After all the turmoil, questions loom for Buckeyes

A scandal centered on a tattoo-parlor owner giving cash and discounts for memorabilia to several players grew geometrically. After players were suspended for the start of the 2011 season, it was discovered coach Jim Tressel had known about their complicity for more than nine months and had kept the information to himself — contrary to NCAA rules and his own contract.

After a torrent of daily revelations, rumor and innuendo, Tressel’s startlingly successful decade in Columbus came to a disgraceful end when he was forced out on May 30.

Shortly thereafter, Tressel’s pet player, three-year starting quarterback Terrelle Pryor, announced he was giving up his senior season to make an end run at an NFL career.

Seeking to mollify the NCAA, Ohio State has vacated its 12-1 season a year ago (including wins over rival Michigan and in the Sugar Bowl against Arkansas), and has tagged itself with two years of NCAA probation. It won’t find out until September at the earliest if the NCAA accepts those sanctions or wants to pile on more.

Now Luke Fickell, a linebackers coach the previous nine years at his alma mater, is the interim head coach.

He calls the last few months “a whirlwind, exciting, crazy, emotional.’’

Now that all the accusations and allegations have given way to actually taking the field and practicing, the next few weeks figure to be all of that and more.

Even without the controversy, the NCAA investigation, the suspensions and the departures, this would be a tumultuous preseason. The Buckeyes must replace seven starters on defense and four on offense, not to mention being without four prime contributors (leading rusher Dan Herron, top receiver DeVier Posey, starting offensive lineman Mike Adams and backup defensive lineman Solomon Thomas) who were suspended for the first five games of the fast approaching season.