Ohio State Buckeyes start 2023 football practice

COLUMBUS — Ohio State football began practice for 2023 on a sunny Thursday morning.

The Buckeyes returned to the field to get ready for a season they hope ends in Houston, Texas, on Jan. 8.

That is the site of the National Championship Game, a contest that will cap the final season of the four-team playoff era and precede the Big Ten adding USC and UCLA next year.

Rumors and reports about more bedrock changes to the conference and college football at-large have swirled all week, too, but for at least a few hours the focus was on football Thursday at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.

Nigel Glover, a freshman linebacker from Northmont High School, just joined the program this week after transferring from Northwestern, but he was in uniform wearing No. 37.

He joined nine other transfers and 20 true freshmen who signed with the Buckeyes last winter, a group that includes safety Malik Hartford of Lakota West and offensive linemen Joshua Padilla of Wayne and Austin Siereveld of Lakota East.

Hartford, who was the No. 4-ranked player in the class and Ohio’s top prospect, had an interception during some team drills.

His future is bright, but the focus figures to shift to the veterans quickly as Ohio State looks to end a two-year Big Ten championship drought and beat Michigan for the first time since 2019.

Ohio State will hold 25 practices before opening the season at Indiana on Sept. 2.

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