Annual Spring Game - 2009

[DaddyBigBucks]

Was that Teddy Ginn in Small's jersey? Great play! If that happens in the USC game, there will be broken furniture.

Yep. Thousands of broken sofas all over Ohio from all of the people jumping up and down on them. And 5-10 chairs all over Southern California from all of the people that care enough to get mad rather than just change the channel.

Chimdi has had a rough scrimmage so far....he has been beat at least 3 times in man coverage that I can count.

...

It's a valid point to say that it wasn't necessarily Chimdi's responsibility. Not sure about Cover 2 vs. Cover 3 - teams that I've been involved with assigned deep vs. flat responsibility specifically, regardless of the base call. We called it "Cloud" (corner has the flat) vs. "Storm" (safety has the flat). It was definitely a blown assignment. The first guy to get there always gets the blame from the fans, but it wasn't always his mistake.

 

[Buckskin86]

Ohio State's spring game draws record crowd of 95,722

Enlarge By Terry Gilliam, AP

Ohio State's stadium filled to near capacity for the annual Buckeyes spring game.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) ? There was a lot of yardwork left undone in the Buckeye state on Saturday.

A national spring game record crowd of 95,722 came out to enjoy the high temperatures and watch Terrelle Pryor throw two long touchdown passes in 30 seconds, leading the Gray over the Scarlet 23-3 at sun-drenched Ohio Stadium.

"It's crazy ? CRAZY," tight end Jake Ballard said. "With the heat out there and they were out there sitting through it."

The 80-degree weather played a big role in the attendance, which topped the 92,138 Alabama drew for Nick Saban's coaching debut in 2007.

"First, kudos go out to our fans," coach Jim Tressel said. "It was a beautiful day, and gives you a little bit of electricity and a little energy and a little reminder of how much interest there is in Ohio State football."

Ohio fans paid $5 per ticket, with the bulk of the money going to local charities. Many showed up in tank tops and shorts to soak up the sun on the warmest day of the year while watching Pryor strut his stuff.

He broke open a close scrimmage with touchdown passes of 44 yards to Taurian Washington and 42 yards to Ray Small late in the second half. Pryor started as a freshman for last year's 10-3 Buckeyes team.

It has grated on him that doubters have questioned his ability to throw the ball accurately on medium and longer pass routes.

"We don't care about the critics and the analysts and people saying stuff about me," said Pryor, who retired after three quarters after completing 13-of-18 passes for 191 yards and the two scores. "That's not a big deal to me. I came out and showed I can throw the ball and that's what I wanted to do today."

Pryor, who a year ago was the nation's top quarterback recruit, completed 100 of his 165 passing attempts for 1,311 yards and 12 touchdowns with only four interceptions in his freshman season. But he seldom completed a pass of more than 10 or 15 yards, despite having a veteran group of receivers.

He has been motivated by those who question his arm strength.

"Terrelle wants to be a quarterback," tailback Dan "Boom" Herron said. "He doesn't want everybody to look at him as a runner or a scrambler. He wants to be a quarterback. He's been working

Ohio State's spring game draws record crowd of 95,722 - USATODAY.com

 

[NFBuck]

In a day full of positives, one negative will haunt me until proven otherwise: Today did nothing to ease my concern for the CB position. Are we really looking at Chimdi as being the top guy here?

 

[bukIpower]

Yeah we are looking at Chimdi as the top guy, and he's a hell of a corner. Sure he got beat today but it was an obvious miscommunication between he and the saftey.

Did he get picked on against Texas? YUP sure did, but when the other corner is #2 that'll happen.

Bottom line is Chikwa is 6'1" 180ish and has been said for the past two years to be one of (if not #1) the best cover corners we have. He's experienced, has two all big ten safties right next to him, and has a furious defensive line to make his job easier as well.

Yes, he is our #1.

 

[OState29]

And our tight ends are still MIA, it's OSU, why would I expect anything different?

That's about all I have to complain about so that's not bad. I felt the offensive line deffinitely held their own today especially with being split up.

 

[RB07OSU]

QB: Pryor looks much improved. He is making his reads and it's evident with how quick he is getting the ball to people. Threw the ball short, deep, and intermediate with ease. Bauserman seemed to struggle a bit but I think he will a more than serviceable backup. He has a heck of an arm. Both QB's did a great job considering the patchwork OL's they had.

RB: I saw a lot of potential out of Herron and Saine. Honestly, I think they are both going to do great for us. Herron does a great job of getting the extra yards and is quick off of his cuts. Saine can book outside but also showed he can work inside as well. He also was able to lower the shoulder. Both are great players and originally I saw Hyde playing right away. However, I am thinking Berry would give us the best change of pace to these two backs.

FB: Not much to go off of here but Martin looked timid to me in pass blocking. Homan moved around real well and he is an athlete for the FB position. However, he will certainly need to stay engaged with the defender in his blocks better but I really like his potential.

WR: I was impressed with the depth here. Posey is ready to be the go to guy imo but I feel Washington is ready to be a big play threat for us. After this repeat performance I have got to think he will make an impact this year. Thomas kind of looks a little lost out there to me...however, I really like the idea of putting him in open space and on reverses. Ray Small was downright explosive today and hopefully he keeps it up because he can be huge for us. Schwartz even had a few nice grabs on a struggling scarlet offense. Towards the end James Jackson showed some promise. You have to feel good about the weapons Pryor is going to have to work with.

TE: Disappointing...Stoneburner didn't even get a look all day. Granted that Ballard and DeLillo weren't healthy, I still expected Stoney to make some noise.

OL: I have mixed feelings here. I thought the pass protection outside of Sika and Kerr was pretty darn good for most of the day, considering how tough the DL is looking. I noticed that Cordle was really blowing some holes open and I thought Connor Smith had a good day. I will go back to rewatch this group more carefully but at a passive glance, they did a heck of a job I thought.

DE: Really good work out there from this group. Gibson was a terror and Thomas was pretty disruptive. Mobley had a really nice stretch (not sure if he was at DE or DT?) as well. Heyward was pretty quiet but seemed to be around the ball alot. Rose was the only one I thought was complete MIA, but he has been injured this spring.

DT: Not too bad today. Worthington was really disruptive in the pass rush and Denlinger and Larimore held their own. I was really impressed with Goebel though...he always seemed to be in on tackles near the LOS. I honestly thought he might have had the most impressive DL performance today.

LB: The MVP of either defense was hands down Tyler Moeller. This guy is going to make a big impact this year if he is healthy, no question in my mind. He is a flat out player that loves the game, but he is also a great athlete who can run just about anyone down. Brian Rolle had a couple impressive pops today and I feel comfortable with him being on the field. Spitler was all over the place today and really rocked Siems in the 2nd. I am thinking Spitler will be a starter for sure. Sabino really didn't show much imo and I wasn't sure if Ross Homan was playing? Hines was another guy I didn't really notice. Overall I have no worries here though.

CB: Mixed feelings here. Amos looked solid imo but there was some real miscommunication going on. Chekwa and Torrence really didn't show much today either, nor Travis Howard. However, many of the passes seemed to be in LB territory and sometimes the QB's just wouldn't throw it their way. To be honest, I have no idea what to expect here. I actually think Chekwa has played some great ball here and I expect him to kick it up a notch this year, but I'm not sure about the others.

S: Not much to speak of. Coleman had a couple nice tackles but Russel, Johnson, Pentello, and Domicone went unnoticed. Hopefully that is a good thing.

- Overall I walked away excited about this team. I really think we have some explosive players, along with enough veteran guys to lead the team. I am thinking, just as any other day, it is a great day to be a Buckeye! :osu:

 

[Best Buckeye]

Thanks for all the reports , guys, I didn't get to watch the game but now I know who did well and who needs more work.

 

[martinss01]

Pryor is 13 of 18 for 191 yards.

did pryor really throw 18 times? i certainly believe the 191 yrds but the 18 attempts seems a lot higher than i remember. great numbers though.

It's a valid point to say that it wasn't necessarily Chimdi's responsibility. Not sure about Cover 2 vs. Cover 3 - teams that I've been involved with assigned deep vs. flat responsibility specifically, regardless of the base call. We called it "Cloud" (corner has the flat) vs. "Storm" (safety has the flat). It was definitely a blown assignment. The first guy to get there always gets the blame from the fans, but it wasn't always his mistake.

yep, can't say for certain but im thinking it was russell who blew the assignment on that one. i recall him making the same mistake twice against scum and it getting blamed on jenkins. honestly i think id rather see checkwa making that mistake.

 

[dragurd]

Well the Gray team did seem to forget they could run the ball in the first half when pyror was in so I believe it. However I have a question, what was with the 8 mim 4th qarter rather then the usual 12 min quarters of all the others?

 

[3074326]

However I have a question, what was with the 8 mim 4th qarter rather then the usual 12 min quarters of all the others?

Probably didn't think they had much else to gain from an extra four minutes and didn't want to risk injury.

Pure speculation on my part.

 

[dragurd]

I figured either they thought the game was out of reach so no point in getting someone hurt or tress was trying to get out of there in time to watch the draft. I didn't see anywhere that he was asked about it though.

 

[TexasBuck]

The second TD was one of the better throws I can remember seeing an OSU QB make. Small window and Pryor hit Small on stride with a dart. Ginn like finish by Small. It's going to be a long 4 months until the seasons starts.

 

[NFBuck]

Yeah we are looking at Chimdi as the top guy, and he's a hell of a corner. Sure he got beat today but it was an obvious miscommunication between he and the saftey.

Did he get picked on against Texas? YUP sure did, but when the other corner is #2 that'll happen.

Bottom line is Chikwa is 6'1" 180ish and has been said for the past two years to be one of (if not #1) the best cover corners we have. He's experienced, has two all big ten safties right next to him, and has a furious defensive line to make his job easier as well.

Yes, he is our #1.

I have no doubt that the physical ability is there, my question is he mentally prepared to step up and continue the tradition we have at that position. Of course he was going to be picked on with MJ on the other side. Problem is, he was abused vs. Texas and didn't show much improvement today. Hopefully the DL will be more disruptive than we've grown accustomed to, but for me, CB is a position of serious concern.

I try to look at the team objectively and not just assume we can plug unproven guys in and have them excel. Not saying that's what you're doing, but I need to see it, and thus far Chimdi, outside of a few flashes, hasn't done that.

 

[elliemae]

Thanks for all the reports , guys, I didn't get to watch the game but now I know who did well and who needs more work.

Awww....did you have to take a nap after your prune juice?

 

[osucollegebuck]

What a fun day, great weather, great football and while walking back to my car I got to have my picture taken with my favorite 2009 Buckeye, Thaddeous "Who's Your Thaddy" Gibson!!!!! And Mike Brewster too