Ryan Day explains what makes Ohio State football recruiting elite

Ohio State Head Coach Ryan Day has always spoken highly of his players and coaching staff, with recent comments confirming just how highly he thinks of the players he recruits to the program.

Ryan Day is a true players coach, one who holds his team accountable while giving them the necessary tools to excel not only as talented football players, but also as exceptional young men. Being the coach of one of the most prestigious football programs in the country requires a hardened and focused mindset in every way, especially for their players.

In a recent interview, Day shared his thoughts on what the overall mentality is within the Ohio State football program, and how he believes their program positions players to challenge themselves every day to be the best possible version of they can be to succeed in their careers.

Here’s what Ryan Day had to say in his interview with the Big Ten Network regarding his expectations for Ohio State’s current and incoming players and the mentality they should have.

"You're coming in to be a first-round draft pick, and if that's not your expectation, you probably should go somewhere else."

Ryan Day talks about @OhioStateFB setting a standard that starts with mentality, not just talent 😤#B1GToday pic.twitter.com/HwRSbOkRQc
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) November 21, 2025

“It starts in recruiting and setting a certain mindset…there’s a lot of great schools out there, great programs out there… for us at Ohio State, we make sure that when a recruit comes here, he understands what the expectation is”, Day states.

“If you’re coming here to play, if you fail then we fail… when you have that mindset and mentality when you first come in, you surround them with players in the locker room with that same kind of mindset from a different background, all of those things come into play that every day they’re getting challenged…you either want that or you don’t want that”.

The Ohio State Buckeyes currently sit atop of the college football landscape as the number one team in the AP top 25 and have excelled all season against every team that has stood opposite of them. Their recent dismantling of the UCLA Bruins was another prime example as to why they’ve been the team to beat.

Ryan Day’s comments on recruits and current players wanting to further their career, and Ohio State being the place to do just that by turning themselves into potential first round draft selections in future NFL Drafts is spot on. While it’s safe to say every program aspires to do that for their players, very few programs have done it at as high of a rate as the Buckeyes have.

Over the years, almost every annual NFL Draft has featured an abundance of talent selected from Ohio State, with their current roster almost certainly set to land a few fortunate NFL teams with a Buckeye game changer both on offense and defense.

With names like Carnell Tate, Arvell Reese, Caleb Downs, and Jeremiah Smith, who has been improving their draft stock each week, the Buckeyes will continue their dominant streak of producing NFL talent.

Ryan Day has surely prepared his players and staff well for the challenges of the Big Ten, and with their biggest test against Michigan still to come, the defending National Champions will look to continue their hot streak this weekend against Rutgers.