Ohio State football: Ryan Day building a recruiting fence around Ohio

Ohio State football has always been the most attractive football program in the state. But even with other programs trying to poach their homegrown talent, Ryan Day continues to grab the top players in Ohio.

Ohio is one of the most talent-rich states in America when it comes to football. They consistently churn out great prospects year in and year out. A lot of the top programs in the country try to take these five and four-star prospects out of the state and bring them to their campus.

Ohio State has not let that happen since Jim Tressel was hired back in 2001. He always got the best players in the state. Urban Meyer did too, although he recruited a little bit more nationally than Tress did. Now Ryan Day is doing the same thing by keeping all the best players in the state.

Day has essentially built a fence around the state of Ohio. In his first season as head coach in 2019, he signed 8 kids from Ohio in the 2020 class, including the two best players in the state according to 247 Sports. In 2021, those numbers are even better.

For the class of 2021, Day has commits from 5 of the best 6 players in the state, and 6 of the best 11, again according to 247 Sports. He has kept that pipeline strong in-state while still being able to go nationally to get the best players in other states as well.

In 2022, Day just nabbed the number one kid in the state of Ohio again. He continues to keep other elite programs from poaching his homegrown talent. That should lead them to a lot of wins in the next few seasons.

Day should be able to keep this success going in the state for the foreseeable future. Unless his program falls off a cliff, the best player in the state of Ohio should be attending Ohio State every Fall.