“But I think when you look at the way that the season is designed at the end of the year, you’re looking at four, five, eight, six games of probably top 10 football back-to-back-to-back. And so the only way to be ready for something like that is to train at a high, high level.
“Challenge ourselves to be really good at both sides of the ball — running the ball, stopping a run, taking care of the football — and then obviously in the passing game you have to be balanced. But we’ve got to be a physical team, and we’ve got to be able to travel on the road and play physical football on the road.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
The Buckeyes have 25 practices scheduled before their season-opener against Akron on Aug. 31 at Ohio Stadium.
Who starts that day at many positions is still to be determined, but here is how they lined up on the first day:
- Lakota West grad Tegra Tshabola was the No. 1 right guard. Sort of. The Buckeyes split squads to practice on two different fields, and it seemed like the No. 1 offensive line was not all together.
- Josh Simmons and Donovan Jackson, returning starters at left tackle and left guard, respectively, went to one side with Wayne graduate Joshua Padilla at center, sophomore Luke Montgomery at right guard and junior George Fitzpatrick at right tackle. On the other field, Alabama transfer Seth McLaughlin, Tshabola and returning starter Josh Fryar played center, right guard and right tackle, respectively, with Lakota East grad Austin Siereveld at left guard and Zen Michalski at left tackle.
- In other local notes, Alter grad C.J. Hicks was the No. 2 “Will” linebacker most of the morning. He saw a few snaps with the first team late in a seven-on-seven portion of practice. (There was no full team scrimmage on the first day.) Joining him on that unit was fellow junior Gabe Powers while senior Cody Simon and Sonny Styles manned the first team. Lakota West grad Malik Hartford, who looked bulked up and switched his number to 9, was the No. 2 middle safety behind Alabama transfer Caleb Downs, and Springfield grad Aaron Scott Jr. was one of the cornerbacks on the second team defense.
- (All personnel notes come with at last two caveats: It was the first day, and everything can change at any point. Additionally, Carson Hinzman was absent due to illness. He was the starting center but struggled as an undersized redshirt freshman last season, so McLaughlin has been considered the favorite to start in the middle after handling that job for two seasons with the Crimson Tide.)
- The quarterbacks rotated, so there was not a lot to glean from who they worked with, but Day praised the group as a whole for looking better physically, a compliment that seemed particularly relevant when it came to Will Howard. A senior transfer from Kansas State, Howard was listed 6-foot-5, 242 last year, but the roster Ohio State released Thursday had him 6-4, 237.
- While the offense was split up, the defensive units appeared to be mostly intact. That could be a result of most of the starters returning in that side of the ball, but some changes can be expected as the preseason and season wear on.
- Thursday saw seniors J.T. Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer at end with classmates Ty Hamilton and Tyleik Williams inside. Behind linebackers Simon and Styles were Alabama transfer Caleb Downs at “Adjuster” safety, fifth-year senior Lathan Ransom at “Bandit” (boundary) safety with senior Denzel Burke and junior Davison Igbinosun at cornerback and senior Jordan Hancock at Nickel safety.
- The second team secondary was Scott and redshirt freshman Calvin Simpson-Hunt at corner with Jermaine Mathews Jr. at Nickel, Downs at Adjuster and redshirt freshman Jayden Bonsu at Bandit.
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