COLUMBUS, Ohio — Eight weeks ago, Ohio State won the first-ever College Football Playoff championship with a victory over Oregon in North Texas.
Tomorrow, the Buckeyes will hold their first spring practice of the 2015 season.
Some "offseason," huh?
Returning 14 combined starters on offense and defense from a season ago, Urban Meyer's squad has been hard at work already in winter conditioning, preparing to defend college football's crown. The likely preseason No. 1 team in the nation, Ohio State has plenty going for it at the moment and no shortage intrigue as it enters its spring practice session.
The most talked-about quarterback competition in the country, a roster full of some of the nation's biggest stars and the mindset of a team seeking a repeat will all take center stage in Columbus over the course of the next few weeks' 15 practices. March Madness may just be heating up, but football is always king in Columbus, and this spring will be no exception.
Especially after what transpired just eight weeks ago.
What to Watch for on Offense
With three high-profile candidates, all eyes will be on the Buckeyes' quarterback competition until the OSU offense takes its first snap in the season opener against Virginia Tech on Sept. 7. That will ring true this spring as well—even if only one of the signal-callers is healthy enough to participate.
Coming off an unlikely national championship run after starting the season as the Buckeyes third-string quarterback, Cardale Jones returns as Ohio State's undisputed top quarterback. That is, at least until J.T. Barrett and Braxton Miller return from last year's season-ending injuries, which are expected to keep them out of the majority of spring practice.
That makes this spring a big one for Jones, who, despite beating Wisconsin, Alabama and Oregon in consecutive postseason games, still has only three starts to his credit in his college career. The redshirt junior knows this spring is a huge opportunity for him to continue to jell with the Buckeyes wide receiving corps and potentially take an insurmountable lead over Barrett and Miller heading into the summer.
"I can get a lot better," Jones said when he announced his return to Ohio State three days after the national title game. "As each week and each game went on, I think I got a lot better and I progressed. With a full offseason taking reps as a [No.] 1, I think it'll make me be the best quarterback I can possibly be."
Already favored to win the polarizing quarterback competition in Columbus, Jones will need a big offseason to hold off Barrett—the reigning Big Ten Quarterback and National Freshman of the Year—and Miller—the 2012 and 2013 Big Ten MVP. This spring could be a big step in that direction for Jones, but the Buckeyes' quarterback battle won't take its full form until this summer.
With Ezekiel Elliott sitting out the spring following wrist surgery and four of five starters returning on OSU's offensive line, the other position to keep an eye on this spring is the Buckeyes' wide receivers. Ohio State lost its leader in receiving yards and touchdowns from a season ago in Devin Smith, as well as steady starter Evan Spencer.
Redshirt junior Michael Thomas returns with his team-best 54 receptions, and he will be joined by Jalin Marshall (38 receptions, 499 yards, six touchdowns), Corey Smith (20 receptions, 255 yards) and Dontre Wilson (21 receptions, 300 yards, three touchdowns), although Wilson may spend the majority of the spring on the sideline after fracturing his foot in November.
Meyer and wide receivers coach Zach Smith will also hope to see an emergence from a group of unproven players in Noah Brown, Johnnie Dixon, Terry McLaurin and James Clark. Help is also on the way this summer from incoming freshmen Alex Stump and K.J. Hill, but spring will be first opportunity for a new wide receiver starter to emerge from the pack.
What to Watch for on Defense
The Buckeyes will return seven starters on defense from last year's title team, but they lost several key contributors, including defensive tackle Michael Bennett, cornerback Doran Grant and linebacker Curtis Grant. Ohio State will bring back one of the nation's best defensive players in defensive end Joey Bosa, although it's a safe bet the junior's reps will be limited this spring.
Nevertheless, the Buckeyes defense will be worth watching this spring as it continues to grow under the direction of second-year defensive coordinator Chris Ash. Ohio State improved dramatically in 2014 from 2013—especially when it came to defending the pass—but Ash believes there are still strides his unit can make.
“Am I pleased with how we played last year? Absolutely,” Ash said on national signing day. “But I’m never fully satisfied. I’m disappointed we weren’t the No. 1-ranked defense in the country. I’m disappointed that we weren’t top-10 in every defensive category because we were good enough and close enough to be able to do that and didn’t get it done.”
The Buckeyes ranked 19th in the country in total defense, 34th in rushing defense and 28th in passing defense. Those are all significant improvements from where Ohio State measured in the season before, but the Buckeyes remained a team that was carried by its offense.
But this spring could be another step forward for the OSU defense in its quest to catch up to its offensive counterpart, especially with sophomore Raekwon McMillan taking over Grant's role as the heart of the unit at middle linebacker. The races to replace the other Grant and Steve Miller at defensive end are also plenty intriguing, even if they'll remain overshadowed by the quarterback competition.
At cornerback, it will be between redshirt sophomore Gareon Conley and true sophomore Damon Webb in the competition to start opposite Eli Apple, while sophomore Jalyn Holmes appears to have the inside track when it comes to playing on the other side of Bosa. The return of fifth-year senior Joel Hale to the defensive line after a year of playing on offense is also an intriguing storyline to watch and could be a big boost to the Buckeyes' leadership following the departure of their three captains.
Urban Meyer's Toughest Task
Having twice attempted to defend a national title before—and unsuccessfully at that—it didn't take long for Meyer to name what his toughest task this offseason would be.
"We have to watch for complacency in the program, and we're going to watch that very closely," Meyer said the day after the national title game. "We have a little bit of transition of coaching staff. This is a very complicated machine, college football, when you start thinking about all the different hurdles that are along the journey."
That transition on the OSU staff came with the departure of offensive coordinator Tom Herman, who is now the head coach at Houston. Herman was replaced by newly promoted offensive line coach Ed Warinner, but for the most part, Meyer's offense will remain Meyer's offense.
As for the complacency, that could be a real issue, especially after two months of these kids walking around football-crazed Columbus as national champions. But Buckeyes senior linebacker Joshua Perry said the OSU leaders and staff have already set a mindset that a diva attitude will not be tolerated inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
"The thing that can hurt a team like this the most is rock stars," Perry told Bleacher Report last week. "We had some guys who just came along in the blink of an eye. That is hard to handle because everybody's going to be patting you on the back. That's the biggest thing to be able to handle maturity-wise.
"Rock stars will not be tolerated at this program."
With six months to go until the start of the season, that's a mentality that may take more than 15 practices to instill. But this spring will be the first crucial step in the Buckeyes creating a mindset that could allow them to repeat as national champions.
Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Big Ten Lead Writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes were obtained firsthand. All statistics courtesy of cfbstats.com. Recruiting rankings courtesy of 247Sports.
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