Meyer aspires to keep OSU traditions alive

When the clock finally struck zero on Urban Meyer’s first Spring Game as coach at Ohio State, the 47-year-old veteran coach said he had no idea what to do next.

“Where do I go, what do I do?” he asked his players.

Meyer said assistant offensive line coach and former Buckeye captain Kirk Barton had an answer for him.

“He said, ‘You park it right here (in front of the south stands) and look at the scoreboard,’” Meyer said.

In a way, it was that kind of day for Meyer and his crew — a rendezvous of the past and future of OSU football.

For the first time in more than a decade, OSU fans roared as their team took the field in the middle of April behind someone other than former coach Jim Tressel.

And for the first time in his career, that man was Meyer.

On what he joked was “a beautiful fall day in Columbus, Ohio,” the 81,112 fans who braved dreary, rainy weather witnessed the beginning of a new era at OSU, though not without a salute to the past.

Thanks to Barton, Meyer knew what to do.

But he took it a step further.

Front row and center, the former Florida coach linked arms with his players and joined the band as they played Carmen Ohio, a tradition Tressel started.

Meyer, who said he was also touched after hearing “Hang on Sloopy,” said he’s just a big fan of tradition.

“This is a school you don’t have to create a whole lot of tradition,” he said. “We’re honored to be able to keep the tradition that I believe coach Tressel started.”

Though, if what fans saw Saturday afternoon was any indication, it seems that’s one of the few things that Meyer hasn’t changed.

And it was noticeable from the start.

Perhaps for the first time ever, OSU’s Spring Game began at midfield with what Meyer called a “circle drill.”

The drill, where two players at a time are called to battle and push the other out of a giant circle created by the rest of the team, is something rising sophomore defensive lineman Michael Bennett said gets everyone fired up.

“I think it gets a lot of guys really amped up because you see a Scarlet guy win against the Gray team and we all just get amped up and you’re ready to go,” he said.

Before Meyer broke up the drill, though, he called for his quarterbacks, rising sophomore Braxton Miller and rising redshirt junior Kenny Guiton, to go head-to-head.

Guiton, who wasted little time before shooting out of his stance to level Miller to the other side of the circle, said he had fun with it.

“It’s something we do before practice most days. We both got caught in there today,” he said.

Bennett said watching Meyer summon the quarterbacks into the chaos surprised him.

“That was funny, I didn’t expect that at all,” he said. “But I thought that was great because it just got everyone surprised, you saw that was the biggest one that everyone was looking for.”

Meyer said he thought both the fans and players enjoyed it.

“I just wanted some good energy in there, and I want our quarterbacks, like anyone else, to put their nose on people,” he said.

It also seemed the fans enjoyed the fast-paced tempo of the game, which featured 57 attempted passes between both quarterbacks.

Though Meyer said he still has yet to see if his team has the ability to throw the ball well.

Similar to his tone through much of this spring, Meyer said there’s still a lot of improvement needed before OSU takes the field against Miami (Ohio) in late August.

“We identified our issues and we also identified our strengths,” he said.

With the Scarlet team prevailing against the Gray team, 20-14, Meyer said, in a way, the work is just beginning.

“It has be the best offseason in the history of college football,” he said. “And it starts Monday.”