Each week at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day meets with the media ahead of the Buckeyes’ matchup that following weekend. Each week here at Land-Grant Holy Land, we will be bringing you three of the biggest storylines from said press conference.
These are three takeaways from Day’s Week 5 press conference recapping the game against Illinois and previewing the matchup against Iowa on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET.
1) Status of Bey, Timmons up in the air
Electric freshman Legend Bey played 10 total snaps against Ball
State in Ohio State’s season opener. In those snaps Bey totaled 74 yards and a touchdown, making the most of his opportunities both through the air and on the ground.
The Texas native looked electric with the ball in his hands, and while his decisions on special teams showed that there would definitely be some freshman mistakes to work through, Bey looked like he could quickly help the Buckeyes’ offense become more dynamic.
Since that game, Bey has seen a total of four snaps. Bey saw one play against Texas, and then one more against Kent State. It was reported after the contest against the Golden Flashes that Bey was dealing with a minor ankle injury, which is why he did not see the field more in the lopsided Week 3 matchup.
Bey was not listed on the team’s official injury report heading into Week 4 against Illinois, yet he did not play a single snap. Day’s comments in his weekly presser make it sound like he has not done enough to earn the trust of the coaching staff in order to get on the field on Saturdays.
“It’ll kind of be based on how practice goes this week, how he does,” Day said. “You know, we all know his ability level. Just going to continue to work to build trust, but we definitely would like to see him on the field.”
It is puzzling that Ohio State is seemingly hamstringing itself by keeping Bey off the field, especially with how lackluster the rushing attack has been, but we will get to that more a bit later.
Elsewhere, it sounds like the status of cornerback Jay Timmons is still uncertain. Timmons suffered what appeared to be a lower leg injury in the third quarter against Illinois and did not return to the game. The freshman has been by far the Buckeyes’ best cover corner early in the season, and his absence against Iowa would be a big one should he not recover in time.
Day did list Jermaine Mathews Jr. and Jordan Thomas as the next guys up at the nickel spot should Timmons be out of commission this weekend.
2) “We need production at defensive end”
Ohio State’s defensive line has been the major storyline of the early season, and not in a good way.
The Buckeyes’ defense has been solid overall this season, but Matt Patricia’s group has also been exposed in the second half against Texas and in a 462-yard offensive performance for Illinois this past week. The biggest issue by far has been the play of the defensive line, which currently ranks 72nd in the country averaging 1.5 sacks per game.
Ohio State has only mustered seven sacks through four games, and three of those came against Illinois last time out. Larry Johnson’s defensive line has not done a great job at creating pressure on opposing quarterbacks, which is largely what allowed Arch Manning to mount a second half comeback in the Week 2 loss against Texas.
Making matters worse has been the staff’s inability to identify and correct deploy the best possible players up front.
Kenyatta Jackson Jr. has his name written in sharpie atop the depth chart off one edge, but nobody else among the front four has earned the benefit of the doubt. One of Ohio State’s best pass rushers has been freshman Khary Wilder, but for whatever reason the former five-star has played only 49 snaps through the team’s first four games.
The Buckeyes continue to trot out Qua Russaw (106 snaps) and Beau Atkinson (73 snaps) despite the pair both being completely ineffective. Day claims the staff is ‘taking applications for guys to step up and build trust’ but yet they are sticking with their ineffective veteran players over potential young standouts in Wilder, Epi Sitanilei, and Zion Grady, the last of whom has missed the last two games with an injury.
Ohio State needs to be better in the front seven as a whole, and it has to start with putting your best players on the field, regardless of seniority or sunk NIL costs.
3) Still looking for more from RBs
In last week’s presser Day challenged his running backs. He acknowledged that Ohio State needs to see more form that position group, and impugned them to ‘run angry’ against Illinois.
The Buckeyes’ rushing attack was good but not great in Week 4. Ja’Kobi Jackson led the room with 56 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries, while Bo Jackson was right behind him with 11 carries for 53 yards. Isaiah West got in the mix later in the game with two carries for 15 yards.
Perhaps the most shocking runner of the day was Julian Sayin, who put up a career-high 29 rushing yards and also scrambled for a touchdown against the Illini.
Still, the room lacks explosiveness. Bo Jackson doesn’t quite seem to have the burst he had last season as a freshman, and he has been more or less outplayed by Ja’Kobi Jackson through the first third of the year.
Bo owns the lead in yardage with 283 yards to Ja’Kobi’s 206, but he has done so on 19 additional carries. Ja’Kobi has been more efficient, averaging 6.6 yards per carry to Bo’s 5.7, and has a 5-2 lead in touchdowns. The Florida transfer has also looked more confident, decisive and aggressive with the ball in his hands than his counterpart.
With neither guy really lighting the world on fire, it makes it even more puzzling that we haven’t seen more of Bey, or even West for that matter.
As previously mentioned, it sounds like Bey is a bit in the doghouse with the coaching staff, and we will see if that continues in Iowa City this weekend, but West’s case is also odd. There was a lot of hype surrounding the sophomore coming out of preseason camp, but so far it has resulted in only 15 total carries in 2026. It seems like it would be worth giving him an extended look, given that he is healthy.
Sayin is coming off one of his best passing performances against Illinois, and Jeremiah Smith is well on his way to a Heisman-caliber campaign. Ohio State’s offense will be just fine even if the rushing attack is pedestrian. However, if the Buckeyes really want to hit that next level and turn up the heat for a national title run, they need to see more in the run game.
