Ohio State Football Camp Notes – Day Six – Ohio State Buckeyes
8/16/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
August 16, 1999
Columbus, Ohio –
The Scrimmage
Coach John Cooper indicated that the coaching staff wouldn’t learn anything specific from the scrimmage until the films had been studied, but he was pleased with the fact that the team practiced under somewhat live conditions for the first time. The action consisted of special teams work, goal line work and the No. 1 offenses and defenses going up against the No. 2 defenses and offenses, respectively, and vice versa.
Long Gains…
Derek Combs had the longest rush of the day, a 46-yard touchdown run around right end. Reggie Germany got behind the secondary for a 50-yard touchdown reception off a well-thrown ball from Austin Moherman. It was Germany’s only catch of the day. Michael Wiley had 25- and 18-yard runs from scrimmage. Vanness Provitt, continuing his solid fall camp, grabbed four receptions for 46 yards, including nice over-the-middle catches covering 21 and 17 yards. Ken-Yon Rambo and freshman Drew Carter had 18- and 17-yard receptions, respectively. Rambo finished with four receptions for 53 yards.
Coming at You…
Junior preseason All-American and 1999 major awards candidate Na’il Diggs led the defense, as expected, with two quarterback sacks and a tackle-for-loss. Joe Cooper had a sack and a tackle-for-loss. Freshman Michael Doss had an interception at the goal line and red-shirt freshman Donnie Nickey recorded an interception that he returned 60-yards for a touchdown. Both players are fighting for playing time at strong safety. The scrimmage ended with the defense holding the offense on four consecutive rushes from the one yard line. James Cotton, Ryan Pickett and Percy King each had solid goal-line stops. The offense finally punched it in on a quarterback sneak from Steve Bellisari.
Big Hits
Michael Doss had the defensive hit of the day, popping Derek Warnke after he had made a leaping reception over the middle. Warnke stayed down after the hit and was later taken to OSU Medical Center for evaluation. Tailback Jonathan Wells had the offensive hit of the day, running over strong safety Cie Grant on a run to the left.
Wedding Bells
A wedding party of 12, complete with tuxes and gowns and the bride and groom, snuck into Ohio Stadium midway through the scrimmage and had several photos snapped at the southwest end of the stadium.
John Cooper “Quotes” from the Scrimmage…
“The best thing that happened today was we got a lot of repetitions on film with officials, game conditions and with the game clock. We got a chance to look at a lot of players.
“The worst thing about today was it was so dang chilly and we really didn’t get in any conditioning. It was more like a spring game than a fall scrimmage. I’ve still got chill bumps. I wasn’t smart enough to put on long sleeves.
“You can tell bits and pieces about the quarterbacks, but I’m not ready to say that one of them is ahead of the other one right now. We might be able to make a better evaluation after we look at the tape. But both of them did some good things.
“The running backs did some good things.
“We need a lot of work on the kicking games. We didn’t get much work in on the kicking game today.
“It’s hard to be enlightened by anything today because we had so many players we held out for whatever reason. Lineman LeCharles Bentley didn’t do anything because he’s missed some practices. Tam Hopkins has missed some practice so he didn’t get the reps he needed today. We have a couple other guys who’ve missed a lot of practice because of academic issues. Gary Berry (bruise near his shoulder) was held out for much of the practice but there is nothing serious there.
“Michael Doss made an interception and made some good tackles. Donnie Nickey had an interception.
“Some of those young guys did some good things.”
