Spring Game Primer: What to Look For From Ohio State's Offense Saturday

It won't be the same team that won the national championship last season, but today there will be football at Ohio Stadium once again.

Ohio State's annual spring game takes place at approximately 1:45 p.m. A lot of the familiar faces will only play two series — or not at all — but it's football nonetheless. Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer views it as a chance for some of his younger players to showcase their talents to a large crowd.

“The thing that spring games give you at a place like Ohio State is the crowd,” Meyer said Monday afternoon. “A lot of times you’ll see a guy out there (at practice) that plays with no one around him and plays well, then he goes into the crowd and locks up. And that’s real.”

Here's a peak at what to look for offensively during Ohio State's spring game.

Quarterback

It's the position everyone has been talking about basically since the 2014 season ended and yet nothing has been solved this spring.

J.T. Barrett and Braxton Miller are both still not fully healthy — neither will play in today's spring game — so Cardale Jones has been getting all of the first-team reps. Redshirt freshman Stephen Collier has been working with the second team this spring.

Jones will man one team — for at least a little bit — and will be non-contact while Collier will likely be live like he has for the majority of spring practice. Today's game won't really tell us anything about Ohio State's quarterback situation in 2015, but you can surely expect a bunch of passes to be thrown.

Running Back

Ezekiel Elliott has been sidelined all spring after wrist surgery and Curtis Samuel has been working primarily with the wide receivers and H-backs, so the running back room has been quite small for Tony Alford in his first spring at Ohio State.

Redshirt junior Bri'onte Dunn has been running with the No. 1 offense all spring and is someone Meyer said has "a little momentum in his world." Warren Ball has been the No. 2 running back.

Those are the only two guys the Buckeyes have at running back right now, though. They'll likely be split up today and get a decent number of carries, but Meyer has said the plan is to throw the ball a lot.

Wide Receiver/Tight End

This is the offensive group where there's the most turnover as Ohio State must find a way to replace Devin Smith and Evan Spencer at wide receiver and Jeff Heuerman at tight end.

The Buckeyes' No. 1 wide receiver, Michael Thomas, has been sidelined and won't play today after undergoing sports hernia surgery. Dontre Wilson is still recovering from a second foot surgery and won't play either. Everyone else, though, should be out there.

Samuel, Jalin Marshall, Corey Smith and Noah Brown all seem to be the frontrunners for playing time at the wide receiver and H-back spots — Brown has been the hottest name this spring, while Samuel and Marshall likely won't play a ton today. But Parris Campbell and Terry McLaurin have been popular names among coaches and players this spring, as well.

At tight end, Nick Vannett moves over from essentially being a co-starter last year with Heuerman to the No. 1 spot. Marcus Baugh is now Ohio State's No. 2 tight end and can really make a big jump. 

If there are big plays to be had in today's game, it's likely going to come from someone in this group.

Offensive Line

The Buckeyes are quite limited up front. Jacoby Boren has been out all spring rehabbing an injury while Taylor Decker and Pat Elflein have been held out of a lot of contact drills because of their high number of reps.

As a result, Ohio State's offensive line has been shuffled around quite a bit. Billy Price and Chase Farris — the presumed starter at right tackle — are the only two starters who are seeing significant snaps. The rest are being given to the younger guys.

Jamarco Jones has been the first-team left tackle when Decker isn't in the game, and Marcelys Jones has seen some reps with the first team. Expect to see a heavy dose of guys like Evan Lisle, Kyle Trout and Grant Schmidt as well.

Breakout Player

A lot of options here, but I'll go with Campbell to be the breakout offensive star of the spring game. Outside of Brown, he's the name we've heard the most from the coaches and players as a dynamic player from the wide receiver position.

Campbell is a 6-foot-1, 205-pound redshirt freshman from Akron whom Corey Smith said was probably the fastest guy in the wide receiver meeting room. With Ohio State set to throw the ball a lot, I look for Campbell to have a big day.