Drawing conclusions with only bits and pieces of information is one of the things that I admittedly do terrifically well. I can connect the dots with the best of them, provided the dots are clearly marked and not confusing and in the proper order and quite sizable.
In terms of connecting the dots of spring football for the Buckeyes, some pictures have been made clearer than others. What I have gleaned so far comes from three hours of practice, two press conferences with Urban Meyer, as well as speaking with Billy Davis and the linebackers, Tony Alford and the running backs, Kerry Coombs and the cornerbacks, Greg Schiano and the safeties, Kevin Wilson, Ryan Day, J.T. Barrett, Billy Price, and Tyquan Lewis.
The Buckeyes have now had seven of their 15 spring practices, with camp culminating in the Spring Game on April 15. Saturday is the eighth practice and the second scrimmage, which means that business is going to pick up down the stretch. Rather than wait until all of that happens, however, let’s talk about what we have seen over these first seven practices with five takeaways from the first half of spring camp.
1. Urban Meyer likes his options at H-back.
Losing a player like Curtis Samuel could frustrate any program, but the point of recruiting is to avoid such frustrations. Ohio State has never been immune to these problems, but in seeing what we have of practice and talking to Urban Meyer, he clearly likes what he has gotten from Parris Campbell, K.J. Hill, and Eric Glover-Williams.
Instead, the Buckeyes have three players that they like — and who are all a little bit different from each other. Campbell has running back experience in high school, but can he bring the interior running that the offense had last year with Curtis Samuel? Hill won’t be that guy because he’s never done it, and he’s plenty effective as a receiver in space. Glover-Williams is too small to run inside, so he won’t give them that option either.
Can Campbell — who is listed at 6-foot-1 and 208 pounds — give them some carries between the tackles? Or will they simply rely on a much deeper group of running backs than they’ve had recently? The fact that there are questions like this and Meyer doesn’t seem at all concerned speaks to his confidence level of the position overall.
I may be wrong, but I wouldn’t expect a move from McCall in the fall because that’s not really something this staff has done before. If you’re going to be an H-back in the fall, then you’re going to have to be an H-back in the spring. At least that’s how it’s always been before — unless your name is Braxton Miller.
2. This is the best group of early enrollees Urban Meyer has ever had.
On Tuesday, Meyer said that this was “maybe” the best group of early enrollees he’s had, citing their maturity and work ethic as much as their talent. Granted, this is the largest class of early enrollees he’s had at Ohio State, so the impact should be large as well, but I’ll still go ahead and up the ante for him and say it is his best ever.
Coombs may have some proximity bias just based on the four early enrollees in his room, as Kendall Sheffield, Jeffrey Okudah, Shaun Wade, and Marcus Williamson are all on pace to see the field this year. Even aside from that foursome of talented cornerbacks, players like J.K. Dobbins and Baron Browning have already shown enough that they will be expected to play in 2017.
It was just a couple of years ago that only four or five true freshmen saw the field for the Buckeyes. They’ll match or exceed that this year just with the 10 guys who enrolled early.
3. J.K. Dobbins is picking up this college football thing pretty quickly.
It wasn’t too long ago — like just 10 days ago, in fact — that J.K. Dobbins was doing this at practice…
Tony Alford lets J.K Dobbins know that this isn't high school anymore. pic.twitter.com/CQFwps8tNy
— Tony Gerdeman (@TonyGerdeman) March 21, 2017
When he arrived in the winter, Dobbins was asked if he was a running back or an H-back and he said he would do whatever is asked, but his coaches had only talked to him about playing running back. That has continued into the spring as Dobbins has picked up the playbook quickly and has hit everything full speed, which is all Urban Meyer asks of his freshmen in the early going.
The media finally had an opportunity to speak with cornerbacks coach Kerry Coombs on Thursday and there was a ton of ground to cover. Replacing two cornerbacks who are going to be drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft was a popular topic, as was his talented trio of freshmen, as well as the junior college transfer Kendall Sheffield. He talked about how well Damon Arnette was playing, and about the jump that Rodjay Burns has made, as well as making a request that reporters stop saying that Denzel Ward wasn’t a starter last year.
He also made it a point to talk about how selfless Gareon Conley was last year to accept a rotation of cornerbacks, cutting his playing time significantly. Coombs said cornerbacks are some of the greediest players on the field because they think every football is theirs, so for Conley to willingly go forward with a rotation was a great example for this entire group. He played 300 fewer snaps in 2016 than he did in 2015, and it made him a better player at the end of the season. This is now how things are going to be moving forward and the corners have all bought completely in to the plan.
They also know that because of the rotation if they are good enough to play, then they will play. That’s a heck of an incentive to put out there, and one that isn’t blocked by returning starters or pecking orders.
I’m one of those people who expects to be wrong because it saves me the surprise of disappointment, so it doesn’t hurt me to admit that I — and everyone else — was wrong about Demario McCall moving to H-back this year. To this point he hasn’t even sniffed the slot, but that won’t stop people from expecting him to show up there this fall. Instead, he has taken all of his snaps at running back, and as the team’s No. 2 ball carrier right now, he might have a better opportunity to make plays there than moving to H-back and being one of four guys who can play.
Another area that brought a surprise was at linebacker where the three starters were known, but where they all ended up was what caught people off guard. Even aside from the slight surprise of Chris Worley in the middle for the linebackers, Dante Booker moving over to Sam and Jerome Baker staying at Will wasn’t expected. Booker has long been touted as a tremendous athlete, but we have already seen what Baker can do in space. So far, however, Booker has been earning nothing but positive reviews out wide.
Another position I whiffed on a bit is at right guard, where we knew a number of players would compete for the job, but I and others expected Malcolm Pridgeon to make more noise. That may yet happen, but right now it’s Demetrius Knox and Matt Burrell splitting time with the ones. There are still eight practices to go this spring, however, so there is plenty of time to make a move and make me look a little smarter.