Category: Ohio State

Summer camp for the Ohio State Buckeyes football team is still months away.

But the quarterback competition for the program has already started. Through spring practices, sophomore signal-caller Julian Sayin is emerging as an early favorite to earn the starting job.

But quarterback explained to On3’s Spencer Holbrook on Wednesday that he isn’t getting caught up in who the public sees as potentially leading the quarterback competition.

“I don’t listen to the outside noise,” Sayin told Holbrook. “I’m just focused on getting better every day, getting ready for Friday’s practice, just improving on practice three.

“I think, kind of like I said before, I’m really just focused on the fundamentals and improving every day and just getting better.

Taking what Coach Day, Coach Mick, and Coach Fessler are bringing to us in the quarterback room.”

Sayin initially signed with the Alabama Crimson Tide as part of the 2024 recruiting class.

But he transferred to Ohio State after Nick Saban retired. Sayin appeared in four games for the Buckeyes last season. The quarterback completed five of 12 attempts for 84 yards with a touchdown.

Early in the quarterback competition but man the way the ball just jumps off the hand of Julian Sayin is just different.

Five-star freshman quarterback Tavien St. Clair is Sayin’s top competition to start for the Buckeyes. Signal-caller Lincoln Kienholz is also returning for the Ohio State quarterback room.

On3 projects Sayin’s NIL value to be $1.1 million entering the 2025 season. That value should only increase if Sayin wins the starting job.

The Ohio State football team’s defensive line coach addressed his future.

The Ohio State football program has had Larry Johnson as their defensive line coach for over a decade now. He’s the only coach on staff (besides Mickey Marotti) who was on staff when the Buckeyes won the national championship in 2014. He’s now won two national titles with the Bucks.

There have been rumors swirling that Johnson still hasn’t decided whether or not he is going to coach this year. Rumors were swirling that if he did come back for this season, it would be his final season. Johnson is someone who has been great at what he does for a while.

Friday morning was the first time that the coaches have been heard from since winning the national championship. Johnson was asked about his future with the team. His answer will make one segment of the Buckeye fanbase happy and one sgement very unhappy.

Johnson doesn’t seem ready to hang it up anytime soon. In fact, he gave an interesting answer when asked about his future with the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Johnson seems like he is going to coach for as long as he can. It might take Ryan Day telling him to go away for him to finally retire. Will that happen next year? It’s unclear. What is clear is that he will be coaching for the Buckeyes this season. He’s still in charge of the defensive line.

A large part of his future could come down to how well he gets along with new defensive coordinator Matt Patricia. If he gets along with Patricia, he might try to stay even longer than just a year. If he doesn’t, this will likely be the last year that he coaches.

At some point, the Buckeyes are going to need a succession plan. They have to get someone who is younger and won’t be negatively recruited by other programs for his age. It’s honestly a bit surprising that he didn’t want to go out on top after winning a national championship.

In an unexpected move, Ryan Day has resigned from his position as the head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team. The announcement, which has sent shockwaves through the college football world, came early on February 12, 2025, following a string of disappointing seasons that saw the Buckeyes fall short of their championship aspirations.

Day, who took over as head coach in 2019, had a successful start, leading Ohio State to a 13-1 season in his first year and guiding them to the College Football Playoff. Under his leadership, the Buckeyes consistently remained at the top of the Big Ten, with multiple conference championships and top-five finishes in the AP Poll. However, the team’s performance in recent years failed to live up to expectations, and an increasing number of fans and analysts called for change.

Sources close to the program suggest that internal pressure from university officials and booster groups may have played a role in Day’s decision to step down. Despite strong recruiting classes and a potent offensive scheme, Ohio State fell short of winning the national title, with key losses to rival Michigan and early exits from the playoff race becoming focal points of criticism.

In his statement, Day expressed gratitude for the opportunity to lead such a storied program and hinted that he was stepping away to explore new opportunities in the coaching world. The university has yet to announce a successor but is expected to begin a national search for a new head coach immediately.

This surprising resignation marks the end of an era for Ohio State, which now faces an uncertain future as it seeks to regain its championship form.

Coming off a national championship, Ohio State quickly saw multiple players announce they were going to the NFL. This was to be expected following the postseason success, but what was not as expected was the turnover the Buckeyes saw on the sidelines.

Ohio State lost both its offensive and defensive coordinators, and saw its offensive line coach leave as well. The Buckeyes spent the first couple weeks after the championship win filling up the coaching staff. With the offensive positions now filled and the defense likely soon to come, Ohio State can start planning on hosting some of the nation’s top recruits.

Spring is quickly approaching, and with that means spring practices with the upcoming roster of Buckeyes as well as spring recruiting camps. These recruiting camps will begin shortly, and some of the nation’s rising stars are already announcing upcoming visits, both official and unofficial with Ohio State.

Below are just some of the recruits to recently announce upcoming visits to Ohio State.

Being from Ohio, Akih has long been familiar with the Buckeyes and their campus. He has visited with Ohio State before and will be coming back in a little over a month for a spring practice on March 17.

Ojo has long been identified as a priority target in the 2026 recruiting class. He is familiar with the Ohio State coaching staff and its campus, last visiting for the Buckeyes’ national championship celebration. He recently told On3 that he will be taking an official visit to Ohio State, but a date has not yet been decided on. What is for sure is his interest in the Buckeyes, as he also said Ohio State is one of his top two schools.

Eleazer is another recruit the Buckeyes have been interested in for some time, having offered him in November of last year. He has shown the potential to become a real pass-rushing threat, and the interest appears to be mutual. Eleazer has scheduled four upcoming official visits and Ohio State made the cut alongside Georgia Tech, Penn State and Virginia Tech.

Like Eleazer, Gebhardt was offered by Ohio State in late November of last year. Since then Ohio State has kept in contact with him and the interest appears to be mutual. Gebhardt scheduled an upcoming official visit with Ohio State on June 5. He will also take an official visit to Clemson and Penn State, but the Buckeyes have to like where they sit currently in his recruitment.

Ohio State recently made the cut for a pair of 2026 prospects. The first was three-star linebacker Jamarion Phillips (Dallas, TX / South Oak Cliff) who listed the Buckeyes in his top 10 alongside Oklahoma, Colorado, Arizona State, SMU, Texas A&M, Baylor, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas.

Ohio State tight end commit Corbyn Fordham recently provided an update on his recruitment, following a strong push from Florida State despite his pledge to the Buckeyes. Fordham, a four-star recruit from Jacksonville, Florida, committed to Ohio State in November 2024, choosing the Buckeyes over a list of schools that included Florida, Georgia, and LSU.

Standing 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, Fordham is known for his ability to both block and catch passes, making him an ideal fit in Ohio State’s tight end-heavy offense. His decision to commit to the Buckeyes has been celebrated, but his recruitment is far from over. Fordham attended Florida State’s junior day on January 18, 2025, signaling that the Seminoles are not backing down in their pursuit.

Florida State’s efforts are significant because of Fordham’s strong ties to the program; his father, Todd Fordham, played for the Seminoles. This connection has made the recruitment more complex, as Florida State hopes to leverage this family legacy to sway his decision.

Despite the continued push from Florida State, Fordham has reaffirmed his commitment to Ohio State. However, his recruitment is still ongoing, and the coming months will be pivotal in determining whether Fordham stays committed to the Buckeyes or if Florida State can convince him to flip. Fordham’s decision will be closely watched as he enters the final stages of his recruitment.

Ryan Day silenced his critics by leading Ohio State to a national title this year, and he now been rewarded for his success.

Ohio State announced in a statement on Thursday that they have agreed to a 7-year contract extension with Day. The new deal will pay Day $12.5 million per year, which makes him the second-highest-paid coach in college football behind only Georgia’s Kirby Smart.

Day’s new contract has incentives that are similar to those in his previous deal, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. The 45-year-old coach earned a $1 million bonus for winning a national championship this season.

Day has gone 70-10 over six seasons at Ohio State since taking over when Urban Meyer stepped down. He has led the Buckeyes to the College Football Playoff four times.

The one big knock on Day is that he is just 1-4 against rival Michigan. Some Buckeyes fans and even former players soured on Day after Ohio State lost to the Wolverines this year. There was even some talk that Day could be fired if the Buckeyes were eliminated in the first round of the College Football Playoff.

Ohio State then went out and bulldozed the competition during the first ever 12-team College Football Playoff. The Buckeyes beat Tennessee, Oregon, Texas and Notre Dame by a combined score of 145-75.

While Day would love to have a better record against Michigan, national championships are far more important. His new long-term contract and salary reflect that.

Ohio State’s offseason has seen no shortage of changes in just two weeks time. With coaching moves on both sides of the ball, there has been virtually zero downtime to enjoy the national championship win, but that’s life in the big city. Ohio State’s staff has been poached by programs both at the NFL and the college level, and that typically means things have gone well.

With Wednesday providing major updates to the offensive coaching staff, the Buckeyes have promoted Brian Hartline to offensive coordinator, hired Virginia Tech’s offensive coordinator Tyler Bowen to coach the offensive line, and also promoted Billy Fessler to the full-time quarterback coach role.

Defensive coordinator being the last vacancy still to be determined, Ryan Day has been busy, and these latest hires are not only impressive, but deserved for the two in-house candidates. The work now really starts for these three in their new roles.

Coaching hires taking majority of the attention and priority this week, Ohio State is still finding time to evaluate players from all over the country. On Wednesday, the Buckeyes sent out their latest offer in the 2026 class by way of New Jersey native, Damari Simeon.

Taking to his social media to share the latest update in his recruitment, Ohio State joins a lengthy list of programs who have already offered the 6-foot-3, 275 pound defensive line prospect. Schools such as Auburn, Florida State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Penn State, Texas, USC, and a host of others ranks as some of the bigger names to enter the mix, but Ohio State now in the fold furthers his case of being a top target.

Unranked currently via his 247Sports profile, the offer list alone goes to prove the caliber of player Simeon is. The goal now will be to have him on campus in the coming months when spring ball gets underway. A visit to come would mean the Buckeyes are very much in the picture, and Larry Johnson tends to do well on the East Coast when he goes after his guys.

It would be an understatement to say Hartline is Ohio State’s top recruiter on the coaching staff. Winning at an all-time rate each and every cycle, it’s his receivers that many times are the top-ranked players in the recruiting class and much of the reason why this offense continues to click at the successful pace seen each season.

Hartline’s deserved promotion to offensive coordinator might be somewhat worrisome for some of the fanbase who wanted a top national hire, but combined with the new addition of Bowen who can help in the run game, the Buckeyes are going to be just fine. That said, while the on-field product is the most important aspect to this promotion, the recruiting wins should only continue as many top targets already gave their support of Hartline getting the nod.

One of the more important recruits of the future, the top player in Ohio State’s 2026 class gave a glowing review of his position coach now having coordinator responsibilities. The No. 5 player nationally and top receiver per the 247Sports Composite grades, Chris Henry Jr. has all of the outlets watching his every move — many times just for clicks — as the Buckeyes are always in the fight of their life to keep their top commits.

Following his recent visit to Oregon, there’s always some sort of talk that Ohio State could be losing their prized recruit to the Ducks or even Michigan by their homer-analysts. This latest news regarding Hartline, however, further helps Ohio State’s chances of hanging on to Henry Jr., as he himself has made it clear that he will be a Buckeye if Hartline will be in Columbus because the chance to be at Ohio State is, “too good to pass up”.

This promotion should further ease much of the worry of Henry Jr. ending up anywhere other than Ohio State.

Quick Hits

Per On3, Ohio State will welcome four-star edge rusher Cam Brooks to campus later this summer when he makes an official visit in Columbus in late June. The No. 89 player nationally and 10th best edge rusher in the 2026 class per the 247Sports Composite, any visit is a big one, but seeing Brooks cancel a trip to Miami in favor of spending time with Ohio State makes this recruitment update that much sweeter.

A rising 4-star wide receiver from Texas has officially locked in an official visit to Ohio State, according to sources. The talented pass-catcher, known for his impressive route running and ability to make big plays, has been garnering attention from top college programs across the country.

This visit to Ohio State is seen as a significant step in his recruitment process, as the Buckeyes have long been a top contender for elite talent at the wide receiver position. Ohio State is known for producing high-caliber receivers who often go on to succeed at the next level, making it an attractive destination for any wideout prospect.

The timing of the visit comes amid growing interest from several high-profile programs, with many hoping to make a lasting impression on the Texas standout. Ohio State, with its strong tradition and championship aspirations, will look to use this visit to showcase what they have to offer in both football and academics.

As his recruitment continues to heat up, this official visit to Ohio State is expected to play a pivotal role in shaping his decision for the future. Stay tuned for more updates as the recruitment process unfolds.

Ohio State coach Ryan Day saw the writing on the wall prior to offensive coordinator Chip Kelly leaving for the Las Vegas Raiders. Opportunities arise after wins and the Buckeyes’ historic run through the expanded College Football Playoff led Kelly for a return to the NFL.

“That was great,” Day said of his relationship with Kelly with Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt. “We talked about the fact that we had a really good group here and the dream would be to win a national championship and then he would have an opportunity to decide whether he wants to stay or go to the NFL. That’s exactly what happened.”

Kelly will be the NFL’s highest-paid coordinator at $6 million annually with the Raiders.

“To be able to have a beer in a few years and talk about the year that we had together is gonna be special,” Day said. “Because we all started together and this is where I started with him and we went and did that. What a great story. I know so many people back home in New Hampshire are excited for him and for the story. It’s pretty special.”

Kelly left UCLA as its head coach for a chance to call plays for the Buckeyes, a move that escalated his chance at getting back to the professional ranks where he previously coached the Philadelphia Eagles.

Day now has to fill both coordinator spots and an offensive line vacancy coming off the historic run in the first year of the expanded College Football Playoff. He presumably has his pick of top candidates as one of the national title frontrunners in 2025.

Ohio State finished fourth in the Big Ten in total offense (429.4 yards per game) and No. 14 nationally in scoring offense (35.7 points per game) under Kelly. It was an improvement from the 407.9 YPG and 30.5 PPG the Buckeyes averaged in 2023. Ohio State averaged 36.3 points in four College Football Playoff games en route to the program’s first national championship since 2014.

Ohio State replaces Will Howard at quarterback along with both of its top rushers, but does return Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate and Brandon Inniss at wide receiver along with promising depth along the offensive line.

If Day does not promote from within offensively, he’ll have his pick of potential options given the quality of job available in Columbus.

Ohio State loses their national championship winning defensive coordinator and will take it in stride.

Jim Knowles left Ohio State for Penn State on the day the Buckeyes celebrated winning the 2024 National Championship in Ohio Stadium. The timing stinks and Knowles’ reasons can only be guessed at the moment. Rumors are many, ranging from an older one about Knowles not getting along with Buckeye defensive line coach Larry Johnson to Ryan Day forcing changes to be made by the defense after the loss at Oregon in October. Regardless of why he’s leaving, Ohio State is going to be just fine.

Whether the Buckeyes hire from within and promote a member of the defensive staff like James Laurinaitis, Tim Walton, or Larry Johnson Sr, or if they get someone currently outside the program like Jeff Hafley, Mike Tressel, or someone else, the Buckeyes will be just fine. Their 2024 season is the proof, and that proof can ironically be found in the Buckeyes hiring offensive coordinator Chip Kelly after the 2023 season.

Bringing Chip Kelly allowed Ryan Day to loosen the reins on the Ohio State offense, to Kelly and Co-Offensive Coordinator Brian Hartline more. While that hit a bump in the road against That Team Up North, it more than paid off in the College Football Playoff.

The reason that means good things for the defense going forward is because it allows head coach Ryan Day to work with the defense more closely, including the defensive coordinator. It’s obvious that he’s worked with the defense more in 2024 than any previous year as a head coach. The changes they made after the Oregon game had Coach Day more involved with the defense.

In his first two seasons, Coach Knowles wouldn’t change even if things were going poorly. Look no further than the final two games of 2022 where they gave up so many big plays with no adjustments made. In 2025, the Buckeyes won’t be starting from scratch like they were in 2022 and that’s because they still have their national championship-winning head coach directing them. The offense, defense, and the entire Buckeye team are Ryan Day’s.