Updates: Ryan Day Recaps Spring Practice Day One

COLUMBUS — Ohio State head coach Ryan Day met with reporters following the Buckeyes’ first practice of spring camp. He answered questions about personnel, coaches, and much more. The highlights of everything he had to say can be found below.

First day thoughts? No pads, but good to see them running around with good energy. It’s a continuation of a good offseason. Everybody is at different stages in their respective careers and they are working on different things. “No pads so not much to report.”
Chip Kelly’s role in the running game? He’ll have a huge part in that. “He and I, we see things the same way.” He has a great background of running the football. “He’s excited about the guys that we have.” “And all of our quarterbacks are mobile.”
On Sonny Styles at linebacker, he wants to do whatever he can to help the team. He has a versatile skill set. “You will see him at linebacker. You’ll see him do some other things as time goes on.”
How is the boss-ship going with Chip Kelly? “We’ve been friends and we continued to be friends. We’re both very, very competitive. I could tell you stories. Not right now.” There’s a lot of love there. He owes a lot to Kelly. But now they’re just two guys who are a part of something bigger chasing the same goal. “It’s gonna be a fun journey to go on.” Kelly has always been able to adapt and change over time. It’s been fun to come to work every day. It’s good to know he can step away from the offense and Kelly will take care of it.
On being a quarterback whisperer: “I wasn’t whispering out there today, I’ll tell you.”
On stepping away from the QB coaching: That’s Chip Kelly’s job. They have a lot of back and forth, but Kelly is going to run the meetings. “It’s a good group of quarterbacks.” The feedback from Mickey Marotti has been good. They had 150 reps today among the quarterbacks.
How do you divide spring reps among the QBs? They’re just trying to get as many as they can for everybody. They had 150 today but that will come down when the pads go on. The key right now is they have the ability to have a full roster and they can get three groups equal reps.
Luke Montgomery at right guard today. “He’s very athletic.” He’s skill in a lot of areas. “We think he’s got a very, very high ceiling.” He’s got things he’s working on this offseason. They think he can still play tackle but they want to look at him at guard because it’s an open job. They like his quickness and his ability to bend. They think he has the skill set to handle it. They’ll look at it after spring to evaluate it more.
There are so many veterans on the roster right now who won’t need many reps as time goes on this spring. Everybody has a list of things they’re trying to get done. Some of those guys will get done with things quicker than others because their list is much shorter — like JT Tuimoloau or Tyleik Williams compared to a Jason Moore or Will Smith, who are redshirt freshmen.
“Tempo is always going to be a part of what we do.” But you have to do it in different ways. Every team is a little bit different and every team has to be attacked in different ways. The point is that Chip Kelly has always been innovative in what he does and that’s not going to change now.
You don’t just show up as a transfer and win the job. You have to earn it through respect and work. But it has to be like that for the freshmen as well.
“There’s no question” he feels more comfortable leaving the offense in Chip Kelly’s hands and spending more time with the rest of the team.
As the quarterback situation settles, they’ll make sure the guys who need the reps with the ones will get them later on in practice as those players emerge. The big focus right now is developing the individual player, so you want everybody to get reps.
Impressed with how Devin Brown practiced today. Conviction and demeanor.
Carson Hinzman has had a really good last two months with Mickey Marotti. His numbers in the weight room are very good. He has a great opportunity to compete this spring. The pads aren’t on so you won’t know anything on the offensive line for a while. “I’m fired up to see what he looks like as we head into the middle of spring.”
Julian Sayin and Air Noland are first learning what to do, then how to do it, then why they do it. But they also have to put in extra work because they don’t know everything yet.
Impression of the news guys? “All flashed.” When things are going that fast it’s hard to focus on one guy.
A lot of the terminology offensively remains, and what they do here is a lot of stuff that Day learned from Chip Kelly. Kelly has already made some excellent tweaks to the run game.
Is it more fun out there today? It’s fun to be at work with a group of guys who all want to work and bring energy. That’s the players and coaches. The players are as close to pro players as he’s ever been around. When you have a veteran team like this you better be prepared as a coach.
Regardless of how much talent you have on the team, it’s the “no-talent issues” that will win you games. It’s discipline, focus, effort, and energy. That’s the focus right now in the spring.
Has Chip Kelly embraced the role as OC? They’ve always had a great relationship. It’s never been a “works for” relationship with them, it’s always been a “works with” relationship.
Anybody not available for spring ball? Malik Hartford, Miles Walker, Bryce West, Kourt Williams, and Payton Pierce. They should all be back in the preseason.