Ohio State football coach Ryan Day sees 2023 early enrollees easily assimilate into program
Ryan Day's experience as an incoming freshman at New Hampshire in 1998 is completely different from what it is for Ohio State’s 2023 early enrollees.
The Ohio State football coach remembered meeting all of his teammates for the first time checking into his dorm in August.
Compared to his experience, many members of the Buckeyes’ 2023 class are way ahead of the game.
“These guys have known each other for a long time,” Day said. “They know what this is. They’ve seen workouts, they’ve gone to spring practices. … Some of these guys were actually at bowl practices. They weren’t actually allowed to be a part of it — we didn’t do that — but they saw it, they know what it looks like. So I think that’s been a little bit easier for them to assimilate into the program even early on in our workouts.”
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Ahead of Ohio State’s 2023 spring practice, 12 early enrollees joined the program: wide receiver Noah Rogers, wide receiver Bryson Rodgers, wide receiver Carnell Tate, tight end Jelani Thurman, offensive lineman Luke Montgomery, offensive lineman Joshua Padilla, offensive lineman Austin Siereveld, offensive lineman Miles Walker, defensive lineman Will Smith Jr., safety Malik Hartford and cornerback Jermaine Mathews from the Buckeyes’ signed recruiting class, along with walk-on running back Willtrell Hartson.
And while those spring practices haven’t officially started, Day said he’s already seen progress from what he calls a mature group that will continue to get stronger.
“They look good moving around out there,” Day said. “I’m excited to see them compete. I tell them all the time, you know, and I’m going to bring them in and tell them again, there’s going to be some point in the spring where you say to yourself, ‘Man, I hate this. I don’t even know if I want to play football anymore.’ That’s part of the process being a freshman. But I think that’s become easier and easier.”
'If he's in here getting extra work, why aren't you?'
Keenan Bailey has already seen a level of eagerness from Thurman.
The 2023 tight end out of Fairburn, Georgia, was in Bailey’s office on day one with a notepad, the Ohio State tight ends coach said, eager to get to work and knowing he had an ample amount of examples in the room to learn from.
“The example, I don’t need to go and create one and pull up clips of ‘Here’s how (Jeff) Heuerman and (Nick) Vannett did it. Here’s how it should be done,’ ” Bailey said. “No. Just watch (Cade) Stover. I mean, if he’s in here getting extra work, why aren’t you? Jelani has done a great job so far attaching himself to those old guys, taking coaching. He’s done a great job since he’s been here.”
Ohio State offensive line coach Justin Frye has been equally impressed with Montgomery, saying he’s “cut from the right cloth” and that all he cares about is being at his best and the team being the best.
How Frye encourages Montgomery is the same way he encourages Walker, Siereveld and Padilla in their first weeks as official Buckeyes.
“We’ll talk about him and his future, and why did he have a great career,” Frye said. “What happened? Because he was a real guy. He studied the right way, he trained the right way, he was around the right people. And those guys, they don’t fail very often in their life.”
Ohio State’s entire freshman class is not yet on campus, with players such as wide receiver Brandon Inniss, cornerback Calvin Simpson-Hunt, defensive lineman Jason Moore, defensive end Joshua Mickens, quarterback Lincoln Kienholz, linebacker Arvell Reese, defensive lineman Kayden McDonald, safety Jayden Bonsu and safety Cedrick Hawkins finishing up their final semesters of high school.
But with a full spring ahead with 12 members of his 2023 class, Day has high expectations for what they can do come fall.
“(I’m) hoping that this group can be a little bit further along,” Day said. “And when you can do that in the spring, that usually leads to playing in the fall.”
cgay@dispatch.com
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football 2023 early enrollees assimilate into program
