COLUMBUS — Five practices are in the books for Ohio State as camp enters its second week, and the pace is picking up as the Buckeyes continue to work toward the season opener at the end of the month. But while each day reveals its own particular set of details about how the team may look by the time camp concludes, little can be gleaned about how the battle at quarterback is materializing with still so much to be determined in the coming days.

Speaking with the media following Tuesday’s practice, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Chip Kelly cautioned everyone to stop reading into how reps are being divided among Will Howard, Devin Brown, and even true freshman Julian Sayin, the three quarterbacks most likely to compete for the starting job.

“We’re just trying, as I’ve told the players, don’t count your reps, make your reps count,” Kelly said. “I think they’re doing a good job, all of them. We’re still kind of going through that. I would say probably towards the end of this week, we’ll start to hone in on it. The lineup changes every day with who’s in with what group and just trying to mix and match right now. But they’re all just trying to make the most of their reps.”

Kelly added, ”Whatever group they’re in, I tell our guys I don’t really care what group you’re in. I care about how you execute. What is your assignment? Do you have a plan when you get to the line of scrimmage? And do you execute that plan?”

While Brown prepares for his third year at Ohio State, both Howard and Sayin arrived in Columbus in January, creating a steep learning curve as they tried to get acclimated to the program. Howard at least has the benefit of having played a lot of football, albeit in a different program, and Kelly commended Howard for putting in the time to become familiar enough with the offense to put himself in a position to succeed during camp.

“I think Will has done a really good job working on the playbook this offseason and studying film so he understands that when there’s a play call made, he knows where to go with the football,” Kelly said. “A lot of the accuracy things that maybe a young quarterback doesn’t have is because he looks tentative and isn’t very accurate because he may not really understand the concepts or the routes we’re running right now. He may have kind of an idea but he probably got the cliff notes version. Right now, he’s really studying it and understanding it, so give Will that credit. He’s done a great job of putting himself in that position.”

Sayin has no such benefit heading into his first year of college football at any level, but Kelly continues to be impressed by Sayin’s ability to stay poised and not be overwhelmed by what he’s seeing, much of it for the first time.

“He just stays in the moment. That’s what I like about him,” Kelly said of Sayin. “If he throws a bad ball, it doesn’t bother him. If he throws a good ball, he doesn’t get overexcited and say, ‘Hey, I just arrived.’ He’s always thinking about the next snap, and he’s done a really good job of just not trying to play into anything and just staying present.

“And that’s what we’re trying to get with all these guys, to just stay present and stay in the moment. This is the fifth training session, and I’m not sure anybody knows what day it is right now just because everything runs together … It’s just about how you get better during this period (of practice). And then the next process is we have to go in and watch the film. Everything we just did on the field, we now have to process again. Was this a good decision? Was this a bad decision? Why did you make this decision? And then it’s about continuing down that path or no, we have to correct this.”

Last week, head coach Ryan Day said the ideal scenario would include a starting quarterback being named within two weeks of camp. However, Day also noted a decision will not be forced, and the timing will ultimately depend on one of the quarterbacks elevating themselves above the rest of the group.

Asked if he believes they’re on track with that timeline, Kelly smiled before declining to provide an answer. Kelly said that with Ohio State currently utilizing two fields to maximize opportunities for everyone, there are “plenty of reps to go around” at the moment. As camp progresses and the team shifts to practicing on one field, though, Kelly said the allocation of reps will change and some guys will begin to receive more of them as he and Day zero in on a decision.

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