Ryan Day will continue to be Ohio State’s lead offensive play-caller this season.
After weighing the possibility of giving up offensive play-calling duties entering his fifth year as Ohio State’s head coach, Day said Monday on the Ohio State Sports Network’s Football Season Kickoff Show that he will continue to make “the majority” of offensive play calls for the Buckeyes, at least as the season begins.
New offensive coordinator Brian Hartline will also have the opportunity to make some play calls, Day said, but Day plans to continue leading the offensive operation this season despite considering the option of delegating those duties to focus more on being a program CEO.
“Brian's going to certainly at times make some calls, and we're going to discuss it in between series, but I think early, I’ll do the majority of it,” Day said. “Brian is going to have an opportunity to call it as well as time goes on, and I think the thing for Brian is that he's done an excellent job of helping organize the offense. He's done a good job of installing for the first time in this preseason in offense. That's a big part of being a coordinator.
“And so we're gonna do the same thing this fall. We’ll allow an opportunity to call plays, but also will bring it along the right way at the right time. I think it's something that I have a great feel for. So there's been times that we've called it and just had great conversation about thought process and situational football. So it will kind of be a joint effort, but I'm certainly going to be involved.”
Day has been Ohio State’s lead offensive play-caller since 2018, his second year as an offensive coordinator at Ohio State, when he took over those duties from fellow offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson. Day, who became Ohio State’s head coach in 2019, continued to be the lead play caller while working in collaboration with Wilson for the past four years. Hartline was promoted to offensive coordinator in January after Wilson left the Buckeyes to become the head coach at Tulsa.
In his nine-minute radio appearance Monday night, Day also discussed several other topics including the shift from preseason camp to preparing for the first game, the ongoing quarterback and kicker competitions and the emergence of walk-on wide receiver David Adolph. A quick recap of everything else he had to say:
- “We're trying to get everybody back into a game week mentality” this week, Day said. Classes start at Ohio State tomorrow, so he wants everyone to get back into the game-week routine, though OSU will continue getting in “good-on-good” work in practice this week in addition to starting preparations for the season opener at Indiana.
- Day said the expansion of preseason camp rosters to 120 players “really helped” this year in terms of allowing Ohio State to have two units of offensive and defensive players practicing against each other at the same time.
- On the quarterback competition between Kyle McCord and Devin Brown: “I don't think there’s really anybody in our program right now that would say, ‘Well, he's head and shoulders above the other.’ But they also feel really confident about them.”
- Day said David Adolph has “been a pleasant surprise” and will likely earn a spot on the travel roster as long as he can find a role on special teams.
- Day said the defense has gotten their hands on a lot of balls this preseason, “and that’s a great sign. It’s not a great sign for the offense, but it’s a great sign for the team.”
- Day said he thinks Jesse Mirco can be one of the better punters Ohio State has ever had and that John Ferlmann has “really stepped up as the long snapper.” The kicking competition between Jayden Fielding and Parker Lewis will continue through this week.
- Day said TreVeyon Henderson has “had an unbelievable offseason.” He says the Buckeyes have “a lot of depth” at running back, also mentioning Chip Trayanum, Miyan Williams, Dallan Hayden, Evan Pryor and Xavier Johnson.
- On RJ Day’s game-winning touchdown pass Friday night: “It was a great experience, it really was ... as a coach, I know what’s coming next. He's a young kid who has a lot of big games ahead of him. But for one night, it was a lot of fun.”
