Ohio State’s Urban Meyer discusses spring practice progress

As the calendar flips to April, the Ohio State Buckeye football program now officially has less than two weeks left on their 2018 spring practice schedule. Halfway through the month of workouts, head coach Urban Meyer met with the media on Monday morning to discuss the progress that he’s seen in his team.

The Buckeyes will conclude their spring sessions on Saturday, April 14 in the annual spring game. The intra-squad scrimmage will kickoff at approximately 1:45 p.m. ET, following a “Showdown at the Shoe” lacrosse matchup between Ohio State and Michigan.

Quarterback Position Battle

• Meyer said that it is day-to-day as to which quarterback is playing the best. He said that he’s seen individual growth in all of the players, but no one has yet to separate himself.
• The head coach would prefer for one QB to just go out and take the job, but without that, he likes the competition. “You wish one would take it, but that just hasn’t happened yet.”
• He added that Tate Martell has a skill set similar to former QB J.T. Barrett. Meyer said multiple times that Martell has an incredible skill set.
• Meyer said that early during the spring practice, the void of missing Barrett was obvious, but that it is closing quickly.
• He said that he wasn’t sure if they would have a clear leader at the position coming out of spring practice.

Depth Chart

• Meyer said that the receivers still have a long way to go, but that they have been getting better as things have progressed.
• The head coach praises the development of Thayer Munford. With the chance to become a starter as a redshirt-freshman, Meyer said that he has been very impressed with Munford’s work ethic.
• He went into a bit of detail about the lineman’s recruiting, including that athletic director Gene Smith was involved in signing off on bringing him in, given some issues in his past.
• Meyer said that the defense is far ahead of the offense at this point in practice.
• After losing players to the NFL for years, Meyer said that, “if you dont have leaders it’s your job to develop them.”
• On defensive end Davon Hamilton, Meyer said, “you see a heartbeat there.” He added that Hamilton’s had a very good spring.
• Meyer said that tight end Luke Farrell has been grading out as a champion. Last week was “as good a week as he’s had,” according to Meyer.

Injury Updates

• Meyer said that the coaching staff was trying to protect returning starters Nick Bosa and Dre’Mont Jones on the defense; as well as Parris Campbell and other offensive veterans.

Miscellaneous

• Meyer said that they are especially careful when recruiting players from difficult backgrounds. He said that the program is very healthy right now, and the worst thing that you can do is to bring in somebody who would cause problems with that environment.