‍Buckeyes Begin Spring Practice 

The Ohio State Buckeyes’ 2022 season opener is still six months away, but it’s never too early for Ryan Day’s group to commence practicing.

Per Nathan Baird of Cleveland.com, Tuesday marks the first of 15 spring practices for the Buckeyes. The team will also practice on Thursday before getting one week off for spring break.

Ohio State will return to practice on Mar. 23. Pro Day, an event for NFL draft prospects, wll take place one day later. Several Buckeyes, including wide receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson, are widely expected to go in the first round of the draft.

The Buckeyes will hold spring practices on Mar. 24, 26, 29 and 31. They’ll have seven more between Apr. 2 and Apr. 15, before concluding with the annual Spring Game on Apr. 16.

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At FanDuel, Ohio State has the third-best odds of winning next year’s national championship at +550. Only the Alabama Crimson Tide (+200) and Georgia Bulldogs (+350) have higher odds than Day’s group. Ohio sports betting is expected to go live by Jan. 1 of next year, so Buckeyes fans will soon be able to bet on their team’s games.

Last season, Ohio State finished 11-2 but fell short of making the College Football Playoff. However, the Buckeyes ended the season on a high note, defeating the Utah Utes 48-45 in the Rose Bowl.

Chris Olave & Garrett Wilson Flourish At NFL Combine

The NFL combine gives prospects a prime opportunity to increase their stocks ahead of the NFL Draft. Ohio State receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson were more than up for the challenge.

Olave exploded with a 40-yard dash time of 4.39 seconds. He finished with a 32-inch vertical jump and a 10’4” broad jump.

Like Olave, Wilson turned heads with a phenomenal showing at the Combine. He finished with a 40-yard dash time of 4.38 seconds to go along with a 36-inch vertical jump and a 10’3” broad jump.

In his final season of college football, Olave racked up 65 receptions for 936 yards and 13 touchdowns. Wilson caught 70 passes for 1,058 yards and 12 touchdowns

Olave, Wilson, Drake London (USC), Jameson Williams (Alabama) and Treylon Burks (Arkansas) are widely viewed as the top wide receiver prospects in the 2022 NFL Draft. 

Unlike past drafts, the 2022 class doesn’t have any prospects that are viewed as generational or sure-things. 2020 had Joe Burrow, and 2021 had Trevor Lawrence, Ja’Marr Chase and Penei Sewell.

With so many question marks at important positions like quarterback, linebacker and defensive end, Wilson and Olave could easily find themselves taken within the top 20.

In the 2021 draft, quarterback Justin Fields (11th overall to the Chicago Bears) was the only Ohio State product selected within the top 59 picks. 

Put simply, it’d be a surprise if Olave and/or Wilson remained on the board after day one of the draft.

Former Buckeyes QB Reportedly Joining Amazon As An NFL Analyst

Kirk Herbstreit, a quarterback for the Buckeyes from 1989 to ‘92, is reportedly joining Amazon’s NFL broadcast team.

In his latest “Football Morning In America” column, NBC Sports’ Peter King reported that Amazon “has settled” on Herbstreit for their analyst role on the NFL Thursday Night Football game packages.

King noted that Herbstreit is “likely to continue his current ESPN/ABC duties as well.” The 52-year-old is part of ESPN’s College GameDay program. He and colleague Chris Fowler have called a handful of NFL games for ESPN as well.

FOX Sports broadcast Thursday Night Football from 2018 to 2021. Their top NFL broadcast team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman called the games. The latter’s contract with the network expired after this season, and the Hall of Fame quarterback is reportedly joining ESPN on a lucrative $90 million deal over five years.

There’s plenty of shuffling going around in the NFL broadcasting networks. Al Michaels, the longtime play-by-play announcer of NBC’s Sunday Night Football, is a free agent. 

Michaels’ final game with NBC was Super Bowl LVI between the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals. Mike Tirico, who left ESPN for NBC in 2016, will take over as the voice for that program. 

Buck recently admitted that he’s unsure what his future in broadcasting holds. Buck has been with FOX since 1994.