Ryan Day says Ohio State is undecided on players using extra eligibility
The regular season ends in less than two weeks and college football coaches are going to turn their minds (somewhat) from scheming on the field to managing the roster. But Ohio State head coach Ryan Day isn’t getting to that headspace now.
The conversations with players who could come back will happen, Day said ahead of the Buckeyes penultimate game against Maryland, but after the season. Ohio State is 10-0 and has plenty of big goals still to attain.
“We haven’t had final decisions on that,” Day said. “We talk to the guys — we’ll get through the season and then we’ll start to have more conversations about what comes for next year.”
Day did heap some praise on Ohio State football general manager for player personnel Mark Pantoni. He said Pantoni tracks recruits and the current roster — with an eye for who might be outgoing — and keeps tabs on the scholarship figure. Pantoni spends time on it daily, Day said.
And sometimes the scholarship number might climb above 85, which there is some wiggle room for in the NCAA rules. Keeping the roster balanced and at the right scholarship number is a “floating target” for Day and his staff.
“Mark Pantoni works all the time on the numbers, on a daily basis, and tries to project as best he can. But knowing there’s going to be flexibility, and you guys saw last year, even through the spring there was a lot of flexibility. I think at one point we were at 88, 89 or something, I forget exactly what it was, and then some guys left. It’s a floating target at this point,” Day said. “So we’ll do what’s best and try to figure that out once the season gets done. But Mark kind of tries to project it every day and we have a board that we go through every Thursday.”