Near the end of his nearly 90-minute signing day press conference that included two intermissions, Ryan Day took a deep breath.
Having just been asked to summarize his emotions of the twists and turns Ohio State endured throughout the morning and afternoon, Day cracked a wry smile.
“The first beer’s gonna taste good,” Day told the media gathered at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. “I’ll tell you that.”
A contingent of Ohio State fans and recruiting reporters alike probably nodded in approval following those remarks.
Wednesday was a truly symbolic day of the chaos the new NIL-recruiting era of college football can bring. Ohio State missed out on its final two prep targets, lost another commit but also rallied and held on to arguably its two most important recruits in its entire 2024 class.
Before Day took the podium a few minutes after noon, bad news had been seeping in slowly. Four-star safety Koi Perich opted to honor his commitment to Minnesota, a decision that had become expected over the last few days. Then, full-fledged panic from the fanbase took hold when 247Sports’ Steve Wiltfong made a Crystal Ball projection for five-star defensive lineman Eddrick Houston to flip to Alabama following his visit to Tuscaloosa on Saturday. If that projection held true, the Buckeyes would have been down to one defensive lineman commit for the current cycle, three-star defensive tackle Eric Mensah.
Nearly an hour before noon, news broke that four-star Missouri wide receiver Jeremiah McClellan flipped his commitment from Ohio State to Big Ten rival Oregon (which still feels weird to say). With McClellan’s flip, OSU was down to two wide receiver commits. Five-star Mylan Graham signed his National Letter of Intent in the morning, while 2024’s No. 1 overall recruit Jeremiah Smith still had the Internet guessing ahead of his signing ceremony.
Minutes before Day took the podium at the WHAC, there was palpable buzz among the media contingent in Ohio State’s team room. Rumors of Smith opting to stay home and commit to Miami (and a very sizable NIL deal) were running rampant on social media. Fans of college football recruiting were tuned in to Smith’s decision, so too was the rest of OSU’s staff at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
More than 13 minutes into Day’s press conference, OSU general manager Mark Pantoni interrupted Day mid-sentence to inform him that Smith would be honoring his commitment to Ohio State.
The exact moment Ryan Day found out five-star WR Jeremiah Smith was sticking with Ohio State. Pretty evident how elated he was. pic.twitter.com/ItANvrzgvh
— Garrick Hodge (@Garrick_Hodge) December 20, 2023
Following a deep breath, Day turned, a combination of relief and elation hitting his face all at once, and let out a “Really? Geez,” while his legs nearly buckled out from underneath him. Ohio State’s head football coach was finding out his star recruit's decision in real-time like the rest of us.
After taking a few moments to collect himself, Day resumed the press conference, asking “OK, what was the question?”
Smith didn't actually send his National Letter of Intent to Ohio State until late Wednesday evening, causing some anxiety for some fans, but any fear of crisis was averted when he sent it in before the day ended, further illustrating the craziness of the day.
Day's press conference was interrupted again 36 minutes in when OSU athletic director Gene Smith informed Day he had an urgent phone call waiting for him, which prompted him to leave the podium to converse with the unnamed caller.
Day returned to the team room after a 17-minute intermission and took center stage beaming like a man that had just received good news. It was no coincidence that five-star defensive lineman Eddrick Houston announced he was sticking with Ohio State moments later. It probably doesn’t take Albert Einstein to figure it out, but the call Day received that took him away from the press conference was in fact Houston informing him that he’d be arriving in Columbus in January.
The press conference had run so far past its expected end time that Day had to take another intermission to fulfill his media obligation to the Big Ten Network before returning to finish off the press conference.
"That's Signing Day. You are getting a feel for how hectic and crazy it can get," Day said when he returned from his appearance on BTN.
Shortly after its conclusion, OSU target and four-star defensive lineman Amaris Williams committed to Auburn, leaving the Buckeyes with only two defensive linemen in the 2024 class.
From a 30,000-foot view, Wednesday essentially became a net negative for the Buckeyes as they lost one commit and failed to sign their top two remaining targets. But given the chaos and uncertainty surrounding the decisions of Smith and Houston, combined with the importance of both to the Buckeyes, National Signing Day somehow felt like a win after all.
