Football

The Buckeye Re-Watch: 2017 Ohio State Spring Game

by Tony Gerdeman
Tate Martell Throwing Ohio State Spring Game

I don’t usually go back and put too much time and effort into watching the Ohio State Spring Game broadcast when I get home, but this year was a bit unique in that I actually felt like doing it.

Neither of us are interested in rehashing my “Ten Things We Learned…”, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t still plenty more to talk about, especially after taking a closer look once I got home. This isn’t exactly an exhaustive list either, but it’s good enough for now.

Matt Burrell

The redshirt sophomore is sitting as the No. 1 right guard at the moment, in my opinion, and he showed why in the spring game. I’m going to do a separate piece just on Burrell because I have about a half-dozen clips pulled that will show you just how well he played. He wasn’t perfect, though he was pretty close on the first two drives of the game for his Gray squad. With the way that he closed out the spring, if he can maintain that momentum throughout the summer, then everybody else competing for this spot will have to raise their respective games significantly. To whet your appetite, here’s a clip of Burrell putting Rob Landers on the ground.

Here’s another guy that I’m going to do a solitary focus piece on because I’ve got about a dozen clips pulled of him flying around the field — most of it good, but not all. All of it is high speed, however, which is what Urban Meyer was asking for this spring. I already talked about Hilliard on Saturday and Sunday, but there’s good reason to bring him up again. He showed incredible range, but also an ability to plug the middle. Chris Worley is a rare athlete at the position, but Hilliard did everything on Saturday that Worley was asked to do, and he did it pretty well. Here’s a preview.

The Safeties

There is still some work to be done here. I love Isaiah Pryor’s range, but he is still learning. Jordan Fuller’s versatility is a plus. If Damon Webb is as improved as Urban Meyer says, that will be huge for a secondary that needs leadership. This play when Erick Smith and Pryor were on the field together, however, was a bit concerning.

The Young Corners

I will probably pull some clips of the young cornerbacks and show you their entire day, but late in the game both Jeff Okudah and Shaun Wade were responding well. Marcus Williamson did some responding early on, and Kendall Sheffield had moments throughout. Each of them also had some learning experiences, which is why all four of them saw so much time. They will each walk away with some opened eyes and fixes to work on. Here’s a nice play by Williamson getting around a block to make a tackle on a screen.

Tate Martell

This was our first real chance to see what freshman quarterback Tate Martell can do, and while there wasn’t a ton of throwing, there were certainly some things to like. For instance, just look at his feel here on the pitch.

Eric Glover-Williams

Like Tate Martell, I don’t know how much room there is for EGW right out of the gate this year, but after watching this clip, it’s pretty clear that he doesn’t really need all that much room.

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