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Vo. 1, No. 32
The 2026 edition of the Ohio State football spring should provide plenty to watch.
After all, head coach Ryan Day welcomed in 51 new players, and only about half of them are freshmen.
A bunch of the newcomers are probably going to be relied upon to be solid if not better for the Buckeyes to reach their usual lofty standards — beat Michigan, win the Big Ten and win the national championship.
What will you be watching?
Leave a comment or email me to let me know!
Here’s what I’m going to be keeping an eye on (after our first ad break):
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How do the quarterbacks look?
Yes, we’ll be looking to see how comfortable Julian Sayin looks running new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith’s scheme, but I don’t think we’re going to learn much about him. We already know he’s an accurate passer, and he’s not going to be live as a runner (however much he actually plays).
READ MORE: Ryan Day throws down the gauntlet for Sayin
But what about the backups? Tavien St. Clair is back for his second spring, and now we get to see how he looks with a full year of learning the offense under his belt. From the spring practice viewing windows we got early on, I can tell you he still passes the look test at 6-4, 230.
St. Clair throws a nice ball, and he is a big, strong guy with a desire to be The Man for the Buckeyes.
He bounced back from an early interception in the spring game last year to look solid, though very little was expected of him anyway since he hadn’t been there long.
Now he needs to establish himself as the clear No. 2 and a guy who can come in and keep things moving if called upon.
Will he be the backup? Ohio State brought in Justyn Martin, a 6-4, 230-pound senior transfer from Maryland (and UCLA) to compete along with true freshman Luke Fahey of Mission Viejo, Calif.
The run scheme
That we learn much here might be wishful thinking.
Perhaps they will keep everything under wraps rather than tip their plans for the ways they want to emphasize running the ball — and maybe they legitimately aren’t sure yet, either.
We know the Buckeys are down the top two offensive tackles and at least the top two running backs.
Hotshot freshman Legend Bey could make his Horseshoe debut, or he could be sidelined by a hamstring issue, too, but I am curious to see if they go all-in on outsize zone or keep the same mix of gap and zone plays they ran last year.
Maybe whatever we see won’t be indicative of the fall, but I guess it’s better than nothing.
Hopefully we get to see at least what Florida transfer Ja’Kobi Jackson bring to the table along with freshman Favour Akih and walk-on Stanley Jackson Jr.
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Yards after the catch?
New receivers coach Cortez Hankton and star wideout Jeremiah Smith both said Yards after the catch are a big emphasis for the Buckeyes this spring, and that is perhaps the No. 1 thing we could see — especially since Day said this week to expect a lot of passing with the running backs limited.
I doubt Smith is out there much, but we’ve barely seen much of anyone else, at least in scarlet and gray.
Transfers Devin McCuin and Kyle Parker both get to make their stadium debuts, but we really have no idea what redshirt freshmen Phillip Bell and De’Zie Jones can do, either. Freshmen Chris Henry Jr. and Brock Boyd both have turned heads this spring, so it will be interesting to see how they look, too. The completion of playing time at receiver could be more intense than expected when the offseason began.
What do they do with the safeties?
Jaylen McClain is back as the boundary safety. Will he still be there, or do they move him around? Will Florida State transfer Earl Little Jr. be in the slot or deep? Same question for Terry Moore, late of Duke.
Blaine Bradford, a highly touted freshman from Baton Rouge, La., is also someone to watch back there.
How they communicate on defense will also be worth watching. That was one of Caleb Downs’ many strengths, but the coaches have said the whole group excelled at it. If the defense looks cohesive even at this point of the year and even with a lot of new faces, that would be a good sign.
The rest of the defense
I am sure they will not do anything fancy with the front seven, but I would still like to see how transfers James Smith, Qua Russaw and John Walker look physically compared to the rest of the front. Same with Wisconsin transfer Christian Alliegro at linebacker.
A true nose tackle like Kayden McDonald is almost a cheat code those are so rare — at least at Ohio State — so will they try to find someone to replicate what he did anchoring the middle, or does that go back to more of a position for penetration and disruption?
Again, what we see Saturday might not translate much to the fall, but it’s better than nothing, right? And there will be some experiments they think will work that make it and others that get tossed from the game plans on both sides of the ball.
What else is going on this week?
Here we started the week with some thoughts recruiting standards, basketball portal additions and the rollercoaster start for the Reds.
Then Ohio State announced it wants fan feedback on improving the game-day experience at Ohio Stadium and the Schottenstein Center.
I have ideas:
Thursday the NCAA announced the FBS Oversight Committee has recommended starting the season a week earlier as soon as next year. That would mean everyone could have two open weeks every year, as was the case the last two seasons only because of a quirk in the calendar.
I would definitely support this. Football is a year-round endeavor already, and the part where they are playing games is the best, so it only makes sense to make that part bigger and provide more time to rest and recover during the season. (Yes, more time for players AND fans and media of course.)
Looking for more to read this weekend?
