The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
McCall performs well in Buckeyes’ spring game
North Ridgeville graduate Demario McCall rushed for 83 yards and caught a touchdown pass during the Ohio State spring football game on April 15. McCall is vying for playing time behind Mike Weber.
COLUMBUS >> Incumbent starting running back Mike Weber saw limited action in the Ohio State spring game on April 15, carrying the ball five times for 13 yards.
That gave Demario McCall (North Ridgeville) a chance to show what he could do running the ball.
McCall didn’t disappoint. He carried six times for 83 yards, with a long tote of 34 yards. The next leading rusher was freshman Antonio Williams with 37 yards on six carries.
McCall also hauled in a 40-yard touchdown pass from Burrow in the second quarter.
McCall has the ability to help Ohio State in two positions, at running back and in the slot/H-Back position. He is expected to see significant action in both capacities come this season.
Backup QB still in air
There’s a quarterback derby brewing at Ohio State.
No, there’s not a battle for the starting quarterback position. J.T. Barrett has that sewn up as tight as possibly can be.
The derby comes in the battle for second string behind Barrett, where redshirt sophomore Joe Burrow and redshirt freshman Dwayne Haskins are in a full-blown daily game of “Can-You-Top-That?” to be the second in line behind Barrett.
Both Burrow and Haskins put their best foot forward in Ohio State’s annual spring game on April 15 in front of 80,134 fans at Ohio Stadium.
Burrow completed 14 of 22 passes for 262 yards and three touchdowns for Scarlet, which pulled out a 38-31 victory.
Bouncing back and forth between the Scarlet and Gray teams, Haskins completes 26 of 36 passes for 293 yards and three scores.
They were the primary quarterbacks of the day.
Barrett started for Gray and completed 8 of 12 passes for 71 yards and a touchdown in first-quarter duty.
True freshman Tate Martell, a likely candidate to be redshirted, threw for 11 yards and ran for 24 yards and a touchdown.
“Outstanding,” Coach Urban Meyer said, describing his quarterbacks’ performance and progression this spring. “They started, the first week was kind of, oh, not real productive. And then they just — all four quarterbacks — in the last three weeks have been exceptional.”
That’s particularly good news for Ohio State going forward A) in case Barrett gets injured; and B) in light of Barrett departing after this season. A good No. 2 is important. So far, both Haskins and Burrow look up to the challenge, though there is no clear definition of who is considered No. 2 on the depth chart and who is No. 3.
“I want to watch the film and have conversations with our coaches,” Meyer said. “We haven’t had that yet. I know it is very close. But I’m not prepared to say who is 2, who is 3, etc, yet.”
Burrow said he isn’t concerned about depth chart talk right now, opting rather to just “focus on getting better every day.”
“It felt good to be out there again,” he said. “That’s 2-0 in spring games (including last year). Not bad.
“I had a fun time today. The receivers played real well, the offensive line played really well. It just seemed to flow today.”
Dixon shines
Johnnie Dixon has been injured seemingly since he arrived at Ohio State.
The redshirt junior showed glimpses of what he is capable of if healthy during the spring game.
The 5-foot-11, 195-pounder from Florida caught six passes for 108 yards and two touchdowns for the Scarlet team. He caught a 18-yarder from Haskins in the first quarter and then caught a 44-yarder from Burrow in the second quarter.
Meyer termed Dixon “an enigma” because of injuries to his knees during his career.
“It was frustrating for all of us,” Meyer said. “When he was healthy, he just didn’t make plays, because he would never practice enough to get in the rhythm.
“I didn’t know — he probably shouldn’t have come back. If you had a career like he’s had. But his teammates, his position coach, Zach Smith, I talked to him, and wanted one last swing. And he had the best spring — he didn’t miss a practice.”
Don’t touch
The first quarter featured zero tackles.
In essence, the first quarter was two-hand touch football, which was by design, Meyer said.
“We’ve done that before,” Meyer said. “It’s either you don’t play some guys or you kind of restrict the tackling and keep guys up. And I wanted them to experience the crowd and play and finish a good spring.”