Ryan Day isn’t in favor of scrimmaging another team during spring practice—and his reasoning has people scratching their heads.
Meanwhile, Deion Sanders and plenty of other coaches are all-in on the concept. Coach Prime and Syracuse’s Fran Brown even tried to set one up, hoping to give their teams a real test in the spring by going head-to-head. The NCAA shot it down, but the buzz didn’t go away.
In fact, more coaches than ever seem to be on board with making spring feel a little more like the NFL preseason—with real opponents, controlled contact, and more valuable reps than your typical intrasquad game.
Day, however, recently explained why he’s not a fan. It’s not that he thinks the idea is bad for everyone—he actually supports teams that want to try it. But for his Ohio State program, he says the risk of injury outweighs the potential benefits.
“I’d be concerned about health,” Day said, per On3. “When you practice, there’s certain rules of engagement that have to happen. "When receivers are in the air, you know, we don’t take their legs out and do those types of things. I’d be very, very concerned with practicing against another team when the rules of engagement aren’t clear, or you’re not going against one of your teammates you’re trying to take care of."
The weird part? This argument kind of falls apart when you think it through.
If you’re scrimmaging another school, it’s not like you’re winging it on a Saturday morning with no communication. These matchups would be planned in advance, with lots of conversations between coaching staffs. You’d set ground rules. You’d agree on how hard the defense plays, when to “thud,” how special teams are handled, and so on. NFL teams do this all the time in training camp, and there’s no reason colleges couldn’t pull it off just as safely.
Plus, consider this: in a regular spring game, 22 of your own players are on the field at the same time. That’s 22 possible injuries—all within your own roster. But in a joint scrimmage? Only 11 of your guys are out there at once. You’re literally cutting the exposure in half.
Still, Day says he wouldn’t consider it for Ohio State, even though he believes others should have the freedom to try it. With the season now running longer, it's understandable that coaches would have different opinions and reasons, but the injury risk just seems a little weird.