The questions left unanswered because of Ohio State's spring injuries
What we didn't learn this spring as various players navigated injuries and recovery.
COLUMBUS — The good news is that Ohio State head coach Ryan Day expects every player who missed all or part of spring practice to have a normal summer in the run-up to when camp starts this August.
That includes players who missed all of spring, such as running back Bo Jackson, offensive linemen Josh Padilla and linebacker Riley Pettijohn, and those who at least got in some practice before having to shut it down, such as safety Earl Little Jr. and offensive lineman Austin Siereveld. Players had things like minor shoulder and knee injuries cleaned up now, with the hope that nothing would linger once things really ramp up.
“There’s nobody on the team who won’t have a full summer,” Day said two weeks ago. “So, you know, I wish we had those guys for the spring, but I think we did the procedures at the right time to make sure that they have a full summer.”
The bad news is that there were some pretty important players among the injured and recovering whose absences left some lingering questions unanswered as the Buckeyes head into the summer.
We discussed some of this on Monday’s episode of Around The Shoe, when we listed players we didn’t see in the spring and are most eager to see back on the field in August.
The truth is, Ohio State coaches would tell you that spring is more about information gathering than it is about settling on concrete answers. So it’s not like they’re in panic mode simply because guys missed some or all of those 15 practices. There’s something lost, but not everything. There’s opportunity to make up for lost time.
Still, questions remain. Such as …
How does Josh Padilla fit into the offensive line competition?
When Ohio State lined up on the first day of spring practice, the starting five offensive linemen were the same five who started the Cotton Bowl loss to Miami: Left tackle Austin Siereveld, left guard Luke Montgomery, center Carson Hinzman, right guard Gabe VanSickle, and right tackle Phillip Daniels.
There was intrigue about that right guard spot. Would one of Daniels or Siereveld be moved inside, with Ian Moore playing tackle? If not, who would get the first crack at it between VanSickle and Padilla? Then we found out Padilla was out for the spring, and the line we saw on day one was unchanged from the last time OSU played a game. A bit anticlimactic.
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