This morning Ohio State held their annual fall jersey scrimmage at Ohio Stadium. Here is my report from the scrimmage.

General

• It shouldn’t surprise anyone, but the defense is clearly further along than the offense at this point.
• Nathan Williams was back on the field after missing the last several practices, which was good to see.
• Tyler Moeller was dressed but he didn’t see the field today.
• Freshman LB Conner Crowell was on the sideline on crutches with a large red cast on his leg. He clearly won’t be on the field anytime soon, but it was nice to see that he has made it to Columbus to be with the team.
• The team made it through the scrimmage relatively unscathed on the injury front. Freshmen DL Chase Farris went down with a leg injury, Nick Vannett appeared to injure his head when he was upended after a catch but it didn’t appear serious, and Jordan Whiting may have sustained a stinger in his shoulder.
• Melvin Fellows and Scott McVey were two notable non-participants. Fellows was dressed (which hopefully means whatever is keeping him off the field is nothing too serious) while McVey was in shorts.
• Drew Basil received plenty of opportunities to practice field goals today, and he delivered on all but his last attempt, which was also the last play of the scrimmage and a down note to end on.

Offense

• There is no doubt that the QB battle is now a two horse race. Joe Bauserman and Braxton Miller received every single rep with the first and second team today. They each seemed to spend an equal amount of time with the first and second team (and I’m sure someone will report on the exact number of reps later today).
• Both QBs led some nice drives down the field. Both also stalled in the red zone frequently, although each managed to punch it into the endzone on several occasions.
• Miller threw a long TD pass to Chris Fields, who made a great adjustment on the ball and showed great speed after the catch to get into the endzone. Miller will get credit for throwing a long TD pass, but it was really Fields that made the play.
• Bauserman hit Devin Smith in stride on a nice deep pass (Christian Bryant was in coverage and was beat pretty badly) although he was tackled before he got into the endzone.
• These two pass plays were the highlights of the scrimmage offensively.
• Joe Bauserman tried to throw a block for his RB on at least one play. It was good to see him putting in the extra effort.
• Braxton Miller has great pocket presence and is extremely elusive, which he demonstrated over and over throughout the scrimmage.
• Jordan Hall and Carlos Hyde continued to be the #1 and #2 back respectively, while Rod Smith also received time with the 1st team later in the scrimmage. Jaamal Berry continues to be limited by a hamstring injury and did not see the field.
• Boom Herron continues to spend time with the second and third team, although I still think he will likely move back into the #1 spot after his suspension.
• Overall, the offensive line and the running backs didn’t make much of an impression throughout the scrimmage (Jason Winrow will likely elaborate on this in much greater detail later).
• The offensive line depth chart remains the same as what I reported a few updates ago.
• The starting receivers continue to be Philly Brown and Verlon Reed, with Chris Fields receiving significant playing time as the third WR in the slot today.
• The offense went four wide out of shotgun (Bauserman at QB) with Philly Brown and Verlon Reed wide and Jordan Hall and Chris Fields in the slot.
• Kenny Guiton ran with the third team most of the day, while Taylor Graham received the fewest reps at QB.
• Freshmen WRs Devin Smith and Evan Spencer continue to impress and are staples on the second team at this point. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see both of them get on the field this season.
• It appears that TE Reid Fragel is injured and he did not participate today. In his absence, freshman Jeff Heuerman played with the second team and freshman Nick Vannett played with the third team.

Defense

• It is safe to say that Bradley Roby has locked down the second CB spot and will be the starter there. He spent the entire scrimmage with the first team with little or no rotation.
• Johnathan Hankins was a monster all day. The sky is the limit for him this season and into the future.
• The first team remains largely the same, with Christian Bryant continuing to replace Tyler Moeller as the starting star.
• The second team defensive line was: Michael Bennet, Evan Blankenship, Joel Hale/Darryl Baldwin, Steve Miller/J.T. Moore.
• The second team linebackers were: Ryan Shazier, Tony Jackson/Jordan Whiting, Stewart Smith (who has been playing with the second team for several practices on the strong side and seems to be establishing himself as a pleasant walk-on surprise for the defense).
• Ryan Shazier is very quick and was able to track down Braxton Miller on one play as he attempted to scramble from the pocket. Shazier was one of the few players capable of doing that today.
• The second team secondary was: Corey Brown and Christian Bryant at safety with freshman Doran Grant and Dominic Clarke at corner (this is something stupid and totally random that I noticed, but that is C Brown, C Bryant, D Grant, and D Clarke on the second team, which has a nice ring to it).
• The third team secondary was: Jamie Wood and Zach Domicone at safety, with Dionte Allen and Derjuan Gambrell/Adam Griffin at corner.
• Freshman LB Curtis Grant continues to play exclusively with the third team in the middle.

As always, feel free to ask questions in the comments.