Ryan Day provides update on injured defensive back Josh Proctor

As Ohio State football begins spring practice, the players who suffered injuries last season continue working their way back into the team. For safety Josh Proctor, that process is complicated by a defensive scheme change under Jim Knowles and new competition at the position.

During a Tuesday press conference which immediately followed practice, head coach Ryan Day provided an injury update on Josh Proctor and broke down what his return process looks like.

“He’s working his way back into some drills as we get back off of spring break,” said Day. “I don’t know if he’ll be full by the end of spring, he’s working through his rehab and we’re looking forward to getting him back in the drills as we push him through the middle of spring.”

With a loose timeline in place for Proctor to make his return, the attention now turns to how he and other injured players – including Cameron Brown – can work their way into the new-look defense without full reps on the field.

“That’s what you hope for with a guy who’s played a decent amount, experience,” said Day. “We’re going to make sure that we are always on the side of getting them healthy. And there’s still body reps, there’s walkthroughs, there’s meetings, there’s opportunities for them to learn that way. And then there’s the whole preseason that we have a bunch of time to get going in that area. We’d love to get them in the field but we’re going to make sure that they’re healthy before we do that.”

Proctor returns for his fifth collegiate season at Ohio State after recording 44 total tackles in 19 games. He also has two career interceptions and four pass deflections with one fumble recovery.

Ryan Day on Josh Proctor’s return

As Josh Proctor returns to the lineup in 2022, it provides a major boost at one of the positions Ohio State struggled to stay healthy under Ryan Day in 2021. With incoming players at the position and young players who gained experience through trial by fire, the room looks different moving forward.

“We have a lot of safeties now that we’ll play because of last year and because Josh wasn’t around,” said Day. “So there is some experience back there, which is good. I think maybe when Josh went down early in the season, there was a little bit of a panic. But some guys stepped up and did some really good things. So it certainly will be great to get him back and get him healthy again, but we also have some other guys back there that have had really good offseasons and played well last season. Not good enough, but that’s another year on their belt so they’ll come back and be stronger this year.”