ESPN All-Access: Ohio State Training Days, Episode Two

The second episode of "ESPN All-Access: Ohio State Training Days" is in the books. So what do we know?

Well, HBO's Hard Knocks it ain't. It's not even really BTN's "The Journey". There aren't really interesting/compelling narratives/characters (except arguably for Devin Smith). The second episode failed to provide any additional depth from the first and instead relied mostly on behind the scene footage you wouldn't really good anywhere otherwise (which isn't obviously totally a bad thing).

So what did we gather from the second look at the dawn of the Urban Meyer-era at Ohio State?

-The Buckeyes are taking training camp as seriously as one would expect. Meyer spoke about killing his players essentially during camp to get them ready for the grind of the regular season and while the days showcased so far have mostly focused on the trickeration he pulled by letting up on them easier than he'd led them to believe he would, the man himself mentioned that his favorite time to find out what people are made of is at 10 pm after a long, hard afternoon of two-a-days.

-As was common place in his previous stops in Bowling Green, Utah, and Florida, Urban Meyer takes special teams extremely seriously (not unlike his predecessor). To give his guys extra motivation, Meyer props those that participate up as members of the "Special Forces".

-Zach Smith is a rising star, both on social media and in the department of yelling at/motivating his guys. Several times during episode 2, Smith was featured yelling at wide receivers after they gave what he perceived to be nothing more than an "average" effort (a popular Meyer staff cliche). Something tells me Grandpa Bruce would be proud.

-And of course no one man's intensity tops that of Ohio State defensive backs coach Kerry Coombs. While less Red Bull-intoxicated than he was in the series premiere, it was sort of hard to listen to Coombs without wanting to get up and pin somebody.

-And then there was the Circle Drill. Besides Devin Smith (who showcased an abysmal Shaquille O'Neal impersonation and then followed it up with a rough around the edges takes on Jay Pharaoh doing Jay-Z in an effort to show off his comedy chops), the real highlight of the episode was the following, in which freshman kicker Kevin Niehoff (pictured left) took on the first player to lose their black stripe, defensive back De'Van Bogard. The results were as follows:

To Bogard's credit, it's doubtful opposing wide receivers will be doing this by the time they reach him off the line when things get real here in a few short weeks.

If you missed the showing, there's a 10 PM EST re-airing tonight on ESPN U. You can also check out yesterday's article for the complete "ESPN All-Access: Ohio State Training Days" schedule.