Whether a coach working under Ryan Day is a coordinator or an analyst, Ohio State’s head coach usually gives them the same advice.
“When you walk in the building, it’s your job to bring value,” Day says.
That’s a lot easier as a position coach than it is as an analyst. But Billy Fessler didn’t wait long to make his presence felt in 2024. Following a brief stint at UCLA, Fessler came to Columbus with Chip Kelly last season and was hired as an offensive analyst. Since teams are no longer bound to have only 10 on-field assistants at a time, Fessler went to work trying to help individual quarterbacks grow in their game.
While Kelly was in charge of quarterbacks last season, he was also responsible for coordinating the offense. So, Fessler took charge of many of the day-to-day responsibilities of coaching the position, including running some one-on-one quarterback meetings. Eventually, Ryan Day practically saw Fessler as Ohio State’s quarterback coach in 2024. So it’s not surprising that he promoted him to that title this offseason once Kelly departed for the Las Vegas Raiders.
It’s not Fessler’s first go-around as a quarterbacks coach at the collegiate level, as he held the same position at Akron in 2022 and briefly at UCLA before joining Kelly in Columbus.
“The good thing for Billy is he was here before so he knows how we want to coach things,” Day said Friday. “He understands the progressions, he sees it how we see it. Him walking in the building, he was a step ahead that way. He works really, really hard at it and he’s got a really bright future in this game.”
A big feather in Fessler’s cap was his work developing Will Howard. Howard had his best collegiate season at Ohio State, throwing for more than 4,000 yards and 35 touchdowns en route to a national championship. As he prepares for the NFL Draft, Howard swears he owes a ton of credit to Fessler for being in his current position. A former college quarterback himself at Penn State from 2014-2017, Fessler found it easy to relate to the signal callers he tutored.
“I’m so happy for him,” Howard said at the NFL Scouting Combine. “If coach Day didn’t hire him to be the quarterback coach, I would have had a problem with it. He taught me so much this year. He was integral to my development. He is absolutely, 100% the best man for the job. He’s going to be great for that room. He brings a human element to where he’s not that much older than us so he’s able to relate to us on a guy-to-guy level, but he’s also able to lock in.
“He taught me more than a lot of guys in that role could have. He was really the mouthpiece from coach Day and coach Kelly to me a lot of times if they were doing anything else. He was really my personal one-on-one QB coach at times. I’ve got all the praise in the world for that dude, he’s helped me so much.”
Howard isn’t the only person vouching for Fessler’s intellect. Fessler and Ohio State tight ends coach Keenan Bailey roomed together in Columbus during the shortened COVID season in 2020, and their days often turned into brainstorming sessions.
“He’s one of the smartest football minds I’ve ever been around. You’ve got coach Day and a couple others. And then like Billy is right up there,” Bailey said. “Billy and I were roommates during COVID and when that season got taken from us, it was like a football clinic every single day, 24 hours a day. I was learning a lot more from him than he was from me. That was a home run hire and I’m excited to work with him.”
Meeting the media for the first time since his promotion on Saturday, Fessler was thankful for the opportunity, called Ohio State “a special place” and said being the quarterbacks coach is a “dream job." He took approximately zero seconds to accept the offer.
But he’ll have his work cut out for him this offseason.
Regardless of who wins the highly anticipated quarterback competition between Julian Sayin, Lincoln Kienholz and freshman Tavien St. Clair, the Buckeyes are going to have a rookie quarterback under center for Week 1 against Texas.
There’s a lot of development that’ll need to happen between now and then for whichever starter emerges to ensure the Buckeyes start 1-0 in the 2025 campaign. But that’s a long way down the road. Finding the right man for the job is first up on the priority list.
“We’re going to let those guys compete and we’re going to let those guys go have equal opportunities,” Fessler said. “We are really far away from the start of fall camp and getting into the season so more than anything I’m excited to watch them compete. Last year, both Julian, Lincoln and then Tavien at the end of the year had the opportunity to see what it looks like, to watch Will, watch how he operated and learn from him. So to now step into a role where they’re competing for the job is a bit of a different deal. I’m excited to see them compete, more than anything.”
