Today was about 50 times more bearable than it has been all month, Tyler Moeller said he "felt cold" when he came outside, but I still managed to get a severe sunburn while watching the Buckeyes run through a midday practice session out by the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. It was a fairly typical practice but there were a number of roster updates and some interesting developments, particularly where defensive line depth is concerned. But first off, let's start off with some injury updates, since that's been the source of some hand wringing in the past few days.
Injuries
Everybody was on the lookout for defensive lineman Nathan Williams to see if he showed up on the practice field, and indeed he did, again sporting an ice pack to his knee but also walking around seemingly without pain and without the aid of crutches. He wasn't able to bend the leg too much, but it didn't seem to bother him more than a typical sprain would. Cam Heyward would later say that they hoped to have him back by tomorrow, but despite Williams looking pretty chipper I think it would take an army of magical knee elves to fix him up overnight to make that a reality. Also of note, Carlos Hyde was wearing the yellow injury jersey for a shoulder problem, and Devin Barclay was also poppin the canary. This is relevant because...
The Kicking Battle Continues
A continuation of the kicking practice last weekend was held, meaning that Barclay got hurt sometime afterwards, and both kickers had some misses from range initially.
He Meant 30-35 In The First Half
I'm starting to believe that Jim Tressel wasn't completely full of it when he said he wanted a lot of passing this year. The passing game is definitely a priority this summer, and everyone is getting into the act, from TEs to RBs to FBs. Zach Boren in particular had a ton of balls thrown his way, and I am becoming increasingly convinced that he's going to be a big part of the offensive game plan this year. He's a punishing runner and an excellent receiver; period, not just for someone his size. As far as Pryor goes, you can tell how much he hates the no contact jersey. It completely takes him out of his game, because that dude simply is not and will likely never become a pure pocket passer. He short hopped a couple of passes today but did make a variety of nice throws (especially when he was able to roll out of the pocket), and despite the brace on his knee his speed and mobility are still excellent.
D-Line Looking Good
With Williams out, a lot of different guys were rotated in with the ones and twos today, and they were dominating the offensive lines up front, especially on running plays. Garrett Goebel in particular made a lot of nice plays on the inside, and gigantic true freshman DT John "HE ATE ME" Hankins was getting a lot of love from the players. I think he did a lot of nice things, but he also seemed to struggle a bit with his conditioning and took a few plays off. He's going to be very good in the future though.
Other Notes
- Tyler Moeller is back, folks. He is a bad dude and fast as hell, easily keeping up with the WRs and laying the wood pretty hard on one occasion. Huge asset.
- Pro scouts were on hand from the Dolphins, the Chargers, the Texans, the Chiefs, and the Lions.
- Every practice has a "Maize and Blue" drill where the team does various drills with the Michigan fight song blaring in the background. Pretty sure the NCAA has a bylaw against making players suffer like this.
- Marcus Hall has been the subject of some rumors lately, but was practicing. Mike Adams was with the ones and might be pretty close to having that LT spot sewn up.
- Definitely wearing sunscreen next time. I'm an idiot.
