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Spring Practice Tidbits

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Happy hour (and a half)

It was a light and rather uneventful practice today for Ohio State. The players were not in full pads and rarely did much more than individual and position drills. It also was a short session -- about 90 minutes, maybe 15 minutes fewer than usual.

The main reason probably is because the jersey scrimmage is tomorrow morning over at the stadium, and that will feature 120 plays or more of live action, so no need to go banging today.

Of note:

-- Mike Adams back at first team LT, continuing his day-to-day rotation with Andrew Miller. Same for Andre Amos, at first-team CB today in his rotation with Devon Torrence.

-- The only interesting injury note was FB Jermil Martin being held out today. Not sure why. He had a tonsillectomy before spring practice began that limited him the first week, but he had been back in there recently.

-- Speaking of injured, freshman LB Zach Boren is not participating in spring as he recovers from ACL surgery. Today, part of his on-the-side rehab work involved bear-crawling while carrying hefty-looking dumbbells in each hand.

Hunched down on all "fours," Boren would heave and drop the weights for a few steps, then stop and do a few push-ups (still holding the weights), then resume his arduous crawl. He must have covered a good 20-25 yards, and he did this twice.

In between winces, I was impressed.

-- WR Taurian Washington dropped at least two easy catches today, but then caught a long touchdown pass from Joe Bauserman.

-- Travis Howard and C.J. Barnett had interceptions today, neither thrown by Terrelle Pryor.

-- It was the receivers' day to be interviewed afterward. No big surprises came out of that. Coach Darrell Hazell really likes Lamaar Thomas' progress this spring. He believes Thomas was not "playing fast" last year, but now is much more comfortable.
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Happy hour (and a half) (Blogging the Buckeyes)
 
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OSU notebook: Scarlet jerseys up for grabs
Defense builds intensity for today's scrimmage to claim bragging rights
Saturday, April 18, 2009
By Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The Ohio State spring game a week from today will draw the crowd, but today's jersey scrimmage, which is closed to the public, will be the most meaningful practice of the month, safety Anderson Russell said.

One reason is because the squad won't be split to make up two teams. It will be the best of the offense against the best of the defense, with pecking order on the line at most positions.

"I think this is more intense," Russell said.

Plus, there is the prize: the coveted scarlet practice jerseys. The defense hasn't had them for the season since 2006, and although another jersey scrimmage in August will decide who wears them in the fall, today will determine bragging rights for the next four months.

"We're going to be looking forward to getting it this spring and keeping it for the whole season," Russell said.
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BuckeyeXtra - The Columbus Dispatch : OSU notebook: Scarlet jerseys up for grabs
 
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-- Speaking of injured, freshman LB Zach Boren is not participating in spring as he recovers from ACL surgery. Today, part of his on-the-side rehab work involved bear-crawling while carrying hefty-looking dumbbells in each hand.

Hunched down on all "fours," Boren would heave and drop the weights for a few steps, then stop and do a few push-ups (still holding the weights), then resume his arduous crawl. He must have covered a good 20-25 yards, and he did this twice.

In between winces, I was impressed.
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I kind of winced just reading about it. I HATED bear-crawls. Let alone bear-crawls with added weight.
 
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Ohio State football: Defense wins jersey scrimmage as sophomore defensive end Solomon Thomas gets seven sacks
by Doug Lesmerises
Saturday April 18, 2009

The defense beat the offense 56-55 in Ohio State's jersey scrimmage in Ohio Stadium on Saturday morning, the most important day of spring practice.

But even offensive lineman Jim Cordle admitted the game wasn't as close as the score indicated, with the defense in control most of the day. With quarterbacks Terrelle Pryor and Joe Bauserman wearing black jerseys for most of the morning, meaning they couldn't run or be tackled, the pressure of the defensive line led to more than 10 sacks, including seven by second-team defensive end Solomon Thomas. Six of his sacks came when the quarterbacks were off limits, and just touching the quarterbacks with one hand was enough to register a sack. Still, he was in the backfield a lot, which was good for him and not so good for the OSU tackles.

Pryor was asking for the black jersey to be removed after the first series, and when Jim Tressel let him go late in the game, the difference was obvious.

On the three drives in which Pryor was live, he ran six times for 27 yards, backup quarterback Joe Bauserman wondering to Tressel at one point how Pryor escaped from pressure on one play.

"He just turned sideways and disappeared," Tressel said.

Pryor was 4 of 7 for 54 yards passing on those three drives, stepping up away from pressure once to hit Lamaar Thomas for 25 yards.


But Pryor was also picked off on the previous drive at the goalline when he rolled right and while throwing on the run to Taurian Washington in the front corner of the endzone saw Devon Torrence burst toward the ball and make a nice interception.

The first-team offense scored on its last drive on a 5-yard run by Dan Herron, but Pryor drew a 15-yard penalty after the touchdown, forcing Aaron Pettrey to try the extra point to tie the game from 35 yards. He missed wide right, after a timeout iced him, and the defense stormed the field in celebration.

"You don't want either of those things to happen," Tressel said of Pryor's interception and penalty. "I think those will be good lessons. Those guys on defense did a good job the whole scrimmage of chirping, and you didn't have a chance to chirp back for about two hours. All of sudden you get your first chance to chirp back. They did a good job setting him up."

That was only the second touchdown of the day for the offense, the other a 25-yard pass from Bauserman to walkon receiver Ryan Schuck.

Overall, according to unofficial stats, Pryor completed 8 of 13 passes in the game for 74 yards, with no touchdowns and the one pick.
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Ohio State football: Defense wins jersey scrimmage as sophomore defensive end Solomon Thomas gets seven sacks - Ohio State Buckeyes Football & Basketball Blog (OSU) - cleveland.com

Defense rules (barely)
The defense won the semi-annual jersey scrimmage today in Ohio Stadium, gaining back the scarlet practice jerseys with a 56-55 win over the offense.

It came down to a final drive. Terrelle Pryor led the offense down to the 5-yard line, and Dan Herron took it in from there to make it a one-point game. Before any decision could be made on going for two, though, Pryor and Cameron Heyward scuffled.

That drew a personal foul on Pryor, backing up the extra-point try to a 35-yard field goal. Aaron Pettrey's kick was wide, and the defense won.

It was sort of a tale of two games, as Pryor and fellow quarterback Joe Bauserman spent about two thirds of the scrimmage in black "no contact jerseys." They were sacked mercilessly -- 10 times while wearing black, compared to just two when they were "live."

At the end of the no-contact possessions, the defense was ahead 40-24. From that point, the offense rallied, outscoring the defense 31-16.
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http://blog.dispatch.com/buckeyesblog/2009/04/defense_rules_barely.shtml
 
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Two things that are nice about the offense and defense pacticing against each other head to head; The defense gets to try and contain an athletic mobile QB (something they've struggled with for years) and the offense gets to practice against one of the best defenses in the country.

Sounds like the D-line is stepping up this spring.
 
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Good stuff from Thomas. I know that it's not a real sack, but anytime he is back there causing trouble, you gotta like that from the D line.

Sounds like the tackles still have a long way to go. Would have liked to hear some better news coming from the offensive side of the ball but I won't really judge them until the spring game.
 
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southcampus;1452376; said:
Good stuff from Thomas. I know that it's not a real sack, but anytime he is back there causing trouble, you gotta like that from the D line.

Sounds like the tackles still have a long way to go. Would have liked to hear some better news coming from the offensive side of the ball but I won't really judge them until the spring game.
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You won't judge the O-line until they're split into two teams and their lack of depth is more obvious? That's very kind of you. Maybe we could just find a way to judge them based on how the second string line matches against the first string D?
 
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"You won't judge the O-line until they're split into two teams and their lack of depth is more obvious?"
When did I say that? I said I would have liked to hear some better things coming from the OFFENSIVE SIDE OF THE BALL. I want to see them play before I get down on the offenses lack of production.
As far as the O line goes, I'm not the least bit worried about the interior O line. I think assessing the Tackles individually won't be that difficult to do.
 
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