Why Ryan Day wants Buckeyes tackling live in spring game
COLUMBUS — Ohio State isn’t ready to just coast into the summer.
The last practice of spring camp might not necessarily be full-go, nonstop action from start to finish. But the Buckeyes aren’t going to entirely skip an opportunity to improve, either.
And since the best way to get better at playing football is to actually play it, the program has decided to have several periods of live tackling on Saturday in the Horseshoe in a closing scrimmage that could be far more revealing than the feel-good walkthroughs over the last handful of years.
“For the spring game itself, we decided we’re going to go offense versus defense,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said on Thursday. “We’ll probably start off with a little bit of a thud, then quickly go into tackling. For the majority of the game, we will tackle in the spring game.
“I just think we need to play the game this year. We’ve got to go out there and tackle and play. I think it will be good for a lot of our guys to do that and get out there.”
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The Buckeyes certainly weren’t the nation’s most fundamentally-sound defense a year ago, and that fact has almost certainly played at least some factor into the approach throughout camp. New defensive coordinator Jim Knowles has made it clear that tackling can be taught without necessarily taking offensive players to the ground — but like any skill, it takes real reps to deliver actual results.
There will still be some restrictions, of course. Ohio State is going to keep its quarterbacks in non-contact jerseys, and it will limit guys returning from injury like defensive back starters Cameron Brown and Josh Proctor. But the Buckeyes are well aware of what’s waiting for them in Week One when the season kicks off, and that’s another key reason it isn’t going to treat Saturday like a celebration for the end of a grueling camp.
“The first game of the year, we play Notre Dame at home,” Day said. “We have to be ready to roll.
“Once you start getting into the preseason, you get closer and closer to that first game, you start to really hold your breath because you don’t want to lose guys. But we have to tackle. We have to play physical. We have to play tough. If we want to reach our goals this year, we’re going to have to be that way and play that way. So, we’ll do that on Saturday.”
There will be a chance for the Buckeyes to relax a bit once camp is officially over.
But that won’t be until after the spring game this year.
