The pain is over.

Yes, the pain of no football is over. At least it will be for the next 3 weeks. First, though, let me give congratulations to Evan Turner for winning AP Player of the Year. He won in a landslide vote, and all that's left is to win the Naismith trophy. He will most likely be competing against John Wall for that right to hold the trophy, but we like his odds. On to football.

Yesterday was the first of 15 spring practices, in the spring camp for the Buckeyes, and they wore helmets, shorts and shoulder pads. Today is much of the same, but Saturday begins full pads. Cameron Heyward and Dexter Larimore have been in the spotlight so far this spring, as both are trying hard to become the defensive leaders for this Rose Bowl squad. This team has lost Doug Worthington and Thad Gibson, so it's tough to overcome, but for Gibson's old spot, we have Solomon Thomas and Nathan Williams battling it out for the slot, and I have confidence in Thomas, as he showed some promise last year, and looks to impress the coaches this spring. Jim over at tBBC, disagrees, saying Williams has earned his spot by playing really well whenever Gibson needed a break, and I don't disagree with that. I do think Thomas still wins out, but we will find out for sure when the time for football has come.

A big motto this spring, and football season, is DBTH. Don't believe the hype is important because with the Buckeyes loading up, much of the media is thinking along the lines of a national championship run, what with the Buckeyes looking for a 2 or 3 spot in the polls.

Tyler Moeller did not work out with the linebackers, as expected, and instead worked out with the safeties. Hopefully this just means that they are preparing him for the star position, because I think it would be wrong to take him out of the linebacker spot completely. Although he won't be doing any contact drills until fall, I think that this process is very important to coming back to at least 95% health. Jermale Hines and Orhian Johnson were repping with the one group which will be fun to watch because it's been said many times that Johnson's athleticism is almost unmatched. As for Hines, I really think he can be the leader of this secondary, and we all know he could be the hardest hitter on this team.

For the line-backing core, Andrew Sweat is still getting used to being back, which means more reps for the younger guys including Etienne Sabino and our man, Storm Klien. I really think Storm Klien is a heck of a player, and could earn some pretty good minutes this fall if he plays well. Last year he started on special teams, and that's pretty big for a freshman at Ohio State, because special teams is Tressel's favorite group, and he also thinks it's the most important.

The running backs made some interesting news, where Boom and Zoom split the carries for the rock, while Hall, Berry, and Hyde barely got any. This core is going to need some serious contenders in case of injury or whatever else, so we need these guys to step up their game.

That is pretty much all the good news, so on to the bad. Although Duron Carter said he would shape up, and get his grades in order, but don't look now, he and Jonathan Newsome are in academic trouble again, and it's too bad, both have great potential. You would think Carter's dad would say something like "don't follow in my footsteps" as Cris Carter missed his last bowl game ever, and Duron is not looking so good right now. He already missed the Rose Bowl because of it, and if we want a championship, we need all the help we can get. Jim Tressel has said that Taurian Washington would have been the 3rd slot receiver even if Duron was in good shape, but I think Washington is just a tad overrated, until proven otherwise. In the spring game he plays like a real big time receiver, but when it comes to real games, he can't step it up, and has almost no catches.

That's all from Spring Camp Day 1, and we will keep you up to date all day, and weeks, long. Also, look for the POW coming up later today.
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