Ohio State Fall Practice Insider: Running Game Takes Center Stage

COLUMBUS — The Ohio State football team was on the practice field Saturday morning, marking the third practice of fall camp and first in shoulder pads. Full pads aren’t permitted until the sixth day of practice, but that didn’t stop the Buckeyes from working on the running game over the course of a practice that lasted over two hours.

There is no tackling, so everything is “thud” right now, which is just as it sounds. Defenders can “thud” into ball carriers and wrap up, but the cries from the coaches all morning long were for the players to stay up and stay on their feet.

Today’s practice was more physical simply because it finally could be, but it is still very early in the process. The Buckeyes worked on the running game throughout the practice, including plenty of action between the tackles.

The biggest play of the game, however, came outside the tackles when quarterback Will Howard ran a QB power or sweep to the left side and made the corner…and then kept going. They finally blew the play dead at around the opposite 30-yard line, ending what would have been around an 80-yard touchdown run. Howard outraced the first-team linebackers and was being tracked by safety Lathan Ransom when the whistle was blown.

In case you were wondering, Howard has three career rushes of over 70 yards in his career, including one against Texas.

Quarterback Devin Brown also had some decent — albeit much shorter — runs to keep the chains moving.

The Buckeyes were working on read options and run-pass options, which made it very interesting to watch when they were doing this on split fields with two offenses going. Both offenses have the same script so it provided an opportunity to see how each quarterback handled their respective read. What might be a rollout on one side of the field was a hand-off on the other.

Freshman running back Sam Williams-Dixon had several productive runs, though it’s hard to judge just how effective they would be in full pads with tackling. Walk-on freshman running back Rashid Sesay recently moved over from defense and he had some nice carries today as well.

There weren’t a lot of long runs from the running backs, but the blocking had some nice moments despite the offensive lines being split up between ones and twos.

Speaking Of The Offensive Line

When the practice went to 11-on-11 on one field, the offensive line was finally fully intact and it was redshirt sophomore offensive lineman Carson Hinzman with the ones at right guard today. Head coach Ryan Day has alluded to this possibility, and also provided a glimpse of it when Hinzman started at right guard in the spring game back in April.

Fifth-year Alabama transfer Seth McLaughlin has been the first-team center from the outset. The offensive line and defensive line were finally able to take part in some one-on-ones. McLaughlin didn’t take too many reps but did get wins over redshirt freshman Will Smith, Jr. and fifth-year senior starting nose tackle Ty Hamilton.

Another highlight of the one-on-ones was a 1-v-1 between left tackle Josh Simmons and starting defensive ends Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau. Tuimoloau went first and tried a spin move that ended up getting stoned. Then the very next rep was Sawyer getting shut down by Simmons. During this drill, they generally only made an offensive lineman go two reps in a row, but here they made Simmons go against Tuimoloau one more time. Rather than try the spin move again, Tuimoloau used straight speed and raced right around Simmons for the win.

Sophomore Luke Montgomery continues to get some work at center. He was with the twos Saturday. He had a great one-on-one rep against defensive tackle Tywone Malone. One of the coaches shouted out, “That was hot, Luke.” Then Malone and Montgomery went against each again right after that and Malone got the win. Montgomery wasn’t happy with the rep and offensive line coach Justin Frye coached him up afterward.

Montgomery has the versatility and athleticism to play anywhere on the offensive line depending on what is needed and for how long.

The three-deep on the offensive line looks something like this at the moment.

LT Josh Simmons/Zen Michalski/Deontae Armstrong
LG Donovan Jackson/Austin Siereveld/Devontae Armstrong
C Seth McLaughlin/Luke Montgomery/Joshua Padilla/Toby Wilson
RG Carson Hinzman/Tegra Tshabola/Gabe VanSickel
RT Josh Fryar/George Fitzpatrick/Ian Moore/Miles Walker

Obligatory Update On The Quarterbacks

Will Howard got the first reps of the day in team and individual drills. Devin Brown followed him. Freshman Julian Sayin also got some reps with the ones for a bit during a team (11 vs 11) period. Sayin and redshirt freshman Lincoln Kienholz alternated a bit throughout practice on who would go third behind Howard and Brown. Freshman Air Noland was running fifth, as was the case in the spring as well.

Sayin ended one of the periods with a deep shot down the middle to sophomore receiver Brandon Inniss. Sayin dropped it right into Inniss’ arms as he was being tightly covered by freshman safety Jaylen McClain. He also threw an interception to sophomore safety Caleb Downs when Sayin’s slant pass to freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith was knocked into the air by senior nickel back Jordan Hancock and pulled in by Downs.

Noland is clearly behind everybody else right now, but that’s not a surprise. He looks like a true freshman quarterback, which he is. The decision making is less confident than it will become and the throws are more cautious than they’ll be down the road.

Howard’s confidence, meanwhile, is growing by the day.

Emptying The Notebook

+ There was quite a bit of huddling on Saturday. The in-helmet communications will turn this into a more common occurrence during games this fall. The move to in-helmet communications over the entirety of college football this year was put into effect in large part because of the years-long practice of improper sign-stealing within the Michigan football program.

+ Running back Quinshon Judkins ran the ball on one particular play but running backs coach Carlos Locklyn didn’t like what he saw and he let Judkins know it. Following the coaching, Judkins walked back to the offense and Will Howard gave him some words of encouragement and offered up a pat on the back.

+ Jack Sawyer had a strip sack on Devin Brown.

+ A couple of other notes on the OL/DL one on ones: JT Tuimoloau had one where he ran right around Josh Fryar. It was the same kind of speed he showed in a win over Josh Simmons on the other side later on. Tuimoloau gets low and fast and makes it very difficult for tackles to keep up with him without putting themselves in a bad spot with their balance and structure. Freshman defensive end Eddrick Houston had a similar rush against redshirt sophomore tackle George Fitzpatrick.

+ Sophomore linebacker Arvell Reese came down with an interception when freshman nickel back Miles Lockhart tipped an Air Noland pass.

+ Junior Sonny Styles spent most of the day with the ones at Will linebacker. Junior CJ Hicks was with the twos. When the Buckeye defense went with three linebackers, Hicks stayed at the Will and Styles moved to Sam. They ran this lineup next to senior starting middle linebacker Cody Simon as well as his backup Gabe Powers.

+ Devin Brown threw a perfect deep ball to Emeka Egbuka, who made a nice grab with sophomore cornerback Jermaine Mathews in coverage.

Go to discussion...