Ohio football team members shuffled into their locker room shortly after 5 a.m. Tuesday for the Bobcats’ first spring practice of the year.
It was a tad earlier than the players were used to — the team practiced in the afternoon in the fall and Ohio University classes don’t begin until 7:30 a.m. at the earliest — but you’d be hard pressed to find one lacking a renewed sense of enthusiasm.
“I think they’re excited about spring ball,” Ohio coach Frank Solich said. “I don’t care when we’d held practice. They’d have been ready to go if it was three in the morning.”
More than a dozen players were missing from the Bobcats’ position drills and offensive sets Tuesday because of injury.
Solich said the lack of depth, coupled with available players’ class schedules, was the reason Ohio will take to the gridiron before dawn twice a week during its month-long practice schedule leading into the Green & White Game on April 13.
More than just class conflicts play into Ohio’s spring scheduling.
The Bobcats’ first practice was two weeks sooner than last season’s spring kickoff — a result of OU’s transition to semesters.
“Everything was just kind of thrown on us,” redshirt senior quarterback Tyler Tettleton said. “We didn’t really get that much time due to the weather to get out here and run around and get some throws in before spring ball.”
A couple of his would-be targets weren’t suited up Tuesday, including redshirt senior wide receiver Donte Foster.
Tettleton is also putting in work in front of a relatively new offensive line, as three of its five 2012 week one starters graduated and saw others sidelined by injury.
Tettleton was able to draw a silver lining from having fresh faces on the offensive line.
“In a way, it worked out (well), where they’ll get the majority of all the reps and they’ll get used to everything and get some experience,” Tettleton said.
Line play is among the emphases of Solich’s spring approach. He said it is key for the Bobcats to condition its line players now in an attempt to rebuild the depth the Bobcats had in the trenches last season.
Defensive linemen Neal Huynh, Corey Hasting, Tremayne Scott and Carl Jones exhausted their eligibility last season.
Ohio will also look to shore up its kicking game in the absence of outgoing redshirt senior Matt Weller.
Solich said he was impressed by the moxie the Bobcats brought to the field Tuesday, but said continuing that effort through their remaining 13 spring practices will be key.
“Everybody can start (well),” he said. “It’s how you finish usually that tells a story.”
jr992810@ohiou.edu
