The final play of the day two practice, which saw redshirt sophomore quarterback Devin Brown hit sophomore wide receiver Bryson Rodgers for a long touchdown and ensued a subsequent celebration from Rodgers’ fellow skill players, was emblematic of how an improved day went for the Ohio State offense.
Graduate transfer Will Howard took many of the first team reps once again for Ohio State’s offense and again had a positive outing in practice.
Howard wasn’t without mistakes — in the beginning of the practice the former Kansas State quarterback threw an errant pass to wide receiver Jayden Ballard deep down the field. In 7-on-7 drills, Howard threw a pass a half-second too late towards the sideline that should have been intercepted, but was instead dropped by Jaylen McClain.
Howard’s brightest moment came on a pass to wide receiver David Adolph in the 7-on-7 drill. Adolph broke slightly open deep down the field and Howard layered a perfect pass in the back-left corner of the end zone only for the ball to be dropped by Adolph. Howard had a nice pass to Treveyon Henderson earlier in the practice during 7-on-7 that this time was completed for a big gain.
Howard wasn’t alone with a solid day at quarterback, Brown had a very impressive day completing passes down the field. In addition to his walk-off touchdown pass to Rodgers, Brown found Jeremiah Smith for a lengthy touchdown pass earlier in practice. Smith, lined up one-on-one with fellow talented freshman, Aaron Scott, was able to sprint past Scott on a post route that caught the attention of Brown who delivered a perfect pass over the arms of Scott right to Smith.
Just like he did on Thursday, Julian Sayin was very sharp in practice on Friday. Sayin’s best play came in the face of pressure as he was forced to roll out of the pocket under duress and while sprinting to his right, he made a perfect throw to tight end Jelani Thurman.
The 6-1 quarterback made another great throw up the seam to a well-covered Will Kacmerak, who couldn’t come down with the catch, but the fast ball thrown from Sayin surprisingly gave him the opportunity to do so.
The transfer quarterback from Alabama got reps against Ohio State’s first-team secondary in the 7-on-7 drill. While Sayin couldn’t find anyone down the field, he went through his progressions and made accurate throws to check downs.
Smith wasn’t done testing Ohio State’s talented secondary down the field. Against All-Big Ten cornerback Denzel Burke, Smith ran a vertical route attempting to sprint past Burke as he had done to Scott, Sophomore quarterback Lincoln Kienholz threw a pretty good pass attempting to find Smith, but Burke had great coverage against him and he was able to stick out his hand to force the incompletion.
Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles had high praise for Smith after the practice.
“He’s showing you right away that he can handle anything you throw out at him,” Knowles said. “You put him in a one-on-one situation even against our best, you’re kind of holding your breath.”
