Ohio State Football: Recapping the Buckeyes' Spring Game

As it's been noted repeatedly since the end of last season, Ohio State's passing game was not good in 2011. Corey Brown, Devin Smith, and Jake Stoneburner all led the team in catches...with 14. 14 on the year. 

Urban Meyer vowed to change that for the spring game, and change it he did; Ohio State threw 55 passes to only 36 rushes, and with 16 of the rushes coming from quarterbacks, the pass-run play-call ratio was likely close to the 3-to-1 that Meyer predicted before the spring game.

Now, don't expect that ratio to hold up through the fall. Meyer said specifically that he'd call that many passes because he already knows that Miller and the team can run the ball, and he wanted to see the passing game more instead. So while the entertainment value of slinging the ball around 55 times is not to be ignored, that's not likely to continue very far into the season itself.

That said, quarterback Braxton Miller and receiver Mike Thomas had an absolute field day. Thomas, a freshman early enrollee out of prep school, registered 12 catches for 131 yards and showed the promise of being the go-to receiver Ohio State hasn't had since DeVier Posey last full season in 2010.

Granted, Brown was on the other side of the scrimmage (and logged 90 yards on seven catches from back-up quarterback Kenny Guiton) so it's far too early to assume Thomas is higher on the totem pole than Brown, but 12 catches in a spring game is something to pay attention to.

There wasn't a lot of evaluation of the defense's front seven to be done. Top linemen John Simon and Jonathan Hankins were both held out of play on account of being too good at wrecking plays (not a great sign for the OSU offensive line), and middle linebackers Curtis Grant and Storm Klein were too banged up to go on Saturday.

Linebacker Ryan Shazier was at least healthy and on point, registering a team-leading seven tackles and looking like he's ready for every-down snaps this fall. But for the defensive front, in terms of stuff to look for come September, there is not a whole lot there. That and the fact that Meyer was operating out of a very limited blitz package (for various tactical reasons) also factors into the lack of focus on the defensive side.

Of course, no discussion of the spring game is complete without mentioning the impromptu circle drill that took place at midfield before the game itself. Scarlet vs. Gray, seven times, and culminating in a must-see clash between—seriously—quarterbacks Miller and Guiton.

That was fun.

The bottom line is this: Ohio State looks good now. The Buckeyes should be very good in 2012. How many wins will that translate into remains to be seen, but for now we'll say, uh...many? Yes, many wins.