June 8th is finally here and while we are not one of the small group of nine or so to be in each of the weight rooms at the athletic complex, we can only assume that players are thrilled to be back in town, working out at familiar or semi-familiar locations and most importantly, back around their teammates and brothers.

This is only a small step in the race that everyone will have to run to get to the start of a college football season, and that also means that each step will have to be navigated, more than just run through. If we see testing or things of that nature go awry, we could see the sport take several steps backward.

Ohio State seems to have a very good plan in place however as we start the month of June and look to advance on to July and August and see where things stand.

In this week's edition of the 3-2-1 brought to you by our friends at Hague Water Conditioning, we take a look at this slow path back, pose a couple of questions that we hope to get the answers to in the coming days and also talk more about a statement put out by AD Gene Smith on Sunday about the state of some major societal issues that can't just be dismissed.

1 - Coming back

The doors of the WHAC were open, as were the plans, and those doors were cleaned frequently as staffers were there to bring in small groups during assigned times for those who chose to take part in the voluntary workouts that started on Monday.

Last week the university furnished the local media with a detailed plan for how the Ohio State Athletic Department intends on maintaining a safe and healthy workout procedure for its football players and beyond that the rest of the department as other sports become to come on line for summer work of their own.

Before any athlete is cleared for workouts, the following steps will need to be followed:

1. A physical examination administered on campus by Ohio State team physicians and athletic trainers;

2. Education through modules and videos to ensure an understanding of safe physical distancing practices;

3. Additional education on wearing appropriate face coverings, transportation, hand hygiene and cleaning and disinfecting at home;

4. COVID-19 testing and quarantine for 24 to 48 hours or until test results were available; and

5. Viewing an online video walkthrough of the facility (WHAC only).

We had a chance to see first-hand that there was no messing around over at the WHAC on the first day of workouts as staffers were monitoring several positions, making sure that rules were followed and that nobody was being put in an unnecessary risk position.

Even with workouts taking place, there is no access to the locker room, shower area or dining area. Players were seen leaving the facility today with a catered meal as well as other snacks, including bagels. The facility is only open for these workouts and not as any sort of meeting place or area for players to congregate. There will be another day for that, but at this time that date is unknown as football programs across the nation are either opening slightly or have a plan in place to take those first steps.

If a player for the Buckeyes does come up with a positive test for COVID-19, they will self-isolate for at least 14 days under the direction of the team physician and will receive daily medical check-ups.

2 - Standing together

While many of us are looking toward sports to give us a distraction from everyday life and the stresses over the COVID-19 scare, there are pressing topics around us all that cannot be ignored, and Gene Smith, Ohio State's Director of Athletics issued a statement over the weekend to make the department stance on some major topics known.

"Racism has been declared a public health crisis; hate has no place in civil society," Smith opened the statement with.

Ohio State's student athletes have taken part in multiple protests over the past week with incoming basketball transfer Seth Towns getting the most visibility after briefly being detained while CJ Saunders also had a run-in with law enforcement as well in a separate incident.

"Our student-athletes have expressed a desire to engage in the Black Lives Matter movement that has grown from Minneapolis, across the nation, and around the world," Smith continued further in his statement.

There have been events in Columbus (Ohio) and in the hometown of athletes that have been home during the pandemic with players like Tommy Togiai taking part in places as far away as Idaho.

"The department will continue to support our student-athletes as they participate in activities to eradicate hate and racism in our society," Smith said. "Recently, student-athletes have been active on social media platforms denouncing racism, participating in attention and awareness videos promoting Black Lives Matter, holding peaceful demonstrations (Kneel for Nine) and participating in video calls with their teammates and others.

"The Ohio State Department of Athletics supports the Black Lives Matter movement. We will continue to support our student-athletes as they participate in driving positive change in America so that every person is respected regardless of the color of their skin."

3 - Holding an edge at a key position

Over the weekend we did a deep dive into what Ohio State's 12 regular season opponents would be bringing back at the quarterback position. Fans already know the names of Sean Clifford, Adrian Martinez and Michael Penix, but there are going to be a lot of names that are unknown, at least at this point.

Ohio State's biggest rival is going to have to make a decision between two quarterbacks that are both big on talent and short on experience. Fortunately for Jim Harbaugh, the Buckeyes and Wolverines don't play until the 13th week of the season so one/both of those quarterbacks will not be inexperienced when it comes to playing in games, maybe just inexperienced when it comes to playing in "The Game".

MORE: Scouting the opposing QBs

But what about a school like Oregon or Iowa, ones that are replacing well-known names with extremely inexperienced players, especially with the Ducks drawing the Buckeyes in week two? Will that be enough time for Tyler Shough to figure a few things out? He certainly is not going to have a full playbook at his disposal at that point, but will the upset-minded Ducks be able to do enough on offense to keep the Ohio State defense on its heels?

As for Iowa, the Hawkeyes have a few more weeks, but their young (potential) starter is not deep with experience at this level and this game will be in Columbus (Ohio) and while nobody can predict what the number of fans in Ohio Stadium will be, it will still be a road game against an Ohio State team that just does not give up much at home.

This all just goes to show how important it is to have a returning starter like Justin Fields, going into his second year after a tremendous first season. Of course, barring something crazy, this will be Fields' last season with the Buckeyes with the NFL very excited to see Fields at the next level. Then it will be the Buckeyes going into the 2021 season with a young signal caller.

That means that Jack Miller and CJ Stroud better make the most out of the time they get in their reps because one of those two likely will be the focal point of 2021.

1 - What will this first week look like?

So workouts have begun and it appeared that everything went as smooth as could be expected on day one as most of the team had a chance to work out. We don't have an official count of how many players actually went through these workouts as some players got back into town later than others and certain criteria has to be met before the all-clear is given to any player to workout in the facility and come into exposure with small groups on the team.

But it certainly has been a welcome site seeing Ohio State players reporting that they are back in town and ready to get to work.

It certainly was an odd first semester for the early enrollees, on campus for a couple of months, for a grand total of three spring practices and then the world stopped in many regards and football became a back-burner issue as the world tried to figure out how to move forward in the face of COVID.

On Monday, it felt like it was position groups working out as groups, or being split into smaller groups with the nine-player cap that was in place for these groups, but will that be the case all the way through? Could there be specific work put in place for those who either did not have great access to gear during their sequester, groups for the first-year guys, especially the summer enrollees or other variations that might be called upon on the fly?

At least one question was answered when it became aware that Ohio State was going to get 36 players through in a round rather than 10 or 20. This will allow Ohio State to be able to get everyone through during a day that wants to work out.

And let's be real here, if you are not down for these voluntary workouts, you might be at the wrong place.

2 - What's next?

So the Buckeyes opened on Monday, as will several other schools across the nation. Other programs have dates of the 15th and 22nd of the month of June as well.

But what's next?

According to a report by Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger, mandatory workouts could be less than a month away.

The 20 members of the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee is still trying to get across the finish line with a plan but it appears that progress is being made in advance of a June 17th meeting of the Division I council.

Most teams will not start until September 5th and would see a start date of July 13th, but teams who would play in something akin to a "zero week" could see that date move up to July 6th. Ohio State does not play in that "zero week" and if this plan moves ahead, July 13th would be the target date.

This plan would allow the resumption of the 20 hours of contact between coaches and players and include eight hours of weight room work and film review along with an hour of team meetings and walk throughs. Players would not be permitted to wear pads or helmets during this time, though teams could use a football during this window.

Will this plan go through as is? Could we see things really ramp up in just a little bit more than a month for the Buckeyes? This certainly would give teams the ample time that they need to get ready for the season and keep teams from having to come back too fast and risk injuries.

It will be interesting to see what this 20-person committee comes up with and what the final plan looks like that is presented to the D1 Council.

I am been pretty bullish on the start of the season and while we have heard a story here and there about players who have been diagnosed with the COVID-19 virus upon arriving on campus, there has to be a big mention of how these programs are handling their business.

We don't know what things will look like if there is a major outbreak within a program or through the sport, but as things stand right now, there is no reason to think that anything is going to be delayed or cancelled.

With programs opening just today, in some cases, that is a pretty big statement but the data that is being reported at this time just leads us to believe that as long as plans are followed properly, the once dreaded nightmare of a year without football seems to be a thing of the past as we are seeing teams and the NCAA starting to take the steps you would expect to kick off a season.