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Ohio State

Ryan Day details the importance of getting young players experience late in games

Alex Weberby:Alex Weber•09/16/22
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Ryan Day by Matt Parker -- Lettermen Row

Ohio State is accustomed to blowing teams out. In fact, their most recent game fell into that category. A 45-12 curb-stomping of Arkansas State. So, the perfect chance to rest some starters and give some of the Buckeyes’ younger players in the second half. Which OSU head coach Ryan Day opted to do.

Despite the lopsided state of the game, Day believes the younger or less-experienced guys he rotates in later in these blowouts should still be playing at full effort. Who cares what the scores, says Day. Go ahead and use these live game reps to your advantage and play it like it’s a close game. Here were his comments on that front:

“It doesn’t matter what the score is, it shouldn’t matter. Especially for a young player with an opportunity to get out there and show what he can do. You know, it’s tough to go out there and handle everything that’s going on — because in a game there’s there’s a lot to process sometimes.”

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Day then went on to list several questions that should run through the younger players’ heads when they’re thrown to the fire late in these blowouts. For some of them, their first appearance on a college football field came last Saturday.

“Yeah I think that’s everything, you know. It’s like when you step on the field: What do you do? Are you doing your job? Are you producing? Doing the things that we’ve done in practice?”

Lastly, Ryan Day wrapped up his comments by explaining how totally different the game and practice atmospheres are.

“In practice, it’s very segmented and you get, you know, three, four plays in a row and then you kind of catch your breath. And it’s team run or inside drill or seven on seven. But when you’re in the game, there’s a lot going on. We kind of call it the fog of war. Things can get foggy real fast. But some guys, they thrive in that environment. And so we look at all those types of things.”

No way to test players other than by playing them in the games. You just can’t replicate that live game energy. So that’s why blowouts are a great opportunity to give younger players that first taste of game action.