Observations from Ohio State’s First Spring Practice of 2022

By Dan Hope and Griffin Strom on March 8, 2022 at 9:45 am
Tim Walton and Ohio State cornerbacks
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Spring practices are officially underway at Ohio State.

The Buckeyes took the field before 8:30 a.m. Tuesday for their first practice of 2022, and media members who cover the team regularly were welcomed into the Woody Hayes Athletic Center to watch the first three periods of practice. While that wasn’t enough time to learn too much about this year’s edition of the team, it did give us a chance to see the Buckeyes’ new coaches and freshmen for the first time and get a glimpse of which Buckeyes could be in line to play some significant roles this season – at least as spring begins.

Early leaders at OL and DB?

During an offensive line drill in the first period of practice, the first-team unit appeared to consist of the widely projected group of starters: Paris Johnson Jr. at left tackle, Dawand Jones at right tackle, Luke Wypler at center and Matt Jones and Donovan Jackson at guard.

In a defensive back drill in the third period of practice, the top four defensive backs in the drill order were Denzel Burke and Lejond Cavazos at cornerback and Ronnie Hickman and Kourt Williams at safety – though none of Josh Proctor, Cameron Brown or Lathan Ransom were participating in drills.

The second line of defensive backs in that drill consisted of Jordan Hancock and Jakailin Johnson at cornerback with Bryson Shaw and Tanner McCalister at safety, while the third line of DBs consisted of true freshmen Kye Stokes and Ryan Turner at cornerback and Cameron Martinez and Marcus Hooker at safety.

Notable absences

Although Brown went through punt coverage drills Tuesday, the fifth-year defensive back did not drill with the Buckeye cornerbacks thereafter. Brown dealt with nagging injuries during the 2021 season and missed three games before deciding to come back to the program in 2022.

Harry Miller, who missed all but two games for Ohio State in 2021, did not appear to be at practice. The fourth-year offensive lineman was ruled out for the 2021 season with a lower-body injury on Nov. 19 after playing just 26 snaps last season. Miller was considered the frontrunner to start at center ahead of the 2021 season before he was set back with ailments.

Defensive ends Zach Harrison and Tyler Friday were both present at practice, but were walking around on the sideline while drills were going on after warmups. Friday missed the entire 2021 season after suffering a torn ACL last August.

Neither running back Marcus Crowley nor safety Jantzen Dunn practiced for the Buckeyes on Tuesday. Both Crowley and Dunn suffered long-term injuries that cut their 2021 seasons short this past October.

Ohio State told reporters after practice that Crowley, Dunn, Friday, Ransom and Miller will all be unavailable to practice this spring due to injuries, along with linebacker Ryan Batsch, defensive end Jacolbe Cowan, offensive lineman Josh Fryar, linebacker Cade Kacherski and tight end Mitch Rossi. 

Players returning from injury

More than one projected starter that dealt with injuries in the 2021 season was back on the practice field for Ohio State Tuesday. Third-year linebacker Cody Simon appeared healthy after missing the Rose Bowl with a shoulder injury, and fifth-year senior safety Josh Proctor went through warmups after suffering a season-ending leg fracture in the second game of the 2021 season. During drills, however, Proctor stood off to the sideline.

Redshirt sophomore Mitchell Melton was back on the field after missing all of last season with an injury, and he practiced with the defensive ends instead of the linebackers.

Fifth-year senior wide receiver Kamryn Babb, who has missed three full seasons for Ohio State, appeared healthy going through drills.

New coaches, new drills

With four new coaches on staff this year, the start of Tuesday’s practice featured some different drills from what we’ve seen in the first few periods of spring practice in previous years.

On the defensive side of the ball, there was an early emphasis on takeaways as the defensive backs went through a fumble-forcing drill while linebackers and defensive linemen practiced scooping up fumbles.

Also of note: Secondary coaches Tim Walton and Perry Eliano each worked with the cornerbacks and safeties in separate periods, while Jim Knowles and Larry Johnson also switched groups for a period, with Knowles coaching the defensive linemen in the fumble recovery drill and Johnson coaching the linebackers in a pass-rush drill.

Below, you can watch some video of Walton coaching the defensive backs on how to strip the ball.

On the offensive side of the ball, Ohio State spent some time practicing receiver running plays with Emeka Egbuka and other wideouts taking handoffs from the quarterbacks.

Other observations

  • Although he was listed on the initial spring roster as a tight end wearing No. 8, Cade Stover practiced with the linebackers wearing No. 16.
  • Burke briefly wore Kourt Williams’ No. 2 and Williams briefly wore Burke’s No. 29 before they switched back into their normal jersey numbers.
  • Jaxon Smith-Njigba took first-team reps at punt returner while Martinez and Julian Fleming also took punt return reps.
  • Jayden Ballard, Palaie Gaoteote, Cavazos, Turner, Jakailin Johnson, Kourt Williams and Brown were among the Buckeyes who took reps at gunner during punt team drills.
  • Egbuka, Sam Hart, Hickman and Xavier Johnson were among the other Buckeyes who repped with the first-team unit on the punt team.
  • Walk-on cornerback Lloyd McFarquhar is still practicing with the team despite entering the transfer portal in January.
  • When the Buckeyes broke from stretching to begin the first period of the day, Tyleik Williams showed his speed as he was easily the first defensive lineman to sprint across to the other end of the field.
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