Tight end flag routes, intermediate passing game, bubble screens, speed, speed and more speed — if you attended Ohio State's Student Appreciation Day practice on Saturday at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, you know all of those and more were a focus.
With new coordinator Kevin Wilson pacing back and forth with a headset on behind the line of scrimmage barking out instructions, the Buckeyes rotated bodies freely in front of a relatively keen student body and their families. New quarterbacks coach Ryan Day stayed in the ear of J.T. Barrett, Joe Burrow, Dwayne Haskins and Tate Martell, Greg Studrawa hardly stayed quiet and the other assistants in Urban Meyer's offense stressed their positions.
Meyer directed things from behind the play, telling the public address announcer to inform the chain gang what down and distance he wanted each play ran from. He also spent a considerable amount of time with the quarterbacks.
Below are other notes from the offense on Saturday. If you want to see what is going on with the defense, go here:
Knox Absent
Demetrius Knox seemingly led in the battle to earn the starting right guard job for the offense for the majority of spring but he was noticeably absent on Saturday. An Ohio State spokesman said he did not know of Knox's whereabouts.
In his place, Matt Burrell took the snaps with the first-team offense at right guard. It is important to remember, though, that Billy Price and Jamarco Jones did not take many reps because they are returning multi-year starters. At times, Barrett was on the field behind a line of (from left to right) Joshua Alabi, Michael Jordan, Brady Taylor, Burrell and Isaiah Prince.
As practice wore on, Studrawa rotated bodies at a whim with the first and second groups. But the second group from left to right was Alabi, Gavin Cupp, Taylor, Malcolm Pridgeon and Branden Bowen. Knox was not a part of any sort of rotation, however, and was not seen on the field.
Slim Pickings For Martell
Freshman quarterback Tate Martell did not take a snap until the red zone portion of practice, which came near the end. When the offense worked on moving the ball down the field from the opposite 40-yard line to the end zone, the lone quarterbacks that played were Barrett, Burrow and Haskins. Those three all wore black, non-contact practice jerseys. Martell wore red.
When Martell did get a few series of red zone against second- and third-string defenders, he led his unit to a touchdown. Antonio Williams ran three straight times up the gut to score, then Martell found Luke Farrell in the back of the end zone wide open for a touchdown. He also ran the ball once and got decked out of bounds, knocking over linebackers coach Billy Davis in the process.
Drives led by Burrow and Haskins also ended with scores during the red zone period (Barrett did not work in the red zone on Saturday) so it is not like what Martell did was anything out of the ordinary. The fact the offense had consistent success inside the 20-yard line is more of a story.
Tight Ends Rising?
Meyer said on Tuesday that Kevin Wilson's position group is the "most improved position on the team right now." It certainly looked like it on Saturday, or at least was a focus of the offense.
Barrett's understudies took more snaps than he did at quarterback, which makes sense, but all the quarterbacks looked toward the tight end. Before he yielded to the underclassmen, though Barrett rifled a strike to Farrell over the middle to convert a third and long.
Haskins, Burrow and Martell looked for Farrell, A.J. Alexander and Jake Hausmann often as well, with varying levels of success. We already noted that Farrell caught a touchdown from Martell above — he reeled in one from Haskins too. Burrow also hit Alexander for a touchdown.
Deep Passes Remain a Focus
Is it finally Johnnie Dixon's time at Ohio State? Potentially. He beat Dante Booker up the seam for roughly a 35-yard touchdown grab from Burrow.
Barrett also threw deep multiple times before he was taken out, with varying success. He and K.J. Hill did not appear to be on the same page on one play, as Barrett overthrew the target. He then talked with the wide receiver after the play, so it looked like Hill may have ran the wrong route. Later on, he hit Hill on a nice deep corner route for a first down.
Haskins laid a pass into the waiting arms of Terry McLaurin deep down the field for what appeared to be a huge gain, only to see the ball pop out at the last second on a nice effort from Erick Smith. Brendon White, Binjimen Victor and Austin Mack each also made a few catches, though not of the deep ball variety.
Haskins and Burrow each threw an interception at one point or another during practice, each on plays that looked like miscommunications with their receivers.
Screens Cometh
Eric Glover-Williams was the primary target on numerous quick bubble screens in the flat behind another wide receiver. He is an extremely shifty player and ripped off nice gains on more than one occasion for first downs.
It wasn't all a success, however. Denzel Ward blew up a few of those screens with quick reactions, as did a few linebackers.
But the screen game does appear to be a focus. Haskins and Burrow each threw screens to Glover-Williams and Demario McCall.
Dobbins Continues Push
McCall had a nice day, using a quick spin move to beat a defender on a few inside runs in short yardage situations to move the sticks once the live portion of practice began. Dobbins did too and has a particularly quick first step.
Dobbins gained yards on numerous outside runs but also knew when to put his head down and take what he could get if there was more than one defender in his area. Mike Weber took his fair share of reps earlier on in practice but it is apparent that McCall and Dobbins are in a fight to be his backup, as Meyer said last week.
Williams scored during red zone portion with Martell at the helm, but it was evident that the pecking order is Weber, significant gap, Dobbins or McCall, significant gap, Williams.
