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ATHENS, Ohio— The Ohio football team held its first of 15 spring practices today (March 20) inside Walter Fieldhouse. 

Spring camp will conclude on Saturday, April 19 with the team's annual spring scrimmage; more information about the scrimmage and sale will be released at later date. 

The 2024 squad snagged the program's first Mid-American Conference Championship since 1968 in their 101^st faceoff against Miami (Ohio). The Bobcats' dominant 38-3 win marked the largest margin of victory in a MAC Championship as well as the first time a team has been held to no touchdowns in a Championship game. The team went on to defeat Jacksonville State in the 2024 StaffDNA Cure Bowl, 30-27, clinching Ohio's first 11-win season in program history. 

Along the way, two Bobcats rushed for over 1,000 yards—running back Anthony Tyus III and quarterback Parker Navarro—and wide receiver Coleman Owen became the program's leading single-season receiver. Owen joined the ranks of LaVon Brazill and Donte' Foster, marking the third Bobcat in program history to record over 1,000 receiving yards in a single season. 

Media met with first-year head coach Brian Smith following practice. They discussed his transition to the head coaching position, notable returners and broad goals for camp. The full press conference is embedded below. 

On stepping into the head coach role 
It's a humbling experience. I'm extremely proud to have the opportunity to lead this program; it's a great responsibility. I love the kids that are here in the program and the coaches I get to work with make it extremely enjoyable. There are some different responsibilities and different things that have come up that you don't always experience as an assistant. I've been happily taking on new challenges. 

On the current college football landscape
There's been more developing relationships with people. As an assistant within the program, you're a member of the community here, which has been great. As the head coach, I've spent a lot more time trying to engage donors and alumni, really giving them the opportunity to get to know me better, see my vision for the program, what I'm like as a person and why I love coaching here. I want to learn more about their experiences with the program, their experiences with the school and why it's been such a special place for so many people.

On updates on injuries  
It's kind of natural throughout the offseason that you're going to fix some problems that came up throughout the year and work on getting guys back healthy, whether it's for spring ball or the start of fall camp. So, we're working through that.

On additions to the coaching staff 
It has been great. I think we did a good job of hiring people that really fit the program, fit the culture and are great teachers. It's a player-first program. So, they're going to get coached, they're going to be loved by the coaches. We're going to develop them as people. It's important to have guys here that embrace that. 

On his transition to head coach and connecting with other MAC head coaches
I really enjoyed talking with Coach Moorhead up at Akron. You know, we had opportunity to spend a lot of time with him; his son is a rising high school senior and is a recruitable quarterback. They were at our junior day, so I've had a chance to talk to him a few times because of that and spent a lot of time with him at the junior day. He's someone that I've enjoyed spending time with; we crossed paths a little bit when he was at Oregon and I was at Washington. 

On impactful new athletes 
It's great to have Sieh Bangura back. I think that was awesome to have a kid that can be integrated so fast and is going to get an impact at a high level right away and know exactly what he's doing. Charlie, Christopher has been really fun to work with. I'm excited to see how spring goes for him. He had a tremendous off season. We're excited to see what he can do.

On what he's learned about the team on day one of camp 
I learned they love football and that they enjoy playing and practicing together. I think that you can see that today there was a lot of really good competition and great energy; I thought they had a lot of fun together. In the off-season, when you interject a good group of new kids, they have to be able to embrace that part of the program. I think the guys have and it's going to continue to grow. 

On spring camp goals 
Part of it is developing what our personality is. The culture will not change; we'll be a tough, hard-nosed team and we're going to get our guys to play really hard. The personality, the team that does it, is going to be a little bit different with every year because you're going to have different guys in leadership roles. You're going to have new players that are interjected, and they're going to bring their own little personality to it. So, you've got to develop some of that within spring ball, and then just continue to learn how to compete at a high level together and develop a lot of trust and love amongst them.

On the value of Parker Navarro reprising his leadership role 
It's great. Anytime you have a returning quarterback that's played significant reps and done it at a high level, that's a huge part for your transition and the outlook for the next year.

On the spring football games  
We'll have a traditional scrimmage. It won't be a true football game, but we're going to play football. I think some coaches are a little bit over-dramatic in that regard; all of our film is on PFF [Pro Football Focus]. If teams want to go and look at our guys, it's not hard to find information on them. The kids get a chance to compete for 15 days, and to rob them of the opportunity to compete and get better and just get a chance to play football— which is why they're here; it's what they love doing. So why take that away from them? 

On Sieh's return 
I thought it's been a good transition. When the opportunity came up originally, it was more just about space, right? Someone had to leave to be able to add a scholarship to that room. So once that happened, I reached out and kind of gaged how he felt about it. The first thing that I told him was I needed to talk with some of the guys on the team and just see how they felt about someone leaving the program and then coming back. All the guys were really excited to have him back, and that's a reflection of his character when he was here—they enjoyed playing with him. They think he's a good teammate and a good person. What I told him was, 'You're not coming back in the same role as you left. You have to be humble. You have to put your head down and work and develop relationships with a lot of the guys that weren't here when you were here before because teams turn over and transition a lot quickly.' He's done a great job at that; he didn't come in saying, 'I'm the same guy that I was when I was here.' I think he took a very humble approach, and it's paid off for him.

On expectations coming off the 2024 season 
 You definitely have to manage your expectations. Our focus right now is getting better every single day, developing great relationships with our teammates and focusing on our execution. If we play at a high level, if our guys are playing hard, they trust and believe in each other. We should be able to win a lot of games and compete at a high level in this conference. 



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