Ryan Day expressed his gratitude for the way the Ohio State administration has supported the program's NIL efforts. It's certainly helped them acquire and retain some of the best players in the country.
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00:00 >> It's a new experience to have like SEC coaches accusing Ohio State of
00:05 having too much money or spending too much money.
00:08 Comfortable with that?
00:11 Did you find that weird to bring it up the old comments from two years ago about
00:15 the payroll and size of all that?
00:17 >> Well, I just think recruiting is always gonna be competitive.
00:22 It is and so that's just kind of how it goes and
00:26 we're always trying to bring in the best talent we possibly can.
00:30 But also the right culture fit for Ohio State and I've said this before,
00:34 don't just bring anybody in here.
00:37 But all these guys wanted to be here.
00:39 I think that's probably the most significant.
00:41 Caleb wanted to be here, Quenshawn wanted to be here, Will wanted to be here.
00:45 These weren't situations where certainly you have to recruit,
00:50 but we want guys who wanna be here because in the portal nowadays,
00:55 if they don't like it, they can just leave.
00:56 So a big part of that is opening up our doors and
01:00 our players, really recruiting our guys.
01:02 And that's really where I think over time, we've built a culture of development.
01:08 We've built a culture where guys enjoy being with each other and
01:11 that kind of recruits itself over time.
01:13 And so we're counting on that to continue to build us some momentum in the future.
01:17 But we know recruiting is very, very competitive and it's our job as coaches,
01:22 certainly as the head coach, to acquire as much talent as you can.
01:26 And then go develop it.
01:28 >> In line with the same philosophy, it feels like that you've always had.
01:33 Is there a change in your, I guess the field is like, well,
01:37 I was being more aggressive and maybe that's not the right term for it.
01:40 The size of the class is not different than a year ago, as you said.
01:43 Is there administrative support?
01:46 Is there different NIL support?
01:48 Is there a different mentality for you that went into?
01:51 Because it does feel different this year,
01:55 even though you're describing the same thing you have from years past.
01:58 >> I think the administration's been unbelievable.
02:01 I think Gene's been great, and certainly had conversations with Ross.
02:06 And President Carter has been great.
02:08 And so that's been huge to have that type of support has always been great.
02:14 But I just think that across college football right now,
02:18 it's just a very unique situation when you see some of the coaching changes.
02:22 And then we ended up adding three guys from Alabama.
02:25 Just there's a lot going on right now.
02:28 And so our guys, again, I think it all goes back though to our players coming back.
02:34 There's nothing more important than that.
02:36 And so we can talk about the recruiting, we can talk about NIL,
02:40 we can talk about all that.
02:41 But ultimately, you had a bunch of guys who wanted to come back and
02:44 finish a bunch of business that wasn't finished at the end of last year.
02:47 And maybe the guys across the country recognize that.
02:50 They see our guys, they wanna be part of our program because of these guys.
02:56 And I can't give them enough credit because to me, I know we've added some
02:59 pieces, but the guys who decided to come back, to me, that's the real story.
03:02 >> How much larger was that group of guys coming back than you would have
03:06 projected?
03:06 >> I don't know.
03:11 I don't know. I always felt like Marv was a top five pick and
03:14 that was probably gonna happen.
03:16 Although that wasn't a done deal right out of the gate either.
03:20 I think it's hard when you work so hard towards your goals and
03:23 you come up short to just walk away from it.
03:27 And I think that goes to show you not only how competitive our guys are, but
03:31 how much they recognize what being a Buckeye is.
03:35 And how much they wanna be able to come back into this building when they're older
03:37 and be proud of winning championships and being on the walls and
03:41 all those types of things.
03:42 And so I think that's really what it came down to in the end.
03:48 Could these some of these guys have gone on to the NFL?
03:50 Yeah, they could have and they probably would have been drafted fairly high.
03:54 And so when you have a bunch of guys like that,
03:56 that shows a lot about the character of these guys and
03:59 how much they've embraced being in Columbus, being Buckeyes.
04:03 Cuz some of them are from Ohio, like Jack and some of the guys, but
04:07 like not all of them.
04:09 They're from different parts of the country.
04:11 But I think having the guys from Ohio, they understand what it means to be
04:15 a Buckeye and that's their job to make sure they understand the rivalry.
04:19 But now they've lived it, they know what it's like.
04:22 And that's different when you're Donovan Jackson coming from Houston or
04:25 you're JT coming from Seattle.
04:28 Now, after a couple years of being in the rivalry and being at Ohio State and
04:32 coming up short, you wanna leave here with something in your pocket,
04:36 something you're proud of.
04:38 And I think that's what's reverberating for the building