Urban Meyer Braxton Miller

Urban Meyer (left), Braxton Miller (right) and offensive coordinator Tom Herman should have more options with the offense this season.

(Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer)

COLUMBUS, Ohio – College football coaches can't work with their players during the summer. So they're left to think about how they're going to use them in the fall.

So what will Tom Herman do with this Ohio State offense?

“I don't know, I'll ask him that. That's a good question,” Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller said. “Hopefully he'll do something with all these new guys coming in. I'm going to listen to him and see what he has to say about that.”

We know the second-year offensive coordinator has been out recruiting. And we know he grew a goatee and finally picked up his Ohio driver's license.

But waiting to see how the OSU offense looks in year two with Herman and Urban Meyer is one of the most intriguing questions in our preseason countdown with the start of camp just a week away next Sunday …

No. 7: What more will Tom Herman be able to do in his play-calling?

Seven days until the start of preseason camp

Running backs coach Stan Drayton, dropping a tantalizing morsel for OSU fans, said during the spring that the OSU offense operated at about 60 percent last season. Getting the basics out of the way should allow the Buckeyes to get right on the remaining 40 percent on Aug. 4.

“We all know each other now,” left tackle Jack Mewhort said. “Guys are more confident in the system. There's going to be less apprehension and more thinking about what we'll be able to show once the season starts. We've been to war with each other now and we know how people are going to act in the heat of battle.”

That particularly applies to Miller, who a year ago at this time was just beginning to study for a test he knew he wasn't going to know all the answers to.

“I feel a lot more confident than what I was last year,” Miller said at the Big Ten meetings in Chicago. “With that big ole' playbook, we had the verbiage and things like that. Knowing how I was last year, it just changes my mindset (now). It's like, 'Dang, I know what I'm actually doing this year.' And it can change up the whole offensive gameplan. The plays are in my mind, and I (won't) second-guess myself.”

Meyer understands that the players just knowing the basics of preseason camp this year – what practice field they'll be on at what time, the timing of breaks, etc. - will allow much more focus on things like adding to the offense.

“Routine is something that is undervalued,” Meyer said, before launching into a story from his days as an assistant at Notre Dame.

The Fighting Irish were prepping for a team that shifted its defensive coverage just before the snap. On a Thursday practice, Meyer, the receivers coach, figured he'd help quarterback Ron Powlus prepare by ordering the coverage to change at the last second. He didn't clear the idea with head coach Lou Holtz first.

“He dropped back and got flustered and threw a bad ball,” Meyer said, “and it's the last time I've ever done that.”

Why? Meyer said Holtz, or “the guy with glasses,” as he called him, was so angry, Meyer thought he might not make it back to the locker room in one piece.

“It broke up the routine,” Meyer said.

Tom Herman

So now, the Buckeyes know what's happening for camp. Knowing that will give Meyer and Herman more freedom.

And there's always the chance this is the last OSU camp for Herman.

If the Buckeyes have another good season, Herman would be a logical candidate for head coaching jobs elsewhere. Meyer has sent plenty of assistants go on to lead other programs, with two former Meyer hires now running Big Ten teams in Wisconsin's Gary Andersen and Illinois' Tim Beckman.

“Those are high-end people,” Meyer said of his former assistants, also mentioning the likes of Charlie Strong (Louisville), Dan Mullen (Mississippi State) and Kyle Whittingham (Utah). “I didn't really know Tom when I hired him, but he's showing a lot of those same qualities.”

If Herman is next, this season will be his chance to watch his offensive ideas mix with Meyer's with a group of players who may finally grasp them.

Coming Monday, No. 6: What can John Simon teach the next OSU leaders?