PHOENIX — Most of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team arrived in Phoenix on Sunday, and the majority of those players arrived together with head coach Ryan Day and the rest of the OSU staff.
Other players were flying in from home as they were all given a few days to reconnect with family.
“The guys who are within a three-, four-hour radius came with us on the charter,” Day said. “Everybody else we fly from home. I know there’s always a couple things here and there. But as we took off, looked like the majority of the guys will be here today.”
One of the first questions Day was asked was if anybody who should be here isn’t, and he said he expects everybody to be here eventually.
An Ohio State spokesman said the Buckeyes will eventually have 106 players here in Phoenix for the Fiesta Bowl.
Day also said they will be at full strength for next Saturday against the Clemson Tigers.
This being Day’s first bowl game as a head coach, he sought out advice on how to handle it. But this is also a very different timeline than most bowls, so there is no exact science yet on how to prepare for something like this.
“Very unique,” he said of the planning. “This is a unique time frame in terms of coming off of the Big Ten Championship game, getting ready for this. There’s really no precedence for this one because typically in the past, the plan has always been, phase 1, development of the young guys, get rest for the older guys. And then phase 2 is kind of game plan the week before, go home for a little break, and come back. Phase 3 is at the bowl site.
“We really didn’t have time for that. So this was somewhere between getting ready for a bowl game and a bye week. We practiced Friday, Saturday, took Sunday off. Went Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday real hard. Gave them three days off, and now we’re back to work here.
“So talked to a lot of people about this. I think it’s a really good plan to keep them fresh and also on top of their game.”
The good news for Buckeye fans is that Day feels pretty good about how the process has gone to this point.
“Feel great. I think our guys are going to come back today, refreshed, reenergized,” he said. “We got a lot of time to game plan. We’ve been working at it the last couple of days, and now we’ve got really six days to get ready for this game, which is great. Whole bunch of time together in the hotel, which is always good, too.
“It’s like being on the road for an extended period of time. That’s kind of the way we’re looking at it. Certainly, is a bowl game but it’s a little different. This one you’re playing for a lot more, and I think the guys are going to prepare that way this week.”
He says they flew the players home for Christmas. Remember when Woody broke NCAA rules when he gave a player money to go home and see his sick mother? Evidently things have gotten better.
Make us proud in Arizona, my wife and I are transplants and we are big time Ohio State fans, go get ’em!…Go Buckeye’s beat Clemson!