SPORTS

SPORTS 12 | Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Spring forward

The Ohio State Buckeyes run drills during spring practice March 2.

Ohio State football returns ahead of Spring Game

GRIFFIN STROM | SPORTS EDITOR

Rocket League’s roots at Ohio State

ON PAGE 11

Like father and son TRACK & FIELD

High school coach’s tutelage helps Ohio State sprinter get to the finish line

CASEY SMITH For The Lantern smith.12971@osu.edu

The bond between Ohio State junior sprinter Eric Harrison and his high school track mentor runs deeper than the typical player-coach pairing.

Alonzo Ruffin, who has trained professional athletes for the NFL and NBA, is like a second father to Harrison, a relationship that has helped Harrison grow into an All-American runner for the Buckeyes and kept him grounded as a person.

“Eric is like a son. We developed something really close,” Ruffin said.

This bond developed, unknowingly, when Harrison was young. “There was a picture of him standing along a fence at a track meet at a young age, watching others that I used to train,” Ruffin said. “It’s kind of funny that he HARRISON CONTINUES ON 11

GRIFFIN STROM Sports Editor strom.25@osu.edu

Shaun Wade looked on from the sidelines while Kerry Coombs dug into his defensive backs for the first time on the field Monday. Jonathon Cooper was helmetless, trotting across the turf as Larry Johnson and the Buckeye defensive line drilled technique. Chris Olave stood to the side, stretching while the new stable of Ohio State receivers was turned loose. “It’s really for the younger guys,” head coach Ryan Day said of spring practice, and some of them didn’t waste time making indelible impressions on the first day.

Freshman quarterbacks C.J. Stroud and Jack Miller are two players seeking reps and a leg up in the battle to be junior Justin Fields’ backup.

Day grinned and nodded when asked if more is asked of new quarterbacks coach Corey Dennis because he occupies Day’s old post. But with Dennis handling a competition for the future of the position in his first season, it will be more than just Day’s eye fixated on him and the Buckeye passers.

“He’s got his hands full there with some young guys with inexperience,” Day said.

However, both players likely gave Dennis cause for excitement with bright moments Monday, including one from Stroud that saw a smiling Dennis zipping downfield to greet his new pupil.

Although clad in a noncontact jersey, a quarterback keeper from Stroud infiltrated the secondary during 11-on-11 drills, which garnered a smile from the California native and a giddy reaction from Dennis, who ran to give the freshman props.

Stroud showcased his arm, as well. In a red zone drill that concluded practice, Stroud placed a ball into the arms of redshirt senior wide receiver Demario McCall –– newly moved from running back –– in the right corner of the end zone from 20-plus yards out.

This time, it was Stroud streaking down the field after the play, meeting McCall for a celebratory mid-air embrace.

Jack Miller threw a standout dime of his own earlier on, threading the needle over the right shoulder of freshman wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a tiptoe catch down the left sideline.

It wasn’t Smith-Njigba’s lone FOOTBALL CONTINUES ON 10