Ohio State head coach Ryan Day stands on the sidelines during the Ohio State-Nebraska game on Nov. 6. Ohio State won 26-17. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
The last time Ryan Day and his staff welcomed a class of recruits to Columbus, the college football landscape looked much different.
The ability for college athletes to profit off of their name, image and likeness was in an infant stage, while the transfer portal had not yet become a de facto free agency in the sport, now both of those factors play major roles in recruitment. As Day introduced a new class of Buckeyes Wednesday, he also emphasized the need to adapt to the major changes in the sport.
“In this time, you have to make sure you’re recruiting great people,” Day said. “To say that I’m not, at the very least, concerned about what’s going on right now across the country, that wouldn’t be accurate. There’s just a lot with it. Now more than ever, the focus has to be on relationships.”
This year’s class was the first to deal with NIL on a large scale during the recruiting process, and its presence has already made a difference in the complexion of the sport. According to Yahoo’s Pete Thamel, an NIL deal is believed to play a key role in five-star cornerback Travis Hunter’s flipped commitment from Florida State to Jackson State.
While NIL has become an important staple in recruiting, Day emphasized that the rules currently in place aren’t clear as a recruiter.
“It’s very complicated. For the sport itself, the concerning part is that the coaches can’t set that up. The coaches and Ohio State are not allowed to set those types of deals up,” Day said. “People are influencing these kids, who are outside the university, and that’s concerning.”
Day added that NIL has benefitted his players and the university well, but the blurred rules surrounding it has made it difficult when it comes to incorporating it in a recruiting plan.
Although coaches aren’t able to be in the room to set up NIL opportunities, Day said his program has done well in preparing for this new era of college football and recruiting.
“We’re doing everything we can to make sure we provide the structure, the resources that these guys need in order to have what they need to help with the deals,” Day said. “[The specific deals] are out of our hands and we’re not going to get into that because that’s not legal. That’s where I think it gets a little messy at times.”
The transfer portal has also been a drastic shift in college football’s offseason, and the Buckeyes have been no stranger to the portal since the season’s end, losing six players to transfers since Nov. 27.
The most noteworthy departure was 2021 five-star freshman quarterback Quinn Ewers, who reclassified from the class of 2022 and left the program for his home state Texas Longhorns.
Day, who said he was “caught off guard” by Ewers departure, said the nature of the portal has made it imperative that Ohio State recruits guys who want to be Buckeyes.
“Shoot, we’ve already had somebody who was supposed to be in this class come and leave. So it’s something that we have to be able to adapt to,” Day said. “Try to do the best we can along the way to communicate and build those relationships. It’s certainly very, very new and moving fast.”
While some teams made their mark through the transfer portal last offseason, most notably Mel Tucker’s Michigan State, Day said the Buckeyes prefer to have players developed in the program.
Day emphasized the volatile nature of the portal and its impact on program building in this era of college football.
“For us here at Ohio State, it’s critically important to know that we’re going to look to bring in guys from high school and develop them at a high level,” Day said. “I think it’s dangerous to live in the portal world. I don’t think it’s sustainable for the chemistry and culture of your team to be doing that.”
Day said his program is deliberate when scouring the portal and looks for guys who fit into the culture well, similarly to his recruiting strategy.
The Buckeyes also dealt with an added wrinkle that made their recruiting season even more hectic: uncertainty on the defensive coaching staff. Day alleviated some of that uncertainty by hiring Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles to the same position at Ohio State Dec. 7.
Day said that the changes to the defensive coaching hierarchy didn’t affect the Buckeyes much on the recruiting trail and not much is expected to change schematically under Knowles.
“The structure of what we’re going to do is not going to make a huge difference,” Day said. “At the end of the day, the recruits understood that they wanted to come to Ohio State and be a part of this culture.”
Although Day and his coaching staff had to deal with plenty of new obstacles thrown their way, he expressed excitement towards the class of players they brought in during this recruitment period.
“I’m very excited about this class. When you combine the athletic ability and the potential these guys have to be really good football players, that’s one thing, but it’s also the type of people we have coming into this program,” Day said. “These 17 are as quality as you’re going to get.”
