Ryan Day confirms Ohio State will still hold Spring Game amid other cancelations

This spring, there has been a string of teams canceling spring games. However, that hasn’t been the case at Ohio State as head coach Ryan Day has maintained that he still wants to host a more traditional spring game.

Day has maintained a caveat to hosting that spring game. If there are too many injuries, particularly at key positions like the offensive line, then the Buckeyes might need to adjust. However, when Day recently met with the media, he shared that Ohio State is still in a good position to host the spring game on April 12th.

“I just wanted to mention the plan is for us still to play the spring game,” Ryan Day said. “We’ll continue to look at the health throughout this week and into next week, but the plan is to have a game format on the 12th, which will be great and then so we could have a lot of different things going on that day.”

There are a few different reasons why teams have publicly shared they’re choosing to cancel or adjust their spring game in some manner. Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian pointed to the length of the previous season as a reason to skip the spring game. Others, however, like Matt Rhule at Nebraska have cited potential tampering ahead of the Transfer Portal opening up.

Along with the spring game, Ryan Day also touched on another chance for fans to connect with the program. There will be Saddle Up, which acts as an NIL fundraiser for the program too.

“After the spring game is our Saddle Up event, which is something that has been going on now,” Day said. “This will be our third year where it’s a fundraising event here for NIL in the in the Woody. And it’s actually a country concert that we’ve been putting on now.”

Ryan Day explains the value of spring game for Ohio State

While teams have their reasons for canceling spring games, there are more benefits to them than negatives for Ryan Day. So, when he initially announced that Ohio State plans on hosting a spring game, he also shared why it matters to the program.

“We want to do this. We want to play a spring game. Now, there may be some guys that are held from the spring game, but not many. We feel like, I think, we’re 159 days away from playing Texas, and that day will matter to a lot of young players. So, well, we need to get out there and compete. The format of it and how it works will probably be similar to what we’ve done in the past,” Day said.

“So, it will be a great opportunity for fans and folks to see our guys and get out there and play. That part of it, to me, and it is what it is but we’ve got to go do it. It’s important that we start the season fast and the first step is playing in the spring game.”