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Jan. 7—Another Ohio State football season is in the books.
What did we just watch?
I asked after the Buckeyes lost at Michigan, and the Cotton Bowl loss to Missouri offered only more questions.
Ohio State’s 2023 football season is proving to be harder to evaluate than most because of the postscript that is still being written involving who will come and who will go in early January between transfers and NFL draft decisions.
Traditionally, college teams develop in a linear sort of way.
Players arrive as freshmen, learn, grow and find their path.
Maybe half of them develop into starters. Some become stars then move on to the NFL.
Then the cycle refreshes with new players for fans to fall in love with all over again.
Even with the recent increase in transfers across the country, that was still the case for a core group, especially at a place like Ohio State where the players who leave before their eligibility is up typically have not been able to earn significant roles fro the Scarlet and Gray.
For a long time, transferring out of Columbus and making it to the NFL was very rare, but that is becoming less the case because talented young players are more apt to exit in search of other opportunities, especially when they get passed up by younger players with the same pedigree or better coming out of high school.
This year a new precedent was set with not only a starter but the quarterback opting to transfer right after the Buckeyes’ first loss of the season ended their national title hopes.
That in of itself could constitute a crisis as the position that is called the most important in sports is particularly vital to Ohio State’s success under Ryan Day, whose arc as head coach of the Buckeyes now seems to have a definite direction — down.
Day’s first five seasons as head coach of the Buckeyes have started to become more defined…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/commentary-ryan-day-navigating-rough-021100732.html
Author : Dayton Daily News, Ohio
Publish date : 2024-01-08 02:11:00
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