This is a massive year for the Ohio State football program after coming up just short in Atlanta.
For the Ohio State football team, anything short of a return trip to the College Football Playoff will be viewed as a disappointment.
The Buckeyes should once again have one of the better rosters in the Power Five. They may have lost a star receiver, a star quarterback and a pair of excellent book-end tackles, but the Buckeyes should, in theory, be in good shape to handle this kind of attrition because of recruiting. Of course, Ryan Day has to beat Michigan this season. Otherwise, it could lead to a long December for him…
Here are a few rumors about the Buckeyes program heading into the latter part of May 2023.
Ohio State football rumors: What is going on with the Buckeyes program of late?
Ohio State football rumors: Offensive tackle is bigger issue than quarterback
While much has been made about Ohio State having to replace C.J. Stroud under center, Cameron Teague Robinson of The Athletic believes how the Buckeyes go about replacing their two book-end tackles in Paris Johnson Jr. and Dawand Jones is a far more pressing issue. His thought has everything to do with Day's offensive system getting the most out of Devin Brown or Kyle McCord.
With Ohio State having replaced Greg Studrawa with Justin Frye as this unit's position coach, that matters big time when it comes to replacing three starters along last year's offensive line. While redshirt junior Josh Fryar should play well at left tackle, right tackle may be the even bigger issue. For now, the leader to replace Jones over at right tackle is San Diego State transfer Josh Simmons.
Even though the Buckeyes are elite as they come at receiver, these wideouts are going to need to get open. It would also help having a running game to take some of the pressure off a new starting quarterback. Frye might get the benefit of the doubt in his first year in his new role, but Studrawa seemed to have left the cupboard bare when it came to recruitment at this critical position group.
Ultimately, it is all about getting the right five players working well together to solve this big issue.
Ohio State football rumors: Who leads between Devin Brown and Kyle McCord?
Expectations are sky high for whoever ends up winning the Ohio State starting quarterback job between Devin Brown and Kyle McCord. Nathan Baird of Cleveland.com wrote that the winner of this quarterback competition will be expected to contend for Big Ten championships, throw for 4,000 yards in a season and be a Heisman Trophy finalist like the three previous starters all were.
Baird mentioned that neither seems to have the leg up on the other, due in large part to them having spent multiple years in this offensive system. Even if Kevin Wilson left for the Tulsa job, Ryan Day is still here and star wide receivers coach Brian Hartline has been there every step of the way. It really comes down to who Day thinks can take better care of the ball and the special plays.
Given that Ohio State has a breezy start to its season with games vs. Indiana, Youngstown State and Western Kentucky, Day doesn't really have to make a firm decision on who the Buckeyes starter is until the Notre Dame game. McCord probably has the edge since he had the higher upside coming out of high school, but Brown has kept things interesting throughout this spring.
As an outside observer, it feels like this is McCord's job to lose, so Brown has to take it from him.
Ohio State football rumors: Is Ryan Day really on the hot seat entering year five?
Ryan Day may be a top-10 coach in college football at a top-three program, but people aren't exactly thrilled with how the last two seasons have ended. Back-to-back losses to arch rival Michigan, as well as a soul-crushing defeat to Georgia in Atlanta in the College Football Playoff has left a sour taste in the mouths of many Buckeye Faithful. Is Day on the hot seat, though?
That is a very tough question to answer because it remains largely ambiguous. Who do you get to replace him? Is Brian Hartline ready? Does Luke Fickell leave Wisconsin after one year? Would Mike Vrabel bail on the Tennessee Titans? For those reasons, I don't necessarily subscribe to that, but Day can't lose to Michigan for the third year in a row. That would be very John Cooper of him.
I think an issue that has popped up since Day took over for Urban Meyer is that other Big Ten programs have taken some market share away from Ohio State. This is 100 percent about what Jim Harbaugh is doing at Michigan, as well as what James Franklin is building at Penn State to some extent. These should be three of the 10 best teams in the country once again next season.
A 10-2 season with losses to rivals Michigan and Penn State would be devastating for Day here.
