COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State’s football team and members of the university’s student body held a mutual admiration session Saturday as the Buckeyes held their fourth Student Appreciation Practice at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
As an estimated 1,900 students and guests looked on from sideline-to-sideline seats at the 30-yard line of the indoor practice facility and a rap group performed from a perch in the camera viewing area high above the playing surface, the team practiced for about two hours before stopping for some “student-centered activities,” according to a spokesman for the Department of Athletics.
This was the team’s the 11th practice of the spring. Spring practice culminates in Saturday’s Spring Game at Ohio Stadium.
Photo booths in one corner of the facility allowed students to snap selfies with the College Football Playoff national championship trophy or some sousaphones from the Ohio State Marching Band.
Near the end of practice, the field was reduced into a red zone-sized area where head coach Urban Meyer had the students surround the players during an “inside drill” with close to a dozen plays being called. Three students attempted field goals and Katie Olinger, a junior athletic training major from Oregon, Ohio, set up in the shotgun formation and handed the ball off a couple of times to junior running back Warren Ball.
Post-practice competitions including push-ups, a wheelbarrow race and a “fastest student” race at midfield and an autograph and photo session capped the day.