Ryan Day reveals which positions he's thinking about the most during spring ball

As Ohio State continues with spring football practice there are a few key areas that coach Ryan Day continues to evaluate on a daily basis.

Two position groups in particular have caught his eye, the fifth-year Buckeyes coach told a group of local reporters on Tuesday.

“Probably offensive line and then probably the secondary, just in general, just where that’s at,” Day said. “I will say this, I like the way the corners are playing. Got to see how the safeties did.”

Some other spots have also drawn Day’s interest due to the lack of availability of some veterans. At linebacker, for example, Tommy Eichenberg is not practicing this spring. That’s given Day the chance to evaluate a few others in the front seven a little more closely.

“But depth on the D-line, it’s good to get a couple guys out there now that Tommy’s not going to be practicing here this spring,” Day said. “But those are the areas that we’ve really got to do a great job with.”

Spring can make full judgments difficult

One of the most challenging aspects to spring football around the country is that you’re going up against yourself. It’s not always super clear whether you have a dominant position group or a real weakness.

If the offensive line is constantly beating the defensive line, you might have a really good offensive line. Or you might have a pretty shoddy defensive line.

Making those evaluations is one of the keys for coaches like Ryan Day in spring football.

“You just have to evaluate it for what it is,” Day said. “You have to identify it and you have to be real. You can’t be fake in this game. The players know it, the coaches know it. Sometimes you can feel like we’re riding a guy or we’re really negative on someone who’s a good player. You can call that out. Or if you’re wrong in your evaluation and you think someone’s better than they are it’s going to get you beat down the road. So you’ve just got to do a great job of communicating and identifying what you think it is in the evaluation.”

Make the wrong call and you can leave yourself in a real bind down the road, as Day pointed out. Still, when you’re the coach at Ohio State, chances are you have mostly strengths and few weaknesses. So he won’t be losing any sleep for now.