Examining Ryan Day's shift in mindset ahead of all-important 2024 campaign for Ohio State
It’s evident that Ryan Day has a new mindset for his Ohio State Buckeyes entering an all-important 2024 campaign.
Spencer Holbrook of Lettermen Row joined Andy Staples On3 on YouTube on Monday, where he elaborated on the belief that the 2024 version of Day is one who’s adjusted his mentality, with the goal of a national title in mind.
“Well, and that’s the thing I find interesting. He did it at the 50 yard line, in front of the whole crowd. He said, ‘The goal is to win a national championship, and beat the team up North.’ Interesting. I don’t know that he was looking at the order necessarily. Well, this year, you don’t have to do the first if you want to do the other. You may have to do it eventually, if you want to do the other, but you don’t have to do it. Maybe the first opportunity. But that is as direct as you’re gonna get from a college football coach,” Staples prefaced the conversation. “Like normally, coaches won’t even mention a national championship. They won’t talk about it, but he just came out said it.”
Holbrook believes this a new Ryan Day, but that certainly isn’t a bad thing for the Buckeyes moving forward.
“Well, Ryan Day does a good job every year of defining the goals,” Holbrook responded. “I remember 2022, Big Ten Championship, or the Big Ten Media Days, Ryan Day said, ‘We have three goals. We want to beat the team of North, win the Big Ten, win the national championship.’ He said, ;but we’re not there yet. We have a long way to go to get to those goals, and we have to take it day by day.’ No, he is completely done with that mindset. He knows exactly what the big picture is. And I think that’s the biggest shift in Ryan Day especially.
“He’s no longer calling plays and having to worry about what to call in Week 4 against Marshall, or what to do on third down against Western Michigan. You know, in Week 2. He’s more worried about, you know, the overall health of the program, what he needs to do to get this team to where it needs to be, and quite frankly, where it has to be this year. And so, he is very much like, in the mindset of defining things and just telling you what it is. He knows the pressure that that brings, but he also knows that he has the roster to do everything and kind of shut everybody up and deal with that pressure in a way that results in a national championship. And so he has completely shifted. It’s a completely different Ryan Day than what I’m used to seeing, to be honest with you.”
Time will tell if Ohio State is able to accomplish all of their goals, but the Buckeyes are certainly in a new frame of mind entering the campaign, that’s for sure.