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Writerbuckeye

Ohio State is seeing what had been great depth and promise at the linebacker position dwindle down dramatically in the past few months.

It's almost like how all the DBs kept getting hurt a year ago; this year, it seems to be the linebackers going by the wayside for a variety of issues and reasons.

stroups

Here is a cool video

[video=youtube

RMQEiKkjIw][/video]

OneBuckeye

se-alum;853641 wrote:No, Curtis Grant. Obviously Brown is big, being a lineman and all. You don't see too many Freshman linebackers coming in @ 247lbs. He's the biggest LB on the team.

Think you linked the wrong pic there. There is a pic of Grant walking behind Brown and the size isn't that much different. Brewster looks kind of fat now since he has gained weight. Hopefully we can start hearing some good football related news this week.

se-alum

OneBuckeye;854818 wrote:Think you linked the wrong pic there. There is a pic of Grant walking behind Brown and the size isn't that much different. Brewster looks kind of fat now since he has gained weight. Hopefully we can start hearing some good football related news this week.

I was just giving the link to the picture gallery. I'm definitely ready to start hearing about football, and we should get alot more information with 9 of the practices being open to media!

OneBuckeye

Notes I got from twitter. Ozone guy.

1. Ty Williams can't catch.
2. Jordan Hall in 1st team WR group.
3. Klien and Moeller are beasts.
4. Smith and Spencer looked good.

First snap

Bauserman
Herron
Boren
Norwell
Mewhort
Brewster
MarcusHall
Shugarts
Stony
Friegal
Jordan Hall

Defense was

Simon
Goebell
Hankins
Williams
Sweat
Klien -< MLB
Sabino <- came off the field in nickel
Howard
2nd CB ?? Clarke or Roby
Johnson
Barnett <- Had pick 6 and "looked very agressive"

OneBuckeye

Also Freshman Steve Miller and Mike Bennett looked good. Miller burned Big Hungry (Chris Carter) badly more than once. Braxton looked like a Freshman QB but throws a good ball. Curtis Grant looked huge but was hesitent and Vrabel was getting on him.

OneBuckeye

One more - Practice looked "A lot" like a Tressel practice. No major changes.

OneBuckeye

More notes from Buckeye Battle Cry.

Offense:
•The running backs and quarterbacks rotated so much that it is difficult to say who that starters will be.
•The starting offensive line, from left to right was: Andrew Norwell, Jack Mewhort, Mike Brewster, Marcus Hall, J.B Shugarts.
•The starting group of WRs were: Philly Brown, Verlon Reed, Jordan Hall, Jake Stoneburner (TE)
•Freshman OL Chris Carter was getting reps at LT, he was working on his footwork to the side and was receiving one-on-one instruction from Mike Adams on the side.
•Freshman OL Antonio Underwood was playing RT.
•During team drills, QB Taylor Graham threw an interception to S C.J. Barnett and QB Ken Guiton threw an interception to S Zach Domicone.
•T.Y. Williams is by far the tallest wide receiver and he was targeted quite a bit by the QBs, but he has a bad habit of dropping the ball and still needs some work.
Defense
•The starting defensive line,from left to right was: John Simon (DE), Garrett Goebel (DT), Adam Bellamy/Johnathan Hankins (DT), Nathan Williams (LEO).
•The starting linebackers, from left to right were: Etienne Sabino, Storm Klein, Andrew Sweat.
•An alternative starting group (presumably the nickel group) of LBs from left to right was: Tyler Moeller (star), Etienne Sabino, Andrew Sweat.
•The starting safeties were Orhian Johnson (strong) and C.J. Barnett (free).
•The starting cornerbacks were: Travis Howard, Dominic Clarke/Bradley Roby (who were splitting time).
•The 2nd string defense was: Darryl Baldwin, Evan Blankenship, Joel Hale, and J.T. Moore (who also received reps with the first team) across the front, Chad Hagan/Scott McVey, Tony Jackson/Jordan Whiting, and Nate Oliver at linebacker, Dionte Allen and Bradley Roby/Dominic Clarke at corner, and Christian Bryant (strong) and Zach Domicone (free) at safety.
•LB coach Mike Vrabel repeatedly got on freshman linebacker Curtis Grant to take charge of the huddle and lead by example by hustling back to the line of scrimmage after plays(on the third string defense).
Miscellaneous
•Solomon Thomas appeared to be the only player limited from full participation and was wearing a yellow jersey throughout practice.
•Darryl Baldwin is the tallest player on the defense, and Reid Fragel is the tallest player on the offense (including lineman).
•New LB coach Mike Vrabel ran gassers with some of the players after practice.
•Some of the players were joking around and being quite loud in the ice bath after practice during Fickell’s interview with the media.
Fickell Interview
•The team this year will be focused on actions and not words.
•As a head coach, Fickell will stick with his strengths on defense primarily.
•Coach Fickell joked about not liking to spend much time thinking about Coach Vrabel.
•Fickell had trouble sleeping last night, which he says usually isn’t a problem for him.
•He will adjust as the teams goes with the QB situation, the will evaluate each day, but there is no predetermined timeline to make a decision.
•Freshman LB Conner Crowell, who is currently recovering from surgery in Maryland, will be with the team sometime this fall.
•He wouldn’t comment specifically on injuries, but as mentioned previously, it appeared everyone was full go other than Solomon Thomas.

stroups

Got to love vrabel as a coach. He is going to bring some intensity to these young and inexperienced linebackers and the defense as a whole.

dat dude

Good to see Hall getting reps at WR. Puts the best athletes on the field and unclogs the RB situation a bit. Hearing great reports regarding Rod Smith.

jordo212000

stroups;855091 wrote:Got to love vrabel as a coach. He is going to bring some intensity to these young and inexperienced linebackers and the defense as a whole.

Yeah it sounds like he is definitely a change from some of the old crusty coaches Tress typically hires. Glad to see somebody has some intensity.

Common Man was saying that Lori Schmidt had said he was using some big boy words at practice. Again probably not something a lot of the older guys are used to.

jordo212000

Why the F is Herron even sniffing 1st team snaps? He's gone until mid-season. Stop wasting time on him. Get him up to speed around 3rd game of the season. Until then devote plenty of opportunities to the extremely green young guys.

dat dude

Looks like OSU may grab a commitment soon from WR Michael Thomas from Woodland Hills, CA. Judging by his timeline on twitter, it certainly seems like he is leaning towards OSU. He is on campus now. Big target at 6'4" 200lbs. Also, is the nephew of Keyshawn Johnson.

FatHobbit

dat dude;856001 wrote:Also, is the nephew of Keyshawn Johnson.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Just give him the damn ball!

OneBuckeye

FatHobbit;856004 wrote:Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Just give him the damn ball!

I was thinking that until I watched his video. He catches everything in sight, something our WRs are having trouble with right now. So it is a very good thing. Especially after the loss of Louis.

OneBuckeye

FatHobbit;856004 wrote:Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Just give him the damn ball!

I was thinking that until I watched his video. He catches everything in sight, something our WRs are having trouble with right now. So it is a very good thing. Especially after the loss of Louis.

vball10set

[video=youtube;DnejY8FeMnk][/video]

se-alum

dat dude;856001 wrote:Looks like OSU may grab a commitment soon from WR Michael Thomas from Woodland Hills, CA. Judging by his timeline on twitter, it certainly seems like he is leaning towards OSU. He is on campus now. Big target at 6'4" 200lbs. Also, is the nephew of Keyshawn Johnson.

Is he attending Prep School this year? He's a 2011 player.

stroups

I think it is something to do with his age but he will have 4 years of eligibility left .

mucalum49

stroups;856110 wrote:I think it is something to do with his age but he will have 4 years of eligibility left .

Buckeye Planet's thread on him said he was the youngest in his grade and will be the same age as the recruits in the 2012 class.

OneBuckeye

http://www.thebuckeyebattlecry.com/2011/08/notes-from-practice-day-2/

Offense:
It is still difficult to judge a lot of the offensive skill positions given the circumstances during practice. I explain that line of thought further in an upcoming podcast (so check that out), but I will leave the “he looked good, he looked bad” analysis to other writers.

•Jaamal Berry spent some time split out wide today during team drills, which indicates Jordan Hall might not be the only RB used in a hybrid role this season.
•At the same time, Hall seemed to spend more time with the RBs and less time with the WRs than he did yesterday. Being early in the camp, the coaches are clearly still trying to work out the finer details in their offensive strategy.
•All of the tight ends (not just Stoneburner) spent time split out wide in certain formations today. Not to be outdone, Stoneburner did spend time lined up all the way to the sideline, which was wider than any of the other TEs went.
•WR Corey Brown spent time giving one-on one instruction to freshman WR Evan Spencer. Brown appears to be taking on a leadership role among the WRs as one of the more experienced players there.
•WR Coach Stan Drayton is a very hands on coach. Multiple times he ran onto the field mid-play to encourage a WR to finish a play strong or to get an extra block in.Defense:
It looks like the starters are pretty well set on defense already, but there are some open competitions, most noticeably at CB opposite Travis Howard. There was also a lot of movement along the defensive line today, and some younger players spent time with the second team.

Right now, it is all about getting players reps and seeing what they can do on defense.

•There were some changes along the defensive line today, with certain players spending most of their time at different positions from yesterday.
•Adam Bellamy spent most of his time at strong side defensive end today after splitting time at DT with Johnathan Hankins yesterday. He was on the field with the first team and the second team, and moved down to DT when John Simon came on the field at end. It seems clear that Ballamy will be a huge part of the rotation this season and the coaches are expecting a lot of him.
•JT Moore spent a lot of time at LEO with the first team today.
•Melvin Fellows replaced Darryl Baldwin as the primary strong side DE with the second team.
•Joel Hale spent time at SS DE after repping primarily at DT yesterday, with Fellows sliding over to DT at times when Hale was at end.
•Freshman Michael Bennett continued to spend a majority of his time at strong side DE with the third team, along with fellow freshman Chase Farris.
•Kenny Hayes, who played DE in high school, received most of his reps at DT with the third team.
•Freshman DE Steve Miller played LEO almost exclusively.
•Cornerbacks coach Taver Johnson paid a lot of one-on-one attention to Bradley Roby and was pushing him throughout the passing drills. Johnson also spent time with Dominic Clarke and he was clearly focusing on the competition for the starting spot opposite Travis Howard.
•LB Chris Maxwell made a very nice interception off of a bobbled catch from WR T.Y. Williams during group passing drills.
•Nate Oliver once again spend most of the day at Will Linebacker with the 2nd team, and given the recent losses at the position, that seems like a permanent move for him.
•Doran Grant spent time with the second team at CB.
•Freshman LB Curtis Grant stripped the ball during group passing drills and fellow freshman LB Ryan Shazier scooped it up and ran with it, which will hopefully be a series of events repeated often in future games.
•S James Wood spent time as the 2nd string SS when Christian Bryant slid down to star.
Miscellaneous:
•RB Boom Herron continues to be the vocal leader on the team, continuing a trend that he started at least as far back as winter conditioning.
•WR Corey Brown is also very vocal and has some humorous interactions with the DBs from time to time.
•During a conditioning drill, Michigan’s fight song was played over the loud speakers.
•The kickers practiced onside kicks today, but minus the coverage unit.
•Vrabel didn’t run after practice today, but the WRs, DBs, and DL all stayed on the field after practice for some extra instruction from their position coaches, with the WR spending time catching passes from a throwing machine at close range.
•There was a period that simulated a game -like situation today, with the O on one sideline and the D on the other.
•I didn’t spend much time with interviews after practice due to personal time constraints, but I have full faith in the other reporters covering the practice to do a good job with those.

OneBuckeye

From twitter.

-Bauserman and Guiton had best day at QB but none were all that impressive. Braxton had a bad day and threw a pick six.
-Devin Smith is still impressing at WR.
-Carlos Hyde also stood out today.

nothing else too exciting.

vball10set

my favorite comment

•Freshman LB Curtis Grant stripped the ball during group passing drills and fellow freshman LB Ryan Shazier scooped it up and ran with it, which will hopefully be a series of events repeated often in future games.

OneBuckeye

lol @ this pic of Vrabel from yesterdays practice.

vball10set

^^^haha--I LOVE the intensity!!!!

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