Ohio State hoping to avoid COVID catastrophe at QB

With reports Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz will miss multiple weeks after testing positive for COVID-19, Ohio State coach Ryan Day was asked if he is managing his quarterback room differently than usual.

That’s because contact tracing can also knock out other members of a position group even if they test negative themselves*.

“We break it up,” Day said of how his quarterbacks meet and practice.

Day also has made a habit of working individually with starter Justin Fields while quarterbacks coach Corey Dennis handles the rest of the quarterbacks.

“When they’re in the quarterback meeting room with with Corey, they obviously are all masked up and distanced, and they do a great job of that,” Day said. “I’ll grab Justin and take him on my own sometimes for a lot of reasons, but that’s one of them.”

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported backup Chase Wolf also tested positive, leaving the Badgers even more short-handed against Nebraska.

The pair would be out at least 21 days per the Big Ten’s protocols for approving a fall football season after initially voting to postpone it until at least January.

“What a tricky situation,” Day said of handling quarterbacks. "It’s just a very, very contagious virus, and I feel for all these teams that are going through this.

“That’s why talking to our guys about it, you just cannot take a deep breath because once it gets one guy, there’s a lot of people at risk, so it’s not easy, but that’s something we tried to do.”

At Ohio State, Fields is a returning starter with three players competing for the No. 2 job.

That competition includes senior Gunnar Hoak and freshmen Jack Miller III and C.J. Stroud.

Miller got the call Saturday in the season-opener, but Day said no final decision has been made in regards to Fields' backup.

*ESPN reported later Tuesday the Big Ten’s daily testing regime negates the need for contact tracing.

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