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Football
Wednesday Practice Report
By Brandon Castel

For the second time this fall, Ohio State Head Coach Jim Tressel opened the doors of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center Wednesday to allow the media to take in practice.

Although it came just two days after the Buckeyes’ open practice at Ohio Stadium, there was still plenty to report from my two hours at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.

Boren returns to action

The biggest difference between Wednesday’s practice and the one that took place under the lights Monday, other than the fact players were in shorts and shoulder pads, was the presence of left guard Justin Boren.

After suiting up in full pads Monday for the first time since injuring his left knee in practice two weeks ago, Boren was back in his rightful spot on the left side of the line with the first group on Wednesday. From where I was standing, it looked like Boren was moving well laterally during pass protection drills and he even took part in the scrimmage portion of practice thanks in large part to the fact there wasn’t live hitting.

With the right side of the line seemingly settled as Michael Brewster, Bryant Browning and Jimmy Cordle, Boren’s return finally starts to bring the OSU offensive line picture into focus. The Buckeyes still have yet to name a starter at the left tackle position, but junior Andrew Miller spent nearly the entire day working with the first team offensive line. Sophomore J.B. Shugarts got a few snaps with the ones towards the end of practice, but for the most part he was working with the two's while Mike Adams continued to go with the three's. Miller looked good out there and was the only tackle to slow down Thad Gibson all day.

Pryor impressive Wednesday

Anyone who made it down to the Horseshoe Monday night to watch sophomore quarterback Terrelle Pryor throw the ball likely came away underwhelmed. Pryor did have a handful of very nice passes, but he also had some ugly ones, particularly when he was working with the wide receivers during the one-on-one drills in the North end zone.

Pryor looked like a different player Wednesday, particularly with his accuracy in the short and intermediate passing game, where he looked better throwing the ball than any other time we’ve seen him during fall camp. Unofficially, Pryor completed 12 of his 15 passes during the 7-on-7 portion of practice while going 8-of-11 with a drop by DeVier Posey during the full scrimmage.

The one area where Pryor struggled was throwing the deep ball, which is ironic because he was more consistent with his deep ball last year than his short stuff. His worst pass of the day came on a streak by Posey down the right sideline. Posey had a step on Chimdi Chekwa but Pryor under-threw the ball and Posey had to come back for it. He managed to pick up the pass interference call but it was still a poor throw by Pryor. He did throw a great ball, however, late in practice to Ray Small on a streak down the left sideline that would have gone for a touchdown.

Meanwhile backup Joe Bauserman had the exact opposite thing going on for him Wednesday. The former pitcher threw the deep ball as well as we have seen him throw it in a while, hooking up with Ryan Schuck, Taurian Washington and Grant Schwartz on passes down the field, but he struggled to keep the ball out of the dirt on the short passes. He did get a series with the first team offense towards the end of practice and hooked up with freshman Duron Carter for a 15-yard strike.

Speaking of Cris Carter’s boy

The youngster appears to be moving up the depth chart as fast as anyone on the team this fall. Despite a wealth of talent at the wide receiver position, it was Carter who moved up from the second team to join Posey, Sanzenbacher and Washington on the first group when they went with four wides Wednesday.

Part of that might be attributed to Small still serving time in the doghouse or Lamaar Thomas missing time with an injury, but it’s clear that Carter is going to be in the rotation this season. I don’t think I’ve seen him drop a ball yet – something I can no longer say about Posey after today – and I believe his role could expand each week as the staff gets a look at what he can do.

Latest on the injury front

Along with Boren, Flash Thomas was another player who returned to practice Wednesday after missing the jersey scrimmage and open practice with an injury. Thomas worked with the second group during 7-on-7s and had a very nice grab on a ball thrown by Bauserman.

Some other Buckeyes were not as fortunate, however, as starters Jake Ballard, Austin Spitler and Cameron Heyward all missed practice on Wednesday. After suffering a high ankle injury in the jersey scrimmage, Heyward was already out of his boot, but he did have a splint on his right ankle. Ballard and Spitler were dragging some weights around off to the side while Heyward and Lawrence Wilson used the bikes. Wilson seemed to be in good spirits but you have to wonder how much he will be able to help the Buckeyes this season, especially early on, if he isn’t even back in live practice yet.

Jake Stoneburner did individual drills but did spent the scrimmage portion of practice stretching on the side. With both Jake’s out, freshman Reid Fragel was the first-team tight end. Tailback Jaamal Berry also did not go in the afternoon, as he has been limited to one practice a day. Others who did not practice include safeties Orhian Johnson, Aaron Gant and Zach Domicone along with corner Travis Howard and kicker Devin Barclay.

Defensive quick hitters

Senior Anderson Russell and junior Jermale Hines split time playing safety and Star with the first group today. Russell took almost all of the snaps at safety when they were in the base defense, but he did move down to play some Star when they were in the nickel.

On the outside, corners Andre Amos and Devon Torrence continue to alternate with the ones. Amos started the day with the first group, but both players saw plenty of action.

Freshmen linebackers Dorian Bell and Jonathan Newsome along with sophomore defensive end Solomon Thomas all got some reps with the second group today while Storm Klein spent most of the afternoon working with the threes. Thomas looked good yet again as he beat Shugarts for an easy (touch) sack.

Fellow freshman John Simon also spent the day working with the second group and even drew the occasional double-team from the offensive line, one of which freed up Thomas for a sack on the outside.

Defensive end Nathan Williams took some snaps at the Sam linebacker position today. That made room for guys like Solomon Thomas to get some reps at defensive end.

According to Brian Rolle, linebacker Austin Spitler will resume camp activity with the team tomorrow.

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