Ohio State added former Penn State head coach and Patriots OC Bill O'Brien to its offensive staff, as the Buckeyes aggressively chase a 2024 national championship.
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00:00 You know, to your point about Ryan trying to become maybe more CEO-like, we haven't
00:06 heard Ryan say the words publicly, "I'm giving up play calling."
00:11 But as we kind of move our conversation here toward Bill O'Brien, polarizing hire in the
00:18 fan base maybe, some fans might love it, some fans might say, "Well, what has he really
00:23 accomplished other than maybe a couple good years in New England with the greatest quarterback
00:28 of all time?"
00:30 I think Bill O'Brien did a pretty good job at Penn State, all things considered at that
00:34 point.
00:35 And actually, I thought he did a really nice job at Alabama working with Bryce Young.
00:40 I think Ryan Day got exactly the kind of guy he needed to get.
00:44 I always wanted him to bring in a Jim Knowles-type guy, somebody who's kind of in like the prime
00:53 middle of his coaching career with a ton of experience but still a lot of runway in front
00:58 of him, who can basically be the head coach of the offense and allow Ryan a chance to
01:05 step back and be the head coach.
01:11 And I think it's, if you look at the highest levels of college football and of the NFL,
01:20 especially lately, there are not many coaches that call plays as a head coach that go and
01:27 win a national championship or go on and win a Super Bowl.
01:30 It's very, very difficult to do.
01:33 And if you do it, you need to have somebody that can handle all of the other head coach
01:38 responsibilities.
01:39 And I just sort of feel like as we've watched this thing unfold now, without a generational
01:45 talent like Justin Fields or like CJ Stroud at quarterback, you saw Ohio State have a
01:51 really productive offense last year, but not an, oh my God, unbelievable offense.
01:58 And so assuming that it's really difficult to hit that level so regularly, let somebody
02:06 else be in charge of calling plays, which frankly is exhausting on game day.
02:12 And be involved in the game plan throughout the week, be a part of the quarterback development,
02:20 but like when you are the face of Ohio State football, man, there are so much that has
02:25 your attention.
02:27 It's gotta be difficult to do all that stuff at a high level and prepare for Maryland or
02:32 Nebraska or whatever.
02:34 Like I like to hire, I really do.
02:37 - Yeah, it's really a play caller's responsibility is honestly, it's pretty insane because you're
02:44 out there, right?
02:45 And think of it from a head coach's perspective, okay?
02:47 Ryan day's, I'm sure, maybe not so much last year with Jim Knowles, but like timeouts go
02:53 through Ryan day, referee discussions go through Ryan day, everything on the sidelines goes
02:58 through Ryan day.
02:59 And when the offense is on the sidelines, offensive coordinators and position coaches
03:02 are meeting with the quarterback, the running back, the wide receivers, what are you seeing?
03:06 What are we doing?
03:07 How can we attack this?
03:08 And they're generating a game plan.
03:10 Those are the adjustments that you can't have when you need to call a timeout.
03:15 And sometimes the timeouts go through the coach and he's gotta go back and forth.
03:18 Like game day responsibilities of a head coach of an offensive coordinator are two polar
03:22 opposites and it's really hard to marry the two.
03:25 So I think it's fantastic.
03:26 And what I did, I went this morning, when we were talking about getting ready for the
03:31 show today, just went back and watched some of the Bryce Young highlights.
03:35 Obviously they were the good plays, but a couple of things came to mind.
03:38 First, Seth McLaughlin was his center there.
03:43 So it's not huge, but there's still that sense of, hey, there's that familiarity with him
03:49 obviously coming in as a new transfer.
03:51 And a fun nugget, the last game of their 2022 season was against Kansas State, which Will
03:56 Howard was the quarterback of that game.
03:57 He had a tough day that day, but everyone did against Alabama in those years.
04:01 But just that offense he was running, it pains me that Marvin Harrison's not gonna be there.
04:08 Marvin Harrison Jr. isn't gonna be back with us, 'cause it's kind of like tailor-made for
04:11 him.
04:12 So it's built pretty good, where it's built off the run game.
04:16 You got huge opportunities for big plays, but then you have that element of an NFL-style
04:20 offense in the intermediate game, where it's, hey, it's not just drop back, run around,
04:26 get lucky, and find an open guy.
04:27 It's structured routes, structured stuff.
04:29 So I think from an X's and O's standpoint, he's an awesome guy.
04:32 But I think that his body of work to this point, you mentioned Penn State, and he's
04:38 seen a lot of things, and he's gonna be a huge asset to Ryan Day and to this entire
04:43 program.
04:45 I am not surprised, but I am impressed, and I think a lot of people are, with Ohio State's
04:55 operation here this offseason.
04:58 Because there was an awful lot of heat on Ryan Day three weeks ago.
05:08 I think the best way to say this is this program is operating as though the fire alarm's going
05:14 off.
05:15 And I think they need to.
05:17 I'm just glad to see it happening.
05:20 A couple changes on the coaching staff, whether you liked them or not, whether you thought
05:23 they were coming or not, nice to see.
05:27 Because I think they've brought the right people in.
05:29 I like Matt Guerrero.
05:30 I like what he did here, and I'm not surprised he left for a good gig.
05:34 But glad he's coming back.
05:36 I like Bill O'Brien.
05:39 Ohio State still has one more opening on its coaching staff, because the expectation is
05:45 that Corey Dennis is gonna transition from being a full-time quarterback's coach to another
05:50 role within the program.
05:53 But you still have a coaching vacancy with Parker Fleming being let go.
05:58 That hasn't been filled.
06:02 I don't want to just simply assume that it's gonna be James Laronitis, but I think there's
06:07 been a lot of pointing that direction that that may happen.
06:13 Whatever that actually looks like, we'll find out.
06:16 I just think having James in a position where he can regularly recruit and be an even louder
06:23 voice in that room, I think is really important, because he is the kind of guy you need in
06:28 that room as a Buckeye.
06:31 And I think, too, to what you were saying early, they've gone, chips on the table.
06:36 They've had a great start to this offseason, and everything's coming together really nicely.
06:41 And we'll get to this when the season rolls around, but it's just going to amplify the
06:45 pressure that they felt at the end of last season.
06:48 And now it's like, hey, we did it.
06:49 We put everything we had.
06:51 We've got the roster.
06:52 We got the coaches.
06:53 Now it's showtime.
06:54 Now we gotta go and do it.
06:56 And obviously, when the rubber meets the road in August and September, we'll find that out.
07:00 But to this point, it's like, hey, you land whoever it is to fill that last position,
07:07 and then it's all systems go towards another great season next year.
07:12 And even continuing, I guess, I don't know that I thought two years ago, and maybe even
07:21 last year, that Ohio State was going to get here now with the NIL stuff.
07:28 They have spent eight figures, for sure, this offseason, not just in the guys they've brought
07:35 in, but in convincing 10, 11, 12 players to stay.
07:41 I'm sure they've put good packages together for those guys.
07:46 You are loading up, without a sliver of a doubt, for one big run this year.
07:51 That's not to say they couldn't be good in '25, but ultimately, it's going to come down
07:56 to quarterback play.
07:57 Will Howard or Devin Brown or Lincoln Kienholz, whoever wins that job, we assume it's going
08:02 to be Will Howard, but if Devin goes out and balls out in camp, and Will plays fine, I
08:09 don't know that it's a guarantee that Will's the guy.
08:13 But if you can get high-level quarterback play with the talent that's there on offense
08:19 and with what you've got on defense, assuming the offensive line is going to be better next
08:23 year, I know the Buckeyes didn't land Caden Proctor.
08:28 I'm sure they would have liked to have done that, but I still think they've gotten better
08:31 on the offensive line here in the offseason.
08:35 This team feels like a juggernaut, and most people would have watched Ohio State at the
08:40 end of the year last year and thought, "Yeah, they're probably good enough to make the playoff
08:44 next year.
08:45 They'll be a top-12 team in the country, but that's about it."
08:49 I don't know many people feel that way right now.