Ohio State kicked off its preseason camp in front of both media members and fans who paid to attend the Buckeyes’ first practice on Thursday.
Reporters were allowed to watch the entire practice — the first of four to begin camp that are open to paying fans — and we compiled our top observations from the day below.
Sonny runs with ones
While Ohio State split its top offensive players between two separate units for Thursday’s practice, it kept its first-team defense intact. The 10 Buckeyes who are sure-fire defensive starters — Jack Sawyer, JT Tuimoloau, Tyleik Williams, Ty Hamilton, Cody Simon, Denzel Burke, Davison Igbinosun, Jordan Hancock, Caleb Downs and Lathan Ransom — all practiced with the same unit.
The Will linebacker with them for day one was Sonny Styles, who is competing for the starting job at that position with C.J. Hicks. While that doesn’t necessarily mean Styles will be the starter against Akron on Aug. 31, it’s a sign that he is garnering strong consideration to remain a starter this season as he makes the move from safety to linebacker after Hicks took the majority of first-team reps at Will during the spring.
Tate and Smith shine
While Jeremiah Smith generated most of the hype among Ohio State’s wide receivers during spring practice, he had competition from another up-and-coming wideout on the first day of August.
Carnell Tate looked as good as any player on the field on Thursday as he made several impressive catches throughout the day, including one leaping grab where he skied over a defensive back to snag the ball on a high throw to the sideline from Will Howard.
“The limit for Carnell is through the roof,” Ryan Day said after practice. “I don't think there is a limit to what he can be. He is not someone that you typically hear, but you feel out there. He takes a lot of pride in his route running. He's certainly gifted. But I think that's the first thing that I recognized when he got here. A lot of precision in his route running.
He takes pride in when he gets out there, knowing exactly what he's doing. He comes in well-prepared. He's tough. The guys on the team really like who he is. And he showed last year he could do it. He's going to have to be a major contributor for our offense this year if we're going to do what we want to do.”
Not to be outdone, Smith made a couple of spectacular catches of his own during the team-drill portion of practice, including a spinning grab to haul in an underthrown deep ball from Howard.
“He had a great offseason. He did some things that some freshmen haven't done before in terms of recognition and some of the hard work he's put in,” Day said Thursday. “You talk about the humility of a young man who's as talented as he is, it’s special. We're excited that he's out there every day, and we're all excited about it, but again, I don't want to get too far out in front of this one, but he's got a very bright future ahead of him.”
Other standouts in Ohio State’s receiving corps on day one included Brandon Inniss, who looked fully healthy and as quick as ever as he turned multiple short catches into longer gains; Kojo Antwi, who beat Denzel Burke for catches on multiple occasions; and Dorian Williams, a walk-on freshman from Cincinnati who didn’t look like a walk-on freshman as he got open to make catches throughout the practice.
No standouts at quarterback
Ohio State’s quarterback battle is the position competition that will dominate fall camp, but each Buckeye signal caller showed some inefficiencies intermixed with some good play on Thursday.
Will Howard tossed a few tight spirals early in practice but had some struggles pushing the ball downfield in both 7-on-7 and team drills, underthrowing several deep balls. He also missed a throw well behind Will Kacmarek on a short crossing route.
In general, there were a lot of checkdowns from the quarterbacks on day one, though it was perhaps Devin Brown – just as in the spring – who showed the most overall consistency, though he didn’t have any major highlight-reel moments. Both he and Howard flexed their running ability on several read-option keepers and scrambles.
Julian Sayin might have had the best throw of the day, wedging a ball between a couple defenders in a perfect spot to Gee Scott Jr., but he also had his share of freshman moments including multiple fumbled snaps. Lincoln Kienholz struggled early in practice but found his footing as the practice progressed. Air Noland also saw a steady share of reps and made several nice throws to a hodgepodge of backup receivers.
The Buckeyes’ weapons helped make up for some inaccurate throws by Howard and company, but day one didn’t do much to alleviate the questions about the quarterback competition that have been lingering since spring.
No clarity on offensive line
Thursday’s first practice didn’t provide any clear answers about who will fill Ohio State’s open starting spot at right guard along the offensive line.
That lack of clarity was in part due to the absence of Carson Hinzman. The redshirt sophomore interior lineman, who is competing to start at both right guard and center, was held out of Thursday’s practice due to an illness. Day said after practice that he expects Hinzman to be back on the field on Friday.
Ohio State split its other four projected starting offensive linemen between two different units on Thursday. The left-side pairing of Josh Simmons and Donovan Jackson was joined by center Joshua Padilla, right guard Luke Montgomery and right tackle George Fitzpatrick. Center Seth McLaughlin and right tackle Josh Fryar were joined on their unit by Zen Michalski at left tackle, Austin Siereveld at left guard and Tegra Tshabola at right guard.
Tshabola and Fryar were among the day’s offensive line standouts as both looked slimmed down and leaner on the field after working to improve their bodies this offseason. Tshabola excelled during a second-level blocking drill, flashing his athleticism.
“Tegra has shown that he can do it. He's shown that he knows what he's doing,” Day said. “The big question is now after going through this preseason, he's changed his body some, he’s had a good offseason ... If he can consistently show this preseason that he can do (what he needs to do as an offensive lineman), he's going to find himself in games.”
With Hinzman out, Montgomery took some snaps at center during individual work alongside McLaughlin and Padilla, though he practiced only at guard during team drills.
Other notes
- Joe McGuire, Nick McLarty and Anthony Venneri split reps equally on the first day of the preseason punting competition. McLarty demonstrated the strongest leg but was inconsistent in his first practice as an American football player, while Venneri – the starting punter at Buffalo for the last two years – looked to be the most consistent.
- Inniss and Emeka Egbuka took the first reps at punt returner during the punting periods. Other punt returners included Tate, Jayden Ballard, Smith, Bryson Rodgers and – for one rep – Downs.
- Walk-on linebacker Joey Velazquez forced a fumble after a catch by walk-on tight end Jace Middleton and returned it for a touchdown during a team period.
- Gabe Powers was one of the day’s top standouts on defense, making several nice tackles near the line of scrimmage and forcing an incompletion on a Noland deep ball intended for Quinshon Judkins.
- Damarion Witten, who was initially recruited as a tight end, practiced as a wide receiver in his first practice as a Buckeye.
- Jelani Thurman had a strong day catching the football, including a nice route and grab on a seam down the field.
- Freshman cornerback Aaron Scott Jr. held up well in coverage against a few of the team’s veteran wideouts, including Ballard.
- All players expect for the quarterbacks wore protective Guardian Caps over their helmets for the first practice of camp.
- Visitors at Thursday’s practice included OSU president Ted Carter and former Buckeye wide receiver Johnnie Dixon.
