Oller: Ryan Day's January haul has Ohio State loaded for bear. Time to win big or go home
Over the past month, Ryan Day has accomplished something extraordinary. By restocking the Ohio State roster with plug-and-play impact players and by upgrading the coaching staff, the Ohio State coach managed to double down on fans’ already lofty expectations.
It won’t be enough next season simply to beat Michigan. Clubbing the Wolverines is just the start. The Buckeyes are so loaded with defensive talent, and have upgraded with a mobile quarterback and an elite between-the-tackles tailback, that anything short of playing for a national championship will be viewed as an underachieving disappointment at best and failure at worst. Some of the lunatic fringe that Herbie is so enamored with will take it further. If a natty is not in the bag, time to bag the coach. Crazy times, indeed.
In a nutshell, Day has gone all-in on winning it all. On one hand, that is nothing new. OSU's yearly program goals go something like: 1. Beat Michigan; 2. Win the Big Ten; 3. Win the College Football Playoff national title. But this feels different. Not necessarily desperate, more like pushing every last poker chip to the center of the table. Boom or bust.
It’s easy to say Day was forced to go full Maverick Mach 3 based on the way 2023 ended, with a third consecutive loss to Michigan and an ugly 14-3 loss to Missouri. Things got hot.
But instead of leaving the kitchen, Day cooked up a plan – aided by Nick Saban – that instantly tossed red meat to a fanbase hungry for blood. Mostly his.
First, Day determined that OSU’s run game needed a legitimate Mr. Inside to go with Mr. Outside. TreVeyon Henderson is dangerous when he bounces wide and catches passes in the flat, but otherwise struggles to gain the tough yards. He also struggles to stay healthy, a combination not conducive to the Buckeyes playing more smash-mouth football in late fall and early winter.
If Day needed a model for what his backfield should look like, he could look north, where Michigan won its national title – with help from Connor Stalions that got the ball rolling two years ago – on the backs of Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards. Corum was the featured back who blasted behind the guards and tackles; Edwards the bounce-it-outside option.
Think of Henderson and Mississippi transfer Quinshon Judkins as Day’s 1-2 punch, with Judkins being the go-to back. The 210-pound tailback rushed for 2,725 yards in two seasons with the Runnin’ Rebels, and just as importantly for Day’s purposes, carried 545 times, which is 99 more than Henderson has had in three seasons. (The heavy workload also helps explain why Judkins chose Ohio State out of the transfer portal. Less wear on the tires due to sharing carries with Henderson means more tread for the NFL).
Judkins knows and relishes the atmospheric expectations he’s entering into at Ohio State.
“At Ole Miss this was the first season (with 11 wins)," he said. “You go 11-1 at Ohio State and everyone is mad. That’s the point of coming here, to win it all.”
Day also correctly determined he needed an experienced and mobile quarterback to replace Kyle McCord after the 2023 starter transferred to Syracuse. Day courted Will Howard, who started 17 games for Kansas State over the past two seasons. Not knowing how well Cotton Bowl starter Devin Brown’s injured ankle would heal, and looking at a QB room that as of Jan. 1 had Brown, Lincoln Kienholz and true freshman Air Noland, it became clear Howard checked the boxes, not least of which was a mental toughness that is a prerequisite of the offensive leader.
Howard addressed the toughness issue Tuesday.
“There’s always going to be hard times,” he said, referring to an up-and-down career at Kansas State that saw him win, lose and win again the starting job. “I’ve just matured and learned so much from those experiences. I feel it’s made me a lot tougher. I’m really hard to break now.”
But Day did not stop at Howard, also adding Alabama five-star signee Julian Sayin out of the portal. Rather than worry his QB room might become contentious, Day is going with a “may the best man win” approach. Blackbeard is not messing around.
Somewhere in there, Day demoted quarterbacks coach Corey Dennis and hired Bill O’Brien as QB coach/offensive coordinator. Here’s predicting the offense takes a step forward next season following a 2023 that saw scoring drop by nearly 15 points a game.
With the quarterback position improved, not just stabilized, it was time to upgrade the offensive line. Of all position groups, the O-line’s struggles are most perplexing. Or not. The problem may come down to a simple lack of talent. Remember when the Buckeyes’ centers, guards and tackles were a consistent strength of the program? No more.
Day sees the same thing, so he snagged Alabama center Seth McLaughlin, who started 25 games for the Crimson Tide over the past three seasons. McLaughlin struggled with multiple off-target snaps in the Rose Bowl loss to Michigan, which he addressed Tuesday.
“I don't think I was really struggling from a mental standpoint. It was just a matter of it would happen,” he said.
The Buckeyes are slotting McLaughlin at center but keeping open the option of moving him to guard if it is a better fit.
Finally, Day looked at his defense – er, Jim Knowles’ defense – and saw an opportunity to go from excellent to elite. And he did just that, thanks again to Saban, whose Jan. 10 exit from Alabama opened the door for more Crimson Players to transfer out.
Say hello to Caleb Downs, an Alabama transfer who immediately – apologies to Jack Sawyer – becomes the Buckeyes’ best tackler. Downs is a beast who grew up studying beasts. He listed Ronnie Lott and Ed Reed as two NFL defensive backs he admires. Both those Hall of Famers brought nastiness to the field, which is exactly what Ohio State needs. Nice guys don’t always finish last, but in football it pays to have at least a handful of players suit up with bad intentions.
As a snarky sports department wordsmith once said: “You don’t want criminals, but the brothers of criminals are a must.”
Day has enjoyed a productive January. He needed to, if he was going to get the boo birds off his back. Now, only 33 days removed from an embarrassing Cotton Bowl loss that capped another season of losing to Michigan, Buckeye Nation has a bounce in its step. Beat the Wolverines. Bring home a Big Ten title. Get fitted for national championship rings. Or bust. And if bust, Day has no one to blame but himself. His January was too good for the Buckeyes to be anything but great in 2024.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ryan Day, Ohio State football faces pressure to win big in 2024
