Why Timely Return of Ryan Day So Critical for Buckeyes
Ohio State football is about to embark on a new journey, led by a brand new starting quarterback. This is a situation that produces plenty of stomach acid for a head coach, as they operate in a world where the known is almost always better than the unknown. This, of course, flies in the face of the world of the fans, where the unknown is very often better than the known because the unknown has yet to fail.
With J.T. Barrett off to his next stop, the Buckeyes are now in a position of needing a new starting quarterback. Joe Burrow, Dwayne Haskins, and Tate Martell have already begun the competition, and with the return of quarterbacks coach Ryan Day, they won’t have to start back at square one.
Day had other coaching opportunities after the regular season, but turned all of them down to return to Ohio State. Imagine where the quarterback situation would be this coming season if Day had left and now a new position coach had to be brought in to not only teach new techniques, but learn what each of the Buckeye quarterbacks can do. The entire spring would have been spent learning from each other, rather than getting closer to finding a starting quarterback.
With Day’s return, however, the quarterbacks know what they are going to get because they spent all of last year with him. They all know each other. There is no longer an acclimation period. He teaches, they learn. They work, he works. The process is ongoing. Ryan Day’s return essentially allows the quarterbacks to hit the ground running in their competition to replace J.T. Barrett.
“It means the world,” said Martell after the Cotton Bowl. “If he would have left, it sucks having to go through that after just one year. It was tough for me just knowing Coach Day for like a week before I came in, so that was a weird situation for me. But now that’s my guy, I love him, and I can’t wait to get it going with him.”
Entire article:
https://theozone.net/2018/01/timely-return-ryan-day-buckeyes-important/