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Summer Practice 2009

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Kick Scrimmage Report
By Brandon Castel

On the one rare day when kickers and punters are expected to steal the headline, it was a return man who made the most noise at Ohio State?s semi-annual kick scrimmage.

As the skies darkened and thunder rolled through the clouds at Ohio Stadium, it was Lamaar Thomas who provided the lighting by returning the opening kickoff 95 yards for a near touchdown.

?He is really fast. I had an angle on him and I think I might have clipped his cleat but that was about it,? said kicker Aaron Pettrey , who booted the opening ball for the Gray team.

?Lamaar is a great returner and he?s going to be a great receiver for us this year too. He?s just unbelievably fast. If you don?t take a good angle on him, you?re not going to even tough him. That?s what I learned on that kickoff.?

Fortunately for Pettrey and his Gray teammates, Devon Torrence was well aware of Flash?s game-breaking ability, and the junior cornerback made sure not to underestimate Thomas when picking his angle from the other side of the field.

?I thought he was gone,? Pettrey said of Thomas. ?If he has open field, no one?s going to touch him.?

Yet somehow Torrence did, which is a testament to his own athletic ability as much as anything else.

?Devon is another guy with blinding speed on our team and he took a good angle,? Pettrey said. ?Luckily he caught him and it didn?t cost us any points.?
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The-Ozone, Ohio State Football, Wrestling, Softball, Basketball, Hockey, Baseball and More
 
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Injured Buckeyes: Several players sat out practice, though as they stood or worked out on the sidelines, none of their injuries looked too serious.

Linebacker Austin Spitler (calf strain), guard Boren (knee), running back Jaamal Berry, tight end Jake Stoneburner, defensive back Zach Domicone and defensive end Melvin Fellows all stayed out of the main drills.

Then starting linebacker Ross Homan went down with what appeared to be a minor left knee injury during practice, and backup middle linebacker Storm Klein missed much of practice as well while getting worked on by the training staff. Again, nothing appeared serious, as Homan was walking around on his own after he limped off the field.

Still, all that linebacking depth wasn't very deep Wednesday, with four of the top eight linebackers (Tyler Moeller is out of the year) missing for this practice. As a result, the first-team linebackers were Brian Rolle in the middle, flanked by Andrew Sweat and Etienne Sabino. The second team, at least for one drill, included freshman Jordan Whiting and walk-on Tony Jackson.

Kick scrimmage: It was the biggest day of the preseason for the specialists, and kicker Aaron Pettrey looked solid with another display of his big leg, making 9 of 12 field goal attempts. Neither punter looking to replace A.J. Trapasso -- fifth-year senior Jon Thoma and redshirt freshman Ben Buchanan -- had a great day, but Thoma said he has been working with the first team.

Punt returner Ray Small, who missed the first four days of practice, ran with the first-team receivers and was the best returner on the field. The kick returners included Lamaar Thomas, Anderson Russell, Dan Herron and Brandon Saine, and Thomas broke off the best run with a 92-yarder before Devon Torrence ran him down.
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Shugarts provides a sophomore surprise at left tackle in practice: Ohio State Insider - cleveland.com
 
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OSU football: Pettrey pleased, Thoma less so after scrimmage
Thursday, August 20, 2009
By Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Aaron Pettrey put an exclamation point on the placekicking job for Ohio State. Jon Thoma wanted to do the same thing with the punting job, but he didn't think he was emphatic enough.

Thoma's intent was to make his case to replace A.J. Trapasso, now in the NFL, but at the special teams scrimmage yesterday in Ohio Stadium, he averaged 41.1 yards on eight punts in a light drizzle.

"It was one of those days where you warm up and everything goes right," Thoma said. But in the scrimmage, "you swing hard and just don't make perfect contact with the ball. If I had punted the way I warmed up I'd probably be smiling a little more."

His competition, Ben Buchanan, averaged just 38.6 yards as he split time punting and placekicking. But Thoma, a fifth-year senior, still had wanted more.

"You always want to do your best," Thoma said. "So when you don't -- it's not that I'm disappointed. We (the Gray team) got the win."
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BuckeyeXtra - The Columbus Dispatch : OSU football: Pettrey pleased, Thoma less so after scrimmage
 
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I posted this on the Simon thread and thought it would be good to put in here too with the report from Ozone about the Hoot 'N Holler. Fun to watch.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIdxk6Kr3gM]YouTube - HOOT AND HOLLER = Drill from Ohio State[/ame]
 
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ScarletInMyVeins;1519855; said:
Is it just me, or does it seem like there aren't as many reports coming out of camp as in years past?
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%7BFAF1D126-7F97-4FCA-B27D-EA57813E4837%7DImg100.jpg
 
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Team-building means no cell phones
Friday, August 21, 2009
By Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

In a players-only meeting Saturday, the seniors broke the news to their Ohio State teammates: The next day, they would be confiscating all electronics.

Cell phones, iPods, video game systems ... hand 'em over. The cable hookups were taken out of the walls of the team hotel.

To members of a generation accustomed to being in constant communication, this did not go over well.

"They weren't real happy about it," senior kicker Aaron Pettrey said. "A lot of them thought, 'How's this going to make us better football players?' "

One player posted on his Twitter page: "They really bouta turn this camp into da military."

The military is where the idea came from. This week, OSU is taking a page from the Navy SEALs, whose famously grueling training regimen includes "Hell Week" -- a week of intense physical and mental hardship that usually weeds out 75 percent of the candidates.

Each summer, coach Jim Tressel assigns a book for his team to read. This year, it was Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell. It is an account of a 2005 SEALs mission in Afghanistan. Luttrell led a four-man team, and was the only one to survive an encounter with Taliban forces.

Tressel "suggested" to the OSU seniors that they adopt their own version of Hell Week during preseason camp.
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BuckeyeXtra - The Columbus Dispatch : Team-building means no cell phones
 
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What I'm looking for in the jersey scrimmage

The Buckeyes hold their twice-annual jersey scrimmage tomorrow in Ohio Stadium. As usual, it is closed to the public, but it is open to media (no cameras or filming, however).

I always enjoy this event -- it's about 120 plays, almost two full games worth, of "real" football. It's offense versus defense, rather than the split-squad mess of the spring game, which makes it hard to evaluate a lot of people.

I could care less who wins -- Tressel usually finagles the situations so it's close. And despite what all the players say about the "coveted" scarlet jerseys, I'm not so sure the score is a big deal to them, either.

Here's what I'll be watching most closely tomorrow:

-- Formations. I'm sure Tressel won't pull out all the stops in front of the media, but we should get an idea at least of what the base offense might look like. He has already said the Buckeyes will be in the one-back a majority of the time, but will it be shotgun? Pistol? Under center? I'll try and track the frequency of different formations.

-- Left tackle. Andy Miller, Mike Adams, and now J.B. Shugarts in the mix.

-- Quarterbacks. Terrelle Pryor, obviously. But also, particularly if backup Joe Bauserman doesn't play (he did not throw in Wednesday's practice), how does freshman Ken Guiton look?

-- Cornerback. Andre Amos and Devon Torrence are still locked in a pretty close competition.

-- Brandon Saine. Curious to see if he has carried over his impressive spring showing. OSU needs someone to take the load off Boom Herron.

-- Tight ends. How often are the Jakes -- Ballard and Stoneburner -- on the field at the same time?
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What I'm looking for in the jersey scrimmage (Blogging the Buckeyes)
 
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