Ohio State Football: Buckeyes serious title contenders in 2019
Newly appointed Head Coach of the Ohio State football team, Ryan Day, has wasted no time in the hiring of his staff and recruitment of highly rated players.
Since Ryan Day took over as head coach of the Ohio State football team 5-star defensive end Zach Harrison has signed with the Buckeyes as well as Transfer Quarterback Justin Fields.
Fields will be the highest rated recruit to ever play for the Buckeyes when he steps on to the field for the first time. He and his attorney are currently submitted a waiver request to grant him immediate eligibility following his transfer from the University of Georgia.
The quarterback room at Ohio State, however, will definitely have the eyes of everyone watching it as Fields, Tate Martell and Matthew Baldwin battle for the starting job, if Martell decides to stay. If Fields is granted his eligibility, he will be the favorite to win the starting role, though nothing will be handed to him.
Whoever wins the quarterback battle will certainly have a plethora of weapons at his disposal. JK Dobbins will be the workhorse in the backfield with Master Teague also seeing touches.
Also returning on offense for the Buckeyes is Wide Receiver K.J. Hill which is huge news for coach Day and Ohio State. Zone 6 will be star-studded again as the group is headlined by Hill, Austin Mack, Binjimen Victor and Chris Olave.
Jaelen Gill and Garrett Wilson are also expected to have immediate impacts next year as well. The Buckeyes will, again, have a high-octane offense in 2019. Only this time it will be coupled with a stout and stingy defense.
Ryan Day has virtually overhauled the defensive staff outside of the legend Larry Johnson. Day has brought in not one, but two coaches from Michigan in Greg Mattison and Al Washington. Completing the defensive staff alongside Johnson, Mattison, and Washington is Jeff Hafley and then Matt Barnes who will coach special teams.
More from Ohio State Football
- Ohio State Football: How Denzel Burke has bounced back so far this season
- Ohio State Football rolling into form at the perfect time
- How Ohio State football has done historically versus new Big 12
- Ohio State Football: We need to see “Killer Ryan Day” at South Bend
- Ohio State Football vs. Notre Dame Prediction, Odds, Spread and Over/Under for College Football Week 4
The Buckeyes will return a now experienced secondary with Brendon White, Jordan Fuller, Jeffrey Okudah Damon Arnette (NFL decision officially pending) and Shaun Wade. White burst onto the scene in relief of Fuller against Nebraska which later earned him a starting role to close out the season that ended with a Rose Bowl MVP for him.
Larry Johnson’s Rushmen will be stout as usual as they will be led by Chase Young and Jonathon Cooper. Johnson’s group is dependable and elite year in and year out, unlike the linebacker unit which has been a rollercoaster of sorts since Luke Fickell’s departure for Cincinnati.
Moreover, with Al Washington now in control expect the linebackers to return to true Ohio State form as they’ll be fast playing bruisers waiting to terrorize opposing offenses.
All things considered in a very premature evaluation of Ryan Day’s head coaching career, he appears to have Ohio State right on track, or even a step above, to return to the College Football Playoff and even the National Championship.
Next. Changes Ryan Day must make to dethrone Clemson. dark
Only time will tell how year one will play out, but things sure are trending in the right direction. And it has Buckeye Nation excited because the world is about to be put on notice that Ohio State is not going anywhere anytime soon.