Day Two Notes From Spring Football – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/2/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 2, 1999
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State Buckeyes spent another two-hour session on the grass practice fields behind the Woody Hayes Athletic Center in Buckeye gear (shorts and helmets). Lots of time was spent on fundamentals. Head coach John Cooper has also had the assistants devoting a great deal of time on special teams, with kickoff coverage and kickoff returns receiving much emphasis on Thursday. Red-shirt freshman Chad Eriksen was handling the kickoff chores in place of Dan Stultz, who is out for the spring.
Fun Ending
The practice ended with offense vs. defense drills, highlighted by Steve Bellisari and Austin Moherman loosening up their arms and throwing deep. Both had numerous long completions, with the best and most acrobatic catches by Ken-Yon Rambo and Vanness Provitt. Provitts catch was between three defenders, one of them being defensive backs coach Jon Tenuta.
Juniors on the Receiving End
The early departure to the NFL of All-American and OSU all-time record-holding receiver David Boston, coupled with no scholarship receivers in the 1998 recruiting class, has left position coach Chuck Stobart with four scholarship receivers to work with this spring: juniors Reggie Germany, Vanness Provitt, Ken-Yon Rambo and Darik Warnke. Also on the receiving end of Austin Moherman and Steve Bellisaris throws are additional juniors Chad Cacchio and Tony Locke, and first-time walk-on Duane Crooks. Provitt is seeing his first action since the first day of fall camp last year. He dislocated a hip during the teams second workout of the season and missed the entire 1998 season.
Career Catches for OSUs Receiving Corps
Jr. SE Reggie Germany 15 rec. 246 yards 4 TDs Jr. FL Ken-Yon Rambo 12 rec. 222 yards 1 TD Jr. SE Vanness Provitt 6 rec. 56 yards Jr. SE Darik Warnke 7 rec. 67 yards Jr. FL Chad Cacchio 1 rec. 11 yards Jr. FL Tony Locke N/A
Stultz OK to Start Rehab
Junior kicker Dan Stultz was cleared by OSU team physicians Thursday to start gradual rehabilitation on his lower back. He has not done anything physical since having surgery in February to correct a bulging lumbar disc. Hell spend his first two weeks of rehab, starting Friday, riding a recumbent stationary bike. It will be at least six weeks before he even thinks about kicking, according to OSU team trainer Doug Calland.
Who Else is Throwing?
To help ease some of the strain of hundreds of passes attempted daily by Steve Bellisari and Austin Moherman, the Buckeye coaches are utilizing freshman Andy Groom in many of the quarterback drills. He is a walk-on kicker wearing jersey No. 3 in practice.
Half the Heismans in Attendance
Archie Griffin and Eddie George, who have combined for three of Ohio State Universitys six Heisman Trophies, watched Thursdays practice.
