Ohio State’s Spring Game To Be Offense Vs. Defense, Feature Tackling

"We’ve got to play physical. We’ve got to be tough. If we want to reach our goals this year, we’re going to have to be that way."

For the first time under the direction of head coach Ryan Day, the Ohio State spring game will feel like a typical Saturday in the fall. There will be no attendance restrictions inside of Ohio Stadium and, after a brief “thud” period where they won’t take many of the key veterans to the ground, the annual intrasquad scrimmage will feature full tackling.

“I think it’s the right thing to do to tackle in this game,” Day said during his press conference on Thursday. “We still have a lot of young guys who need to go out there and play football. I think it will be good for a lot of our guys to do that.

“The first game of the year, we play Notre Dame at home, and we’ve got to be ready to roll. Once you get into the preseason, you start getting closer and closer to that first game, you start to really hold your breath because you don’t want to lose guys (to injury). But we’ve also got to tackle. We’ve got to play physical. We’ve got to be tough. If we want to reach our goals this year, we’re going to have to be that way, we’re going to have to play that way, so we’ll do that on Saturday.”

The Buckeyes aren’t drafting teams this year but will instead play with an offense (scarlet) vs. defense (gray) format to allow the units to play at full strength. The first three quarters will be 12-15 minutes with the usual play-clock stoppages, while the fourth quarter will feature a running 10-minute clock.

Of course, the biggest storyline of the spring was the installation of new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles’ scheme. But don’t expect to learn much about it, as Ohio State will keep it simple on Saturday.

“He’s not going to do a whole lot of his stuff in this game,” Day said, noting Knowles was on board with his decision to tackle. “It’s going to be about fundamentals, running around to the football and playing hard. We’ve seen throughout these (spring) practices the multiple looks, the confidence and how well these guys play and just how decisive they are out there. I think that’s been done.

“Now, we’ll get an opportunity to play in the ‘Shoe and in front of a big crowd. It’ll be very, very basic, but it’s good for our guys to get in front of the crowd and play, have some fun and see some of the best players in the country.”

The only players exempt from tackling on Saturday are the quarterbacks, who will wear black non-contact jerseys, which is standard for practice and spring games.

Starter C.J. Stroud will play only a few series with the first-team offense before giving way to sophomore Kyle McCord and true freshman Devin Brown, who will battle to be the Buckeyes’ starting signal-caller when Stroud likely heads to the NFL after this season.

“The more reps they get under their belts, the better, especially in the stadium,” Day said. “We’re not going to see a lot of crazy blitzes or anything like that. It’s not going to be a challenge schematically. It’s just going to be a matter of getting the snap, making the right read, delivering the football, handing the ball off, reading the right guy and just managing the game.

“Being able to do that or not, locate the football, make the right reads in that type of environment – where you’ve got probably more than half of the whole stadium filled and it’s going to feel like a game – and so you get an opportunity to see how they do with live bullets going on.

“Now, they’re not getting tackled, but still, you get a feel for who’s moving the offense. You don’t need to do much more than just make the routine plays routinely, especially with the players that we have (on offense).”

The Buckeyes have already sold more than 50,000 tickets to the spring game, which is the culmination of 14 practices over the last six weeks. It will also be the final chance for the staff to assess the players on the roster in a game-like setting before the Fighting Irish come to Columbus on Sept. 3.

“We went through the entire roster yesterday and kind of talked and evaluated them as a staff, and there’s been a lot of guys who have improved,” Day said. “Across the board, we’re in a much different place than we were last year, just with our experience. And that combined with the new scheme on defense, it’s been a good spring. It’s been exciting. It’s been a challenge.”

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