Ryan Day: Youth movement will help Ohio State reach expectations

A common theme in the Buckeye locker room this year is inexperience.

Ohio State has one of the youngest teams in the country, especially in a season when many teams returned several “super seniors” due to COVID-19 allowances. The Buckeyes returned six offensive starters and five defensive starters, and they needed to replace their starting quarterback after Justin Fields headed to the NFL. 

In his Tuesday press conference, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day was asked about the crop of untested players and the impact they have had on the season thus far.

“I think that in four games you’ve seen a lot of progress across the board, but there’s still a lot to be done and if we’re going to get to where we want to be this season, these guys are going to have to continue to build,” Day said. “And it’s everybody, it’s not just the young guys, it’s the older guys who maybe haven’t played as much either. It’s just continuing to get back to work.”

The Buckeyes starting lineup last week showed just how young their squad is. In the 69-7 win over in-state opponent Akron, the Buckeyes started true freshman Kyle McCord and played backup quarterback and redshirt freshman Jack Miller once the Buckeyes had a comfortable lead. C.J. Stroud sat out for the game due to a nagging shoulder injury, but he is expected to be this weekend’s starter should he be healthy enough. 

True freshman TreVeyon Henderson, who is already turning heads with an impressive rookie campaign, also started on Saturday. It was the first time in school history that freshmen started at both the quarterback and running back positions in the same game. 

Despite knowing that there would be a lack of experience on the Buckeye sideline this year, expectations were high for a team that made the national championship last year. Day commented on the impact of the predictions.

“I think sometimes you go into a season with certain expectations of what’s going to come and whether it happens or not, that’s unique to each individual, but working and putting in days of work every day is what’s critical and just grinding through all of that,” the third-year head coach added. “So here we are back in conference play, and I think we’re better than we were four weeks ago.”

The Buckeyes face a fellow 3-1 team in Rutgers this weekend in Piscataway. While the offense has had new blood under center, the offensive production is largely a non-issue. Ohio State is averaging 559.3 yards and 43.3 points per game, and both statistics are in the top 10 in the nation. 

The defense, however, is struggling mightily. After linebacker Dallas Gant entered the transfer portal and fellow position group member K’Vaughan Pope was dismissed from the team after a sideline meltdown and subsequent collection of Twitter messages, an already thin defense is now thinner. The Buckeye defense is allowing 410.8 yards per game, ahead of only Illinois in the Big Ten. 

Ohio State is a 15-point favorite, and the game kicks off at 3:30 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network.