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Football
Saturday Kick Scrimmage: What We Learned
By Brandon CastelCOLUMBUS —After six spring practices at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, the Buckeyes found themselves back in the Horseshoe Saturday for the first time since their overtime win against Iowa last fall.
It wasn’t the spring game, or even the jersey scrimmage, but Saturday’s kick scrimmage is one of those days that stands out from the other practices. Ohio State opened with a shortened practice followed by a mini scrimmage before the kickers, punters and return men took center stage.
The Gray beat the Scarlet 27-24 on a 39-yard field goal by Ben Buchanan, but it wasn’t a banner day for the specialists. Here’s a look at what we learned from today’s scrimmage:
1.Special teams have work to do. There are only two times a year where special teams are on full display at Ohio State: the spring and fall kick scrimmages. The specialists spend all off-season gearing up for these days, and if Saturday’s performance was an indication of what the Buckeyes are going to be like on special teams in 2010, Jim Tressel won’t be sleeping well tonight. The three kickers were a combined 17-of-33 (52 percent) on their field goal tries, including 4-of-16 (25 percent) from 40 yards or more. The punting was shaky, the fakes were bland, they had a punt blocked in the end zone, the opening kickoff was fumbled and Dane Sanzenbacher put two punt returns on the ground. On a day that was supposed to highlight the special teams, there were some serious issues brought to light.
2. Ben Buchanan is the punter. They were still calling it a competition for the punter job Saturday between Buchanan and walk-on Derek Erwin, but let’s be real about this; Buchanan is the guy. Let’s forget the fact Erwin did nothing to impress me, and I really do mean nothing, but they’ve been grooming Buchanan for this exact situation since he got to Ohio State. He still isn’t as consistent as Tressel would like, but who are we kidding, neither was Jon Thoma. Buchanan has a better leg than Thoma and he’s only a redshirt sophomore.
3. Devin Barclay should be the field goal kicker inside 40. After Aaron Pettrey went down with a knee injury last season, Barclay came on and went 7-of-10 kicking field goals. He was 7-of-8 from inside of 40 and 0-of-2 from outside. During Saturday’s kick scrimmage, Barclay was deadly accurate from 39 and in, hitting 7-of-8 from inside the 40. As soon as he stepped outside that range, however, things fell apart. He connected on a 45-yard attempt, but missed—usually short—on his other six attempts from outside the 40.
4. He should NOT be the kicker from 40+. If it were simply a matter of accuracy, I would say maybe Barclay will come around. Obviously the difficulty level increases with distance, but this is one is a shaping up to be a matter of leg strength. The guy is lights out inside the 40 but simply either cannot get it there from 40+ or struggles mentally trying to kick it harder. Either way, the Buckeyes might want to consider using a platoon the way they did two years ago with Pettrey taking the long field goals and Ryan Pretorius handling the shorter ones. Both Buchanan and Drew Basil have stronger legs. Neither is as accurate (right now) from inside the 40, but Basil is the one guy who could develop into that long-range bomber for OSU.
5. Posey and Torrence should be the punt returners. I said it last week and I will say it again, Devon Torrence is the most natural punt returner on the team, at least right now. He is no Ray Small (although hopefully more reliable), and Chris Fields might end up proving himself to be that kind of dynamic return man, but Torrence looks dangerous with the ball in his hands. He is so athletic that the coaching staff tried him at receiver before moving him to corner two years ago and there just seems to be a little something extra when he is back there. If not Torrence, then Posey should be the guy. The reason I like Torrence is that I hate putting my No. 1 wideout back as the punt returner. I know plenty of teams do it, but Posey is so valuable to the offense that it’s almost not worth the risk. He is the one guy outside of Pryor that Ohio State cannot afford to lose.
6. Jordan Hall could be dangerous on kickoffs. For some reason the OSU coaching staff seems determined to turn Boom Herron into a kick returner. I just don’t see it. It’s been three years and I can’t remember one time Herron really impressed me with a return. He’s a good back with serviceable speed and good toughness, but he lacks the kind of vision it takes to excel in the return game. For me, that guy is Jordan Hall. He is quick and shifty, but more importantly he has excellent vision. Little guys often make great return men because their lack of size allows them to disappear in traffic, and Hall is the kind of player who only needs one or two moves before he squirts out of a pile and down the sideline.
7. Terrelle Pryor doing fine after Friday’s scare. Yesterday I reported that Terrelle Pryor caused a mini scare at practice when he came up limping after a pass play. He seemed fine the rest of the day, but I was intrigued to see if there would be any carry over to Saturday. There wasn’t. He wasn't wearing a sleeve or brace on his knee and seemed to be walking around fine during practice. In fact, I thought he threw the ball much better today than he did the last two times I saw him. He had a few ugly ones, but all in all it was a better day. He threw a couple nice passes to Jake Stoneburner and he threw a perfect ball to Sanzenbacher on a skinny post.
8. Kenny G impresses. I was also impressed with backup Kenny Guiton today. I thought he had one of his best days passing the ball. He was accurate and fit some balls into some tight spaces. Some were caught and some should have been caught. He looked especially good in the red zone drills and there's no question he was the better quarterback today between him and Joe Bauserman.
9. Bauserman struggles. It’s a little early to start talking about a true competition for the backup quarterback job, but Saturday was definitely one of those days that could start the whispering amongst the coaches and players. While Guiton looked solid in his time, Bauserman really struggled. Joe baseball was picked off by Zach Domicone on a terribly thrown ball and nearly got picked again by Tony Jackson, who jumped an out route. He threw a couple of nice passes but also put some in the dirt and might want to be on alert.
10. Defense dominates goal line. One last thing that really stood out to me Saturday was the way the first-team defense owned the goal line battle against the first team offense. In their defense, Pryor was in a black no-contact jersey, so they didn’t have the threat of him running. They also didn’t have any of their big tailbacks, as Brandon Saine, Carlos Hyde and Jermil Martin continue to be out. I guess when you look at it like that, it’s not nearly as impressive, but it was a one-sided affair all the same. Brian Rolle made a couple nice stuffs in the backfield and Cameron Heyward was wreaking havoc. Justin Boren forgot to block someone on a play and Boom Herron got his clock cleaned.
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