The Ohio State Buckeyes Gray Team from last Saturday's spring game paid the harsh price of defeat Friday afternoon by literally getting their hands dirty and doing landscaping work on the school's storied Buckeye Grove. With over 125 memorial trees planted honoring each Ohio State football player to be named All-Americans, those players had their work cut out for them.
Amongst the players comprising the gray roster were backup quarterback Kenny Guiton, Percy Harvin-back Jordan Hall (who sat the game out with a minor injury or from Urban's desire to keep how he'll be used next fall a secret depending on who you believe), tight end Jake Stoneburner, wide receivers Corey "Philly" Brown and Devin Smith, defensive linemen John Simon, Garrett Goebel, Adam Bellamy, and Steve Miller, linebackers Curtis Grant and Etienne Sabino, safety Orhian Johnson, and cornerback Bradley Roby.
According to some with and not with the football program, gray head coach Luke Fickell dodged the punishment (though to be fair, having to man last year's sinking ship in such a circumstance was in many ways a pittance enough).
Some of the highlights included:
Players fixing up Buckeye Grove Friday afternoon #GoBucks twitter.com/AdamWidman/sta…
— Adam Widman (@AdamWidman) April 27, 2012
Buckeyes from the gray team planting shrubs. Here's Guiton, Sabino and Johnson twitter.com/marcushartman/…
— Marcus Hartman (@marcushartman) April 27, 2012
OSU players on the Gray team cleaning up the Buckeye Grove. twitter.com/Matt_NBC4/stat…
— Matt Barnes (@Matt_NBC4) April 27, 2012
Ryan Shazier: "Hey coach! We should just do this instead of the weight room from now on. We're gettin country strong!"
— Marcus Hartman (@marcushartman) April 27, 2012
Of course leave it to Ohio State director of player personnel Mark Pantoni to have the real last word on the afternoon:
Looking forward to trimming up @CoachVrabel50 tree this afternoon #buckeyegrove
— Mark Pantoni (@markpantoni) April 27, 2012
I'm working hard out here at Buckeye Grove on @CoachVrabel50 tree. Where's @CoachZachSmith to help me? twitter.com/markpantoni/st…
— Mark Pantoni (@markpantoni) April 27, 2012
Mission Completed! @CoachVrabel50 @CoachZachSmith yfrog.com/h4h04bpj
— Mark Pantoni (@markpantoni) April 27, 2012