Ohio State football: 5 takeaways from Ryan Day after Buckeyes’ first practice of preseason camp

With the coronavirus pandemic ongoing, it might be as close as things get to normal in the immediate future.

“It was it was great to see our guys out there,” Day said. “The energy of the coaching staff, the players, the leaders — just being out there with a football running around was great. It was great to see our guys with so much energy. To see them on the field doing what they love and just kind of forgetting about everything else for for about an hour and a half was really great today.”

Here are five takeaways from Day’s availability:

1. Day feels more comfortable with holding practices than games at this point.

“I am very comfortable with what we have going on here going through training camp, our training camp protocols and procedures that we shared with our team and with our coaching staff and then when their parents,” he said.

“I think that that’s really well thought out, and there’s been a lot of back and forth there and we feel strong about that, but I would say right now we’re not quite ready to play a game yet.

“I know the Big Ten and the commissioner’s office is working really, really hard to put all those details together so that we all can feel strong once we get a lot of those details, but yesterday was a great step forward for us.”

2. They will vary how much they practice all together vs. in small groups.

“Today, we did a split squad. Tomorrow we’ll all be together, and we have to do a great job of managing those situations and making sure that we’re doing a great job with all the protocols it’s in place for training camp.”

That will be a delicate balance to strike in building chemistry but avoiding potential catastrophe from a health standpoint.

“There’s a good reason to do both. When you do a split squad, you get a little thin across the board, and when you when you come together, you have to do a great job of spacing everybody out when you’re on the field based on all the protocols. "

3. Players who opt out won’t be excluded from the program.

Around the country, several high-profile players have announced they will not play this season out of concern for catching COVID-19.

That has not happened at Ohio State — at least not yet — but Day encouraged anyone with concerns to talk to him.

“We talked to the team yesterday and made sure that they understood that if someone does have concerns and wants to opt out, whether it’s high risk or whatever they are, that we’re gonna have conversations. If at the end of the day they don’t feel comfortable, their family doesn’t feel comfortable, that doesn’t mean they’re not going to be part of the program. We’re going to figure that out and make sure that we have a program in place until they do feel comfortable, whenever that might be.”

4. He did not offer much in terms of a personnel update.

Typically the first day of practice is also an opportunity for reporters to see who is healthy enough to practice — and sometimes who is not on the team anymore.

That was not available in this case since no outsiders were allowed to watch, and Day passed on a chance to shed any light on the situation.

“The only thing I’ll give you is just I think everybody looks real strong,” Day said. “I’d rather not give you an update of who was there, who wasn’t but yeah, I would say that as we start building more and more practice together I can probably give a little bit of an update, but for right now everybody looks great and we look strong.”

5. Day had no reaction to his team being voted No. 2 in the preseason USA Today coaches poll.

That was another bit of normalcy.

“Well it’s certainly an honor to be respected by your peers. But, again, it sounds like coach-speak but it’s true it. At the end of the year, nobody talks about what they were preseason. What matters is your record at the end of the year. So it’s an honor to be recognized by your peers to have a great team but at the same time. That doesn’t really mean much.”