Ryan Day takeaways: A practice fight, the quarterback competition and a new offensive package

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Four things to know from Ryan Day’s news conference Friday following Ohio State’s 11th practice of the spring.

1. A fight in practice

During the second half of practice, cornerback Damon Arnette appeared to deliver a late hit, then started jawing. Receiver Jaylen Harris, who wasn’t involved in the play, took exception to that and it got heated. It then took a turn when Harris threw a full-on punch at Arnette, who dodged it and landed a punch of his own to Harris’ forehead. After the two were separated, they cooled off, came together to talk it out and appeared to make up. After everything settled down, I saw Harris kneeling over and appearing to favor his head. Neither returned to practice.

“I like the fact that they’re out there going after it,” Day said. “I think that if you don’t have any kind of scuffles, then maybe you don’t have the right team, and if you have too many, then it starts to get reckless. I think if you have one or two every now and again, I think it’s good. I never want it to get too over the top.

“When you’re competing, football is a violent game and emotions get high, but as we start getting closer to preseason, we have to play with emotion and we can’t let emotion play with us. Otherwise, it’s going to cost us 15 in a game. We are trying to create energy and create that environment, so that’s a good thing. But if it starts to get over the top, then we’ll put a stop to it. As we get closer to the preseason, that stuff will start to calm down a little.”

ARI’S TAKE: This was a small fight because it was put out fast, but Harris and Arnette threw close-fisted punches without wearing helmets and one punch was landed; it was the most intense fight I’ve seen since joining the beat in 2009. I think there is an element of “boys will be boys” when it comes to this kind of stuff, especially in a sport where big contact occurs on every play. It makes sense that Day would downplay it publicly, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the two are disciplined privately. It’s one thing to get chippy and talk trash; it’s another to punch your teammate in the face.

2. Quarterback competition

Given that the spring game is eight days away, it’s probably an appropriate time to bring up the competition that’s happening at quarterback between Justin Fields and Matthew Baldwin. Day has maintained throughout spring that there is no separation, so he was asked for another update. Any changes at quarterback?

“Not really,” Day said. “Looking at it, the completion percentage is pretty close with those guys right now. We’ve been playing a little bit more zone coverage, so the completion percentage is kind of on par with what Dwayne (Haskins) was last spring. We want to keep working on that heading into the last week here. I think we should be a little higher than we were last spring because of the style of defense we’re going against. But (Friday) was an opportunity to kind of move the ball up and down the field a little bit more and play more situational stuff, so I thought the guys competed really well. And I thought they both did a good job.”

ARI’S TAKE: Everyone knows my take on the quarterback “battle.” All I’ll say is that it’s publicly being labeled a battle. In the open practice Friday, Fields only took first-team reps, and though Baldwin got his fair share of first-team reps as well, I think there’s clear separation with what we see on the field, even if Day hasn’t publicly come out and called Fields his starter.

Justin Fields looks like the clear-cut starter at quarterback, even if coaches don’t publicly acknowledge that. (Courtesy of Ohio State Athletics)

3. Going under center?

Ohio State was working on some quarterback-under-center stuff in practice Friday, which is an entirely new look for a Buckeyes team that didn’t have a single under-center play in its playbook under Urban Meyer, not even a sneak.

“We’re still evaluating it,” Day said. “It does give us some different things that we didn’t have last year. It’s twofold. One, it allows us to put two tight ends in the game, which is really good for us because it’s a strength of our offense right now and, really, the most experienced group on our offense right now. And two, it gives us more opportunities to kind of roll off the ball, some play-action things, get the speed sweep thing going. We’re looking at a bunch of that stuff, evaluating it and still making decisions.”

ARI’S TAKE: I don’t think this will ever be a huge piece of Ohio State’s offense, but it at least should be in the playbook. The Buckeyes should be able to run four or five plays with the quarterback under center, especially a sneak. Meyer took a lot of flak for not having that in the playbook last season, and I think that was justified. As everyone knows, a game can be decided by a critical fourth-and-inches, so there is no downside to having the formation installed.

4. Injury update

Guard Wyatt Davis missed practice and wide receiver Chris Olave seemed to tweak his hamstring after an ordinary play. Olave limped off and wasn’t seen back on the field after that.

Thayer Munford, Jordan Fuller, Robert “B.B.” Landers and Demario McCall didn’t practice, but all four sustained injuries before spring practice began.

“Some tightness in the hamstring,” ‘Day said of Olave. “We have a few guys kind of nursing injuries. It’s later in the spring and that’s natural, but nothing long-term.”

ARI’S TAKE: As of right now, the only major injury Ohio State needs to overcome is Munford’s because he’s the starting left tackle. As far as the others, they all seem to be minor injuries.

(Top photo: Courtesy of Ohio State Athletics)