Ohio State's new spring players tripled in 4 years -- that's why Ryan Day is talking dinosaurs

"We’re going to adapt, and we’re not going to die."

Ohio State’s spring football roster is almost equally split between new players and returning players. (Photo by Doug Lesmerises)

COLUMBUS — It has been the number of spring for Ohio State football: 51.

Fifth-year senior defensive end Kenyatta Jackson said the number repeatedly on the first day of spring practice a few weeks ago.

“We just had 51 new players come in, and a couple weeks ago, we had to really show them the ropes of the game, because they don’t understand it,” Jackson said. “(We’re) trying to get those 51 new guys to tap into what we’re trying to do.”

A few days later, fifth-year senior center Carzon Hinzman joked that last season, he saw a picture of a teammate and wondered if the guy was on the team. And that was before this new roster turnover.

“I think we’ve been pretty blessed over the past couple of years,” Hinzman said. “When we had the Natty run (in 2024), we had a lot of older guys that came back. After that, we had a lot of young guys that stepped up last year. So this is kind of the first year we’ve really dipped in the portal.”

Hinzman noted correctly that the mix of returning players and new players is about an even split — a breakdown Ohio State has never been close to before at this time of the year.

“If that’s the way college football is looking,” he said, “I think we’ve been doing a great job.”

You can always tell when something is a point of emphasis with the coaching staff when multiple players repeat it. Somebody, presumably Day, put that 51 number in the minds of his players.

Why? Probably because he’s not sure he loves it.

Obviously, college football has changed in the NIL and portal era, and Ohio State’s roster this spring is a sign of that explosion. The Buckeyes have 112 players on this roster.

That’s 61 returning from last season and 51 new this season. Of those 51, 27 are early-enrolled freshmen, 18 are transfers and six are new walk-ons. It can be difficult to track walk-on additions, so in trying to make an apples-to-apples comparison to previous years, let’s use the number of 45 for this spring. That’s freshmen plus transfers.

Compared to four years ago, that number of new spring players has more than tripled.