Ryan Day discusses CJ Stroud's budding chemistry with younger receivers
With Jaxon Smith-Njigba out for most of the game and Julian Fleming a game-time holdout for an injury, CJ Stroud and Ohio State’s young receivers were put to the test in the opener against Notre Dame. There is no question the group oozes with talent, but they hadn’t played significant snaps in a real game prior.
Things were certainly rocky at moments, especially the first few series with Smith-Njigba absent, but the newer faces set to feature in the Ohio State receiver room looked the part and Stroud got them ball enough. Emeka Egbuka led the Buckeyes in receiving with nine receptions for 90 yards and a score. Marvin Harrison Jr. logged five catches for 56 yards. New tight end Cade Stover even caught three balls from Stroud.
“No, I think certainly CJ and Jaxon have a great rapport and chemistry,” Day said postgame. “But he and ‘Meka, and then Marv’ as well. We also didn’t have Julian tonight, he was a game time decision, we couldn’t quite get him going. So we were down some guys there. I thought the tight ends played well. Seeing Cade step in there. The running backs ran hard. The offensive line was strong.”
The Buckeyes were going to need Stroud and the newer receivers to develop a rapport anyways, but the impetus was really hammered home with the absence of Smith-Njigba, arguably the nation’s best wideout.
And thought Saturday’s win against Notre Dame felt like a slog — and certainly was at times — Ohio State still managed to knock some rust off the passing game and get fresh pass catchers important game reps with Stroud.
“You know, we didn’t have as many possessions,” Day said. “I’m not sure exactly what the number of plays were. I guess we ended up with 69, down the stretch. It didn’t seem like it was as many possessions. But we did have the time of possession at the end, 32 minutes. And we ended up being 7-of-13 on third down. So, I guess it all balances out in the end, but it did seem like a struggle early on.”