After the first practice of spring camp, Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer said he “probably” owes it to Joe Burrow to have a timely answer on the quarterback situation.
The answer every time after that from Meyer or offensive coordinator Ryan Day was that there was no answer.
Even when spring ball came to a close, both coaches said they would need to look at the data first before coming to a decision.
While Meyer wanted to give Burrow an answer in a timely manner, the quarterbacks didn’t make things easy on the coaches.
When asked if their timeline had been adjusted by Burrow’s timeline as a possible graduate transfer, Day said they weren’t planning to speed the process up.
“Well, Joe has said that he wants to be a Buckeye,” Day said after spring camp. “And he is a Buckeye and he’s showed loyalty here. So, that really isn’t changing anything. We don’t play a game until September, so there is still a lot to be written that way with the preseason and all of that. But once we get through it, we’ll have a better idea.”
That being said, Meyer and Burrow have had conversations before spring ball and have also spoken since it ended. According to Day, however, they weren’t planning on basing their decision on the effect it could have on their roster if somebody was to leave.
“You trust the fact that guys chose Ohio State for a reason and they want to be a part of the brotherhood and they want to be a part of Nine Strong,” he said. “Being there for your teammate is a part of it. That is something we talk about all the time. How strong is your unit? How strong is the offense? The Brotherhood of Trust is important for us. That’s why we preach it all the time. Because in the end, it’s not about yourself. It’s about the team.”
Meyer and Day will eventually come to a decision, even if it’s no decision at all. If things are too close to call, the football is then in Joe Burrow’s court.
And even if Meyer did come out and say that Joe Burrow is the No. 1 quarterback heading into the offseason, he is still going to have to prove it all over again in fall camp.
“Regardless of how the evaluations come out, the guys will have to go into preseason and compete anyways,” Day said. “There is a month’s worth of practice coming up here. Regardless of how that plays out and who is ahead of who, they will have to go into the preseason and compete anyways.
“If you go into the preseason and you don’t do well, you will be impacted by that. It is a process.”