Ohio State president Ted Carter addresses team, impressed by first training camp practice
COLUMBUS — First-year Ohio State president Ted Carter paid a visit to the Buckeyes’ first practice of training camp Thursday, seeing for himself what all the fuss is about.
The fuss being the assertion by many experts, from locally based to around the country, that the 2024 Buckeyes could boast the deepest roster — in terms of overall talent — nationally; certainly it is among the elite. But what was Carter’s take?
“I wouldn’t call ’em a liar,” Carter told Lettermen Row as he walked off the field after addressing the team. “They look great.”
A former captain of the hockey team at the U.S. Naval Academy, and, after that, a long-time Naval aviator before moving into college administration, he didn’t take long to to dip into coach-speak, too.
“It’s a nice hot day out here, it’s still early,” Carter said. “They’re learning a lot about each other.”
He indicated that developing that championship chemistry is the key.
“As I said in my comments to them, it’s about creating a culture right now,” Carter said. “I’ve got really high confidence in our coaches, staff, in our returning seniors, our transfer portal players.
“I mean, it’s going to be an exciting year.”
This year’s Ohio State team is a bright example of head coach Ryan Day and his staff — even Carter for that matter — embracing the major changes that have come along in recent years, including the transfer portal, NIL resources and, of course, always recruiting, to put together one of the nation’s more impressive rosters.
“Yeah, but as we all know the dynamics of collegiate athletics is changing so quickly,” Carter said, referencing in part, no doubt, the move to the revenue sharing model starting next year. “It’s one of the reasons we hired Ross Bjork [as new athletic director].
“Ross is doing a great job.”
