CHICAGO — Urban Meyer knows the challenge on his Ohio State plate ahead of his fifth season in Columbus. It is not something you consistently witness in college football.
"Forty-four of our players, which is over half of our scholarships, is kids who have never played in a game," Meyer said Tuesday at Big Ten Media Days. "So we have to get them ready."
The amount of talent the Buckeyes shipped to the 2016 NFL Draft is unprecedented. Twelve draft picks, including three in the top-10 and five in the top-20. Nine underclassmen left early and a total of 15 players either heard their name called during the draft or signed with professional franchises.
That doesn't happen every day.
"Where we are as a team in 2016, we have to find a way to replace arguably one of the best group of players ever to come through college football," Meyer said. "They won 50 games, won a national title, highest graduation rate in Ohio State program history and a record NFL Draft."
Naturally, the hot topic in Columbus is the youth sitting in front of Meyer and his staff. They built this monster but now must depend on a horde of youth to go with stalwarts and captains quarterback J.T. Barrett, center Pat Elflein and middle linebacker Raekwon McMillan to feed it.
"I can't imagine going into this without J.T. and without the other guy Pat Elfein," Meyer said. "And Raekwon – they, all three, we're fortunate they all three have incredible leadership skills you want that in the middle of your defense because you raise the level of play around them and so does J.T. and Pat."
But even then, only one of those guys is a senior (Elflein). After Ohio State's dismissal of running back Bri'onte Dunn last week, just five seniors remain. One of them is the team's punter, Cameron Johnston.
"I've been answering a lot of young questions about a young team. The issue would be if it was a non-talented, young team," Meyer said. "That's not the case at all. It's a very young team, but talented.
“Probably the most critical coaching month that our staff will — well speaking for myself, that I've ever been through. Because we have to get these guys ready.”– Urban Meyer
"Probably the most critical coaching month that our staff will — well speaking for myself, that I've ever been through. Because we have to get these guys ready."
Meyer's staff recruited with the nation's best in terms of rankings the last few cycles and its 2017 class could go down as the best ever. That group won't arrive in full until next summer, though, which puts the onus on those 44 freshmen and redshirt freshmen Meyer referred to Tuesday.
Ohio State changed its approach to spring practice due to the inexperience, Meyer said. That will happen again when camp opens Aug. 7.
"I'm very excited to be around them, as all our coaches are this time of year," Meyer said. "This will be a new challenge for us that I can't wait to get our hands on."
There is a reason Meyer's Twitter account asked fans to fill Ohio Stadium April 16 for the spring game. He wanted all that youth to get a taste of what it is like to play in front of a packed house, because road games at Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Penn State and Michigan State await on a brutal 2016 schedule.
And Ohio State won't accept anything less than finishing near the top of a rugged Big Ten East and a College Football Playoff berth. That's the giant Meyer built in four short seasons.
"I see that potential. I see I think 2014 was the template that everybody wants," Meyer said. "J.T. Barrett was buried on the depth chart, Darron Lee, Eli Apple, Zeke Elliott, Mike Thomas — those guys were no-names, and they became very good throughout the course of 2014. And another guy, Cardale Jones, was buried in depth chart.
"A lot of pressure on our coaches, assistant coaches and myself, to get them game-ready. I would say going into this is as talented a group top to bottom as we've had. Now how do we get them game-ready?"
