Scarlet Sunrise: Ryan Day looks back at his favorite play calls during Buckeyes tenure
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Ryan Day looks back at his favorite play calls during Buckeyes tenure
In the latest episode of “Big Noon Conversations,” Ohio State head coach Ryan Day sat down with FOX college football analyst Joel Klatt and discussed giving up play-calling this offseason, among other topics.
Handing those duties off wasn’t easy for Day, who had been calling plays for the Buckeyes since he arrived in 2017 as co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. It helped that he ultimately turned the job over to someone he trusts dearly, longtime friend Chip Kelly, who came aboard this offseason to coordinate the Ohio State offense and coach quarterbacks.
But Day’s love for play-calling showed when Klatt asked Day for his favorite play calls he made over the course of his first seven years with the program.
“I think just because probably C.J. [Stroud] and Jaxon [Smith-Njigba] were just so on fire in that Rose Bowl,” Day said, “it was like everything was just working. Like, I don’t even think I was looking at the call sheet that game. I don’t think you needed to because he was so hot that game.”
Smith-Njigba collected a bowl-record 347 receiving yards, and Stroud logged 573 passing yards, just three yards shy of the most ever by a quarterback in a bowl game, while Ohio State pulled off a dramatic, come-from-behind win over Utah to cap the 2021 season. In the process, Stroud became the sole record holder for most single-game passing yards in Ohio State history, far surpassing Dwayne Haskins‘ mark of 499 against Northwestern three seasons prior. Stroud also set a Rose Bowl record with six touchdown passes.
Day continued: “I think one of my favorite plays was in the Sugar Bowl when Justin [Fields] took that hit against Clemson. And we were up a score or two, but it was still a big spot in the game. I ran over to the tent, he was in the tent and had that look in his eye — he was not going to come out of that game.”
Day pointed out how that game wasn’t just an opportunity for Ohio State to avenge its Fiesta Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal loss to Clemson from the year before, but it was also a chance for Fields to get back at Tigers quarterback Trevor Lawrence. The two 2018 prospects were linked together throughout their high school careers, in part because they were playing 20 miles from each other in the suburbs of Atlanta.
“He had that look in his eye all offseason,” Day said of Fields. “And so we put him right back in and ran a rollout pass to the right, it was like a stutter comeback to Chris Olave. I felt like if we had him on the run, because he’s such a great athlete, he might be able to throw that to him and just will it in there.
“And he did. After he got done, and we threw the touchdown pass, he literally just kept running right back into the tent. I don’t even know what went on in there. But I remember that clearly. He was just such a tough, competitive guy.”
Fields finished what turned out to be a 49-28 win with 427 total yards (385 passing, 42 rushing) and a 6:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He did that while battling through a targeting-induced rib injury that he went down with in the second quarter.
“I think back on Dwayne’s year and the rivalry game that year and some of the stuff that went on in that game,” Day added.
Klatt jumped in: “I’ve watched every play that you’ve called, we’ve joked about this. You were killing them with crossing routes, this is 2018 against Michigan with Dwayne. And you’re killing them with crossing routes. They were trying to rock the safeties — so basically they had a single safety, and they were trying to run him down to the crosser across the field, and then this guy was going back to the middle.
“You did it a couple of times, and they’re trying to rock ’em down there, and you’re killing them. And so you run it again, and I believe it was Terry [McLaurin]. But I could be mistaken.”
Day interjects: “K.J. Hill.”
Klatt resumes: “It was K.J. Hill, slams on the breaks and runs like a stop and back out, and they still rocked the safeties. You threw it to K.J. Hill, and he ran down the rail for a touchdown. And I was sitting in the booth, and I was just like, ‘Man, that was a great play call.'”
Day revealed that version of the play wasn’t in the game plan. He said he just called the same play as before but with “pivot,” as opposed to “mesh.” Day made it clear that his players deserve credit on that call because they were able to put the concept into action without really practicing it that week.
“But yeah, that was a good feeling there,” Day said.
Looking back at how Malik Hartford hit ground running, then grew in first year with Buckeyes
Ohio State safety Malik Hartford put on 25 pounds last offseason and immediately entered the playing time discussion.
His first career start was short-lived. His second came nine weeks later and demonstrated the growth he made in a transformative first year, which Lettermen Row looked back on this week.
“He’s just kept his focus,” Buckeyes defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said last season.
For the full story, go here.
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Ohio State Basketball Recruiting: Everything you need to know for the first July live period
The first college basketball live period of July is here, and Lettermen Row unpacked everything you need to know about where Ohio State’s men’s and women’s coaching staffs will be this weekend.
This weekend, the men’s staff will be split between Nike EYBL Peach Jam and the Adidas Boys 3SSB Palmetto Road Championship, sources told Lettermen Row.
The women’s staff, on the other hand, is divvying up responsibilities among the Nike Girls EYBL event and the Girls UAA event, per Lettermen Row sources.
Go here to find out more details, including prospects both teams are scouting during this pivotal time on the summer recruiting calendar.
Counting Down
Buckeyes vs. Akron: 49 days
Buckeyes vs. Michigan: 140 days
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