Bennett Christian, TE for Ohio State, will miss the 2023 season for consuming a prohibited substance
At his news conference on Monday, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day declared that tight end Bennett Christian would miss the entire 2023 campaign.
Christian’s year-long suspension came about as a result of a positive drug test.
I have some regretful news to convey. Bennett Christian won’t be available to us this season. In January, he tested positive for a prohibited supplement, Day informed reporters. “He is in excruciating pain. He is aware that he erred. continuing to work with us in practice. still a crucial member of the group.
Christian signed with the Buckeyes out of Georgia and played in two games the previous season.
According to the On3 Industry rankings, he was rated as a four-star prospect and the No. 386 overall player in the nation for the class of 2022.
Day maintains that Bennett Christian is not typically in difficulty, even though he is currently facing difficulties.
“He’s a wonderful young man who erred.” He has a wonderful family, and I appreciate his candor,” Day remarked. “He acknowledges his accountability. We’ll let him tell the team and everyone else about his experience later today so that others won’t make the same mistake.
Day went on to say that Christian had taken an NCAA drug test. He forfeits a year of eligibility in addition to a full year of absence.
Paul Finebaum discusses the Ohio State quarterback competition.
Unsurprisingly, the quarterback competition between the Buckeyes and Ryan Day was also a major talking point during Day’s press conference on Monday.
Paul Finebaum, an SEC expert, recently detailed the conflict and where he thinks it is at the moment.
According to him, Kyle McCord has a little advantage over Devin Brown in the race, and that advantage will probably hold going into the season, he said on SportsCenter on Saturday morning. Regardless of the quarterback selection, Finebaum claims that the Buckeyes will share a similar denominator.
“Even though it’s really close, I don’t think it’s as important as maybe we are making it out to be,” Finebaum stated. “I think it’s going to be Kyle McCord.” “Everyone is aware of the trajectory of the past few years, with Dwayne Haskins, Justin Fields, and CJ Stroud, as you said. However, the wide receiver room is what sets the Buckeyes apart from the competition. It’s the greatest in the nation, in my opinion, with Marvin Harrison Jr. and a ton of other targets.
Therefore, I believe McCord is hired. They have a challenging schedule in September, which includes a visit to Notre Dame towards the end of the month, but I believe both are excellent.
Why, in the 12-team CFP era, Ohio State should still have faith in Ryan Day
For Ryan Day, the past three years have been difficult in many respects. And that’s difficult to accept given that Day’s Ohio State teams have won double digit games annually and only dropped six games overall.
However, things may get heated in Columbus because losses to Michigan twice destroyed any realistic prospects of making the College Football Playoffs, ending the regular season in all three of those years. Luckily for Day, though, he might be able to get beyond his blue and maize obstacle with the help of the 12-team playoff structure.
“I believe Ryan Day is much aided by the new playoff system. since it includes them in that mixture each year. For example, you don’t have to defeat Michigan, but if he can’t, Ryan Day will deal with neighborhood issues. But you are involved on a national level. You can also win a handful of those games if you play them. Additionally, you have the talent to succeed at Ohio State no matter what. Speaking with former LSU offensive lineman and current CFB analyst T-Bob Herbert on Tuesday, On3’s Andy Staples stated, “Like you will always have enough talent that if you go into the playoff, you can win the postseason.”
Herbert agreed with Staples and questioned whether Day’s performance thus far had been unduly distorted by the four-team CFP’s narrow blinders. Under his leadership, Ohio State is 56-8 after six years.
All of that to suggest that perhaps we took Ryan Day too far. Getting Quinshon Judkins is amazing. Talent is being retained at an almost unbelievable rate, according to Herbert.
He and Staples agreed that the defense in particular will have a ton of potential that might make it to the NFL by 2024. When you combine that with the offensive skill from transfers and high schools, plus a few more return players, Ohio State might be back on track.
This year, the defense was excellent at last. The cruelest irony is that Ohio State finally gets the defense they needed in a year where, for the first time in six years, they don’t have a quarterback throw 40 to 50 touchdowns. It’s like LSU can’t play defense to save their f-ing life and are just spitting out Heisman quarterbacks. Oh, the cruel irony of football.
Herbert is most concerned about the potential of Will Howard, the quarterback who transferred from Kansas State. However, he is extending an open mind to Day in the hopes that he can come up with enough offensive to offset what ought to be a championship-caliber defense.
Herbert finds it easy to envision a route back for the Buckeyes that would allow them to defeat the Wolverines and participate in the 12-team CFP every year at the national level.
Herbert stated, “So, even though I don’t really believe in Will Howard that much, I can do pretty simple mental gymnastics if I’m an Ohio State fan to believe that ‘Oh, he’ll fix the quarterback position and then we’re going to be better than ever because our defense is better than ever,'” given the defensive improvement and Day’s resume.
