The-Ozone Note and Quotebook
By John Porentas
Turn of Events: The lopsided win by the offense in the annual jersey scrimmage was rather surprising in light of the expectations for the OSU defense this season, and especially in light of the fact that the OSU offense has not exactly been devastating over the last three seasons. The members of that offense are hoping to make more of a contribution to team success this year.
"Since I've been here the defense has been the people who have been leading the way," said offensive lineman Rob Sims.
"The offense just wants to do our share and make it more of a 50-50 deal."
Sometimes an offense needs some sort of kick in the pants to get it jump-started. According to center Nick Mangold, that happened last season.
"It was after the Iowa game, where basically we hit rock bottom," said Mangold.
"We got together as a whole group and just talked it out and said this was not what we want, we need to step things up and come together to get things done."
The OSU offense built slowly after that Iowa game, then really blossomed in the final two games of the season against Michigan and in the bowl game against Oklahoma State. The big win in the jersey scrimmage will help the offensive unit continue that trend.
"It builds confidence," said Sims.
"I've always felt if we can do it against our defense we can do it against anybody in the country," said Sims who has lost no respect for the OSU defense despite the outcome of the jersey scrimmage. In fact, Sims credited that defense for helping the offense make the progress it has made.
"It's real good to practice against those guys. You do nothing but get better," Sims said.
"Our defense is probably the best in the land, but as an offense were probably starting to come together quicker," agreed Mangold.
"The defense always had an upper hand because it's just guys having a nose for the ball and making plays.
"I think this year and as guys have progressed, guys are coming in and we're learning faster and we're getting things done and we're playing to a better ability than we have been.
"We had four turnovers and they get five points for a turnover. If would could have eliminated those, that would have been 20 more points off their score," Mangold said.
Vote of Confidence: Earlier this week OSU assistant coach Jim Heacock was named defensive coordinator, replacing Mark Snyder in that position after Snyder was named head coach at Marshall University. Following the jersey scrimmage, Heacock got a ringing endorsement from one of his star defenders.
"It's great. I think everyone loves it," said linebacker A. J. Hawk.
"When he (Snyder) left we thought that was the best situation, to have coach Heacock come in.
"We have tons of respect for him. We have a lot of respect for him and we love playing for him.
"We think he's going to help us be a tough, aggressive defense."
Who is Dave?: Tailback Eric Haw is in the midst of a battle with Antonio Pittman for playing time next fall. Each candidate brings his own skill set to the position, and naturally, each has his own favorite kind of play he likes to run. When we asked Haw what kind of plays he likes, we got a surprising answer.
"I like Dave," said Haw.
When Haw saw the rather bewildered look on our face at his answer he went on to explain that "Dave" is the name of a blocking scheme in the OSU offensive nomenclature.
"Dave is down blocking from the front side and someone pulls around," said Haw. That's our basic play."
"Stretch plays are real good," Haw continued listing his favorites.
"When you get the defense running, you want to do a lot of zoning, to get them running so the linemen can get up to their blocks.
"It's like a counter. If the defense is a fast defense, you want to stretch them a little bit, then cut it inside."
Wounded Pride: While the offense was elated over the outcome of the jersey scrimmage, the defense was, quite naturally, not quite as excited.
"Today after getting beat by that much, I guess we kind of have to elevate our play. We have to get better," said defensive lineman Marcus Green after the jersey scrimmage.
"We can't go out there and give that type of effort in September when we play, or even in practice for that matter," Green said.
Green was disappointed in the play of the defense, but was quick to give credit to the guys across the line of scrimmage.
"The past week or so the O-Line has been getting after it. It seems like they're coming together as a unit," Green said .
"They basically played as a unit, and the defensive line didn't. We were kind of just out there, and they were out there playing and competing."
Still, there are a few concerns about the OSU defense at this point of spring ball. Beside the question mark at corner back, the defensive line has yet to assert itself, something that must happen if OSU is to be successful defensively this fall.
"To tell you the truth, the defense is struggling a little bit, but not that much," said Troy Smith.
Defensive coordinator Jim Heacock agrees, and also sees the defensive front as an area in need of improvement.
"I think it's got a long way to go to be honest with you," Heacock said before the jersey scrimmage.
"To be real honest, I think we have to get a lot better. I'm not satisfied with the way we're playing right now on our defensive front four and think we need to get a little bit of sense of urgency up there.
"I think we've got a lot of people who are potentially able to play for us, that we have the potential to have a good front that we can sub and keep fresh and do a good job with, but I think we've got to pick it up a notch this last week-and-a-half.
"I know we've got some talent coming back and I'm excited about it, but as I look at last year and look at where we're at right now, I thought we made good improvement at the end of the year, but I certainly don't feel like we're 'there' or we're going to go out there and line up and we're going to be good all of a sudden.
"I think we need to work really hard and we need to make some vast improvement. We need to identify some more players at certain positions. We're going to have to get a lot better. That's my opinion, but that's the way I am. Nine starters or ten, I don't care. I think we need to get better."
Old News: Troy Smith was asked about the "quarterback controversy" at OSU after the jersey scrimmage. Smith did a good job of containing himself when he got the question, but it was clear that he's tired of that subject.
"That question is old. That's real old, that was last year," said Smith.
"We pretty much said at the beginning of the season that every team possibly needs two quarterbacks. That question as far as the competition goes, that's old. We don't think about that anymore."
New Player: Spring camp opened with Rob Sims hoping to move to guard from his tackle position. It was thought going into camp that that move would be dependent on the development of Steve Rehring at tackle. If Rehring showed he could handle that position, then Sims could move to guard. The situation, however, has now changed some. The OSU coaching staff will put the five best players on the field in the opener, and another player has stepped up his game this spring and is making a bid to be in that "best five" group. He is, however, a guard, and if things work out that he is a better guard than Rehring is a tackle, then Sims will stay at tackle.
"Steve's (Rehring) having a pretty good spring, but Doug Datish has been playing guard and he's been doing very well at guard actually this spring," said Sims.
"It's going to take a little bit longer in the spring to find out exactly where I'm playing and what I'm going to do, but it's good that we have that option. I can play either tackle or guard."
