In our third edition of what you can expect to be a regular feature in this newsletter, here’s my top takeaway from interviews with Ryan Day and the Ohio State quarterbacks. Click here for takeaways from Day 1 and Day 2 (coordinators, WRs and DBs)
Tuesday was quarterbacks day at Ohio State football, and it was not particularly interesting overall.
Wait, how can that be? Isn’t the quarterback battle THE story of the preseason? Well, yes, but let me explain….
Every position group gets a day to be featured for interviews during the preseason, and the quarterbacks typically go early — especially if they are in a competition to be the new starter so they don’t have much to talk about.
Julian Sayin, Lincoln Kienholz and Tavien St. Clair got their turns Tuesday, and they all said all the right things about leadership, competition, respect, friendship, etc.
Head coach Ryan Day kept his cards close to the vest, as expected, though he did say he is pleased with their progress even if they are nowhere near ready for the Texas game after a week of preseason practice*.
So the most interesting comment of the day belonged to new quarterbacks coach Billy Fessler. Not that he broke from protocol and gave any indication about who might be in the lead to start, but Fessler did drop an interesting detail about what he’s trying to teach them.
“We talk to those guys all the time that we're laying around a bed and maybe watching some film and looking at a clip and it'll be, ‘OK, what would I do here on this play? What would I do here on this play?’
And constantly challenging your mind to play with an imagination, even when we're not out there on the field doing it, is an opportunity to grow, is an opportunity to get better. And maybe somehow mentally I can put myself in that position so if I do get a look that hadn't shown up on tape all year long, but they give us a different look on defense than maybe they've shown, I'm ready for that moment.”
That was really interesting to me because it speaks to what these guys need to do not only to win the job but really excel at the position.
I’ve followed a lot of these battles over the years, and I’ve never heard a coach talk about teaching guys to play with imagination.
The weird thing about these battles is what it takes to win the job isn’t necessarily what will ultimately separate the good from great at the position — and great is the expectation at Ohio State nowadays.
Julian Sayin
You can’t pick a starter based on what he does off-script (Caleb Williams), but you also don’t want a robot (Drew Allar) once you hand a guy the keys.
So coaches have an interesting decision because they need to pick the most consistent performer then hope he turns out to be someone who makes things happen when the chips are down.
*I suppose you probably want an update on the quarterbacks while you’re here, eh?
Well, OK:
Overall, I get the impression Day isn’t as stressed about this quarterback decision as he was Kyle McCord vs. Devin Brown two years ago. Then he was pushing to get a starter as soon as possible, and it was apparent neither was necessarily cooperating as August dragged on. In hindsight, I think that meant McCord was just kind of there while Brown was just not consistent enough to pass him.
The stated desire to pick a starter early backfired on Day in 2023 because when he did not it became easy to infer he wasn’t that confident in McCord, but then hindsight is also 20/20 given how things turned out (McCord was not inspiring, and Brown can’t play the position).
This time around, Day has taken a more measured approach. He has not put a timeline on his decision, and Tuesday he talked about the need to build up a body of work to analyze before he can make the final call.
Truly he sounded more at peace with the pace this time, although I guess it still has been only a week.
Lincoln Kienholz
To put a bow on all of this, perhaps Day’s waiting on the big picture and Fessler’s encouragement to think about what needs to happen when things go wrong will accelerate the development of the winner into a difference-maker. Or not.
Only time will tell on that front.
If you want to see more of what players and coaches are saying after practices, check out my YouTube channel, and for more great sportswriting, check out my buddy Matt Brown’s newsletter that focuses on the business of college sports.
