So I watched the entire OSU Spring Game today...

It is available on Youtube - no link (too old and lazy to learn)- I just googled it

General Notes: 

• My Primary focus was on Barrett - given the recent BM injury
• You may wish to watch on mute unless you are fond of hearing how great and innovative Urban Meyer is i.e. Braxton's head-cam, Urban renaming his coaches "group leaders" etc. 
• I am not an ex-coach or football expert, just a fan that spends too much time on MGoBlog
• This was a true 2 team scrimmage not 1s vs. 2s as it may affect the results on the field.

 

Football Notes:

QB's - Barrett

• Better runner of the 2 QBs - offense looked very Braxton-like with Barrett at the helm
• Not quite as shifty or as fast as BM imo
• 17-34 by my count passing
  • Only 7 completions 5+ yards downfield
  • Only 1 completion (crossing route) 15+ yds
  • 0-5 on true deep balls - 2 were "catchable"
• Not as good an arm as Jones on the deep stuff

Jones

• Big Kid ala Terrelle Pryor - but less mobile and shifty - (less of an athelete than our DG imo)
• Didn't chart his passing but he was 3(or4) for 10 on deep throws - 4 were catchable - of the non-catchable throws -  one may have been an OOB throwaway and one was an End of Half Hail Mary
• Didn't seem as good on the short stuff as Barrett
• Seemed to be a less designed runs or read-options with Jones as QB

Defense

• Played almost all vanilla except for 1 goal line stand where they did some run blitzes and stopped Jones' offense 3 straight plays from the 2.
• Lots of press coverage - seemed very good coverage on almost all the deep throws (catchable or not)

Running Backs

• Dunn (sigh) and Ball seemed the most effective to me (both were on the same offense fwiw)
• Elliot and Samuel were clearly faster but weren't able to get the edge like Dunn was.

Punting -- 2 punts would have been blocked in a non-scrimmage.  Might be solely due to scrimmage effort levels.  No returns or kickoffs were practiced

O-Line/D-line -- OSU showed much better ability to run than the recent M scrimmage (benefit of spread O?) but the pass protection was less than stellar on non quick pass plays.  Probably would have been 10+ sacks in a real game.  (This is with no blitzing)

Because its OSU.........Nelson Munz memorial plays:

• Barrett - 1st and 10 on his own 2.  Pass play - holds the ball too long (freshman!) gets sacked and fumbles for the only TD for Jones' team.
• Jones (personal fav) - 1st and 10 on own 20.  Pass play - ball is stripped or slips out of his hands - Jones chases and recovers the ball in the end zone, eludes tacklers and throws for a -12 yard completion.
• Corey Smith - WR reverse/pass - Pass covered - runs to the 1 - fumbles for a touchback reaching for the goal line.

 

Summary - Defense hard to tell due to the split teams and vanilla scheme but press coverage was prominent and effective.  Offense struggled for the most part - I would expect a freshman-year Braxton level offense from OSU by November - possibly worse depending on the O-line development and Hyde-less running back production.

 

Hopefully I have provided some useful info for those who don't want to watch a 2+ hour youtube video.