Although he still has three more years of high school to go, RJ Day’s recruitment as a future college quarterback has begun.
The son of Ohio State coach Ryan Day picked up scholarship offers from Boston College and Marshall during his freshman year at Columbus’ St. Francis DeSales High School, in which he threw for 1,563 yards and 15 touchdowns and earned first-team All-Central Catholic League honors. He recently started visiting colleges, taking trips to Clemson and South Carolina in March with plans to make more visits this summer.
This early in the recruiting process, the younger Day says his focus is on building relationships with coaches who have started recruiting him. Ultimately, he’s looking for a school that wants him because of who he is as a quarterback, not because of who his father is as a coach.
“I've been trying to find the school that gives the most towards me, not because of who my dad is or what my dad offers, but more like what I can offer, what they can offer for me as a person,” RJ Day told Eleven Warriors after participating in the Elite 11 Columbus Regional in April. “When their head coach or their position coach is talking to me and they're not talking to my dad, when they’re trying to show stuff like to my mom and towards me, that's when I start to realize that the school kind of wants to recruit me and not the image that I’m from.”
Ryan Day is supporting his son as he begins his recruiting process, accompanying RJ on his visits to the Palmetto State. But Ryan told his son that he wants RJ to make his own decision.
“He doesn't tell me to make any decision, he just guides me,” RJ said. “He just sets me on the path. When I’ve fallen off, he kind of sets me straight. But he always tells me, it's my journey. So you got to figure it out. Because everybody else figures it out. You can't use me as a crutch. So you got to figure it out on your own.”
RJ has thought about the possibility of playing for his dad at Ohio State, and he’d certainly consider that opportunity if it was offered to him. But RJ plans to see through all of his options before making any decision.
“We’ll see,” RJ said when asked about potentially playing for Ohio State. “But it's always been a dream of mine to play in the Shoe and play for my dad. If the situation’s right, then yeah, we'll go ahead. But until then, I'll keep hunting down teams and make my decision later on.”
Playing for his father would be a natural transition for RJ, as he’s been receiving coaching from his dad ever since he started playing football. RJ says he and Ryan watch film together four times a week, and he credits his father with playing an integral role in his development as a quarterback.
“He's taught me everything that I know,” RJ said. “I try to emulate him every single time because he does a great job of handling things under pressure. So he always teaches me that there's gonna be good days, there’s gonna be bad days; you can't get too high and you can't get too low, because you can’t be extreme at the position. You have to stay even-keeled. Even when you have a great day, it’s okay. Even when you have a bad day, it's okay. Because it's gonna go back up eventually.”
RJ has also received plenty of coaching from new Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly. RJ has known Kelly his entire life because of Kelly’s close relationship with his dad, which dates back to Ryan’s playing career at New Hampshire, where Kelly was the offensive coordinator while Day was UNH’s quarterback.
“We grew up around him. Our vacation house was two doors down for him. So he's like my uncle pretty much, Uncle Chip,” RJ said. “But yeah, he's taught me wonders.”
“It's always been a dream of mine to play in the Shoe and play for my dad. If the situation’s right, then yeah, we'll go ahead. But until then, I'll keep hunting down teams and make my decision later on.”– RJ Day on potentially playing for Ohio State
Because of the coaching he’s received from them, RJ considers his football knowledge to be the strength of his game.
“I've grown up around the game and I've had some pretty good teachers along the way, so I know the X's and O's fairly well,” RJ said. “I still have a really long way to go. But I think that's my strongest part of my game.”
As a frequent visitor to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, RJ also spends a lot of time around Ohio State’s current quarterbacks. He participates in throwing sessions with them during the offseason and soaks up the opportunity to learn as much from them as he can.
“I just build relationships with those guys, because they're in the place that I want to be, so I just take advantage of the opportunity,” RJ said.
RJ has also built a close relationship with 2025 Ohio State quarterback commit Tavien St. Clair, whose rise over the past couple of years into a five-star prospect inspires RJ.
“I've been friends with Tavien before he got offered by Ohio State,” RJ said. “So watching him explode like that, that's kind of surreal, because he was in the shoes (RJ is in now) when I met him. So now I'm just trying to do what guys before me have done and do it in my own way.”
Looking ahead to his sophomore season at DeSales, RJ says the biggest things he’s working on are getting better at seeing the entire field and preparing diligently for every opponent.
“If I can see the entire field as a sophomore and make throws downfield at different levels, then I can separate myself. And I want to be better prepared than every single team that we play,” RJ said.
DeSales went just 5-6 in 2023, suffering a first-round playoff loss to North Canton Hoover, but RJ is motivated to lead the Stallions to greater success in 2024.
“I want to win all our games this year,” RJ said when asked about his sophomore season goals. “I want to attack it. I want to make my teammates better this year. I want to get my guys to the point where they can go off to college because of what I did for them.”
