Ryan Day on Ohio State's championship aspirations: 'Our guys came back for a reason'

Ryan Day isn’t shying away from championship expectations for Ohio State entering the 2024 season. The Buckeyes enter the year with the second-best odds in the country to take home the title thanks to a number of returning players and key new additions.

Ohio State brings back 14 returning starters, including Big Ten rushing leader TreVeyon Henderson and four of five starting offensive lineman. A number of those players passed up NFL opportunities to return to Columbus and chase a championship, something Day made note of at Big Ten Media Days on Tuesday.

“I think our guys came back for a reason,” the coach said. “There’s a group of guys, probably 10 or 12 guys, that could have gone to the NFL and came back for a reason. They didn’t come back just to play, they came back to win something. So owe that to them. The coaches, the young guys, we owe that to those guys who decided to come back to give them everything they need to go chase a championship.”

Ohio State will have a new quarterback with Kyle McCord entering the transfer portal and has yet to announce a starter. Kansas State transfer Will Howard, returning backup Devin Brown and five-star freshman Julian Sayin will battle it out in fall camp.

Defensively, the Buckeyes bring back Jack Sawyer and Tyleik Williams up front after the pair combined for 20 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks this past season. They also return Denzel Burke and Jordan Hanock to hold things down in the secondary, among others.

Ohio State has won 11 games in each of the past three seasons under Ryan Day, but made the College Football Playoff only once in that span. The Buckeyes have also not made a Big Ten Championship since 2020 after losing to rival Michigan three years in a row.

Those are both things they will hope to change in 2024, and hopefully a chance to compete for the national crown will come with it.

“We have some goals in mind and we want to get those things done, but there’s great opportunity this year and great excitement around the program,” Day said. “Once all that dust settles from this visit we’ll get back to work next week in preseason camp and focus on what matters.”

With the roster it has built, Ohio State should have a good chance at reaching those goals. The Buckeyes will kick off the season on Aug. 31 against Akron.