Ohio State Spring Practice Notes: Saturday's Scrimmage

(OhioStateBuckeyes.com)

Buckeye fans were in for a treat on Saturday. Earlier in the week, OSU head coach Urban Meyer invited students and faculty at Ohio State to join the team in their scrimmage that took place on Saturday. Some ugly weather forced the Buckeyes to cancel the practice at the 'Shoe and move it inside the WHAC.

Still, over 1,000 students, staff members showed up to root the Buckeyes on through a two-hour scrimmage.

Highlights from the scrimmage included a pair of long touchdown passes from Braxton Miller to Devin Smith and Jake Stoneburner. He also found Jeff Heuerman for a shorter TD pass. Freshman running back Bri'onte Dunn dazzled the crowd with a 55-yard run on a cutback where he reversed field and was tackled out of bounds just a couple of feet away from the endzone. Dunn really continues to impress the coaching staff.

Miller had two interceptions on the day. One he threw right to corner Bradley Roby, by far the ugliest play of the day. The other went off his receiver’s hands to safety Orhian Johnson (Johnson ended up returning it for a score), so nothing that can't be fixed. Braxton's progression as a QB will be essential to the Buckeyes ability to keep defenses on their toes at all times.

Zach Boren got involved big time, with what looks to be a play that Urban will be using frequently during the season. That play is in the Spread formation with Miller handing it off to Boren on the inside. Just in case that becomes too predictable, Meyer added the same formation and turned it into a play-action pass.

Connor Crowell had to step in at middle linebacker, due to a shoulder injury that Curtis Grant suffered. It was just a precaution, as Grant later said it was just a minor bruise. Either way, Crowell performed very well including a 4th-down stop tackle on Carlos Hyde.

Michael Thomas continues to make strides as he did very well for himself again on Saturday. Chris Fields, Devin Smith and Philly Brown were all in the mix as well. Thomas is going to get some good quality minutes this fall, but will most likely not be a starter.

The offensive line has had the same starters for all of spring (From left to right: Mewhort, Norwell, Linsley, Hall and Fragel). Ryan Shazier and Chase Farris both had sacks on Braxton Miller today. Farris was ripping up the offense at one point and has really improved his game overall.

After practice, there was a meet-and-greet that allowed everyone attending the practice to get autographs, pictures, etc. from all the players and coaches. Biggest crowd was around Urban Meyer (no surprise there).

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