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2025 Spring Practices, Spring Game, and other Tidbits

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Nebraska’s Matt Rhule canceled his spring game due to concerns about other teams seeing his players perform well and tampering to get them into the transfer portal. Initially, Ohio State may have been on the same path, as Ryan Day spoke about a spring showcase rather than a spring game.

However, Day differed from Rhule, as he initially wanted to cancel the Ohio State spring game due to concerns about player health and injury risk after a grueling 16-game season and a condensed spring practice window.

But was Rhule right? If he is, and a recent prediction by Fox College Football analyst Joel Klatt proves accurate, the Buckeyes could have even more depth issues than previously expected.

On the latest episode of “The Joel Klatt Show,” Klatt discussed the Nico Iamaleava situation and how he demanded more money from Tennessee. Iamaleava is now in the portal, and if more players follow suit, Klatt predicts, “This transfer portal window is going to be more wild than maybe the future ones.”

Klatt’s prediction is rooted in the revenue sharing coming to college athletics and how this could be players’ last opportunity to establish NIL deals without restrictions, as schools can allocate a proposed revenue share cap of $20.5 million annually to their athletes.

Klatt speculates that athletes could think, “This is my one last chance to get some ridiculous deal that’s outside of what can be considered a more structured revenue-sharing deal through the school.” But it wouldn’t just be the highest-earning athletes like Iamaleava doing this. Standout performers in Ohio State’s spring game, like Bo Jackson and Mylan Graham, could be some players who feel they could earn more in the open market than they would as second or third-stringers at Ohio State.

Fortunately for Ohio State, Ryan Day has built one of the best cultures of toughness and a team-first mentality in college football. Just last year, Ohio State saw multiple starters and potential draft picks return for one more year to chase a national championship. Of course, NIL also played a factor in keeping those players, showing that Ohio State has the ingredients to prevent players from entering the portal with dreams of bigger offers and more playing time.

Look at a player like Caden Curry. Curry is entering his senior year at Ohio State. He never entered the portal, transferred out, or hinted at it, even though he played behind Jack Sawyer his entire career. But now is his time. After appearing in every game at Ohio State since enrolling, he will finally make his first start in his career and be a team leader this fall.
 
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There was a lot for Ryan Day to talk about on Tuesday in his first press conference since Ohio State's spring game.

The Buckeyes had a school-record-tying 14 players selected in the 2025 NFL draft, but more than the numbers or spots where players were drafted, Day appreciated the franchise fits for each player.

Ohio State added North Carolina defensive end Beau Atkinson from the transfer portal to upgrade their defensive end room. Day feels Atkinson will be a "great addition" with "real experience" collecting 7.5 sacks last year for the Tar Heels.

Day also updated ongoing position battles at quarterback and along the offensive line, saying Austin Siereveld "will start" somewhere but the specifics are not known along the front five. He felt Lincoln Kienholz was leading the quarterback battle slightly until the spring game, where he felt Julian Sayin performed better.
  • On Atkinson: "Very excited about adding Beau. ... We think that it's a great addition to the room, somebody who has some real experience, some real size and he's excited about being at Ohio State."
  • Day said Ohio State is looking at defensive tackle options in the portal, but doesn't want to take someone just to take someone. "We are, we have. But we want to make sure that when we bring somebody in, it has to be an upgrade to what we have."
  • On Julian Sayin and Lincoln Kienholz coming off the spring game: "I thought they handled the environment well, I thought they handled the huddle well. ... I think there has been progress made. ... Now they have cutups that they can watch and grow from. ... It's a two-horse race."
  • The confusion of whether there will only be 105 roster spots or not is something Day is trying to navigate with care."What I don't want to do is look a guy in the eye and say, 'Sorry, we don't have a roster spot for you' ... before they have a chance to see what their portal options are."
  • On C.J. Hicks: "Somebody who loves being a Buckeye ... puts in extra work. ... He wants it. But I think he's transitioned well. ... It does take time. Instead of being off the ball and running to the ball, you're constantly engaged in blocks or looking to get off them. ... It's going to be a big summer for him."
  • The Buckeyes are doing all they can to develop their inexperienced quarterback room this offseason. "We try to watch as much film as we can and try to simulate (the game) the best we possibly can. ... That's why we made them live this spring."
  • On his evaluation of new coaches Matt Patricia and Tyler Bowen: "The feedback I got on both of those guys (from the players) was really excellent. Second thing, you talk to recruits ... thumbs up across the board. ... Then, how are you getting individual players better, I think that's been a plus. Then schematically, we'll see. ... They both fit our culture really, really well."
  • On tying Ohio State's NFL draft record: "I don't think there was anybody that got drafted where you look at it and say, 'That's not a good fit.' ... The easy part is over, the hard part is now, going to work. ... We got unbelievable feedback from NFL personnel about these guys."
  • Day was disappointed that Seth McLaughlin wasn't selected, however. "I don't think Seth should have gone undrafted. I think the Achilles and only playing center may have impacted that."
  • Day said Ohio State has "different weapons" for its quarterbacks than in previous years. "It starts, probably, at tight end, where we have more options there probably than we ever have since I've been here. We have different options at wide receiver ... we have some depth at running back as well. ... You're talking about five guys there when we haven't always had five guys there."
  • Day said that Austin Siereveld "is gonna be a starter" on Ohio State's offensive line and said he loved the progress of the room this spring, specifically naming Phillip Daniels, Tegra Tshabola, Carson Hinzman, Luke Montgomery, Ethan Onianwa and Joshua Padilla.
  • On the approach to the transfer portal: "We have to do a better job now more than ever of evaluating. This is a very important time for our staff. ... You may have a guy that's coming in to make impact, you may have a developmental guy."
  • Day said that the fact the Buckeyes didn't lose any players to the portal is a sign that the Buckeyes are recruiting players who truly want to be at Ohio State. "It says a lot about our team."
  • Day said the Buckeyes are going up to 90 scholarships with the judge in NCAA v. House not likely to approve the proposed 105-man roster. "We're looking at increasing it to 90, that's what the conversations have been."
  • On how to get five defensive ends involved: "We've always rolled guys. ... The more we can do that, especially with the length of the season, we're going to need to do that. ... I also think there are different skillsets with those guys, we can try to be creative."
  • Ohio State's quarterback battle remains neck-and-neck. "I felt like Lincoln, going into the spring game, was ahead of Julian, and then I thought Julian performed better in the spring game. ... The more you play, the more these things tend to shake themselves out."
Just sayin': Click on the link to see video of entire presser.
 
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BuckeyeNation27 said:
Pulled even? I'm sorry?
Click to expand...

When you consider the volatility of spring at times in conjunction with perhaps a bit of recency bias (Sayin in the spring “game”) I don’t think it’s odd to say they’re close. Not trying to put words in your mouth but either way, fully expect that to be the term from the staff to the media up until we know who’s taking more team 1 reps in camp.
 
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