Morning Conversational: How Close Is Branden Bowen To Being the Player He Was?
Today’s Topic: How Close Is Branden Bowen To Being the Player He Was? When Branden Bowen won the right guard job as a redshirt sophomore…
Morning Conversational: Will the Buckeyes Be Able To Play All Of Their Defensive Linemen?
When the Buckeyes take the practice field this July for the start of fall camp, they will have 17 scholarship defensive linemen on the roster. That equates to 20% of the allowed 85 scholarships, and gives OSU enough depth to go four deep at every spot and still have one guy left over. And that’s if 6-foot-4, 235-pound linebacker Cade Stover doesn’t…
Morning Conversational: How Is Coaching Like Parenting?
Today’s Topic: How Is Coaching Like Parenting? When recruiting players, coaches from all sports have to also recruit players’ families. They want to know what…
Morning Conversational: How Are Special Teams Handled In Practices, Meetings?
As you know, a Buckeye generally won’t see the field on offense or defense unless he can provide for the team via special teams first. Sure, there are exceptions to the rule — like quarterbacks — but if a player wants to show that he belongs, he needs to show it on special teams first. During a typical practice, the first few periods…
Morning Conversational: What Now For the Buckeye Quarterbacks?
The Buckeyes have gone through winter workouts and now spring football has come and gone, but this is only the beginning. Work rarely stops inside the walls of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, and that is certainly the case for the Ohio State quarterbacks. Sophomore Justin Fields and redshirt freshman Matthew Baldwin are attempting…
Morning Conversational: What’s OSU’s Biggest Remaining Question On Defense?
On Tuesday we looked at the biggest remaining question for the Buckeyes on offense, so today we are asking the same question of the Ohio State defense. The 15 practices of spring football featured several defensive starters experiencing a lessened workload. This allowed the younger guys to get more reps and answer some of those unanswered questions.
Morning Conversational: What’s the Situation at Middle Linebacker?
Ohio State entered spring ball with a two-year starter returning at middle linebacker in Tuf Borland, as well as his top two backups. Borland finished third on the team with 67 tackles last season, despite returning while still recovering from an Achilles tendon injury. While Borland got up to speed, it was Baron Browning starting in his place…
Morning Conversational: Why Practice Can Only Do So Much For QBs
Being an elite college quarterback is a full-time job. The amazing part is that those 50 weeks per year are spent on preparing for just 13 or 14 Saturdays per year, and the irony is that those 36 or 37 weeks can only prepare a quarterback so much for the games that he will be playing. While this spring was a positive experience for Ohio State quarterbacks…
Morning Conversational: How Has the Offensive Line Looked This Spring?
This has been an interesting and undermanned spring for the Ohio State offensive line. Four starters are gone from last year and the fifth starter — junior left tackle Thayer Munford — has been out all spring with a back issue. Some of the current linemen have missed time with illness, but that has allowed fifth-year senior Branden Bowen…
Morning Conversational: Why Isn’t Dwayne Haskins Attending the NFL Draft?
You all know the scene. It seems like every year in the NFL or NBA Draft, there’s a player sitting back in the “green room” waiting to hear his name called. Sometimes they’re back there a whole lot longer than they planned on being. In 2005, Aaron Rodgers was talked about as a possible top five pick. Five hours into the first round and…
Morning Conversational: What Separates Tyreke Smith?
Defensive end Tyreke Smith played in 13 of Ohio State’s 14 games last season as a true freshman, missing only the overtime thriller at Maryland. He made such a quick impression on defensive line coach Larry Johnson that he was also part of the Buckeyes’ Rushmen package in the season opener against Oregon State. Smith finished with just nine…
