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Ryan Day shares keys to watch during Ohio State’s spring game
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Ohio State is ready to hit Ohio Stadium for the first time as national champions. That will occur on Saturday for the annual spring game, and head coach Ryan Day addressed some of his keys and expectations for the event ahead of time.
During a Friday interview for WBNS 10TV, Day pointed to the spring game as the final evaluation step this spring. Overall, his staff will be looking at how players handle the change in environment.
The head coach expects players who need “a little bit more work” will show themselves inside the Horseshoe:
“Really, for us, the final evaluation is just the game itself. You’re looking to see how guys handle the environment. For the most part, you’re not going to all of a sudden start playing miraculously,” Day explained. “You’re going to either continue to show what you’ve been doing on film, or you know, the other part of it is, maybe we need a little bit more work in there because the stimulus is different, the crowd is different, all the little things are different. We just want to see how guys respond to that environment.”
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One of the biggest areas that will be looked at closely is the quarterback battle between Lincoln Kienholz, Julian Sayin and Tavien St. Clair. Neither of those players has seen meaningful game reps, so the Buckeyes will be looking for one of those QBs to take a big step up and grab the starting role this offseason.
After a veteran-stocked roster last season, Ohio State has a much different makeup heading into 2025. Day touched on that and admitted this year’s group is more inexperienced.
However, he still sees a lot to like about this year’s unit:
“The one thing about this team, I think they’re competitive, they’re intense, they’re edgy. They like to compete every day in practice. They’re just a little bit inexperienced, so we’ve got to get more and more reps,” said Day. “That’s our job as coaches, to create that environment that’s so much like the game, which is what we’re looking to do here on Saturday.”
The format for Ohio State’s spring game is expected to look different than in years past, but the Buckeyes will still have their game broadcast by the Big Ten Network. Saturday’s event, whatever the format, is set to begin at 12 pm ET.
Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.