Ohio State starters: Ryan Day reveals key players ahead of Week 1

The Ohio State Buckeyes will open their college football season in Week 1 at home on Saturday against the Akron Zips. Ohio State is coming off a disappointing 11-2 season, failing to make the College Football Playoff.

After losing to Michigan for the third straight year, Ohio State was active in the transfer portal and built one of the top teams. Entering Week 1, Buckeyes coach Ryan Day has spoken about some key starters.

Ohio State will have a new quarterback in Will Howard who transferred from Kansas State. Howard replaced Kyle McCord who moved to Syracuse.

Another change for the Buckeyes is Tegra Tshabola, a junior who will start at right guard and who impressed Day.

"He’s earned the right to start in this game," Day said, via Hoodline.

Day shared Sonny Styles will start at linebacker after moving from safety. But he doesn't know who will start as the Buckeyes's running back as they have TreVeyon Henderson and Ole Miss transfer Quinshon Judkins.

"We haven't really talked about that right now," Day said, via ABC. "They're both gonna get a bunch of reps on Saturday."

Ohio State is a massive 49-point favorite to defeat the Zips in Week 1 at home. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET.

Ohio State's Ryan Day has high expectations for Will Howard

After the Buckeyes ended their 2023 season, they brought in Will Howard from Kansas State to try and improve the quarterback position. Howard is entering his fifth college season as he spent four years at Kansas State. Although Week 1 is his first game as a Buckeye, Day has high expectations for the quarterback.

"We want him to run the team and be clean, get us in and out of the huddle, get us up to the line of scrimmage, be sharp, take care of the football. You've heard me say the term, make the routine plays routinely. Play well on third down red zone in two minutes," Day said, via 247Sports.

"I mean, that's what we're looking for out of our quarterback. But in particular, in that first game, it's run a clean operation. That's ball security, that's cadence, that's communication, the new headset and how we're doing that ... So it's getting into the game, getting a feel for it and playing clean. That's what we're looking for in week one."

Ohio State has notable games against Iowa, Oregon, Nebraska, Penn State and Michigan.