Spring Game Preview: Young Ohio State Players Look to Make Noise in Program's Annual Scrimmage

“We're very fortunate to watch guys perform in front of a lot of people in the stands. It's different,” Ohio State's head coach said on Wednesday. “The ability to focus and not tighten up in front of a big crowd. Some guys it doesn't matter, some guys it does.”

OHIO STATE

GRAY v. SCARLET ROSTERS / 2017 SCHEDULE

12:30 – SATURDAY, APRIL 15 OHIO STADIUM COLUMBUS, OHIO

BTN BTN2GO

Welcome to the most important piece of evaluation Meyer and his staff will do on Saturday during their program's annual spring game.

The Buckeyes won't set another attendance record for the annual scrimmage after topping 100,000 in 2016 because 20,000 seats are unavailable in C-deck due to renovations. But fans will still scoop up $5 tickets in earnest, as Saturday is the first chance they have at seeing their team after Clemson embarrassed it 31-0 in the College Football Playoff on the way to winning the national title.

That game represented the first time in Meyer's 15-year coaching career that his team failed to register a single point. It forced his hand and the coach acted quickly, hiring Ryan Day as the program's new quarterbacks coach and former Indiana coach Kevin Wilson as offensive coordinator in place of Tim Beck and Ed Warinner.

The passing game with J.T. Barrett barely made a blip on the radar of explosive plays in 2016. That side of the ball was an obvious focus this spring.

“As an offense for spring we had three very clear targets that we wanted to accomplish,” Meyer said. “No. 1 was pass protection, No. 2 was accuracy with an emphasis on deep balls and No. 3 was the ability to finish plays.”

So now you know what Meyer will have his eye on first and foremost Saturday afternoon. Here are some other storylines for the Spring Game.

The Passing Game, The Passing Game, The Passing Game

Parris Campbell said this week that Ohio State's quarterbacks and wide receivers spend the first three periods of practice working on the deep ball. Everything from accuracy, to arm strength to timing, is stressed and has been over the course of 14 practices. Without much of a deep threat last season outside of do-everything talent Curtis Samuel, this makes sense.

“This whole spring we’ve been putting emphasis on the deep ball,” Campbell said. “We’ve been charting our deep ball throws, the completion rate and percentages and all that.”

“There's just more emphasis on the passing game,” Terry McLaurin added. “Coach Wilson and Coach Day coming in here, that's the one thing they said from Day 1: We wanna get this passing game going because when that gets going it opens up everything else.”

The struggles with that part of the offense in 2016 vary from Barrett's confidence, his footwork, the pass protection in front of him, lack of real threats at receiver and play-calling. The quarterback said Wilson and Day aren't changing the scheme of the offense much — “It is still the Ohio State offense” — but as Meyer said more than once, the hope is to enhance it.

“Our offense, it's not broken but it's got things that we can update and adjust so that's good,” Barrett said this spring.

Barrett probably won't play much on Saturday but fans will want to see him at least look to throw the ball down the field when does. In the first live bit of football since the Fiesta Bowl debacle, outsiders want to see the progress in the passing game that they've been hearing about all spring.

“This whole spring we’ve been putting emphasis on the deep ball. We’ve been charting our deep ball throws, the completion rate and percentages and all that.”– Parris Campbell

“I think it was bigger than a unit coming up short. It was really the offense as a whole had a lot of things that we needed to get fixed this offseason,” wide receivers coach Zach Smith said. “So we really spent a lot of time and effort into doing that.”

The Fight To Be No. 2

Barring injury, Barrett will be Ohio State's starting quarterback for the 2017 season. Who earns the right to be his backup remains a bit of a mystery, however.

Joe Burrow held the spot a year ago while Dwayne Haskins redshirted. Burrow looked strong during his few chances in mop-up duty in 2016. Haskins boasts terrific arm strength and size to go with enough athleticism to make Meyer speak highly about him ever since he signed his National Letter of Intent in February 2016.

And then you have Tate Martell, the only quarterback in the 2017 recruiting class and an early enrollee. He won Gatorade National High School Player of the Year at Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas, having never lost a start with the Gaels. Martell donned a red practice jersey this spring. Haskins did for the first week or so before he joined Barrett and Burrow in wearing a black, non-contact one. Read into it how you will.

It will be intriguing to see how much Haskins and Burrow work with the perceived "starters" on Saturday. Fans and reporters will look for Meyer to tip his hand in any way regarding the backup quarterback job, but we likely won't get an answer until this fall.

Meyer said recently he likes the way the backup battle has gone during practice. Saturday is a showcase for it.

“We all know what happened a couple years ago here when all of a sudden someone taps you on the shoulder says, 'You're the starter. Go beat Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game.' And they did it,” Meyer said. “That position is a key guy and everybody appreciates that.”

DB Reload Effort Part II

Malik Hooker recorded two interceptions last season during the spring game, running one of them back more than 80 yards for a touchdown. He is now going to be a top-10 NFL Draft pick, despite only starting 13 games in college. Marshon Lattimore did the same thing as Hooker, only starting one season. He could go in the top-5 of the draft.

Two-year starter Gareon Conley is gone too, another projected first-round pick. Their exits come after three other defensive backs left early for the NFL after the 2015 season. Needless to say, Kerry Coombs and Greg Schiano have their work cut out for them for the second straight spring.

Damon Webb has "gone from a decent player to a very good player" during spring practice according to Meyer and as a returning starter, probably won't play much if at all on Saturday. That sets the table for Erick Smith, Jordan Fuller, Jahsen Wint, Wayne Davis and Isaiah Pryor at safety and a bevy of young talent to do the same at corner.

Denzel Ward is the No. 1 cornerback on the team but isn't expected to do much during the spring game in an effort to avoid injury. JUCO transfer Kendall Sheffield carries interest, as do the three true freshmen already enrolled — Shaun Wade, Jeffrey Okudah and Marcus Williamson. Ohio State's wide receivers obviously have something to prove and the defensive backs desperately want to show why they deserve playing time this fall.

Offensive Line Progress

Much has been written and said about Ohio State's offensive line during its loss to Clemson. Once Michael Jordan — a true freshman — went down with an ankle injury and forced Greg Studrawa to dip into his pool of backups. Then things got worse.

As Meyer said on Wednesday, pass protection was the top priority for the Buckeyes this spring. No one has taken over as the starter at right guard this spring, though Demetrius Knox appeared in the lead before he missed practice on Saturday for what Meyer described as an academic issue.

That opens the door for Matthew Burrell and Malcolm Pridgeon, whose biggest obstacle is learning the playbook according to Meyer. Plus, 5-star Wyatt Davis is on his way this summer. Can Burrell, Pridgeon or Knox show something that sets them apart on Saturday?

And more importantly, how do things look for the backup line? Studrawa welcomed Josh Alabi over from the defensive side and now has him running at left tackle with the twos. Things are dire.

Very pleased with where we're at the on the offensive line. Still not where we need to be in the twos — nowhere close,” Meyer said. “Wish you could get a little more competition out of those guys but it's not happening yet.”

Players Unlikely To Play Much, If At All

“This is not for Tyquan [Lewis], Sam Hubbard, Chris Worley and Billy Price,” Meyer said. “This is for those four corners and some young guys that haven't done much around here or the new guys. I love it. I love the fact these kids get to play in front of a crowd like that.”

In addition to the names Meyer mentioned, we already said Barrett, Ward and Webb above as players who won't see much time on Saturday. Below are some others. The Spring Game is to get younger and inexperienced players on the field, which these are not.

Inclement Weather Probable

Saturday's forecast calls for temperatures to reach the upper-70s in Columbus. The only problem is the threat of thunderstorms come along with the warm front.

Around a 20 percent chance of rain starts in the morning and the threat increases as the day grows older. This is a far cry from earlier in the week, which had thunderstorms predicted all day.

Ohio State had multiple games delayed by weather during their 2016 season. With this being a spring game, the question could become how long will the university wait to see what Mother Nature's plans for the day are before it cancels it. The Buckeyes should play through a rain shower but lightning is a different story.

The game's format is four 10-minute quarters with a running clock in the second half, so if the radar looks dire later in the afternoon, things could get wrapped up before the heavy stuff hits.

In any event, bring your ponchos.