DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Thee Ohio State Football Thread (cont.)

Beating Georgia would be much more impressive (regardless of whether they are overrated or not) if they hadn't been missing their leading receiver for the first half and if their leading rusher hadn't had a bum shoulder. If Georgia's QB hadn't played most of the game with a limp, that might have helped, too.

You just posted a huge load of crap. You are so hell bent on beleiveing the cards were stacked in the SEC's favor that no matter the outcome we would have been rated #2.

That's the defeatist thought process I was talking about. The fact is OSU didn't mop the floor with the #8 rated team while LSU blasted the #4 rated team.

It isn't some huge conspiracy theory that favored the SEC. LSU earned it plain and simple.

Georgia should have Never been ranked #4 after losing to 4-8 South Carolina and it showed !!!

We're in the playoffs. Ya'll need to quit having a pity party.

Whose having a pity party I'm happy to be playing Clemson, just stating a fact about UGA being over rated ... GO BUCKS

Well Wisconsin lost to Illinois as well. I mean if.....

Can We Just Give The Championship To Clemson Already?


Look! It's not "player" speed, it's not 4.3 40's to slower 40's, it's just that Clemson is a faster team,
Getting their play calls in from the sideline, excuting plays after the snaps, quicker releases from the quarterbacks,
Faster on defense
Faster on Special teams,
Faster on offense,

Players in your face as soon as you snap the ball, players in position to force fumbles and block kicks,

Clemson's level of play is just Better.

Clemson can get the ball to the outside and in the hands of their playmakers running down the sidelines for scores before these other 3 schools can figure out what's hit them.

Clemson's "speed of play" is the only thing that's helped them compete with Alabama in the past 3 years, which is actually still the #1, or #2 best team in College football, even with 2 losses,

And though I haven't seem much of Oklahoma, I don't suppose they'll operate at the same level of quickness,
quickness in execution.

LSU?, Joe Burrow is pretty good, and they got past Alabama, but I think they also don't execute their offense, defense, and special teams,
both before/between the snap, and after the snap,

with the Quickness of Clemson,

So pretty sure Clemson runs away with this final 4.

And Etienne, is probably the MVP of the playoffs, if they chose one.

I think we should play them first.

Aww, you/he caught me!
You know I was just trolllin ??

Besides, Clemson is just going to roll over like a bunch of division 2 school wannabes?

Give me a, Break!

This is a "Championship" Game! Period!

and Ohio State needs to get their focus to a hundred, and not put up some 0-31 tail kicking loss, like the last time these two teams played.

Always fighting for respect.

Lincoln Riley invented "quick" at OU. That's why Baker is so much better in up tempo pace. And now Alex Grinch has dramatically upped the defense output. I'm anxious to see how they perform against LSU. I think tOSU should have retained the top spot.

We already acknowledged that LSU looked like a better team this weekend. THIS WEEKEND.

There's a whole 13 game body of work to evaluate. Even if you give this weekend more weight than other games due to recency and importance, Ohio State was still the best team this season.

Now, I can understand having LSU at the 1 spot. I do. If it were just a one-time thing, I'd just shrug and figure the committee really emphasized quality wins as the key parameter and move on.

However, what I've observed from year to year, is that there are various criteria the committee (and before that, the BCS) uses such as wins-losses, eye test/know it when you see it, key wins, avoidance of bad losses, strength of victory, margins of victory, analytics, and so on.

In any given year, some of these are directly at odds with one another. For example, you may have a team that had a far more difficult schedule, with more quality wins and better advanced stats, but ended up with 2 losses instead of 1. Different people can interpret that situation differently. And indeed, the criteria subtly changes from year to year.

The one constant, however, is there is always SEC favoritism. ALWAYS.

For example, the 2 loss vs 1 loss debate described above is similar to the Ohio State vs Alabama for the 4th spot from two years ago. Ohio State did indeed have the tougher schedule, several wins that were better than Alabama's best win, and an outright Big Ten championship coming out of what was a brutal Big Ten East. And yet they gave the nod to Alabama, who only had one loss but no great win and who didn't even make it to its own conference championship game.

It appears there is a sort of informal 'rule' that a 2 loss team won't get into the playoffs, but that sure didn't stop the 2007 LSU team from getting into the BCS championship game in a top-2-are-in scenario. That 'rule' came into being to get Alabama as the second SEC team into the playoffs, plain and simple.

Or another look back to the BCS era. There were a couple end-of-season matchups between #1/#2 teams from the same conference (Ohio State/Michigan once, LSU/Alabama another) where they were clearly the two best teams going into the game. Now there is a debate here whether you should put two teams from the same conference into a championship game/playoffs, or whether people want to see such a rematch in the first place. However, these are the wrong questions. The question we should be asking is, "is there a way to get another SEC team into the picture?" And indeed, in both cases, they managed to put an SEC team into the two spot.

Should I go on? Any time there is a reasonable debate between an SEC team and non-SEC team, the SEC team always gets the benefit of the doubt. Key word there is reasonable. Apparently there was even some discussion this year between Oklahoma and Georgia for the 4th playoff spot (committee chair Rob Mullens mentions it here: https://247sports.com/college/oklahoma/A...lens-140162487/) but this was not a reasonable possibility. The committee got this one right as he says that Oklahoma was a solid 4th selection, but the fact there was even a discussion about it is.. interesting. Maybe I'm being too cynical on this one.

The funny thing is, I actually think that the SEC is usually the best, or at least deepest conference. I think that should absolutely be considered in these discussions. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that they are putting out the best team at the high end (advanced stats/analytics can tease this out) or that they necessarily have the hardest schedules. Teams don't play every team in their conference every year, and there's the issue of divisions; as noted above, the Big Ten East and SEC West have been particularly tough divisions. Those of course, are where Ohio State and LSU are coming out of.

I won't continue on with this. But one thing I have learned is that it's much easier to see things from a certain point of view when you have a dog in the fight.

I'm sure many people had similar thoughts while watching the selection show, broadcast exclusively by ESPN, which just so happens to have a multi-billion dollar partnership with the SEC.

Take the human element out of the equation altogether. Create a system where the elements that matter such as wins-losses, key wins, strength of victory, titles won etc. are evaluated and the rankings released. Why do we need a committee to get together to discuss all these things that an algorithm could do so much better and more accurately?

The current system is great for getting people's interest up (this 'resume' talk comes up every year though it is getting old) or if you want to have some leeway to put certain teams into the tournament/fudge the seeding around to what is desired.

The process is flawed and very open to corruption and I'm sure you can at least see that.

Because an algorithm doesn't have a set of eyes.

A trait shared by at least half of the committee's members.

I'm an tOSU homer too. So I can understand how their fans can feel that way.

Thing is, this is a TV show and it's there to get ratings. It's not on TV for any other reason. I personally think more people would want to see the revenge game between OSU and Clemson in the first round than in the title game and if someone at ESPN pulled a lever to make it happen, assuming everyone else was split on the decision, would it be that big of a deal? And I say in the first round because it's possible to force that to happen in the first round, while the matchup may not happen in the championship game (OU or LSU win).

As for the seeding, aside from my fabricated conspiracy theory above, I can see both sides to who should be #1. I don't really think it matters because the top 4 are in the playoff and we'll find out who the best team is on the field. If OSU can't beat Clemson, they weren't beating OU and then LSU anyway. Maybe it helps LSU with an easier opponent, but OU could win, stranger things have happened this year.

Personally, I don't think it was a grand conspiracy. OSU struggled against Wisconsin while LSU thumped Georgia, who the committee thought was very good. So, it makes sense on paper that LSU would jump OSU.

Wilbon said OSU had a better outcome than any other team that Sunday. They were tested, got behind and battled back. That will help them in the playoff more than blowing out Wisconsin.

Interesting post. I agree with parts of it and disagree with others. I'm moving on from the 'who should be the 1 seed' part because I've said all I have to say about that.

Let's just focus on the importance of the #1 seed because I strongly disagree with this: "If OSU can't beat Clemson, they weren't beating OU and then LSU anyway. Maybe it helps LSU with an easier opponent, but OU could win, stranger things have happened this year. "

As I've alluded to many times, there are different criteria that people can use to describe who the best team is, or who should be the 1 seed.

Long story short, the top 3 teams are reasonably close. Ohio State/LSU/Clemson, let's say for argument's sake they are all equal. They're all 50/50 games against each other-- not exactly correct, but it simplifies things greatly. Then let's say Oklahoma is certainly capable of beating any team, but they only have a 20% chance in any given game. How important is the 1 seed?

The 1 seed would have an 80% chance to win the semi-final, and 50% to win the final, so 40% title probability.

2/3 seeds would have 50% chance to win the semi-final, then 56% chance to win the final ((.8*.5+.2*.8)), or 28% title probability apiece. Then Oklahoma would have the remaining 4%. (.2*.2)

You can adjust the numbers a bit to suit your liking (probably give Oklahoma a slight boost), but they are not all that far off as is and adjusting them won't significantly change the advantage of getting the 1 seed.

There's this positive angle as well...

Neither a #1 or #3 seed has ever won the college football playoff championship.

The #2 seed has won 3 of the 5 championships.

I hear you, and we got screwed almost immediately with talking heads lining up to man-splain to each other why OSU got dropped to two to change the matchups to what they had been trying to orchestrate a week beforehand. That tough l'Georgia. I ask why, if they are that rough, did they manage to get shellacked that badly? Was their opinion of Georgia so overpowering to overwhelm OSU? Wisconsin bloodied our nose and more in the first half. The decision to bump OSU down had to see the Badgers as an also ran. They stuck it to us; nothing meager or deficient there.

But they should fairly consider this: How would a Georgia versus Wisconsin look? If you can equate those teams' rankings, how about relative strength of opponents. Big 10 must be inferior because they are Big 10. And the corollary, it must follow SEC gets top treatment because they are SEC, even if one doesn't game. Just might have had a more favorable matchup. This is a reach a bit, but I still hate this system. Get your four and draw blind. Too much jawing to be impartial.

I don't think there's much of a gap between Wisconsin and Georgia, if at all. Wisconsin's lower ranking was mainly the result of having the misfortune of playing Ohio State earlier in the year. Then both had some good wins and a really bad loss (Georgia vs South Carolina, Wisconsin vs Illinois.

Advanced stats have them roughly equal. I saw one that had Wisconsin above Georgia and another that had Georgia above Wisconsin. Not huge differences in either.

Wisconsin looked like the better, tougher team on Saturday though that can be misleading as they're in different situations and playing different teams. Georgia didn't impress me at all though, just saying. Part of that was LSU and part of it was Georgia.

Is there a team you can rely on to choke more than Georgia? Michigan? The Bengals?

Unfortunately, yes.

Are you going to be willing to live with the results of the algorithm when it clearly seems to contradict what your eyes are telling you?

First you have to set up the algorithm, which is just a set of data points with a particular weight. What's more important outright wins/losses or strength of schedule? Which one gets more weight? (Because this will go a long way to determining whether I want to schedule that early season tough out of conference game)

What is a key win? Is that a win over another ranked team? How did THEY get ranked? What is given more weight, the positive from a "key win" or the negative for a "bad loss"? Does it matter if it was home or on the road? Does it matter if your star QB happened to be out that week? Does a week 2 loss weigh the same as a week 11 loss, all things being equal? Does winning the conference mean anything? What about your division within the conference?

So you can say that an algorithm would be a whole lot more accurate but an algorithm is only going to spit out based on the criteria that are established by people... people who have preferences.

Or could it be that Georgia played 2 P5 non conference games Notre Dame and Georgia Tech and won both games beisdes going 7-1 in the SEC with wins over Auburn, Florida, and Texas A&M.

Wisconsin did not play any P5 non conference games but did go 7-2 in the Big Ten with wins over Michigan, Iowa, and Minnesota.

I think Georgia's P5 non conference wins and 1 less loss was a major factor why they were ranked 4 spots higher than Wisconsin.

Yeah, that is a big knock against Wisconsin. I still think that is a great team though, despite their (very justified) lower ranking.

On the other hand, Georgia's win over Notre Dame was obviously a nice boost. The win over 3-9 Georgia Tech doesn't mean much though.

I don't like to do the 'X beat Y, Y beat Z' argument because it branches out so quickly and people can use it to say whatever they want. That said, it can be interesting and games among common opponents are one of the criteria used by the committee.

Georgia beat Notre Dame 23-17.
Michigan beat Notre Dame 45-14.

Wisconsin beat Michigan 35-14.
Ohio State beat Michigan 56-27.

Scheduling and playing P5 schools are always seen as greater than scheduling and playing non P5 schools no matter of record.

Unless you are LSU. *Shrug*

We're in the playoff, so I'm not going to quibble too much. I could see us losing or winning against any of them.

This way we can play the disrespect card. Hopefully our guys handle the buffet circuit better than LSU's.

Maybe as a general rule but you still have to consider the specifics. I can't imagine that beating up on a team like Georgia Tech, Rutgers, Arkansas etc. could possibly be seen as better than beating a team like Memphis, Boise State, or Cincinnati (all 3 of which are in the top 25 of the playoff rankings, as well as coaches and AP polls.)

Chase Young says current plan is to return to Ohio State
https://www.thescore.com/ncaaf/news/1905041

Heisman Trophy finalist and projected top 2020 NFL draft pick Chase Young has yet to declare whether he's leaving school for the pros.

Caught on the streets of New York by TMZ's cameras ahead of Saturday's Heisman announcement, the junior defensive end was asked if he'd return to Ohio State for his senior season.

"That's the plan," Young said, adding that he hasn't even thought about the NFL draft.

Young is widely considered to be the first non-quarterback to be selected in April's draft. He would be eschewing the riches that come with being a top-three pick if he were to return to Columbus in the fall.

The 20-year-old led the nation in sacks with 16.5 despite missing two games due to a suspension for an NCAA rule violation.

Saying that you aren't even thinking about the NFL draft right now is the perfect answer and hopefully an honest one. Right now every player at tOSU should be concentrated on Clemson and the national championship.

The time for thinking about the NFL draft comes after that.

Agreed but I have a hard time believing he will come back when he's a sure fire top 5 pick

I have a hard time believing it too. But as of this moment the focus should be on his upcoming games at tOSU. He gave the perfect answer to prevent the focus from shifting to himself and to remain on his school, his team and the task at hand.

I find that refreshing.

It's a good answer, and as a fan, I hope he stays.

Realistically though, I can't imagine that he'd stay for another year, nor do I think it would be a good idea for him to do so.

The risk of serious injury hurting his draft stock next year is what I would consider too great a risk for his future IMO.

Agreed.

Anyway, for some football talk, a Fiesta Bowl preview from SI: https://www.si.com/college/2019/12/08/ohio-state-clemson-fiesta-bowl-preview

Fiesta Bowl Preview: Ohio State-Clemson Pits Power vs. Power
A semifinal showdown of two unbeaten heavyweights awaits in the Fiesta Bowl in late December.
LAKEN LITMANDEC 8, 2019

Ryan Day was relatively unknown in the college football world before he was named Ohio State’s interim head coach last fall when Urban Meyer was placed on leave while the university investigated whether he knew about domestic violence allegations against former assistant Zach Smith.

The Buckeyes went 3-0 without Meyer and Day was later named the legendary coach’s successor when he retired after the Rose Bowl in January. Fast forward to now, and there’s not much different about this Buckeyes’ team in terms of on-field production. The 40-year-old Day inherited a well-oiled machine in terms of culture and talent, with Heisman caliber players like Chase Young, J.K. Dobbins, and then he went out and snagged star quarterback Justin Fields from the transfer portal. Ohio State held on tight to the top College Football Playoff seed for two weeks leading up to Selection Sunday, but after needing a comeback to beat Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game, SEC champion LSU jumped them for the No. 1 spot. This means they get to face No. 3 Clemson in the semifinal.

The reigning national champion Tigers are in the playoff for the fifth consecutive year. Despite being criticized all year for a weak schedule, Clemson is considered to be the most dangerous team in this four-team field. In fact, the biggest storyline coming out of Saturday was the importance of getting to be No. 1 in order to avoid the Tigers in the semifinal. Last year, Clemson was best known for its filthy defensive line—three linemen were taken in the first round of the NFL draft—and Trevor Lawrence shredding Alabama in the national championship. This year, Lawrence is still a star with one of the best receiving corps in the country, and linebacker Isaiah Simmons emerged as their greatest defensive weapon.

Ironically, Ohio State and Clemson last met in the 2016 College Football Playoff semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl. The Tigers, then led by QB Deshaun Watson, dominated the Buckeyes 31-0 and went onto beat Alabama in a title game rematch. This year, Ohio State and Clemson have two of the best offenses and defenses in the country and its unlikely we’ll see another blowout.

Storyline You’ll Get Tired Of
Did you know that Justin Fields and Trevor Lawrence were the Nos. 1 and 2 prospects in the 2018 recruiting class? And that they’re both from Georgia? The players grew up 30 minutes away from each other with Lawrence from Cartersville and Fields from Kennesaw. There were debates back in high school about who was the better player and now we get to see them go head-to-head for the first time in college in a playoff semifinal.

Lawrence obviously has a year of playoff and national championship experience behind him, but don’t discount Fields. He holds one of the most impressive stats in the country this season, throwing 40 touchdowns to just one interception. While both guys lead two of the nation’s best offenses and have plenty of playmakers around them, they also have a challenge ahead in facing two of the toughest defenses (Clemson is ranked No. 1 and Ohio State is No. 2) they’ve seen all year.

One-on-One Matchup to Watch
While everyone will rightfully be curious to see if the nation’s sack leader, Chase Young (16.5), can get past one of the best offensive lines (allowing 1.0 sacks per game) and pressure Lawrence, another matchup to look for is Ohio State’s secondary against Clemson’s assembly of elite receivers. Watch for top OSU cornerback Jeff Okudah against Tigers’ 6’4” wideouts Tee Higgins and Justyn Ross. The two have combined to lead Clemson this year with 107 catches, 1,824 yards and 21 touchdowns. It will be a matchup of future first-round draft picks as the 6’1” Okudah, and his fellow DBs, like 6’0” Davon Arnette, try to keep those guys in check.

Underrated X-Factor
Does playoff experience matter? We’ll find out. Swinney has coached in five straight playoffs and nearly every one of his players have been in this situation before. Meanwhile, Ohio State hasn’t made a semifinal since 2016, which was the year it lost to Clemson 31-0, and Day will be coaching in his first CFP. It’s also worth noting that while the Buckeyes have either been the No. 1 or No. 2 team in every one of the selection committee’s rankings this year, Swinney has been playing the disrespect card with his team. On Selection Sunday, he pumped up his guys by reminding them that they started the season as the No. 1 team in the country, then dropped to fifth in the first playoff rankings despite being undefeated, and ultimately finished third. Never underestimate an angry team.

Early Prediction
Both semifinals are great matchups, but this one pits two teams against each other who have truly dominated their opponents all year. In terms of point differential, Ohio State outscored teams by an average margin of 36.2 points per game while Clemson wasn’t far behind with 35.9 ppg. The other semifinal matchup between LSU and Oklahoma in the Peach Bowl has two of the best offenses in the country, but they also played in a lot of close games this year. In the Fiesta Bowl, it’s the ultimate power game on both sides of the ball with two impressive quarterbacks up against the country’s two strongest defenses. At this point, it’s hard to imagine either of these teams getting blown out. It’ll be a close game, with Clemson handing Ohio State its first loss of the year, 31-28.

Yeah, he needs to go, there is money to be made, and he stands to make quite a bit of it off the bat. On top of endorsement deals and everything else that he can't get right now.

I think he said the right thing by just deflecting attention off it, he wants to win, he wants the focus to be on this next game. I credit him for that

Outside of Burrow, he's easily the most coveted player in this draft.

Nice signing day so far for the Bucks

Ohio State has signed 7 top-100 players and it could be 8 tomorrow.

The rest of the Big Ten has a combined 6.

https://twitter.com/AriWasserman/status/1207346643533737985

Hartline just signed what might be the best wide receiver class of all time, bringing in four top-100 players – Julian Fleming,
Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Gee Scott Jr. and Mookie Cooper.
https://twitter.com/11W/status/1207389136778407938

PRESSER BULLETS: RYAN DAY AND BRIAN HARTLINE DISCUSS OHIO STATE'S 2020 RECRUITING CLASS
https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-stat...ecruiting-class
After signing 24 players on Wednesday morning, including two five-star prospects in Julian Fleming and Paris Johnson Jr. and two four-star quarterbacks in Jack Miller and C.J. Stroud, Ohio State coach Ryan Day met with the media to talk about the Buckeyes' recruiting class of 2020 for the first time.

Here's a quick sampling of what Day had to say, followed by wide receivers coach Brian Hartline, who also met with the media on Wednesday afternoon:

Ryan Day:

“It's been a great morning ... What a great day this has been. We think it's an unbelievable class.”
“I just want to thank all the families out there, and all the recruits who believed in us from the beginning.”
Day said the staff did a great job coming together to work with Lejond Cavazos, Ryan Watts, Lathan Ransom and Kourt Williams to land their commitments even with the departure of defensive backs coach Jeff Hafley. He said everyone had a hand in that, but specifically named Mark Pantoni and Matt Barnes for their contributions. He said the Buckeyes did not have a 10th assistant coach on the trail serving in Hafley's place because he recruited for most of the week and then had conversations with the recruits before he left about his decision.
“This has been a great place before Jeff came and it will be a great place after he’s gone.”
Day said this class of recruits are “some of the best people I've been around.”
On signing six offensive linemen: “I thought going into this recruiting cycle, offensive line was so huge, and Coach Stud did a great job.”
Day said Paris Johnson and his mom Monica were huge in helping the Buckeyes recruit other players.
On how the recruiting process was different this time as a head coach: "This was our first class from beginning to end. There was a lot more time and deeper connections there."
Ohio State still has two unsigned commits at defensive back (Clark Phillips and Cameron Martinez), but otherwise, the class is pretty much full at this point.
Day said the early signing period made this time of the year extremely hectic with game prep and all of the other end-of-the-year things going on. “However this came down, I’m not sure if they sat down and they realized… I think we have to take a hard look at that."
On the class of wide receivers (Julian Fleming, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Gee Scott Jr., Mookie Cooper): “This is probably the strongest class I've seen in a long time that I can remember.”
On Scott: “Every time you talk about Gee Scott, everyone has great things to say about him, because he's not only a great player, he's also a great person.”
On Luke Wypler: “I think he has a chance to be a great interior lineman.” Said he has some Jersey in him, some edge in him, but he has also has the hard-working Midwestern mentality.
Day on signing two quarterbacks: “That's huge ... We felt like we had to try to get more depth in that room.” He said Jack Miller and CJ Stroud bring different things to the table, praised Miller's loyalty in staying committed and said he thinks both are excited to come in and compete to be the backup quarterback next year. He said the decision to bring in two quarterbacks was “not something we took lightly – this is difficult stuff ... “In order to go win championships, you have to have depth at that position.”
“I think this offense is very quarterback friendly.” Day said the success of Justin Fields and Dwayne Haskins – both Heisman finalists in consecutive years – speaks for itself.
“I can say this, our future at quarterback is much stronger after today.”
On signing eight players from Ohio: “Ohio has been a priority for us and always will.”
Day said he had an emotional conversation with Paris Johnson Jr. and his mother this morning about finally getting to this point. “We're finally here ... I just thanked them for their loyalty.” He said both Johnson and Lejond Cavazos “really mean a lot to me” for their loyalty in becoming Buckeyes after initially committing to Urban Meyer.
On the hours leading up to signing day: “There's a lot of stress.”
Day on recruiting across the country: "No matter where you go, and they see that Block O… It’s unbelievable.” Day said Ohio State’s brand is strong across the nation.
“We try not to talk people into coming here ... because of the transfer portal.” He wants to be honest with players about what they will get at Ohio State, rather than just trying to make a hollow sales pitch. “I think at the end of the day, they want relationship and they want people that care about their kids.”
Day said he believes recruits and their parents feel the family atmosphere at Ohio State when they come for a visit.
“If you're a high school quarterback right now with an opportunity to come play at Ohio State, there's a lot of people that would want to do that.” Because Ohio State only has two returning scholarship quarterbacks for next season in Justin Fields and Gunnar Hoak, so there's opportunity there for Miller and Stroud to both come in and compete for playing time quickly, and Day believes that was exciting to them.
On Miyan Williams: “It's like it's angry when he runs. We like that.” Said the fact that Williams is an Ohio native was part of the appeal in recruiting him, as was his production at Winton Woods and as strong and powerful as he runs.
On how he's feeling today: “This is exciting. This is a great day for us ... To put together a class like this, it's just great ... When you want to look at the future, you look at recruiting.”
On linebacker/safety Kourt Williams: “I'll be a surprised if he's not a captain when he's here ... He's got a lot of versatility, he can do a lot of different things.”
On offensive linemen Trey Leroux, Jakob James, Josh Fryar and Grant Toutant: “I think they know, they have a little bit of developing to do.” Day said Johnson and Wypler are the most likely candidates among the offensive linemen to compete for early playing time.
Day said recruiting is about building relationships, not making a sale. “When you're honest and you're real with them, obviously it translates better for when they get here.”
On Stroud: “We got a lot of great feedback on CJ.” Acknowleged that Stroud was “kind of an unknown“ before the Elite 11 and Opening camps this summer, but the other signees who were at those camps with him gave great feedback on him. “He handles himself the right way. He looks you in the eye, he shakes your hands ... He's got a lot of respect, he makes great decisions.”
Day said DaVon Hamilton's development is "kind of the model" for his brother, defensive line signee Ty Hamilton's development. He said Ty "terrorized" opposing offenses this year and Ty could have “a bigger impact early on his career than maybe we thought coming into this season.”
Day said he tells all recruits that he expects them to graduate from Ohio State, and that the transfer portal never comes up in recruiting, even though he recognizes circumstances come up sometimes.
Do you have room if another player or two wants to join the class? “We might be able to make some room.” He said the Buckeyes are “right at the number right now, but there's some wiggle room in there.”
On freshman offensive linemen Enokk Vimahi and Dawand Jones: “To see the way those guys have developed, those guys are really good players. Really good players.”
“Lathan Ransom is going to be as good a safety as we've had here in a long time.”
Day said there's “a really good culture here” where everyone welcomes each other in and players aren't territorial even though they all come from different background.
Day said Ohio State has practiced five of the last six days, and now the players are going home for three days to spend time with their families before they reconvene for the trip to Arizona on Sunday. Because the Buckeyes didn't practice much the week before that, it's almost like having two bye weeks before next week's game.
Brian Hartline:

Hartline said Mookie Cooper will likely play in the slot but he believes Julian Fleming, Gee Scott Jr. and Jaxon Smith-Njigba are all flexible to play multiple spots. With K.J. Hill leaving after this season, “all options are on the table“ in terms of potentially moving current or incoming receivers into the slot to help fill that void. He doesn't want to box receivers into playing one position or another, even though he has some idea in his head right now of where each of them could fit in.
With Hill, Austin Mack, Binjimen Victor and C.J. Saunders all leaving, Hartline said it is “really important“ for the incoming receivers to be ready to play quickly.
Hartline said the program Smith-Njigba comes from in Rockwall, Texas is “amazing. It kind of mimics what we do here.”
Hartline says the Buckeyes focus on who they want to recruit, not who else is recruiting specific players, because Ohio State believes it can compete with anyone on the recruiting trail.
On Day's work leading his first full recruiting class: “Coach Day is awesome. He's a stud ... I can't say enough about the availability he has when it comes to recruiting.”
Hartline said it really hard to find weaknesses in Smith-Njigba's game. “He runs routes, he's a smart guy ... he feels really coachable ... he's a playmaker.”
”I think one thing you'll notice about these guys, they're all elite pass-catchers,“ which of course is crucial to playing wide receiver.
On Mookie Cooper: “A smaller guy, but really stocky. When he goes to block, he tries to knock you out.”
On Gee Scott Jr.: “Every time there's a high-point, I feel like he goes and gets that ball.” Hartline said the key for Scott will be to work with Mickey Marotti on getting faster.
On Julian Fleming: “He's 6-2, runs really well ... really great ball skills, very physical in the run game.” Said because he played in a Wing-T offense in high school, his expectations for targets should be “pretty low,” Hartline joked, but Fleming is a great blocker who regularly sends Hartline clips of his blocking. He said Fleming doesn't have a ton of route-running experience, so that's something he'll need to work on.
“I've never had a guy I developed a deep relationship with not come here. I know that's gonna happen one day, and I'm gonna be crushed. ... I really dive deep into the relationships.”
Hartline said he doesn't like the term of being called a “recruiter,” because he tries to build real relationships with players and help them make an informed decision.
On signing two quarterbacks: “That's unheard of,” but he believes that speaks to their desire to compete.
On the receivers Ohio State looks for: “I like guys who can basically do everything.”
Hartline defined K.J. Hill's legacy to Ohio State's receiver room as “unselfish.” “If you pull K.J. Hill out of that room, we are not as talented in that room ... I think his biggest legacy, hopefully, will be how the young guys turn out,” because of how he has taught them and they have learned from him.
On Smith-Njigba's production in high school: “The career he's had in Texas, that's a great football state ... for him to be amongst the best of all-time is just astounding. Another thing that jumps off is on his Twitter, you see how good of a teammate he is.” He joked that it's the inverse of Fleming, but he's never going to be as targeted as much in one game in Ohio State's offense as he was at Rockwall.
Hartline said he doesn't look much at height in recruiting wide receivers, but catch range is really what matters.
Hartline said it was hard for Mookie Cooper to be unable to play this year (he was ineligible after transferring schools) because “football's his life,” but it isn't something that concerned him in terms of recruiting Cooper. “If anything, his body's taken less hits, so he's fresher.”
Hartline said he isn't looking to leave the Buckeyes for a bigger job anytime soon. “I have a strong passion for Ohio State ... I don't know what would get me out of the city, frankly, unless I'm just not good.“ He said he currently has “no desire“ to leave.

Nice read, thanks for posting.

It's good that Ohio State is back to elite level recruiting after a so-so (by Ohio State standards) 2019 class.