Ryan Day, Ohio State Adjust to New Recruiting World
Ohio State coach Ryan Day opened most of his Christmas toys in early December and has had them out of the box since January, but he's far from tired of them yet.
OSU not only gained signatures from 24 of its 25 recruits more than six weeks ago, it's had 14 of those incoming freshmen on campus since the January semester began.
That's a far cry from how recruiting used to work, and Day admits he and his coaches are still adjusting to a timetable that's dramatically different than formerly applied.
"I think what it’s done, it’s just changed a lot of things," Day said. "I think anytime you make a change like that, the ripple effects, you don’t know them until about four or five years out. I think we’re still working through that.
"And, so, then what it did was with the early signing day is it moved official visits to the spring. And then what that did it took a little pressure off of January. Put a ton of pressure in December, I mean, an unbelievable amount of pressure."
Even so, the Buckeyes secured a consensus Top 5 class with the addition of one recruit on Wednesday, and did so without standing hopefully by the fax machine at 6 a.m. or worrying what percentage of their commits would actually follow their promise to attend OSU with a binding signature.
That was the old world of recruiting built around one mid-February signing bonanza.
OSU this season had to wedge the finishing touches on this class around playing in the Big Ten Championship Game, accompanying Chase Young, Jeff Okudah and Justin Fields on the post-season awards circuit and competing in the College Football Playoff.
"I think with playing a championship game and you have one week to go out on the road as a head coach and one of those, two of those are going to be some of those award nights and you have to go see 14 mid-year guys from coast to coast when you recruit nationally like we do, it’s almost impossible," Day said.
"I think that’s very hard. What it’s done it’s taken a lot of pressure off of January. What January has become is what old spring recruiting used to be.
I think we’re still trying to adjust the calendar. I think we have to be careful about making any more adjustments until this gets settled and we figure out what this model looks like here and really a five-year window is my opinion."
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