Ohio State officially kicked off its spring practice on Tuesday, and Urban Meyer set out on the enormous task of replacing the 16 starters he lost from last year’s team. The Buckeyes, fresh off a 12-1 2015 campaign that actually fell short of their enormous expectations, will look completely different this fall without superstars Ezekiel Elliott, Joey Bosa and Darron Lee suiting up for the Scarlet and Gray. With so many holes to fill before kicking off the 2016 season against Bowling Green this September, Meyer is anticipating more competition than he’s seen during his 15-year head coaching career. “This is uncharted waters for me,” Meyer said, according to Eric Seger of Eleven Warriors. While the depth chart won’t be finalized until fall camp, here are the most important position battles that will take place in spring practice. Running Back Ezekiel Elliott was the driving force during Ohio State’s historic run through the 2014 postseason, and he was the only consistent presence in an offense that failed to establish an identity in 2015. With Elliott’s departure to the NFL, the Buckeyes need to figure out what to do in a backfield that’s fortunate enough to return J.T. Barrett at quarterback. Over the last four seasons, the Buckeyes have identified lead backs and leaned on them heavily. From 2012-13, that role was filled by Carlos Hyde, who rumbled his way to 2,689 total yards and 35 touchdowns. Over the last two years, Elliott amassed 4,125 yards and…

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Fourteen minutes and 32 seconds. That’s how long it took for Urban Meyer to be asked about his quarterback and arguably the most important player on his roster, J.T. Barrett, following Ohio State’s first practice of the spring on Tuesday. The inquiry didn’t come from a member of the national media, nor was the answer broadcast to millions of homes or even tweeted to tens of thousands of followers from the relatively small gathering of reporters inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center team meeting room. In fact, the fifth-year Buckeyes head coach’s opening spring practice press conference was pretty—for a lack of a better term—boring, in comparison to the three-ring circus that emanated from Columbus just a year ago. “I was expecting high energy, and that’s what we got. Our whole focus is on four-to-six seconds, point A to B,” Meyer said, repeating one of his signature mantras. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.” Such is life at Ohio State in 2016, where the TMZ-like atmosphere that surrounded the program 12 months ago and throughout the 2015 season has been replaced by a back-to-basics mentality necessary for a team with 16 open starting spots on its depth chart. The Buckeyes might be the current national championship favorites according to oddsmakers, but don’t tell that to Meyer, who’s more concerned with a roster already bitten by injuries after just one day of spring practice. “We have 11 right now—guys that we’re…

The Ohio State Buckeyes were the runaway favorite to win a second consecutive College Football Playoff National Championship last year, but they stumbled down the stretch against the Michigan State Spartans and fell short of repeating. After losing 16 starters and a handful of superstars, the Buckeyes’ road back to the playoff will be much more difficult in 2016. It won’t be an impossible road to navigate. Back in 2014, the Buckeyes entered the season with a significant rebuilding job after losing 2013 mainstays Carlos Hyde, Ryan Shazier, Bradley Roby and quarterback Braxton Miller, who was lost for the year after reinjuring his shoulder. That team built chemistry and momentum—which paved the way for Ohio State’s first national title since 2002. Can head coach Urban Meyer and the Buckeyes re-create that history this fall? The Case for Ohio State Ohio State has a few things going for it in 2016 that it didn’t have in 2015, and the biggest factor is certainty at the quarterback position. Last year, the Buckeyes were supposed to be strong at quarterback with Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett behind center, but the position battle and constant wavering between the two served as a hindrance to the offense. Ohio State faltered between a pro-style look suited to Jones and a zone-read attack that favored Barrett’s ability, and the identity of the unit wasn’t shaped until it was too late. With Barrett as the clear-cut leader of not only the offense, but…

Ohio State absolutely dominated the NFL Scouting Combine—sending a nation-leading 14 participants to Indianapolis over the weekend—and the event could be a springboard to a historic draft for the Buckeyes. Headlined by defensive end Joey Bosa, running back Ezekiel Elliott and linebacker Darron Lee, Ohio State is in prime position to carry that momentum to the NFL’s biggest offseason stage. But is head coach Urban Meyer’s latest crop of next-level talent good enough to make history? The Benchmarks If Ohio State is to set a new benchmark in April, it’ll have to shatter a record it set in 2004. Twelve years ago, 14 players who fueled Ohio State’s 2002 national title win and orchestrated a 25-2 run over two seasons were taken in the draft. The group was deep, but it wasn’t top-heavy—the first Buckeye didn’t come off the board until the New Orleans Saints selected defensive end Will Smith at No. 18 overall. But over the course of seven rounds, the Buckeyes had selections from at least one player in every position group except running back. They even had punter B.J. Sander selected in the third round by the Green Bay Packers. That same year, the Miami Hurricanes made history of their own by having six of their former players taken in the first round. That team, which Ohio State beat a year-and-a-half earlier in Tempe, Arizona, for the national championship, was absolutely loaded with NFL talent. Safety Sean Taylor was the headliner at…

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Four years ago, Darron Lee showed up for the start of Ohio State’s summer camp with something to prove. And then he had to show up again. And again. And again. “He came to camp, like five or six times,” Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer recalled of Lee’s recruitment last year. A product of nearby New Albany High School, Lee was seeking a scholarship offer from his hometown school, despite not knowing what position he’d be playing at the college level or possessing an offer list of blue-blood backup plans as Ohio State’s targets often do. But as the summer of 2012 in Columbus hit its stride, Meyer and his staff found themselves with no choice but to offer the 6’3″, 205-pound dual-threat quarterback who worked out with their receivers, cornerbacks and safeties a scholarship. “I rejected him probably four times,” Meyer said. “Shows you how good an evaluator I am. “The thing that we loved about him, he kept competing.” So perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the next time Lee found himself working out in a shirt and shorts with something on the line, the now 232-pounder wowed once again. After three seasons—including a redshirt campaign—in Columbus, where he found a home at outside linebacker, Lee walked away from this past week’s NFL Scouting Combine as one of the upcoming draft’s breakout players with a performance highlighted by a 4.47 40-yard dash—the fastest of any linebacker in attendance. “I don’t think I…

Joey Bosa does not find the digging up of his old tweets to be amusing.The Ohio State Buckeyes star defensive end and top 2016 NFL draft prospect sounded off on a group of Twitter trolls on Monday who apparently fished through his old tweets and sent them to him.Needless to say, he was not entertained.Bosa unleashed his apparent anger in a series of tweets that were later deleted. College Spun, however, snagged some screenshots before they were removed:h/t College Spun Read more Ohio State Football news on BleacherReport.com

With running back Ezekiel Elliott looking to land in the first round of the 2016 NFL draft, Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer commented on the 2015 College Football Playoff Championship Offensive MVP Saturday. Meyer has coached countless excellent players during his time as the head coach at Bowling Green, Utah, Florida and OSU, which is why it is certainly significant whenever he gives someone the designation of being “the best” in a particular area. He did precisely that with regard to Elliott, but it was a compliment most probably wouldn’t have expected, as provided by Will Brinson of CBS Sports: Elliott topped 1,800 yards rushing in both 2014 and 2015, and he scored a remarkable 41 touchdowns in those two seasons combined, which speaks to how dynamic he is with the ball in his hands. The fact that the St. Louis native can do the little things aside from picking up yardage bodes well for his chances of coming off the board early. Perhaps the one negative during Elliott’s tenure with the Buckeyes came following their loss to Michigan State this past season, which saw him criticize the play-calling after rushing for just 33 yards on 12 carries, per ESPN.com’s Austin Ward: What happened today, it was kind of like a bad, bad dream. Offense had a rough day, and I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed in the play calling, I’m disappointed in the situations we were put in, and I wish it all played out differently. (…) It’s very disappointing. The one drive that…

After aggravating a shoulder injury while slapping the court on Feb. 20 against Nebraska, Ohio State forward Jae’Sean Tate reportedly will require surgery, which will sideline him for the rest of the season. Continue for updates. Tate to Have Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery Tuesday, Feb. 23 Adam Jardy of the Columbus Dispatch reported Tate will undergo surgery on Friday. Jeff Goodman of ESPN confirmed Tate is out for the season. Tate Reportedly Aggravated Injury While Slapping Court Tuesday, Feb. 23 Jardy reported Tate “appeared to reaggravate the injury during the final minutes of the second half when he pounded the court while guarding Tai Webster beyond the three-point arc.” Tate’s Absence Creates Huge Gap in Lineup According to Jardy, the sophomore has been dealing with a nagging shoulder ailment for quite some time. The Pickerington, Ohio, native is averaging 11.7 points and 6.4 rebounds in over 29 minutes per game this season, and he figured to be a big part of the 18-10 Buckeyes’ push to secure an NCAA tournament bid. Per Jardy, Tate tore his labrum during his senior season of high school, and Tate’s father revealed it has been an ongoing issue. While the exact source of the shoulder aggravation is uncertain, Jardy speculated that it may have happened on this play late in the Nebraska game that saw Tate slap the floor before getting burned on defense, via Brent Yarina of BTN.com: OSU has just three regular-season games remaining, and they…

Ohio State has to reload after losing 16 starters from last year’s team, and with spring practice on the horizon, running back Mike Weber, wide receiver Austin Mack and linebacker Dante Booker have a golden opportunity to lock down a big role for the 2016 season. The Buckeyes need to identify eight new starters on each side of the ball, and while the roster doesn’t need to be set until the first week of September, Urban Meyer and the coaching staff want to enter the summer with a good idea of what their two-deep rotation will look like this fall. That’s why spring drills are so important for underclassmen and players hoping to earn a starting nod. Here are the three Buckeyes with the most to gain this spring. Begin Slideshow

Taking the place of last year’s national championship, this year, it was the NFL playoffs—and the Super Bowl in particular—that Ohio State used as a walking billboard for its recruiting efforts as the 2016 cycle came to its close. With 12 alums taking part in playoff games—including five in the Super Bowl, the most of any college program—the Buckeyes were more than well represented in the professional ranks this past winter. From tweets posted from OSU’s official Twitter account to assistant coaches and Urban Meyer himself, Ohio State made sure to let everyone know that when you were watching this year’s NFL playoffs, there’s a good chance you were also watching at least one former Buckeye. As it turns out, the playoffs were just Phase 1 of Ohio State’s pro-friendly pitch. Just like the Super Bowl, there won’t be another college program with more to gain from this week’s NFL Scouting Combine, where a nation-high 14 former Buckeyes will do their best to improve their respective draft stocks. These aren’t just players hoping to be picked either, but some of the draft’s highest-profile players. Former Ohio State defensive end Joey Bosa could very well be the No. 1 overall pick, while Ezekiel Elliott will likely be the first running back to come off the board. In Bleacher Report Lead Draft Writer Matt Miller’s most recent mock draft, seven ex-Buckeyes are projected to be taken in the draft’s first 31 picks, with another seven appearing in rounds…