Ohio State Football Notebook: ‘The limit for Carnell is through the roof’

Ohio’s Tate

A year ago at this time, there was a pretty good amount of attention being thrown Carnell Tate’s way. As a true freshman for the Buckeyes, Tate was getting some fairly astounding things said about him.

Then as a true freshman, Tate went out and had more catches (18) than all but four Buckeye true freshmen receivers in program history.

That’s the kind of start that can lead to even more hype. But then Emeka Egbuka decided to return for his senior season and a true freshman named Jeremiah “JJ” Smith showed up in January and has took the Buckeye world by storm.

Tate fell into the background of the talking heads but on the first day of fall camp he remined everybody why they shouldn’t forget about what he can do by making a couple of leaping catches while being tightly covered.

His head coach has never not been impressed by the Chicago native.

“Yeah, I think, again, the limit for Carnell is through the roof,” Ryan Day said after practice on Thursday. “I don’t think there is a limit to what he can be. He is not someone that you typically hear, but you feel out there. And he takes a lot of pride in his route running. He’s certainly gifted.

“I think that’s the first thing that I recognized when he got here. Like, a lot of precision in his route running. Takes pride in when he gets out there knowing exactly what are you doing. He comes in well prepared. He’s tough. The guys on the team really like who he is and he showed last year he can do it. So he’s gonna have to be a major contributor for our offense this year if we’re gonna do what we want to do.”

Seeing Double

The Buckeyes have opened practice in fall camp by utilizing two full offenses and defenses on separate fields when working in “team periods.” On Thursday for the first day of practices, quarterbacks Will Howard and Julian Sayin were on one field with half of the OSU offense, and Devin Brown, Lincoln Kienholz, and Air Noland were on the next field over with the other half of the offense. They then faced a commensurate defensive presence.

Each side of the field has the same play sheets and instructions and it’s a way for Ryan Day and his coaching staff to get more reps in early on in practice. It won’t last forever, but it’s a good way to get everybody up to a certain speed in a short amount of time.

“For the first four practices, I think it’s a great way to get quarterbacks a lot of reps,” Day said. “Get everybody out there. Get moving around. And you’re getting 48 reps in a shorter period of time, so it’s a great way to get everybody moving around.

“And the first two practices, we’re not in pads anyway, so it’s really hard to identify what’s going on with the offensive line when you don’t have pads on. I mean, you can go in the right direction, but there’s very little contact. It’s all hands and feet. More importantly, we’re getting reps for the quarterbacks. We’re getting reps for everybody on the team in a shorter period of time. It’s a little bit more efficient.”

Kourt Williams Retires

Fifth-year linebacker Kourt Williams announced his retirement from football on Wednesday. In a social media post, he mentioned his four knee surgeries and three shoulder surgeries in his time at Ohio State.

Despite all of the injuries, Williams was named a captain as a third-year sophomore in 2022. He graduated in the spring of 2023.

“Kourt, when he first got here, you recognized very easily and very fast how disciplined he was,” Ryan Day said. “He was one of the first guys in the building. Earned a leadership role in the team, but was just kind of decimated with injuries. He was strong in his faith and it was very hard for him to step away. Even though he didn’t get a chance to play on the field as much, he did have a great leadership role, similar to [former receiver] Kam Babb and what he did here. So a lot of the guys are gonna miss him.”

As for what’s next for Williams? Even though playing football may no longer be in the picture, the sport remains in view.

“He just went recently on an internship to the NFL league office in New York,” Day said. “I know he’s trying to figure out what’s the next step for him. But yeah, he’ll always be welcome here and the guys look up to him.”

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