In a year full of “firsts” for new Ohio State head coach Ryan Day, this was another milestone.
Day made his first appearance at Big Ten Media Days Thursday, meeting with the media to preview the Buckeyes’ 2019 season.
There have been a lot of changes since the last time the Buckeyes appeared here. Day took over for Urban Meyer, of course.
OSU has a new starting quarterback, three new wide receivers in their starting rotation, and four new starters along the offensive line. The defensive coaching staff is almost entirely new, with new starters on that side of the ball as well.
Here’s what Day had to say Thursday in Chicago.
+ He thanked Jim Delany for everything he accomplished as Big Ten commissioner
+ Jordan Fuller is a first-team academic all-American, captain, and the leading returning tackler
+ K.J. Hill is 48 catches away from setting the school’s career receptions record
+ Jonathon Cooper is the ‘epitome of what it means to be a Buckeye.’
+ June was difficult with all of the official visits, and he had his staff take a lot of time off in July.
+ There is a lot of depth at linebacker and they’re using different personnel groupings. Tuf Borland is being pushed by Teradja Mitchell. There is a lot of healthy competition. The goal is to have the linebacker room work like the defensive line room has.
+ The tight end group is the most experienced on the offense.
+ Day named at least seven different offensive linemen who he said could start this year: Thayer Munford, Branden Bowen, Josh Myers, Wyatt Davis, Josh Alabi, Jonah Jackson, and Nick Petit-Frere. He said they would have to sort that out in August.
+ The offense has to adapt based on personnel, and based on how many players they lost, it would definitely look different this year.
+ He doesn’t like to focus on how he’s different from Urban Meyer: ‘You can just be yourself.’ He says they’re working on building both toughness and love and support within the program.
+ He feels great about the team right now, regardless of where they’re predicted to finish. ‘We have a lot to prove.’ He says with a new staff and new players, they haven’t accomplished anything yet. ‘It’s going to come down to proving it on the field.”
+ The quarterback room ‘is an interesting situation’ and Justin Fields and Gunnar Hoak are going to compete for the starting job. Whoever it is will be inexperienced. The defense and run game will have to pick up the slack in the early season until they get more experience.
+ He will speak a lot to Urban Meyer throughout the season. He says he has made multiple phone calls to Meyer to ask about handling certain things, but Meyer has done a great job knowing when to stay out of the way as well.
+ ‘We would love to play as much depth as we can’ at the wide receiver position. They rotated last year and played fast, which wore down opponents. They have to keep the mentality that guys in the room aren’t worried about their individual stats. They want to get to a six or seven-man rotation there this fall if possible.
+ Chip Kelly has been like a father, brother, and uncle for him. He, Urban Meyer, and Steve Addazio have been the three biggest influences on Day’s career.
+ He says they don’t want to get distracted by people picking Michigan to win the Big Ten this year, but acknowledges ‘I think our guys read it, they see it’