← The Bill and Doug Show: Ohio State Football Talk
The Bill and Doug Show: Ohio State Football Talk
Ohio State spring practice No. 12: Spring game plans, melding the Ryan Day-Arthur Smith OSU offense
00:38:54
It's the final week of spring football practice for the Ohio State Buckeyes, and on Monday, head coach Ryan Day met with reporters after practice No. 12.
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- [00:00]
Steve Smith
Neighbor, Emo.
- [00:02]
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
And Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual. Even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.
- [00:12]
Liberty Mutual Companion
Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?
- [00:15]
Doug Lamoris
Oh, no.
- [00:16]
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.
- [00:22]
Liberty Mutual Companion
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- [00:24]
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty.
- [00:28]
Liberty Mutual Companion
Liberty. Liberty. Liberty.
- [00:30]
Steve Smith
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- [00:58]
Liberty Mutual Companion
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- [01:06]
Doug Lamoris
Welcome back to the Bill and Doug Show. Doug Lamoris, Bill landis. It's Monday, April 13, and the spring game is right around the corner. Saturday, April 18, noon kickoff in Ohio Stadium. It'll be on the Big Ten Network. Tickets are 13 bucks. It's always a good time. Take the family, go with your friends, hang out at Ohio Stadium, walk through Buckeye Grove. And on Monday, landis after the 12th practice of the spring, we talked with Ryan Day and we got a vibe of what Saturday is going to be, which is kind of what we're going to focus on here today. On Tuesday, we'll have around the shoe. We'll have two great guests. We'll dive into a lot of the players and people that, you know, that we want to see on Saturday. On Wednesday on our substack show, we'll do a draft. You and I, Bill and Doug OSU substack.com Of the most intriguing, like the, you know, the guys were really curious to see. So we're kind of talking vibes and structure on this Monday show of, like, what we're going to see on Saturday. What do you think? Think it's gonna be a good day?
- [02:08]
Bill Landis
I do think it's going to be a good day. It usually is, I think, for Ohio State, you know, is the idea of spring games continues to evolve, even, you know, pondering their mere existence. I think Ohio State does a pretty nice job of more or less, like, replicating a game. I was nervous about it last year. I remember, like, last year, for at least the first half of the spring. Ryan Day kept calling it like a showcase, which I was reminded of today when we spoke with him. Someone, someone mentioned that in a question to him and it was like, okay, what's this actually going to be? And then we went to the spring game and like they just played football. So. And that was great. And, and it sounds like they're kind of just gonna play football this Saturday as well. There'll be a little bit of thud tempo. The way, the way I that hit my ears from Ryan Day was we're gonna play two drives of thud tempo then get Jeremiah out of the game and then we'll tackle. Which I think is probably. Yeah. Which I think probably is the way the things will go on Saturday. Yeah.
- [03:05]
Doug Lamoris
So the, the most interesting sort of player specific stuff is the lack of running backs and how that will affect sort of how they play. We know that Bo Jackson and Isaiah west have been out all spring while coming back from shoulder surgeries. But also Legend Bay who can. Legend Bay was the, I think the second question on Monday and Legend Bay was the last question on Monday. Like we cannot get enough Legend Bay. And that's because I think the fans cannot get enough Legend Bay. But Ryan Day said he has a hamstring injury and he's probably not going to play on Saturday. And then Turbo Rogers who was hurt most of last year as a true freshman also is probably not going to play on Saturday. Which gets us down to Jacoby Jackson, the seventh year guy from Florida and favor a key, the true freshman and then walk ons right after running Jackson
- [03:59]
Bill Landis
Jr. Get ready to see a lot of Stanley Jackson Jr. On Saturday.
- [04:03]
Doug Lamoris
I will say the, the lovely Jackson family is in the same school district as, as my family and we have, we have gotten to know them just a little bit over the years. Some of the, the Jackson kids were in similar in age to my children and just a lovely family. And if, if what Stanley Jackson obviously means to Ohio State history, I, I think you're gonna get a pretty good dose of Jackson in Ohio Stadium. And we're going to be conjuring some memories of the Cooper era on Saturday because and Carlos Lachlan had mentioned Stanley Jackson Jr. And talking to him the other day that like, hey, you know who is a guy who's like doing everything we ask of him and like sort of filling gaps for us is Stanley Jackson Jr. And it's just when you, when four of your six running backs are hurt like you're looking around saying who else can carry the ball In a functional way so we can play football.
- [05:00]
Bill Landis
Yeah, I think that could be cool. He, he. Stanley Jackson Jr. Is a junior in eligibility. Joined the team, I believe, last summer. A little bit of Marshall before.
- [05:17]
Doug Lamoris
Okay.
- [05:18]
Bill Landis
It'll be cool. It'll be cool. I think, like, you know, if he. Listen, he's not going to be a part of the, of the thing when the season starts. But if Stanley Jackson Jr. Can score a touchdown in Ohio Stadium on Saturday, wouldn't we all enjoy that? It'll be fun. Yeah.
- [05:32]
Doug Lamoris
I remember it's actually his younger brother, but I was helping out at field day in elementary school one time with my younger daughter and there was a kid like a fifth grader who was crushing field day and it was like, wow. Like that guy has. Kid has got something and it's like, oh, yeah. His dad, Stanley Jackson. It's like, oh. Like I said, the bloodline's a little bit. So sometimes you see it early on. But the result will be. Ryan Day said we kind of might have to chuck it around a little bit, which I think will intrigue all the folks in Ohio Stadium. If the quarterbacks are dropping it back. Dropping back and chucking a ball.
- [06:10]
Bill Landis
These receivers, I think it's it. It should make for like the most entertaining possible spring game, I think. Right. It's not that Ohio State's run game is not important. It is. It's a large reason of why Arthur Smith is here. I think a lot of us are excited to see what that looks like, but I'm cool with the spring game being a lot of chucking it around especially, you know, it'll be fun to see Savion Sinclair or not TV and see Julian saying doing it. But like especially seeing TV and Sinclair, who we just did not see, he played, he played in the spring game last year, but then he played against Grambling. I think he threw like two passes and they're both incomplete. So it'll be nice to see where, where exactly that growth is with him. They got, you know, you asked about the quarterbacks on Tuesday they. Or Monday. They have, they have four interesting quarterbacks. Like for various reasons, I think we'll get to see all four. Four of those guys throw it around a little bit. They got a deep receiver room. We'll get to see all those guys on display. I, I don't. I'm unaware at this moment of them being shorthanded any kind of significant way at that position. So that should be fun. And then you'll get to see a bunch of pass protection with an offensive line that's working in a couple of new guys because there's some starters injured. So it's, you're not going to learn a lot about the rushing attack. So like, I guess we know that going into it, but I think there'll still be a lot to glean from what goes on with all the different facets of the passing attack. So if they throw it whatever, 60 times on Saturday, sounds great. Let's do it.
- [07:38]
Doug Lamoris
Ryan Day mentioned again on Monday the idea of, yeah, they might rotate at receiver more than they've done in a while. He, he mentioned that we've played six in the past, but it's, it's kind of been a long time since they've done that. They've played more like three or four lately. RJ in our chat over at substack, Bill and Doug osu.substack.com mentioned like, hey, is like, you know, we put that in there. And he said, is that the idea of like, why might they play more receivers in 2026? Is it because perhaps Quincy Porter and Myelin Graham left after this season. They're both at Notre Dame now and is that like a signal of like, hey, we, we better play some more of these young guys and give them opportunities? Do you think that's a factor in this at all or do you think that is sort of like coincidentally they lost a couple receivers in the portal and now there might play more dudes?
- [08:35]
Bill Landis
I think, I think that's part of the equation. Yeah, I don't really think. Well, I don't know. It'll be, it's an interesting balancing act, I think. And Ryan Day sort of went down this road a week or two ago saying like, like we'll, we'll play guys when they earn it and sort like it didn't really acknowledge like the, I think the point of the question was like, you're paying these guys a lot of money. Do you have to play them almost no matter what early to see what you have and determine whether or not your investment is worthwhile? If he gave Ryan Day some truth serum, he might answer affirmative to that question as well. But I think they're, they're trying to set a culture so that they want to dangle that carrot out there if guys have to earn their playing time. But when you see two former five star receivers walk out the door having barely played here, especially Quincy Porter, I think, who was like, still very much like kind of an unknown. And, and the reason I think like he didn't play as much Last year, I think, is because he was hurt, not because he wasn't performing well. Right. Yeah. That probably sticks in the back of your mind a little bit. You want to be a little more intentional of finding opportunities for Chris Henry Jr. And Dracoid and Guilford and Brock Boyd. So I think that's true, but I also think it's possible that that trio and the two transfers, Devin McEwen and Kyle Parker, are all practicing well enough to have earned it as well. Like, it doesn't. It seems like all those guys are, like, doing things that are turning some heads a little bit. Like, we hear about Brock Boyd the most, and both the transfers have lost their black stripes. But I. There's nothing like, I don't know about Guilford and Henry. Like, they're not really doing what we thought they would do. I think. I think sort of to a man, that group of five players, in addition to the two leading returning guys, are all doing things that are making the staff look at it. So, like, I think all these guys can play this year.
- [10:13]
Doug Lamoris
I'm curious to see. I think we'll get a little taste of that on Saturday because nobody outside of Jeremiah Smith and Brandon Ennis in the receiver room has really, like, played a snap in front of people in Ohio Stadium. Maybe Philip Bell has, like, done a tiny little bit, but we were talking
- [10:30]
Bill Landis
about he was on the other end of one of those past attempts from TV and Sinclair against Grambling. But I. I think that was the extent of his experience last year, too.
- [10:37]
Doug Lamoris
So you have Kyle Parker and Devin McEwen, his transfers. You have, as you mentioned, your Quain, Guilford and Chris Henry Jr. And Brock Boyd is true freshman. And again, it's like, if they're going to get to six, maybe seven, it's going to be right. You're going to be pulling four or five guys out of that group. So it's not like the coaches are going to make a decision, but we may get an idea of separation in that room. A little bit of like, oh, okay, that guy looks ready. And I'll be honest. Like, again, we'll. We'll talk about this one around the shoe. We'll do it in our draft. I'll be curious sort of who the next guy up in the slot is behind Brandon Innis. And I don't know if I have a firm grasp on that.
- [11:21]
Bill Landis
Nor do I, I guess. Yeah, I'm interested to see what that is. I. I would. I would guess Parker McEwen, but I'm not. I'm not entirely sure.
- [11:33]
Doug Lamoris
Because it feels like early on we were like, oh, man, Parker McEwen, they're both playing outside. Okay, that's interesting. And then it's like, that isn interesting. But also, how much are they maybe playing inside? Or how much might that be someone like Philip Bell? Or could any of the true freshmen play inside? Like, I, I don't know.
- [11:49]
Bill Landis
I don't. Yeah, that'll be, that'll be a thing to identify early because I don't, I don't know. Jeremiah Smith obviously is not going to play a lot. It wouldn't shock me if Brandon Ennis doesn't play a ton either. Although maybe he will. I think he's got. He, like, I think he wants to like, show a little bit. Right. Like, it does too. Been working on some stuff. Maybe I got some juice. Here's a little taste. So maybe, maybe we'll see that. And, and someone, I think someone sent me a direct message on substack and asked about Philip Bell. Like, we just not have talked about. We have not talked about Philip Bell or Desi Jones as we've had these receiver conversations. And I don't know that that's the fact that we haven't talked about them, I don't think is necessarily reflective of them, like, not being in the mix. So, like, I'm, I, I remain interested to see like, those two guys in comparison with the five that we tend to talk about the most and see like, what exactly that gap or lack of one week.
- [12:37]
Doug Lamoris
Yeah. Spring game, as, as you mentioned, last year was kind of in a weird spot. We've sort, we've talked about this already that it felt like maybe last year spring games were dying. They announced an attendance of around 40, 000 at the spring game last year. That was half of what it was in 2024 when it was around 80, 000. And the 80, 000 number was like kind of a, A big step up right from where things had been. And that was like a, you know, that was, I think, the energy around a lot of very high profile guys sticking around. Right. That, like, hey, like, there's a lot of famous guys that I might go see. And I get like, you know, and also like, Will Howard is here and there's like, like, I don't know.
- [13:18]
Bill Landis
Yeah. I also thought they did a bad job advertising it last year because it is.
- [13:23]
Doug Lamoris
Well, I think because you never, they
- [13:24]
Bill Landis
never defined what it was. They never told us what it was going to be. And it's like, well, what's a showcase? Well, I Want to plan my day around a showcase? I don't know.
- [13:31]
Doug Lamoris
Right.
- [13:32]
Bill Landis
But if you're. Now you're. Because now they're telling people this is a game, make no mistakes about it. We're playing a game on Saturday, so maybe that'll help.
- [13:39]
Doug Lamoris
And it feels like it's. It's like it's back. Like, if you thought it wasn't gonna be. Like if you thought it was on life support in some. Like, it's.
- [13:47]
Bill Landis
It's.
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Doug Lamoris
I think it's back to what it's always been. I wouldn't mind them getting a little bit more of like. Urban was really quite a showman with this stuff when he first got here. And I think there's remains an opportunity. There's enough to guys who are around, right? There's. There's enough guys who still live in Columbus that you could give them a little bit of. Of. I mean, if you did. What if you did like an Old Timers game at halftime, you know, like you played flag football or something like that or whatever. Like again, when they did the thing where they had like Cardale and JT and guys doing. And Troy Smith doing like a throwing competition or you had guys running, like, I just think they can lean back into that a little bit, but I think it's back and it's. It's gonna be even other than the running back situation, it's gonna be gamier than it's ever been because everybody's here because they have the numbers. Because again, they have the 51 new guys and they have a lot of guys who need to get run. And Ryan Day was talking about, like, you know, if you have a thousand career snaps, maybe we don't need you to do as much in spring. But they have a lot of guys who haven't played in the stadium. They have a lot of true freshmen. They have backups who are. Who are moving up and they're not going to add, you know, there's only one freshman who's not early enrolled, so all those guys are going to play. There's no more transfers coming in. I think it could be as gamey of a spring game as maybe we've ever seen. Bill Landis.
- [15:16]
Bill Landis
Yeah, I think it could be like you said, you know, with the caveat that they're going to be throwing it a lot more than they run it. I think this coaching staff is really eager to get eyeballs on 51 guys who've never played in the shoe before. And like, I don't know, you know, there's not going to be 105,000 people in the shoe. We know that. But even playing in a half empty stadium is something, right? And walking in there for the first time now. They will, they will. At least typically anyway, they, they practice in there on Friday so it won't be like their first time kind of like walking into the shoe on a Saturday. But it like in some ways mimics a game day Saturday. And there's stuff to glean from that and then you get them on the field and put them through the paces. So I think, yeah, I think we're gonna see, you know, I don't want to oversell it, but I think we're gonna, we're gonna see potentially like one of the more entertaining spring games we've seen because throwing the football is fun and they're going to do a lot of it and they're going to tackle. I think it'll be fairly physical and I think, you know, a couple of the, or like one of the major talking points anyway in the spring is like this yards after catch stuff. Like we're going to get a great sort of snapshot of what exactly that looks like. So it should be pretty good. Yeah, I'm, I was like, I don't know, I was half nervous that we were going to show up to Ryan Day on Monday and ask him about some spring game specifics and he would say like, we're a little banged up. I don't know. Oh, I don't know what this is going to look like. But aside from the running back stuff, which is not unexpected, I don't seems like they're pretty decent shape. I got a little bit. I got a little more fired up about the spring game. Yeah. Let's go
- [17:00]
Steve Smith
big thanks to our sponsor
- [17:01]
Doug Lamoris
BetterHelp for partnering with us for this
- [17:04]
Bill Landis
important conversation about mental health.
- [17:06]
Steve Smith
This is Steve Smith here, former NFL wide receiver and host of the 89 show on YouTube. So having a counselor and working with BetterHelp, that gives you an opportunity to really start to unpack. But people don't understand when you unpack things, you also open up a box that you're not always sure what's inside. So I think that's why seeing a professional is extremely important. If you need someone to open up to visit betterhelp. That's betterhelp.com89 to get started.
- [17:38]
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
And Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual, even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.
- [17:47]
Liberty Mutual Companion
Hey, Everyone check out this guy and his bird. What is this your first date?
- [17:51]
Doug Lamoris
Oh no.
- [17:52]
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.
- [17:58]
Liberty Mutual Companion
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- [18:00]
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty.
- [18:03]
Liberty Mutual Companion
Liberty. Liberty. Liberty.
- [18:08]
Doug Lamoris
We will plan to do a quick reaction show here on YouTube in this podcast feed right after the game on Saturday. We'll keep that pretty short and then we'll do a deeper dive into everything we saw and thought with our substack subscribers later on Saturday. So we'll do two versions of post game shows. That's our plan. Of course we would. We would be excited to see you guys here, welcome you here. But then if you want sort of like overtime, Bill and Doug overtime, even more of what we thought about spring, we'll be doing that on the sub stack live over there and you can ask us questions on the sub stack over there after the game. There's, there's two more main things I want to talk about here as it relates to Ryan Day because we talked to Ryan Day and then we have more position groups left this week that we are planning to talk to people after practice on Wednesday and after practice on Friday. So right, we have defensive linemen to talk to. We have offensive linemen to talk to.
- [19:01]
Bill Landis
Who else do we do? We have interviews on Friday.
- [19:04]
Doug Lamoris
We're.
- [19:05]
Bill Landis
I think we get to watch practice on Friday.
- [19:07]
Doug Lamoris
Maybe it's only interviews on Wednesday. The last groups, offensive line and defensive line on Wednesday.
- [19:11]
Bill Landis
I'm pulling it up right now. Let's see. Yeah, just Wednesday. O line D line. No interviews after practice on Friday. But we're going to get to watch some of it.
- [19:22]
Doug Lamoris
Okay. So we'll, we'll still be back here and we'll do a show on Friday. Let you know what we saw on Friday. Ryan Day in talking about this has been a continuing theme and I wrote about this a couple weeks ago on the sub stack. The 51 new people, everybody's here now. It's an influx like everybody early enrolls which didn't used to be the case. It's more transfers than they've ever had it. This is a very different spring than they've ever had. And the good and the bad of that Ryan Day has talked about a couple times but when he was asked about that on Saturday and one of the things that I think has revived spring games is the disappearance the NCAA changed the rules. The disappearance of the spring portal. So when you heard other coaches, other coaches more vociferously than Ryan Day last year talking about, like, what's the point of spring game? We're just showcasing our backups who then can go in the portal and other teams have film on our guy. Like, this is. It doesn't, it doesn't serve us at all. Right. And that, that is no longer a worry. But Ryan Day on Monday talking about the good and the bad of the, the lack of a spring portal, like, the good is like, it's a little crazy in December and January. That's, that's the bad. He said it's a little bit crazy, but the good is like your team is set. And I think he started to say something else and then he stopped himself.
- [20:45]
Bill Landis
Yeah.
- [20:45]
Doug Lamoris
Was the thing that he was going to say. One of the bad things is that you can't go in the spring portal and fill a couple roster holes if after spring, you guys, you need a little help.
- [20:58]
Bill Landis
That's what I thought he was going to say. Yeah. That was if we, if you and I were left to extrapolate on his sort of. Aaron thought that came out there. Yeah. I thought that's where he was going to go. Either there or talking about ghost transfers where guys withdraw from a school then try to re. Enroll someplace else, which.
- [21:18]
Doug Lamoris
Oh, but the NCAA is trying to crack down on that, right?
- [21:23]
Bill Landis
Yeah, but by suspending the coaches, not by punishing the players.
- [21:26]
Doug Lamoris
Yeah, but like, enough to like, I'll be curious if we have ghosts.
- [21:30]
Bill Landis
We'll see. I'm sort of like eager to see someone test it to see like how much teeth are actually in those unsettable rules.
- [21:38]
Doug Lamoris
Yeah. So, okay, because. And I, I understood why he pulled himself back from saying, well, one of the bad things is you can't fill in roster holes after spring. Because then we would have been like,
- [21:52]
Bill Landis
the follow up is, where are the holes?
- [21:54]
Doug Lamoris
Yeah, where are the holes? I've followed up with that question in many situations in the past. What, where. If he allowed, like, he's obviously has that in his brain a little bit. If there were. And this, this is the thing. It's like you can't. It's like, well, what if you could. Well, part of the point is knowing that you can't fill in after spring. You had to go harder in the winter. Right. So they added more guys. And maybe even if it's not the perfect guy, it's like, we got to get a body in the running back room. We got to add a couple tight end bodies. Like, I don't know if they're the perfect bodies or not. But we got to get somebody because we can't risk not having enough. So they've already sort of overcompensated for this thing. But if the NCAA changed its rule tomorrow and said, you know what? Spring Portal. Fine, go ahead. Where do you think Ohio State maybe would be looking to add a guy or two?
- [22:56]
Bill Landis
I don't know. Like, I think we were asked a version of this question a couple weeks ago, and there wasn't a position that jumped out immediately. It's like, they're short. They need somebody. I think there's always the, the luxury addition, right? Like, well, we didn't expect this guy to be in the portal, but of course we'll take him even if he's not feeling a gigantic need, like tight end, maybe. Like, I don't know. You can kind of never have too many defensive linemen, so maybe maybe something there. I don't. I think he could say running back, but they already have so many. It's like, you want, you want seven running backs.
- [23:34]
Doug Lamoris
But I was wondering about that, like, if he. If, if. If there was some kind of battle somewhere at a power school and there was like a guy that kind of maybe thought he was the number one running back, but now it feels like maybe he's going to be in a. In a timeshare or maybe he's the number two back or something. If they could go get. I mean, like, almost Quin Sean Judkins level. But do you think if there was like that. If that. Because that, you know, there's a. There's not as much. The old Spring Portal, the numbers weren't as big, but there would be like a couple random, pretty good players there. And I just was wondering about, like, would Ohio State potentially be in the market for a true co number one running back and be like, it's gonna be Bo Jackson and this guy who ran for 970 yards in the ACC last year. And I, And I just. I wonder. It's. It would be like borderline luxury, but also kind of just like maybe ease everybody's mind. So this is an exercise that, like, is pointless because you can't do it. But I just, like, since he stopped himself, I wonder what was in his head. And I thought maybe it would be that.
- [24:50]
Bill Landis
I. I think you're probably right. But I also wonder how differently he'd be feeling if Bo Jackson and Isaiah west were just able to practice this spring.
- [25:01]
Doug Lamoris
Right. I agree, but. But since they haven't, like, would that Be enough to, like, be like, all right, we better dig up another $800,000, because we got to go, yeah, this guy's available. And we didn't think he'd be available, and we got to go get him
- [25:15]
Bill Landis
there maybe because there's. There's another element to it. So, like, I. I like Isaiah West. I think Isaiah was gonna be pretty good. But even, like, Carlos Lachlan last week was sort of talking about Bo Jackson and Isaiah west, like, they were the same. Like, they didn't have the same freshman season. No, like, like, west didn't come close to that. It wasn't bad, but, like, he did have some opportunity and I think was, you know, better than James Peoples and at times looked a little better than C.J. donaldson, I think. But it wasn't like he carved out a consistent role for himself. And I know he was hurt, and he had the shoulder, and he was coming off a knee injury. There are reasons for that, but it's not like there is a absolute slam dunk running mate with Bo Jackson in the room. I think there are guys they believe could can become that, but there's a lot of projection baked into whichever one of those guys you're putting in that slot. So if you want to find something that's a little more bankable, I would understand that. Yeah.
- [26:18]
Doug Lamoris
And I did think, again, a lot. A lot of the Legend Bay questions were sort of like, why is everyone saying so many good things about this guy? And then right at the end, he threw in while we're still trying to figure out if he's a running back or a receiver? And then I was like, what? Like that. I almost like that. Like, I skidded to a stop because I thought all the conversation previous to this was like, well, yeah, you can line them up in the slot or whatever. Just like Carlos Lachlan said, you can line Bo Jackson up in the slot. But I was like, oh, I thought they decided Legend Bay is a running back. And so I. It. It. And then he was talking about, like, he used the word discipline, and discipline is everything that's not God given. So that's like, whatever. Working hard and toughness and studying film and all those kind of things. And it's just like, I. I thought. I thought in the last two weeks, there kind of had been opportunities for people to, like, take their foot off the gas a little bit on Legend Bay, and everybody kept putting the pedal down. And then, like, right at the end on Monday, I was like, okay, this is the first. Like, that's ease up on the gas a tiny bit that I've heard anybody do about Legend Bay.
- [27:23]
Bill Landis
I agree. Again, that could just be typical coach paranoia, for lack of a better term, because he's also been hurt, as you mentioned. It's like, well, we don't know what he is because he's not out there. And like, you get a little panicky about. It's like, you're fine, you'll be okay. You know what he is. He's good when the balls on his hands, you'll figure it out, it's okay. But there's probably some kernel of truth to what Ryan Day is saying, too. They do have to figure that out, obviously. I think I'm like, and he was. Legend Bay has to do something to get number two back because he wasn't wearing number. He wasn't wearing number two after practice last week. And again, that could be anything. That could be. We're clocking hours on your iPad and you were eight minutes short of what you should have been in terms of watching film. Right. So, like, I'm not trying to make a mountain out of a molehill, but they are seemingly like challenging him with some things that don't necessarily involve how electric he is with the football in his hands. I think everybody agrees that that is, that is true and real. But they got to get him to a place where, you know, he's reliable. And I, I believe they will. And unfortunately for him, he's not 100 healthy to probably do some of the stuff he would need to do to, to earn that. But it was a little. Everything about him has been like, as effusive as possible this spring, including from Ryan Day earlier in the spring and, and Monday was. It wasn't an entire. Whatever. It wasn't a. A 180 on everything, but it was a little bit of a. Of a switch up. Yeah.
- [28:53]
Doug Lamoris
And part of it is like the first eight times this spring Ryan Day's been asked about Legend Bay. He's like, yeah, he's great. He's awesome. Then like, the ninth time he was like, okay, maybe he's not Tyree Kill after all. Even though that's the word I. That's the comparison I made in February. Right.
- [29:08]
Bill Landis
So he's in the hot dog suit where we're looking for the guy who did this. Yeah, it was you.
- [29:14]
Doug Lamoris
Like, you like it. You know, at some point it's like,
- [29:17]
Liberty Mutual Companion
are you sure he's that great?
- [29:18]
Doug Lamoris
Are you sure he's that great? And like, yet eight yeses, but it's not good. Enough. And then finally, on the ninth time, you get a maybe, and it's like, oh, I didn't know maybe.
- [29:29]
Bill Landis
But I. But you're the. You're the. They. They stop praising a guy once they think he's going to be awesome. Like, you're always on alert for that. Did that trigger any of that for you?
- [29:40]
Doug Lamoris
No. Yeah, probably a little bit, because then we. We got into a little bit, like, you got to take care of the ball, like all the other things, right? That, like, you're electric. Nobody doubts that. Let's take care of the ball. Let's make sure we block. Let's make sure we study film. Let's make sure, like, all those things. And like, that's. Yes. So. And maybe it's just like, it was. It was. It was like a performative maybe, right? Nobody actually changed their mind. It's just like, okay, it's like, make sure. Like, last thing is this. Stephen Means was asking about this and, And. And Arthur Smith and what it means to have Arthur Smith in the building. And you and I have talked a lot about this over the course of spring, but I thought we got some good answers from Ryan Day about what having an experienced offensive coordinator means. And. And he was saying that. He was just like, he decided. He's like, well, let me tell you about a typical day. And one of the things he was outlining is, like, during spring, when they get done with practice, everybody will go in and start, like, breaking down the film. But. But Ryan Day often is talking with recruits because they have a lot of people coming through. And so he said, like, they'll start breaking down film while I talk to recruits in my office. And I was like, check mark, head coach doing head coach things. And then he said, I'll go back and then watch the film by myself, watch practice film, and then make notes and send that along. And so then when we come in the next day and prepare what we want to do for practice on this day, my notes get, like, combined with what everybody was saying when they met. And first that, like, what did you think of Ryan Day sort of explaining his day and how having people like Matt, Patricia and Arthur Smith in the building factor into that.
- [31:27]
Bill Landis
It was great. It was great to hear. I think we understand that that's the primary motivating factor, I think, behind bringing in someone like Arthur Smith and Chip Kelly. Previously, I would imagine this was not asked, but I would imagine Ryan Day probably had a little less time for that last year when he was trying to teach the guy who was the oc, how to, how to be an OC in some respects. So. But this is how it should be. This is why you don't have someone sort of like, learning on the job in that role. And it's. Whatever. It's less pressure packed now than it is in October. And in October, Ryan Day is probably still going to be spreading himself a little too thin because the, the stakes are higher. That's, that's unavoidable. But I'm glad, like, I remember just like in 2023 when who's the Mizzou coach? Eli Drinkwood, just, like, talking about all this stuff, right, about giving up play calling and how he was doing a disservice to the team by trying to still be the play caller when he was the head coach as Ryan Day sat next to him looking like he'd rather be anywhere else in the world. And I just wondered, like, when exactly, because I think, I just think that's real. I think that's true of every head coach at a certain point. You have to come to that realization if you're going to be successful. And I just wondered when that would hit for Ryan Day. And I think it, I think it did hit in 24, obviously, when he made that decision, I wondered if he, like, like, waffled on it a little bit last year and felt like, no, we won. I can do this. I can. I can put some more on my plate. It's okay. I got this figured out kind of thing. And then like, one third was like, nope, that did not go exactly the way that I wanted it to go. So now he's in this situation, which I think is a really healthy one. So it was nice to get a little bit of a. Whatever, blow by blow account of how he goes about his business when he's in a world where he doesn't have to worry about scripting practice and breaking down film immediately.
- [33:22]
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
And Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual, even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.
- [33:31]
Liberty Mutual Companion
Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?
- [33:35]
Doug Lamoris
Oh, no.
- [33:36]
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.
- [33:42]
Liberty Mutual Companion
Yeah, the bird looks out of your league anyways.
- [33:44]
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty.
- [33:47]
Liberty Mutual Companion
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- [33:50]
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- [34:23]
Doug Lamoris
And then the thing that I. So I love hearing all that stuff because I agree with you. I think it's necessary for the betterment of the Ohio State football program. But then he was talking about after spring, and he was saying that he and Arthur Smith, like, he said, you know, everyone runs the west coast offense and there's different branches of it. And so there are things that Ryan Day and Arthur Smith, like, they're not. It's not completely. I think they're all speaking Romance languages. Right? So it's like they're all.
- [34:49]
Bill Landis
Yes, that's a good way to put it. Yeah.
- [34:50]
Doug Lamoris
You know, like, it's like, okay, well, like Italian and Spanish and kind of this, like, you know, it's not the same as trying to meld Chinese and. And. And French, Arabic. Right. So, I mean, like, whatever.
- [35:05]
Bill Landis
So.
- [35:06]
Doug Lamoris
But he was talking about, like, that after spring, like, he and Arthur Smith are going to sit down and sort of like, meld everything. Ryan Day stuff, Arthur Smith stuff, smush it all together with the. The goal of creating the best offense for their personnel and that he hasn't really. And Stephen kind of put this in a question. Like, you haven't had to do this before, because with Chip Kelly, right? It's like, well, Ryan Day learned how to speak this language from Chip Kelly. Chip Kelly was his instructor. But. And then Ryan Day and Brian Hartline. Ryan Day was Brian Hartline's instructor. So they spoke the same language. But now this is. This is like a different language. And the melding of those two offensive ideas and the terminology and everything with the goal of targeting it to what these guys do. First of all, I'd like to be there.
- [35:59]
Bill Landis
I was going to say, don't you just want to be in the room?
- [36:03]
Doug Lamoris
So we'll just, like, we'll run by Chick Fil A every day, and then we'll just sit in the corner and we'll let them meld, Right? You guys melt. No, no, no, no, no. Go ahead, Meld. Just pretend we're not here. Meld away. But what that might look like. And produce. And even the idea of Ryan Day undergoing this operation that, like, it's just something that he hasn't maybe ever had to do before and that you're being forced to do it because it's, you know, the ideas are just different enough that you then have to have a conversation about your offense. And maybe in having a conversation about the new things with Arthur Smith, you re examine the old things. And it's just the thing we like the. And we had talked about this before, just having another set of eyes. Right. Like a fresh set of different eyes. And he explained that in a real way that I think should have Ohio State fans very intrigued and curious and probably excited about the offense for the fall. Post meld. They're not. And I got like, hasn't been a full meld yet. Post meld. I think this has a chance to be something it has not yet been in the Ryan Day era.
- [37:21]
Bill Landis
I'm with you. I. I think. I don't know how much of that will. Will be apparent on Saturday. Right. I think maybe in fact, very little
- [37:30]
Doug Lamoris
of it still pre meld.
- [37:33]
Bill Landis
Pre meld. Pre meld or like, in the process of melding some.
- [37:36]
Doug Lamoris
Yeah, maybe.
- [37:38]
Bill Landis
But I think it's great that. Yeah. That they sort of. It's not exactly the same with like, Ryan Day. I think, like, it's very heavily influenced by like, the Shanahan McVeigh stuff. And Arthur Smith was, I think, with both Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVeigh in Washington, like, early in his career, and that sort of influenced what he likes to do. So. So the ideas are similar. You might call them different things. You might package it differently. You might try to whatever, set things up and disguise things differently. But like, there's a. There's a familiarity there that I think will lessen the speed bumps when you're trying to meld those two things together. Certainly. And I don't know, I just felt like. Haven't there been times in the past where Ryan Day even isn't. Even as he's gone through this process of like 2023, is he going to give it up? Is he not 2024. He does 2025. He promotes a familiar guy. There was always like this, this undertone of like, it's the Ohio State offense. And on Monday, like, he acknowledged that. He said, like, you've been at a place for 10 years, do a lot of things. Well, you know what. You know. But there's a lot of other ways to do things. Like, that was to me like the first. Like, I don't Know if I've heard him say that before of like, oh, you're opening yourself up to new ideas to blend into what has been a highly successful offense. Let's go. I would. I would. I would very much. When's the Ball State game? I want to see what this looks like. So
- [38:59]
Doug Lamoris
a lot of this is. It's. Some of it is reinforcing the things that we thought. Right. But it's just nice to hear him say it and. And that it's like, oh, yeah, no, he. He means this. I think. This is not lip service. So. Okay, so we'll have a spring game on Saturday. Again, I'll just. I can't. I'll never stop saying it because in a world where everything is getting more expensive and entertainment, it is. It is more difficult for you and your family and your friends to go out and have a fun day without blowing a gazillion dollars. And these tickets used to be free. They used to be five bucks. They're now 13 bucks, but it's still. Still 13 bucks. For two hours in Ohio Stadium, you can make a day of it. You can take in everything. The atmosphere in and around it. Hopefully, the weather will be decent. I think the free. Yeah, I think that's. I think that's right. So, I mean, just, like, you know, it's. It's. And. And I hope they never go away. I hope they never go away. I am. I can imagine them evolving, changing a little bit, but I hope there is always an opportunity for fans to connect with their college football team in the stadium for a cheap ticket in the spring. I hope that at the places where there's enough people to warrant that, and maybe, you know, we're not. We're not covering Purdue right now, so, like, what everybody else wants to do, that's fine, but at a place like Ohio State, there's enough interest, and I think it is. I think Ohio State gets something out of it. And I hope if forever, in any reason, Landis, like, if they ever started to act like they were getting rid of this thing, I. I'd throw my body in front of that. That'd be. I can't even square that thing right. Come on.
- [40:48]
Bill Landis
Yeah, I just, like, it's not. Like, whatever, like, we get to watch it, and it's great, and. But I. I really do believe, like, it should be there. It's such an intense sport. The relationship between Ohio State football and its fans is very intense, so it makes it special. But, like, this is a time of year where that intensity is sort of just like ratcheted down. And it's all about just like, how much do you love your team? And it's an opportunity to celebrate that and get around each other. Like the to ever entertain the notion of dismissing that, I think would be crazy. You want to move it, you want to tweak it, whatever. Getting rid of it entirely I think would be be a mistake. So that doesn't happen.
- [41:24]
Doug Lamoris
So we'll talk more about specific guys to watch in the next couple days. We'll see you after the game on Saturday. We'll keep writing about all this stuff@billanddugosu.substack.com I put up a story Monday morning about the Iron Buckeyes and what that means and talk to Mickey Morati about, like, how they choose them and why it's such an important honor for Ohio State football. We'll keep pumping out the content and just being appreciative that you guys are letting us hang out with you for now. He's Bill Landis, I'm Doug Lamoris, and that was the Bill and Doug Show.
- [42:03]
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
And Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual, even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.
- [42:12]
Liberty Mutual Companion
Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?
- [42:16]
Doug Lamoris
Oh, no.
- [42:16]
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.
- [42:22]
Liberty Mutual Companion
Yeah, the bird looks out of your league anyways.
- [42:25]
Liberty Mutual Spokesperson
Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty.
- [42:30]
Instacart Spokesperson
Instacart understands that not all bananas are created equal. Some people want them green, some want them ripe, some want them ready. Right now with Instacart's Preference Picker, now available at most retailers, you can choose how you like certain items like banana ripeness, deli thickness, even avocados before your shopper even starts. So instead of crossing your fingers and hoping for the best, you get groceries picked the way you would pick them. It's a small thing, but it makes a big difference. Download the app and get bananas just how you like. With Instacart,