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Jenkins Twp. man charged with pocketing $266k from false insurance claims against W-B, LCTA

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Outgoing Wilkes-Barre Mayor Leighton to present 2016 budget Thursday

They&#8217;re still here, all three of them. Braxton Miller. J.T. Barrett. Cardale Jones.As it turns out, there are enough touchdowns to go around for Ohio State&#8217;s talented triplets, who combined for six scores last week against Maryland.Not that it&#8217;s been easy for Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer and the defending national champs. Despite a 6-0 record and a No. 1 ranking in the polls, Meyer and his staff have faced criticism for trying to juggle the three quarterbacks, even after Miller was moved to H-back in training camp.Jones is the starter. Barrett rotates in. Miller is used primarily as a receiver.All of them want the ball.&#8220;Every good quality player wants the football, and we don&#8217;t discourage that,&#8221; Meyer said. &#8220;That goes back to my days in 1986 when Cris Carter was playing receiver, he wanted the ball. What did Coach (Earl) Bruce do? Gave him the ball. We don&#8217;t look at that as a negative.&#8220;Now it becomes a special media fiasco and (viewed as) selfish. &#8230; But when we go out and recruit skilled athletes, we want them to want the ball.&#8221;For the Buckeyes, it&#8217;s a hill to climb. For opponents, it&#8217;s a Himalayan expedition that requires a Sherpa guide.Barrett was a Freshman All-American last year after taking the reins from the injured Miller during camp. When Barrett went down at the end of the regular season, Jones merely led Ohio State to decisive wins over Wisconsin, Alabama and Oregon to win the Big Ten and the inaugural College Football Playoff.Miller &#8212; the two-time Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year &#8212; may actually be the most talented.&#8220;He&#8217;s just a really, really dynamic athlete,&#8221; Penn State coach James Franklin said. &#8220;I mean, it&#8217;s amazing. We watch him on film, and he&#8217;s playing wide receiver right now like he&#8217;s played wide receiver his entire life. It&#8217;s impressive, and I think Braxton is that type of athlete. He can throw it, he can run it with the ball in his hands. He&#8217;s special.&#8221;Miller himself has been a bit more modest about the transition.&#8220;I feel like I&#8217;m ahead of schedule,&#8221; Miller said. &#8220;I feel comfortable making plays, blocking. I just feel good.&#8221;Miller made a triumphant return from the shoulder surgery that wiped out his lost 2014 season, torching Virginia Tech in the season opener. He had one of the biggest highlights of that first weekend, pulling off a rapid spin move to stun a defender before outracing everyone to the end zone.He got back in the end zone last weekend with a touchdown reception against Maryland, as the Buckeyes offense seemed to regain its spark in the second half, blowing away the Terrapins after being tied 21-21 in the third quarter.A big reason may be that the Bucks may have found the best way to utilize their riches at quarterback.Against the Terps, Jones handled most of the snaps but Barrett took over in the red zone, where he rushed for three touchdowns out of the spread-option playbook that Meyer has used to phenomenal success throughout his career.Odds are the Lions will see a similar methodology on Saturday when they visit the Horseshoe.&#8220;I think so, but I&#8217;m not writing it in Sharpie yet,&#8221; Meyer said. &#8220;We&#8217;ll see how it goes. I think everyone on our team can see (Barrett) and his energy, and he&#8217;s a good player. Cardale can certainly run, but when you have that threat, you saw it Saturday, and you have to defend that now.&#8221;Penn State remembers only too well.Barrett hurt Penn State early in last year&#8217;s game with his legs before getting dinged up and losing some of that mobility after halftime. The Lions proceeded to shut out Ohio State in the second half to tie the game.It wasn&#8217;t until the game was on the line that the Buckeyes coaches put Barrett back on the move, and it paid off. He set up both Ohio State touchdowns in overtime with nice runs as the Bucks escaped with a win.&#8220;It causes headaches,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;You defend the run, you defend the pass, and now you&#8217;re trying to defend the pass when the quarterback takes off on you.&#8220;Barrett is something that you&#8217;re going to have to deal with, and I can see, as effective as it was on Saturday with him, I can see his package continue to grow.&#8221;If there&#8217;s any comfort at all for the Lions defense it&#8217;s that they got a bit of a head start on preparing for both Jones and Barrett last week before facing Indiana.The Hoosiers had two very different quarterbacks in pocket passer Nate Sudfeld and scrambler Zander Diamont. With Sudfeld banged up, Penn State had to prepare for the possibility of both.&#8220;I think they definitely have a lot of similarities,&#8221; Lions linebacker Jason Cabinda said of planning for Indiana and then Ohio State. &#8220;And that can definitely transfer over to this week and our preparation and kind of help us out there.&#8221;Of course the talent level is much higher this week, and Jones can take off and run it himself &#8212; an imposing runner at 6-foot-5, 250 pounds who is nicknamed &#8220;12-gauge.&#8221; But Jones&#8217; runs come almost exclusively on improvised scrambles as opposed to the designed run calls that Barrett gets.For the Buckeyes, it&#8217;s a formula that works. For now.&#8220;It was good for that day. Now (Penn State) is a whole other challenge,&#8221; Meyer said. &#8220;I would love for Cardale to throw for 30 and J.T. to do that again. But their defense is probably going to have something to say about that. It&#8217;s a very good defense we&#8217;re facing.&#8221;RBs improving?Franklin told reporters in State College after Wednesday&#8217;s practice that team doctors have made a decision on Saquon Barkley&#8217;s availability for Saturday.He just woudn&#8217;t say what the decision was.Both Barkley (ankle) and fellow banged-up running back Akeel Lynch (knee) were in uniform Wednesday and Franklin said that Lynch was able to take reps.<style>
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<div class="neCaption">J.T. Barrett was extremely effective as Ohio State&#8217;s red zone quarterback last week, rushing for three touchdowns while subbing in for Cardale Jones. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_OSU-barrett1.jpg</photo0><caption0>J.T. Barrett was extremely effective as Ohio State&#8217;s red zone quarterback last week, rushing for three touchdowns while subbing in for Cardale Jones. </caption0><photoCredit0>Jay LaPrete | AP photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Derek Levarsedlevarse@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>UP NEXTPenn State at Ohio State8 p.m., Saturday, ABC</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</shirttailMeta></div>

Ohio State triple threat causing headaches for opponents