As the first defending national champion coach to field questions at Big Ten Media Days since his predecessor did so in 2015, Ryan Day had a crowd eagerly awaiting his take on how the Buckeyes are preparing to defend their title. In his initial comments, however, Day mentioned that the Buckeyes are not defending anything in 2025, but rather, they are attacking.
While praising Ohio State fans, players, and families, Day turned his attention to 2025 and what Ohio State is working with to secure another national championship. The Texas game kicks off in 38 days, and Day is focused on “attacking” 2025.
“We’re not defending national champions, because we’re not defending anything. They can’t take the trophy away. We’re looking to attack and win a championship with this team. That started this off-season, and it’s continuing through July. I think we’ve had a great off-season, but now we need to have a great August as we head to this first game against Texas.”
He echoed what we reported on March 20: “His leaders have the same mentality. The new crop of leaders on the team actually told Day that they wanted to remove some of the national championship stuff around the facility. They believe ‘this year’s team didn’t win that championship, last year’s team did.'”
Ryan Day is “Attacking” 2025. Other Notes From Big Ten Media Days
The Best is Yet to Come
Three Buckeyes traveled to Las Vegas with Day to represent Ohio State: Jeremiah Smith, Caleb Downs, and Sonny Styles. Each player is a standout in his own right, but it was Smith who was the center of two separate questions.
When asked what the next step for Smith would be in 2025, considering how good his true freshman season was, Day remarks that we’ve never seen a player of this caliber. Despite being a younger player (sidenote: Day shared a story about how Smith, Downs, and Styles could not check into the hotel because none of the trio is 21), Smith is the first guy to run through drills and leads by example. Too often, we see superstars – notably, superstar receivers – experience success and then fall off the deep end. To this point, Smith is still a head-down, nose-to-the-grindstone player.
Day also mentioned that Smith has gotten bigger, stronger, and faster.
Additionally, Smith’s comments about losing The Game resurfaced. At the beginning of the month, the sophomore reaffirmed his hatred for The Team Up North and vowed he would not lose to them again while he’s in Columbus. Day commented on Smith’s competitive edge and praised him for his authenticity:
“He expects to win every single game. He expects to win every drill he’s in. That’s just the way he’s wired. So when you ask a question, you’re going to get a genuine, authentic response from Jeremiah. And I think the guys feed off of that. And you know, when he tells you something, you can believe it. There’s no reading between the lines with him. He’s going to tell you exactly. He may not be a man of many words, but when he says something, you’re listening, and we’re all listening, and he’s the ultimate competitor.”
Defensive Continuity
Another popular topic at Big Ten Media Days was the coaching changes Day had to navigate after the title game. The Buckeyes replaced defensive coordinator Jim Knowles with former NFL Head Coach Matt Patricia, offensive coordinator Chip Kelly with wide receiver coach (and former offensive coordinator in name only) Brian Hartline, and offensive line coach Justin Frye with Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Tyler Bowen.
Day started off by mentioning that there is still a lot of work to do on the defensive side of the ball. Despite that, he’s “very excited” about what Patricia is doing with the unit that must replace eight starters. Even though Patricia is coming in, Day highlighted the need to remain consistent. “You know, we wanted to keep continuity there, and that’s was one of the reasons it took, took us a long time, the very thorough process and hiring Matt, you know, when you look at Tim, Larry and James and Matt Marie, these guys were a huge part of what we did last year on defense, and so we want to keep that continuity. We want to run the Ohio State defense, and Matt was willing to embrace that.”
Day praised Patricia for his ability to put guys into advantageous situations, harkening back to his days as the New England Patriots defensive coordinator. If there is any concern about Day’s confidence on the defensive side, he dispelled it with two, “I’m fired up” comments.
Not Missing a Step on Offense
As for the offense, Day specifically looked for an offensive line coach with coordinator experience to help Hartline, hence the Bowen hire. He will help with the run game as Hartline’s experience is in the passing game. All in all, Day reiterated that Ohio State will run its offense similarly to how it did in the past. Kelly had a numbering system to help identify things, and Day has carried that over to this season. Ultimately, Day is confident in Hartline because, at the end of the day, it’s about more than calling plays:
“I think being a coordinator, the easiest thing to do at times is call plays. The challenge is the organization of the scripts of the staff, the individual drills, making sure that we’re putting players in a position to be successful, maximizing our personnel, and making adjustments in-game. These are all the things that are very important as a coordinator. So I think that’s just a natural progression for him. Working in and with Tyler up front, I think, is a good combination.”
Day also reiterated that the quarterback battle between Julian Sayin and Lincoln Kienholz is still neck-and-neck. As expected, Day will continue to keep it close to the vest until such a time that one player pulls away. With a tough Week 1 opponent, Ohio State will need to make a decision and get everyone on the same page as quickly as possible.
Main Photo: Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images
