By Danielle Daniels

Ryan Day OSU HC 2024 Spring Game Postgame Press Conference Scarlet 34 Gray 33 April 13, 2024.mp3

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State offense, Team Scarlet defeated the Ohio State defense, Team Gray, 34-33, in the annual LifeSports Spring Game, presented by Union Home Mortgage, Saturday afternoon at Ohio Stadium. A crowd of 80,012 was on hand on a lovely, 60-degree day.

Senior quarterback Will Howard, a transfer from Kansas State University, took the first snap from under center while all five scholarship quarterbacks on the roster – junior Devin Brown, sophomore Lincoln Kienholz and true freshmen Air Noland and Julian Sayin – played. The handful of signal callers combined to complete 40 of 63 attempts for 357 yards and one touchdown with four interceptions.

The run game netted 243 yards, including 46 rushing yards combined by the quarterbacks. Three true freshmen led the team in rushing: Sam Williams-Dixon had 75 yards and a touchdown off 11 carries; Noland had 42 net yards and James Peoples had 36 yards and a score off 10 carries.

Defensively, LB C.J. Hicks had eight tackles while safety Inky Jones had seven. Fr. CB Aaron Scott Jr., Jr. LB Sonny Styles and Fr. DE Eddrick Houston had six stops apiece.

The modified game featured live game action – tackles, blocking, etc. – for everyone except a couple of handfuls of key veterans, who efforted “thud” tempo.

After the game, head coach Ryan Day talked about what he feels best about this team heading into the summer:

“I would say our experience,” Day said. “We have a bunch of guys who have played a whole bunch of football. Today, there were about 10 players who wanted more snaps, but next year is a long run. There’s a lot of guys out there who have played a lot of football, some of them well over 1,000 snaps… You look at our defense, the back end, you look at the front and the linebackers, it’s a good-looking group. You saw that all spring. They’re flying around, they’re getting it… You can see a lot of talent out there. I thought the corners did a nice job of covering. You saw the guys get some pressures on the quarterback. On the offensive side, you see guys like Emeka Egbuka who have been out there before, and Donovan Jackson, so there is experience. I thought all the running backs did a nice job today… I think we have some really good playmakers on the perimeter. I could go on and on, but our number one thing would be our experience and game reps.”

COURTESY OHIO STATE ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS