COLUMBUS, Ohio - We had an opportunity this week not only to speak with a pair of veteran offensive linemen with Wyatt Davis and Josh Myers but also had an opportunity to have a rare interview with Assistant AD of Football Sports Performance, Mickey Marotti.

Each of them had their own unique take on what this prolonged absence from the WHAC has been like and how each of their daily routines look as the world waits for sports to come back.

Earlier this week we learned that the state of Ohio is taking another step in its plan to reopen with an announced date on gyms, sports leagues (no or light-contact) among other things.

While that does not give a direct look into when the Ohio State campus may open up, even for training purposes for student-athletes, it certainly is a step in the right direction as we are about two months away from what people are calling a "drop dead" date to have plans in place for salvaging a college football season on July 15th.

There is a long way to go but there is more and more optimism that we may see some sort of college football season in September if things stay on the current path, even if it is not with every team able to go.

In this edition of the 3-2-1, presented by our great friends at Hague Water Conditioning, we talk about some of the things that we learned over the past week in terms of how people are keeping busy and how necessity is the mother of invention. We also talk about other sports that are opening or have opened, including how insomniacs and the truly starved for sports have embraced the KBO. All that and more.

1 - SEC does not wait for anyone

While the state of Ohio is celebrating the opening of outdoor seating at restaurants/pubs, hair salons and barbershops and the impending opening of gyms, it appears that the SEC is well beyond that with a reported vote coming up on opening athletic facilities in June according to a report by PowerMizzou.com on Thursday evening.

Ohio will open gyms on May 26th, four days after this reported vote will take place among presidents and chancellors of SEC members. Schools like the University of Missouri already had plans in place to start bringing "some" student-athletes back to town, including football players, as soon as June 1st. The SEC has an order banning all in-person athletic activities in place through the end of May.

This of course brings into question where the Big Ten stands in all of this. With states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Illinois all behind many other states within the footprint, it would seem unimaginable that the Big Ten as a whole would be able to move in unison at this point, at least when it comes to an early date like some point in June.

But it also does draw into question the issue of one conference or another moving ahead of others in terms of opening back up and allowing more time to be made up from a missed spring and beyond. If the SEC moves before the rest of the Power Five does, that certainly would appear to be an advantage, even if it were only for what would be traditionally be considered "summer conditioning" when other schools were unable to do that. Only a fraction of states have or are in the process of opening gyms so there are still going to be student-athletes from across the nation who may still be using backpacks filled with rocks and milk jugs filled with sand while SEC athletes could be looking at working out in their state-of-the-art facilities under the watchful eyes of S&C personnel.

How long will members from the Big Ten, Big 12, ACC and Pac-12 sit by and watch the SEC move ahead this something like this? Will it matter if Governors keep their states closed for all practical purposes?

On an interesting side note, Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley believes that there will be a football season but he is not in some sort of sprint to getting back at the risk of putting people at risk according to an article published over at SoonerScoop.com on Thursday as well.

“We’ll get one good shot at it, to bring them back at the right time when we’re prepared and know as much about this as we possibly can," Riley said during a remote video media conference.

It will be interesting to see how first-year commissioner Kevin Warren and the 14 members of the Big Ten handle all of this news.

2 - Can't fall behind

Until Ohio State is able to get its student-athletes back on campus, coaches are going to worry that everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing.

Even with a veteran-laden team like the Ohio State football team, there is going to be that worry, and even part of that just has to do with what people have access to at home and what they don't.

RELATED: Getting creative

Nobody, no matter what situation they are coming out of is going to have a gym set-up that is going to match the WHAC, with the added perks of having the nutritional/dietary set-up and a roster full of strength and conditioning staff that would be there to oversee and motivate these athletes.

We had the opportunity to speak with Mickey Marotti earlier this week about his concerns, even though he knows the leadership is strong when it comes to his team and that clear and defined "suggestions" have been given to the team to maintain during this absence, even if everything is voluntary at this point.

"I think it is a concern every day that I go to bed, when you lay in bed you are just hoping that everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing," Marotti said. "The good thing is that we have got some great leadership and the message that I have given to the players on our Zoom meetings with our staff is this, when this is over, hopefully soon, whenever it does get back to some normality, you are either better or you are worse than when this thing started."

Few teams have been better than Ohio State over the last several years. This is not the time to let someone else get an advantage by putting the work.

"You are either better or you are worse," Marotti said of the challenge that he presented the team. "You can’t make an excuse about the circumstance that we all have to deal with. There are other people out there that are our competitors, teams that we are going to play.

"Are they working harder than you are? I know you don’t have equipment, I know you don’t have weights, I get it. I know it is raining outside, I know, I know. At some point, this thing is going to be over and we have got to be… you are either better or worse. We pretty much have led that message and make sure our leaders are permeating throughout the team when they talk to each other."

Will Ohio State or the Big Ten allow student-athletes much time to return to campus before a "crash-course" for a return-to-play plan is implemented? Will there be that chance for everyone to get right before things turn from just the weight room to the actual football field?

Those are questions that we don't have answers for right now, but we do know that the challenge has been issued for everyone to put in the work now and reap the benefits once things open up and we hopefully have a season in front of us.

3 - In other sports

Football is a very different sport than some of the other major sports when it comes to baseball and basketball. Even hockey, with the level of contact that there is within the sport is different when you factor there are only 12 players on the ice at a time while there are 22 on the field for football on every play, often coming into contact with each other 70-80-90 plays a game.

It goes without saying that different sports are going to have different paths to returning.

UFC recently staged a pay-per-view, UFC 249 and while Rolando Souza was pulled after testing positive for COVID-19, the rest of the card went off and was well-received by fans who were starved for sporting competition.

NASCAR is coming back on Sunday in Darlington (S.C.) as the series will open a concentrated slate of races that will see the top series race on Sunday and Wednesday at Darlington and Charlotte over the next two weeks without fans in attendance with the future status of fans still up in the air as the season goes on.

IndyCar will start its season the first weekend in June.

The NBA, MLB and NHL are all trying to sort things out, whether it would be the resumption of a full-season, an abbreviated schedule or even a proposal that would go straight to the playoffs for one sport. These also likely will be without fans in the stands, at first, as well as things are still being sorted out between owners and player's associations.

And then this also brings a late-night favorite for many into focus, the KBO (Korea Baseball Organization). Regular season games started in that league on the 5th of May after the opening of the season was delayed from its late-March original starting date.

As with many other sports, no fans are in the stands and a whole list of medical checks and steps have been put in place for this league. A league that has gained popularity in the United States once ESPN picked up live telecasts of games during the overnight hours. The closest thing we have had to sports in several weeks.

While fans might not know who the NC Dinos, SK Wyverns, Doosan Bears or the Lotte Giants are, there are a few American players who are playing overseas to give a nice bit of nostalgia. But it also is real-life "live" sports at this point, in a season format versus the smaller bubble of a one-off pay-per-view. And for now, it seem to be working.

It is hope that other leagues will be able to follow suit. Leagues that are on during more normal hours for American consumption.

1 - When does Ohio State crack the door open?

So, we have talked about this in a couple of different segments above, when does Ohio State open up, at least to the point to bring student-athletes back to Columbus that are in a position to do so? This is going to require a lot in terms of student housing being available, especially for first and second-year students.

Ohio may not be as close to open as many states in the South but it is getting there, could Ohio State make a move with schools like Indiana, Purdue, Iowa and some others? The Big Ten has athletic activities cancelled through June 1st, but at this point there has been no conference move beyond that to take things into July. And even a move to bring student-athletes back to campus doesn't mean that there is any move to be doing things as a team.

This would at least have players back into a state where gyms are open, even if it is not the one they spend so much time training at during much more normal times. It would be a chance for players to be closer to one another in terms of being able to hold everyone accountable.

So much of this also is on the shoulders of outgoing President, Michael Drake. He has had a lot of critics from fans of Ohio State athletics through the years over several decisions along the way. This might be the biggest decision he will ever make during his university tenure, when it comes to a plan to re-open Ohio State in some way, shape or fashion.

2 - What does the extended dead period mean?

We have asked about this more than once as the goalposts keep moving and now with the dead period wiping out the month of June, that means that June official visits are off, as are any chance of June camps.

Ohio State certainly has not been hurting when you look at the fact that the Buckeyes have 18 commits in the class and a sizable lead in the team recruiting rankings.

But as time goes on, the list of targets starts to settle more into kids who are not from the state of Ohio, not even from the region. Players that Ohio State would like to bring in and get to know better and players who have families that would like to see the Ohio State campus and get a chance to understand the coaches.

There are some players who have been on campus, seen things and could see things accelerate and there are others who this is not likely going to change much with. Some players were going to take their five officials in the fall and decide after that. So that does not change things.

But you have to ask another question as well, what does this mean about the kids who would be considered "camp offers" or at least ones that Ohio State would have liked to see on campus before really deciding where they stand on an offer or not?

Unless things turn around in a hurry, there are not going to be any camps with June gone and July hopefully being a chance to work towards a return-to-play plan. Some players may emerge once the high school season starts, whatever that may look like, but will a lot of destinations be full already by that point?

Some of those "sleepers" may end up a little further down the board than they normally would and that could be a boon for the teams that are not getting the same kind of start that schools like Ohio State, Clemson and others are getting.

We are in uncharted waters in this regard and there are no easy answers.

There is just too much moving in the direction of having some sort of season. That does not mean that it could not all come crashing down if numbers start to trend in the right direction and you better believe everyone will be watching closely as there seem to be a vocal few that have been in the camp of postponing or calling off the season all together.

Will the Pac-12 be part of this? That might be a little bit more difficult to predict, but the SEC sure seems set to play this season, the ACC might not be too far behind. The Big Ten seems to have the right intentions but with a couple of states slower in their reopening plans, it might be a little bit more of a dicey proposition. Would the Big Ten go with less than a full deck? I believe so, but I don't think it will come down to that.