Full Time player

Never let them see you sweat. That's what Joe's father taught him as a kid and it's the mantra he has carried onto the field ever since. Cameras could follow Joe around for 24 hours. It could make him the star of his very own Truman Show, but it would never see him sweat.

''It was difficult coming off the bench,'' Germaine said Friday. ''You really couldn't get into the flow. But that was my job and I had to make it work.'' He found a way. As a part-time player in 1997, Germaine passed for 1,847 yards and 16 touchdowns, completing 61.4 percent of his passes. He finished third nationally in passing efficiency, behind UCLA's Cade McNown and Washington State's Ryan Leaf.

Four times during his two years at Ohio State, Germaine has come off the bench to complete three touchdown passes in a game.

He possesses pinpoint accuracy and a cool command of the offense. But when you'd see him on TV, standing on that sideline with his helmet on watching Jackson play, you'd think, aaah, he's such a well-behaved little boy.

That's all in the past. Jackson has exhausted his eligibility and Germaine, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound senior from Mesa, Ariz., is the starting quarterback for the No. 1-ranked team in the country.

He no longer has to share the job. If the camera wants to find him this year, it will have to seek him out on the field, where he'll be engineering a high-powered offense that at times can be dizzying.

''We're going to throw it,'' said Ohio State head coach John Cooper. ''There ain't any question about that. With Joe Germaine and the receivers we've got coming back, we'd be foolish to say we're not going to throw the ball.''

The laid-back Germaine is excited about the prospect of running the Ohio State offense on a full-time basis. That's what he keeps saying, the words rolling out as if they were part of a telephone recording. Press "3" if you want to hear Joe Germaine talk about how thrilled he is to be Ohio State's starting quarterback.

No, he's not the Boomer Esiason type. Or even the Stanley Jackson type. Germaine has his own way of doing things - cool, detached, like a technician pushing the right buttons.

''The quarterback's job is just to hide behind the system,'' Germaine said, which would be startling news to other quarterbacks, most of whom tend toward the flamboyant. ''What I mean by the system are the plays and terminology that runs the offense. If we just do our job and execute those plays, we'll be fine.

"I've always had confidence. Just because I was made the starter doesn't mean I'll have more confidence. I'm going to be the same player that I was in the past.''

That wouldn't be such a good idea. Even if Germaine won't admit it, there is a greater sense of urgency behind his preparations this year. Not only is he getting the chance he has waited for two years to receive, he is carrying the burden of a No. 1 ranking on his shoulders.

Expectations for the Buckeyes haven't been this high in Cooper's previous 10 years as coach. And expectations are always high at Ohio State. The Buckeyes don't need Germaine to be the same player he was in the past. They need him to push his game to a higher level and to carry them along with him.

Germaine knows that as well as anybody, which is why on the day after the Buckeyes were embarrassed by Florida State in the Sugar Bowl, he was already studying film, fine-tuning the system.

''Joe is very methodical, very precise,'' said OSU guard and Moeller High graduate Rob Murphy. ''He's has that quiet confidence that I like about him.

''Jack was definitely more vocal. Joe led more by example. When Joe was in there you could feel the momentum building on a drive. He wouldn't really have to say anything. If we'd give up a sack or something, Jack would be yelling at the offensive line, not in a bad way, but just to get us going. Joe just brushes himself off and that's it.

He's ready to play the next play.''

Press ''4'' to hear Germaine talk about what he hopes to accomplish this year. ''I'm just looking forward to getting started and see what I can do for a whole game,'' Germaine said.

So is an entire state of Buckeye fans, who have waited since 1968 for another national championship.