COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State football team hit the practice fields at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center last week for the start of fall camp in front of 500 fans who paid $30 apiece to attend (and receive a cool hat) and a large media contingent.

This is the first fall camp practice open to the general public that anyone on hand could remember. The team practiced in front of 500 fans again Friday but will close the remaining practices.

Camp started with 120 Buckeyes on the active roster, a number that grew by 10 with a recent NCAA decision to increase numbers during fall camp. Ohio State’s team is comprised on offense of six quarterbacks, eight running backs, eight tight ends/fullbacks, 17 wide receivers and 19 offensive linemen. On defense, Ohio State has 11 cornerbacks, 11 linebackers, 12 safeties and 19 defensive linemen. There are nine special teamers on the roster.

There are 41 players who will be playing their first fall season in Columbus, including 20 scholarship freshmen from the 2023 recruiting class and 10 Division I transfers via the portal: SAF Ja’Had Carter (Syracuse), OL Victor Cutler Jr. (Louisiana Monroe), LS John Ferlmann (Arizona State), QB Tristan Gebbia (Oregon State), LB Nigel Glover (Northwestern), CB Davison Igbinosun (Ole Miss), DT Tywone Malone (Ole Miss), K Casey Magyar (Kent State), OT Josh Simmons (San Diego State), CB Lorenzo Styles Jr. (Notre Dame).

Season No. 5 for Ryan Day

The 2023 football campaign represents season No. 5 for Ryan Day as head coach. A difficult schedule, especially on the road, certainly will make the season challenging. Ohio State opens with a Big Ten game at Indiana, and later has huge road games at Notre Dame, at Wisconsin and at Michigan, where the team will look to snap a two-game losing skid after winning eight consecutive.

2023 Ohio State Football Schedule

Sept. 2 – at Indiana (3:30 p.m.; CBS)

Sept. 9 – Youngstown State (12 noon; BTN) – Alumni Band and Faculty & Staff Appreciation Game

Sept. 16 – Western Kentucky (4 p.m.; FOX) – Scarlet & Gray and Buckeyes Care Game

Sept. 23 – at Notre Dame (7:30 p.m.; NBC & Peacock)

Sept. 30 – Off

Oct. 7 – Maryland (12 noon/3:30 p.m./4 p.m.; TBD) – Homecoming and Hall of Fame Game

*Oct. 14 – at Purdue

*Oct. 21 – Penn State – Scarlet the ’Shoe

*Oct. 28 – at Wisconsin

*Nov. 4 – at Rutgers

Nov. 11 – Michigan State (7:30 p.m; NBC) – Military Appreciation

*Nov. 18 – Minnesota – Senior Day

Nov. 25 – at Michigan (12 Noon; FOX)

Dec. 2 – Big Ten Championship Game (8 p.m.; FOX)

*Game times announced during the in-season 12-/6-day selection process

Ryan Day’s Ohio State Teams

Ryan Day’s teams are 45-6 overall and 31-2 in the Big Ten Conference with two Big Ten championships (2019 and 2020) and three CFP appearances. Ohio State is the only team to play in three of the last four CFPs (2019, 2020, 2022). Day’s Buckeyes are also:

• 16-6 vs. Top 25 teams

• 6-5 vs. Top 10 teams

• 29-0 vs. unranked teams

• 25-2 at Ohio Stadium

• 20-4 on the road or at neutral sites

• 2-0 in Big Ten championship games

• 1-3 in College Football Playoff games

Network TV Watch List

A new Big Ten Conference media rights agreement began July 1, 2023 and runs through the 2029-30 season. The agreement partners CBS, NBC, and NBC’s streaming channel Peacock, with FOX, FS1 and the Big Ten Network for coverage of Big Ten football, men’s and women’s basketball and Olympic sports. Big Ten regular season home games will no longer be televised on ABC/ESPN and its family of networks.

16 All-Big Ten Honorees Return

Ohio State’s 2023 team will feature 16 players who earned all-Big Ten honors last season, including first-team honorees WR Marvin Harrison Jr. (Unanimous All-American; Big Ten WR of the Year), DE JT Tuimoloau (10.5 TFLs, 3.5 sacks, 2 INTs and 4 PBUs), LB Tommy Eichenberg (second-team All-American, team-high 120 tackles and 12.0 TFLs) and OG Donovan Jackson (13 starts for OL that surrendered sixth-fewest TFLs and seventh-fewest quarterback sacks in 2022). Also returning:

• 2nd-team all-Big Ten honorees/returnees: WR Emeka Egbuka, OG Matt Jones

• 3rd-team: DT Michael Hall Jr., TE Cade Stover, RB Miyan Williams

• Honorable mention: CB Denzel Burke, LB Steele Chambers, RB TreVeyon Henderson, P Jesse Mirco, SAF Lathan Ransom, DE Jack Sawyer, DT Tyleik Williams

Staff Updates

Ohio State’s coaching staff has just one new assistant coach: Keenan Bailey is now tight ends coach after offensive coordinator/TE coach Kevin Wilson accepted the head coach position at Tulsa. The move earned wide receiver’s coach Brian Hartline a promotion to offensive coordinator. A couple of key additions to the staff: three-time Ohio State All-American linebacker James Laurinaitis is a graduate assistant coach and 23-year NFL veteran coach Joe Philbin is a senior advisor and analyst.

Seven College Graduates

Seven Buckeyes have already graduated: LB Steele Chambers (finance); OL Victor Cutler Jr. (kinesiology; from Louisiana Monroe); LB Tommy Eichenberg (real estate); WR Xavier Johnson (communications); OG Matthew Jones (human development and family sciences); DT Jaden McKenzie (human development and family sciences); LB Kourt Williams (communications).

Numbers & Notes …

3 – Players who could earn a fifth Varsity O letter this season: Xavier Johnson, Matthew Jones and Josh Proctor

3 – Visits to the state of Indiana for games: Sept. 2 at Indiana; Sept. 23 at Notre Dame; Oct. 14 at Purdue

46 – Returning lettermen from 2022

21 – Lettermen not returning from 2022

7 – Offensive and defensive starters returning, respectively

88-1,472-17 – Marvin Harrison Jr.’s career receptions, yards and TDs

83-1,342-10 – Emeka Egbuka’s career receptions, yards and TDs

1,819-21 – TreVeyon Henderson’s rushing yards and TDs

1,397-17 – Miyan Williams’ rushing yards and TDs

85 – Number of combined starts for roster additions via the portal, including 34 between Victor Cutler Jr., (21) and Josh Simmons (13) along the offensive line and 38 between Ja’Had Carter (28) and Davison Igbinosun (10) in the defensive backfield

36 – Number of 40-or-more point games under Ryan Day

74 – Ohio State’s ongoing NCAA record for consecutive games with 20-or-more points

Last Year for B1G Divisions

The 2023 season will be the last for Big Ten Conference East/West divisional play. Starting in 2024, the expanded Big Ten will include USC and UCLA with all 16 teams playing a nine-game conference season highlighted by a model that has every team playing every other conference opponent at least twice – once home and once away – in a four-year period. The Big Ten has used a two-division format since the 2011 season, the year Nebraska joined the league. The Big Ten Conference championship game, beginning in 2024, will match the top two teams in the overall conference standings. Tiebreaking procedures are TBA.