Why Ryan Day, Ohio State still believe in spring football games as other teams shy away

AlabamaArizonaBYUGeorgiaGeorgia TechHoustonIndianaIowaJames MadisonMiami (FL)MichiganNorth TexasNotre DameOhio StateOklahomaOle MissOregonTexas A&MTexasTexas TechTulaneUSCUtahVanderbiltVirginiaScores & ScheduleStandingsPodcastsNewsletterRecruitingOddsPicksBest Portal Classes2026 CFB PredictionsEarly Top 25Transfer QB RankingsCollege Football Second-year QB Tavien St. Clair will be among the young Buckeyes on display in Ohio State's annual spring game. Adam Cairns / USA Today Network via Imagn Images Share full articleCOLUMBUS, Ohio — In an era when many college football teams are moving away from traditional spring games, Ryan Day has stood firm in his belief that practicing in an actual game setting in front of Ohio State fans is important for the Buckeyes. Ohio State will be in full contact on Saturday (noon ET, Big Ten Network) at Ohio Stadium, with the exception of a “thud” period to begin the scrimmage. Asked if quarterbacks will be free from contact, Day said: “We’ll see.” Keeping things as much like an actual game for the Buckeyes is important to Day, who has 51 new players he wants to see in action in front of a crowd. “It will be a great opportunity for all of them to grade out and finish off their spring the right way,” Day said. “We’ve been grading every practice and evaluating every practice, so I know that they want to finish the last week strong.” The spring game is especially important to the freshmen who are making the jump to a higher level of competition after enrolling early. Part of the decision to have a game last year, less than three months after the national championship, was because of the young players, Day said. Ohio State is again replacing double-digit NFL Draft prospects. “What you realize is these guys coming out in high school really need to play,” Day said. “It’s a big jump. … There are guys who have played 500 or 1,000 more snaps. Those guys don’t need that much, but there’s a lot of guys on the team that do.” Here are a few more takeaways from Day’s news conference on Monday. Ohio State will be without a majority of its running backs when it takes the field Saturday. Day said that both Bo Jackson and Isaiah West, who have been sidelined all spring after shoulder surgeries, will miss the public scrimmage. So will freshman Legend Bey and redshirt freshman Turbo Rogers, who are also dealing with injuries. That leaves Florida transfer Ja’Kobi Jackson and freshman Favour Akih as the lone scholarship running backs expected to get snaps on Saturday. It’s an unfortunate development for a team that needs to see as much as it can from a young group of running backs. Only Ja’Kobi Jackson, who was limited by injuries at Florida, has played more than one season of college football, though Bo Jackson broke out with 1,090 yards as a freshman for Ohio State last year. These absences will force Ohio State to throw the ball more, testing out its quarterbacks and a receiving corps that the coaching staff feels is deeper than it was a year ago. “We’ll have to throw the ball some, which is good for the quarterbacks to get the ball out of their hand and see how they handle the environment,” Day said. “And then you’ll get a chance to get the ball to the receivers and see what those guys can do.” Heisman Trophy finalist Julian Sayin is back to lead the quarterbacks. Sayin’s arm talent was obvious last season, when he led the FBS with a 77 percent completion rate, but his voice and leadership has grown in the huddle this year, Day said. “The way he operates the offense, the way he communicates in the huddle and the line of scrimmage is excellent,” Day said. “But we always want more. We’re always going to keep driving at it because there’s so many more things that we get better at.” So far this spring, Day has been pleased with the depth behind Sayin. Still, Saturday will be an important day for the backups like Tavien St. Clair, a five-star recruit in the Class of 2025, and Justyn Martin, a transfer from Maryland whose 35 career pass attempts came with UCLA in 2024. “I feel like the room is strong,” Day said. “I feel like we have an opportunity to build some depth behind Julian and then build a future with the guys in the room.” St. Clair has been touted as the future since signing. He was the No. 7 player in the 2025 class in the 247Sports Composite, though his performance in last year’s spring game was a mixed bag. He completed 11 of 15 passes for 116 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions in that scrimmage before appearing in one game as the No. 3 quarterback during the season. As for Martin, this will be his first spring game at Ohio State. His veteran presence was an important addition after Lincoln Kienholz transferred to Louisville. But this game will be a chance for him to go into the summer workouts as a true competitor for the backup role. “I’ve been very impressed with his approach, very professional,” Day said. “He puts a lot of work in off the field. He’s made some improvements and he knows what it means to get prepared and into work.” In the ever-changing world of college sports, the coaching staff is preparing for a much different spring than it had last year. A year ago, not only was Ohio State busy hosting its high school coaches clinic and its spring game, but it had to prepare to renegotiate with its players and be prepared to jump into the transfer portal to fill holes. Last year, the Buckeyes signed North Carolina defensive end Beau Atkinson out of the spring portal. That won’t be the case this year. With the spring window gone, Ohio State’s team is set, which will give the coaching staff some peace of mind when it leaves the field on Saturday afternoon. “Now we aren’t going to be sitting around dealing with another round of conversations and negotiations, so that’s a major positive to this,” Day said. On the flip side, Ohio State can’t go into the portal and sign players to fill injury holes, but it will simplify the next few months before preseason camp begins. “You can’t get anybody off of waivers or anything with no spring portal,” Day said. “There’s a lot of pluses and minuses, but the plus is that we know what we have and we have a full roster, so the spring can be a little more productive that way.” The Buckeyes will hold exit interviews in the week after spring, go on the road to recruit, get players back on campus for summer workouts and then take May and June to work hard on the 2027 recruiting class. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Cameron Teague is a Staff Writer for The Athletic covering the Ohio State Buckeyes. Before joining The Athletic, he worked as a features writer for The Columbus Dispatch and a beat writer covering Louisville football for the Courier Journal. He’s a graduate of Bowling Green State University. Follow Cameron on Twitter @cj_teague