Buckeyes say play it again, Braxton

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COLUMBUS — Forty-eight hours after Braxton Miller’s amazing, spinning 53-yard touchdown run against Virginia Tech on Monday night, it was still the No. 1 topic of conversation around Ohio State football.

It was a reminder of the kind of things Miller can do on the football field and no one is more excited about that than his teammates.

The center piece of Miller’s run was a spin move that sent two Virginia Tech defenders flying harmlessly by him without laying a hand on him.

“Braxton is Braxton. At any given time it can be a house call,” offensive lineman Chase Farris said Wednesday after practice. “You never know what’s going to happen. He’s an amazing athlete.

“I was 10 yards behind the play and I saw two defenders and thought Braxton was going to go out of bounds,” he said.

Running back Curtis Samuel said, “It wasn’t surprising because I knew he was capable of doing it. It definitely was a great move. You can’t practice that, you have to feel it.”

Actually, Miller said later he does practice spin moves sometimes in practice when a would-be tackler is approaching him.

“Sometimes I do practice them. When I’m in the open field (in practice), I’ll try it,” he said.

Asked where this run ranked among the many big plays he has produced, he hesitated for a while and then said, “No. 2.”

His No. 1 play was at Penn State in 2012 when he started toward the end zone on a play that began around the 1-yard line, then stepped back to avoid a defender and finally leaped into the end zone for a touchdown.

Miller also had a 54-yard touchdown catch Monday night in his first game action since the Orange Bowl against Clemson in January 2014.

He and the rest of the Buckeyes will be back on the field on Saturday against Hawaii at Ohio Stadium (3:30 p.m., Big Ten Network).

The Rainbow Warriors opened their season with a 28-20 win over Colorado. It was only their ninth win in the last four seasons.

Regardless of their record, OSU coach Urban Meyer is concerned about playing a game so soon after Monday night’s game.

“It’s real difficult right now. Guys are still sore, banged up. That was a tough game, a physical game, too. This was a downhill, sledgehammer game, and our guys are beat up, so we’ve got to be real smart here how we go about our business,” he said.

Reinforcements are on the way, though, with defensive end Joey Bosa and receivers Jalin Marshall, Dontre Wilson and Corey Smith returning from one-game suspensions this week.

By Jim Naveau

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Reach Jim Naveau at 567-242-0414 or on Twitter at @Lima_Naveau.

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