Ryan Day outlines Ohio State's plan, goals for remainder of spring practice

Ryan Day has a clear plan in place for the Ohio State Buckeyes during the remainder of spring practice. While scheming and systems are important, Day’s ultimate goal is to see individual improvement throughout the Buckeyes roster. That’s something that he has prioritized throughout spring ball thus far.

“Well I need each individual player to get better at the things that they need to improve at,” Day said of Ohio State’s goals for the rest of the spring. “Everyone has their own types of things. So you can get involved with scheme in this time of the year, but to me it’s more about fundamentals and making sure we’re building that foundation moving forward. I think that’s happening. But that’s really what I want to see. Just guys getting better at their trade and getting better at what they’re doing.

“Certainly scheme matters, but more importantly just fundamentally about hands, and blocking, and tackling and those types of things as we get going.”

Ohio State went 10-2 in the regular season last year, going 8-1 against Big Ten opponents. The Buckeyes lost to Michigan in the final week of the regular season, resulting in the Wolverines earning the spot in the Big Ten Championship. Ohio State played in the Rose Bowl, where the Buckeyes won a high-scoring affair against Utah, 48-45. Ultimately, Day wants to lead Ohio State back to the College Football Playoff. But in order to do that, he will need to see improvement from his entire roster. He hopes to find that during the spring.

Day on Ohio State’s new defense under Jim Knowles

The Buckeyes have a new defensive coordinator, bringing in Jim Knowles from Oklahoma State. Knowles previously spent four years at Oklahoma State and 11 years at Duke before coming to Ohio State during this offseason. Another emphasis during the spring for Day is getting Ohio State accustomed to the new defense being installed by Knowles.

“It’s mostly been about the four-down stuff early on and just installing the base defense the first week,” Day said. “Now, as we get into practice three, four and five, that’s when we’ve got to start diving into that. I think our base stuff is four-down – and that’s where we’re going to start and where we’ve started. But that package is something at Oklahoma State and Duke that’s been pretty dynamic, and I’m excited to see where it goes.

“We’re not there quite yet, but it’s coming fast.”