I follow most of the OSU beatwriters and I haven’t seen that rumored… The rumor out there is that Julian Sayin is a much better passer than expected from a true freshman, but he is still solidly behind Will Howard/Devin Brown. Howard and Sayin are both still only 2.5 weeks into learning a new offense - they will likely show better grasp of it by Fall camp.
Sayin has looked like he has passed Lincoln Kienholz as QB3 though, and Kienholz will likely jump into the transfer portal as a result (rumored to have shared interest with Iowa).
FWIW; seems like this is a hire to replace former QC analyst, Joe Philbin (former Miami Dolphins HC), who was hired away by the LV Raiders recently.
Philbin was brought in by Brian Hartline last year to assist with OL coaching, and someone that Hartline trusted from their shared time in Miami. Drevno will likely take over that role and assist with OL coaching.
An ironic hire for sure, but ultimately probably a small overall impact in recruiting. Just another experience coach to help with film breakdown and etc.
I wouldn’t have minded if McCord had stayed, but not that confident he was going to get much better.
McCord improved a lot from Week 1 to Week 6, but hit a pretty hard ceiling afterwards. He was still locking into 1-2 receivers during the game, would make panicked throws, and his pocket awareness/instinct was below expectations for a 3rd year player.
There’s definitely a chance that another full offseason could have produced a more polished player - but if McCord wanted a guarantee to be a starter to stay, then I think Ryan Day did right by him to tell him that there’s a decent chance he wouldn’t be a starter next year. McCord would have been competing with a RsSo. Devin Brown, and a RsFr. Lincoln Kienholz. I don’t blame McCord either for not risking his final year of eligibility on potentially being a backup.
Ezekiel Elliott was recruited by current Temple HC Stan Drayton.
There were some post-bowl game rumors that Alford, who was in a contract year, was unlikely to be retained. Unclear why, but he was a little bit of an inconsistent recruiter where he came up empty-handed for a few seasons (i.e. Bijan Robinson to ironically Stan Drayton at Texas).
Truly felt like Chip Kelly wanted out for multiple reasons, but most prominently being rumored is his distain for recruiting and NIL management/fund-raising. People have said Kelly refused to schmooze the big-time boosters/donors, and didn't like the year-round recruiting schedule.
Ryan Day has shown he is comfortable allowing his coordinator (i.e. Jim Knowles) to focus almost entirely on game-planning and play-calling, and being minimally involved in recruiting. Plus, Co-OC Brian Hartline can likely shoulder the majority of the offensive recruiting efforts.
It has been widely rumored that Chip Kelly desperately wanted out of being a college head coach because he absolutely hated college recruiting + the new element of NIL management too (i.e. like Jeff Hafley at BC).
Ryan Day has already shown with Jim Knowles that he is comfortable with his main coordinator not being an active recruiter. Knowles only really meets recruit during on-campus visit, and travels minimally for recruiting. Otherwise, Knowles main and really only job is game-planning and defensive scheming.
It is likely that Day and Kelly came to a similar agreement. Offensive scheming, game-planning and play-calling as his top priority, and minimal recruiting responsibilities.
For those unaware… Bill O’ Brien’s son has a rare genetic/neurologic condition - So being near by a top-notch pediatric care center is a priority to him.
While Nationwide Children’s in Columbus is regularly recognized as a top-10 pediatric hospital - Boston’s Children is in the top-3, and the O’Briens likely already have pre-established care and relationships there from BoB’s multiple stints with the Patriots. It wouldn’t surprise me that Ryan Day is facilitating the BC move for BoB given that Day is still well-connected with Boston College.
IIRC, Alex Boone also struggled with alcoholism during the first few seasons in the NFL. He cleaned up his act/went sober, but also transitioned from OT to OG. Boone seemed to be a better fit at guard and gave up trying to be a tackle.
I see this as a 2025 QB battle between Ryan Day’s guy (Air Noland) and Bill O’Brien’s guy (Julian Sayin). BoB was Sayin’s primary recruiter at Alabama for 2 years, so he probably advocated hard to get Sayin in the class as well.
Next season is going to be telling on how much Day allows BoB to change the offense. Will it be BoB’s base offense + Day’s influence or… Day’s base offense + BoB’s influence?
I imagine it’ll be similar to the Ryan Day/Kevin Wilson relationship where the offense was Day’s vision, but Kevin Wilson was allowed to tweak it as much as he wanted.
If competition is the motivation for transferring, I doubt Noland would choose a school like UGA that also took another top-10 QB recruit in Ryan Puglisi in the same class.
More likely that Devin Brown (RsSo.) transfers if he officially loses the QB battle in the spring to Will Howard.
In any case, I don’t think anyone was expecting either Noland or Sayin to start next season as true freshmen.
Ohio State actually just fired their Safeties coach Perry Eliano primarily due to his reputation as a poor recruiter. He's been an above-average on-field coach, but he has gone 2 full recruiting cycles without bringing in any of his top recruiting targets.
This past class was particularly rough because Ohio State looked to be on the inside track with KJ Bolden (5*, #1 S, #14 OVR) - KJ is Eliano's cousin's son, and the Bolden family even made several comments about being very eager/comfortable with KJ being coached by "family." But in the end Eliano fumbled the recruitment, and Bolden ended up at UGA.
Right now, there's only 1 underclassman (S Malik Hartford) that seems poised/ready to start if called upon. So the room under Eliano was trending to become really thin, really fast... Hence his firing.
I'm assuming you meant this interview by "The QB Room"
If so, I don't think McCord ever explicitly said that he was told to transfer by Ryan Day. The direct quote was:
“You guys know it just as well as I do, at the end of the day, the top level of college football and then especially onto the pros, it’s a business. At the end of the day, Ohio State had to make a business decision that they felt was best for them, and I had to do the same thing, and unfortunately it just wasn’t meant to be for next year."
That as direct as McCord was willing to answer that question during the podcast. There was "insiders" that said McCord and his father (Derek McCord) met with Ryan Day the Saturday after the Michigan game, and asked for a guarantee that Kyle would be the starting QB for his senior year (2024-2025). Day was unwilling to commit to that guarantee, but did say that McCord would be the leading candidate in the competition for the following season. How true that conversation actually was, we will never know... but whatever the case, McCord was not willing to bet on himself staying the starter at Ohio State, and he only had 1 season of eligibility left, so he had to make a "business decision" to find that guarantee elsewhere.
Idk, staffing changes don’t really move the needle for me at this point.
One of the things I like about Ryan Day over Urban Meyer is Day’s ability to separate personal relationships with work relationships. Meyer held onto under-performing staff for way too long due to his nepotism practices [i.e. Zach Smith (grandson of Urban's mentor), Bill Davis (literal best man at Urban's wedding)].
Since taking over as HC, Day has made major staffing changes almost every offseason:
2019:
Fires co-DCs Greg Schiano, Alex Grinch
Brings in Co-DCs Jeff Hafley & Greg Mattison, Co-OC/QB coach Mike Yurcich
2020:
Brings in co-DC Kerry Coombs to replace Jeff Hafley
Fires Co-OC/QB coach Mike Yurcich
2021:
Promotes Parker Fleming to STC
Demotes Kerry Coombs midseason to co-DC, elevates Matt Barnes to Co-DC
2022:
Fires Co-DCs Kerry Coombs, Matt Barnes, LB coach Al Washington, OL coach Greg Studwara
Brings in DC Jim Knowles, OL coach Justin Frye, S coach Perry Eliano, CB coach Tim Walton
2024:
Fires STC Parker Fleming, S coach Eliano, demote QB coach Corey Dennis
Brings in lead OC/QB coach BoB, S coach Matt Guerrieri
Ryan Day's MO has been pretty consistent as a head coach, he gives you two full seasons to turn in results. If Day does not think you are carrying your weight by the end of your 2nd full season, then your time on his staff is up.
Replacing QB coach Corey Dennis with OC/QB coach BoB. Dennis was a really decent recruiter, but the on-field QB coaching has always been Ryan Day - whether that is because of Dennis’s inexperience with the position, or Day’s insistence to be QB coach. This moves helps to off-load the QB coaching to someone that has a proven track record.
McCord transferring because he only has 1 year to eligibility left and didn’t want to spend it at a program where he could potentially lose a starting role
Firing STC Parker Fleming, who has had 3 years of aggressively average ST play. This year was particularly bad because there were a lot of technical and schematic gaffes on special teams that shouldn’t be the case with a full-time dedicated STC.
Replacing S coach Perry Eliano with Matt Guerrieri (IU DC) - Admittedly, this was not my favorite move. Safety play was a strength of the defense the last couple of seasons, but Eliano by all accounts has been a very weak recruiter. He has missed on every major recruiting target the last two cycles and one of them was KJ Bolden, who is Eliano’s cousin’s son. Bolden said that playing for family was a huge advantage, but somehow Eliano still couldn’t seal the deal.
Mixed reviews, but I am of the opinion that this is a pretty solid hire.
Ryan Day's top priority was to find an seasoned OC/QB coach that had play-calling experience, could take over the offense almost completely, and would have the time to mentor co-OC Brian Hartline.
I think last season's departure of OC Kevin Wilson to Tulsa was incredibly impactful, and very evident this year. Within the program, people had always referred to Wilson as the "architect" and Day as the "innovator" of the offensive game plan - meaning Day would be the one that came up with creative plays, but Wilson was the one that implement them and made sure they would fit well in the scheme. Wilson was also the primary game-script coach, which allowed Day to be a better game-day play-caller. These were not roles that a first-time OC in Brian Hartline could take over immediately in his first year in the role ever, which meant the bulk of that offensive work got shifted to Ryan Day this season.
Now with BoB, Day once again has a grizzled/seasoned vet that knows how to independently operate an offense and implement his own scheme/vision. Whether or not they'll have the same symbiotic working relationship as Day/Wilson remains to be seen, but overall not disappointed in this hire. It'll likely be Ryan Day's base offense with Bill O'Brien's twists/style added in.
There's relatively clear answers for most of these:
Who is going to replace JTT (assuming he is gone)?
This year, Jack Sawyer and JTT got the lion's share of the DE snaps, but 3rd in the rotation was Kenyatta Jackson Jr. (RsFr.), and 4th was Caden Curry (So.) - So likely those two will enter into the rotation heavily opposite of Jack Sawyer if JTT doesn't return.
Who is going to step up at DT?
This year, the DT rotation was anchored by Tyliek Williams (RsSo.), and the 2nd DT spot was a rotation between Mike Hall (Jr.)/Ty Hamilton (RsJr.). Williams & Hamilton committed to coming back, so likely both will remain the starters. The 3rd DT spot will likely be Tywone Malone (RsFr.), a recent dual-sport athlete (football, baseball) that transferred from Ole Miss to Ohio State to focus solely on football now.
Who is going to play LB?
Tommy Eichenberg's backup was Cody Simon (RsJr.) this season. Simon filled in for multiple games due to Eichenberg's injuries this season, and did relatively well in the MLB role. Steele Chambers will be replaced by C.J. Hicks (RsSo.) at OLB.
Howard is a lateral move. OL is still trash.
Howard was likely the coaching staff transfer target because of his mobility and ability to help mitigate the play of the O-Line, if needed. That said, they will probably make some adjustment to the O-Line this offseason as well.
They are returning 4/5 starters in LT Josh Simmons, RT Josh Fryar, LG Donovan Jackson, and C Carson Hinzman. They are also adding in veteran transfer OG/C in Seth McLaughlin. In all likelihood, Hinzman and McLaughlin will both compete for the Center position, and the loser will get shifted to RG to replace departing senior OG Matt Jones. -- If the starters are set, then they can focus on developing the depth behind them, which was a huge area of weakness this year. The drop-off from the starting OL to the 2nd team was drastic and downright embarrassing.
Probably a long time coming, last season there was a call for Ryan Day to start delegating more offensive coaching responsibilities and focus more on being a CEO-type head coach. Since taking over as head coach, Day maintained his offensive play-calling responsibilities, and is heavily involved in QB coaching still on a day-to-day basis. After the departure of long-time OC Kevin Wilson to be Tulsa's HC, and promotion of first-time OC Brain Hartline, I think Day was definitely stretched thinner trying to fill/support all 3 roles (HC, OC, and QB coach) this season.
Current QB coach, Corey Dennis, is known as a great recruiter, but always has been a confusing fit at QB coach due to his background as a former GaTech triple-option WR as a player. It is likely the bulk of the actual QB coaching is from Ryan Day. Dennis is a hold-over from the end of the Urban Meyer era (also happens to be Urban's son-in-law), and his contract is set to expire at the end of January, and it is unlikely to be renewed for 2024-2025.
Special teams coordinator, Parker Fleming is also the other coach rumored to be let go. Under Meyer, the special teams coaching was taken on by Urban Meyer himself, but Fleming was promoted internally to STC in 2021. Since then the special teams has been below average-to-average at best. Players line up in illegal formations, they miscommunicate on trick plays, and other execution mistakes. Many teams can get by without a full-time STC, and it seems strange to retain one that hasn't been able to build a strong special team (especially at the cost of a potential defensive asst. coach).
Who knows if any of the rumors are true though, despite Day readily making coaching changes on the defensive side of the ball almost every season, he has been slow to make any changes on the offensive side. I'll believe it when I actual see it.
TBH - unsure, but Hinzman didn't enter the transfer portal with ample time to do it.
Right now due to the extra free COVID year, Ohio State is in a scholarship crunch to hit the NCAA-mandated 85 scholarship limit.. They sit at 84 scholarship players with 22 freshmen incoming from the newest recruiting class, but I don't think an already thin OL is where Day and the coaches will look to free up scholarships.
Is it paywalled? Because all of Bill Kurelic's recent tweets and article just generically call McLaughlin an "interior offensive lineman" transfer.
I wouldn't doubt that McLaughlin will have an opportunity to battle Hinzman for the starting Center job, but it just isn't the most pressing need on O-Line right now. Ohio State will be graduating senior starting RG Matt Jones this season, and starting LG Donovan Jackson (Jr.) is expected to declare for the NFL draft. So from a needs standpoint, OG is much more of a priority than Center.
It isn't just the O-Line - Insiders have said that Ryan Day doesn't put effort into obtaining "large NIL contract" with the various NIL collectives. Day's goal with NIL has been to get existing players on the roster all a cut, and last year had supposedly secured at least a 5-figure NIL deal for every player on the roster (apparently at least $30,000/year for each player).
Day has been hands-off with NIL collectives on putting together the multi-million deals for select players, but he also doesn't actively work against them it just hasn't been where he puts his focus.
I've only seen McLaughlin being considered as a OG to replaced departing senior RG Matt Jones.
It would be surprising that C Carson Hinzman would lose the starting Center job completely despite the "shadow suspension" from the podcast interview. Carson Hinzman partial won the job this season because he was a freshman who competed with an upperclassman in Vic Cutler Jr., so the coaching staff went with the younger guy in the hope of longer-term stability at the position.
Overall, seems to be a less accurate passer, but a much more dynamic athlete/runner compared to McCord.
Worth noting as well, that Howard's best receiver at Kansas State this season was TE Ben Sinnott (Jr.) who had 49 receptions, 676 yards, and 6 TD -- His best WR was Phillips Brooks (Sr.) 53/589/5 TDs.
Yes, publicly Ryan Day said that Hinzman was having a rough bowl prep practice and felt like it was better to shuffle the OL around for the Cotton Bowl.
Timing-wise though, Hinzman recently spoke very candidly on a podcast interview that likely got him suspended. Hinzman said that Ohio State’s NIL system hasn’t been able to compete with programs in the south (i.e. Miami, UGA, UT). He said that Ohio State lost out on a high-profile OL recruit to a southern program that offered that recruit a $1 million NIL deal, and nobody on Ohio State starting OL makes anywhere close to that in NIL this season.
What Hinzman said has kind of tracked with what insiders have been reporting about Ohio State’s NIL system though… Supposedly Ryan Day hasn’t really prioritized getting huge NIL deals done, but has instead tried to get every player some form of NIL money and has gotten every player on the roster at least a 5-figure NIL contract thru the various collectives.
Early word is that Ohio State is primarily looking at McLaughlin as an OG. They are guaranteed to lose their starting RG Matt Jones (Sr.), and projected to likely lose their starting LG Donovan Jackson (Jr.) to the NFL draft.
The starting C Carson Hinzman is a freshman, so would be a little surprising if he loses his job entirely (never say never though).
IIRC, MHJr. did not say that Michigan’s defense was the most complex, but his actual quote was saying he hadn’t been doubled covered as consistently all season. As in, Michigan chose to send a CB/Safety combo with MHJr. all game regardless of where Harrison was lining up in the formation.
other Big Ten teams would defend Harrison depending on where in the formation he was lining up… Michigan decided to just keep two guys on him regardless of the formation.
The “official reason” Quinn Ewers gave to the media was that he was “home-sick” and that the Midwest was just too different for him to feel comfortable/he was a “Texas boy” at heart.
In terms of playing time and eligibility, Ewers purposely re-classified for a year earlier, so if he was upset that he’d have to sit behind CJ Stroud for 2 years instead of 1, that’s really his own doing…
The previous OL coach at OSU, Greg Studwara, really phoned it in on the recruiting trail during his last 3-4 seasons. He was never an elite recruiter, but the ended his tenure he was known as a pretty lazy recruiter and saddled our current OL coach with a thin room in terms of depth.
I wouldn’t fault Henderson for choosing either direction. I don’t think the decision is as clear-cut for him.
The 2nd half of this season showed that when fully healthy, Henderson is a top-tier RB, but he has essentially had 1.5 seasons worth of play taken from him at this point.
Last season, Henderson played thru a broken foot and he said it was extremely painful to drive his legs thru hits or to accelerate like he wanted too. If he heals up fully and stays, he has a chance to show he isn’t just elite speed, but has some power/short-yardage ability in his repertoire as well.
It is definitely a gamble, so he might still declare... but if he thinks he's a Day 1 talent vs. a risky Day 3 draft pick, then he could be making much more:
Illinois's Chase Brown was drafted on Day 3 and signed a ~$4.1 million/4-year contract with $286,156 in guaranteed money.
Texas's Bijan Robinson was a Day 1 pick, and signed a ~$22 million/4-year contract that is fully guaranteed.
The gamble may even be worth being Day 2 pick, Zach Charbonnet's contract was ~$6.9 million/4-year and $3.8 million of it was guaranteed.
Depending on Henderson's NIL situation, he's probably fine making the gamble to get a dramatic increase in guaranteed money for his rookie contract.
A few reporters on the beat are saying that due TreyVeon Henderson’s injury history, he did not receive the draft grade/projection that he wanted and he is leaning towards coming back to hopefully prove that he can put together a full season.
Henderson’s two major injuries were relatively unrelated to each other - Last season, he played in a broken foot that he got surgically repaired during the offseason - This season it was an unnamed “upper body injury” during the Notre Dame game that lost him a good chunk of games.
I would assume that if Fleming stayed he would be guaranteed the same/similar role that he held the last two seasons as WR3. I imagine a combination of Brandon Innis and Carnell Tate are going to replace MHJr./Egbuka’s roles.
Fleming can likely thrive as a WR1 elsewhere like Jameson Williams did when he went to Alabama (or Sam Wiglusz to a certain degree at Ohio University).
Sad to see Julian Fleming go, and wish him the best. He has been one of the grittiest players on the team, and a great leader by example.
Fleming came in as a highly-rated recruit, but suffered repeated shoulder injuries since the end of his high school career. He’s had so many surgeries on his shoulders now that he often jokes they are held together by duct tape.
Last season, Fleming said he had to just change his mentality about waiting to be fully healthy before stepping onto the field and accept that his shoulders will never be 100%. So now he just plays thru the pain, and when he dislocates his shoulders, he just goes to the sideline, pops them back in and goes back out.
When he’s mostly healthy though, he has WR1 potential and I hope he can show-out for his next program.
Current signs seems to point to them rolling with what that have on the roster right now. I actually thought Ryan Day pulled starters super early this season due to rampant injuries last season and the beginning of this season. Day did keep McCord in for much longer, I suspect to get him some more game reps, but he was often passing to backup receivers or handing off to our 3rd string RB. In terms of the rest of the room…
RsFr. Devin Brown makes the most logical choice. He narrowly lost the QB battle this offseason to McCord, and Ryan Day said that McCord primarily won the job due to “consistency.” Day felt that McCord never got rattled or emotional, and played even-keeled regardless of the moment. Brown was the more mobile option of the two, and a slight downgrade as a passer.
True freshman Lincoln Kienholz did not enroll early, so he has only been on campus since August. It would be surprising for Day to choose a starter who has been in the program for 4 months. However, Kienholz was a top-150 recruit and the #11 QB last year coming out of South Dakota - coaches seemed pretty excited to get him during the offseason.
If OSU reaches for a portal QB - I suspect it would be someone with only a year of eligibility left.
Honestly, I haven’t heard many strong links to transfer QBs in currently in the portal. A lot of smoke about WSU’s Cam Ward, but Ryan Day seemed to have shot those down.
RsFr. Devin Brown did compete against McCord in fall camp, and McCord didn’t win the starting job until week 3. Brown got a pretty nasty ankle injury mid-season and hasn’t come back since then.
There’s also true freshman Lincoln Kienholz in the roster who was a pretty highly regarded recruit - he played high school ball though in a traditionally under-recruited/small region. I haven’t heard a lot about him in practice yet. Most attention has mostly been devoted to McCord/Brown battle.
The other transfers make more sense:
CB Jyaire Brown, CB Ryan Turner: Both got passed in the depth chart by true freshmen Jermaine Mathews Jr. and Calvin Simpson-Hunt this season - Plus, Devin Igbinson and Jordan Hancock are both expected to come back and anchor the CB1/CB2 spots.
S Kyle Stokes & S Cam Martinez: Sonny Styles is not eligible for the draft; JaHad Carter & Fr. Malik Hartford were the first safeties off the bench this year.
RB Evan Pryor: Somewhat unexpected, but sounds like someone that wants a fresh start. Pryor was suppose to be RB3 in 2022 behind Henderson/Miyan Williams before he was lost for the season with a pretty bad knee injury. Pryor hasn’t been higher than 5th on the depth chart since the injury.
C Victor Cutler: Transferred in this season in hopes of immediate starting role at Center, but RsFr. Hinzman won the job. Likely transferring out in hopes of another immediate starting role elsewhere.
Yeah - it was almost frustrating how many times he avoided the question and re-directed during media sessions. It is a natural curiosity, but he was consistently shooting reporters down who asked.
That was Cleveland Browns's RT Dawand Joenes, but you are also comparing ~1 week of prep during the regular season grind vs. ~4 weeks of bowl game prep focused on one upcoming opponent.
Almost like the OSU beat writers who have been so open about most of this situation know something and are choosing not to ask him...
I have also been waiting for Day's opinion on all of this, and the Ohio State beat-writers have been hounding Day this week during post-practice media sessions. Day has just repeatedly said that it is not something he feels strongly about commenting on, and he would rather the questions be focused on Ohio State and its players.
Right now, the offense is still working out some early season kinks and didn’t dominate in short-yardage situation as expected against some lower tier opponents. I also don’t think they were worried about pouring on points against Youngstown State, and were using it more as an opportunity to settle their QB battle further.
Against Youngstown, the backup QB Devin Brown (RsFr.) got the lion’s share of the snaps over the starter Kyle McCord (Jr.) - it seems more apparent now that McCord has the much higher floor, and will likely be solidified as the starter going forward.
Brown showed some better mobility than McCord, but McCord’s arm is much more consistent.
Let’s look at it in this context too, after the 2021 season Ryan Day did a complete overhaul of the defensive coaching staff, and replaced all the defensive coaches except for Larry Johnson Sr.
So last season is the first season that literally anybody on that defensive staff have ever worked together.
That also is a season where the Ohio State CB room got decimated:
CB1: Denzel Burke (preseason shoulder surgery + broke his hand early in the season)
CB2a: Cam Brown (multiple/lingering hamstring injuries)
CB2b: Jordan Hancock (preseason injury that held him out until the last 1-2 games)
On top of 2021 starter CB Seyvn Banks and backup CB Lejond Cavazos both taking the coaching change as opportunities to transfer out.
It was a rough first season for DB coaches Tom Walton and Perry Eliano for sure, but they weren’t exactly dealt the best hand by Lady Luck either. At a certain points in the season, the CB room was being held together by true freshmen backups and temporarily converted safeties.
Plus the Nuts added another corner from Arizona in the past week or so giving them 2 already in the class.
Not sure Miles Lockhart committing would have a huge impact on Aaron Scott. The coaches and Lockhart, himself, plan to play the slot corner role. The Buckeyes still expect to recruit two true outside corners for a total of 3 CBs this class.
I still think Michigan is still solidly in the race for Aaron Scott, but nothing points to Lockhart’s commitment as a deciding factor in it.
Brian Hartline is arguably the best position coach in the country right now in both development and recruitment.
Hartline retired from the NFL and joined Ohio State's coaching staff after the 2016 season.
Fans immediately saw an improvement in play after Hartline join the staff in the play of their top 7 rotational WRs: Parris Campbell, KJ Hill, Johnnie Dixon, Austin Mack, Benjamin Victor, and Terry McLaurin. They went from a group of mostly average receivers to a dependable/reliable rotation.
That has now resulted in a pretty deep group of NFL WRs as well: Terry McLaurin (Commanders), Parris Campbell (Colts), Benjamin Victor (Ravens), CJ Saunders (Panthers), Garrett Wilson (Jets), and Chris Olave (Saints)... could make an argument for Jameson Williams (Lions) who for some reason disowned the Ohio State fanbase, but still gives love to Hartline as his coach.
This current season Hartline is not only continuing to make a splash with Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Emeka Ebuka, and Marvin Harrison Jr., he also got love for a transfer-out in former walk-on RSJr Sam Wiglusz for leading Ohio U Bobcats in all receiving category.
Hard to judge Fields as a passer when the best WRs he has had in the NFL is... Darrell Mooney, 5th round pick from Tulane? Trading for Chase Claypool was considered a huge upgrade for the Bears's receiver corp.
I think the immediate impact of Terry McLaurin, Garrett Wilson, and Chris Olave have had as rookies on different teams/coaching staff would indicate they were NFL-ready right out the gate.
Ryan Day and coaches have obviously been downplaying his hamstring injury all season. Sucks that it happened on arguably a late hit in the Notre Dame game, but also sucks they tried to rush him back against Iowa, only for him to re-aggravate it.
It is a smart decision. It is likely that the medical staff isn't confident that he can practice leading up to the playoff anyways, so in all likelihood, if he could even play at 70-80% capacity, it would have to be out-of-condition, and with minimal prep.
Per IU AD's language, the school and Wilson parted ways "due to philosophical differences" and they agreed on a ~$600,000 buy-out with no mitigation clause.
The story that sparked it all was an anonymous father claiming that Wilson forced his son to run 6 miles at practice post-concussion when his son was only cleared to practice for 20 minutes, and it made his son's concussion symptoms worse afterwards.
After that story broke, a handful of Wilson's former players (most notably former QB Zander Diamont and WR Shane Wynn) essentially spoke out in support and said that Wilson was always fully supportive of his players injury recovery. They said that Wilson was strict, but he followed the direction of medical staff. Per those players, if cleared by medical staff to practice/work, Wilson wasn't going to let a player "be soft." Whatever that means...
Almost sounds like IU's athletic department wanted Wilson to issue a public apology or statement, but Wilson didn't feel like he did anything wrong.
Not really. Matt Jones who is a “game-time decision” and the starting RG got injured last week and taken out of the game then. Looks like he’s not going to be 100%.
The most meaningful otherwise is Evan Pryor who is a RsFr. that was expected to be the 3rd RB behind Henderson and Williams.
JTT is also a true sophomore in his first season as a full-time starter. Most pro scouts project him best as a 3-4 DE in the NFL sand compare him to Steelers’s Cameron Heyward.
Up until the Iowa game, he was getting graded out at a high-level by the coaching staff for his overall play, but not racking up the stats. It seemed like JTT was always 1-2 steps late in getting the sack or TFL, but was still providing the pressure expected of him.
Not unlikely it just took half a season for JTT to figure out the new defensive scheme, and how to finally get into the backfield faster.
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I follow most of the OSU beatwriters and I haven’t seen that rumored… The rumor out there is that Julian Sayin is a much better passer than expected from a true freshman, but he is still solidly behind Will Howard/Devin Brown. Howard and Sayin are both still only 2.5 weeks into learning a new offense - they will likely show better grasp of it by Fall camp.
Sayin has looked like he has passed Lincoln Kienholz as QB3 though, and Kienholz will likely jump into the transfer portal as a result (rumored to have shared interest with Iowa).
FWIW; seems like this is a hire to replace former QC analyst, Joe Philbin (former Miami Dolphins HC), who was hired away by the LV Raiders recently.
Philbin was brought in by Brian Hartline last year to assist with OL coaching, and someone that Hartline trusted from their shared time in Miami. Drevno will likely take over that role and assist with OL coaching.
An ironic hire for sure, but ultimately probably a small overall impact in recruiting. Just another experience coach to help with film breakdown and etc.
I wouldn’t have minded if McCord had stayed, but not that confident he was going to get much better.
McCord improved a lot from Week 1 to Week 6, but hit a pretty hard ceiling afterwards. He was still locking into 1-2 receivers during the game, would make panicked throws, and his pocket awareness/instinct was below expectations for a 3rd year player.
There’s definitely a chance that another full offseason could have produced a more polished player - but if McCord wanted a guarantee to be a starter to stay, then I think Ryan Day did right by him to tell him that there’s a decent chance he wouldn’t be a starter next year. McCord would have been competing with a RsSo. Devin Brown, and a RsFr. Lincoln Kienholz. I don’t blame McCord either for not risking his final year of eligibility on potentially being a backup.
Ezekiel Elliott was recruited by current Temple HC Stan Drayton.
There were some post-bowl game rumors that Alford, who was in a contract year, was unlikely to be retained. Unclear why, but he was a little bit of an inconsistent recruiter where he came up empty-handed for a few seasons (i.e. Bijan Robinson to ironically Stan Drayton at Texas).
Truly felt like Chip Kelly wanted out for multiple reasons, but most prominently being rumored is his distain for recruiting and NIL management/fund-raising. People have said Kelly refused to schmooze the big-time boosters/donors, and didn't like the year-round recruiting schedule.
Ryan Day has shown he is comfortable allowing his coordinator (i.e. Jim Knowles) to focus almost entirely on game-planning and play-calling, and being minimally involved in recruiting. Plus, Co-OC Brian Hartline can likely shoulder the majority of the offensive recruiting efforts.
It has been widely rumored that Chip Kelly desperately wanted out of being a college head coach because he absolutely hated college recruiting + the new element of NIL management too (i.e. like Jeff Hafley at BC).
Ryan Day has already shown with Jim Knowles that he is comfortable with his main coordinator not being an active recruiter. Knowles only really meets recruit during on-campus visit, and travels minimally for recruiting. Otherwise, Knowles main and really only job is game-planning and defensive scheming.
It is likely that Day and Kelly came to a similar agreement. Offensive scheming, game-planning and play-calling as his top priority, and minimal recruiting responsibilities.
For those unaware… Bill O’ Brien’s son has a rare genetic/neurologic condition - So being near by a top-notch pediatric care center is a priority to him.
While Nationwide Children’s in Columbus is regularly recognized as a top-10 pediatric hospital - Boston’s Children is in the top-3, and the O’Briens likely already have pre-established care and relationships there from BoB’s multiple stints with the Patriots. It wouldn’t surprise me that Ryan Day is facilitating the BC move for BoB given that Day is still well-connected with Boston College.
IIRC, Alex Boone also struggled with alcoholism during the first few seasons in the NFL. He cleaned up his act/went sober, but also transitioned from OT to OG. Boone seemed to be a better fit at guard and gave up trying to be a tackle.
I see this as a 2025 QB battle between Ryan Day’s guy (Air Noland) and Bill O’Brien’s guy (Julian Sayin). BoB was Sayin’s primary recruiter at Alabama for 2 years, so he probably advocated hard to get Sayin in the class as well.
Next season is going to be telling on how much Day allows BoB to change the offense. Will it be BoB’s base offense + Day’s influence or… Day’s base offense + BoB’s influence?
I imagine it’ll be similar to the Ryan Day/Kevin Wilson relationship where the offense was Day’s vision, but Kevin Wilson was allowed to tweak it as much as he wanted.
If competition is the motivation for transferring, I doubt Noland would choose a school like UGA that also took another top-10 QB recruit in Ryan Puglisi in the same class.
More likely that Devin Brown (RsSo.) transfers if he officially loses the QB battle in the spring to Will Howard.
In any case, I don’t think anyone was expecting either Noland or Sayin to start next season as true freshmen.
Ohio State actually just fired their Safeties coach Perry Eliano primarily due to his reputation as a poor recruiter. He's been an above-average on-field coach, but he has gone 2 full recruiting cycles without bringing in any of his top recruiting targets.
This past class was particularly rough because Ohio State looked to be on the inside track with KJ Bolden (5*, #1 S, #14 OVR) - KJ is Eliano's cousin's son, and the Bolden family even made several comments about being very eager/comfortable with KJ being coached by "family." But in the end Eliano fumbled the recruitment, and Bolden ended up at UGA.
Right now, there's only 1 underclassman (S Malik Hartford) that seems poised/ready to start if called upon. So the room under Eliano was trending to become really thin, really fast... Hence his firing.
I'm assuming you meant this interview by "The QB Room"
If so, I don't think McCord ever explicitly said that he was told to transfer by Ryan Day. The direct quote was:
That as direct as McCord was willing to answer that question during the podcast. There was "insiders" that said McCord and his father (Derek McCord) met with Ryan Day the Saturday after the Michigan game, and asked for a guarantee that Kyle would be the starting QB for his senior year (2024-2025). Day was unwilling to commit to that guarantee, but did say that McCord would be the leading candidate in the competition for the following season. How true that conversation actually was, we will never know... but whatever the case, McCord was not willing to bet on himself staying the starter at Ohio State, and he only had 1 season of eligibility left, so he had to make a "business decision" to find that guarantee elsewhere.
Idk, staffing changes don’t really move the needle for me at this point.
One of the things I like about Ryan Day over Urban Meyer is Day’s ability to separate personal relationships with work relationships. Meyer held onto under-performing staff for way too long due to his nepotism practices [i.e. Zach Smith (grandson of Urban's mentor), Bill Davis (literal best man at Urban's wedding)].
Since taking over as HC, Day has made major staffing changes almost every offseason:
Ryan Day's MO has been pretty consistent as a head coach, he gives you two full seasons to turn in results. If Day does not think you are carrying your weight by the end of your 2nd full season, then your time on his staff is up.
…
Self-immolated in what way?
So far the big changes have been:
Mixed reviews, but I am of the opinion that this is a pretty solid hire.
Ryan Day's top priority was to find an seasoned OC/QB coach that had play-calling experience, could take over the offense almost completely, and would have the time to mentor co-OC Brian Hartline.
I think last season's departure of OC Kevin Wilson to Tulsa was incredibly impactful, and very evident this year. Within the program, people had always referred to Wilson as the "architect" and Day as the "innovator" of the offensive game plan - meaning Day would be the one that came up with creative plays, but Wilson was the one that implement them and made sure they would fit well in the scheme. Wilson was also the primary game-script coach, which allowed Day to be a better game-day play-caller. These were not roles that a first-time OC in Brian Hartline could take over immediately in his first year in the role ever, which meant the bulk of that offensive work got shifted to Ryan Day this season.
Now with BoB, Day once again has a grizzled/seasoned vet that knows how to independently operate an offense and implement his own scheme/vision. Whether or not they'll have the same symbiotic working relationship as Day/Wilson remains to be seen, but overall not disappointed in this hire. It'll likely be Ryan Day's base offense with Bill O'Brien's twists/style added in.
There's relatively clear answers for most of these:
Probably a long time coming, last season there was a call for Ryan Day to start delegating more offensive coaching responsibilities and focus more on being a CEO-type head coach. Since taking over as head coach, Day maintained his offensive play-calling responsibilities, and is heavily involved in QB coaching still on a day-to-day basis. After the departure of long-time OC Kevin Wilson to be Tulsa's HC, and promotion of first-time OC Brain Hartline, I think Day was definitely stretched thinner trying to fill/support all 3 roles (HC, OC, and QB coach) this season.
Current QB coach, Corey Dennis, is known as a great recruiter, but always has been a confusing fit at QB coach due to his background as a former GaTech triple-option WR as a player. It is likely the bulk of the actual QB coaching is from Ryan Day. Dennis is a hold-over from the end of the Urban Meyer era (also happens to be Urban's son-in-law), and his contract is set to expire at the end of January, and it is unlikely to be renewed for 2024-2025.
Special teams coordinator, Parker Fleming is also the other coach rumored to be let go. Under Meyer, the special teams coaching was taken on by Urban Meyer himself, but Fleming was promoted internally to STC in 2021. Since then the special teams has been below average-to-average at best. Players line up in illegal formations, they miscommunicate on trick plays, and other execution mistakes. Many teams can get by without a full-time STC, and it seems strange to retain one that hasn't been able to build a strong special team (especially at the cost of a potential defensive asst. coach).
Who knows if any of the rumors are true though, despite Day readily making coaching changes on the defensive side of the ball almost every season, he has been slow to make any changes on the offensive side. I'll believe it when I actual see it.
TBH - unsure, but Hinzman didn't enter the transfer portal with ample time to do it.
Right now due to the extra free COVID year, Ohio State is in a scholarship crunch to hit the NCAA-mandated 85 scholarship limit.. They sit at 84 scholarship players with 22 freshmen incoming from the newest recruiting class, but I don't think an already thin OL is where Day and the coaches will look to free up scholarships.
Is it paywalled? Because all of Bill Kurelic's recent tweets and article just generically call McLaughlin an "interior offensive lineman" transfer.
I wouldn't doubt that McLaughlin will have an opportunity to battle Hinzman for the starting Center job, but it just isn't the most pressing need on O-Line right now. Ohio State will be graduating senior starting RG Matt Jones this season, and starting LG Donovan Jackson (Jr.) is expected to declare for the NFL draft. So from a needs standpoint, OG is much more of a priority than Center.
It isn't just the O-Line - Insiders have said that Ryan Day doesn't put effort into obtaining "large NIL contract" with the various NIL collectives. Day's goal with NIL has been to get existing players on the roster all a cut, and last year had supposedly secured at least a 5-figure NIL deal for every player on the roster (apparently at least $30,000/year for each player).
Day has been hands-off with NIL collectives on putting together the multi-million deals for select players, but he also doesn't actively work against them it just hasn't been where he puts his focus.
Confirmed to be a Center by who/where?
I've only seen McLaughlin being considered as a OG to replaced departing senior RG Matt Jones.
It would be surprising that C Carson Hinzman would lose the starting Center job completely despite the "shadow suspension" from the podcast interview. Carson Hinzman partial won the job this season because he was a freshman who competed with an upperclassman in Vic Cutler Jr., so the coaching staff went with the younger guy in the hope of longer-term stability at the position.
Overall, seems to be a less accurate passer, but a much more dynamic athlete/runner compared to McCord.
Worth noting as well, that Howard's best receiver at Kansas State this season was TE Ben Sinnott (Jr.) who had 49 receptions, 676 yards, and 6 TD -- His best WR was Phillips Brooks (Sr.) 53/589/5 TDs.
Yes, publicly Ryan Day said that Hinzman was having a rough bowl prep practice and felt like it was better to shuffle the OL around for the Cotton Bowl.
Timing-wise though, Hinzman recently spoke very candidly on a podcast interview that likely got him suspended. Hinzman said that Ohio State’s NIL system hasn’t been able to compete with programs in the south (i.e. Miami, UGA, UT). He said that Ohio State lost out on a high-profile OL recruit to a southern program that offered that recruit a $1 million NIL deal, and nobody on Ohio State starting OL makes anywhere close to that in NIL this season.
What Hinzman said has kind of tracked with what insiders have been reporting about Ohio State’s NIL system though… Supposedly Ryan Day hasn’t really prioritized getting huge NIL deals done, but has instead tried to get every player some form of NIL money and has gotten every player on the roster at least a 5-figure NIL contract thru the various collectives.
Early word is that Ohio State is primarily looking at McLaughlin as an OG. They are guaranteed to lose their starting RG Matt Jones (Sr.), and projected to likely lose their starting LG Donovan Jackson (Jr.) to the NFL draft.
The starting C Carson Hinzman is a freshman, so would be a little surprising if he loses his job entirely (never say never though).
IIRC, MHJr. did not say that Michigan’s defense was the most complex, but his actual quote was saying he hadn’t been doubled covered as consistently all season. As in, Michigan chose to send a CB/Safety combo with MHJr. all game regardless of where Harrison was lining up in the formation.
other Big Ten teams would defend Harrison depending on where in the formation he was lining up… Michigan decided to just keep two guys on him regardless of the formation.
The “official reason” Quinn Ewers gave to the media was that he was “home-sick” and that the Midwest was just too different for him to feel comfortable/he was a “Texas boy” at heart.
In terms of playing time and eligibility, Ewers purposely re-classified for a year earlier, so if he was upset that he’d have to sit behind CJ Stroud for 2 years instead of 1, that’s really his own doing…
The previous OL coach at OSU, Greg Studwara, really phoned it in on the recruiting trail during his last 3-4 seasons. He was never an elite recruiter, but the ended his tenure he was known as a pretty lazy recruiter and saddled our current OL coach with a thin room in terms of depth.
I wouldn’t fault Henderson for choosing either direction. I don’t think the decision is as clear-cut for him.
The 2nd half of this season showed that when fully healthy, Henderson is a top-tier RB, but he has essentially had 1.5 seasons worth of play taken from him at this point.
Last season, Henderson played thru a broken foot and he said it was extremely painful to drive his legs thru hits or to accelerate like he wanted too. If he heals up fully and stays, he has a chance to show he isn’t just elite speed, but has some power/short-yardage ability in his repertoire as well.
It is definitely a gamble, so he might still declare... but if he thinks he's a Day 1 talent vs. a risky Day 3 draft pick, then he could be making much more:
Illinois's Chase Brown was drafted on Day 3 and signed a ~$4.1 million/4-year contract with $286,156 in guaranteed money.
Texas's Bijan Robinson was a Day 1 pick, and signed a ~$22 million/4-year contract that is fully guaranteed.
The gamble may even be worth being Day 2 pick, Zach Charbonnet's contract was ~$6.9 million/4-year and $3.8 million of it was guaranteed.
Depending on Henderson's NIL situation, he's probably fine making the gamble to get a dramatic increase in guaranteed money for his rookie contract.
A few reporters on the beat are saying that due TreyVeon Henderson’s injury history, he did not receive the draft grade/projection that he wanted and he is leaning towards coming back to hopefully prove that he can put together a full season.
Henderson’s two major injuries were relatively unrelated to each other - Last season, he played in a broken foot that he got surgically repaired during the offseason - This season it was an unnamed “upper body injury” during the Notre Dame game that lost him a good chunk of games.
I would assume that if Fleming stayed he would be guaranteed the same/similar role that he held the last two seasons as WR3. I imagine a combination of Brandon Innis and Carnell Tate are going to replace MHJr./Egbuka’s roles.
Fleming can likely thrive as a WR1 elsewhere like Jameson Williams did when he went to Alabama (or Sam Wiglusz to a certain degree at Ohio University).
Sad to see Julian Fleming go, and wish him the best. He has been one of the grittiest players on the team, and a great leader by example.
Fleming came in as a highly-rated recruit, but suffered repeated shoulder injuries since the end of his high school career. He’s had so many surgeries on his shoulders now that he often jokes they are held together by duct tape.
Last season, Fleming said he had to just change his mentality about waiting to be fully healthy before stepping onto the field and accept that his shoulders will never be 100%. So now he just plays thru the pain, and when he dislocates his shoulders, he just goes to the sideline, pops them back in and goes back out.
When he’s mostly healthy though, he has WR1 potential and I hope he can show-out for his next program.
Current signs seems to point to them rolling with what that have on the roster right now. I actually thought Ryan Day pulled starters super early this season due to rampant injuries last season and the beginning of this season. Day did keep McCord in for much longer, I suspect to get him some more game reps, but he was often passing to backup receivers or handing off to our 3rd string RB. In terms of the rest of the room…
RsFr. Devin Brown makes the most logical choice. He narrowly lost the QB battle this offseason to McCord, and Ryan Day said that McCord primarily won the job due to “consistency.” Day felt that McCord never got rattled or emotional, and played even-keeled regardless of the moment. Brown was the more mobile option of the two, and a slight downgrade as a passer.
True freshman Lincoln Kienholz did not enroll early, so he has only been on campus since August. It would be surprising for Day to choose a starter who has been in the program for 4 months. However, Kienholz was a top-150 recruit and the #11 QB last year coming out of South Dakota - coaches seemed pretty excited to get him during the offseason.
If OSU reaches for a portal QB - I suspect it would be someone with only a year of eligibility left.
Honestly, I haven’t heard many strong links to transfer QBs in currently in the portal. A lot of smoke about WSU’s Cam Ward, but Ryan Day seemed to have shot those down.
RsFr. Devin Brown did compete against McCord in fall camp, and McCord didn’t win the starting job until week 3. Brown got a pretty nasty ankle injury mid-season and hasn’t come back since then.
There’s also true freshman Lincoln Kienholz in the roster who was a pretty highly regarded recruit - he played high school ball though in a traditionally under-recruited/small region. I haven’t heard a lot about him in practice yet. Most attention has mostly been devoted to McCord/Brown battle.
The other transfers make more sense:
All the previous times - he would re-direct and tell the reporters he only wanted to talk about his team and the upcoming opponent.
I guess this week it is a little harder to use that line to turf the question.
Yeah - it was almost frustrating how many times he avoided the question and re-directed during media sessions. It is a natural curiosity, but he was consistently shooting reporters down who asked.
That was Cleveland Browns's RT Dawand Joenes, but you are also comparing ~1 week of prep during the regular season grind vs. ~4 weeks of bowl game prep focused on one upcoming opponent.
I have also been waiting for Day's opinion on all of this, and the Ohio State beat-writers have been hounding Day this week during post-practice media sessions. Day has just repeatedly said that it is not something he feels strongly about commenting on, and he would rather the questions be focused on Ohio State and its players.
Right now, the offense is still working out some early season kinks and didn’t dominate in short-yardage situation as expected against some lower tier opponents. I also don’t think they were worried about pouring on points against Youngstown State, and were using it more as an opportunity to settle their QB battle further.
Against Youngstown, the backup QB Devin Brown (RsFr.) got the lion’s share of the snaps over the starter Kyle McCord (Jr.) - it seems more apparent now that McCord has the much higher floor, and will likely be solidified as the starter going forward.
Brown showed some better mobility than McCord, but McCord’s arm is much more consistent.
Let’s look at it in this context too, after the 2021 season Ryan Day did a complete overhaul of the defensive coaching staff, and replaced all the defensive coaches except for Larry Johnson Sr.
So last season is the first season that literally anybody on that defensive staff have ever worked together.
That also is a season where the Ohio State CB room got decimated:
CB1: Denzel Burke (preseason shoulder surgery + broke his hand early in the season)
CB2a: Cam Brown (multiple/lingering hamstring injuries)
CB2b: Jordan Hancock (preseason injury that held him out until the last 1-2 games)
On top of 2021 starter CB Seyvn Banks and backup CB Lejond Cavazos both taking the coaching change as opportunities to transfer out.
It was a rough first season for DB coaches Tom Walton and Perry Eliano for sure, but they weren’t exactly dealt the best hand by Lady Luck either. At a certain points in the season, the CB room was being held together by true freshmen backups and temporarily converted safeties.
Not sure Miles Lockhart committing would have a huge impact on Aaron Scott. The coaches and Lockhart, himself, plan to play the slot corner role. The Buckeyes still expect to recruit two true outside corners for a total of 3 CBs this class.
I still think Michigan is still solidly in the race for Aaron Scott, but nothing points to Lockhart’s commitment as a deciding factor in it.
Brian Hartline is arguably the best position coach in the country right now in both development and recruitment.
Hartline retired from the NFL and joined Ohio State's coaching staff after the 2016 season.
Fans immediately saw an improvement in play after Hartline join the staff in the play of their top 7 rotational WRs: Parris Campbell, KJ Hill, Johnnie Dixon, Austin Mack, Benjamin Victor, and Terry McLaurin. They went from a group of mostly average receivers to a dependable/reliable rotation.
That has now resulted in a pretty deep group of NFL WRs as well: Terry McLaurin (Commanders), Parris Campbell (Colts), Benjamin Victor (Ravens), CJ Saunders (Panthers), Garrett Wilson (Jets), and Chris Olave (Saints)... could make an argument for Jameson Williams (Lions) who for some reason disowned the Ohio State fanbase, but still gives love to Hartline as his coach.
This current season Hartline is not only continuing to make a splash with Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Emeka Ebuka, and Marvin Harrison Jr., he also got love for a transfer-out in former walk-on RSJr Sam Wiglusz for leading Ohio U Bobcats in all receiving category.
Hard to judge Fields as a passer when the best WRs he has had in the NFL is... Darrell Mooney, 5th round pick from Tulane? Trading for Chase Claypool was considered a huge upgrade for the Bears's receiver corp.
I think the immediate impact of Terry McLaurin, Garrett Wilson, and Chris Olave have had as rookies on different teams/coaching staff would indicate they were NFL-ready right out the gate.
Ryan Day and coaches have obviously been downplaying his hamstring injury all season. Sucks that it happened on arguably a late hit in the Notre Dame game, but also sucks they tried to rush him back against Iowa, only for him to re-aggravate it.
It is a smart decision. It is likely that the medical staff isn't confident that he can practice leading up to the playoff anyways, so in all likelihood, if he could even play at 70-80% capacity, it would have to be out-of-condition, and with minimal prep.
Per IU AD's language, the school and Wilson parted ways "due to philosophical differences" and they agreed on a ~$600,000 buy-out with no mitigation clause.
The story that sparked it all was an anonymous father claiming that Wilson forced his son to run 6 miles at practice post-concussion when his son was only cleared to practice for 20 minutes, and it made his son's concussion symptoms worse afterwards.
After that story broke, a handful of Wilson's former players (most notably former QB Zander Diamont and WR Shane Wynn) essentially spoke out in support and said that Wilson was always fully supportive of his players injury recovery. They said that Wilson was strict, but he followed the direction of medical staff. Per those players, if cleared by medical staff to practice/work, Wilson wasn't going to let a player "be soft." Whatever that means...
Almost sounds like IU's athletic department wanted Wilson to issue a public apology or statement, but Wilson didn't feel like he did anything wrong.
Not really. Matt Jones who is a “game-time decision” and the starting RG got injured last week and taken out of the game then. Looks like he’s not going to be 100%.
The most meaningful otherwise is Evan Pryor who is a RsFr. that was expected to be the 3rd RB behind Henderson and Williams.
Using this tweet's arbitrary metric, Ohio State was "up by 15+ points" by...
This tweet is implying that Ohio State should have cleared their benches, and played backups before halftime in these games.
Well considering that ~37% of Bo Nix's total TDs come on the ground compared to 0% of Stroud's TDs, it seems like a very cherry-picked stat overall.
JTT is also a true sophomore in his first season as a full-time starter. Most pro scouts project him best as a 3-4 DE in the NFL sand compare him to Steelers’s Cameron Heyward.
Up until the Iowa game, he was getting graded out at a high-level by the coaching staff for his overall play, but not racking up the stats. It seemed like JTT was always 1-2 steps late in getting the sack or TFL, but was still providing the pressure expected of him.
Not unlikely it just took half a season for JTT to figure out the new defensive scheme, and how to finally get into the backfield faster.