Ryan Day Radio Show: Day Discusses Inexperience at Quarterback, Talented Freshmen, and a Veteran Minnesota Team

With Ohio State's 2021 season kicking off in just a few days, Day took to the radio waves on 97.1 The Fan on Tuesday afternoon to preview the season and the season opener.

Day discussed inexperience at the quarterback position, a loaded wide receivers room, some talented freshmen, and more.

Here are some of the highlights from Day's first radio show of the season.

Day was also joined by Kerry Coombs for the show's final segment.

Ryan Day

On the inexperience at quarterback

• "No, I'm sleeping really good right now," Day joked.
• "That's college football. Year in and year out you have to replace guys."
• "You wish the quarterback would be here a year or two so you have some continuity there," Day said. "But you're willing to make it work."

On the experience and talent at receiver

• "If he's making the routine plays routinely, we have some good talent around him."
• "Chris (Olave) coming back was huge for us."
• "We have really good depth there."
• "If we can get the ball in space good, things are going to happen."

On the offensive line

• "We're as deep there as we've been."
• "I really can't wait to see what that looks like when we go out there."
• "Some of those guys haven't played before," Day notes.
• "We're waiting to see what they look like as a group."

On the defense

• "I feel strong."
• "The defensive line has a lot of depth."
• Day notes that since they only played seven games last year, many of the inexperienced and younger players didn't get the reps they normally would have.
• "Looking forward to see what that looks like."

On young players

• Day notes that sometimes you don't know how a player's going to really look until they get on the field.
• "It's going to be fun seeing once some of those guys get on the field who's going to perform."

On the special teams

• "We're going to kind of take it all the way to game time to see who the kicker is going to be."
• "Jesse (Mirko) has come in and done a really good job for us." Day notes that he played Australian football, so he's played in a stadium before, but it's still a little new to him.

On kick returners

• Day said Garrett Wilson and Jaxon Smith-Njigba will return punts. He also said Wilson, Smith-Njigba, Demario McCall, TreVeyon Henderson or Emeka Egbuka will probably handle kickoff return duties.

On Demario McCall

• "Well, Demario's had an interesting career here so far."
• "It hasn't always been perfect."
• Day notes that he could have transferred many times throughout his career and had people telling him to leave, but he stuck it out.
• "He has a lot of respect from a lot of different people in this building."
• Day said he almost wishes he would have made the switch to defensive back earlier, because he's done a good job.
• “You're gonna see him on Thursday night," Day said.

On playing Minnesota

• Day notes they have a big offensive line and plenty of experience across the board.
• Day expects Minnesota to try to control the game with the running game, and that running back Mohamed Ibrahim is "very, very hard to tackle."
• Day is expecting "a trick or two" from Minnesota at some point in Thursday's game.

On playing first-year players

• "I think we have a lot of talent."
• "I'm very excited about what we've recruited here."
• "They're going to make some mistakes, but that's okay because they're young and talented and we're going to play them."

On Tyler Friday and his injury

• "It was a tough break for him."
• Day notes that it was a freak, non-contact injury.
• "It's going to be a long year for recovery," but he'll be back next year.
• "It's part of the game, unfortunately."
• Day said it was an ACL injury.

How captains are chosen

• Day said captains are chosen by a team vote.
• "We have all third, fourth or fifth-year players on the ballot."
• Day said they look at the votes and see how many captains they will have.
• Day notes that said some of the best leaders he's been around weren't captains, so other guys can lead too.

On Kamryn Babb

• "I think it's unbelievable what he's done. His resilience."
• "It means a lot to everybody in this program."
• "He's a captain now and he's part of this team."

The biggest offensive line in Ohio State history?

• "It's going to be fun to watch."
• "They're big, but they're athletic."
• "They're not fat. They're big, they're strong, and it's going to be fun to watch them play."

How Day evaluates quarterbacks

• "There's a lot that goes into it."
• "It's not like there's one thing, it's a body of work over time."
• "You're talking about 30+ practices."
• Day mentioned consistency, how players bounce back from mistakes and understanding the playbook.
• "I thought that C.J. really separated, especially in the last two weeks."

On Thayer Munford getting the Block O honor

• "I'm really excited for Thayer. He deserves it.
• Day notes how he thinks it's cool to be able to create a new tradition own at a program as storied as this.
• "Hopefully that's able to go on for decades, as well."

On Haskell Garrett returning

• Day said Garrett's success last season was one of the biggest surprises of the season.
• "Hopefully we can get him to carry that over this season."
• "We're gonna need his leadership and his veteran play."
• Day notes that in national title teams, "the veteran guys play veteran."

Kerry Coombs

Excited to finally play a game?

• "Training camp, you forget how long training camp is when you don't have it for a year."
• "It's time to play a game."

On the secondary

• "It's a much better situation for us on the back end than it was last year."
• "We feel good about that."
• Coombs said he feels good enough about the depth that an injury won't derail the season.

On the personnel groupings this year

• Coombs said Ohio State's personnel groupings depend on where Ohio State has the most talent.
• Coombs notes that it will be different from last year because Ohio State's strength was at linebacker last year, and that might not necessarily be the case this year.
• "You have to be flexible with the players you put on the field."

On Minnesota offense

• "I think they want to knock you off the ball and find a crease."
• Coombs compared Mohammad Ibrahim to LeVeon Bell with his patience.
• Coombs said it will be up to the front to contain him.

On being able to recruit in person

• Coombs is very happy to be able to get back on the recruiting trail, but notes they had a lot of success in the last class despite the challenges.
• "We hit home runs with kids we never met in person."
• "Kids that I never saw before until they stepped foot on campus, they are great kids."
• "We got very fortunate."

On C.J. Stroud

• "He's fearless."
• "He's got a big arm and can throw into tight windows."
• "He takes charge of the offense."