Scarlet Sunrise: New staff setup has Ryan Day feeling 'more present with the whole operation'

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New staff setup has Ryan Day feeling ‘more present with the whole operation’

Last year, Ryan Day wanted to take on the CEO role that’s becoming necessary for college football head coaches to adopt. He wanted to spend more time with the defense and special teams in practice, and he even flirted with handing over play-calling duties to wide receivers coach Brian Hartline, who had been promoted to offensive coordinator earlier that offseason (he’s now co-OC).

Day never gave up play-calling in 2023, and he ended up drifting back toward the offense, especially toward the quarterbacks, who he still had a heavy influence on.

Flash forward to this offseason, and Day is once again trying to embrace the CEO role. Only this time, he’s taken more serious steps, most notably hiring an experienced offensive coordinator who will call plays and coach quarterbacks. First it was Bill O’Brien, now it’s Chip Kelly.

After the first practice of spring ball, Day was asked if having Kelly on staff made it easier for him to take a step back from the Ohio State offense.

“There’s no question,” Day said. “And maybe it isn’t exactly where I’m walking around on the field, but where I’m able to look, where my eyes are going. Just thinking ahead about the message that maybe I want to give the team, or maybe grabbing a guy on defense and giving a message to them.

“It just allows me to be more present with the whole operation, which is something I recognized that I needed to do.”

Corey Dennis, who coached the Buckeyes’ quarterbacks the last four seasons, wasn’t retained this offseason. Todd Fitch, a senior advisor/analyst who also had a hand in developing that room each of the past three years, left Ohio State for a similar job at LSU this offseason.

A crowded Ohio State quarterback room — consisting of five scholarship signal callers — is now piloted by Kelly, who Day trusts to handle the most important position on the team, despite the fact that Kelly has never officially been a quarterbacks coach before (by title, anyway).

“I mean he’s coached it all for so long,” Day said. “He was my quarterback coach at [University of New Hampshire], and even back in the NFL, he had a huge hand in a lot of the quarterback meetings. He would sit in on the meetings. And I think even back when I played, he coached all kinds of different positions. I think that’s what gave him the point of view of seeing it from All-22.”

“I think sometimes guys they get caught up in one position, and they can kind of get a little bit narrow minded. He sees it all, has seen it all for a long time, has a great feel for it.”

Day emphasized the importance of a play-caller being lockstep with a team’s quarterback. Having a play-calling OC in the meeting room delivering a message to a quarterback about why a certain play is called in specific situations goes a long way, Day explained.

“It allows you to call the game with more confidence, making sure that both guys are on the same page,” Day said. “Because those are the two guys that have to be on the same page.”

And Day is the guy who has to take on the bigger picture, something that he’s now able to do in a CEO role without having to worry about being hands-on with the quarterbacks or calling plays.

Three burning questions for Buckeyes after first spring practice session

The first practice of spring ball was open to the media Tuesday. Lettermen Row was there and, a day later, reflected on three burning questions facing the program in March and April.

Spoiler: One of those three questions is about the quarterback competition, and, more specifically, about redshirt sophomore Devin Brown.

For all three questions, plus subsequent analysis, go here.

RELATED

• What We Learned about Ohio State’s offensive line from the start of spring ball

Tim May: Chip Kelly makes playful bid for Caleb Downs to play some offense for Ohio State, too

Caleb Downs is so talented that new Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly jokingly tried to recruit the former Alabama safety to the offensive side of the ball on the first day of spring practice.

An interaction like that just goes to show the kind of respect Downs has already earned in his young college career.

Lettermen Row’s Tim May chronicled that moment from Tuesday’s practice, as well as what Kelly said about it afterward. Check it out here.

Counting Down

Buckeyes vs. Akron: 177 days
Buckeyes vs. Michigan: 268 days

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