Spring Game Preview: Three-Man Quarterback Competition Takes Center Stage As Fans Return to Ohio Stadium

By Dan Hope on April 16, 2021 at 8:35 am
Garrett Wilson
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For the first time in two years, Ohio State will play a spring football game on Saturday.

Also for the first time since 2019, fans will be inside Ohio Stadium – albeit at a limited capacity of 19,180 – to watch the Buckeyes play.

And whether you’re viewing from inside the Shoe or at home on Big Ten Network, there will be plenty of intriguing reasons to watch the Buckeyes on Saturday at noon, from the three quarterbacks competing for the starting job to players at all other positions also trying to make an impression.

The Headlines

Quarterbacks Take Center Stage

Saturday will be the first time Buckeye fans get to see each of C.J. Stroud, Jack Miller and Kyle McCord throw passes in an Ohio State uniform, and there’s no question the spotlight will be squarely upon them throughout the entire spring game as the general public finally gets a glimpse into the ongoing competition to be the Buckeyes’ next starting quarterback.

Given that none of them have yet thrown a pass in an actual game for the Buckeyes, the spring game will be an important step in the evaluation process to see how each of them performs with the added pressure of fans in the stands and watching on television. It’s also only one step in a competition that’s played out all spring and will continue into preseason camp, but it will be the last real chance for each of them to make their case for themselves until practices resume in August.

Ryan Day and Corey Dennis are expected to split the reps between the three scholarship quarterbacks as evenly as possible – though Miller will start the game for Team Buckeye and Stroud and McCord will both be on Team Brutus, the controlled scrimmage environment for the second half should allow the coaches to even out the reps – and every throw they make on Saturday will be analyzed (consider that a teaser for an article I’ll have here at Eleven Warriors next week).

How each quarterback performs on Saturday will undeniably shape the public’s perception of them more than that of the coaches who will look back at everything that happened this spring before making any determinations about how the quarterback race is stacking up entering the summer. But it will be the biggest window we’ve had yet into how effectively each quarterback can move the offense, and a chance for all of them to end the spring with momentum on their side – or a reminder of what they still need to work on as the offseason progresses.

Jack Miller and Luke Wypler
Jack Miller will be one of three Ohio State quarterbacks taking snaps in Saturday's spring game.

Fans Finally Back in the Stands

Because the Big Ten decided not to allow fans at any games last season, the Ohio Stadium stands were mostly empty – aside from family members of players and coaches – for the Buckeyes’ three home games during their abbreviated 2020 regular season.

Saturday’s spring game will represent a step toward normalcy as Ohio State fans return to the Shoe. Approximately 10,000 tickets have been distributed to Wexner Medical Center faculty and staff and others who have been on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic, while 4,500 tickets were sold to members of the general public and 2,500 tickets were distributed to students.

The Ohio State athletic band, cheerleaders, dance team and Brutus Buckeye will also all be in attendance and performing at Saturday’s game.

It’ll still be a much smaller crowd than a typical spring game – Ohio State has drawn as many as 100,000 fans for its end-of-spring scrimmage at the Shoe – but players and coaches are excited to finally get the chance to compete in front of fans inside Ohio Stadium for the first time since Nov. 23, 2019, when the Buckeyes played their final home game two seasons ago against Penn State. 

“Thank goodness that we’re able to get some people in the stands,” Day said this week. “Looking forward to having our guys play in front of a crowd, and getting back to some normalcy here. So we’re very, very excited about that. And we’re hoping that we can get a packed house here when Oregon comes to town (for the first home game of the regular season).”

A Chance for Game-ish Reps

Ryan Day has talked repeatedly this spring about how his players are behind fundamentally as a result of playing only five regular-season games instead of 12 last season, which makes this year’s spring game more important than the typical spring game. While Saturday’s scrimmage will be more like a practice than a game in some respects, it is an opportunity for the Buckeyes to get game-like reps while performing inside Ohio Stadium and in front of fans for the only time all offseason, and that should create a sense of urgency.

“We talked to our guys today about how rare and few those opportunities are to walk into the Shoe and to play ball,” Ohio State defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs said Thursday night on 97.1 The Fan. “It doesn’t matter what the environment is. Doesn’t matter if it’s the team up north game or it’s the spring game. You’re in the Shoe. And you’re gonna get to play in front of people, you’re gonna be on television. Don’t pass that up. Don’t just say ‘Well, it’s the spring game.’ Go out there and give it your very, very best.”

There will be some noticeable differences from a normal football game on Saturday. Ryan Day confirmed Thursday that players won’t be tackled to the ground in Saturday’s game; instead, it will be a “thud” game as many other recent Ohio State spring games have been. The quarterbacks won’t be hit at all, as they’ll be wearing non-contact jerseys. The game’s quarters will be only 10 minutes long, not 15. And while the roster will be split into two competing teams for the first half of Saturday’s event, Day said the teams will be mixed together for an offense vs. defense scrimmage in the second half, with established veterans likely coming out of the game at halftime.

Many of those changes are in the interest of keeping players healthy, as the Buckeyes look to complete their spring without any further injuries beyond those they have already suffered in their first 14 practices. But the Buckeyes will still be looking to maximize the opportunity to get quality reps in what will be their final day of actual football practice for three-and-a-half months.

“As we get into the spring game, things I want to see, just improvement. Just continually get better,” Day said. “And I wish we had another 15 practices here in May, but we don’t.”

Keep an Eye on These Guys

Jack Sawyer, Marvin Harrison Jr., TreVeyon Henderson, Emeka Egbuka and Reid Carrico

The spring game will be the first opportunity for Ohio State fans to see the Buckeyes’ new crop of early enrollees in action, and it’s impossible to single out just one. Given that 12 of the Buckeyes’ 15 midyear enrollees were ranked among the top 200 prospects in the recruiting class of 2021, there’s no shortage of candidates among the newcomers to make their presence felt during their first action in the Shoe.

As the five freshmen who have already lost their black stripes this spring, though, the quintet of Sawyer, Harrison, Henderson, Egbuka and Carrico could be the top freshmen to watch on Saturday. All of them were top-100-ranked recruits, and they all appear to be making a push toward early playing time as Buckeyes.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see any of Henderson, Harrison or Egbuka make a big play on offense in the spring game. And Sawyer and Carrico, a pair of Ohio natives who have long dreamed of playing in Ohio Stadium, will certainly be looking to make an impression on defense.

TreVeyon Henderson
TreVeyon Henderson will be one of four five-star true freshmen in Saturday's spring game, along with Jack Sawyer, Emeka Egbuka and Kyle McCord.

Paris Johnson Jr., Matthew Jones, Josh Fryar and Luke Wypler

Aside from the aforementioned quarterback competition, another major position battle going into the spring game is on the offensive line – specifically the interior offensive line, where Ohio State is replacing its top two players from last season, and none of this year’s starters are set in stone.

Harry Miller won’t play in the spring game due to an undisclosed injury, but Johnson, Jones, Fryar and Wypler will all have their chance to make their case for why they should be starters for the Buckeyes this season.

Seeing how Ohio State splits up the reps between them could be telling in itself (we learned Friday that Fryar, Wypler and Johnson will all be on Team Buckeye for the first half, while Jones will be on Team Brutus), and it’ll be worth watching how effectively each of them block, too. Jones is the most experienced of the group and Johnson looks like the frontrunner to start at right guard while Wypler and Fryar are perhaps still underdogs in the starting competition, but Saturday will be a chance to evaluate how they fare in a game-like setting – which will be especially important for the second-year trio of Fryar, Johnson and Wypler, given how sparingly they had opportunities to play as freshmen.

Tyreke Johnson, Lejond Cavazos, Ryan Watts and the Rest of the Secondary

Ohio State certainly wants its quarterbacks to look good on Saturday, but it doesn’t want them to look too good, as that would be a bad sign for a secondary that needs to be better after the Buckeyes’ passing defense was their weakness last season.

Going up against Ohio State’s stacked depth chart of receivers will provide a litmus test of whether the Buckeyes’ secondary has actually improved this spring. Add in that Sevyn Banks and Cameron Brown will both be unavailable to play in the spring game due to injuries, and Saturday will be a big opportunity for Johnson, Cavazos, Watts and Denzel Burke to take most of the reps at outside cornerback and show what they can do against the Buckeyes’ top pass-catchers.

If Ohio State lines up with five defensive backs in Saturday’s spring game like it often has in practice this spring, there should be plenty of reps to go around for the Buckeyes’ inside defensive backs too, from returning starters Josh Proctor and Marcus Williamson to all the less experienced DBs trying to earn their way into the lineup, including Lathan Ransom, Craig Young, Ronnie Hickman, Cameron Martinez, Bryson Shaw and Jantzen Dunn.

Game Week Talk

“It’s the best thing in the world. I don’t know how fast those tickets sold out, but I know it was fast … Saturday at noon in Columbus, Ohio, where in the heck else would you rather be?”– Kerry Coombs on fans attending the spring game

It’s safe to say Ohio State’s defensive coordinator is fired up about Buckeye fans being back in the Shoe again.

“I know our guys love that, because they’re all show-offs. That’s what I call them.”– Ryan Day on fans returning to Ohio Stadium

Day poked fun at his players when he was asked Monday about the Buckeyes finally getting to play in front of fans at the Shoe again.

“I think the atmosphere will be crazy. You know Ohio State fans, they go crazy. So I’m hoping we get out there Saturday, have a good time, just have fun, play ball and do what we do best. I’m just looking forward to a good time, really.”– Ohio State wide receiver Jameson Williams

Williams sounds ready to feed off the energy of playing in front of Buckeye Nation again on Saturday afternoon.

Get Smart

  • Ohio State enters the spring game with a roster of 111 players, including 82 scholarship players, with at least six additional scholarship players still set to arrive this summer.
  • Players known to be unavailable for Saturday’s game due to injuries include Harry Miller, defensive tackle Haskell Garrett, cornerbacks Sevyn Banks and Cameron Brown, linebackers Dallas Gant and Mitchell Melton, wide receiver Kamryn Babb and safety Kourt Williams. Safety Marcus Hooker will also be unavailable as he’s been suspended from the team all spring following an arrest for operating a vehicle under the influence.
  • Big Ten Network’s TV coverage of the spring game begins at noon with Brandon Gaudin, James Laurinaitis and Joshua Perry providing commentary. 97.1 The Fan’s radio coverage of the game begins with the Tailgate Show at 10 a.m. and the game broadcast starting at 11:45 a.m., with Paul Keels, Jim Lachey and Matt Andrews providing commentary.
  • Eleven Warriors, of course, will be at Ohio Stadium on Saturday for full coverage from pregame to postgame. Follow me (@Dan_Hope) and Colin Hass-Hill (@chasshill) on Twitter for live updates from the press box, while Zack Carpenter (@Zack_Carp) will be sharing photos from the field. 
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