Ryan Day shares hopes for Ohio State's secondary

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day liked the improvement he saw from his secondary throughout spring practice, and apparently, his defensive backs have only continued to build on that foundation.

With some major losses from last year’s secondary, competition is the name of the game in Ohio State’s defensive backfield, which has been translated into their offseason workouts led by Director of Football Sport Performance Mickey Marotti.

“It’s continued into the summer, just the competitiveness,” Day said. “A lot of stuff that Mick’s been doing in the offseason is all about competition and whatever it’s been, whether it’s a shuttle or lifting weights, it’s about competition, it’s about competing.”

The Buckeyes lose safety Ronnie Hickman and cornerbacks Cameron Brown and Jakailin Johnson from last year’s team, who combined for 23 starts last year for the Buckeyes. They return breakout performers like Denzel Burke and Lathan Ransom from a season ago along with new transfer additions like Ja’Had Carter and Davison Igbinosun who respectively started and produced at Syracuse and Ole Miss.

“It’s the same thing with the DBs, it’s competing on the perimeter. Making tackles, getting their hands on balls, I mean that’s what it comes down to. And if we’re competitive, it we’re fierce out there, if we’re tough, if we’re smart, then we’ll have a chance,” Day said. “But everything we’ve seen so far is very encouraging.”

The secondary has been one of the Buckeyes’ many strengths historically, with 34 defensive backs selected in the NFL Draft out of Ohio State since 1997. And although there may be some question marks regarding their current depth chart, the high standard will likely be upheld on Ohio State’s back end as a talent group will be competing hard for playing time during fall camp in Columbus.

Emeka Egbuka makes acrobatic catch in fall camp

Emeka Egbuka had some of the best ball skills in the country coming out of high school. Simply put, he was the No. 1 ranked wide receiver in the 2021 cycle for a reason. Egbuka even reeled in Gatorade Player of the Year honors in 2020 for Steilacoom (Steilacoom, Washington). Once he got to start last year for the Buckeyes, he wasted little time in showing off his incredible ball skills–hauling in 1,151 receiving yards and 10 touchdown catches. He looks to be one of the next great wide receivers in Scarlet and Gray.

On Saturday in fall camp, Egbuka was at it again, tipping a ball to himself and reeling it in while falling to the ground.

Check out the catch here as he hauls in a beauty from Ohio State quarterback, Kyle McCord.

𝙥𝙤𝙚𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 🎵
@emeka_egbuka pic.twitter.com/Y6nss8kMhK

— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) August 5, 2023

On3’s Wade Peery contributed to this report