COLUMBUS — Ohio State head coach Ryan Day did not name a new starting quarterback on Tuesday. We still don’t know whether Luke Fahey or Tavien St. Clair will replace the injured Julian Sayin against USC on Saturday night.
But Day was asked more than a dozen questions about the quarterbacks on Tuesday. Below are his answers and what they mean.
QUESTION 1: Have you made a decision on who’s going to start at quarterback this week?
Day’s answer: “Both quarterbacks practiced well last week, which was good. There was good energy. Guys were rallying around both guys. We’ll keep working this week and keep working on packages for both guys. Like I said before, Luke was ahead of Tavien going into the Indiana game, but both guys are working hard. We’ll kinda see where the next couple of days go. But they’ve both been really into it, and practice was good last week. So, we need to stack a few more days, and then we’ll go into the game and figure out what gives us the best chance to win.”
What it means: I’m not surprised that Day didn’t name a starter on Tuesday. One thing to keep in mind when we talk to Day on Tuesdays is that the team hasn’t had a practice yet that week. They’re off on Mondays, and game prep starts with Tuesday afternoon practice. The first team meeting of the week happens after the press conference. You could say Day kept the door open to St. Clair potentially starting with this answer, but he also reminded everyone that Fahey started ahead in this race.
QUESTION 2: “When you think about the practice plan for the next three days, is there a point where you have to start giving a lion’s share of the starting reps to one guy over the other? How are you going to manage that?
Day’s answer: “Yeah, I think you gotta do it that way. You gotta get somebody ready to play. We’ll parse those out today and project it the best we can. But there’s no question, we gotta be smart about this preparation, and about every rep. The good news is that we had some snaps last week that were extra. We got in here on Sunday and got ahead of the game plan. But every rep will be very important.”