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Vo. 1, No. 48
Hello and welcome to another edition of Cus Words Sports!
This week in Ohio State football, Ryan Day is not happy.
In fact, he’s “pissed off at everybody”!
Well, maybe…
That’s what he said, but is it true?
Let’s take a closer look as the final week of the preseason comes to an end…
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It’s that time of year
Ryan Day began the week with a press conference to give the state of the Buckeyes after 2.5 weeks of preseason practice.
Overall, he seemed to be in a pretty good mood.
The offensive line? Ian Moore is settling in at left tackle while Austin Siereveld shows positive signs at right guard.
He has three tight ends who look to be game-ready now.
The running backs are coming along after being a big question mark in the offseason (in fact, this wasn’t even asked about Monday).
Wide receiver should be much deeper than last season, and Julian Sayin looks like a veteran back there at quarterback (since he is now).
Multiple packages could be available in the secondary, and the depth of the defensive line is impressive.
That led one veteran reporter to suggest Day “seems pretty happy with everything,” an observation that drew a visible and seemingly visceral response.
“I'm not happy with anything. Don't you put those words in my mouth,” Day said with a smile.
Laughter rang out from around the room, but he kept up the bit.
“I'm not happy about it at all. Let me change my total tune if that's what you got out of this. I’m pissed off about everybody…”
Day delivered those words with a smirk, but he wasn’t exactly lying, either.
He is a football coach, after all.
So what gives?
“I think we're working. I think we have a monster schedule and I think that we have 51 new guys. So there's a lot of unknown, a lot of unknown, and so what’s coming here and there's going to be storms along the way. But, you know, I think our guys have the right attitude. I think we have a chance to be a smart team, but we have to be a disciplined team. And the first step to being a championship team is to not beat yourself. We've talked about this before. And so we have to make sure we're doing that.”
More than just being a worrywart, it turns out he did have a specific complaint.
“I will say this, in the scrimmage, there were too many penalties, and that's discipline. So we cannot beat ourselves early in the season.”
I just found this interesting because it continues Day’s evolution into cranky old football coach, which I wrote about last year a few times and continues unabated apparently.
The process comes for everyone, but I think it was accelerated by the pressure of the 2024 season.
Winning gave him the gravitas to keep doing things his way, but that doesn’t mean he can rest on his laurels.
Hiring another NFL offensive coordinator to replace the neophyte in the role last season and fortifying nearly every position via the transfer portal are proof of that.
Will it get the Buckeyes back to the top?
I guess we’ll all find out together starting next Saturday.
Here’s the full press conference:
What could go wrong?
Yes, there are still concerns. They are all real, though the depth of them varies.
The flip side of having lots of good defensive linemen: Do they have any great ones?
Maybe that won’t matter, but having someone who can just wreck a game by himself is a nice cheat code.
A curious situation seems to have arisen at backup quarterback, where true freshman Luke Fahey is pushing to be grab the No. 2 role that was assumed to be Tavien St. Clair’s this fall.
Is that more good on Fahey or bad on St. Clair? It’s hard to say at this point, though Day raved about Fahey on Monday for his work ethic, awareness and ability to pick up the offense.
As for St. Clair, Day said he is “not falling behind” but expressed some concern with consistency.
This might not matter this fall, but it’s definitely something to watch for the future.
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What else is going on this week?
Siereveld was named a captain for the second time, and he revealed he really didn’t want to move to guard… it’s going well anyway!
Here’s more from Buckeye Sports Bulletin: Siereveld hated right guard in the spring
Duke transfer Terry Moore running with the second team during practice viewing windows was surprising, but Day said he’s still in the running to be part of a package or packages that are used regularly. So are a couple of true freshmen.
I wrote for Press Pros Magazine about more indications we’re getting about what the offense might look like under Arthur Smith. Perhaps less is more?
Also at Press Pros: Jeff Gilbert further examined Day’s state of mind.
Over at BuckeyeInsiders.com, we have had a lot of lively discussions about the team, recruiting and much more.
BONUS CONTENT!
Aside from this newsletter, I’m also sharing my thoughts on the premium message boards at BuckeyeInsiders.com and BuckeyeSports.com.
Beyond that, I’m writing for PressProsMagazine.com, The Associated Press and MensJournal.com and serving as the basketball insider for Buckeye Insiders.
My stories for MJ this week included an intriguing new dessert from Costco and how you can add MLB The Show 26 to your gaming collection just in time for the pennant races.
Also don’t forget I’m regularly looking back at the Buckeyes of 25 years ago to commemorate the first year of Jim Tressel’s tenure as Ohio State football coach:
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