Skull Session: Ryan Day Says Ohio State’s Offense Won’t Be “Drastically Different” Under Chip Kelly, and Garrett Wilson Builds the Ultimate Buckeye Wide Receiver

By Chase Brown on July 12, 2024 at 5:00 am
Ryan Day
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Welcome to the Skull Session.

Ohio State's roster in EA Sports College Football 25 is loaded.

Have a good Friday.

 MASTER AND APPRENTICE. As the work week comes to a close, I want to touch on one more topic Ryan Day addressed in his appearance on “Big Noon Conversations” with Joel Klatt: Day hiring longtime college and NFL head coach Chip Kelly as Ohio State’s offensive coordinator this offseason.

“How did that come about?” Klatt asked at the midpoint of the episode.

“When I decided to hire an offensive coordinator, I had an A list, a B list and a C list. Chip was on the A list – so was Bill O’Brien – but the timing was off,” Day answered. “I reached out to Chip and said, ‘Hey, I know this is kind of a crazy idea, but what do you think?’ I don’t think it was easy for him. A lot was going on. He had his team, his staff and a lot was going on there. But he did share with me that he was able to coach the quarterbacks in the bowl game, and I think it rekindled his love for coaching football.”

Soon after Day and Kelly’s phone call ended, Day offered O’Brien the position, and Ohio State hired him on Jan. 19. However, as fate would have it, former Ohio State assistant Jeff Hafley, who had been the head coach at Boston College since 2020, left the Hahbah to become the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator. The Eagles offered O’Brien – a Boston native and two-time New England Patriots assistant – a role as their next head coach, and he accepted. So, after a tenure that resembled the Simpsons Hat Rack meme or Aaron Rodgers’ American flag tunnel entrance video, the Buckeyes’ needed a new offensive coordinator.

Day circled back to Kelly.

“I tried him again. I said, ‘I have another chance to do this.’ He said, ‘Yeah, I think I am a little more interested,’” Day shared. “But it was not easy for him. A lot was going on there. But he really wanted to get back into just coaching football.”

Given Day’s status as a Kelly disciple, Klatt asked if Ohio State’s offense will look different or the same with Kelly calling plays.

“I don’t think it will be drastically different to someone watching the game, but you’ll see schematically some different things,” Day said. “Chip’s history of running the ball speaks for itself. We have some really good running backs. He’s creative in what he does. What we’ve done passing the ball here speaks for itself. There will be a combination of those things.

“The great thing for me was when I came here I came from his system. We brought in what Urban (Meyer) did and molded those things together when we were here those first couple of years. As time has gone on, he’s done a little something different at UCLA and we did a little something different here. 

“Now, we’re coming back together. I guess the tough part was he came in right before spring started, so we kind of got it started, put the base things in, got some fundamentals down and focused on techniques. … We’ll dig into what the install looks like heading into the preseason.”

The preseason is almost here, which means the Chip Kelly Offense is almost here.

Are you ready?

 YE OL’ STOMPIN’ GROUNDS. Dawand Jones returned to his alma mater, Indianapolis’ Ben Davis High School, this week for the Dizzy Runs Pro-Am. The event allowed the 6-foot-8, 375-pound offensive lineman to showcase his skills on the hardwood, and as Jones ran from rim to rim on the court, it was “just like old times” the former Ohio State and current Cleveland Browns tackle.

From Kyle Neddenriep of the Indianapolis Star:

“It was definitely important to me to see the community come back out and see me play, see Chris [Evans] and see Aaron [Henry],” Jones said. “There’s a bunch of guys who love being here and love coming back home.”

…

Jones, 22, is a familiar face around Ben Davis, even in the years following his graduation from high school. To say he is a basketball fanatic is putting it mildly. He was able to play an organized game with Henry, his former high school teammate, for the first time since Ben Davis lost in overtime in the regional at the end of the 2018 season to Warren Central and Jones’ current teammate with the Browns, wide receiver David Bell.

“We were still running our plays from high school,” Jones said of Henry, who played professionally last season in Japan and plans to return for the upcoming season. “Aaron’s game has evolved a lot. He’s shooting step-backs and shots he really wasn’t doing in high school.”

Jones said he still plays basketball “every Wednesday” and his trainers with the Browns encourage him to play to break down the scar tissue on his knee. Every once in a while, Jones’ basketball highlight videos from high school go viral on social media.

“It’s nothing I can control,” Jones said with a laugh. “Some people don’t even know I can dunk a basketball. It’s crazy. You think I’m 6-8 for nothing? I just take it as a compliment or sometimes take it as something I need to work on.”

Jones, or “Big Thanos” as he is sometimes known, made a couple of nice moves in Tuesday night’s game and engaged in a little friendly trash talk. He said as important as playing in the game was being back in the school.

“I think people talk about my name a lot, so I want kids to see me, too,” Jones said. “Random people will come up to me and kids will come up and shake my hand and say, ‘What’s up, Dawand?’ like they knew me forever. It’s all love to me.”

Because Neddenriep mentioned Jones’ nickname, “Big Thanos,” I have to ask: Have you seen Jones’ new X profile picture?

Yeah, 10 out of 10, no notes.

I can’t wait to see him healthy again so he can lock down the right side of the offensive line for America’s Team. (Yes, I said it. The Cleveland Browns are America’s Team).

 THE ULTIMATE WIDE RECEIVER. Last weekend, former Ohio State wide receivers Garrett Wilson and Jaxon Smith-Njigba hosted a youth football camp at Ohio Dominican University. During one of the camp’s several water breaks – it’s been too hot here in Columbus! – Wilson did an interview with Big Ten Network in which BTN asked him to build the Ultimate Ohio State Football Wide Receiver.

SPOILER ALERT: Wilson didn’t include himself in the build.

  • Hands: JSN
  • Athleticism: Emeka Egbuka
  • Route-Running: Marvin Harrison Jr.
  • Speed: Chris Olave

In the replies of Big Ten Network’s X post, someone with the incredible username Board Man Gets Paid  – seriously, that’s a great username – said, “So basically himself.”

I think I agree.

In three seasons at Ohio State, Wilson appeared in 33 games and collected 143 receptions for 2,213 yards and 23 touchdowns. He also ran the ball six times for 143 times and one score. With one look at his Ohio State mixtape, one can see he has hands like JSN, athleticism like Egbuka, route-running like Marv and speed like Olave.

I mean, you don’t have a 26-minute Ohio State mixtape unless you made some plays. Wilson did that week in, week out for the Buckeyes, making him one of the greatest pass-catchers in school history – and perhaps even the Ultimate Ohio State Football Wide Receiver.

 NEXT MAN UP. Olave, Wilson, JSN, Marv, Egbuka… Jeremiah Smith? The excitement for Smith’s freshman season is palpable. The No. 1 overall prospect in the 2024 class added to that excitement this week when he and Battle Sports posted pictures on Thursday from a recent photoshoot.

That third picture is just… incredible. 

EA Sports should use something similar for a future EA Sports College Football game!

 SONG OF THE DAY. "Summer of '69" - Bryan Adams.

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