Ryan Day: Ohio State’s Secret Weapon

While a lot of attention has been given to Ohio State University football’s promotion of former Rutgers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers Head Coach Greg Schiano to Defensive Coordinator and hiring of former Indiana Head Coach Kevin Wilson as Offensive Coordinator, there is another new face with an impressive résumé in Columbus: Co-Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach Ryan Day could have a huge impact on improving the Buckeyes offense in 2017.

Day has had some great influences in his career. After a record-setting career playing quarterback under offensive coordinator Chip Kelly at the University of New Hampshire, Day spent a year coaching in the program. Then after a two-year stint as a Graduate Assistant at Boston College, he spent at year as a Graduate Assistant under Urban Meyer at Florida.

After coaching the receivers at Temple and Boston College, Day returned to Temple as Offensive Coordinator for a year in 2012. His return to Boston College as offensive coordinator the following year is where Day gets really interesting.

The Boston College Eagles had gone 2-10 the previous season and their coaching staff had been let go. BC is a difficult school to recruit for, and as you would expect, there was not a wealth of talent on the roster at the time. The leading rusher for the Eagles in 2012 was running back Andre Williams who ran for 584 yards and four touchdowns; under Day in 2013, Williams ran for 2,177 yards and 18 touchdowns.

The following year, with Williams leaving for the NFL, running back Jon Hillman ran for 860 yards and 13 touchdowns while quarterback Tyler Murphy added 1,179 yards and 11 rushing touchdowns. In both seasons, the team advanced to bowl games. Day left Boston College in 2015 to become the Quarterbacks Coach under Chip Kelly with the Philadelphia Eagles and followed Kelly to San Francisco when he took the 49ers job the following year.

Now Day has returned to coach under another of his early mentors in Urban Meyer. Day brings with him familiarity with Meyer and his system, experience under other great coaches, NFL credits on his résumé, and a highly successful run as an Offensive Coordinator in a major conference without the benefit of a squad full of blue chip recruits.

What will Day be able to do with an extremely talented Buckeye squad in 2017 and beyond? Ohio State will soon find out.

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