And it's Ohio State:

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“The games will emanate from the Big Ten, Big 12 and the Mountain West”

That recruiting trend won't soon end, imo

Thursday you talked about potential punt return players that would add another dimension to the Buckeye team. Should it continue to be Ballard, Styles, Inniss, Rodgers or someone else like superman Caleb Downs. Should the team risk Downs on that team?
Of course, the key is having a player back there who will catch every punt: no muffs or fumbles.
Last season, Ballard had to fair catch most punts. I'm sure he would have loved to be able to return most of those punts but most of the time there were 2 or 3 tacklers within two yards of him. Had he not fair caught the ball, those "gunners" would have "lit him up" and probably caused a turnover.
If fans want to see punt returns, the punt return team players will need to stop/hold the defenders long enough to allow the returner time to catch the ball and make a return move. Most of the time, the Buckeyes would send 4-5 guys rushing the punter, but never blocking the punt. That left only about 5 blockers down field to block 6-7 tacklers.
It was about the same when it came to kick-off returns. Many times, the ball was kicked 5 yards deep into the end zone, or was kicked very high to the goal line. It made more sense to let the ball go, or fair catch it so the offense would get the ball at the 25-yard line. It was not worth the risk of returning the ball, especially in close games.
Unless the return team blocking improves, there won't be any punt or kick-off returns. Was that the fault of Parker Fleming or a decision made by Ryan Day?

Damien Shanklin and Nolan Davenport both on offer alert for today

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As @Birm reported, Shanklin was on campus today to check out Ohio State's practice. Was able to exchange a few messages with him to get his reaction to the Buckeyes coming through with an offer and the visit in general.

"I liked it a lot," Shanklin said. "It was a great environment and hospitality and also just watching the practice the team was very competitive."

Shanklin, who has offers from schools all over the country including Notre Dame, LSU and Michigan said that Ohio State's staff really likes the physicality he plays with and the chip that he play with on his shoulder. There are a lot of other heavy hitters involved in this recruitment. Tennessee, Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Texas and Washington are the schools the Ohio native says are recruiting him the hardest. Shanklin says that an early November commitment is the plan but he knows what he's looking for in a school.

"The culture and how I can be developed to play my freshman year."

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Austin is cooking on some practice observations of his own that should be up shortly. Here are some from me.


• Starting offensive line was mostly status quo: LT Josh Simmons, LG Donovan Jackson, C Carson Hinzman, RG Luke Montgomery, RT Josh Fryar. We had a lot of discussion about where Fryar would be on day one. Not surprising to see him at tackle. As Birm said on Snap Judgments, felt like a "go where you're familiar day" to start the spring. Fully expect Fryar to get a look at guard, and Montgomery at tackle. Also expect Seth McLaughlin to eventually be C1. McLaughlin was with the second OL during a brief period where we got to see 1O line up against 2D and vice versa for some walk-through stuff. Rest of the second OL was LT Zen Michalski, LG Austin Siereveld, RG Enokk Vimahi and RT Tegra Tshbola.

• As usual, we got to see a fair amount of punt practice. First punter was Joe McGuire, second-year player from Austrailia. OSU took him as a PWO last year.

• Caleb Downs was not among the punt returners during the periods we watched. I didn't clock them all, but Jayden Ballard, Emeka Egbuka and Lorenzo Styles were among the group.

• Sonny Styles is a linebacker. We'll see how that continues to develop in terms of starting tandem, but Sonny was with the LBs the whole time we were in there. During that early formation period, Cody Simon and CJ Hicks were with the ones, Arvell Reese and Styles were with the twos. I didn't get eyes on Gabe Powers during that drill, but he's certainly in the mix based off what James Laurinaitis said a few weeks ago.

• We saw one period of QBs throwing passes, but Devin Brown might have been more consistent in that brief window than he was at any point that we saw last offseason. He went first in every drill (not terribly surprising) and clearly threw the ball best among all the QBs in routes on air. They unfortunately booted us before 7-on-7 started. Seems like there's some separation already between Julian Sayin and Air Noland.

• I'm not reading too much into this, and I think it's just a byproduct of Tim Walton having the luxury of moving some guys around: Jordan Hancock was lined up outside during one drill, and Jermaine Mathews was in the slot. I figured Hancock would get some work outside this spring, if only to help him for the next level. I remain curious about nickel depth. So Mathews repping there, even a little bit, is interesting.

• Last thing from me: Will Kacmarek caught my eye as someone who looks like he's ready to roll physically. And then first offense lined up, he was with that group. I made sure to pocket that, too. We figured he had a great shot to be TE1 when OSU brought him from Ohio, but it seems like he's perhaps made a move to that front of that line already. No pads today, so we'll need to see what he looks like when the blocking/hitting starts, but he's a big athlete. Looked explosive.

Stupid breeds stupid, but this generation of conservatives is barely literate while still maintaining to acquire power.

A sad time in our country’s history as the right manages to find everything divisive:

A 2027 defensive back from the Pittsburgh area worth paying attention to.

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Initial reaction is this is incredibly dumb and par for the course for these people. Doesn’t make sense to me. Am I missing something?

Ohio State has 6-7, 240-pound Nick McLarty, an Australian punter in the Class of 2024, on campus today.

Right here:

Hot off the press

His recruitment and what he sees as a mission to bring offseason opportunities to kids in Ohio:

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Just got a text from Galloway that he will be visiting Ohio State tomorrow (March 5). He's looking forward to getting back in the facilities and being around the players and staff. I did straight up ask him about the conversation between him and the coaching staff about his lack of a Buckeyes offer.

"I’m going to camp," Galloway said. "They just said they want to continue to build a solid relationship."

The Marion Franklin standout dropped a top 12 recently that didn't include the Buckeyes. Things would obviously change in a big way with his recruitment if Ohio State comes through with an offer.

The latest on where things stand with the four-star tight end:

Ohio State involved with some of them: