Ohio State Football: 3 questions keeping Ryan Day awake at night

I believe there are three questions that will need to be addressed by Ryan Day and his coaching staff this summer if the Ohio State football team is to defeat That Team Up North, win the Big 10 Championship, and get back into the College Football Playoffs.

Obviously, there are always unforeseen issues that can and will arise during a season, such as key injuries or off-the-field drama that no one is expecting. Understanding that those are out of one’s control, here are the three questions that will need to be addressed over the course of the next three months before the Ohio State football team kicks off its 2023 season on the road against conference opponent Indiana.

Number one: Can Ryan Day develop another great quarterback?

Day is on a roll when it comes to producing first-round talent at the quarterback position. Dwayne Haskins, Justin Fields, and now C.J. Stroud have all been terrific passers. Good enough that NFL franchises have spent valuable first-round draft picks on them.

Just like in 2021, Day will be breaking in a new signal caller to lead the offense. The difference being that Kyle McCord has been in the program for two full seasons whereas Stroud was a redshirt freshman and Fields was a transfer from Georgia.

That is assuming McCord wins the job. There is still a small, but rather loud, contingent of OSU fans who believe redshirt freshman Devin Brown could end up being the starting quarterback when the Buckeyes kick off their season. I just don’t see this happening.

Day is holding his cards close to his scarlet sweater vest and continues to state publicly that the competition is wide open. Doing so is wise. If he were to have announced a starter following spring ball, there is a good chance whichever man didn’t get the nod would have ended up in the transfer portal.

If there is one thing, I know to be true, Day will not hesitate to pull someone in place of another if it offers the team a better opportunity to win. When Stroud got off to a poor start in 2021 and was dealing with reported shoulder sourness, Day sat him for a week in place of McCord against Akron.

I believe this move had more to do with Stroud’s confidence than an injury following a bad loss against Oregon. Stroud returned to the lineup the next week and never looked back becoming one of the most prolific passers in Ohio State history.

I believe in Day’s ability to develop and manage a quarterback better than any other coach to have ever worn a whistle at Ohio State during my lifetime. I have no reason to doubt that he can work his magic once again, whether that be with McCord or Brown.

That being said, if this is the year that Day can’t find that magic touch for whatever reason, and the quarterback play takes a step back, this could be a disastrous season. A third loss to TTUN and a failure to make the playoffs could spell trouble for Day when it comes to keeping his job and remaining in the good graces of Buckeye Nation.

Number two: Will the offensive line get fixed?

This is honestly my biggest concern for the 2023 Ohio State football team. Only two starters are returning from an offensive line that played extremely well in 2022. Left tackle and former 5-star recruit Paris Johnson Jr. was the first offensive lineman taken in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Both right tackle Dawand Jones and center Luck Wypler were selected on the third day of the NFL Draft and now call Cleveland home. Replacing these talented guys was an obvious challenge this spring for Ryan Day and offensive line coach Justin Frye.

Five-star recruit and returning starter Donovan Jackson will be back for a third, and probably final, season while fellow guard Matthew Jones surprised everyone by returning for a sixth season thanks in part to the Covid rule, giving college athletes one additional year because of the season lost due to the pandemic. Both are expected to lead an inexperienced offensive line and if spring ball is any indication, both men will be tremendous assets when it comes to getting a good push up front in the run game.

Taking over for center appears to be highly recruited sophomore Carson Hinzman. The Wisconsin native was a big-time get in the 2022 class and appeared to fill in for Wypler in the middle surprisingly well beating out transfer Victor Cutler. Upperclassman Jakob James will return from injury this summer and is expected to push Hinzman for the starting position as the Buckeyes begin fall camp. Either way, Ohio State is solid up the middle for 2023.

Where they are not solid is on the outside. Josh Fryar, who was the backup tackle last season and filled in nicely when called upon, is expected to take over on the left side, protecting the blind side for Ohio State’s new quarterback. The last thing Day wants is for a signal-caller to look over his shoulder and feel a rush from behind affecting his pocket awareness. An unstable pocket leads to poor footwork and poor mechanics, which leads to turnovers.

On the right side, highly recruited native Ohioan Tegra Tshabola and third-year player Zen Michalski battled it out all spring. Obviously, the coaching staff wasn’t impressed as they hit the transfer portal as soon as spring was over and acquired the services of west-coast transfer Josh Simmons from San Diego State. It appears heading into summer workouts and eventually Fall camp, it will be a three-way competition to see who will get the nod as starting right tackle.

All spring long we heard rumors that the offensive line was struggling. We then saw them with our own eyes during the spring game, it was even worse than reported. The line was getting beat badly, especially on the outside, on a routine basis.

The quarterback had 2.0 seconds or less to get rid of the football on almost every snap before a defensive lineman was in their face or the entire pocket collapsed. This is completely unacceptable. It won’t matter who wins the starting quarterback job this fall if the offensive line can’t learn to protect him. This is why this is my biggest question that needs to be addressed.

Number Three: Can the defense take another big step forward?

Jim Knowles took over as Ryan Day’s new Defensive Coordinator in 2022 after a disappointing finish to the 2020 and 2021 seasons by the defense, which was directed at the time by Kerry Coombs. Ohio State took some major steps forward last season, especially at the linebacker position, which was being coached by Knowles himself.

The back end of the defense, however, was still shaky during the season, and when the game and season were on the line against TTUN and in the Peach Bowl against Georgia, it was indeed that secondary that figuratively, and literally, slipped.

Wherever Knowles has been in the past, his defenses always improved from the first season to the second and then from the second to third seasons. Knowles acknowledged when he was hired that he didn’t have three seasons to get it on track in Columbus as he did in Stillwater and Durham. This could be a make-or-break season for Knowles as well. If Day can’t get it done and is possibly cleaning his office out at the end of November, Knowles’ future becomes unstable as well.

However, it doesn’t take a world-class offense to win as long as you are able to score more points than your opponent. For years we watched this very philosophy succeed in the form of “Tresselball.” I made the bold prediction several months ago that Ohio State can win in 2023 because of their defense, not in spite of their defense.

One thing that was obvious this spring is that the defensive line has taken a big step forward. Now whether their impressiveness was due to their own abilities, the lack of ability by the offensive line, or a combination of both, it was still plainly obvious that the defensive line looks much better.

An impressive defensive line has a domino effect on the remaining defensive units. Most notably the secondary, who doesn’t have to cover receivers as long and can become slightly more aggressive within the scheme when they know the linemen are going to get through the opponent’s line quickly.

If the Ohio State football team can keep their opponents to under 20 points a game, especially in the big ones, then there is no reason why the Ohio State offense can’t muster up enough points to be victorious when it matters the most.