While no hands-on coaching is taking place this summer per NCAA rules, Ohio State is still hard at work in preparation for a 2024 season full of expectations. On Tuesday, head coach Ryan Day held an impromptu press conference with the media to discuss his team’s progression since the Buckeyes concluded spring practice with the spring game on April 13.

It didn’t take long for Day to be asked about the most pressing decision facing him this offseason as Will Howard, Devin Brown, and —to a lesser degree —true freshman Julian Sayin battle for the starting quarterback position. Predictably, however, Day didn’t have an update on how the competition has progressed, noting there isn’t much movement at any position during the summer as the team and coaching staff aren’t together.

“We’ll work hard, and there will be a lot of progress made with (strength and conditioning coach) Mick (Marotti) in the weight room, but we won’t really know much until we get into the preseason,” Day said.

One position battle Day was able to shed some light on coming out of the evaluation period following spring practice was on the right side of the offensive line, where Day has floated the possibility of starting Josh Fryar at right guard after he started every game at right tackle last season en route to first-team All-Big Ten honors.

Day was complementary of Fryar’s ability to play at either position but said the coaching staff is “leaning toward playing him at tackle and trying to figure out who that right guard is.”

“We see Josh making a lot of progress,” Day said. “He’s had another really good offseason, and we felt like this spring, he did a nice job there. So we feel like there’s just been a lot of progress made, and I think coming off last year, he built some confidence. He knows he can do it. He knows the areas he can improve in order for him to help us win the games we need to win … He’s been a leader for us; he’s on our Leadership Committee. And just looking at his numbers and how he’s changed his body, we’re expecting a big fall from him.”

Asked what other concerns he may have with fall camp looming, Day said building depth at receiver to have upwards of six players they feel comfortable with playing is also an area of importance. Defensively, Day noted they are still trying to identify the rotational players along the interior defensive line.

“We know it’s going to be a long year. We’re going to need everybody, so a lot of those areas (of concern) are about depth,” Day said.

Perhaps no position on Ohio State’s roster is more solidified than at running back. The Buckeyes will feature arguably the country’s best tandem in TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins, two players who will each garner preseason All-American honors. Little experience exists behind them, though, following the departure of Dallan Hayden to Colorado, and Day dropped a surprising nugget when discussing what the depth chart might look like behind their prolific duo.

“We felt like, coming out of the spring, (true freshmen) James (Peoples) and Sam (Williams-Dixon) both did a nice job, and we’re going to have to play them and they’re both going to have to take on a little bit of that responsibility,” Day said. “We have started having conversations with Caleb Downs (about carrying the ball). That was part of the recruiting process, of possibly doing a little bit of running back as well. That’s something he wanted to do, and we’ve been having him in some of the meetings and some of the individual drills as a possibility there if we needed somebody down the road to continue to build depth.”

Day said Downs, an All-American safety last year at Alabama, saw a couple of carries during spring practice, but no plan is in place to make Downs a larger piece of the offensive puzzle at this time.

“It’s healthy,” Day said of the idea. “You’re seeing it from the other side of the ball. This time of year, you can get away with it a little bit. Where it goes, we’ll see. But you just never know, and we’re trying to put some contingency plans in place because it could be a long season.”

Reach Dillon Davis at 740-413-0904. Follow him on X @DillonDavis56.