INDIANAPOLIS – It's Ryan Day's turn.
Seven head coaches addressed reporters in attendance on Thursday, and six more stepped up to the podium on Friday before the third-year Ohio State head coach was the final coach to speak at Big Ten Media Days.
A bullet-point rundown of Day's comments from his opening press conference on Friday afternoon:
Ryan Day
- Day says Thayer Munford has an opportunity to get his degree this summer. "He came back to leave a legacy behind."
- On Zach Harrison: "About to have a great season."
- Chris Olave isn't at Big Ten Media Days because he's getting his second COVID-19 vaccine shot this weekend. Jeremy Ruckert replaced him in attendance.
- Day on the second-year players: "They missed over 1,000 snaps last year. They missed six games and didn't have a spring practice the year before."
- He says the focus this summer has been leadership and accountability. Notes the importance of Mickey Marotti.
- "We have to really come out of the gates strong and harden ourselves as we get into the first game."
- General thoughts on the team: "I feel good about the team. I feel good that we have some veteran groups, but I also feel like we have some inexperience at some spots." He says he knows that sounds like coach-speak but it's his belief.
- He mentions the youth at both linebacker and quarterback as notable.
- On the season opener: "I think when you look at Minnesota, they have one of the most experienced and veteran teams in the country." He says it's good that Ohio State isn't that young up front. "We're as deep as we've been on the D-line."
- Getting back into a routine is beneficial for the Buckeyes, he says.
- "The majority of our team is vaccinated." He says they've educated players but have left decisions up to the players. "We've kind of left it up to them."
- Day mentions that Harry Miller "really changed his body" and had surgery on his shoulder. He says Paris Johnson will be helped down the line with his versatility.
- On how much an Ohio State quarterback makes money off their name, image and likeness: "We'll see when it all does come to fruition." He thinks the wealth should be spread out across the team in some manner, though he says he doesn't have an answer as to how that would happen.
- Day says Jack Sawyer "looks great and has had a really good offseason." On J.T. Tuimoloau: "J.T. just got there, so it's going to be a little bit of a different lead-in to the season for him, but there's a long way to January."
- On Haskell Garrett: "To see the way he's responded, very proud of him. Proud of how he played last season, and hopefully he can take the next step."
Day also met with reporters for two more interview sessions later in the day – one brief interview session with a small group of Ohio State reporters, and another longer interview sessions with reporters from throughout the conference – and you can watch video from both of those sessions below.
