Football
Spring Football Brings Experiments with OSU Personnel
By John Porentas
OSU spring practice begins tomorrow with the Buckeyes looking for ways to replace key departed players - 31 of them to be exact.OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel said this would be a spring of mixing and matching as the OSU coaching staff looks for replacement combinations for the likes of James Laurinaitis, Marcus Freeman, Malcolm Jenkins, Donald Washington and Nader Abdallah on defense. On offense, OSU will have to replace names like Brian Robiskie, Rory Nicol, Brian Hartline, Beanie Wells, Ben Person, Alex Boone and Steve Rehring.
Tressel made several surprise announcements involving the tight end position. Wide receiver Jake Stoneburner will move to tight end to give OSU depth at receiver at that spot. In perhaps the most surprising announcement, Tressel said that they will look at defensive tackle Todd Denlinger as a short yardage blocking tight end as well as offensive lineman Andrew Moses.
OSU's retooling process this spring will go forward without several key candidates at some positions. Offensive lineman JB Shugarts will not practice as he recovers from off-season surgery. The same is true of defensive end Keith Wells and linebacker Zack Boren. Defensive end Lawrence Wilson will practice as he comes back from a broken leg, but will not be allowed to go at full speed. Additionally, fullback Aram Olsen remains unavailable due to medical issues. Olsen missed all of last season. On the plus side, offensive lineman Mike Adams, who missed a ton of practice time last year due to injury, is cleared to practice at full go this spring. Additionally, corner Andre Amos, a key candidate at the cornerback position, is also back to full health after recovering from a knee injury.
Tressel said that the OSU staff is still evaluating just what the Buckeyes do well and what kind of schemes they may implement on both offense and defense.
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