LGHL Column: Ohio State needs double-digit transfer additions this offseason to even compete in 2025
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Column: Ohio State needs double-digit transfer additions this offseason to even compete in 2025
Gene Ross via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
With a roster in compete flux heading into next season, there has never been a more perfect time to find a new head coach...
The No. 1 thing on Ryan Day’s mind right now is getting his team ready for Saturday’s College Football Playoff matchup against Tennessee. However, we are also currently in the midst of the first transfer portal window, which opened last week and closes on Dec. 28.
The Buckeyes will be losing a mass exodus of players this offseason to the NFL Draft and graduation, and they cannot afford to be complacent in adding talent for next year’s roster despite still competing this year.
Ohio State brought back a huge contingency of players in 2024 with hopes of righting the wrongs of seasons past. That did not happen — barring a miracle national title run — but now all of those guys will be leaving for real, on top of the obvious holes the current roster has even with that glut of returnees. All told, the 2025 team is going to look a lot different, and it is going to need a ton of help from the transfer portal.
The obvious focus on that front is along the offensive line, where Ohio State will need to add three offensive linemen at minimum. The Buckeyes are set to lose both starting tackles and their starting center. You can probably find two interior starters among the group of Carson Hinzman, Austin Siereveld, Tegra Tshabola, Luke Montgomery and Josh Padilla — the first three of which played extensively this season — but you will need at least one more proven commodity up the middle as well as both tackles replaced.
The other side of the trenches is in an equally dire position, as Ohio State is set to lose its entire starting defensive line. Behind those guys are only two defensive ends who have played any meaningful snaps in Caden Curry and Kenyatta Jackson with nothing to speak of behind them. Kayden McDonald is your top returnee at defensive tackle, and outside of freshman end-turned-tackle Eddrick Houston, there is little proven depth there either. The Buckeyes likely need to add at least one if not two edge rushers to feel comfortable about that unit.
Elsewhere, Ohio State will also need to add a running back, as both TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins are set to leave — there’s a small chance Judkins returns, but very unlikely. That leaves freshman James Peoples as the only player in the room to have played gotten any significant reps, and even he played less than 100 snaps total. The Buckeyes have been linked to both USC transfer Quinten Joyner and Alabama transfer Justice Haynes, and I’d have to imagine one of those guys ends up in scarlet and gray.
They could also use a tight end, as the Buckeyes’ entire position group in 2024 combined to be less productive than Joe Royer, who transferred from Ohio State to Cincinnati this past offseason and went on to catch 50 passes for 521 yards and three touchdowns for the Bearcats.
On defense, Ohio State will also likely need two defensive backs — one at corner and one at safety. Denzel Burke and Jordan Hancock will be gone, leaving only Jermaine Mathews Jr. and Davison Igbinosun at corner. Igbinosun struggled mightily this past season with penalties, and could be better suited with a move to safety. The Buckeyes will also lose Lathan Ransom at said safety spot, so should Iggy move to the back end alongside Caleb Downs, you’re looking at adding at least one corner and probably a slot guy or another safety just to be safe.
The team will also need to find some new specialists, as both the kicking and punting game have been completely inadequate. Ohio State has already lost too many games over the past few seasons because of bad special teams play and the inability to make field goals, and that cannot continue as the margins against other top teams continues to get smaller and smaller.
That brings the conservative total of transfer portal additions needed to 10 players. That is a ton of roster turnover for a team coming off a year where they were supposed to be one of the best units in the country, and it will be hard to replicate the talent base the Buckeyes had in 2024 by piecing it together with transfers in 2025. As such, it begs the question:
What is the benefit of bringing Ryan Day back for another season?
I’m not trying to belabor the point, as I’m well established on record as wanting Day gone, but on paper there is no better time for Ohio State to move on from its head coach than right now.
There is very little to provide optimism for next season as things are currently constructed in Columbus. On top of the obvious flaws plaguing the roster and the staff, Ohio State’s schedule only gets harder in 2025, opening the season against Texas and playing what will be a much improved Michigan team on the road. With Penn State also coming to town and intriguing road games at Washington and Wisconsin, the Buckeyes’ ceiling could be 10-2 with a fifth-straight loss in the rivalry and another year without a Big Ten title.
So the roster is already in flux, the road to achieve the program’s goals is only getting tougher, and even more to the point a clear and obvious replacement is sitting right there for the taking in Mike Vrabel. The Buckeyes would not have to pay any sort of buyout on Vrabel to land the Ohio State alum, he would be a slam dunk hire who by all accounts would be interested in the job and would likely be the best case to limit any sort of further attrition via a potential transfer portal exodus.
Even if Ohio State was to lose players as a result of firing Day, it seems pretty clear that 2025 is going to be a bit of a step back for the team anyway. The Buckeyes also just brought in a five-star quarterback in Tavien St. Clair, who has been a lifelong Ohio State fan and committed to the program itself and not the head coach. You would have St. Clair ready and waiting in the wings for a bounce-back season in 2026, and there is no reason to believe a guy like Vrabel wouldn’t attract talent to Columbus to accompany him — both on the field and on his coaching staff.
The stars are aligned for Ohio State make the change and stop the skid. There has been no better opportunity for the Buckeyes to move on from this failing regime than right now. What is the point in retaining Day for one more season, just to ultimately fire him a year from now anyway and potentially miss out on an obvious upgrade while falling even further down the pecking order of the sport’s elite programs?
Ryan Day just suffered one of the worst losses in Ohio State football history, and all of the things that once made him an attractive option — dominant offenses, elite recruiting, maintaining a strong locker room — have all started to slip. Barring an unlikely run at a national title, it’s time to pull the plug and begin a new era of Ohio State football.
Continue reading...
Gene Ross via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
With a roster in compete flux heading into next season, there has never been a more perfect time to find a new head coach...
The No. 1 thing on Ryan Day’s mind right now is getting his team ready for Saturday’s College Football Playoff matchup against Tennessee. However, we are also currently in the midst of the first transfer portal window, which opened last week and closes on Dec. 28.
The Buckeyes will be losing a mass exodus of players this offseason to the NFL Draft and graduation, and they cannot afford to be complacent in adding talent for next year’s roster despite still competing this year.
Ohio State brought back a huge contingency of players in 2024 with hopes of righting the wrongs of seasons past. That did not happen — barring a miracle national title run — but now all of those guys will be leaving for real, on top of the obvious holes the current roster has even with that glut of returnees. All told, the 2025 team is going to look a lot different, and it is going to need a ton of help from the transfer portal.
The obvious focus on that front is along the offensive line, where Ohio State will need to add three offensive linemen at minimum. The Buckeyes are set to lose both starting tackles and their starting center. You can probably find two interior starters among the group of Carson Hinzman, Austin Siereveld, Tegra Tshabola, Luke Montgomery and Josh Padilla — the first three of which played extensively this season — but you will need at least one more proven commodity up the middle as well as both tackles replaced.
The other side of the trenches is in an equally dire position, as Ohio State is set to lose its entire starting defensive line. Behind those guys are only two defensive ends who have played any meaningful snaps in Caden Curry and Kenyatta Jackson with nothing to speak of behind them. Kayden McDonald is your top returnee at defensive tackle, and outside of freshman end-turned-tackle Eddrick Houston, there is little proven depth there either. The Buckeyes likely need to add at least one if not two edge rushers to feel comfortable about that unit.
Elsewhere, Ohio State will also need to add a running back, as both TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins are set to leave — there’s a small chance Judkins returns, but very unlikely. That leaves freshman James Peoples as the only player in the room to have played gotten any significant reps, and even he played less than 100 snaps total. The Buckeyes have been linked to both USC transfer Quinten Joyner and Alabama transfer Justice Haynes, and I’d have to imagine one of those guys ends up in scarlet and gray.
They could also use a tight end, as the Buckeyes’ entire position group in 2024 combined to be less productive than Joe Royer, who transferred from Ohio State to Cincinnati this past offseason and went on to catch 50 passes for 521 yards and three touchdowns for the Bearcats.
On defense, Ohio State will also likely need two defensive backs — one at corner and one at safety. Denzel Burke and Jordan Hancock will be gone, leaving only Jermaine Mathews Jr. and Davison Igbinosun at corner. Igbinosun struggled mightily this past season with penalties, and could be better suited with a move to safety. The Buckeyes will also lose Lathan Ransom at said safety spot, so should Iggy move to the back end alongside Caleb Downs, you’re looking at adding at least one corner and probably a slot guy or another safety just to be safe.
The team will also need to find some new specialists, as both the kicking and punting game have been completely inadequate. Ohio State has already lost too many games over the past few seasons because of bad special teams play and the inability to make field goals, and that cannot continue as the margins against other top teams continues to get smaller and smaller.
That brings the conservative total of transfer portal additions needed to 10 players. That is a ton of roster turnover for a team coming off a year where they were supposed to be one of the best units in the country, and it will be hard to replicate the talent base the Buckeyes had in 2024 by piecing it together with transfers in 2025. As such, it begs the question:
What is the benefit of bringing Ryan Day back for another season?
I’m not trying to belabor the point, as I’m well established on record as wanting Day gone, but on paper there is no better time for Ohio State to move on from its head coach than right now.
There is very little to provide optimism for next season as things are currently constructed in Columbus. On top of the obvious flaws plaguing the roster and the staff, Ohio State’s schedule only gets harder in 2025, opening the season against Texas and playing what will be a much improved Michigan team on the road. With Penn State also coming to town and intriguing road games at Washington and Wisconsin, the Buckeyes’ ceiling could be 10-2 with a fifth-straight loss in the rivalry and another year without a Big Ten title.
So the roster is already in flux, the road to achieve the program’s goals is only getting tougher, and even more to the point a clear and obvious replacement is sitting right there for the taking in Mike Vrabel. The Buckeyes would not have to pay any sort of buyout on Vrabel to land the Ohio State alum, he would be a slam dunk hire who by all accounts would be interested in the job and would likely be the best case to limit any sort of further attrition via a potential transfer portal exodus.
Even if Ohio State was to lose players as a result of firing Day, it seems pretty clear that 2025 is going to be a bit of a step back for the team anyway. The Buckeyes also just brought in a five-star quarterback in Tavien St. Clair, who has been a lifelong Ohio State fan and committed to the program itself and not the head coach. You would have St. Clair ready and waiting in the wings for a bounce-back season in 2026, and there is no reason to believe a guy like Vrabel wouldn’t attract talent to Columbus to accompany him — both on the field and on his coaching staff.
The stars are aligned for Ohio State make the change and stop the skid. There has been no better opportunity for the Buckeyes to move on from this failing regime than right now. What is the point in retaining Day for one more season, just to ultimately fire him a year from now anyway and potentially miss out on an obvious upgrade while falling even further down the pecking order of the sport’s elite programs?
Ryan Day just suffered one of the worst losses in Ohio State football history, and all of the things that once made him an attractive option — dominant offenses, elite recruiting, maintaining a strong locker room — have all started to slip. Barring an unlikely run at a national title, it’s time to pull the plug and begin a new era of Ohio State football.
Continue reading...
