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2012 Wide Receiver ( WRs ) Discussion

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slot or half back position

There is a lot of discussion about who will be the best Half-back for the Urban offense.

From the 2012 roster, Verlon Reed could be that impact player. His highlight reel from high school was impressive; but it looked like he was being pushed or coached into a more traditional route running, run-an-out-route-to-the- first-down-marker, role.

Reeves, Murray, and Doran Grant are needed for depth at Cornerback, but they may bring more speed and elusiveness than Jordan Hall. Its gonna be an interesting season.
 
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Tony Gerdeman looks at what WR Coach Zach Smith needs to determine.

Ozone

Zach Smith's 'To Do' List for the Buckeye Receivers
By Tony Gerdeman

Ohio State receivers coach Zach Smith has his work cut out for him this season. The Buckeyes are coming off of one of their thinnest years at the position in recent memory, and Smith is walking into a new situation with young receivers in a completely different offense than the one that they were in last year.

Some would view this as a negative, but not Smith.

"I'm fired up about it," he said back in January. "They're some talented kids, and the best thing that they've got going right now is that they're young and they've got experience.

"Usually right now you're walking into a situation with a freshman or a sophomore that watched other guys play, and was sitting there like, 'Oh man, I wonder what that's like.' But now we're walking into a situation where the kid already knows. He's played twelve games or ten games, or however many. So when he walks into Ohio Stadium, it's not his first rodeo."
The fact that his young players are experienced will make the transition a little easier, but there's still going to be quite the feeling out process once Spring practice starts in three weeks.

With that in mind, we return once again to our series of "To Do Lists", and take a look at what Smith might be thinking about as he goes through the next few months and on into the summer.

Cont'd ...
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It was the worst of situations last year. New QB and mostly new WRs.
Completely different this time around. And most of the guys have had a year in the training room. Bigger, stronger, faster. It will show up on the field.
 
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This could probably go in each thread, but this is the major spot on offense where the team needs more production so on the first day of spring practice it's being reported that Devin Smith, Evan Spencer, and Chris Fields were with the First team offense.

https://twitter.com/#!/marcushartman
WRs: Devin Smith X, Devin Spencer Z, Chris Fields Y
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It's interesting. The only thing surprising, I think, is the absence of Corey Brown.

I think Devin is the natural X on this team with the speed to get deep.
 
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Ohio State football: Receivers not there yet
Buckeyes looking for more from unit that struggled last year
By Bill Rabinowitz
The Columbus Dispatch Sunday April 15, 2012

Urban Meyer is not a sugarcoating kind of guy. Neither is Ohio State receivers coach Zach Smith.

So when the topic is the Buckeyes receivers, neither Meyer nor Smith has put a smiley face on what they?ve seen this spring.

?To say they?ve answered the call, I would say they haven?t yet,? Smith said after yesterday morning?s practice. ?Have they improved and made more plays? Yeah, but not to the level we want them to and need them to.?

The receivers certainly didn?t last year. In an offense that stumbled in 2011, the receivers were the poster boys for the futility. That?s what happens when the leading receiver has only 14 catches.

Earlier this month, Meyer said he was still looking for a receiver to give him the ?wow? factor, who would give him confidence that his spread offense can click the way it should. In Meyer?s system, if receivers can get open and catch, they?ll get the ball plenty.

?Fourteen catches in his offense is probably one game,? sophomore Devin Smith said.

So the pressure is on to find receivers who are up to the task.

?It?s not like it?s a secret,? said Zach Smith, the grandson of former Ohio State coach Earle Bruce. ?I think everyone in the country knows the pressure is on them. It?s been made very clear by Coach Meyer and myself ? and really by themselves.?

Sophomore Evan Spencer said that the receivers understand there?s only one way to quiet the skeptics, from the coach on down.

?It definitely gets on our nerves, but we also use it as a challenge,? he said. ?He?s saying maybe we need to step up. We?re saying, ?OK, let?s step up and make this play, this play, this play, and we?ll show people what we can do.? ?

cont...
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http://www.buckeyextra.com/content/stories/2012/04/15/receivers-not-there-yet.html
 
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Smith and Spencer (particularly Smith) showed promise last season. Williams was a potential stud other than the dropsies - which reports indicate may have been cured. Brown had some great moments. Reed was starting to come around before he was injured. None of these names had more than a year in the program going into last season. Now we are hearing good things about Thomas.

This is a much larger group of promising candidates than we had in 2011. Add to that an offense that will exploit the underneath game and I am much more encouraged than last season when our only experienced receiver was MIA Posey.
 
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Bob Hunter commentary: Ohio State receivers catching a lot of flak
By Bob Hunter
The Columbus Dispatch Wednesday August 15, 2012

Based on all we have heard from Urban Meyer about his receiver corps since he first hit town, the new Ohio State coach gushed uncontrollably when asked about them on Sunday.

?Much improved,? he said. ?Not Ohio State caliber yet. The effort is much better.?

OK, he didn?t exactly say they remind him of Cris Carter, Michael Jenkins or even Santonio Holmes, but at least he didn?t go out of his way to say how average they are. The Buckeyes? pass catchers apparently have come a long way since the first day of spring camp, when Meyer bemoaned the missing ?wow factor? at the position.

?There has got to be a wow factor, and we should have one (with it), should have two, (and) here you should have probably more than two,? Meyer said then. ?There was a time when they had two first-rounders in (Anthony) Gonzalez and (Ted) Ginn (Jr.).?

Then he added the coup de grace.

?Maybe we?ve just got to keep pushing ? and we?ve got to keep recruiting.?

cont...
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http://buckeyextra.dispatch.com/content/stories/2012/08/15/receivers-catching-a-lot-of-flak.html
 
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2012 Buckeye Rewind ? Wide Receivers

Expectations Coming Into The Season
It was a wild ride for the wide receiver group in year one under Urban Meyer, maybe more so than any other position on the roster. After all, Meyer is a wide receivers coach by trade, and he was particularly hard on his group in 2012.

With good cause, though.

The Buckeyes did not have a single player on the roster who caught 15 or more passes a year ago, and Meyer knew drastic measures were needed if this group of receivers was going to put that stat firmly in the past.

Meyer called them the most unprepared group he had ever been around during the spring, and he continued to use little comments like that to poke and prod - with the hopes of motivating - guys like Corey Brown, Devin Smith and Evan Spencer all throughout the offseason.

They even moved senior tight end Jake Stoneburner over to the receiver group after he returned from his suspension over the summer in hopes of adding some leadership to a group that was sorely lacking in 2011.

.../cont/...
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Reading the comments section John Alvarez wins the clueless award.
 
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