Urban Meyer explains why Ryan Day was the right choice for Ohio State, compares Buckeyes to Alabama

Ryan Day took over for Urban Meyer in 2018 and has had a strong start to his head coaching career. Ohio State is 34-4 under Day. They also have two appearances in the College Football Playoff during his time as head man in Columbus. Based on the early sample size, Urban Meyer believes the Buckeyes got it right with Day as his replacement.

Meyer spoke about Day in an appearance on ‘Don’t @ Me’ with Dan Dakich. He described Day as ‘elite’ because of his coaching and his ability to work on and build the program.

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“I just like to use the word elite. He was, first of all, an elite offensive coach…I love his work ethic, I loved the fact that he’s a players first coach like we all were at Ohio State and made sure he carried on the infrastructure of the safety of players in the offseason, nutrition. All the things that makes Ohio State, if not the top program, one of the top two programs in America,” said Meyer. “He had a great infrastructure around him and he kept those guys and then, based on changes on his staff, he makes good decisions.”

Meyer left some pretty big shoes for Day following his retirement from college coaching. He went 83-9 over his seven seasons at Ohio State and led the program to their first national title in over a decade. While he has yet to deliver the title yet, Day has sustained Meyer’s high level winning percentage. Meyer says this is the year Day very well could pick up that title as he thinks the Buckeyes talent is only rivaled by Alabama this season.

“This is a big year for him. I love Ryan Day and we’re still extremely close. This is a big year. They’re a loaded team right now,” Meyer said. “Obviously they’re good but I think they are every bit the talent level of Alabama right now.”

The Crimson Tide and Buckeyes enter this season as the preseason poll’s top two teams. With the firepower of the Ohio State offense, Day has a chance to not only make it back to the playoff. He has a team that could very well win it all. As far as torch passing goes, Day has picked up right where he left off. If he brings a title of his own to Columbus, he’ll come even closer to his mentor in Meyer.