Ohio State head coach Ryan Day was not having any of the talk denigrating Justin Fields’ work ethic.
After comments made by ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky last week suggested Fields was a “last one in, first one out” type of player, Day fired back against that perception, but did so in a way that brought down other players who opted out of the season due to concerns of playing in a pandemic.
In a conversation with NBC Sports’ Peter King, the Ohio State coach pointed to the work Fields did with saving the Big Ten season and suggesting those who did not want to risk their health did not love football.
“When those other guys are opting out, what’s [Fields] do? He petitions to have a season,” Day said. “He put together this petition that the Big Ten athletes all signed saying that they want to play safely and that they don’t accept canceling the season. It was all led by Justin Fields.
“Where was everybody else? Where were the guys who were opting out then? You know, you don’t love the game if you’re doing something like that. This kid loves the game.”
Day’s point about Fields’ love for the game and leadership in helping save the Big Ten season are legitimate, but bringing other athletes down for opting out of a season because they did not feel comfortable playing with the risk of COVID is certainly a questionable approach.
Plus, Day was making plenty of legitimate points in Fields’ favor, making his comments about players opting out due to COVID even more unnecessary.
“This whole idea that he doesn’t have a very good work ethic? I mean, to me, that’s crazy,” Day said. “He got done with the Clemson game [in 2019] and he came back and all he did was work to get back to that game.”
Day later told King “some people are being a little reckless with their comments” without naming Orlovsky specifically.
“I heard something about he last one to come in, first one to leave,” he added. “First off, the scouts weren’t in our building all year. Last one in? Every morning, at least every morning we could be in the building, early, he’s in with [football performance czar] Mickey Marotti. The guys who were self-motivated and could do things on their own, those were the ones who made it. He was unbelievable. He changed his diet, he got stronger. He did better than most.”
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