Buckeyes were back on the practice field this morning and we had a chance to watch the first few periods.
- Urban Meyer was in the building and quickly spoke to the team.
- I tried to watch more of a few position groups that I didn't get to see as much of during the first open practice. Watched a lot of the running backs this morning. I'm trying not to let my HS evaluation of Marcus Crowley cloud my judgement but I was really impressed watching him. He has a lot of wiggle for a big back, looked explosive.
- Hard to tell what the pecking order is going to be behind Dobbins at this point in the backfield. My best guess would be McCall, if he can stay healthy and focused, just because there wouldn't be much value in moving him back to RB for him not to play. Has also been running second in drills for whatever that means at this point. Crowley and Teague are likely going to fight for reps as well.
- Freshman offensive tackle Dawand Jones has made some strides this spring/summer on his body. He is not where he needs to be yet, but that doesn't happen overnight. He still has to lose some of that gut but he's clearly lighter than he was six months ago. Moves pretty well out there.
- Tight ends worked on motioning and blocking during one of the periods. Rashod Berry really got after it and Jeremy Ruckert looked more comfortable to me than he has in the past. Blocking is really important for both of these guys, but especially Ruckert. If he can be reliable as a blocker, he can be an extremely valuable member of this team given his receiving abilities.
- Freshman defensive end Zach Harrison doesn't really know what he's doing yet but he goes hard on every rep. That's what you want to see at this point, just do everything fast.
- Master Teague was not with the main group of backs today and was off to the side working separately so appears he is dinged. Not going to speculate further on that.
- QB's worked on a lot of zone read this morning. Fields of course was getting the first reps in drills. Didn't get to see very much of them throwing. Got a few clips of Fields throwing to stationary targets during Period 2, all of the throws I saw were accurate.
- Hard to imagine losing three guys as productive as Campbell, Dixon, and McLaurin and still being very deep at receiver, but sure enough that appears to be the case. A lot of guys in that group just have the look.
- Urban Meyer was in the building and quickly spoke to the team.
- I tried to watch more of a few position groups that I didn't get to see as much of during the first open practice. Watched a lot of the running backs this morning. I'm trying not to let my HS evaluation of Marcus Crowley cloud my judgement but I was really impressed watching him. He has a lot of wiggle for a big back, looked explosive.
- Hard to tell what the pecking order is going to be behind Dobbins at this point in the backfield. My best guess would be McCall, if he can stay healthy and focused, just because there wouldn't be much value in moving him back to RB for him not to play. Has also been running second in drills for whatever that means at this point. Crowley and Teague are likely going to fight for reps as well.
- Freshman offensive tackle Dawand Jones has made some strides this spring/summer on his body. He is not where he needs to be yet, but that doesn't happen overnight. He still has to lose some of that gut but he's clearly lighter than he was six months ago. Moves pretty well out there.
- Tight ends worked on motioning and blocking during one of the periods. Rashod Berry really got after it and Jeremy Ruckert looked more comfortable to me than he has in the past. Blocking is really important for both of these guys, but especially Ruckert. If he can be reliable as a blocker, he can be an extremely valuable member of this team given his receiving abilities.
- Freshman defensive end Zach Harrison doesn't really know what he's doing yet but he goes hard on every rep. That's what you want to see at this point, just do everything fast.
- Master Teague was not with the main group of backs today and was off to the side working separately so appears he is dinged. Not going to speculate further on that.
- QB's worked on a lot of zone read this morning. Fields of course was getting the first reps in drills. Didn't get to see very much of them throwing. Got a few clips of Fields throwing to stationary targets during Period 2, all of the throws I saw were accurate.
- Hard to imagine losing three guys as productive as Campbell, Dixon, and McLaurin and still being very deep at receiver, but sure enough that appears to be the case. A lot of guys in that group just have the look.
