Ryan Day Previews Spring Ball, Talks New Coaching Staff

COLUMBUS — Ohio State head coach Ryan Day met with reporters Friday to discuss spring practice opening in 10 days and also answering questions about his new coaching staff and how it all came together. The highlights of everything that was said can be found below.

On targeting Matt Patricia — “we were very thorough” about the process and took their time. That’s been a learning lesson for Day over the years. Matt Patricia has a lot of experience. He’s coached in the NFL. The experience speaks for itself. He’s one of the best minds in the game, but also pairing him with this existing staff was important. You need continuity. Part of the hiring process was identifying somebody who was willing to keep that continuity and be able to work with the existing coaches. They need to keep looking at how to evolve this defense. Patricia’s defenses have been multiple, but they always utilize their players.
Day has studied Nick Saban’s run and his hiring process. Through it all, the defensive staff stayed mostly intact, so they want to do that at Ohio State. Patricia has worked hard on building relationships with the staff and the players. Now that they’re playing in a longer season, that’s also another reason to like Patricia’s experience.
Top three things that need to get done this spring: Feels like they just got done with the season. Mat drills started 10 days ago and the second one was today. There’s a group of guys who have played a lot of football, so those guys will be treated differently for the first 50-75% of spring. There is a second group that needs to step up and become starters. Then you have the new guys. They’re still figuring out the spring showcase but they want to get in as much football as they can this spring. The biggest concern is replacing the guys who left.
They will not have 15 padded practices this spring. There will be more helmets-only practices. More teaching opportunities. The roster is down to 105 now as well, which means they have to be smart with the health of the team. The first game this season is Texas at home, so you do still need to simulate game opportunities this spring. They will definitely hold back some veterans during the spring game/showcase.
Identifying Tyler Bowen: they wanted to have somebody in the run game that had coordinator experience because this is Brian Hartline’s first year calling plays. Bowen has been all over the offense during his career. He’s played the position. He understands it. “He’s on it.” Then there is also a really good support staff behind him. “I think that he’s going to work tremendously with Brian. They see things the same way.”
Balancing rest vs getting experience for players with new coordinators: there are no old blueprints for this spring because it’s the first time it’s ever happened. But the returning starters are in a much different situation. They need to treat them differently but keep them on the same page.
Don’t know what the spring showcase will be yet, but there will be some scrimmaging during the event. The most important thing will be getting the young guys some game reps with a good crowd.
What was the biggest thing you learned about yourself after the playoff run: “Trust the process.” “We always say ignore the noise.”
Could the portal be a target this spring? Yeah, they will look at the portal because they didn’t have much time while the playoffs were going on. CFB needs to look at the portal window because it was open season on OSU and ND after the playoffs for five days. There are positions where they’re not at capacity right now. The biggest concern is the defensive line. On offense, the offensive line is always something they need to look at and see how the new guys fit in. Losing the two RBs is a big loss. Quarterback is also another area where depth is a concern.
What makes you confident that Matt Patricia will translate to college football? You’re seeing a lot more trickling up and down between college and the NFL. Things are becoming more similar. The hashmarks are still different, but “I think it’s going to carry over well.” There are more similarities now than ever before.
You need to have balance when you look at your entire staff. Brian Hartline is going to do very well. “He’s ready to call it now.” Day will still be involved, just as he was last year. Having a veteran staff makes it easier for him to stay with the offense and help out.
Why did Matt Patricia make the move to college? When you get around him, you’ll see his personality and the kind of guy he is. He stayed at New England a long time because when you’re at a great organization that is going on a long run, you stay there as long as you can. Now he has a different mindset. He’s at a new chapter. He understands the culture here. They have spent a lot of time talking about it. “I don’t think the recruiting part is going to be very difficult at all.”
On the QB competition: “They’re young. They’re going to have to compete.” They’ve all had a great opportunity to watch last year. Tavien St. Clair didn’t miss a spring practice.
They’ll roll the QBs evenly during the spring. They’ll all work with the ones, twos, and threes.
Tyler Bowen is going to have a “big” impact in recruiting this year. You can already see it. “We’re Ohio State and we should have the best players in the country.” He’s got a great personality and the guys love being around him.
Why are you confident now in Brian Hartline? The first thing is the work ethic. “He’s worked his tail off.” You have to grind on it. He’s done that. His recruiting speaks for itself but the work ethic has been excellent. He’s got confidence. He’s grown. During the games, Hartline has been on the headsets and providing good feedback. “It’s going to be fun to watch him manage a group of people now.”
On Billy Fessler being promoted: He tells his coaches that it’s their job to bring value, and Fessler did that last year without waiting. “He quickly became the quarterbacks coach last year” with Chip Kelly as the coordinator. He’s very smart. He works very hard at it. Bright future in the game. The guys know him. It was an easy hire. “We see things the same way.”
What was the discussion process about accusations about Matt Patricia back in 1996. They asked questions, they vetted it. Ross Bjork was part of those conversations. They feel good about the hire. This program has great standards and values about how they handle things and that’s not going to change.
How much do more fire do you need to see from Julian Sayin? All three of the quarterbacks need to show that fire and toughness. Will Howard did a great job with that. That’s the biggest challenge with the young quarterbacks. Mick Marotti does a great job with that in workouts.
How do you evaluate what Matt Patricia was responsible for as opposed to just being Bill Belichick’s coordinator? You vet him. You call the guys he worked with. Like former Buckeye Nate Ebner. “You’ve got to make a lot of calls to find out about people.” What you find out is that Patricia was running the defense. It was his show.
Last year, the talk was all about the national championship at this time. What’s the conversation now? “It doesn’t change. Our expectations don’t change.” “None of that stuff’s ever going to change.” But coming off of last year, you get a chance to learn about your team. It’s like 173 days until the Texas game, so there’s a while to go, but “it’s coming.” They need to be playing their best football at the end of the season.