It's a new day for the Ohio State Buckeyes as fall camp opens

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The long wait is almost over as training camp has opened for the Ohio State Buckeyes and there will be a meaningful game played this calendar month.

Yes, that is still more than four weeks away but an offseason of change is almost over as Ryan Day is now the man in charge and the Buckeyes will have some new faces stepping into key roles as the team looks to find its way back into the College Football Playoff.

Today however was just about getting out for the first time and showing some effort. Install is still weeks away and today was just a first step in the process.

“It was good to get everybody out there, start football again,” Day said in an address to the local media. “It's all helmets today. We were kind of on and off quick. It's more about effort. It's about technique. It's about those kind of things. Not about winning or losing today. There will be time for that when the pads go on.”

It is not like this is Day’s first go round with the Buckeyes, he has been part of the staff for three seasons and even went into fall camp last year knowing that he was going to be at the helm for the first three games of the season.

But at that point, he was caretaking Urban Meyer’s team, even if everyone takes ownership of the team, as they should. This year however, there is nobody waiting to come in at week four, this is Day’s team, this is Day’s practice and it is all very real.

“This is the first time since I've become head coach where this is the second time I've done something,” Day said of fall camp. “We had the meeting last night, that was the second time. We did that last year. First practice on the field, we did that last year.”

Day added that he has been able to check his notes and has been able to check his notes and the things that he did, all helpful because this is not the first time of going through things. Something that is not new for the Buckeyes is preseason expectations and those are quite real. On Thursday Ohio State was preseason ranked No. 5 in the first USA Today Coaches Poll. The Buckeyes were the highest rated Big Ten team and have no shortage of conference foes in that top-25 that appear on the schedule.

Day, like any coach, is not going to talk about where his team is ranked but he knows that this is part of the expectations for Ohio State, especially with so much returning on the team and Ohio State’s back-to-back league titles.

“I think there's obviously respect for the program, respect for the talent that's been recruited here, respect for the guys who played last year who are back here, respect for the coaching staff, respect for a lot of things,” Day said.

That does not mean that Day is ready to pat himself or anyone else on the back. Not a single game has been played, teams are within their first week of practice and for this Buckeyes team, there are a lot of lessons that need to be earned. Plus, it is not about where you start in the rankings but rather where you finish.

“Truth be told, we haven't done anything,” Day said. “Like I said, we got to prove it. What really matters is what it is at the end of the year. We got to do it. We got to prove that we're the best team in the country. That's what we're going about the business of doing every day.”