Ohio State Football: Why Braxton Miller Must Be Strong in Spring Practice

The wait is almost over as Ohio State's spring football practices start in just a few days, and all eyes will be on sophomore QB Braxton Miller.

He had some flashes of brilliance as a freshman in 2011, as he helped engineer a comeback win over Wisconsin and burned plenty of Big Ten opponents with his feet.

Miller did remind us a few times last season that he was a freshman, including a rough performance against Penn State.

The Ohio State offense was in dire need of a jump start after last season due to inexperience and incredibly poor coaching on that side of the ball.

Enter Urban Meyer, a man known for having very explosive offenses.

He has already made an impact in early workouts as he has redesigned the winter conditioning session and the players have responded to the challenge so far.

Next week, they will finally put on pads for the first time under Meyer as they finally install the new Ohio State offense.

From the beginning when Meyer was brought in as head coach, he and Miller seemed like a match made in heaven, just like how Tim Tebow was a perfect fit with Meyer's offense.

Miller has great athletic ability as well as the ability to throw the football pretty well.

His technique and field awareness do need to grow, but that is something that improves through repetition and film study.

If Ohio State is going to have a strong 2012 to prepare for a possible run at a national championship in 2013, Miller will need to start things off with a great spring.

Luckily for him, Meyer and offensive coordinator Tom Herman have a much better track record at developing quarterbacks than former coaches Jim Bollman and Nick Siciliano.

If the NFL has taught us anything, it's that quarterback play on offense can really make a tremendous difference in offensive effectiveness.

We know Miller can run, and we know Miller can pass as well.

The question is can he put it all together and be as dynamic as Tebow or Vince Young have been in recent seasons?

He came pretty close against Michigan, putting together his best performance of the season in a tough loss to the Wolverines in Ann Arbor.

This spring will answer quite a bit, as he really needs to take that next step and blossom in the next few weeks.

If he can master the early intricacies of the new Meyer-Herman offense, he should have no problems at least being decent from the outset.

Miller doesn't have a proven set of skill players to work with, mostly because the faults of the previous coaching staff have kept them from being used how they probably should have been used—junior WR Corey Brown immediately comes to mind.

He played more as a RB/WR hybrid in high school a la Percy Harvin, but has been used as a one-dimensional receiver in his first two seasons.

TE Jake Stoneburner proved he could be a huge weapon when he is given the chance, but hasn't gotten as many as he should be.

In the end, it will be Miller that has to give his players their opportunities.

He will need to become more of a guy that is not only a threat to run, but can make his teammates better.

That is the next step for the growth of Braxton Miller.

That is what he needs to do this spring, or at least plant the seeds of that growth.

2012 is meaningless in some aspects because of the postseason ban, but it is going to be a stepping stone if Ohio State wants to play for a national championship in 2013.

Braxton Miller will have a lot to say about that depending on how much positive momentum he has this coming spring.

Tuesday is the day the curtain finally comes off of this Ohio State offense, and for Miller to start to grow into one of the better players in the country.

The potential is there; this spring is the time to realize it and start to reach it.

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