“We’re gonna kind of start fresh on (Jan. 2),” Day said. “He is gonna come for a couple days and just kind of get a lay of the land, meet with a few folks. I don’t think it’s the right thing to do to have him at a practice. I just think that our staff is intact right now and we’re gonna do a great job playing in the Rose Bowl. But get him here for a couple days, just kind of get the lay of the land, and then we’ll start fresh on the 2nd.”
However, Ohio State linebacker Steele Chambers said the defense was scheduled to have its first meeting with Knowles via Zoom after interviews with the media on Thursday. Knowles may have just formally met the current Buckeye defense a day ago, but Day said his new defensive coordinator had already spoken with several 2022 recruits in the week between his hire and signing day.
“Jim spoke with a bunch of them, and anybody who had any questions, he was there for them,” Day said. “The structure of what we’re gonna do isn’t gonna make a huge difference, but also a lot of those guys, we encouraged them to watch the film at Oklahoma State and see how they’re doing things and ask questions. But we’re gonna do the best we can to keep the coaching staff that’s in place there now the same, but we’re gonna have discussions and figure out what’s the best moving forward. And that’s just kind of how we did it through the process.
“I think at the end of the day, the recruits understood that they want to come to Ohio State and be part of this culture, and so I think that the conversations were really good, and the guys who spoke with Jim were really excited.”
