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.
• 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.
