Practice intensity certainly remains at Ohio State even after Urban Meyer’s retirement

“Senior cornerback Damon Arnette and junior wide receiver Jaylen Harris exchanged swings with their helmets off near the sideline after a scrimmage play Friday, but Day was unconcerned.”

- Griffin Strom, The Lantern

Worried about some “fire” leaving Ohio State’s program with the departure of Urban Meyer? Well dear reader, worry not, because per Ryan Day at a press conference today, the Buckeyes are still very much bringing the juice and competitive spirit that Meyer loved so much. As is common in a program with such high expectations, and in a program that preaches toughness, that spirit apparently boiled over a bit today, and led to a minor scrap.

This is in no way an uncommon happening at a major college football program, and as Ryan Day elaborated, it’s really nothing to be concerned about.

“I like the fact that they’re going after it,” Day said. “I think that if you don’t have any kind of scuffles, then maybe you don’t have the right team.”

It sounds like the new coach picked up quite a few things from the old coach.

Who replaces Schrage?

In case you missed it, Ohio State has lost their first assistant coach of the Chris Holtmann era, as longtime Holtmann assistant Mike Schrage officially accepted the open head coaching position at Elon.

While the loss of Schrage is certainly unfortunate —given his recruiting prowess (was the lead recruiter for both DJ Carton and Ibrahima Diallo) and coaching talent— Ohio State will be fine moving forward with whoever replaces him. The question, however, is around who that replacement may be. Per Bill Landis of The Athletic, the No. 1 option may be an internal pick.

Netti would make a lot of sense. He knows the inner workings of the program already, has worked with Holtmann in the past, and has proven to be a capable recruiter and coach in past stints at Gardner-Webb and East Carolina. He’s worked as Chris Holtmann’s right hand man for two years now, and seems like the easy choice to slide right into that space left by Schrage.

If Holtmann wants to look outside of the program, we could see someone like Nebraska’s Michael Lewis get a call. Lewis worked under Holtmann at Butler for two years, and with a new head coach in Lincoln, Lewis could be available.

Ryan Day really is the savior

Folks, I’m ready to say it. Ryan Day is the best coach in Ohio State history. Why’s that? Well, he brought a running clock to the spring game.

The spring game is a great chance for people to show their families Ohio State football for a low price, in great weather, with low stakes. I hope Ohio State keeps doing a spring game forever, because it’s a net good. [Stephen A Smith voice] HOWEVER. Spring games are so long. They’re unconstitutionally long. A scrimmage should not take three hours.

Use the first half to show off the shiny new quarterback, use the second half to play all all of the guys who won’t see the field all year, and run the clock. It’s only right.

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