It has been (and will continue to be) the most-watched position battle at Ohio State heading into the season opener this fall against Minnesota. Who will take over for Justin Fields as he heads off to make a slew of money in the NFL? Right now, it’s a three-horse race between redshirt freshmen C.J. Stroud and Jack Miller, and true freshman Kyle McCord.
We got a little glimpse of what each brings to the table during the spring game, but there’s still a long way to go. Head coach Ryan Day has been very honest, or coy — depending on how you look at it — when he’s had opportunities with the media, but he continues to call it to close to call. It’s clear that the race will continue into fall camp.
Speaking of Day, he met with the media on Friday. He provided at least some thinking as to where things are at, and what to expect as things head towards fall camp with the three vying to be the face of the Ohio State football team for the next year and perhaps beyond.
WATCH: Ryan Day, Kevin Wilson, and Kerry Coombs wrap up spring game for Ohio State https://t.co/3QW1DpJiOM
— Buckeyes Wire (@BuckeyesWire) April 23, 2021
First things first, while the team will be without an official practice for about three months, all three have to commit to the strength and conditioning program.
“They’re tasked with being obsessed with learning the offense, and a lot goes with that,” Day told reporters. “They got to get in the weight. They got to get stronger, they gotta get faster, they gotta get quicker. We grade our guys in there, and we have a champions meeting right before the beginning of preseason camp. And if you’re gold, then that means that you’re one of the top performers in the weight room. That’s the first thing they’ve gotta do.”
But beyond that, Day just wants to give all three a chance, but knows that the priority is for each to develop as quickly as they can to be ready to lead the team when the season kicks off.
“I think the idea is to get the guys ready,” Day continued. “Across the board the focus is ‘Who’s the starter?’ OK — well — you could be the starter, but if you’re not ready to go that’s not gonna last very long. So the race is to get ready to play. The focus for these guys, again, just has to be ‘How do I get developed faster? How do I get the most ready to play in this season faster?’ Not trying to win the job, because I think maybe sometimes, it’s ‘How do I compare myself to the guy next to me?’ It’s not about that. It’s ‘How do I get myself ready,’ because we have to go win some really hard games this season.”
And perhaps more important than anything Day said, he touched on when the ideal time is to have a starter named between the three. He won’t hand one of them the keys to the offense just to get things going, but would love to turn things over to an official starter to allow for more reps and improvement.
“If we feel like someone’s taken that much of a step ahead, and they’re ready to play against Minnesota in that first week, then we’ll name the starter at that point,” Day said. “If it’s not until the week before, it’s not gonna be until the week before. It would be ideal to be able to name somebody a little bit sooner than that so they can get the majority of the reps. But until someone really puts themselves out in front of the other two, we’ll just keep going.”
OK. So there you have it. There’s been a ton of speculation about who is really leading this race (us included), but Day is determined to give all three a realistic shot at competing and letting this thing play out.
And that’s really how it should be. But that won’t stop us from asking.
Ohio State football 2021 projected depth chart, pre-spring offense
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