Ohio State football: Buckeyes’ 133rd season to begin Thursday

Head coach Ryan Day welcomes back 12 starters on offense and defense, including quarterback C.J. Stroud, star running back TreVeyon Henderson, record-setting receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and three offensive linemen.

He has his starting quarterback back for the second time in four years, and the defense is under new management for the third time since Day became the head coach in 2019.

This time, the stop unit has been placed under the direction of new coordinator Jim Knowles, who will coach the linebackers while newcomers Tim Walton and Perry Eliano work with the secondary and Larry Johnson remains defensive line coach.

“We have to play winning football, and that starts with stopping the run,” Day said at Big Ten Media Days last week. “I think that this offseason has been excellent in terms of them installing the defense, in terms of schematics. I think our new staff has done an excellent job, Jim with the linebackers, Perry with the safeties, Tim with the corners, and obviously Larry up front.”

Players with multiple starts return in every defensive position group, though what the lineup actually looks like when the Fighting Irish take their first snap one month from now remains to be seen.

“They come back with a lot of experience, almost the entire defense back, and really almost the entire Rose Bowl team is back from last year, so that’s exciting,” Day said. “We have a bit more experience there, so that’s good news, but new scheme, new coaches, all of those things are new. I think going up against them in the spring and seeing what’s happened this summer and now into the preseason, it’s been exciting to watch. There’s just an aggressiveness about them.”

For the first time in Day’s tenure, the Buckeyes are not the defending Big Ten champions, and they are coming off their first loss to Michigan since 2011.

“Every year the expectations are high, and that doesn’t change based on what happened the year before,” Day said. “The expectation is to win them all. I said that in my opening press conference when I was named the head coach, and that’s just the way it is.”

Although all practices will be held at the team’s normal facility, the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, the team will stay at a hotel south of campus beginning next week.

They will practice in the morning until classes begin Aug. 23, at which point they will shift to late afternoon.

Along the way, reporters will be able to interview Day a handful of times along with position coaches and players. The first to go from the latter group will be running backs coach Tony Alford and his charges Friday morning.