COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State’s Scarlet team defeated the Gray team, 20-14, Saturday on a nippy, gray afternoon at Ohio Stadium in the 2012 LiFE Sports Spring Game. Braxton Miller threw for 258 yards and Rod Smith capped his 47-yard rushing day with a winning touchdown run from seven yards out.
True freshman receiver Michael Thomas wasted no time in building a nice rapport with Miller as he caught 12 passes for 131 yards. Red-shirt freshman tight end Nick Vannett caught five passes for 52 yards. Miller was 24-of-31 on the day with one pass intercepted by Adam Griffin.
Kenny Guiton completed 17-of-26 passes for 191 yards with a 28-yard touchdown reception to Devin Smith. He threw an interception on the Gray’s last drive of the day…Christian Bryant picking the ball off in the red zone with the Scarlet holding on to a 20-14 lead.
Scarlet led, 13-7, at halftime as Miller threw for 197 yards in the half, completing 16-of-22 passes. Thomas, the nephew of USC great and former pro Keyshawn Johnson, caught eight passes in the half for 78 yards. Chris Fields had three catches for 50 yards.
A Carlos Hyde one-yard run staked Scarlet to a 7-0 lead less than 3 minutes into the contest. Drew Basil hit a 41-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead but Gray scored inside of a minute to go in the first half as Guiton found Smith over the middle with a laser of a throw that Smith hauled in and then sprinted untouched into the end zone.
Basil kicked a 32-yard field goal to end the half.
Guiton scored on a 4-yard run late in the third quarter and Smith capped a 65-yard drive with less than five minutes to play for the final points of the day.
A crowd of 81,112 was on hand to watch the debut action of Coach Urban Meyer’s first Ohio State team.
No to low play: A large number of Buckeyes were not able to play today while recovering from various ailments, surgeries and injuries, including SAF C.J. Barnett, SAF Christian Bryant, DL Se’Von Pittman, SAF Zach Domicone, WR Evan Spencer, FB Darryl Wood, DL Kenny Hayes, WR Verlon Reed, LB Curtis Grant, LB Storm Klein, TE Jeff Heuerman, OL Jacoby Boren, DL Nathan Williams, DL Johnathan Hankins and SAF Jamie Wood.
Jordan Hall, expected to be a key go-to and throw-to player for the Buckeyes’ offense this fall, was held out simply as a precaution.
Game captains: John Simon and Etienne Sabino represented team Gray at the pregame coin toss while Jack Mewhort and Zach Boren represented the Scarlet.
Boom! Boom! Before the game, Ohio State coaches set up their “circle drill” at midfield where two players square off in a one-on-one battle of strength and dominance. John Simon and Jack Mewhort opened the drill and some of the additional battles were between Jake Stoneburner and Zach Boren, and Braxton Miller vs. Kenny Guiton.
Another field goal thing: Drew Basil stayed busy after his 41-yard field goal early in the second quarter that made the score 10-0 Scarlet. After he made the attempt coach Urban Meyer kept the field goal team out and Basil followed with six more attempts…consecutively from 41 (good), 45 (blocked by Adam Bellamy), 45 (good), 53 (good), 58 (about five yards short) and another from 58 (just short). All in all: nice work by the field goal unit in a short amount of time.
One week ago today Meyer and the Buckeyes drew national attention for an indoor scrimmage in front of 3,100 students that included Basil kicking field goals while being surrounded by hundreds of students.
Oskies: Adam Griffin, son of the great Archie Griffin, intercepted Braxton Miller for the first turnover in the game with 7:42 to play in the second quarter and the Scarlet leading 10-0. Scarlet’s defense held on three downs. Christian Bryant’s late interception of Kenny Guiton’s pass thwarted a Gray drive that had reached the Scarlet 16. Bryant intercepted the pass at the 2 and returned it 15 yards.
Misc. notes and good stuff… Braxton Miller completed his first five attempts of the scrimmage. … Key offensive go-to players heading into the fall, according to coach Urban Meyer, are RB Jordan Hall, TE Jake Stoneburner, RB Carlos Hyde, WR Corey Brown, WR Michael Thomas and WR Devin Smith. … Ryan Shazier led the Scarlet team with eight tackles. Orhian Johnson led the Gray with a game-high seven solo tackles. Adam Griffin and Etienne Sabino had six tackles apiece for the Gray while Luke Roberts, a true freshman, had five. Linebackers Stewart Smith and Conner Crowell had five tackles for the Scarlet in support of Shazier.
Remembering D.C.: Today’s spring game was the first Ohio State football game in 38 years that did not include D.C. Koehl in the press box handling things from a statistical standpoint. D.C., who passed away in January, joined the sports information office in 1973 after graduating from Ohio State earlier that year. He is dearly missed, and he will forever be missed on football Saturdays in Ohio Stadium.
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