Ohio State Recruiting Already Proving Historic Under Ryan Day

Ryan Day and his coaching staff have signed two classes at Ohio State and are a little more than halfway through putting their third class together.

Day’s first class (2019) ranked 14th nationally, but that’s because it was a small class with just 17 signees. The average ranking per player, however, was third-highest in the nation, behind only Alabama and Georgia.

The Buckeyes’ incoming 2020 class ranked fifth nationally in the 247Sports Composite, while the average ranking per player was sixth.

The 2021 class — while far from set in stone — is No. 1 overall nationally. That top ranking is due to both the talent and sheer numbers, as the Buckeyes have 15 commitments at the moment, which is more than any other school.

Alabama, for instance, has just one 2021 commitment right now and they are currently ranked 11th in the SEC — which is one spot behind Vanderbilt.

So yeah, things are still early in 2021.

However, if we take things where they stand right now and compare Ryan Day’s first two-and-a-half classes to those of his predecessors Urban Meyer and Jim Tressel, there are some pretty impressive numbers that begin to stand out.

Using 247Sports’ rankings, which assigns a point value to every recruit — with 1.000 being the “perfect recruit,” and a not-so-perfect-but-pretty-darn-close recruit like Justin Fields being a 0.998.

There have been a total of five 1.000 recruits nationally since the internet rankings system began back in 2000: Jadeveon Clowney, Robert Nkemdiche, Rashan Gary, Vince Young, and Ernie Sims.

But the purpose of this exercise isn’t to look at what Ryan Day has done compared to every other school in the nation since 2000. Instead, I am comparing what he’s done to what other Ohio State coaches have done since 2000.

I took the top 100 OSU recruits since 2000 (based on 247’s 1.000 scale) and wanted to see the impact that is already being made by Day and his coaching staff.

Currently, 16 of the top 100 Buckeyes of all time have either signed with Day or are currently committed.

At this same point in his OSU career — late March of class No. 3 — Urban Meyer had 10 of the top 100 signed.

Impressively, Jim Tressel at the same point had 13 of the top 100.

Now, both Meyer and Tressel had more than just 10 and 13 at the time, but they’ve had players booted from the top 100 by Day’s 16 signees and commits.

Overall, of the current Top 100 Buckeyes of all-time, four were signed by John Cooper in 2000, 39 were signed by Tressel, 41 were signed by Meyer, and 16 have been signed or are committed to Day.

Tressel had 11 classes to work with, while Meyer did his damage in just seven.

It bears mentioning that Day has certainly been placed in an ideal situation to continue Meyer’s success, which he is doing remarkably well. But when he was announced as OSU’s next head coach in December of 2018 — just a couple of weeks before signing day — he was able to keep the bulk of the 2019 class together. And yes, it was his class because anybody could have left — as Jordan Battle, Doug Nester, and Dwan Mathis all did.

Based on their time at OSU, Tressel signed 3.5 of the current top 100 per year. Meyer signed 5.9 per year. Day is currently at 6.4, but that’s with the understanding that the current commits will sign and their rankings won’t dip — and also that he won’t land anybody else whose rankings would land them in the top 100.

There could be a problem with that latter part, however, as the Buckeyes are involved with eight other prospects who would qualify for the top 100. Of course, that would also knock out a pair of 2021 commits in Jayden Ballard and Reid Carrico who are coming in at 99 and 100, respectively. That being said, maybe Ballard and/or Carrico move up the rankings to a safer level, and maybe they are joined by current commits who rise as well.

When it comes to the class that has the most top 100 players, that would be the remarkable 2017 class featuring five 5-star prospects. Overall, 11 of the top 100 recruits came from the 2017 class. The 2013 and 2018 class featured eight top 100 recruits, which is also where the 2021 class sits right now. And the 2021 class still has an opportunity to grow.

When you break it down by positions, you can also find some interesting numbers.

For being known so well for his utilization of dual-threat quarterbacks, Urban Meyer only recruited one dual-threat quarterback that made the top 100 — Tate Martell in 2017. The top two dual-threat QBs at OSU in the internet era were Terrelle Pryor and Braxton Miller, both signed by Tressel. In fact, Pryor is Ohio State’s top recruit overall.

When it comes to pro-style passers, however, Day already has two of the top three in the top 100. Kyle McCord, who is part of the 2021 class, is the top pro-style quarterback commit for Ohio State in the top 100, coming in at No. 36 overall. In third is 2020 signee CJ Stroud. Justin Zwick is No. 2 on this list.

Of the six quarterbacks ranked in OSU’s top 100, Tate Martell was the only one signed by Meyer. And none of this includes the aforementioned Justin Fields, who is tied for the No. 8 recruit overall in the internet era and the No. 2 dual-threat quarterback behind Vince Young.

If you wanted to include Fields, then that would make Ryan Day responsible for signing two of the top three pro-style quarterbacks, as well as the top dual-threat quarterback. And all in just 16 months as Ohio State’s head coach.

With the commitment of running back TreVeyon Henderson this past week, he gives the Buckeyes their third-highest rated running back since 2000. Henderson is the second running back committed in the 2021 class for OSU, joining Evan Pryor, who is just outside the top 100, but comes in at No. 9 among running backs at Ohio State since 2000. In other words, it’s been a pretty productive spring for running backs coach Tony Alford despite everything else going on.

At receiver, things are even more impressive.

The top three receivers signed by the Buckeyes since 2000 have all come under Day and receivers coach Brian Hartline. Julian Fleming, Garrett Wilson, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba round out the top three receivers, with Fleming coming in as the No. 4 overall recruit in the top 100.

There are 10 receivers currently in the top 100 and six of them have signed with Day or are committed to him.

On the offensive line, there are nine listed in the top 50, and three of those have signed with Day or are committed to him. Day and offensive line coach Greg Studrawa have also signed the No. 4 center and No. 7 guard, both of whom are just outside of the top 100.

There are 21 defensive linemen in the top 100, but only two (Zach Harrison, Jack Sawyer) are part of a Day class. Those two, however, would rank in the top five of all defensive linemen signed by Ohio State since 2000. Sawyer, who is the No. 3 player in the 2021 class, would be No. 1 overall among OSU defensive linemen if his ranking holds when he signs.

There is some work to do at linebacker, where Day and linebackers coach Al Washington have just one commitment or signee in the top 100 (2021 linebacker Reid Carrico), but they do have two of the top seven inside linebackers since 2000 with Carrico and Cody Simon, who is just outside of the top 100, but is the seventh-highest rated inside ‘backer so far for the Buckeyes.

Cornerback is also an area of low numbers for Day, but it’s likely not too much of a concern because of cornerbacks coach Kerry Coombs. Of the 11 cornerbacks in the top 100, seven have come during the Coombs era.

Day does not yet have any safeties in the top 100, but redshirt freshman Ronnie Hickman (9th), 2020 signee Lathan Ransom (10th), and 2021 commit Andre Turrentine (11th) all rank in OSU’s top 11 safety recruits since 2000.

Overall, things seem to be on a pretty fair trajectory at Ohio State.

Feel free to add all of the standard caveats about recruiting rankings, and commits are meaningless until they are signed, or any of the other well-actuallies you feel are necessary. The larger point will still remain — Ryan Day and his coaching staff aren’t half bad at this recruiting thing, even when compared to Urban Meyer and Jim Tressel.

Top 100 Ohio State Recruits Since 2000