Ryan Day, Ohio State have focus 'circled' on NIL, changing landscape
COLUMBUS — Ryan Day knows Ohio State is playing a different game than it used to. That’s what name, image and likeness has done to college football.
He’s just hoping that someone is paying attention to the rules but more importantly the Buckeyes head coach is asking for someone — anyone — to clarify what those rules are. That was one topic Day discussed on Wednesday morning when he appeared as a guest on 97.1 The Fan’s Morning Juice with Bobby Carpenter and Brandon Beam.
“We’re still trying to figure out what this is going to look like moving forward,” Day said. “A lot of our time and energy has been focused recently in this area.
“When the rules aren’t easily enforced, or there’s misunderstanding of the rules and what’s appropriate and what isn’t? It creates a lot of hard feelings, especially when you’re dealing with a very competitive environment.”
Ohio State is a very competitive environment and so is the rest of college football. The sport has been aflutter in the last week thanks to comments Nick Saban made about NIL last week. Those comments, aimed quite specifically at Texas A&M and Jimbo Fisher, perked the ears of coaches all over. The Aggies had the No. 1-ranked recruiting class a year ago, setting a new standard for class ranking in the internet recruiting era. That doesn’t go unnoticed and though Day won’t come out and say it, the Buckeyes know there’s essentially a new college football arms race.
Day and Ohio State have been searching for balance.
“That’s been the biggest challenge is just finding what’s right for Ohio State,” he said. “The risk of doing nothing is that you fall behind, and as we know, that’s not an option here at Ohio State. If you’re too far out in front of it, you can put yourself at risk in another way.”
Despite the concerns from Day, Buckeyes football players have done fairly well in the NIL space. Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud currently has an On3.com NIL valuation of almost 2.5 million dollars. That valuation, based on a number of criteria, is good for sixth among all college recruits or current college players. It’s a topic that is brought up day in an day out around campus in Columbus and everywhere else.
“A lot of my time and energy and thought process in the last few months,” Day said. “Has been circled around this and what it looks like for Ohio State.”
The game has changed. Now everyone is just waiting for the rules to be agreed on.
