Ohio State opened preseason camp to fans for the fourth and final time on Sunday as the Buckeyes concluded their first weekend of practice, giving us our fourth chance in a row to get a look at Ohio State’s ongoing quarterback and offensive line competition and see who’s standing out as the Buckeyes’ preparation for the 2024 season continues to ramp up.
Sunday wasn’t the best day for any of Ohio State’s quarterbacks, but Will Howard was the most consistent performer among the passers for a third straight day. In another sign that he’s beginning to separate from the other quarterbacks in the competition, Howard took every rep with the first-team offense during full-team 11-on-11 drills except for one on which Julian Sayin threw a pick-six to Jermaine Mathews Jr., prompting the true freshman to be demoted to the third-team offense for the rest of practice.
Howard continued to stand out among the quarterbacks with his ability to work through progressions and make the correct reads against Ohio State’s defense, which outperformed the offense overall on Sunday. He didn’t have a great day throwing the deep ball, missing a couple of long passes during 7-on-7 work, but was the most efficient QB in the short-to-intermediate passing game.
Sayin had his worst day of preseason camp so far on Sunday, nearly throwing another interception during 7-on-7 that was dropped by Denzel Burke. He did cap off the practice with a deep-ball touchdown throw, though it was an easy pitch and catch after Brandon Inniss got wide open against the third-team defense.
Devin Brown worked exclusively with the second-team offense in team drills for the second day in a row. Like on Saturday, Brown had an up-and-down day in which he was inconsistent with his accuracy to all levels of the field.
Lincoln Kienholz saw action with both the second- and third-team offense during team drills and had what might have been the best throw of the day when he threaded a deep ball into a tight window between a defender and the sideline to Inniss, who stood out the most among Ohio State’s receivers on Sunday as he continued his strong start to camp.
Air Noland did not take any reps during team drills for the second day in a row.
Offensive line shuffling continues
With Donovan Jackson held out of team drills on what appeared to be a rest day for the veteran starter, Austin Siereveld took the majority of first-team reps at left guard on Sunday alongside Seth McLaughlin at center and Tegra Tshabola at right guard.
On one drive with the first-team offensive line, however, McLaughlin moved to left guard while Luke Montgomery repped at center and Carson Hinzman entered at right guard. Montgomery was the second-team center with Hinzman as the second-team right guard for the rest of the day, while Joshua Padilla took second-team left guard reps with Siereveld elevated to the first team.
Sunday gave us another chance to watch the offensive line go head-to-head with the defensive line in one-on-ones, and the standouts in that session on the offensive side including starting tackles Josh Simmons and Josh Fryar, who each recorded wins among Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau. McLaughlin also excelled in one-on-ones for the second day in a row, winning just about every rep he took.
Jermaine Mathews Jr., Sonny Styles stand out on defense
To no surprise, Ohio State’s defense seemed like the more dominant side for another practice, and some of its depth shined in particular.
Mathews had one of the best practices of anybody on Sunday, breaking up a pass just after it was caught by Jeremiah Smith in 7-on-7, a rare rep where someone got the best of the highly touted freshman, to go with his aforementioned pick-six. He also picked up a sack on a blitz.
Fellow second-year cornerback Calvin Simpson-Hunt intercepted an overthrown pass from Devin Brown to pair with his standout day on Friday.
In pass rush one-one-ones, Kenyatta Jackson Jr. pulled off a nasty spin move to win one rep and smoked offensive tackle Zen Michalski on a speed rush straight off the edge to take another.
As starters go, Sonny Styles continued to get most of the first-team reps at Will linebacker as he battles with C.J. Hicks to start at the position. He’s looked natural both in pass coverage and run defense through four days of practice, putting momentum on his side early in fall camp.
Brandon Inniss flashes among offensive weapons
On the offensive side of the ball, Inniss continued to look like a dynamic weapon out of the slot for the Buckeyes. And he did so with a smattering of different quarterbacks.
He appeared twice in the earlier quarterback section, catching Sayin’s deep ball at the end of practice and executing a great corner route with a toe-drag catch along the sideline on Kienholz’s dime. Beyond that, Ohio State continued to find ways to use his shiftiness after the catch in space, running some quick flats and bubbles to get the ball in his hands and stretch the defense horizontally.
Jayden Ballard had perhaps the best catch of the day, reaching around Simpson-Hunt’s back to bat a deep ball into the air, juggle it twice and then haul it in for a long gain.
.@J_Ball21 makin plays for Zone 6 pic.twitter.com/lRtpWoK0tS
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) August 4, 2024
Freshman running backs Sam Williams-Dixon and James Peoples both continued to flash with Williams-Dixon in particular breaking off a few long runs. Each of them, however, had to run a lap for putting a ball on the ground; Peoples dropped a pitch from Howard while Williams-Dixon had the ball stripped out of his hands on a run, setting up a fumble recovery for fellow freshman Jaylen McClain.
Other notes
- JT Tuimoloau stayed down on the ground for a few minutes after getting shaken up during a play in team drills, but eventually jogged off the field under his own power and did not have his helmet taken away from him as he remained on the sideline. He did not return to the field for any live reps for the remainder of practice, but that appeared to be precautionary.
- Will Kacmarek returned to practice after briefly receiving medical attention for what appeared to be an ankle tweak.
- Although he continued to battle inconsistency with some noticeable mishits, Nick McLarty downed two punts at the 1-yard line during a pooch punt drill. Anthony Venneri and Joe McGuire each downed a punt at the 2-yard line during that drill.
- As he did in the spring, walk-on safety Brenton “Inky” Jones impressed with good coverage on several plays, shielding off Ballard from one deep ball and nearly coming down with a one-handed interception on an underthrown long pass by Brown.
- The NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, Detroit Lions, Miami Dolphins, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Chargers, Tennessee Titans and Chicago Bears all had scouts in attendance.
