The Ohio State football program will begin spring practice on March 19, sports information director Jerry Emig announced on Tuesday afternoon. The Buckeyes will practice 15 times, including the annual spring game, which is tentatively scheduled for April 17.
Ohio State held just two spring practices last year before the Big Ten suspended and eventually cancelled all spring activities, including the spring game, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
It’s unclear at this time if fans will be allowed to attend this year’s spring game, though athletic director Gene Smith said last week they’re hoping to distributed tickets to medical workers who have been on the frontlines during the pandemic, as well as family and guests of players and coaches.
“As of right now, we’re just on hold for the spring game,” Smith said. “If we’re allowed to have fans, we will not have a ticketed event. It will not be one where we’ll charge. My hope is that we’ll have an opportunity to develop a strategy to recognize our front line people, (like) our nurses, our doctors, our custodians, our bus drivers and all those people who have made so many sacrifices for us for a long time now.
“That would be my hope, that we could come up with a strategy to recognize them and invite them to the spring game and, of course, the parents of our student-athletes. That’s kind of my thinking right now, but we’ve got a ways to go before we get to that point.”
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