Ryan Day put his baseball skills on display for a group of Ohio State recruits on Friday.
In a home run derby inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center as part of Ohio State’s SummerFest recruiting event, the former high school catcher showed he could still hit dingers as he won the contest with nine home runs.
2025 Ohio State safety target Ethan Long said he could see Day’s victory coming as the Buckeyes’ head coach stepped up to the plate.
“I saw it coming. He had the little smirk on his face and had the cockiness,” said Long, who finished second in the contest with eight home runs.
2025 Ohio State tight end Luka Gilbert joked that Day had an unfair advantage.
“He played baseball, so that's unfair,” said Gilbert, who said he hit six home runs.
The home run derby was just one of several fun competitions included within Ohio State’s SummerFest, which brought a host of recruiting targets to campus ranging from Northwestern linebacker transfer Nigel Glover to many of Ohio State’s 2024 commits and some of its top targets in the 2025 and 2026 classes including highly touted wide receiver Chris Henry Jr., who committed to OSU after the event concluded. The offensive and defensive recruits also went head-to-head in a game of dodgeball, which the offense won.
While Long was disappointed with the result of the dodgeball game, he enjoyed that Day and Ohio State’s other coaches got in on the fun and showed their own competitive spirit.
“It’s great, because it's just like someone else that loves to compete and fight every day, and it's just someone that you can just like, you know wants it just as bad as you and it's just a great thing to feel,” Long said.
