Fall Camp Update No. 2: Nine Practices in Next Six Days
8/15/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 15, 2016
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COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio State Buckeyes are well into the start of fall camp with eight practices completed heading into this Monday morning, but things are about to get real this week with nine practices over the next six days, including three two-a-days: today, Wednesday and Friday.
Coming off the first scrimmage of the fall this past Saturday and speaking at Ohio State’s annual media day on Sunday, head coach Urban Meyer said this is the critical week of the season for the team’s development.
“This is the edge time,” Meyer said, referring to the average-to-elite line he wants players to cross. “… I would say we’re very average right now and then we’re going to find out this next week if we cross that edge, and I’m going to watch that like a… That’s going to determine if we’re going to be any good or not. This week will determine if we’ll be any good.
“Our challenge is to get them in game-like situations without getting guys banged up, which you see across the country. I’m very pleased with our first week. However, this is where it gets real.”
Call it … a “Stormy Monday”
As he has done each year, Meyer takes his team from the country club confines of the Harmon Family Football Park and conducts more than a week’s worth of practices off site. This year, for the second year, those will be at the Coffee Fields, which are nestled just west of the Olentangy River with Ohio Stadium towering to the east.
But the team was greeted this morning to a “Stormy Monday” (preference here to the Albert King/Stevie Ray Vaughn version of the T-Bone Walker classic), and that forced the team indoors for the a.m. practice. The team practiced outside during the late afternoon session.
News. Notes. Numbers.
- 29 & 24: These represent the number of practices for the Buckeyes during this fall camp leading up to the first game, Sept. 3 vs. Bowling Green, and the number of practices — of the Tuesday and Wednesday variety — during the season, respectively. So this week’s nine practices do represent a critical period in the development, bonding and making of the 2016 team.
- Red-shirt freshman Mike Weber and junior H-back Curtis Samuel are the top two at the running back position, according to Meyer. Also in the running: senior H-back Dontre Wilson, and true freshmen Antonio Williams and Demario McCall.
- 0 & 124-865-8: These represent the number of carries for the three freshmen running backs noted above and the rushing attempts, yards and touchdowns combined for Samuel (75-515-7) and Wilson (49-350-1). Samuel has a 6.9 yards-per-carry average and Wilson’s is 7.1.
- Also Sunday: Meyer said two players have suffered significant injuries: third-year defensive end Darius Slade will miss the season with an Achilles tendon injury; and first-year junior college transfer offensive lineman Malcolm Pridgeon injured a knee and will be sidelined for the next three months.
- Austin Mack, a true freshman who lost his black stripe this spring (signaling he is truly a Buckeye football player) is in line to play this year. Meyer: … “So when you take a kid like that that is very serious about his trade, came from a very good high school program [Bishop Luers in Fort Wayne, Ind.), has a guy that trained him in the off season, and then we get him, that’s why he’s game ready. And he will play this year.”
- 4: The number of “legitimate” bump-and-run corners on the team according to Meyer, who was commenting on the speed of sophomore Denzel Ward and then quickly added into the speed category junior Gareon Conley, sophomore Marshon Lattimore and freshman Damon Arnette.
- And regarding Conley, the 14-game starter and only returnee in the secondary, Meyer said he is playing at a “high, high level” and “he’s an NFL corner someday.”
- Depth along the offensive line is a concern and guys like second-year freshman Matt Burrell, sophomore Demetrius Knox and second-year freshman Branden Bowen have got to come on, according to Meyer.
- Quarterback J.T. Barrett was named to his sixth national “watch list” today: the Manning Award. He previously has been named to watch lists for the Maxwell Award, Big Ten Conference, Walter Camp Award, Davey O’Brien Award and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm.
- And finally, a couple more first-time walk-ons have joined the 105 with the injuries to Slade and Pridgeon: No. 12 is freshman Brandon Skalitzky, a wide receiver from Evergreen Park, Ill., and Marist High School; and No. 52 is defensive tackle Noah Donald, a freshman from Uniontown, Ohio, and Walsh Jesuit High School.
