The tight end room is perhaps the deepest it has been, and so might be the running backs room despite losing two players to the NFL Draft.
Receiver hasn’t been a question mark at Ohio State for a long time, but it looks as strong as ever with Jeremiah Smith headlining and Carnell Tate returning.
The defense figures to look much different without nine starters or coordinator Jim Knowles, but highly recruited players are waiting in the wings at every level.
Day was also happy to add North Carolina transfer Beau Atkinson to bolster the defensive line just this week, though that whole group remains a work in progress.
But when it came to one particular position, he did convey some uncertainty.
When asked if he has a front-runner at quarterback, Day first nodded before saying, “No.”
Junior Lincoln Kienholz and redshirt freshman Julian Sayin entered spring competing to replace Will Howard, and they exited it still neck-and-neck.
“We’ll kind of see,” Day said Tuesday in his first press conference since spring ball concluded April 12. “I felt like going into the spring game Lincoln was a little bit ahead of Julian, and then I thought if you just watch the game, Julian probably performed a little bit better than Lincoln during the spring game. And here we are.”
The two quarterbacks ended up with similar grades after all of the practices were evaluated, but coaches can only learn so much from practice anyway.
As Day has pointed out on numerous occasions, games are the best indicator of a player’s ability, but there are precious few of those in football compared to any other sport.
The importance is amplified with quarterbacks because they are typically not subject to full-contact in practice to avoid injury, and they have many more variables to deal with than anyone else on the field as far as making decisions and executing.
“The more you play, the more these things find a way to work themselves out,” Day said. “Who knows how it’s going to shake out? My guess is they’re going to need each other.”
Although Tavien St. Clair is far behind the other two based on his even greater lack of experience, Day did not rule out the true freshman from Bellefontaine from contributing this season, either.
“He’s got to be able to help,” Day said. “It’s going to be a long season.”
After reviewing everyone’s spring work, Day expressed confidence in the rest of the offense.
That starts up front, where four players who started games on the run to the national championship last season are back, but tackle is a major question mark.
Austin Siereveld, who is heading into this third season out of Lakota East, emerged as a potential answer at right tackle while Ethan Onianwa, a transfer from Rice, appears to be the frontrunner at left tackle, and Carson Hinzman, Lakota West grad Tegra Tshabola and Luke Montgomery return on the interior.
The biggest questions on the other side of the ball are up front, but there are some potential answers.
Fourth-year ends Caden Curry and Kenyatta Jackson are up next after sitting behind J.T. Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer the past three seasons. The staff also added reinforcements from the transfer portal (Atkinson and Logan George from Idaho State) and the linebackers room (Alter grad C.J. Hicks) to give coach Larry Johnson the potential to rotate heavily.
Credit: DaytonDailyNews
The interior line is a bigger question, but Johnson has some veterans to work with, and he expressed excitement about seeing converted end Eddrick Houston inside.
Sonny Styles, a potential high draft pick next spring, anchors the linebackers room now, and Caleb Downs could be the best safety in the country as a junior this fall.
Lakota West grad Malik Hartford could join Downs at safety as a junior this fall, but coach Tim Walton has amassed a raft of talent over the last two seasons. That group eager to get on the field includes Aaron Scott Jr., who is looks like he could be the first cornerback off the bench entering his second season at Ohio State out of Springfield.
Credit: DaytonDailyNews
However position battles shake out, Day said there is no time to waste this summer.
Texas, the team Ohio State beat in a College Football Playoff semifinal in January, is coming to Columbus on Aug. 30 to lift the lid on the 2025 season, and the Longhorns are expected to be a national contender again.
“Right now, I’d like to see these guys get out of here and get away from football for a little bit,” Day said. “They did have a little bit of a break for spring break, but these guys need to get around their families a little bit and get away from football. But then once classes start up again, we’ve got to go.”
That begins with summer workouts coordinated by director of strength and conditioning Mickey Marotti, who is often referred to as the head coach of the offseason.
“We need a great summer, and obviously a big part of that’s in the weight room,” Day said. “You guys have heard me talk about guys being gold or being Iron Buckeyes. There’s a reason why Jeremiah Smith was the first Iron Buckeye ever as a freshman, and you saw what happened.
“So there’s a correlation to the summer that they have and how they play on the field. And they know that. They’re bought in.”
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