Ohio State Football: Ryan Day praises Justin Fields’ toughness

Ohio State football head coach Ryan Day held his first offseason press conference yesterday afternoon. He was sure to show his QB tons of love.

Head coach Ryan Day spoke highly of his quarterback Justin Fields during a Wednesday afternoon press conference. Speaking with reporters for this first time since the Fiesta Bowl loss, Day was sure to point out what he thought of Fields’ performance this season. Day was extremely impressed by his young quarterbacks maturity and toughness.

And yesterday he finally confirmed that Fields was not playing at 100 percent for the stretch run of the season, even though everybody could clearly see it. Especially in the Big Ten Championship game, Fields was not able to drive the ball down the field with his arm and often sailed throws high. This is what Day said via Eleven Warriors:

"“It wasn’t something that was catastrophic, but at the same time, he wasn’t 100 percent,” Day said. “And there were times this year where he missed practice. And so the whole arsenal of stuff was not there. But I’ll tell you what, he’s tough, and he worked through it and he competed and he played hard. And it’s a tribute to how tough he is, and his ability to work through things.”"

That’s high praise for Day to give in terms of talking about his ability to handle his injury. Even with the bum knee, Fields was able to put together an excellent game against Clemson. Completing 30 of 46 passes for 320 yards and a touchdown, Fields had Ohio State in position for a National Championship game appearance.

We all know about the awful officiating and the Chris Olave route running snafu so lets not re-hash that but if Fields was able to put together a game like that injured, could you imagine what would have happened if healthy?

I for one can not wait to see what Justin Fields can do with another offseason in the Ohio State program. Now that he is full immersed in the Buckeye culture and under the tutelage of Ryan Day and Corey Dennis, the sky is the limit for Fields next season.

And if the cards align and certain young players can step up then another appearance in the College Football Playoffs is almost a certainty with No.1 under center. Let’s just hope he can get healthy this offseason and stay healthy during the 2020 campaign.