Big Ten Media Days: Top 3 Questions for Ryan Day

Ryan Day will address the media today at 12:30pm in Lucas Oil Stadium to discuss Ohio State Football and field questions from the media. There are a lot of questions surrounding a team that played in the National Championship game last season, and will have a lot of production to replace as it starts it season. Here are the top 3 questions we hope Ryan Day discusses and addresses during his segment.
1. Who will be the Quarterback
We are not naive and expect Ryan Day to name starter at this point, especially without having a summer camp to get through, but this is the biggest question area for the offense about which of the three quarterbacks will replace Justin Fields. Based solely on the Spring Game, CJ Stroud would seem to have the nod as the starter, and was one of the top recruits in his class. Behind him though is Kyle McCord and Jack Miller, who are both talented as well. We wont need to factor 2022 yet, with Quinn Ewers joining a loaded quarterback room, but the quarterback competition will have a lot of eyes on it, and Ryan Day will need to handle it delicately. Regardless though of who is named the starter, they will have an arsenal of weapons around them with the loaded wide receiver group and talented running backs.
2. What changes to expect at defense
To be fair, and it is easy to point fingers at the pass defense last year, the Buckeyes never really got a full offseason last year to install defensive packages and evaluate the talent with the on and off season from the Big Ten decisions, as well as the games cancelled which could have been opportunistic times to play some of the young talent against Illinois, Maryland, and Michigan. Buckeye fans were happy to welcome back Kerry Coombs when Jeff Hafley left to become the head coach at Boston College, but the defense seemed to look more like the 2018 version of itself than the 2019 defense. Ohio State retain Al Washington, and with the departure of Greg Mattison, Ryan Day promoted from within to fill in the gaps. Based once more on the Spring Game, Ohio State played more Nickel base defense with 4 down lineman, 2 linebackers, and 5 defensive backs, which could help compliment the shift in college offenses. Ohio State will need to address the pass defense though, and make sure it can get back to a national championship caliber if it wants to beat Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, or even Georgia, who all have top talent at quarterback. Also it would be hard to ignore the big win with landing JT Tuimoloau who could shift to end or tackle on the defensive end and compliment a very scary front of Sawyer, Harrison, and Garrett.
3. Who will be the starting Running Back
Master Teague is the leading veteran for “Tote-Nation” but there is a lot of talent behind him, especially with TreVeyon Henderson, who was described as a Maurice Clarett/JK Dobbins hybrid. Steele Chambers appears to have moved over to linebacker, and Demario McCall switch over to defensive back, so the room is a little smaller in depth with Miyan Williams and Evan Pryor as back ups as well. It will be interesting how Ryan Day addresses that room and what he will do as they open up at Minnesota in less than 6 weeks. Will Teague get the lions share of the carries, or will Henderson have a Clarett/Dobbins break out game and rush for over 175 yards and some scores?
Tell us what questions you have as a fan, and what you are hoping to hear from Ryan Day during Big Ten Media Days!