COLUMBUS — Ryan Day held his first game week news conference of the 2026 season on Tuesday, previewing this Saturday’s season opener against Ball State, but mostly putting a capper on how things stand coming out of preseason camp.
This is your weekly Day DeBrief.
We’ll start with a couple of roster notes.
Doug is planning on writing about receivers later in the week, so I won’t steal his thunder, but it was noteworthy when Day was rolling through the six receivers he expects to get playing time early in the season, and he included second-year receiver Phillip Bell. Day also said transfer Kyle Parker is still injured. It doesn’t sound like he’ll be available to play this week.
Day didn’t name a backup quarterback. He said Tavien St. Clair and Luke Fahey will continue to compete, and they hope to get both players some game reps on Saturday.
Another noteworthy name drop: Day included Jason Moore on the list of five defensive tackles he expects to play, joining Eddrick Houston, James Smith, John Walker and Will Smith.
Expect Payton Pierce and Christian Alliegro to start at linebacker, but also expect Riley Pettijohn and TJ Alford to “get in there quickly.”
2. The vibes continue to be high around what the Ohio State offense put on the field during camp, and what’s expected to carry over into the season.