On a cold rainy day, the defense ruled practice yet again.
On a day that hardly made “spring” recognizable, the Bobcats took the field Saturday for their longest live action of spring practices thus far. The majority of the practice focused around live 11-on-11 action, instead of the traditional practice ending with full team drills.
Ohio started with some individual drills, the last appearances of the day for some notable Bobcats before breaking out into team drills. Team drills went “ones-versus-ones” and “twos-versus-twos.”
Here are some notes from both sides of the ball:
Offense:
- Greg Windham received first team reps at quarterback with J.D. Sprague still missing in action. Sprague will most likely miss the entirety of spring training because of a shoulder injury.
- Ohio has a habit of going deep on the first play of any team drill and Windham connected on this particular play, putting the defense in a hole from the start.
- The quarterback snaps were split after Windham got the start, with Joey Duckworth, Conner Krizancic and Quinton Maxwell rotating with who got the reps for the second quarterback spot.
- Maleek Irons got the start at running back, running for tough yards throughout the afternoon. Irons figures to be used in short yardage situations next season, as one of the more powerful in a talented Ohio backfield.
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- The offense was without notable names like Papi White, A.J. Ouellette and Sebastian Smith on the afternoon, although White and Ouellette performed in individual drills.
Defense:
- Ohio’s defense was the backbone of the team last season. The Bobcats were 6-0 in 2015 when they kept opponents under 21 points. On the day they spent the longest time in team drills, the defense showed the same can be expected in 2016.
- The defense had the better of the day between the offense and itself, with the defense delivering several bone-jarring hits throughout the day.
- One of the earliest, and biggest, hits came when redshirt junior cornerback Bradd Ellis hit a spinning Irons in a pack of players to the point where Irons fumbled, causing the ball to fly a few feet in the air above the Irons' helmet.
- Even with their successful day, the defense was without Quentin Poling and Tarell Basham, two players who figure to be stars on the front-seven next season.
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