COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State football strength coach Mickey Marotti’s annual offseason challenge essentially comes down to building cohesion. Nearly 100 players of varying ages, experience levels and physical ability return for the start of the semester in January. Over two dozen true freshmen enroll early in January. Marotti and his staff assemble a strategy to gradually prepare all of those athletes to practice together for the same goal. The COVID-19 pandemic splintered that strategy. No extended spring for early enrollees. No access to the program’s training facilities and nutritional infrastructure. Players scattered across the country, with some living in areas more directly affected by the virus than others. “It’s been the most challenging thing I’ve done in my career, no doubt,” Marotti said during a teleconference with reporters on Wednesday. “It’s like you’re in charge of people, but you can’t really be in charge of people, if that makes…
Continue Reading: Ohio State football strength coach Mickey Marotti on the challenge during COVID-19, and the one that awaits
