The Big Ten Network gave fans an inside view of Ohio State practice

The news coming out of the first five days of Ohio State’s fall football practice has been noticeably less than in years past, thanks to the athletic department closing practices and not making players and coaches available to the media due to the on-going investigation into head coach Urban Meyer’s handling of domestic violence allegations against former wide receivers coach Zach Smith.

However, thanks to the Big Ten Network’s annual bus tour, we got a bit of a reprieve as the first three quarters of practice were open to all media, though no interviews were permitted before the assembled mass was escorted away.

So, thanks to BTN for the assist in getting us something substantive to talk about during the otherwise frustrating last seven days.

Offense

We got a first look at new interim-head coach Ryan Day working with Dwayne Haskins and the rest of the stable of QBs.

BTN’s Gerry DiNardo noted that Haskins appears to be a prototypical “pass-first, dual-threat quarterback.”

Dave Revsine also noted that Haskins’ leadership skills are different than those of J.T. Barrett, but Day thinks that’s ok.

Rever also gave as an up-close-and-personal look at some of the top players that Haskins will be throwing to this fall in Terry McLaurin, Johnnie Dixon, and Parris Campbell.

Then, we got to actually see the new QB working with his receivers as Haskins hit McLaurin over the middle for what appeared to be a score.

We also got to see how Haskins might run the more RPO-driven offense this season in a play with sophomore running back J.K. Dobbins.

Of course, after Day, the coach that garnered the most attention during the open practice was likely Brian Hartline, who just signed a $105,000 contract to be the interim-wide receivers coach, replacing Smith.

Defense

On the other side of the ball, we also got a good look at one of OSU’s young defensive studs, Chase Young.

Moving to the line, he doesn’t get nearly as much publicity as some of his colleagues do, but there’s no doubt that Larry Johnson is one of the best defensive line coaches in America, if not the best of them all.

Finally, BTN gave us a peek at why OSU is DBU.

Overall, the BTN crew gave credit to the players and coach who had a tough, focused practice, despite the fact that Meyer wasn’t able to be in attendance.

Former Buckeye quarterback Stanley Jackson joined his BTN colleagues at the desk to discuss what a practice under Day looked like.