Was able to watch both teams practice today as I was at the East practice for the morning session and then both teams gathered together in the afternoon for a joint practice. This was probably the best practice day of the week as yesterday (day one) was mostly an install day without a ton of competition and Friday is generally very light, but we'll see what we get tomorrow as well.
- Practice week usually isn't great for running backs because the run game isn't worked on all that heavily and they don't tackle to the ground even when they do work on it. But you can tell that Jahmyr Gibbs is electric. He catches the ball very well out of the backfield and he's a really tough cover in space. He told me this week that he patterns his game after Alvin Kamara and you can definitely see that in him. He has jumped off the page a few times with some open field cuts, should be interesting to watch on Saturday.
- Jaxon Smith-Njigba probably has my vote through two days as the top performer among the Ohio State commits. He was dominant today in 1-on-1's. Whether it was running by defensive backs and catching deep balls, creating separation on short and intermediate routes, or making contested catches, he put it all on display today after a strong day on Tuesday as well. Unfortunately he rolled his ankle toward the end of the afternoon session today so we'll have to see what that means for the rest of the week.
- Another guy that had a really strong day was Luke Wypler. Other than two reps where he struggled against Bryan Bresee (which everyone did today), Wypler got the best of both his teammates in the morning session and the West defensive linemen in the afternoon session. He is very technically sound so he beats guys with great footwork and positioning, but he's also extremely quick laterally and his lower center of gravity seems to help him gain leverage and anchor. I've always been really high on Luke but continue to think he'll be a very good center at Ohio State.
- Cody Simon is another player that stood out to me today. He tipped a C.J. Stroud pass that was picked off by a teammate and nearly came down with Bryce Young pass as well. I think he's athletic enough to play any of the linebacker positions at Ohio State and his strength and intelligence could make him an interesting MIKE candidate.
- I was not at East practice on Tuesday, but was told that Paris Johnson looked a bit rusty. He was definitely better today. He split a pair of reps against both Bryan Bresee and Myles Murphy and those guys were generally dominating every other lineman they went against, especially Bresee so those were nice wins. Having about two months off and then being thrown out there against monsters like that, the slow start probably should have been expected but he looked much more in form today.
- Gee Scott has been pretty much as expected, which is to say he has been very good. He's too strong for most of the cornerbacks here so he's able to get some early separation on his routes when guys try to get physical with him. He doesn't change gears like Smith-Njigba does but he catches absolutely everything and with his bigger body, he doesn't need to create as much separation to make plays.
- It was a struggle for Josh Fryar out there today as he worked at both guard and center. Just hasn't been quick enough to stay with most of the East defensive linemen who really dominated both the East and joint sessions today. Just looks a little heavy-footed out there.
- Really like what I've seen out of C.J. Stroud. He throws a beautiful deep ball and connected on many long passes in both 1-on-1's and 7-on-7's, even the deep balls that he misses are not only narrow misses, but misses in the right spots. Just looks really smooth airing it out. But what I've also been impressed with is how he takes what is given to him in 7-on-7 and team sessions. In these all-star games, you see a lot of guys take risks that they maybe wouldn't take in "real" games as everyone is trying to make a splash. But C.J. will go out there and go through progressions and make the proper check downs when it's not there. Just seems ahead of the curve in maturity/decision making.
- Practice week usually isn't great for running backs because the run game isn't worked on all that heavily and they don't tackle to the ground even when they do work on it. But you can tell that Jahmyr Gibbs is electric. He catches the ball very well out of the backfield and he's a really tough cover in space. He told me this week that he patterns his game after Alvin Kamara and you can definitely see that in him. He has jumped off the page a few times with some open field cuts, should be interesting to watch on Saturday.
- Jaxon Smith-Njigba probably has my vote through two days as the top performer among the Ohio State commits. He was dominant today in 1-on-1's. Whether it was running by defensive backs and catching deep balls, creating separation on short and intermediate routes, or making contested catches, he put it all on display today after a strong day on Tuesday as well. Unfortunately he rolled his ankle toward the end of the afternoon session today so we'll have to see what that means for the rest of the week.
- Another guy that had a really strong day was Luke Wypler. Other than two reps where he struggled against Bryan Bresee (which everyone did today), Wypler got the best of both his teammates in the morning session and the West defensive linemen in the afternoon session. He is very technically sound so he beats guys with great footwork and positioning, but he's also extremely quick laterally and his lower center of gravity seems to help him gain leverage and anchor. I've always been really high on Luke but continue to think he'll be a very good center at Ohio State.
- Cody Simon is another player that stood out to me today. He tipped a C.J. Stroud pass that was picked off by a teammate and nearly came down with Bryce Young pass as well. I think he's athletic enough to play any of the linebacker positions at Ohio State and his strength and intelligence could make him an interesting MIKE candidate.
- I was not at East practice on Tuesday, but was told that Paris Johnson looked a bit rusty. He was definitely better today. He split a pair of reps against both Bryan Bresee and Myles Murphy and those guys were generally dominating every other lineman they went against, especially Bresee so those were nice wins. Having about two months off and then being thrown out there against monsters like that, the slow start probably should have been expected but he looked much more in form today.
- Gee Scott has been pretty much as expected, which is to say he has been very good. He's too strong for most of the cornerbacks here so he's able to get some early separation on his routes when guys try to get physical with him. He doesn't change gears like Smith-Njigba does but he catches absolutely everything and with his bigger body, he doesn't need to create as much separation to make plays.
- It was a struggle for Josh Fryar out there today as he worked at both guard and center. Just hasn't been quick enough to stay with most of the East defensive linemen who really dominated both the East and joint sessions today. Just looks a little heavy-footed out there.
- Really like what I've seen out of C.J. Stroud. He throws a beautiful deep ball and connected on many long passes in both 1-on-1's and 7-on-7's, even the deep balls that he misses are not only narrow misses, but misses in the right spots. Just looks really smooth airing it out. But what I've also been impressed with is how he takes what is given to him in 7-on-7 and team sessions. In these all-star games, you see a lot of guys take risks that they maybe wouldn't take in "real" games as everyone is trying to make a splash. But C.J. will go out there and go through progressions and make the proper check downs when it's not there. Just seems ahead of the curve in maturity/decision making.
