OSU’S Day talks NIL, NFL and more on signing day
This is the first college football recruiting cycle in which name, image and likeness rights have been in effect.
It’s clear that it has added another element to the process. Schools are not permitted to facilitate NIL deals. Players must inform their school of their NIL contracts but aren’t required to get permission to sign them.
“It’s very complicated,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. “For just the sport itself, I think the concerning part is that the coaches can’t set that up. Ohio State is not allowed to set those type of deals up. That has to come from outside the university.”
Given the status of Ohio State’s program and the size of Columbus, OSU players are well-positioned to capitalize on NIL, and many have. Quarterback Quinn Ewers signed early with OSU largely to take advantage of NIL opportunities, though he ultimately transferred and officially signed with Texas on Wednesday.
“We’re doing everything we can to make sure that we provide the structure, the resources that these guys need in order to have what they need to help with the deals,” Day said. “But we’re not allowed to set them up.
“That’s out of our hands. Certainly, we’re not going to get into that because that’s not legal, and that’s where I think it gets a little messy at times.”
Downplaying transfers
While awaiting letters-of-intent to arrive Wednesday, assistant athletic director for player personnel Mark Pantoni shared that he was poring over video of players in the transfer portal. But Day said the Buckeyes will tread carefully, possibly adding only “one or two” transfers for 2022.
“I think it’s dangerous to live in the portal world,” he said. “I don’t think it’s sustainable for the chemistry and culture of your team to be doing that. So if we do bring in somebody, it has to be deliberate. We have to think it all the way through, and it has to be the right fit at the right time.”
Refutingnfl rumors
In light of the CBS Sports report Sunday linking him and his agent, Trace Armstrong, to the Chicago Bears, Day was asked about rumors that he might be interested in returning to the NFL.
“I’ll just tell you what I told recruits if any of it ever came up,” he said. “There’s nothing to that. There’s no truth to it. The second thing is I love Ohio State, and I love being the head coach at Ohio State.”
Armstrong strongly denied having any contact with the Bears, for whom he played during his NFL career.
In favor of keeping early signing day
Four years ago, the NCAA instituted the December early signing period as a way of allowing players who had made their decisions to end the recruiting process instead of waiting until February, as they previously had to do..
As with any change, there have been unintended consequences. The head-spinning movement among top coaches this year has made recruiting’s stretch run more volatile.
But Day, who earlier likened all the recent changes in college football to living inside a tornado, doesn’t want changes to the December signing period.
“I think we should keep it the way it is now because I feel like there’s been so many changes right now in college football that we don’t need anymore,” he said. “The minute we start changing it again, there’ll be unintended consequences again.”
Bill Rabinowitz covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Contact him at brabinowitz@dispatch.com or on Twitter @brdispatch.