Ohio State held its penultimate spring practice on Friday at Ohio Stadium, a session that was open to reporters. Here are notes and observations from the practice:

* Dallan Hayden, the redshirt sophomore running back who is expected to put his name in the transfer portal when the spring window opens Tuesday, was not in attendance. Buckeyes coach Ryan Day declined comment earlier this week after 247Sports and On3 reported Hayden’s intentions, though his absence seemed to suggest as much.

* Brandon Inniss, a sophomore receiver who was the top-ranked prospect in Ohio State’s 2023 recruiting class, was unavailable due to an injury. He was riding a medical scooter while his right foot was in a walking boot. He later addressed his status in a post on X, writing "I’ll be back real soon, I’m all good." Inniss has been a candidate to start in the slot. While he was out, Emeka Egbuka lined up inside with the first-team offense with Jayden Ballard and Carnell Tate the outside receivers.

* The buzz around freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith looks well deserved. When the Buckeyes were going through an early period that featured goal-line situations, he ran an end zone fade route and made a one-handed catch over cornerback Denzel Burke, reeling in a pass from quarterback Devin Brown that was placed on his outside shoulder. It was one of the morning's highlights.

* The Buckeyes continue to roll quarterbacks through reps with Brown leading the rotation, followed by Will Howard, Lincoln Kienholz, Julian Sayin and Air Noland.

* In tighter space around the goal line, Brown, Howard and Sayin each threaded well-placed passes and none of them were picked off. Noland was the only quarterback who threw an interception in any of the 11-on-11 or 7-on-7 periods.

* During 11-on-11 periods, the first-team offensive line included Alabama transfer Seth McLaughlin at center with Tegra Tshabola at right guard. Like Luke Montgomery, Tshabola is a traditional tackle who is competing for the spot in the interior that was vacated by Matt Jones. Carson Hinzman, who started at center last season before being benched in the Cotton Bowl, also rotated with McLaughlin and repped at right guard late in practice.

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* The rest of the first-team line has been consistent with Josh Simmons at left tackle, Donovan Jackson at left guard and Josh Fryar at right tackle, carrying over from last season.

* With Lathan Ransom recovering from a Lisfranc injury, it was redshirt freshman Jayden Bonsu lining up at safety alongside Caleb Downs.

* C.J. Hicks was first up as the weakside linebacker at the start of 11-on-11s.

Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch and can be reached at jkaufman@dispatch.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football: Notes from penultimate spring practice