Ryan Day says Ohio State is at full strength entering camp

Ohio State enters fall camp in a great way: Fully healthy. After a number of players were nursing injuries through the spring and fall camp, head coach Ryan Day said on Wednesday that everyone they expected to have for fall camp is healthy and ready to go.

And the roster health has additional benefits as Ohio State works through fall camp. Day is focused on protecting the good health of his roster, but he knows that being basically four-deep across the roster gives them even more options for practice.

“We’re full strength. It’s a big part of the preseason is getting the work you need, getting guys ready but keeping them healthy and getting ready for that first game. But guys have worked hard to rehab to get to where we are. So, we feel good about that. Now that we’re at full strength, we’re four deep now in a lot of areas and so we’ll be able to, at times, go two fields where we can get reps on one field, reps on another instead of trying to get four groups in,” Day said.

Whereas most teams are usually confined to one offense and defense going against each other in practice most of the time, Day thinks the current health and depth of his roster will give Ohio State the chance to basically have two full-team practices on either field at one time.

And that leads to more reps, perhaps in even less time. With two practices running at once, effectively, there will not only be double the reps, but less time spent sorting groups and cycling through. All told, it creates efficiency as the Buckeyes practice.

“That’ll allow us to get double the amount of reps in less time,” Day said. So there’s a lot more guys and that means a lot more competition and like you said, now where you may have had one other guy at your position, now you’re going to have four. At the running back position, five. So, that’s always good.”

The depth and health will also mean more competition up and down the roster, something Day has made critical in the program throughout the offseason. Now he’ll get to preside over two fields worth of competitive, meaningful reps as the Buckeyes head toward the regular season.

“It’s always good to have competition in there and that’s what this whole offseason has been about. It’s been about competing so we’ll keep pushing that message forward,” Day said.

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