After scrimmage, Day heaps praise on several players, stresses need for urgency

Ohio State had its first intrasquad scrimmage of training camp today, and coach Ryan Day was in midseason form in saying he needs to reserve judgment until he watches the video of it.

Still, it’s clear Day is both pleased with the Buckeyes’ progress so far while feeling that he is in a race against the clock. Ohio State’s season begins in three weeks against Ball State. The showdown at Texas is one week later in a regular-season schedule that, on paper, is the best OSU has ever faced.

“We are absolutely in a race against time to get better,” Day said. “We’ve got to claw for every inch we possibly have.”

The weather factored into the practice.

“It started raining out there, and I thought the offense responded well to that,” Day said. “It didn’t really skip a beat. We had a couple of nice, sustained drives in there. Usually, that first scrimmage is sort of a disaster on offense.

“I think having some more experienced guys out there, we’re a little further along than we typically would be, so that was good. There was some good, physical play out there on both sides of the ball.”

Ohio State’s offense has fewer question marks than the defense because of the presence of returning quarterback Julian Sayin, wide receivers Jeremiah Smith and Brandon Innis, running back Bo Jackson, and an experienced offensive line.

Here are some of the highlights from Day’s press conference:

The biggest question on the offensive line is where Austin Siereveld will play. He’s probably more of a natural guard, but he played well as the left tackle in 2025.

Siereveld will stay at tackle or move to right guard depending, in part, on the play of tackle Ian Moore and guard Josh Padilla. But that decision is on hold because Siereveld has missed “a few practices” with an injury, Day said.

He said Siereveld is expected to return this week.

“The good news is we have depth, and there are multiple guys that we’re going to feel