Takeaways From Ohio State Head Coach Ryan Day's Early Signing Period Press Conference

Ohio State officially signed 17 players on Wednesday, seven of which among the top 100 prospects nationally, including five-star linebacker C.J. Hicks and five-star safety Sonny Styles.

“I’m very excited about this class,” Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day said during his press conference at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. “I think when you combine the athletic ability and the potential these guys have to be really good football players, that’s one thing. But it’s also the type of people we have coming into this program. I’m very excited about this class.”

Hicks and Styles were among the five in-state players to sign with Ohio State on Wednesday, followed by three players from Florida, two from Georgia and one apiece from Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. Altogether, they combine to make the fourth-best recruiting class in the country.

“We’re going expecting to sign north of 20 (players) here after the second signing period, but these 17 are as quality as you’re going to get,” Day said.

Below are some of our biggest takeaways from Day’s presser:

The Glue That Held The Class Together

With the extended dead period preventing prospects from visiting campus and coaches unable to recruit on the road until June, Hicks took it upon himself to convince others to join him in Columbus.

His efforts not only gained him the nickname “Captain Buckeye,” but also helped the program sign what will likely be another top-five class when it's all said and done.

“The quality of the class is as good as there is in the country, and a lot of that has to do with C.J.,” Day said. “He jumped in on this thing early and he recruited a lot of these guys. He built those relationships.

"His mom, Tiffane, was great and they really spearheaded this thing. He’s a big part of this class and a big part of our future.”

Sonny The Swiss Army Knife

The class received a significant boost with Styles’ unexpected reclassification, as he only committed to the program last month and was expected to play Hicks’ role in the class of 2023.

“I was certainly very excited when Sonny decided he wanted to join us here,” Day said. “It wasn’t that long ago, and then he quickly let us know that he was interested in reclassifying.

He has a tremendous pedigree, obviously, with what his dad did here. HIs mom is awesome, and these people love Ohio State. They love football. He’s a very serious young man that has tremendous potential, and I think he’s going to be a really good football player for us.”

Though he’s listed as a safety by most recruiting services, Styles has the size and athleticism to play anywhere on the defensive side of the ball – and Day said the Buckeyes are going to take advantage of that.

“We’re going to use him everywhere we can,” Day said. “He can do a lot of things. He can cover, he can blitz, he can play zone, he can play man. He’s like a Swiss Army knife out there. I know our guys on defense are going to be excited to have him in different roles.”

The Importance Of Securing Devin Brown’s Signature

Ohio State landed a commitment earlier this month from Draper (Utah) Corner Canyon four-star quarterback Devin Brown, a process that was set in motion when former quarterback Quinn Ewers reclassified and joined the program a year earlier than expected.

“We want to bring in a quarterback every year for a lot of reasons, but when Quinn decided to reclassify, we went about the business of trying to find a quarterback in that class,” Day said. “We weren’t going to force it, but we had to find somebody that we thought fit. We looked at a couple different guys – really about two or three – and Devin stuck out.

“I was kind of sold when I watched his film and then got him on the phone. Then he showed me a video of him windmill dunking and that kind of put me over the top. He’s got a tremendous personality, very competitive, very gifted, very intelligent and very athletic. I’m just excited to see his energy come into the building very soon.”

With Ewers and redshirt freshman Jack Miller transferring out of the program, Brown will likely begin his career as the third-string quarterback behind starter C.J. Stroud and rising sophomore Kyle McCord.

Thoughts On Terrance Brooks’ Flip To Texas

Ohio State received some bad news around 10 a.m. when Little Elm, Texas, four-star cornerback Terrance Brooks announced that he was flipping his pledge from the Buckeyes to the home-state Longhorns.

“It’s very disappointing, for sure,” Day said. “Leading up to it, there wasn’t any conversations that it would happen like this, so it caught us off guard.”

Brooks was the second cornerback to decommit from the Buckeyes this cycle, joining Georgia five-star signee Jaheim Singletary. It leaves the Buckeyes with just two cornerbacks in the class in West Chester (Ohio) Lakota West four-star Jyaire Brown and Hollywood (Fla.) Chaminade-Madonna Prep four-star Ryan Turner, and they’ll now look to fill the void in other ways.

“The goal is to have eight (scholarship cornerbacks on the roster), so if we need to sign one more here in February, we will,” Day said. “If not, we’ll have to maybe look at the transfer portal and see. But we have to make sure we have eight in that room.”

Keeping The Calendar The Way It Is

The last few weeks in college football have been nothing short of crazy, with double-digit coaches leaving for new jobs, players entering the transfer portal left and right and recruits flipping their pledges at the last minute.

That’s led to some discussion about moving the Early Signing Period back or eliminating it altogether. But Day doesn’t believe anything should change on that front.

“I think we should keep it the way it is now because I feel like there’s been so many changes right now in college football that we don’t need any more,” Day said. “The minute we start changing it again, there’ll be unintended consequences again and they’ll be just new things.

“I vote not to change the signing date right now. Let’s try to figure out some other ways to make things better.”

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