Jim Naveau
jnaveau@limanews.com

With Ohio State playing Rutgers this Saturday, the only information anyone really cares about is when Chase Young might return and coach Ryan Day wasn’t able to add much to what is already known about that at his weekly press conference on Tuesday.
“I just know that (the investigation) is going on right now, and we’re gonna prepare for him to be back this week,” Day said. “And he’ll practice this week and once we find out more information we’ll go from there.”
Young did not play in last week’s 73-14 win over Maryland because he is on an indefinite suspension while the NCAA studies a loan he accepted last year from someone he called a family friend and later repaid.
The loan reportedly was to pay for his girlfriend to go to the Rose Bowl.
“I don’t have any update for you right now. Just an ongoing process right now. Certainly when I have and we have more information, we’ll let you know. There’s really nothing I can talk about at this point,” Day said.
After being favored by just over 50 points against Maryland, the Buckeyes probably will be favored by even more points Saturday at Rutgers, a team that lost 48-7 to Maryland and has scored only three touchdowns in six Big Ten games, all losses.
There was no letdown or looking ahead last week to games against Penn State and Michigan to end the regular season and Day said that will be a point of emphasis again, with or without Young in the lineup.
“We talked about it all week. The team was aware of the situation, they knew this was the first time we faced some adversity. We know there’s more adversity coming along the way. We don’t know where, when.
“We talked to the team about that early on. We were going to equip ourselves to be ready for any adversity that might hit us,” he said.
“Championship teams, they’re resilient in times of adversity. It reveals your character. The coaching staff, we relayed to the team that this is a program that our character was at the forefront. The heart of this team is being showcased today to find out what we’re really made of. I think they took that to heart. They played hard throughout the game.”
NOTES:
HAPPY FOR BURROW: Day said ‘proud’ would be an appropriate word to describe how he feels about how former OSU back-up quarterback Joe Burrow played in LSU’s 46-41 win over Alabama last Saturday and how he has played all season.
“I’m really happy for him, seeing the way he’s playing and competing. He’s a tremendous competitor. Watching him go into Alabama and win like that was really cool,” Day said.
“You think about that that (quarterbacks) room, you had J.T. (Barrett), you had Dwayne (Haskins) and Joe. One is one of the more decorated players in the history of the Big Ten. The other guy is playing in the NFL. Other one is probably the leader for the Heisman right now.
“They all can’t play. That is the thing about being a quarterback. That’s what’s hard and sensitive about college football right now, that very situation. It all works out in the end. We got a great quarterback we feel good about now who is playing at a high level. I think that’s just part of the culture right now, just the environment of college football, and certainly quarterback play,” he said.
TWO WAYS FOR BERRY: Rashod Berry playing both offense and defense against Maryland was not just a one time thing. Day said Berry, who plays tight end and defensive end, will continue to be available to be used in both those roles the rest of the season.
“He’s very talented so he has the ability to do both. Based on the game plan and based on what we’re seeing week in, week out, we’re going to try to plug him in where he can best help. That could be on either side of the ball,” Day said.
QUARTERBACKS NEED TO WATCH FILM: Day said one of the keys to finding a good quarterback is knowing he will put in a lot of time watching film.
“One of the hardest things about being a quarterback at the highest level, NFL or where we’re at, is the amount of meeting time. We have to spend so much time in the meeting room, watching film week in, week out. There’s more time in the meeting room than actually on the field. That takes discipline and toughness, too, to make sure you’re doing that.
“The immature or the weak-minded, they start to take weeks off because it gets too much for them. Those are all things we want to make sure we have grinders at a quarterback,” he said.