Ryan Day describes the chaos of the offseason for Ohio State

There’s no question that Ohio State has had quite the unpredictable offseason this year.

From a starting quarterback entering the transfer portal, to hiring two different offensive coordinators, and a tenured position coach leaving for a bitter rival in the middle of spring practice. A multitude of different wrenches have been thrown Ryan Day‘s way in Columbus.

In a recent press conference, Day was asked about the current chaotic offseason and how it stacks up compared to others during his time at Ohio State.

“I don’t look at it that way,” Day answered. “I think early on, I think I said this to Jerry because we talked about this a lot, each year a different challenge comes. But that’s the job, and you don’t know what it’s going to be, but to think that you’re just going to have a normal offseason that’s cool, calm, and easy waters. That’s just not going to work, it’s not going to happen at Ohio State.”

A month after naming Bill O’Brien as their next offensive coordinator in January he became the new head coach of Boston College. But Day adapted quickly, hiring former UCLA head coach and longtime friend Chip Kelly in the role swiftly after.

Last week Day was faced with the same challenge yet again, with running backs coach Tony Alford departing for Michigan after spending the past nine seasons with the Buckeyes. As he’ll now be looked upon once more to adapt and keep the Buckeyes’ ship steady heading into the 2024 season.

“That’s just part of the job is adapting and trying not to overthink it all or [get] caught off guard. You try to do the best you can do, plan ahead and have contingency plans in place and do what’s right,” Day explained. “But at the same time, you have to adapt to what you got and I think we’ve done that. I think we’ve been aggressive but I also think we’ve done what’s right but again.”

The Buckeyes still have one of the strongest coaching staffs across college football. And despite losing a multitude of key players to the transfer portal and the NFL this offseason, Ohio State has absolutely reloaded in the transfer portal and with returning seniors. With a roster that many believe has the potential to win a national championship.

“I just go back to this whole offseason, to me, is about the guys who decided to come back. That to me was really important for a lot of reasons. It talks about our culture, it talks about our team, but I think it’s important to have guys who not only are talented, but have played a lot of football before,” Day said.

“I thought we got a little bit more veteran last year with Tommy [Eichenberg] coming back, Cade [Stover] coming back. But now to have all these guys coming back as seniors is significant and then we added and filled some holes, made some changes with the staff.”

Names like J.T. Tuimoloau, Caleb Downs, and Denzel Burke headline Ohio State’s defense along with Will Howard, Quinshon Judkins, and TreVeyon Henderson on offense. But the real test will start when the Buckeyes kick off the season in August.

“So it’s exciting, but that doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a bunch of individuals, now we got to come together as a team because ultimately the best team is gonna win the championship next year,” Day concluded.