Will Ohio State fans take it easy on Ryan Day if the Buckeyes lose to Michigan?

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Spring football is over for Ohio State and after originally saying it would do a “spring showcase,” the Buckeyes put together a much-needed spring game.

We saw the quarterback battle take a step forward, some young players make an impact and still have some questions about the defensive line.

Let’s touch base on all of them in this post-spring mailbag.

(Note: Submitted questions have been edited for clarity and length.)

After winning it all, what is the probability that the Buckeyes faithful give the head coach any grace if the team doesn’t beat the team from up north next season? — John M 

Do you know Ohio State fans?

Winning a national championship is the ultimate prize and keeps Ryan Day off the hot seat, but if Michigan pushes its win streak to five straight, people won’t hesitate to go crazy again.

It is Ohio State-Michigan; emotions will always run high.

It’s been mentioned that the D-line depth is something to worry about. Going from (Jim) Knowles to (Matt) Patricia, and given our end and LB depth, would there be any thought given to using more 3-4 looks, just to get our most talented guys on the field more often? — Brian J 

I think they will experiment with some odd fronts this year. Patricia is known for his flexibility up front in the NFL, especially with the New England Patriots.

On top of that, both he and defensive line coach Larry Johnson, before the spring began, talked about utilizing more fronts because they have the flexibility. One piece to remember is C.J. Hicks, we’ll talk more about him later, but he’s a versatile piece who can rush and drop into coverage. Eddrick Houston is an interesting piece, too. The five-star sophomore is a defensive tackle right now but can play on the edge in some packages.

Ohio State was never going to put everything it did or any new stuff on the field in the spring game. I’d expect Ohio State to work on these packages this summer and take them to the field in preseason camp.

Defensive tackle seems to be the big positional question mark next season. With Tyleik (Williams) and Ty (Hamilton) heading to the NFL and (Hero) Kanu transferring, no one has played more than 250 snaps in a season. None of the incoming freshmen are heralded recruits. Given all that, I found it interesting that no DTs arrived in the transfer portal. Does this suggest to you that the coaching staff is confident in what they have? If so, what are they seeing that I’m not seeing? — Anonymous

Kanu’s transfer caught everybody by surprise. He was good and only getting better as the last season went on. Kanu was expected to be a big piece of the defensive line this year, which had Ohio State feeling good with the lineup of Kanu, McDonald and Houston as the top three and working in Jason Moore and Tywone Malone. That’s not a bad group, still inexperienced, but good.

When Kanu transferred to Texas, Ohio State was left with no options because the portal window closed for everybody except Ohio State and Notre Dame players, so it was either go into the spring with the roster it had or force a transfer with the scraps that were left in the portal.

I was concerned about the quality of transfer players in this window because the spring window is usually not as busy as the winter, but there are a few good players for Ohio State to look at.

North Carolina edge rusher Beau Atkinson is going to be high on every team’s list. He had 35 tackles and 7.5 sacks last season, I’d be shocked if Johnson hasn’t reached out already.

As for a defensive tackle, Vanderbilt’s De’Marion Thomas is a good option. He started all 13 games for the Commodores last year and had 34 tackles and one sack. Thomas can’t go to an SEC team in this window, so a move to the Big Ten would make sense.

It’s early, but what is your current outlook for this year? 10-2? — Braden R

I think that’s the floor, for sure.

If you look at the schedule, there are three obvious games to watch: Texas to open the season, Penn State in November and Michigan at the end of the season. A sleeper game is a trip to Illinois on Oct. 11, as well. Those four games should all be top-25 matchups.

It’s hard to predict a Michigan win right now with the issues Ohio State has against that program right now. So that leaves the other three games, and I think Ohio State loses to Texas, beats Illinois and beats Penn State.

That’s 10-2 and a first-round host most likely. I’m not sure if that’s good enough for a Big Ten title berth, but Penn State has to play Ohio State, Oregon, Nebraska, Iowa and Indiana, a significantly tougher schedule than last year.

If the quarterback position is better than we expect, Ohio State could be 11-1 because the offense is loaded.

Could C.J. Hicks be good enough to help on the defensive line? — Billy B

I’m not sure what to expect from Hicks this year.

This being his only year at defensive end makes me wonder just how good he can be right away. Any position change is tough in the first year, but Hicks is in a position where Ohio State needs him and he is running out of eligibility, so he needs it too.

Working in Hicks favor, though, is that he’s a natural pass rusher already. He showed flashes of it in the spare snaps he played on the edge last season. It might take him time to get the fundamentals down, especially at the snap count. He’ll have to rush this year versus last year, but he can make an impact.

Can he cover up issues? I don’t think so, at least not right away.

He’s not Jack Sawyer or J.T. Tuimoloau, and I think it may take him a few games to get comfortable during the season. But he could make a difference once he gets a few games under his belt.

The spring game rules seemed to favor the offense. How much did that impact perceptions of how the defense performed versus working in new players, scheme and the limited snaps by some starters? — Rick D

Ohio State lost eight starters from last year’s defense, and all of them will likely be draft picks this year. That’s a lot to replace. This defense was going to take a step back no matter who the defensive coordinator was, so the offense shining in the spring game shouldn’t have been a surprise.

Last year, the defense played better in the spring game, which was a 34-33 game. The defense was more talented and experienced from top to bottom.

We also have to consider, no defense in their right mind is going to come out and show what they want to do during the season. Patricia played things very basic, while the offense was throwing the ball as much as possible to get the quarterbacks more reps before the Texas game.

When you mix in the 57 passing attempts and a defense that played two or three different coverages the whole game and didn’t get creative up front, the offense is likely going to win in a spring game.

I wouldn’t overreact about the defense right now.

Thoughts on Elbert Hill’s recruitment? I haven’t heard anything in a while. — Anonymous

Hill, the No. 3 corner in the class, has four official visits scheduled for this summer. He’s planning on going to Oregon, LSU, USC and Alabama but didn’t use an official visit on Ohio State, yet.

The Akron native plays at Archbishop Hoban, so he’s not far from Ohio State and has been on campus a lot. His father told 247Sports that the family is still considering scheduling a visit to Ohio State, so that’s not out of the question. And they just made a trip in March for spring practice, as well.

Ohio State has been recruiting Hill since early in his high school career, so I expect they’ll be fighting for him at the end. With Victor Singleton, the No. 2 player in Ohio and the No. 11 corner in the class, already committed to Illinois, Tim Walton isn’t going to let Hill get out of Ohio without a fight.

Any sense from watching the practices and the spring game whether Brian Hartline will call a different game than Chip Kelly? — Amrabin

It does seem like Ohio State will pass the ball more this year, but that’s hard to be certain. The Buckeyes were focused on getting the quarterbacks up to speed as fast as possible.

I’d bet early on they will run the ball a bit more, especially watching how well the interior offensive line did getting to the second level in the spring game, but I think the playoff run opened some things up for this offense.

Hartline did a nice job with the added passing concepts and the talent at receiver and tight end. I think Ohio State will let things fly more than last year, especially as the quarterbacks get more confident.

Complete this thought. Ohio State repeats as national champions … — Josh B

If the starting quarterback can take care of the ball and make on-time throws and if the defensive tackles can get more push than they did in the spring game.

Ohio State has so much talent on offense this year. It is six deep at wide receiver, four deep at tight end, with the starter being an All-American candidate, and the offensive line is the best we’ve seen in a few years. For me, offensively, it’s just the quarterbacks. Can Julian Sayin or Lincoln Kienholz avoid first-year starter mistakes in big games?

And the tackles just have to get more push than they did in the spring game. Sounds easy, but it’s also about consistency, which is something we haven’t seen from them yet because they are inexperienced.

It also helps that there’s no consensus title team entering the season. Every team at the top of the rankings, even Penn State, which still doesn’t have a proven receiver, has a question mark this offseason.

Ohio State could put it all together for another run, but unlike last year, I’m not going to bet on it just yet.

How did Sayin and Kienholz look this spring relative to (Will) Howard and (Devin) Brown last spring? — Luke L 

This is a hard comparison because Howard was a fifth-year player, and Brown had been through a competition before, so they were more experienced.

At times, Sayin and Kienholz looked like first-year starters with fumbles or interceptions, but they were much better in the spring game.

As far as the competition, it looks similar. People forget there were times last spring when Brown was better than Howard, but Howard came back from the summer looking like a different player altogether. That’s no different than this spring, Sayin and Kienholz went back and forth, it’s going to come down to who made the most of their offseason.

Which under-the-radar player made the best impression on the coaching staff during the spring? — Martin H 

Linebacker Payton Pierce had a good spring, I think he’ll play a decent amount if Patricia wants to use three-linebacker sets next year.

On offense, it’s probably receiver Quincy Porter or tackle Austin Siereveld. Porter was the first freshman to lose his black stripe, and Siereveld positioned himself to be the starting right tackle coming out of spring.

(Photo of C.J. Hicks: Ben Jackson / Getty Images)

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