As the No. 9-ranked Buckeyes prepare for their matchup with Iowa on Saturday, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel had a different message for his team after practice Wednesday evening.
The NCAA granted safety Tyler Moeller a sixth year of eligibility, Tressel announced to the team.
Tressel “was like, ‘I found some good news’ and he was like, ‘Tyler Moeller got a medical redshirt and he has another year,'” Moeller told media about an hour after hearing the news.
Moeller’s season ended for the second straight year when he tore his left pectoral muscle in the first half of OSU’s 24-13 win at Illinois on Oct. 2. Moeller missed the entire 2009 season after suffering a head injury when he was assaulted while vacationing in Florida.
“I am excited,” Moeller said with a grin. “It’s great to have another year here, and my mind has been in 5 million different places for the past couple weeks. So it’s great to know that I have another year here and I have another chance to play.”
Moeller said he wrote a letter pleading his case and had to file paperwork “a couple inches thick” before the NCAA finally ruled in his favor.
“I put my feelings out there and explained my situation and asked them for another year,” he said.
Despite the uncertainty, Moeller said he never lost faith.
“With my kind of situation, you don’t know what’s going to happen, and there is a lot of ups and downs,” he said. “I just tried to keep my head up and always think that I was going to get another year, and everything worked out.”
As for his injury, Moeller said he has been lifting with his legs and should be able to train his upper body soon.
“It’s going well. I just talked to the doctor. I have been in a sling for six weeks and tomorrow I am going to start stretching it out and get a little motion,” he said. “They said in six weeks that I’ll have full range of motion and then I’ll start lifting again. So everything is on schedule and going as planned.”
