Meyer doesn’t see ‘wow’ factor from Buckeyes’ wide receivers

By Tim May

The Columbus Dispatch

COLUMBUS

Urban Meyer walked into his first Ohio State practice — his first, actually, as a head coach since the end of the 2010 season at Florida —and said, ‘It felt great.’

But after 2 1/2 hours of putting his mostly inherited bunch of Buckeyes through the paces, he wasn’t beaming when he walked off the field.

The concerns Meyer had about the work that needs to be done, especially at wide receiver, to transform the often melancholy Ohio State offense of recent years into the race-car model he wants to field were still there.

“At Ohio State, you should walk off the field going, ‘Wow! Who are those two guys,’’ Meyer said. “I still today haven’t done that.”

There are 14 practices to go, including the spring game on April 21, for the receiving corps and others to jump out at Meyer, who plans to set the team’s depth chart soon after that final spring whistle.

But he has said since taking the job in November that he seeks playmakers, especially at the receiver spots, to give the offense pizazz and truly spread the field the way he, offensive coordinator Tom Herman and the staff envision.

“There has got to be a wow factor, and we should have one [player capable], should have two — here you should have probably more than two,” Meyer said. “There was a time when they had two first-rounders in [Anthony] Gonzalez and [Ted] Ginn.”

Perhaps such players will emerge from the returning receiving group that includes Corey Brown, Devin Smith, Evan Spencer, Chris Fields and T.Y. Williams, he said, “and maybe we’ve just got to keep pushing — and we’ve got to keep recruiting.”

But the disappointment for Meyer’s on-field debut couldn’t take away from the general moment of being out there again, encouraging players, urging coaches and generally perusing the scene as the man in charge.

“It felt great,” Meyer said, “despite having to move the practice indoors because of high winds. It felt great to be blowing the whistle and seeing guys running and talking to ’em, and coaching the punt team — and seeing the quarterbacks, and seeing the defense run and pursue.”

As for the tempo, “I think Friday will be better, and Saturday will be much better,” Meyer said.

But things moved swiftly in the first practice, and one major reason, Meyer said, was that he and the coaches had rehearsed it. They did a couple of walk-throughs in preparation to make sure the five-minute periods of drills were lively. For the most part, they were.