Spring Football - 2005 (mega-merge)

[daddyphatsacs]

Nothing too impressive from what I saw. Both TB's had good days, Haw really seemed to come on late in the game. Marcus Freeman played a hell of a game, the guy is going to be scary good. The OL's on both teams seemed to open up nice holes from time to time, especially on off tackle plays.

QB play was bad all around, and in my opinion Boeckman had the best day. Smith's interception was horrible, and Zwick made some terrible passes, I think the weather had a lot to do with the QB play and special teams. It was very shitty.

One thing that I noticed that really got under my skin today, and if anyone on this board was participating....shame on you. I noticed boo's every time Zwick made a bad throw, which is total bullshit. To boo a college player is crap, and in a scrimmage it's double crap. Shame on those who booed.

 

[rocketman]

I'll just put these here since I don't think they warrant their own thread.


Both teams getting pumped up...damn it was cold!


Everyone split up by position getting warmed up...


Pittman, Dukes and Ginn in the background...


Kickoff!


Zwick hand-off to Haw


Boeckman looking to hand-off to Pittman


Mangold wearing a rather manly shirt sleeve on his head..

And thats about it...my camera died for the 4th quarter so I couldn't get any pics of Smith that were decently close up.

 

[MaximumSam]

I didn't think the tailbacks were all that great. I didn't see anything from them that made me think we have improved over Lydell Ross.

 

[ysubuck]

Then you weren't watching the same game that I was.

 

[CleveBucks]

Too bad about the crappy weather. I was ready to stop by around 11ish, but bad weather + hangover, not happening. Ended up watching it on the couch.

 

[jlb1705]

This is the official beginning of the "Ted Ginn for long-snapper" campaign...

All the QBs stunk. You can blame part of that on the weather. With Zwick though, weather notwithstanding, he looks the same as he did when he was benched/got hurt. As for Smith, the weather doesn't make you heave a wounded duck into the flat, and it doesn't make you give up large chunks of extra yardage in a sack situation, all while carrying the football like a purse and coughing it up.

The Dukes fumble was a joke too. Fumbling is bad, but fumbling after you caught the ball and gave back the first-down yardage you originally had when you caught the ball is completely inexcuseable.

There a lot of very talented players on this team, but too many of them are trying to be Ted Ginn. They're trying to hit a home run every play, or make the miraculous escape. Those things are nice, but just making the SOLID play regularly will carry this team much further than trying to be spectacular and hitting that mark just on a handful of occasions. My favorite play of the scrimmage? When the the snap sailed over punter Tyson Gentry's reach, and then slipped out of his hands after his recovery (and he was apparently trying to run for the first down himself ), the Gray special teams players swarmed around the ball. The player who reached it first (I think it was some walk-on or soemthing that I've never heard of) had about 5 yards of real estate and a handful of blockers ahead of him. What does he do? He falls on the ball, and trusts the rest of his team to do their job and punch it in. The guy may have passed up his only chance to score a TD in the 'Shoe, but instead he makes the smart play. Thank you, whoever you are.

Oh, and one more thing: Pittman is a better RB than Haw right now. Until Haw cuts back to the inside as much as he does to the outside, he won't be great. You can't run around everyone in college. His game didn't really get going until he started carrying it inside the tackles. I know many of his runs were designed to go to the outside, but every time I saw when he had a choice to cut in or out, guess which one he chose?

 

[Alan]

thank goodness for hijack this.....5 hours later and whatever wbns had (calk.exe) in the video feed is finally gone...

it was a vanilla game....but i am most disappointed with zwick's attitude.....it is way beyond time for him to step up and take charge of the team.....troy does that very well and boeckman is already ahead of him in that phase...

 

[BuckeyeInTheBoro]

I didn't think the tailbacks were all that great. I didn't see anything from them that made me think we have improved over Lydell Ross.

Sarcasm, maybe?

They ran to and through the correct holes and didn't fall on first contact. They showed speed getting to the outside. I didn't see either of them attempt to run up an offensive lineman's butt. I'd say they are an improvement. Neither looked like Barry Sanders or anything, but they looked better than or RBs did last year.

 

[bukIpower]

Yeah the running game is light years better then last year.... You was definatly watch'n the wrong game..

Haw I thought held his own with Pittman. What I liked about Haw is that his legs never stop, and he really is a good 20 pounds heavier than Pittman. I liked what I saw out of the TB's today

As for the QB's yeah it was bad but 4-9 with 1 Td, 1Int for troy was the best numbers of the day for the QB. What I liked about troy was he still showed that he buys time and looks down field while avoiding the rush. I thought Troy played over all decently. NOT GREAT its not like I'm proclaiming he did good, but I thought he managed the offense and showed nice presence in the pocket.

Well the defense was just nasty so I'll leave it at that, and to think that we didn't have either our starting Middle Linebackers, one of our starting corners, a starting end, and also saw other starters for limited reps is a VERY good thing.

 

[Taosman]

For those that booed today, I'm embarrassed to have to claim you as Buckeyes!

Let's not get too excited one way or another about today. Bad weather and a split team do not make for an accurate assessment of this team! But, that being said, individual performances are interesting! Gotta be excited about the running backs! The wide receivers! And most of all , the O-line!

 

[BuckeyeTillIDie]

but i am most disappointed with zwick's attitude.....it is way beyond time for him to step up and take charge of the team.....troy does that very well and boeckman is already ahead of him in that phase

I agree 100%.. I don't know what it is, but he never seems to grab control of the team.


Edit: I also wanted to add that when this team is playing all it's starters and what not when the season starts, that they will be scary good. The line hasn't looked this athletic and strong in a long time, and I'm positive that the QB will step up.

 

[Buckin' A]

I have a hard time using the weather excuse. It won't be 70 and sunny by mid season, so that isn't an issue.

I won't analize the whole game, but I will say that Eric Haw seems to have great vision and patience. He seems to run very smart and is patient waiting on his blocks to develope and the hole to open. I didn't think he looked as big as I expected though.

 

[ysubuck]

The thing is that it will probably be beautiful in mid to late October in Columbus.

We have a golf outing on the last Sunday in October just about every year and I don't remember a time when I wasn't wearing shorts for it. The weather in Columbus stays pretty nice well into October.

By the way, Jim Cordle looked great at center. He went up against Quinn most of the game and he got his ass handed to him a couple of times, but this is a kid who should be finishing up his senior year right now. He's going to be a great one!!!

 

[Oh8ch]

IMO, you can't make any type of judgement about offense or defense based on this game.

Dead on. Football is a team game. Even if you return 22 starters you have 22 other kids starting a Spring game who are non-starters. How can you then mix and match those players and judge the peformance of either uint based on the results? Plus we had injuries. Plus we had limitations on what teams could do.

You can try to look at individual performances in the context of what was going on - and I saw some pretty good examples of that - but not much else.

No player suffers more in a game like this than the QB. Both Zwick and Smith demonstrated on the field under real conditions last season that they could play the position. I can't lend much credence to criticism of the way they performed in a scrimmage under the most artificial of circumstances.

Lot of talent. Lot of speed. And I think the players understood it was a practice more so than most of us.

 

[GB3]

Hoobler and Lane impressed me on D. That Lane kid seems to be one of those players who has a nose for the ball...Freeman looked pretty good also.

As for QBs, I wouldnt complain at any of them from what I saw today considering the weather. Zwick started slow, had a couple of drops and maybe some routes cut off short. I still like his long ball over the other 2 guys, even though he missed Dukes down the sideline. Todd B looked pretty consistent and smart with the ball for a guy who hasnt seen much game action. Troy is just Troy, a great athlete who will make some great plays but also will have that play where he trys to do too much.

All the RBs looked pretty good, consider the defense they were goin against!

Im also sure Coach will have that special teams shored when it counts.

Im just a Buckeye fan who sat in 30 degree weather and would go tomorrow if they had another scrimmage :)

GOBUCKS!