It's a wrap.
Ohio State completed its final practice of the spring, doing so with the spring game in front of nearly 20,000 people on Saturday. Soon afterward, Ryan Day, Thayer Munford and Zach Harrison hopped on a Zoom call to reflect on the day with the media.
A rundown of their comments:
Ryan Day
- He's used to having upwards of 85,000 people in the stadium for a spring game. "I'm just hoping that that thing's full against Oregon in not too long."
- On the quarterbacks: "Very similar to what this whole spring's been. Some good, some not so good." He says there were a lot of "learning opportunities" both today and throughout the past month and a half.
- Day on Jack Sawyer: "He's working his way up the depth chart." ... "What you saw today was pretty much most every practice out there."
- On the quarterback competition: "You can't go out there and win the job on one play. It doesn't work that way." He says right now the focus of the quarterbacks is on learning the offense and where the ball goes. "We take the entire 15 practices and evaluate all those things."
- The importance of not weighing the spring game too heavily compared to spring camp as a whole: "This was just a very small glimpse at a bunch of guys taking some reps."
- On the receivers: "One of the things that we've been focused on this offseason is fundamentals, blocking, all the things when the ball's not in your hands."
- He says Emeka Egbuka, Marvin Harrison Jr. and Jayden Ballard have all shown they have the ability to help this team in the fall.
- Day talks about the importance of the quarterbacks making routine plays look routine. But... "Somewhere along the line when the game's coming down to the fourth quarter, yeah, they're going to have to go win games."
- He says the ultimate goal is to "create as much space as we can" for the skill position players. On throwing to tailbacks out of the backfield: "With the pool of running backs that we have, that's something we could look into more."
Thayer Munford
- "I'm happy for our fans. Even though it was a year in a half since we had fans in the stadium, it was very good to have them back in the Shoe."
- On Sawyer: "He's been doing it very consistent because he's been getting work with coach (Larry) Johnson, Zach (Harrison), Tyreke (Smith), all the veteran players. ... He has a motor. I'm just happy that he's on my team."
- The quarterbacks: "I feel very comfortable with all of them. To be honest, there's nothing to be said about it because they compete every day. Every single day."
- He thinks this is one of the best spring camps he has been a part of. "I've been a part of three now. I'm happy with where we're at right now, but we're also not satisfied with where we're at."
Zach Harrison
- On the defensive line: "I feel great about our group on defense." He says they're "having fun together" and "flying around" as a unit. "That's how you make a great defense."
- On Sawyer: "Jack's real. Jack's legit. Jack's going to be a great player." He says he has a great first step and bend around the edge.
- His own play: "I feel like I'm just getting more comfortable." His confidence level is building with each additional rep he takes.
- The quarterbacks: "I believe in all three of them. Whenever coach Day says they're the guy, I've got all my faith in them."
- He calls linebackers the "glue that holds the defense together."
