'Best Out of All of Them': Ohio State QB Commit Talks Heartfelt Connection With Ryan Day

Of all the numbers and talent Ohio State head coach Ryan Day has produced, a non-football conversation is what stood out to Buckeyes quarterback commit Prentiss "Air" Noland.

Author:
Casey Smith
Apr 10, 2023 11:40 AM EDT

In this story:

Ohio State Buckeyes

Ohio State is known for having some pretty good positional recruiters, headlined by offensive coordinator Brian Hartline and quarterbacks coach Corey Dennis.

However, head coach Ryan Day plays a big role in recruiting as well, and he loomed large in the recruitment and commitment of the seventh-best quarterback in the class of 2024 in Prentiss "Air" Noland.

"I got to meet a lot of great head coaches, and coach Ryan Day was the best out of all of them," Noland told ESPN.

Day is one of the better minds in college football when it comes to developing quarterbacks.

He arrived in 2017 as the quarterbacks coach before earning the offensive coordinator job in 2018. Then, he obviously took over as head coach for Urban Meyer in 2019.

In his tenure at Ohio State, the quarterbacks he's worked with — J.T. Barrett, Dwayne Haskins, Justin Fields and C.J. Stroud — have combined for 21,945 yards and 237 touchdown passes in six seasons.

Barrett is now an assistant quarterbacks coach for the Detroit Lions, Haskins and Fields were both first-round draft picks and Stroud looks to join them as he is the odds-on favorite to be the No. 1 overall selection in April's draft, according to SI Sportsbook.

Although the Buckeyes' pedigree of development for the NFL was something Noland valued when committing, he said a one-on-one conversation in Day's office about mental health during his March 31 visit is what separated Day from other head coaches that recruited him.

"He made my mom and me feel very comfortable, sitting in his office," Noland said. "Outside of football, he had a tragedy that happened with his dad. He was going through a lot at the time where he was dealing with mental health, you know, going through things. I have a program called Broken Crayons Still Color. He has an organization that he started building up in Columbus, and he started talking to me about mental health and players he helped get through mental health and the pressure. So outside of football, me and him had a great connection."