The transfer portal was opened one week ago, and already the Buckeyes have lost fourteen players.

Nor has Ohio State added any new members. Let’s review the previous week and share some observations on the program’s current status and future directions.

First, here is a complete list of all Ohio State users who have accessed the site thus far.

The program isn’t falling apart

I wanted to tackle this first, because I know from a national perspective there are some people — without local knowledge — who think the volume of transfers means something bad is happening inside the program. That’s not the case.

Despite losing 14 players to the portal, there’s nothing going on behind the scenes at Ohio State that makes me think the program is in danger. This is just how things are now.

Head coach Ryan Day talked about it last week: It’s a sign of the times.

“You have to construct your roster on a yearly basis, and that’s what we’re going to do,” Day said. “It’s no longer one of those things, are you going to use the portal or not? It’s part of college football.”

He also said Ohio State would be aggressive in the portal, but you can’t be aggressive unless you lose players, as well.

One of the reasons I don’t have much concern is the fact that, of the 14 players looking to transfer, only three saw significant playing time last season. The loss of Kyle McCord is the most concerning, but we’ll talk about that later. Julian Fleming was going into his final year, and it makes sense for him to want to transfer somewhere else with Ohio State pushing to get some youth on the field. Chip Trayanum’s departure is a bit concerning with the Buckeyes down to just two scholarship running backs, but I don’t think he was a long-term option at Ohio State. He’s a talented back, but next year was always expected to be Dallan Hayden’s chance to take the next step if TreVeyon Henderson does go to the NFL. And if Henderson stays, which I’ve been told hasn’t been decided yet, he would be taking a majority of the snaps, again, from Trayanum.

So if you’re a concerned Ohio State fan, take a deep breath. All of the major pieces for next year’s team are still intact, other than the quarterback.

And if you’re just a national college football fan, Ohio State’s program hasn’t fallen apart. They’ll begin adding out of the portal soon, just like everybody else.