Urban Meyer met with Ohio State players last week

One day after giving a detailed rundown of most of the positions on the team ahead of Ohio State's first game Saturday, acting coach Ryan Day filled in some gaps Tuesday.

Appearing on the weekly Big Ten football coaches teleconference, he was mostly mum about a meeting between suspended head coach Urban Meyer and the team last week.

“Those meetings are kind of private with our team,” Day said. “I think that’s probably a good question for when he gets back next week, but I will tell you obviously the guys were happy to see him.

“Shoot, I was happy to see him. It was a long time. We’re used to seeing each other every day, so hadn’t see him in a few weeks so that was good. There were a lot of hugs. i know Coach was really happy to see the guys, and as you can imagine, he was kind of giving them an update of what was going on, explaining the situation and talking about moving forward.

“We try to keep most of those meetings between us, but that was the gist of it.”

Meyer has been away from the team since Aug. 1 and is suspended without pay through Saturday, punishment stemming from an investigation that found he failed to properly manage receivers coach Zach Smith.

Meyer will be allowed to return to practice next week, but he cannot coach a game until Sept. 22 when Tulane visits Ohio Stadium.

The investigation grew out of reports Meyer knew about allegations Smith abused his wife but did not handle the information correctly.

Investigators determined Meyer takes domestic violence seriously and tracked a police investigation "in good faith" but expressed concern about some of Meyer's responses to questions and his response to numerous misdeeds Smith committed as a member of his staff.

 

In team news, Day said to expect the running backs rotation to look a lot like it did last year when J.K. Dobbins ran for 1,403 yards and Mike Weber picked up 626.

“They’re doing a great job,” Day said. “I kind of see it as a two-headed monster kind of like it was last year. They both have to stay healthy. There are going to be plenty of carries to go around.”

 

Day likes the depth of the tight ends group despite the loss of Marcus Baugh to the NFL.

Luke Farrell will begin the season as the starter with Rashod Berry, Jake Hausmann and Jeremy Ruckert providing plenty of options for position coach Kevin Wilson, who also shares offensive coordinator duties with Day.

While Day expects Ohio State to remain a team that primarily lines up with three receivers, one running back and one tight end (also known as “11 personnel”), he said the group could present more options for the offense than it has the past two or three seasons.

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