Buckeyes to focus on fundamentals in first spring scrimmage
Ohio State is set to end its second week of spring practice with an intrasquad scrimmage.
Coach Ryan Day said the Buckeyes will scrimmage for the first time on Saturday as a part of their fifth practice of the spring. The format won't be decided by the staff until they go through Thursday's practice.
“That's a big part of it,” Day said. “Injuries and how many guys we have at each position. We'll try to figure out how many reps we want to get each guy.”
But Day anticipates the scrimmage at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center will include live tackling with select players exempt from contact. Here's what more to expect:
Simplified script
The Buckeyes will not have an intricate game plan for the scrimmage. Instead, players will be focused on fundamentals.
“We'll be very basic with what we're doing schematically,” Day said, “just to allow them to go play.”
The level of experience across the roster varies, a lingering effect of the COVID-19 pandemic that extended the eligibility of players or cut short playing time with the duration of seasons upended three years ago.
“With COVID and everything that's gone on, you have guys who have been in the program for four or five years,” Day said, “then you have guys who should just be finishing up their senior year of high school, so you have a different variety of experiences and age groups.
“Trying to figure out what's right for each guy, this time of year you have to do a great job. Some guys have played a bunch of football, have had thousands of snaps in game. Other guys have never done it before. What we want to do is get a bunch of those guys game reps. See who can tackle. See who's going to make plays. Give them an opportunity to put in on the field.”
Hartline to call plays
Brian Hartline will get a crack at calling plays for the offense.
“We'll put a little game plan together, have him call it and see how it goes,” Day said.
Hartline, the fast-rising wide receivers coach who was promoted to offensive coordinator in January, has been expected to try play-calling at various points during spring practice as Day considers delegating those responsibilities for the first time.
“You don't really know until you get into a game how that works,” Day said, “but we're going to try in these next couple of weeks to get some gametype situations.”
Day said he'll be better able to evaluate Hartline's play-calling when the Buckeyes install their full game plan and progress into more situational periods of practice.
Quarterback competition
The scrimmage will make up one of the more revealing points in the ongoing evaluations of Kyle Mccord and Devin Brown, the two quarterbacks who are looking to succeed C.J. Stroud behind center for the Buckeyes.
Day said he is looking for them to both take care of the ball and engineering touchdown drives.
“There's that balance you have to find,” Day said. “Some guys can find that easier than others. We've been fortunate to find guys who have been able to do that. It's probably a big part of the ‘it' factor people talk about. Seeing the field and understanding the situation.
“The more game-like situations we can create, the more we get a feel for that.”