Ryan Day weighs differences between Chip Kelly, Brian Hartline offense: 'It'll be very similar'

Ohio State lost offensive coordinator Chip Kelly to the NFL this offseason after winning the national title. Nonetheless, at the Big Ten Media Days on Tuesday, Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day insisted that the offense won’t look much different with new OC Brian Hartline running it.

“It’ll be very similar,” Day said. “We’ve tried to keep the offense the same over these nine years. We’ve all worked together for a while. Brian and I have worked together since the jump on this. Chip brought in his own ideas, but we tried to keep the offense, the offense. And that was one of the things that he and I sat down and talked about on the front end.

“I knew that Chip may not be here for very long and that was part of the understanding when he came in. But when he left, you can’t just all of a sudden have a whole new offense, so that’s important. I watched, from afar, Coach Saban do that when he was at Alabama, just [having] different coordinators move around. So whether it’s the offense or the defense, we want to have continuity year after year even though a coordinator may leave, to create stability long term.”

Ohio State fans can only hope the team’s offense doesn’t change too much. The Buckeyes averaged 429.4 yards per game last season, the 28th-most in the country.

OSU’s passing game was particularly excellent. The team averaged 263.0 passing yards per outing. Wide receiver Jeremiah Smith led the charge for the Buckeyes, notching 76 catches for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns.

While quarterback Will Howard isn’t returning this year, Smith is and should help OSU’s offense pick up where it left off. Ryan Day certainly seems confident in Hartline’s ability to maintain OSU’s offensive success.

“Brian’s strength is in the passing game, and I think he’s really grown,” Day said. “He’s grown from a really good player to a really good coach. The next progression is to become a really good coordinator. I’ve said this before, I think being coordinator, the easiest thing to do at times is call plays. The challenge is the organization of the scripts, of the staff, of the individual drills.

“Making sure that we’re putting players in a position to be successful, maximizing our personnel, making adjustments in-game. These are all things that are very important as a coordinator. I think that’s just the natural progression for him.”