Buckeyes using spring to cross-train players, deepen roster

COLUMBUS — Ohio State saw first-hand how taxing a 16-game run to a national championship can be; the Buckeyes just did it and won it all.

With the rigors of that longer season in mind — and with a goal of playing another long season this year along with a changing roster landscape across college football — the Buckeyes are using this spring to cross-train players at multiple positions.

It’s part of an effort to curb the impact of cutting rosters down to 105 total players as well as understanding that injuries are likely. Buckeyes coach Ryan Day touched on it Monday following the first Ohio State practice of spring.

“Now that we’re going to a roster of 105, it looks like that’s where we’re headed. Then we have to have versatility and guys have to be able to play multiple positions. You saw that happen with Donovan [Jackson, who played guard and tackle last year]. You saw it happen with Carson [Hinzman, who played guard and center] this year. You’ve seen it happen with a lot of our guys. And so we want to be able to teach guys in dual roles this year. I think it’s important and not just on the offensive line. If you’re a tight end, you need to be able to play a receiver. So maybe a tight end can learn protection and line up in the backfield. A receiver like Brandon Inniss can line up in the backfield and take a handoff. You think about Xavier Johnson. You think about the run we’ve made late in the season, guys have had to move and play multiple positions.”

Day sees why some would consider the new roster rules to be no big deal for college football teams, but here’s the way he sees it compared to the NFL model of 53 active players and plenty of others in the organization:

“I think you find that sometimes in the NFL,” Day said. “The difference here is that we’re not going to be able to sign people off of waivers. At 105, that’s tough because when you look at the NFL, people are going to say, well, “they have a 56-man roster.” But the truth is when they bring guys in and send guys onto waivers, most teams are in the north of 115, 120 of guys in the building and out of the building. Well, if you only have 105 guys to work with, and some of those guys are young freshmen, then you have to have versatility in all those positions. So that’s an example of a position that we’re making sure guys play multiple positions.”

One place Ohio State will absolutely cross-train: the offensive line, where Austin Siereveld, who started games at guard for the Buckeyes last season, was seen repping at left tackle on Monday. Day and the Buckeyes have plans for the offensive linemen to play multiple positions in case of emergency.

“We’ve seen Austin play guard. We want him to play some tackle. We want Luke [Montgomery, starting left guard last season in the College Football Playoff] to play guard. We want him to play some center. I want Tegra [Tshabola, starting right guard last season] to be able to move around. It’ll give us more versatility, especially late in the season.”

Ohio State knows what that long CFP run to a national championship feels like. So it’s working to make sure it has the deepest roster in the country, and cross-training players to make that a reality.