Buckeyes hold first two-a-day practice NFL-style 

Team leaves the niceness of the WHAC for Ackerman Road fields

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Friday was the first (of four) two-a-day practice days for the Ohio State Buckeyes. The team practiced at its spacious and spectacular Harmon Family Football Park for the a.m. practice and then moved the afternoon practice to the grass field (and-a-half) along Ackerman Road where Coach Urban Meyer wants to hold a series of fall camp practices.
 
The reasoning behind moving practices from the Harmon Family Football Park outside of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center is to create an “NFL-like” fall camp where the team leaves its home turf to practice and bond in unfamiliar surroundings…even if it’s just a quarter-mile bus ride down the road.
 
The morning practice was held under the lights and under a blanket of thick gray clouds in comfortable 73-degree conditions. The drills included six more freshmen getting introduced to the physical circle drill, ones vs. twos drills and a goal line scrimmage at the end. There was plenty to hoot and holler about, plenty of physical confrontations, and plenty to be pleased about. And Meyer was.
 
“Today was an Ohio State practice,” Meyer told the team afterward. “This was an Ohio State practice.”
 
The team then bussed to the Ackerman Road field and worked out for two hours in Buckeye gear (shorts, shoulder pads and helmets) in the late afternoon. A heavy downpour hit at 6 p.m., but it certainly didn’t dampen the spirit or enthusiasm of the day. A short while later the sun peeked through the clouds and a rainbow appeared to the east.
 
And the first two-a-day was in the books.
 
Spencer OK
Sophomore receiver Evan Spencer was in his Buckeye gear but he did not practice in the afternoon. He banged knees with another player and had an awkward next step during the first practice. He was looked at by OSU doctors and it was determined he has a bruised knee.
 
Bogard First to Become a Buckeye
Freshman Devan Bogard was the first member of the rookie class to lose his black stripe and officially become a Buckeye football player. The defensive back from Cleveland’s Glenville H.S. had his stripe removed Wednesday during a team meeting for his efforts on and off the field that convinced his coaches and teammates that he was ready to be an Ohio State Buckeye football player.