Football
Annual Player Position Shuffle Begins
By John Porentas
As happens every season in fall camp, there have been some personnel shuffling on the OSU roster.
The big news after the jersey scrimmage is that former fullback Brandon Schnittker has been moved to the position of tailback full time. Schnittker is expected to be OSU's big back this season.
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Brandon Schnittker
Photo by Jim Davidson |
"Brandon Schnittker is going to be a tailback," said OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel.
Schnittker's departure from the fullback spot will make an opportunity for someone else at that position.
"Stan White, who I think is having a whale of a camp at fullback, did an excellent job today, and Dionte Johnson did a good job. We don't play with a fullback in the game enough to leave three guys predominantly there, so Brandon has been working primarily at tailback. We think he adds that big-back kind of guy. I was really impressed with Brandon Schnittker today," Tressel said.
Another player who was moved to running back is former cornerback Shaun Lane. Lane will be full time with the offense now.
At tight end, there were some new faces as well in the jersey scrimmage, one of them not so familiar, and one of them very familiar. Former linebacker Brandon Smith has moved to tight end, and standout linebacker Bobby Carpenter has gotten some snaps on offense at tight end as well in the continuation of an experiment that started last spring.
"The guy who is playing a lot of tight end is Brandon Smith," said Tressel.
"He did a whale of a job today. Bobby Carpenter played some tight end today. He caught a pass. We used him some there because Rory (Nicol) has been banged up and Ryan Hamby we have not worked night and day because he's coming off injury. He (Hamby) ran all the ones stuff, but we didn't double him up on multiple groups. Brandon Smith probably played more than anyone," said Tressel.
"I though he (Carpenter) looked good. One time today he thought it was a run and it was really a pass where he was supposed to be going out, but the guy he blocked ended up about 12 yards down the field on his back."
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Rob Sims
Photo by Jim Davidson |
In what is not a new change, but sort of a confirmation that the change has been made, Rob Sims said after the scrimmage that he has played left guard almost exclusively in fall camp with Steve Rehring playing left tackle. Sims says he has done some individual drills with the tackles, but he has been at guard for all the team oriented practice periods. He played exclusively at guard in the jersey scrimmage.
"This has been a fabulous camp with Robby down at guard," said Nick Mangold earlier this week.
"We've had a lot of time to come together, him and I. If he moves back out to tackle I'm going to shed a little tear," Mangold said.
"I think I will cry too," laughed Sims when told of Mangold's comment.
"We call it the tandem in there because we've been getting it done. T. J. (Downing) too, we've been really getting it done in the middle. We're really happy about that."
Making that move possible has been the development of Steve Rehring at left tackle. Sims likes what he sees in Rehring this season.
"I think he's looking good so far. He's still a young guy. When I was young I made a lot of mistakes. He doesn't make as many mistakes as I did when I was younger. He's still got to fine tune some stuff and get some stuff together, but I think at game time and we get him out there in front of 105,000, we'll get him going and he'll be fine."
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