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Football
Scarlet and Gray Draft Report
By John Porentas

The annual spring game draft took place yesterday in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.

The draft is a fun, interesting event for those involved and those lucky enough to attend. This year in particular, the people making the draft decisions seemed to take it seriously yet keep it light enough to be fun for all. It was also quite clear that both side drafted with the intention of trying to win in mind.

"I was impressed with how much thought went into the picks and how seriously they took it," said OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel.

The Draft Format:

1) Not all the players on the roster are drafted. The coaching staff assigns the seniors to teams. They are therefore not draft eligible. Assigned players are assigned prior to the draft and the assignments are known to all before the draft begins.

2) The draft is conducted by position. Team captains are asked to "open a position" for the draft. Once that position is designated, the team that opened the position has the first pick at that position. The other team had the next pick at that position, and so on until the all the players at that position are designated to a team.

After a position is filled the team that has the second pick at that position chooses which position is drafted next and also gets the first pick at that position.

That process is repeated until all positions are drafted and all players assigned.

3) Not all players have equal draft status. Some players are designated as limited participation players. For example, this year Todd Boeckman has that status. He will play just two quarters. Since he was assigned to the Scarlet team, that made drafting at quarterback complicated. The Scarlet team elected to draft Antonio Henton. Henton and Joe Bauserman will split the remaining six quarters to be played at quarterback. By drafting Henton, Scarlet was able to choose which quarters they wanted him. Henton will quarterback the Scarlet team in the third and fourth quarters. He will quarterback the Gray team in the first quarter. Bauserman will quarterback the Gray team the second, third and fourth quarters.

4) A coin toss determined the first overall pick. The coin was tossed by commissioner Jim Tressel. This year the Scarlet won the toss giving them the right to designate which position was drafted first and also giving them the first pick at that position.

The Strategy:

In past seasons the post-draft interviews have been pretty consistent. Captains want to draft early at the positions where they see the most difference between the top player at that position and the next player. If the top-two players are close, then there is no urgency in getting one over the other. If there is a large difference however, that urgency exists. In a sense, the top, early picks are determined as much by the number two guy at that position as the number one guy.

Scarlet Captain Alex Boone holds up the jersey of number one overall pick Thaddeus Gibson.
Photo by Jim Davidson

This year's draft:

The Scarlet team won the toss and immediately opened the rush defensive end (Leo) position. They took Thaddeus Gibson. The Gray team then selected the only other player available at that position, redshirt freshman Solomon Thomas. Gray was not able to draft players like Lawrence Wilson or Cameron Heyward in this round since neither of those players are designated as rush ends.

"He's one of the best playmakers on the team right now. He's strong, he's athletic," said Scarlet captain Alex Boone who announced the pick for his team.

After the Leo position the order in which the positions were opened and the picks that were made at those positions were as follows:

Defensive Ends:
Gray Lawrence Wilson,
Scarlet Cameron Heyward
Gray Mark Johnson,
Scarlet Tom Ingham

Assigned - none

Receiver:
Scarlet Brian Hartline
Gray Dane Sanzenbacher
Scarlet Ray Small
Gray Taurean Washington
Scarlet Devon Torrence
Gray Grant Schwartz
Scarlet Jake Stoneburner
Ryan Shuck and Ricky Crawford assigned to Gray by commissioner Tressel

Assigned - Kyle Ruhl to Scarlet, Brian Robiske to Gray

Offensive Tackles:
Gray Bryant Browning
Scarlet J.B. Shugarts
Gray Andrew Miller

Assigned Jon Skinner to Scarlet, Ebner to Gray

Center:
Scarlet Jim Cordle
Gray Andrew Moses
Scarlet Scott Sika

Assigned - none

Tight End:
Gray Jake Ballard
Brandon Smith assigned to Scarlet squad from the Gray after it was determined that the Scarlet team had three tight ends, the Gray just one.

Assigned: Rory Nicol to Scarlet, J.D. Larson to Gray

Defensive Tackle:
Scarlet Doug Worthington
Gray Todd Denlinger
Scarlet Dexter Larimore

Assigned - Nader Abdallah to Scarlet, Chris Rietschlin to Scarlet, Bryan Gray to Gray

Corner:
Gray Donald Washington
Scarlet Chimdi Chekwa
Gray Andre Amos
Scarlet James Scott
Gray Devon Torrence

Assigned - Shaun Lane to Scarlet

Guard:
Scarlet Connor Smith
Gray Zach Slagle
Scarlet Evan Blankenship
Gray Chris Malone

Assigned - Ben Person to Scarlet, Kyle Mitchum and Steve Rehring to Gray

Safety
Gray Kurt Coleman
Scarlet Anderson Russell
Gray Aaron Gant
Scarlet Nate Oliver
Gray Rocco Pentello
Scarlet Eugene Clifford Scarlet

Assigned - Nick Patterson to Gray, Jamario O'Neal to Safety

Middle LB
Scarlet Austin Spitler
Gray Etienne Sabino

Assigned - James Laurinaitis to Scarlet,

Will Linebacker
Gray Ross Homan
Scarlet Brian Rolle
Gray Andrew Sweat

Assigned - Marcus Freeman to Gray

Sam Linebacker
Scarlet Jermale Hines
Gray Tyler Moeller

Assigned- Curtis Terry to Scarlet

Tailback
Gray Brandon Saine
Scarlet Boom Herron
Gray Marcus Williams
Scarlet K.C. Christian
Gray Joe Gantz

Quarterback
Scarlet Antonio Henton for quarters 3 and 4, Henton first quarter for Gray
Joe Bauserman 2nd, third, and fourth quarters for the Gray.

Punter
Gray Jon Thoma
Scarlet Ben Bartholomew

Assigned - A. J. Trapasso to Scarlet

Long Snapper
Scarlet Jake McQuaide
Gray Patrick Howe

Kicker
Scarlet Aaron Pettry
Gray Barclay
Scarlet Mike Mattimoe

Assigned - Ryan Pretorious to Scarlet

Fullback
No draft picks

Assigned - Curtis Terry to Scarlet

Trades: Following the draft commissioner Tressel opened the floor for trades. The Gray team actively tried to trade for a defensive lineman and a place kicker, but the scarlet team would not accept any offers.

Draft Day Photo Coverage

Medical Report: A number of players were declared medically out for the game. A second group consisted of players who have been injured but are considered probable for the spring game.

Offense out- Mike Adams, Mike Brewster, Garrett Hummel, Josh Kerr, Ben Person, Steve Rehring, Chris Roarke, Jon Skinner, Beanie Wells, Brian Robiske.

Offense Probable- Ben Kascandi, J. D. Larson, Rory Nicol, JB Shugarts, Connor Smith, Devon Torrence, Taurian Washington, Jake Stoneburner.

Defense out - Jamario O'Neal, Rob Rose, Donnie Evege.

Defense probable - Brian Rolle

Captains Comments:

"Our biggest call was to get Antonio Henton for the third and fourth quarter," said Scarlet co-captain James Laurinaitis.

"Our thought was that we'll have a fresh Cameron Heyward and Thaddeus Gibson chasing him around in the first two quarters we're OK. If you have those guys tired in the third and fourth quarter they aren't as effective. I think that was brilliant by Todd Boeckman to come up with that decision."

"I think our best pick was either Kurt Coleman or Donald Washington," countered Gray co-captain Malcolm Jenkins. Jenkins went on to minimize the impact of the Scarlet's number one overall pick, Thaddeus Gibson.

"He makes plays but he also messes up a lot. Hopefully he'll mess up more than he makes plays," Jenkins said.

Who Drafted Best: The Gray team looks woefully thin at defensive tackle and at the placekicker position. They were desparate for a trade with Scarlet at those positions. Scarlet would have none of it.

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