Young talent is not a new commodity to Ohio State football. A year after freshmen like receiver Garrett Wilson and defensive end Zach Harrison made major impacts from the jump, the Buckeyes bring in the No. 5 class in the country in 2020.

With the level of talent in this year’s class, Ryan Day would normally be inheriting another group of ready-to-play freshmen.

Of course, everything changed in March when the pandemic slammed its brakes on productivity.

The freshmen have been able to partake in very few practice situations so far, putting them far behind the typical development that takes course over the first few months of a collegiate career.

All of this has put them into a game of catch-up from day one of preseason camp. Making the jump from high school to college is hard for any player, let alone one in the midst of a countrywide shutdown.

“It has been hard because it has been so many meetings, if you think about all the meetings leading up to spring practice, and then we only had three practices,” Day said. “Then there was just months upon months of meeting and meeting and meeting and watching film.”

C.J. Stroud and Jack Miller, Ohio State’s pair of top-50 incoming quarterbacks, have the toughest adjustment to make. Both arrive in Columbus expecting to be under Justin Fields and Gunnar Hoak on the depth chart, but one of the pair will likely take over as Ohio State's QB of the future when Fields’ run in Columbus comes to an end.

“There’s nothing you can do to replace experience of seven-on-seven and then of practice reps, and certainly game reps,” Day said of his two young quarterbacks. “That’s just been the thing that we’ve been pushing really hard in the meetings, and talking things through, but these guys have to get reps. And so now it’s great to get out to practice and see those guys and learn and keep building as they get those reps under their belt.”

The Buckeyes also bring in a pair of five-star receivers, Julian Fleming and Jaxson Smith-Njigba. With the rolling system Day used his first year in charge, young receivers have the best chance of all skill groups to see playing time early.

Day still stressed the importance of acclimating as quick as possible.

“Missing the spring certainly hurt. Those are a lot of reps under their belts that they did not get, so it’s similar to the quarterbacks. The good news is they’re all very talented,” Day said of his freshman wideouts. “So that’s where the next few weeks are critical to get those guys up to speed in terms of their experience.”

Luckily, the youth have a fantastic group of leaders to learn from.

Miller and Stroud can sit back and take lessons from Heisman candidate Fields, whose leadership received nothing but an endless stream of compliments from teammates and Day.

“There are countless things that make Justin a good captain,” redshirt junior center and fellow captain Josh Myers said. “I think he’s very approachable to young guys who first get here.”

Fields’ credibility as a leader has been touched upon countless times, and Day was Ohio State’s quarterbacks coach before he moved to the top position. There are no two better people to guide the duo of young arms.

It goes beyond just the quarterback and captains. Day was very outspoken about the overall leadership on the roster this season, calling it some of the best he has seen on an Ohio State team.

“I don’t want to be over-dramatic but the leadership that we have on this team is just- we probably could have had 11 or 12 captains,” Day said. “You recruit great families and great people and having guys like that, they almost become player-coaches. Because they’ve been around long enough, they know what it looks like, they know what it’s supposed to look like. And so, when the coaches aren’t looking, they’re the ones that are strong, and they have a voice and they’ve been here long enough to communicate to the young guys that this is how we do things. I can’t say enough about their maturity and what they’ve brought.”

Ohio State’s upperclassmen will play a massive role in the young guns’ development this season, especially considering the stunt in opportunities they have experienced so far.

Day made it straightforward: the freshmen are set back, but that does not mean their chances have completely dried up this season.

“Anybody who deserves to play is going to play,” Day said.