Two weeks into preseason camp, it’s becoming more clear which Ohio State players could be trending toward breakout years and where the Buckeyes still have concerns as the season draws closer.
Running back depth emerged as a concern this week when Evan Pryor suffered a season-ending knee injury in practice, and that’s where we begin this week’s show. Is there reason to worry about Ohio State having only three scholarship running backs, and do the Buckeyes need to move someone else to running back for additional depth?
While Ohio State might still have the nation’s best one-two punch at running back in TreVeyon Henderson and Miyan Williams, Pryor’s injury increases the importance of Dallan Hayden’s readiness, and we believe Kaleb Brown and Xavier Johnson – not Steele Chambers and Chip Trayanum – could be candidates to take snaps at running back if needed.
About 14 minutes into the show, we shift the conversation to everything else we learned from watching a full practice last week and talking to Kevin Wilson, Larry Johnson and their tight ends and defensive linemen this week. Among the topics we covered:
- 15:10: Cornerback depth concerns and walk-on Lloyd McFarquhar taking advantage of his opportunity
- 18:18: Tommy Eichenberg standing out in practice and whether that will translate to three-down success
- 21:20: Julian Fleming and Emeka Egbuka both making their case as they battle for starting spot
- 26:00: Cade Stover’s noticeable improvement as a pass-catcher
- 32:47: Defense making life more difficult for Ohio State’s offense on the practice field
- 35:14: Whether Kevin Wilson’s comments about the short-yardage run game are reason to worry
- 38:53: The depth of Ohio State’s defensive line and why J.T. Tuimoloau could be the “alpha dog”
- 46:55: Why Mike Hall is a player to watch even though he’s third on the nose tackle depth chart
Finally (beginning at 48:04), we talk about the six players Ohio State chose to be captains – Kamryn Babb, C.J. Stroud, Cade Stover, Tommy Eichenberg, Tyler Friday and Kourt Williams – and which players each of us were surprised to not see on the captain list.
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