “We’ve got to go in and play within ourselves and keep doing everything we’ve been doing each week.”
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