Ohio State coach Ryan Day expects to ‘have a really good feel’ of QB situation after this week

“Guys being around each other. Coaches in there doing the bed check at night. It just allows us a little bit of a camaraderie, but it also helps with the routine, that this is kind of what we’re doing for the next 14 days together as a group, stacking these days.”

Here are four more takeaways from Day’s meeting with the media:

1. He does not see any separation between the quarterbacks yet.

This has been the standard line from Day since the battle to replace Justin Fields began in late winter.

He said in July he would like to pick a starter from the trio of C.J. Stroud, Jack Miller III or Kyle McCord by the middle of camp, and that could still happen.

“After this week, we’ll have a really good feel,” Day said. “Wednesday will be a big day and Saturday will be a big day. We’ll take Sunday off and come up for air, then maybe it will take another week after that, but we will see. We’re kind of getting into 20 practices now when you include the spring. That’s a pretty good body of work that we’re putting together day after day.”

2. He has seem some leaders step up already.

Specifically he shouted out left tackle Thayer Munford and receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson on offense along with defensive end Zach Harrison and linebacker Teradja Mitchell on the other side of the ball.

“I’m very, very impressed with how the first five days of practice Chris and Garrett have just been out there taking a lot of reps and working on the timing with the quarterbacks,” Day said. “It hasn’t always been perfect, but it’s getting a lot better, and their attitude has been excellent. I think that’s gonna go a long, long way.”

3. They could be trying some different looks on the offensive line.

Thayer Munford and Nicholas Petit-Frere return as the top tackle tandem in the country according to Pro Football Focus.

Will that still be Ohio State’s top tackle tandem on Sept. 2, though?

Day acknowledged multiple players have played multiple positions early in camp as the coaching staff experiments with their best potential lineup.

With Harry Miller moving from left guard to center, both guard spots are open. There are a handful of interior linemen vying for those spots, but the coaching staff could ultimately conclude Miller and four natural tackles — Paris Johnson Jr. and Dawand Jones along with Munford and Petit-Frere — are the best of the bunch.

“The good news is those guys have great value because they can move, so looking at some of their skill sets, it’s gonna be a benefit to them moving forward if they can play a little bit of tackle and play some guard, " Day said. “You saw Paris move inside a little bit, and he can also move out to tackle. Dawand’s played some guard in the past. Nick, and also Thayer.

“Especially this time of year, we mix and match and try to figure out where the best five is, but a lot of guys in that O-line room are competing really well and they’ll just have to continue to try to build that skill set and then we’ll find the best five here probably sometime into the end of this week or maybe really next week.”

The offensive linemen are scheduled to talk to reporters Tuesday.

4. Full pads go on Tuesday.

The team has practiced in shoulder pads already, but they will add the rest and be able to do full tackling rather than the partial contact they’ve been limited to at this point.

That changes the dynamic, of course, and gives some players a chance to better display all their skills.

“It’s hard when you’re a running back and you can’t take guys to the ground, so when we have those tackling opportunities that’ll be big to see,” Day said. “But it’s also to get everybody just back into tackling (to prepare for) an early game where you know they’re going to run the ball and be physical. We’re going to have to be able to come up and tackle. We can’t have a, ‘Well in the first half we struggled tackling.’ That’s not gonna work. We’ll lose the game.”