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On a day when Terrelle Pryor saw little playing time, little-known
Kenny Guiton made the most of his.
The third-team quarterback tossed a 45-yard scoring pass to
Taurian Washington with 55 seconds left on Saturday to give the
Gray a 17-14 victory over the Scarlet in Ohio State's annual
intrasquad scrimmage.
"I feel comfortable,'' said Guiton, a redshirt freshman from
Houston. "I had three of the starting linemen, so there was nothing
for me to be antsy about. So I just took my time and played ball.''
The Buckeyes wrapped up their 15 spring practices before a
crowd of 65,223 at overcast Ohio Stadium.
Guiton completed 11-of-21 passes for 167 yards and two
scores, both to Washington, who had three catches for 83 yards.
The performance of Guiton was a surprise to many. He was the
last player offered in his recruiting class and had to wait until
things fell apart with two other prized recruits before he got the
call with a scholarship.
"Kenny Guiton has proven it every day up through the
spring,'' Washington said. "For being the last guy picked, he's
done extremely well during the spring. He's a great kid and in the
future he's going to do great things.''
Pryor completed 8-of-12 passes for 108 yards and a touchdown
before retiring early. He did not speak with reporters afterward.
Coach Jim Tressel said he was pleased with the progress his
team made in the spring.
"We know we've got a lot to do between now and August, and
it's up to the players to kind of initiate that,'' he said. "I know
they'll do that. Our staff will do a great job of planning a good
preseason in August and be ready to see if we can meet the
challenge of 2010.''
The teams swapped scores midway through the first quarter.
First, Washington snagged a 28-yard scoring pass from Guiton, then
Pryor hit Dane Sanzenbacher on a 12-yard completion for the
Scarlet.
It stayed that way until Drew Basil kicked a 47-yard field
goal early in the fourth quarter.
Bo Delande's 4-yard touchdown run with 4:48 gave the Scarlet
a 14-10 lead.
After Delande's run, the Scarlet shocked the Gray with an
onside kick that was recovered by the Scarlet's Spencer Smith. Joe
Bauserman, considered Pryor's backup until now, hit James Jackson
on a 43- yard pass. After a penalty, the Scarlet had a first-and-5
situation at the Gray 13 with just over 3 minutes left.
But Bauserman's throw into the end zone was intercepted by
Nate Oliver, who returned the ball to the 11. Guiton took it from
there.
He completed passes of 8, 15, 16 and 11 yards to get the ball
into Scarlet territory before lofting a pass along the left
sideline near the goal line that Washington pulled in between
defenders Dominic Clarke and Nate Ebner.
Taylor Rice then intercepted a long Bauserman pass in the
final minute.
There was one scary moment, however. Rather than just take a
knee and run out the clock, the Gray coaches had Guiton passing
from deep in his own territory. A teammate landed on his knee and
he was temporarily laid out on the turf before walking off the
field.
He said he was fine and was hoping his play might have put
him in the race to be No. 2 on the depth chart.
"I don't think I put a stamp on anything but I know I have to
keep working,'' he said. "I'm going to leave it in the coaches'
hands.''
The Buckeyes will return nine starters on offense when they
open their season on Sept. 2 against Marshall at home.
The teams wore uniforms with pink numbers. Along with the
coaches' pink hats, they were auctioned off later to benefit the
Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research. The wife of
former Ohio State and NFL linebacker Chris Spielman died in
November.
