Ohio State and other CFB teams back to work as spring practice kicks off

• It’s back to the grind for the defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes. Spring college football practice kicks off around the country.
• The Buckeyes and several other powerhouse programs are working to replace star players.
• Meanwhile, Deion Sanders is looking to shake up how Colorado’s spring game is played.

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While the sports world focuses on the NCAA Tournament, the business of college football churns on. Spring practices are kicking off across the country. For the national champion Ohio State Buckeyes, it hasn’t even been two months since their celebration.

How are the national champions looking?

A lot has changed in Columbus. Gone are star players like quarterback Will Howard, running back TreVeyon Henderson, and defensive stalwarts Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau. Those players and others from the championship roster await the NFL draft.

However, returning head coach Ryan Day says he’s more relaxed about his job security. After all, hoisting a trophy crystal football comes with a little vindication.

“The culture works, the system works, how we do it, our process works –– like it just gave credibility to everything we’re doing,” said Day. “Truth be told, when you’re a first-time head coach and you haven’t done it before, and you become the head coach at Ohio State, like, you typically don’t get the benefit of the doubt until you win it all, you know, because, you haven’t really done it yet. It’s like anything else. And so now, we have the testimony moving forward.”

Is Bill Belichick settling in as a college coach?

In Chapel Hill, North Carolina, NFL legend Bill Belichick is looking for that same testimony from his first season with the Tar Heels. He is busy learning his roster and building a culture modeled after the best NFL players he’s coached.

“We want to play to the strengths of our players, and that’s what we’ll do,” Belichick said. “It probably takes a little while to figure that out, but nevertheless, we’ll run a pro system on both sides of the ball and in the kicking game, so that’s what the foundation of it is.”

Who is Miami’s replacement for Cam Ward?

Another intriguing spring camp is in Miami, where the Hurricanes lost quarterback Cam Ward, a potential top pick in the NFL draft. They replaced him with Georgia’s Carson Beck after forking over a record salary for a college football player, rumored to be close to $4 million. Beck is recovering from elbow surgery and won’t throw a football until sometime this summer.

“The opportunity comes in the form of reps, and sometimes it’s live reps, sometimes it’s a walkthrough rep, sometimes it’s reps in the film room and the cumulative reps, they’re priceless,” said head coach Mario Cristobal. “I mean, they’re the most valued piece of, I think, any program, any player’s development. You know these guys are –– and even Carson –– these guys are still young guys, they still got to get those repetitions.”

Deion is always shaking things up

Meanwhile, in Boulder, Colorado, Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders’ new players need reps, too. He lost the Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter and his quarterback son Shedeur Sanders, both likely top 10 draft picks. But Coach Prime isn’t worried about his roster; he’s focused on shaking things up for the spring football game.

“The way the trend is going, you never know if this is going to be the last spring game. I don’t believe in that; I don’t really want to condone that. I would like to play the spring –– actually, I like to play against another team in the spring,” Sanders said. “That’s what I’m trying to do right now –– to have it competitive. Playing against your own guys kind of get monotonous. I would like to style it like the pros. I would like to practice against someone for a few days, then you have the spring game, and I think the public will be satisfied with that tremendously.”

While Sanders tries to improve the spring game, rival Nebraska opted to cancel their showcase event. Head coach Matt Ruhle cited concerns about player poaching through the transfer portal after others saw his team in action.

Welcome to the new college football landscape. While it might be early to talk about all of this, some of the week one matchups involving the teams mentioned above are excellent: Ohio State vs. Texas, Miami vs. Notre Dame, and North Carolina vs. TCU. All fans have to do is wait roughly 164 days.