Spring Game thoughts

First off, I got linked up at Midwest Bias, and in accordance with the Blogger Treaty of 1948, I must reciprocate. I considered putting them in with the OSU sites, but eventually decided against it. I'm open to suggestions, however. Speaking of suggestions, I suggest you go check out Midwest Bias, it'll be worth your time. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Ok, welcome back. 64,000 people went out to the Shoe yesterday to watch the Scarlet team get a win over the Gray, 12-0. I wasn't one of the 64,000, as I decided to watch on 10TV, so I didn't have to spend all the game saying, "wait, who was that?" It's easier to see what's going on on TV, though it was a fantastic day to watch a game at Ohio Stadium. Well, it's a fantastic day to watch a football game at Ohio Stadium even if it's raining tornadoes or something. But you know what I mean.

I don't really like drawing conclusions from anything other than actual games. I mean, in the Spring Game, you have a first-teamer going up against a third-teamer. So if the starter looks good, does that mean he is good, or that he's just going up against someone smaller and slower? Plus, between the extra rules, the makeshift teams, and the simplified playbooks, you can't really evaluate the offenses and defenses as a whole.

That said, I'm going to ignore all that and go ahead and draw conclusions anyway:

• Troy Smith did not get injured. He only played one (yes, one) series, and he went 4-4 on it and lead the Scarlet to the only touchdown of the game. So he looked alright, scored a touchdown, and didn't get injured. That's a successful Spring Game for a Heisman candidate.
• A.J. Trapasso looked worthy of his high draft position. For example, he had a punt downed on the six, but then had to retry due to a holding call. His second attempt was downed on the half-yard line. He could be key this year.
  
• Beanie Wells looks good. He was the best back on the field today, shedding tackles, hitting holes with authority, and doing all that stuff that running backs are supposed to do. The only thing holding him back right now is his pass blocking, which at times was reminiscent of a turnstile.
• Jay Richardson also looked good. He had my favorite play of the game, where the right tackle "blocked" Richardson's helmet off, and he still got by him to make the sack. He might have been helped by matchups, but Richardson was the best defensive end on the field yesterday
• The Brians will see a lot of playing time at receiver. Hartline and Robiskie both made some good catches. Roy Hall's gonna have a battle on his hands for the #3 receiver position. Though Roy also looked good. If I was kidnapped by some bizarre cult, and I needed to pick one of those three guys to catch a ball near the sideline, take a hit, and hang on for the first down, Hall's probably the one I'd choose. Though I'd probaly prefer to trade a toe to the cult in exchange for allowing me to select Gonzo. It depends on the sort of cult we're dealing with.
  
• The linebackers will be fine. They won't be up to last year's level, but I didn't notice any of the guys that played doing anything bad, which is a good thing, and a few times they even did good stuff. They should be at least decent, which is what we need.
• Todd Boeckman's probably our second-best QB right now. Zwick didn't play much, but he looked like he's looked in every game, meaning he didn't do anything bad, but he didn't do anything great. Boeckman made a few tough throws and led the Gray team to a score on a QB sneak, regardless of what the refs thought. Stupid refs. Schoenhoft looked like he wasn't as far along as we all had been hearing, as he struggled most of the game. Hopefully there's a lot of mop-up time this season, so that both Zwick and Boeckman can get work.

So there's my observations from the Spring Game. The O-Zone also has some notes, as does Bucknuts, and there's more forthcoming from several sites. I may update this post with more links as they become available. It depends on how lazy I end up being today. And it does look like a nice day to be lazy, I must say.