Spring Practice Insider: Buckeyes Hold Final Practice Before Break

COLUMBUS — The Ohio State football team was back on the practice field Thursday morning for their second practice of spring camp. The university is on spring break next week, which means the next practice for the Buckeyes will be March 19.

The first 30 minutes or so of practice No. 2 was open to the media, and much of what took place was the same as Tuesday’s practice.

The offensive line was split up a bit today, with two units repping at the same time and starting left guard Donovan Jackson working with the twos. He was joined at guard by sophomore Luke Montgomery, who was with the ones on Tuesday.

Jackson and Montgomery were replaced by redshirt freshman Austin Siereveld and graduate senior Enokk Vimahi. Don’t read anything into this, however, because this was just some mixing and matching at the very start of practice.

The Search For A Nickel

With Sonny Styles’ move to linebacker full-time, the Buckeyes are down a nickel back. Senior Jordan Hancock played very well at nickel last year on passing downs, then took over on all downs once strong safety Lathan Ransom was injured late and Styles moved to strong safety full time.

While the confidence is supremely high in Hancock, the depth at the position needs some help. On Thursday, redshirt junior cornerback Lorenzo Styles, Jr. was repping with the second-team defense. Styles has good size (6-1 195) and a great understanding of the passing game as a former receiver.

Behind Styles was freshman Miles Lockhart.

Emptying The Notebook

Head coach Ryan Day was making it a point to be hands-on in early drills, and not just with the quarterbacks. During some ball protection drills, he was first in line trying to knock the ball out of his players’ hands as they ran through a gauntlet of teammates slapping at the ball.
The list of punt returners on Thursday grew a bit, adding running back TreVeyon Henderson to the mix. He was joined by receivers Emeka Egbuka, Bryson Rodgers, Carnell Tate, Brandon Inniss, and Jeremiah Smith. Defensive backs Lorenzo Styles, Jr. and Jermaine Mathews, Jr. were also back there.
Redshirt sophomore receiver Kojo Antwi was wearing a no-contact jersey but was still participating in drills. There isn’t much contact at this point in practice anyway, so it’s not much of a concern. Before practice began, receivers coach Brian Hartline was talking with Antwi during warmups, perhaps checking in on how his receiver was doing.
Even with Sonny Styles and his 6-foot-4 and 235-pound frame at linebacker now, sophomore Arvell Reese still stands out because of how big he is. Reese is now listed at 6-foot-4 and 238 pounds, up a few pounds and one inch from last year’s roster. He and Styles were again with the twos very early on.