Football
Spring Game Musings
By Tony Gerdeman

This year, I'm not going to give you any caveats about passing judgments based on what you saw during the Spring Game, because judgments are about all we've got for the next three months.

So if you want to start an internet petition to get Joe Bauserman named the starting quarterback, go right ahead. The internet awaits your frivolity.

If you think Boom Herron needs 10-15 carries per game and you can't wait to tell the guy down the hall at work that you "called it", I can't stop you. In fact, I can't stop anybody from "calling it".

And I'm definitely not going to hold myself to any type of predictor standards with this column, especially after last year when I wrote: "I would love to see what Rob Schoenhoft could do with an entire game, or even an entire season. He seems to be the type of the player that gets better as the game goes on." But in fairness, those comments have been taken way out of context by me.

So let's not hold anybody to anything said this month--unless, of course, we're right.

The Offense

Did you guys see Todd Boeckman's two interceptions!? Unacceptable! In semi-seriousness, the first interception wasn't as underthrown as people are making it out to be. And how was Brian Hartline seriously supposed to know that an Ohio State safety was going to actually hold on to an interception? As an aside, Kurt Coleman needs to stop picking off passes in the spring and start saving some for the fall. Instead of getting upset with Boeckman, why don't we just give credit to Coleman for a fantastic interception. Who's to say he wouldn't have still been able to make a play on it if the pass was a few yards further downfield. Now, Boeckman's second interception actually was unacceptable. After about eleven consecutive passes to Brian Hartline, it wasn't a surprise that Ross Homan knew which receiver to spy on.

Other than the picks (which is like saying, "Other than that murder conviction"), I thought Boeckman was fine. He was 12-18 for 145 yards in one half of football. He checked down, he looked at the backs, he went to the tight ends--all stuff that we always see in the spring and hope to see in the fall. On the deep pass to Hartline, it was good to see Boeckman sprint out and communicate with his receiver, pointing him where he needed to go, and he threw a nice pass to Hartline who adjusted and made the play. It's clear that Boeckman and Hartline have some type of symbiosis going on.

Oh, and for those folks out there who are always going to look to find something to be critical of Boeckman for, don't forget to be as equally critical of the other quarterbacks.

Speaking of which, I was very impressed with back-up quarterback Joe Bauserman. He was poised and was always looking downfield. I especially liked the pump-fake that he was using. He showed an impressive arm and displayed complete confidence in it. However, while everybody is rejoicing his touchdown pass to Taurian Washington and the one that got called back, I feel compelled to mention that both of those throws were more underthrown than Todd Boeckman's interception. But it's amazing how much better a pass can be when Nate Oliver is in coverage instead of Kurt Coleman.

Antonio Henton continued to show what he's always showed: escapability. He made Thaddeus Gibson and James Laurinaitis both miss sacks. He did the same to Marcus Freeman, Larry Grant and Vernon Gholston last year, so he's kind of good at that. While on the Scarlet team, Henton was 5-7 for 62 yards, and looked pretty good. However, he had a couple of instances of pressure where he evaded a sack, and then threw the ball away, but the throws probably weren't as far out of bounds as they should have been. If you're going to throw it away, throw it way away. And I think he also probably could have stood in the pocket a bit longer than he did, but I could be wrong. I did like the way he was always looking downfield while scrambling.

Also, why don't we wait until Terrelle Pryor gets to campus before we really start ramping it up for the back-ups, okay? And as I'll keep saying, yes, it would be nice if we got better quarterback play this year than last year, but I don't think it's entirely necessary. Keep in mind that Matt Flynn won the National Championship last year, and he was remarkably mediocre.

I liked what I saw out of Boom Herron. He always falls forward--like he's running downstairs and trips. I was surprised to see him cut it outside so much, since most of the film I have seen of him is mostly north and south stuff between the tackles. He will definitely be a nice addition to the team this year, but I wonder how busy he'll be.

It seemed like one of the coaching staff's priorities in this game was to keep Brandon Saine healthy, because they didn't really work him too hard. Most would agree that Boom Herron looked better than Saine, but Jim Tressel gushed about Saine during the postgame like a Star Trek geek raving about Uhura. It was interesting to get a look at the "Pony back" formation, but right now all it seems good for is throwing the football in the flats. That will change this fall. It has to.

Taurian Washington impressed me. I thought maybe last year he got a little too much hype based on his touchdown reception early in the season, but I'm really hoping there's room for him in this offense this season. Aside from the fact that he can get behind a defense, I liked the moves he made on the sideline to avoid tackles. I had assumed he was a long-strider, but he showed quick moves in confined spaces.

Hopefully Ray Small can continue to work his way back into good graces, because he can definitely be a weapon. He made a nice shoestring grab and also had some moves post-catch. We still need more out of him on special teams though.

I think we're in for more of the same quality play that we've come to expect from Brian Hartline in 2008, but about a notch-and-a-half higher.

Don't tell Lawrence Wilson I said this, but it was pretty funny to watch Alex Boone put Wilson on the ground during one of Boom Herron's runs inside the five-yard line. Not only did Boone put Wilson on the ground, and then lay on top of him, but afterwards, he gave him a little bit of business.

The other side of the bookends was one of the bigger stories in this game. Bryant Browning started for the Gray squad and played very well, in my opinion. Jim Tressel mentioned in the postgame that he felt Browning did well because he didn't remember hearing Cameron Heyward's name mentioned. And that was the case. Browning held his own against Heyward all game long. In fact, I think you could probably attribute Heyward's personal foul late in the game to the frustration he had been dealing with trying to get around Browning. At 6'4", Bryant Browning is not the ideal height for a tackle, but what he lacks in height, he makes up for in width. It wasn't all great for Browning, however, as Thaddeus Gibson got by him with only a juke on a pass rush early in the game. Other than that, though, Browning was strong. He is very reminiscent of Rob Sims. Right now, he's the Buckeye's number one guy at right tackle, and I feel pretty good about that.

True freshman J.B. Shugarts was at right tackle for the Scarlet team and he too looked good at times. However, he did have a couple of penalties called on him, and Lawrence Wilson split Shugarts and Brandon Smith for a sack early in the game. Shugarts also probably could have stayed with his blocks longer, as a few times, he'd let his man go and the quarterback would still be looking for a receiver. That was something that Bryant Browning did not do.

Also, Jim Cordle played a little left tackle later in the game. He's done that in the past and can probably play any of the line positions asked of him, and play them well.

The Defense

It was good to see so much pressure from the middle of the defensive line, as the Buckeyes got four sacks from their defensive tackles.

I would have liked to have seen more from the defensive ends, but Lawrence Wilson did get a sack and Thaddeus Gibson should have, so that's something. Also, Doug Worthington played some defensive end, but I'm not sure if that was just a depth thing, or a future thing.

I really liked what I saw from the linebackers. All of them.

Let's start with Etienne Sabino. He had a tackle early in the game where he pursued from his middle linebacker spot and swallowed up Boom Herron for a loss of one yard. During the play, I couldn't see who made the tackle, but from the way the play happened, it looked like either a James Laurinaitis or Marcus Freeman tackle. I was very happy to see it was actually Sabino at the bottom of the pile. I think we have a good one here, folks.

Tyler Moeller continues to run around and make plays--just like last spring. I think we'll actually see him on the field some this year, though. He seems to be one of those players who is everywhere at once. I'm not sure if it's due to multi-tasking or attention deficit disorder, but he's all over the field.

Ross Homan continues to be everywhere the ball is, but he did miss some tackles, so I'm assuming he's a little rusty. I don't expect him to be rusty this fall.

If you'll go to the 4:17 mark in the second quarter, you can watch Brian Rolle run down the line towards Marcus Williams and launch himself over a blocker and make the tackle. Not only did Rolle blow the play up, he did it from above. He's not just an average bomb, he's a smart bomb.

It was interesting to watch Curtis Terry playing fullback. He was having too much fun smashing into his fellow linebackers. But come to think of it, wouldn't you love to run full speed into the people you work closest with?

And just so you know, Marcus Freeman is going to have a big year this year.

Despite giving up a touchdown, I thought Andre Amos played a very good game. He made open field tackles and he did it with velocity. He was always right there with his receiver, waiting to make a tackle. Of course, it may be better if he didn't allow the completion in the first place, but one thing at a time, folks. If Donald Washington can't make his way out of the doghouse this summer, all may not be lost.

There was some good, and some bad from the safeties. The best, obviously, was the tremendous interception made by Kurt Coleman early in the game. It was an amazing diving grab. And it was probably the last one we'll see this year.

I'm not too sure what type of pass defender Aaron Gant is, but after watching him knock Boom Herron's helmet off, I don't really care.

And I also liked what I saw from Nate Oliver in run support. Pass support, however, is another story. But he's got time to get better, and he will.

Special Teams

I was very happy to see Aaron Pettrey nail a 48-yard field goal. I was even more happy to see that it probably would have been good from 58 yards. However, I have to assume the kickers were told not to kick touchbacks, because we didn't see any.

I still want to see more from the kick return crew. Mo Wells had a nice cutback and Ray Small had an okay return, but there were also some stinkers in there.

And there probably weren't any punts good enough to provide decent return room, but I'm not too concerned about the punt returning. I thought they were fine last season, and will presumably only be better this season.

Miscellaneous

During the game, there was a television timeout on the field. That may not sound like anything out of the ordinary, except for the fact that at that moment, the Big Ten Network was showing Michigan State's spring game. Why did we have to sit through a television timeout for a tape-delayed game that was going to be edited? And while I'm at it, we should all thank the Big Ten Network for cutting down the Spring Game to a reasonable two hours. It was nice of them to arbitrarily choose which minutes to cut out and leave on the editing bay floor. Thank you for allowing us to watch what we got to watch, because we know you didn't have to let us see anything. Again, much obliged.

Conclusion

I think that's about all I got for now. Just to sum it all up, the biggest things I took from this game were that I really like Taurian Washington, Bryant Browning may not be bad, and we have way too many linebackers. Oh, and Todd Boeckman better watch his back!

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