Kyle McCord took the first snaps in the early practice positions, as expected from the prospective junior, who was the No. 2 quarterback behind CJ Stroud last season.
Redshirt newcomer Devin Brown followed (new with the No. 33), while Oregon State transfer Tristan Gebbia followed.
The coach likes to have three fellows on the roster, with a fourth on the way into freshman Lincoln Kienholz.
“There’s a lot of replays, and it’s only here for the first few days, then we take a break and then we come back and really dig in,” Day said.
2. Tegra Tshabola is in the mix with the right tackle.
The redshirt freshman from Lakota West was a back-up last season, but he’s stepping up this spring, vying with sophomore Zan Michalski to be the new right tackle.
Fourth-year junior Josh Fryar has been spotted in the left tackle after serving as the sixth man in the line last season and that looks like his spot to lose from.
Redshirt freshman Carson Hinzman and transfer Victor Cutler Jr. were spotted grabbing the ball and appear to be the top two candidates to replace Luke Wypler at center.
3. CJ Hicks a future Jack?
The prospective Alter High School student finds himself in a unique place. He was the top rated recruit in last year’s class but saw little playing time as veterans Tommy Eichenberg and Steele Chambers set linebackers. They’re back this season (with budding senior Cody Simon also in the mix), so snaps could be hard to get back into in 2023, but defensive coordinator Jim Knowles (who also coaches the linebackers) once again praised Hicks for his attitude and said he had a bright future.
Knowles also didn’t rule out taking a look at Hicks in the hybrid “jack” position, which is part defender and part linebacker but also unique to Knowles’ scheme.
4. Davison Igbinosun looked good.
Among the key offseason acquisitions for Ohio State is Igbinosun, a 6-foot-2, 187-pound cornerback from Union, NJ
He wears No. 20, the number Sonny Styles wore last season, so it was easy to mistake him for a safety on his first day in scarlet and gray.
But Ohio State cornerbacks rarely look like him, and Igbinosun seemed comfortable in backpedals with the cornerbacks.
Knowles said he had a certain “jersey swagger” in the room after a freshman All-America season in Mississippi last year.
5. Since day already identified many of the players missing for springOne of the surprises of the first day was a player who was there.
Mitchell Melton was among those who trained with the defensive ends less than a full year after suffering a knee injury in the spring 2022 game.
He came to Ohio State in 2020 as a four-star linebacker but spent time with the line last spring before his injury. While Melton won’t be conducting full-team drills this spring, Knowles said he could be a candidate for the Jack position this fall.
Eichenberg, running backs TreVeyon Henderson and Evan Pryor, receivers Emeka Egbuka and Julian Fleming, and center Jakob James are all expected to be out in the spring while recovering from injuries.