2017 Spring Practice

             Spring Practice for the 2017 Ohio State Buckeyes began last week, which will culminate in the annual Scarlet & Grey Spring Game in the ‘Shoe on April 15.  

            The Buckeyes enter this spring with a bad taste in their mouths from the thrashing they took in the Fiesta Bowl at the hands of national champion Clemson and having to replace a number of players that went early to the NFL, such as Curtis Samuel and Malik Hooker.  The good news is Ohio State’s spring roster has 48 lettermen, including 16 seniors and 24 juniors.  A total of 29 freshmen saw action on 2016; four of which earned freshman All-America honors.  Those four include LG Michael Jordan, who started all the games last year and 1000-yard rusher Mike Weber on offense and DE Nick Bosa and DT Dre’Mont Jones on defense.  Bosa finished second in sacks with five last season and Jones led the defensive linemen with 52 tackles.  

The good news on the offensive side of the ball begins with the four starters on the line returning.  Each of the starters started all 13 games a year ago, highlighted by guard Billy Price, who is planning on moving to center to replace the departed Pat Elflein.  Price figures to be on many pre-season All-American lists and has 41 consecutive starts.  Jamarco Jones was second-team all-B1G at LT and Isaiah Prince is back at RT.  Michael Jordan was a freshman All-American  at LG.  The competition for Price’s guard spot promises to be a good one during spring drills as O-line coach Greg Studrawa believes Branden Bowen, Matthew Burrell, Brady Taylor, and Demetrious Knox all have a shot.  Knox has the most experience of the four, backing up Price.  All are sophomores.  The four returning starters played over 900 plays apiece last year and Bowen, Burrell, and Taylor  played extensively on special teams ,so the offensive line goes into the spring as one of the strongest units on the team.

All the focus this year will be on fifth-year senior QB J.T. Barrett, who should be a Heisman finalist.  Barrett is 26-4 as a starting quarterback, has 25 school and Big Ten records and is seven touchdowns away from breaking Drew Brees' Big Ten record of 106 career touchdowns responsible for. He's on pace to shatter Ohio State's passing yards record and could become one of the Top 5 rushers in school history as well.   Sophomore Mike Weber returns after being the third Ohio State freshman to crack 1000 yards rushing and he is the ninth Buckeye to capture B1G Freshman of the Year honors.  Sophomore Demario McCall will also be back as Weber’s backup after contributing more rushing yards (270) than any true freshman since 2007.  Sophomore Antonio Williams and true freshman J.K. Dobbins, who enrolled early, will see a lot of snaps during spring drills.

The receiving corps is the most depleted on this side of the ball, with Samuel and Noah Brown leaving early for the NFL draft.  Sophomore Parris Campbell and junior Terry McLaurin figure to be the go-to guys for Barrett at this point.  Campbell started nine games and McLaurin four a year ago.  K.J. Hill, a redshirt sophomore, is the leading returning receiver with 18 receptions.  Johnny Dixon, Austin Mack, and Binjimen Victor will also see many reps during spring drills.  The tight end position returns Marcus Baugh and A.J. Alexander.  Baugh is a fifth-year senior who has considerable experience with 38 games played. He is coming off a 24-reception, 269-yards year in 2016, but had surgery this off-season and will likely continue rehab this spring. Alexander played 260 snaps on offense as a freshman.  In addition, Luke Farrell, Jake Hausman, and Kierre Hawkins all redshirted last year and they will get a chance to show what they can do.  

All four starters return on the defensive line with a combined 66 starts with senior Tyquan Lewis the leader with 25 and junior Sam Hubbard (14 starts), senior Michael Hill (14) and sophomore Dre’Mont Jones (12) significantly seasoned.  Add in Darius Slade and Tracy Sprinkle, both injured for the year early in the 2016 season as well as Jalyn Holmes, Nick Bosa, Rashod Berry, and Jonathan Cooper at DE and Robert Landers and Davon Hamilton at DT and the D-line is the strongest unit on this team.  This unit is a formidable force and flexible. Defensive line coach Larry Johnson mixes, matches and moves his linemen around based on situation. Lewis was the Big Ten's defensive lineman of the year and Hubbard was an Academic All-American. Bosa and Jones were freshmen All-Americans. 

First-year linebackers coach Bill Davis, who spent 24 seasons in the NFL, inherits a talented group despite the loss of MLB Raekwon McMillan to the draft.  Jerome Baker was second on the team with 83 tackles and had huge interceptions against Oklahoma and Michigan.  Chris Worley had 70 tackles, including 11 vs Michigan and 10 against Clemson.  Dante Booker looks to return to claim McMillan’s position after suffering a season-ending injury in the opener against Bowling Green and red-shirting.  Malik Harrison and Zach Turnure saw will return as backups. 

For the second year in a row, CB coach Kerry Combs loses players early to the NFL draft.  Gareon Conley and Marshon Lattimore are in the draft.  Safeties coach Greg Schiano loses All-American Malik Hooker to the NFL as well.  Fortunately, there appears to be plenty of depth returning.  Denzel Ward and Damon Arnette each saw extensive action.  Rodjay Burns, Joshua Norwood, and Elijahh Goins will see plenty of action at the CB positions this spring, as well as four DBs from the incoming freshman class who have enrolled early.  Damon Webb actually had more plays on defense last year than Hooker and had 57 tackles.  Erick Smith has played in 33 games and Jordan Fuller saw action in every game last year as a true freshman. 

LS Liam McCullough handled all long-snapping duties in 2016 except for the Oklahoma game when he was ill.  Sean Nurenberger is back, currently 16 of 24 in his career on field goals and his 106 consecutive extra points is an OSU record.  For some reason, which seems strange, he has been usurped out of kicking each of the past two seasons by a transfer, neither of which has kicked as well as Nurenberger.  Cameron Johnston will be missed after leading the B1G in punting each of the last three seasons.  It looks like red-shirt freshman Drue Christman, who was the top punter in the nation as a high school senior, will attempt to fill his shoes.

Ohio State’s 2017 recruiting class ranked No. 2 nationally and trailed only Alabama in the 247Sports composite team rankings. The Buckeyes signed 21 players and their haul included five five-star prospects and 14 four stars.  The 10 new players participating in spring ball for Ohio State: quarterback Tate Martell, running back J.K. Dobbins, wide receiver Brendon White, offensive lineman Josh Myers, linebacker Baron Browning, safety Isaiah Pryor and cornerbacks Jeffrey Okudah, Shaun Wade, Kendall Sheffield and Marcus Williamson.

Spring ball is a lot of fun, especially watching the position battles.  Some will be resolved by April 15 and some will continue into the August practices.  It is always interesting to watch. 

33 days until the spring game

171 days until the season opener at Indiana   

257 days until 6 in a row over the Team Up North

264 days until B1G Championship

301 days until the National Championship game