Ryan Day has clear plan for play-calling duties ahead of opener

COLUMBUS — Of course Ryan Day will call plays on Saturday in the Ohio State season and Big Ten opener at Indiana because, well, isn’t that what he has done for years?

Oh yeah, he said back in the winter after the one-point loss to Georgia in the College Football Playoff semifinal that he was giving strong consideration to relinquishing playcalling duties. He wanted to spend more time as a true head coach, especially in the spring as the Buckeyes worked to fix what went wrong with the defense the last two games of the year.

He named receivers coach Brian Hartline the offensive coordinator to replace Kevin Wilson, who went to Tulsa as head coach, and indicated Hartline could be calling plays this season, too. But as Ohio State preseason camp ensued Day kept dropping hints that he was gravitating back to the play-calling role, and he confirmed it Thursday, though with the offering he wants to work Hartline into the job.

“Brian and I are going to keep working through it,” Day said. “We talked about it a little bit this week. We’ll talk about it more even as we head in.

“We’ll both have the same call sheet. We’ll both talk between series. We’ll work together on this thing.”

Day intends for it to be an evolution to Hartline, who has never called plays in a real game.

“As time goes on we’ll try to give more and more of an opportunity for Brian to call it,” Day said. “But early on I’ll be heavily involved.”

Remember, the Buckeyes have a new starting quarterback in Kyle McCord, with Devin Brown also expected to play extensively. Plus there are three new starters on the offensive line, including first-time starter Carson Hinzman at center.

Breaking in a new playcaller with a new starting quarterback in a Big Ten opener on the road would be considered less than ideal for Ohio State. Day was asked whether having a veteran making the calls might be good for the sake of clarity.

“Yes,” he said. “I think that’s important.”

He knows not to take anything for granted, considering the circumstances, and even if Ohio State is a 30-point favorite over Indiana.

“We’re looking at it like this is going to be a dog fight; it usually is” in game at Indiana, Day said. “It’ll be close at halftime; we’ll have to win the game in the second half.

“If it goes another way, it goes another way. But we’re going to do everything we can to win this game, and do what’s best to win this game, and then we’ll come up for air after the game. If you do anything else it’s dangerous.”

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