The Spring Game draft was held on Wednesday. But before we get to that, there's some big news about the coaches for the game to get out of the way: the head coaches for the Scarlet and Gray teams will be Mike Conley and Jamar Butler, respectively, with their teammates also serving as coaches. That's right, Tressel's turned over the coaching duties to the basketball team. Greg Oden would have been a coach, but he'll be out of town at a wedding. Apparently the basketballers will even call plays. The plays will come off a list provided by the real coaching staff, but I say, why not give Conley and Butler free rein? They can't be any worse than Jeff Bowden was at Florida State.

Anyway, on to the draft. The Ozone has the draft order, but here are the rosters for the game:

Position	Scarlet	Gray
Quarterback	Todd Boeckman Rob Schoenhoft (1st Half)	Antonio Henton Rob Schoenhoft (2nd Half)
Tailback	Joe Gantz Marcus Williams	Maurice Wells K.C. Christianson
Fullback	Dionte Johnson Aram Olson	Trevor Robinson Tyler Whaley
Wide Receiver	Brian Robiskie Brian Hartline Albert Dukes Dan Potokar Kyle Ruhl	Ray Small Devon Lyons Garret Hummel Ben Kascandi David Lisko Cedric Turner
Tight End	Rory Nicol J.D. Larson Andrew Miller	Brandon Smith Jake Ballard Will Crall
Offensive Tackle	Alex Boone Kirk Barton Josh Kerr Chris Malone	Bryant Browning Scott Sika
Offensive Guard	Steve Rehring Connor Smith Doug Ebner	Kyle Mitchum Ben Person John Skinner Daniel Dye Zach Slagle
Center	Andrew Moses	Jim Cordle
Defensive End	Vernon Gholston Robert Rose Walter Dublin Chris Rietschlin	Lawrence Wilson Alex Barrow Ryan Williams Brent Daly
Defensive Tackle	Doug Worthington Todd Denlinger Juan Garnier	Dexter Larimore Nader Abdallah Bryan Gray
Linebacker	Marcus Freeman Curtis Terry Austin Spitler Thaddeus Gibson	James Laurinaitis Larry Grant Ross Homan Mark Johnson Ryan Lukens
Cornerback	Donald Washington James Scott Shaun Lane Zach Willis	Malcolm Jenkins Chimdi Chekwa Brandon Underwood Donnie Evege
Safety	Jamario O'Neal Kurt Coleman Nick Patterson Grant Schwartz Matt Daniels	Tyler Moeller Aaron Gant Matt Dougherty
Kicker	Ryan Pretorious Devin Barclay	Aaron Pettrey Andrew Good Michael Mattimoe
Punter		A.J. Trapasso
Long Snapper	Jake McQuaide Patrick Howe	Jackson Haas Don Curtis

The following players will not play due to injury: Chris Wells, Andre Amos, Anderson Russell, Kyle Mitchum, John Skinner, Dimitrios Makridis, Kyle Libby, and Brent Ullery. Some of those guys were drafted and are listed in the above depth chart, but whatever. I was just organizing the information from the official roster (warning: PDF) into a more convenient format. Far be it from me to question the football team. They work in mysterious ways.

A few points of interest from the draft:

• Lawrence Wilson was the first player taken. It may mean nothing, it may mean that the players really like Wilson, or it may mean that the guys in charge of the Gray draft didn't want Scarlet to end up with both starting defensive ends. I'm betting it's the last one of those options, but that does reflect well on the quality of our defensive ends.
• Scarlet selected Alex Boone next, I think with the goal of getting the top two tackles on their team. A good move, considering that two offensive linemen are out with injuries.
• Jamario O'Neal was, according to the Ozone, the last safety drafted. If that's the case, that's very interesting. I don't know what the deal is there. Did they forget about him? Do they not like him?

Looking at the rosters, it should be an interesting game. The strength of the Scarlet offense is the passing game, and the strength of the Gray defense seems to be the corners and the linebackers. The Gray offense will probably look to attack on the ground, but they'll be going up against Scarlet's excellent d-line. At first, I thought Scarlet looked to have a much better roster, but the more I look at it, the more even the rosters seem. I still think I'd give the Scarlet team the edge, but not by a whole lot.

Update [2007-4-20 11:49:57 by Sean]:According to the Ozone, Jamario O'Neal is doubtful for the game, and Brian Hartline is "very questionable," whatever that means. So that explains why both were drafted so late.