Ryan Day Officially Returns to Practice from CoVID-19 Absence

As the Ohio State Buckeyes prepare for The Game this weekend, they got an emotional lift on Monday.

An Ohio State spokesman has confirmed to BuckeyesNow that head coach Ryan Day has returned to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center as he was scheduled to do, following his CoVID-19 diagnosis 10 days ago.

Day watched Saturday's game at home while the team beat up the Michigan State Spartans, 52-12. While any player that comes down with the virus must sit out 21 days before returning to action, coaches around the league are allowed to return if they test negative after a 10 day quarantine.

Whether or not Saturday's game happens is still up in the air. Multiple reports indicate that Michigan's medical staff has cleared the team to begin limited workouts this afternoon, but Jim Harbaugh's media availability was moved to the middle of the week from it's usual Monday slot as the Wolverines are still waiting to see if they'll be healthy enough to play Saturday in Columbus.

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If the game isn't played, the Buckeyes would hope to have a different opponent scheduled in Michigan's place. But such a decision would need to be made by Wednesday, so everyone is operating under a tight timeline.

The Buckeyes (5-0) are currently one game shy of meeting the league's 6-game mandate to qualify for the conference championship game. Last week, Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez told the Detroit News he thinks the league would come to Ohio State's aid if Michigan wasn't able to play Saturday.

Sources tell ESPN's Heather Dinich that the Big Ten AD's will meet on Wednesday to discuss that very topic. Dinich says the 6-game rule was initially made by the league's 14 athletic directors, with input from head coaches and conference championship game administrators.

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