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May 22, 20202020 Browns’ NFL Draft Film Room Series: TE Harrison Bryant
May 28, 2020In 2002, Ryan Day entered the coaching world as the tight ends coach at New Hampshire. He transitioned to the NFL in 2015, becoming the quarterbacks coach for the Philadelphia Eagles. Entering his second year as the head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, the 41-year-old is already considered a top-10 head coach in college football, according to CBS’s Tom Fornelli:
Ryan Day: He climbs higher than any other coach in the rankings this year, moving all the way up to No. 10 from No. 45. Considering the season he had in his first full year as Ohio State’s coach, it’s not hard to understand why. Still, this might be a little too high. I had Day at No. 15 on my ballot. I respect and appreciate what he did last year, but it’s not like he inherited a bad situation. Urban Meyer built quite the team. I’m more interested in seeing how things look two or three years from now. If Ohio State’s still where it is now, Day will deserve to be ranked a lot higher than this.
After showcasing his ability to lead the Buckeyes during a brief three-game stint in 2019, when then-head coach Urban Meyer was serving a suspension to start the season, Day proved that the 3-0 start to his head-coaching career wasn’t just a small dose of his excellence. Day followed that up by leading Ohio State to a 13-1 record in 2020, including another appearance in the College Football Playoff during his first full season as a head coach.
Not only has he had plenty of success on the field, but Day and the rest of his coaching staff have proved their dominance on the recruiting trail as well. The Buckeyes are dominating on in recruiting, to say the least.
Four-star cornerback Denzel Burke (No. 183 overall, No. 7 athlete) became Ohio State’s 14th-best commit by 247Sports’ Composite rankings when he pledged to the Buckeyes this past Saturday. While he is the scarlet and gray’s 14th-best commit in the 2021 class, he would be Michigan’s fourth-best and Penn State’s second-best, the two programs who have the second- and third-best classes in the Big Ten in this recruiting cycle. Ohio State’s 19-player class in 2021 is atop the class rankings by a very big margin and at 95.34 points per player, they have a chance to be the best class ever.1 Just how good is the Buckeyes’ recruiting class in 2021? They have more five-star (four) and four-star (11) prospects than any other program in the country. The 19-player class, which has 301.39 points, according to 247Sports, would have been one of the best classes in 2021, even though they only have 19 commitments so far. Those stats, along with their dominance on the field, is all you need to know about just how good Day is, both as a head coach leading the Buckeyes on the field and recruiting the top talent across the country.
Still need proof for Ohio State’s dominance in the 2021 recruiting cycle? Michigan fans have to use the “highest ranked non-Ohio State bound commits” when discussing the other top recruits in the Big Ten:
Michigan now has 6 of the 10 highest-ranked non-OSU bound commits in the Big Ten East. pic.twitter.com/NT0kXJAzHy
— Scott Bell (@sbell021) May 24, 2020
The top-10 head coaches in college football, according to CBS:
- Nick Saban, Alabama
- Dabo Swinney, Clemson
- Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma
- Ed Orgeron, LSU
- Brian Kelly, Notre Dame
- Kirby Smart, Georgia
- Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M
- Dan Mullen, Florida
- James Franklin, Penn State
- Ryan Day, Ohio State
Just one year removed from being the 45th-ranked head coach in these same rankings, Day has already jumped 35 spots. Ohio State already knew how great of a coach he can (and hopefully will) be and it seems as though the rest of college football is continuing to take notice as well. If this fall and the upcoming recruiting classes prove anything looking ahead, it’s that Day will likely only rise in these rankings.
While Franklin and Day are both in the top 10, there are a number of other Big Ten head coaches in the top 25 as well: Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh (No. 12), Kirk Ferentz (14), P.J. Fleck (15), Wisconsin’s Paul Chryst (17), and Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald (21). While Day’s 35-spot jump in the rankings was by far the biggest, Fleck’s climb from No. 44 to No. 15 (29 spots) was the second biggest rise.2
Day has taken college football by storm. If the returning starters in 2020 and his upcoming recruiting classes prove anything, it’s that he will be one of the top head coaches in college football for the foreseeable future.