You've got to love spring practice.
Never are things more laid back and open to unusual moments than during the spring. We saw Nebraska use the spring game to let 7-year-old cancer patient Jack Hoffman live out a dream. And Brutus Buckeye might have experienced a nightmare when he woke up Sunday morning.
Ohio State held a student appreciation day during Saturday's practice, and about 2,500 students showed up to watch the workout. But the most talked about event happened when Brutus Buckeye, the school mascot, lined up to run a play. Unlike the Hoffman run, however, the Buckeyes' defense didn't play along.
Linebacker David Perkins leveled the mascot, and the guy inside the costume. This photo of the Perkins hit is simply priceless. And here's video of the play.
"That was crazy, man,” senior safety Christian Bryant said, as quoted in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “It brought a little bit of excitement and got the fans into it. They should have given him a black jersey if they didn't want him to get hit.”
“I don't know what happened to him,” linebacker Curtis Grant said of Perkins. “I think he lost his mind.”
For Perkins, it was just another day at the office.
“I read pass, and I took my drop,” he said. "I saw the quarterback and I saw we lost contain, so I ran over to try to keep contain and just did my responsibility.
“It was see ball, get ball. I didn't try to hit him that hard. I hope he's all right.”
Brutus knelt down after the play but was able to walk off the field under his own power. His status for the fall is unknown at this point.
