Ryan Day balances difficult decision to add transfer or rely on current players

College football coaches have had to learn to adapt to a new way of building rosters over the past couple of seasons. Even at a dominant program like Ohio State, head coach Ryan Day has needed to adapt.

One of the biggest places building a roster has changed is in the transfer portal, with players moving from team to team much easier than ever before. However, as Day explained, this creates a difficult decision to add transfers or rely on current players.

“It’s kind of what they deal with [in] the NFL, with the free agency and the draft,” Ryan Day said. “You know, it’s the same thing we’re dealing with right now and making sure that we have what we need, knowing that our culture matters, our chemistry matters, our leadership matters.”

For now, as Ryan Day explained, the plan is to evaluate the team after spring practice wraps up. Then, they will decide if everyone is starter quality or not. They will also decide if they need more depth.

“As you guys know, we’ve been very careful to add pieces here. But, we know it’s a necessary thing, and so we have to sit down at the end of spring and identify what positions do we feel good about. Where do we have depth that we feel strong about because we know we’re gonna lose guys along the way and guys are gonna have to step up,” Day said.

“So, if it’s somebody that we feel like is at starter level and we’re okay there, that’s great. If we feel like there is someone there that isn’t starter level, then maybe you need to add a piece. If we feel like it’s a depth issue, then we’ll add somebody. Like Tristan [Gebbia] was a great example of that.”

Ryan Day praised Tristan Gebbia

Tristan Gebbia came to Ohio State as a graduate transfer. He did so in a year where the Buckeyes are looking for a new quarterback, though, as Ryan Day explained, he’s done a great job even though he’s really not going to play much.

“Talk about somebody that’s come in and done an unbelievable job here,” Day said.

“He came in with no expectations, really with the plan that he wants to be a coach, and so he’s sat in meetings with us, he’s been in staff meetings with us. It’s almost like an apprentice what he’s doing right now. He’s coming in as a player, but he also wants to be a coach.”

Because of his goals, Ohio State offered an opportunity to earn experience. That experience just won’t be on the field. Meanwhile, the Buckeyes are going to benefit from his experience and by adding depth to the position.

“So, what a cool opportunity for him and something, hopefully, that we can build on moving forward is guys who want to get into coaching who are quarterbacks, who can come in and provide that maturity but also learn the game. And that’s what he’s doing right now and he’s doing a great job.”

The plan at Ohio State

For Ryan Day, the transfer portal shouldn’t be something that the Buckeyes rely on. Instead, it’s going to be used to fill gaps, like having an experience backup quarterback.

“But that was an area where we felt we needed some depth there, and it’s hard to do. So, that’s what we look at. Do we have somebody to start at a certain level and do we have enough depth?”

As Ryan Day explained, you never know what someone is going to bring to the table until they’re there. So, his focus tends to be on making sure the team has a good culture.

“Well, even when you bring someone in, you don’t really know. You think you know. That’s like in recruiting. If we knew all the time, then we wouldn’t be worried about this. It’s like, you try to do the best you can to evaluate it,” Day said.

“But, again, we put so much, probably more than anybody else in the country, into the guys who have been in the program for a few years, and that matters. They understand the culture. They’ve been through it with Coach Mick and all that. So, we’d rather not, but sometimes there’s time we feel like we need to, and then we will.”