Buckeye rewind: Football spring practice week 2
COVER PHOTO: Offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Brian Hartline gives members of his corps some instructions during spring practice. Pic by Sam Fahmi/Columbus Wired.
The Ohio State football team wrapped up their second week of spring practice and Columbus Wired was on hand for the week-end capper for Saturday’s unique practice where the offense and defense were awarded points during drills for making good plays. Then the points were tallied at the end to determine a winner. The offense “won”, 102-100, thanks to a touchdown run by sophomore running back Dallan Hayden as he was met at the goal line by two defensive Buckeyes but managed to push his way across.
Head coach Ryan Day said it was productive even though it was only their fifth practice in the books.
“One of the things we’ve been talking a lot about is competing,” he said afterwards. “You’ve heard over and over again, that’s what we’re trying to do is the winner-loser. Whether it was the individual drills, the team drills, the seven-on-seven, red zone pass, the goal line tackle early in practice, that’s what we’re trying to do (and) the guys were really into it.”
He said he and the staff will need to take a look at film as far as the execution process was concerned but overall, felt the effort and competitive nature was there.
Sawyer happy with not being the “jack”
Defensive end Jack Sawyer looks to be back to form at his natural three-technique, hand-in-the-turf position rather than trying to fit into defensive coordinator Jim Knowles’ “jack” position from last year. The third-year was running with the ones and gave the first-team offensive line fits by getting into the backfield and making several drill-stopping “sacks”.
Sawyer said last week that he wasn’t uncomfortable playing as a hybrid linebacker/defensive end but admitted he could’ve had a better season had he not been asked to experiment with the role.
“I’d probably be lying if I told you it was what I expected. I think a lot of us can say that, really. When you look at how many plays we missed and how many opportunities we had to get a sack (or) a tackle for-loss, I think collectively we’re looking forward to finishing those plays off and getting those stat numbers up as a whole (and) way (more) through the roof than what it was last year.”
Knowles acknowledged after the first week of practice that he was done with Sawyer’s trial run and Sawyer said he’s looking forward to concentrating on playing every snap hunched down along the defensive line.
“I think it’s good to get back and work on the fundamentals of being a defensive end this spring and we’ll see when the fall rolls around what all that entails, so I’m excited for it.”
QB battle
A lot of mixing and matching within first, second and third-team units went on for both the offense and defense. Junior Kyle McCord and redshirt freshman Devin Brown both took snaps under center with the first team units and neither stood out as having a distinct edge over the other. Both hit long passes up the sideline while also getting short curl routes over the middle batted down by feasting linebackers in both goal line and at-the-50-yard line drills.
Day said it would be easy to make judgments from one or two individual drills but mixing and matching them with different units is where the real percipience will come into play.
“When we talk about these (practices) in the meeting room, and we talk about ‘where are the quarterbacks at’, it’s hard to tell until you stack these days. We’ll grade every single snap today, we’ll see how everybody graded out but at the end of the day, we have to move the offense into the end zone, that’s ‘our’ job as a quarterback. However we do that, everybody has a different style but that leadership means a lot.”
Day said it’s all about his QB’s learn from growing and not succeeding but ultimately failing.
“I learned just the other day, a quote, that the brain doesn’t grow from success, it grows from failure. So, you know, there was a lot of failure on this field today (but) who can grow from that build and we’ll see.”
McCord had a deep pass in the 50-yard line drill to third-year wide receiver Jayden Ballard that went for six.
Ballard took snaps primarily with the third-team but was also seen taking reps with second-team units.
Offensive line
By now, surely you’ve heard the term “the brotherhood” thrown around when it comes to the camaraderie between the guys on the team. If not, then surely you can surmise what it means: that they’ve formed a bond so tight that nothing can break it apart.
For offensive line coach Justin Frye, it’s not just a bunch of guff.
“Our room, chemistry-wise, and I say this all the time, we have great dudes in our room,” he said to the media on Thursday. “For them to be hanging out outside of here (the Woody Hayes Athletic Center) and the brotherhood and all those things, that’s not cliché or b.s. here, they live that.”
The second-year associate head coach for the offense also said it doesn’t matter what others may think of them, their connection with each transcends that.
“At the end of the day, whether you like them or you don’t, they love each other. Like, the guard next to the tackle better know what the hell (each other is) doing because we got to find guys that work together.”
The brotherhood in the offensive line room seems to be tight, enough so that it appears from Saturday’s practice that Frye has found his starting five. From left guard to right guard, fourth-year Josh Fryar, third-year Donovan Jackson, redshirt freshman Carson Hinzman, super senior Matthew Jones and third-year Zen Michalski were running the first-team.
The second-team was made up of second-year George Fitzpatrick, third-year Ben Christman, fourth-year Louisiana-Monroe transfer Victor Cutler, Jr., fourth-year Enokk Vimahi and second-year Tegra Tshabola.
Receivers/running backs
Third-year wide receivers Marvin Harrison, Jr. and Reis Stocksdale as well as fifth-year tight end Cade Stover were with the first-team while redshirt freshmen receivers Kojo Antwi and Kaleb Brown as well as early enrollee freshmen receivers Carnell Tate and Noah Rogers were with the second-team.
Fourth-year running back Miyan Williams, sophomore Dallan Hayden and fourth-year DeaMonte “Chip” Trayanum split time with all three units in the backfield with no clear-cut man having an advantage.
Linebackers
With Tommy Eichenberg suited up but not taking part in spring drills while allowing both of his injured hands to heal that he suffered throughout last season, fifth-year Steele Chambers and fourth-year Cody Simon took the first-team reps.
Sophomore C.J. Hicks and redshirt freshman Gabe Powers ran with the second-team. Powers was all over the place and looked like he was living up to his Ohio Defensive Player of the Year status he had as a senior two years ago at Marysville (Ohio) High School as he broke up a couple of passes in both goal line and short-yard situations.
Safeties
This is a position that will be interesting to see how it shakes out after the spring game is played on Saturday, April 15 and fall camp begins in early August.
With adjuster safety Ronnie Hickman and slot safety Tanner McCalister - off to see if they’re good enough for the NFL - and two more safeties in Jantzen Dunn and Jaylen Johnson having transferred, it would seem the depth would be lacking coming into the spring.
However, the Buckeyes got a huge boost when third-year safety Ja’Had Carter decided his time at Syracuse was done and transferred to Columbus. He played in 31 games during his three-year career with the Orange, starting 28 and garnered honorable mention All-ACC honors last year after leading the team with three interceptions and was named a Freshman All-American by Rivals in 2020.
The Scarlet and Gray also got another immense boost when super senior Josh Proctor was talked into staying for one more year by safeties coach Perry Eliano. Also coming back is fourth-year Lathan Ransom, who started 12 games in place of the beleaguered Proctor, and finished third on the team with 74 tackles. Those two along with fourth-year Cam Martinez all took reps with the ones, with Ransom playing the adjuster (deep pass/run coverage), Proctor at the bandit (run coverage, over the middle pass coverage) and Martinez covering the slot receiver.
Sophomores Sonny Styles and Kye Stokes along with Carter repped with the twos. Styles was quick to the ball and made several plays, as the defensive staff lined him up at both adjuster and bandit and even had him looking like they were trying his hand at the jack as he even lined up close along the defensive line in a standing position. Carter also looked good as he made some solid tackles defending passes to running backs over the middle and in the flat.
Cornerbacks
Another position that is going to be interesting given some of the scrutiny and injuries the unit suffered last season. Two-year starter Denzel Burke seemed to take a slight step back last year but there was good reason for it as he was playing with a busted finger after the Toledo game.
However, he seemed back to form having a couple of pass breakups and his press coverage looked good as he was tasked with guarding All-American Marvin Harrison. Burke took all the first-team reps alongside junior Jordan Hancock, who has been inflicted with leg injuries since coming to Columbus from North Gwinnett (Suwanee, Ga.) High School but was looking good on Saturday.
When Burke sat out against both Wisconsin and Indiana last season, in his place were fifth-year Cam Brown, redshirt freshman Jakailin Johnson and true freshman Jyaire Brown. Even missing two games, Burke still finished tied-for fifth on the team in tackles (34) and tied-for second with five pass breakups.
Gone are both Cam Brown and Johnson, as Brown is trying his hand at the next level while Johnson packed his bags and peaced out to LSU.
Those departures could be looked at as addition by subtraction, though. Brown never quite panned out as most had hoped and both he and Johnson were liabilities with their inconsistent play. Brown tied Burke with five pass break ups but only played eight games while Johnson played all 13, starting in five, but didn’t register any stat aside from his 20 tackles.
However, the addition was huge when Davison Igbinosun decided to pack his bags and travel north from the University of Mississippi in Oxford for the “greener” pastures of central Ohio. The Union N.J. native was a four-star recruit in the class of 2022 and will have three more years of eligibility after starting 10 games for the Rebels where he notched 37 total tackles and five pass breakups and was named an honorable mention Freshman All-American by College Football News. He was playing with the twos along with Jyaire Brown.
Black stripes stripped
The team announced via Twitter earlier in the week last week that linemen Tegra Tshabola and George Fitzpatrick lost their black stripes but they weren’t the only ones as Carnell Tate and Igbinosun lost theirs after Saturday’s practice. For those unfamiliar with the black stripe process, former head coach Urban Meyer started the trend where a black stripe is placed down the middle of a newbie’s helmet and doesn’t get removed until he proves himself “worthy” of being a Buckeye. Once it’s taken away, the traditional red stripe is now shown and they’re “officially” a member of the team.
Suited up but not drilling
Eichenberg wasn’t the only Buckeye suited up but not taking part in drills. As announced by the university before practices began, running back TreVeyon Henderson, receivers Emeka Egbuka and Julian Fleming, offensive lineman Jakob James, linebackers Mitchell Melton and Jalen Pace, and tight end Zak Herbstreit were seen in garb and doing footwork and faux pass catching drills as well as along the sidelines with their teammates but not actually partaking in the on-field fun.
Ohio State’s next practices this week are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.