Ohio State’s smaller group of captains this season speaks to just how highly respected these three players are by their Buckeye teammates.
While Ohio State had named at least six captains for each of the last 10 years, the Buckeyes will have just a trio of captains this year: Tommy Eichenberg, Cade Stover and Xavier Johnson. Trimming down the number of captains was a move that many felt was overdue after the group had swelled to as many as nine captains in one year over the past decade. However, Day said the decision to go with a more exclusive group of captains this season was based simply on the fact that those three players received significantly more votes than the rest of their teammates.
“Tommy and Cade were significantly higher (in the voting) than everybody else,” Day said. “The third one was Xavier, and because he was Block O, because it was the sixth year, because he was the third-leading vote-getter, we felt like it was appropriate to name him as the third captain. And then from there, there was a sizable gap.”
Those voting results could be looked at in two different ways. It could suggest that the Buckeyes didn’t have as many standout leaders to earn substantial support for captaincy this year. But Day indicated that it had more to do with how strong those three are as leaders and that the team has many other leaders who split votes with one another.
“A lot of other guys got over 10 to 15 votes. It was spread pretty good,” Day said. “There was some third-year guys in there. And when you have fifth-year guys and sixth-year guys (like Eichenberg, Stover and Johnson all are) who have been around, it’s a little bit of a different feel, just a little bit more of a maturity there. But that doesn't mean the other guys aren't going to be leaders, and we talked about that out on the field. But we just try to look at the numbers and figure out where the gap is and what's appropriate. And we felt like these three were the best.
“I think every team is different,” Day added. “If you don't have one, two or three guys that you feel really strongly about, then sometimes you spread it, four or five. And that usually is indicated by the way it's voted on. This year, there was a pretty strong gap in there. And that was clear.”
Day agreed with Eichenberg, Stover and Johnson receiving the most votes, feeling his players “hit the nail right on the head” in choosing their official leaders.
“Proud of those guys, think it's the right group,” Day said. “It worked out; one on offense, one on defense and then Xavier is going to be a huge contributor on offense, but he's also played over 700 snaps on special teams, so you really kind of have an offense, a defense and a special teams. And so that just worked out.”
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That said, Day made it clear that he expects more than just those three players to be leaders for the Buckeyes this season. There are plenty of other players who have also drawn praise for their leadership this offseason, from wide receivers Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka and left guard Donovan Jackson on offense to defensive end JT Tuimoloau and safety Lathan Ransom on defense. Ohio State already selected a larger leadership committee in February that it revoted on after the spring, and all the players in that group are still expected to be team leaders this fall regardless of whether or not they earned captaincy.
“By the time we get to the captains, we've already kind of had two votes and guys have been put into leadership roles. And so I felt like we had a pretty sizable leadership group,” Day said.
