The Ohio State Buckeyes don't operate the way they used to under Urban Meyer. As Meyer recently revealed during a conversation on "The Triple Option" podcast, he never recruited anyone from the state of Louisiana.
Per Meyer, "When I was the head coach at Florida, we played around at Louisiana, and we get to the dance floor with a great player, and he wouldn't come. So I said 'enough.' I'm not flying into Louisiana again. I'm good...There's enough good players around Georgia and Florida that I'm not gonna go beat my face against the wall and go into Louisiana."
Ryan Day, of course, has strayed from that. Day landed safety Blaine Bradford, a Baton Rouge Catholic star, in March 2025. Bradford has publicly declared that he won't be flipping to the Tigers anytime soon, even after Lane Kiffin's hiring. Bradford is all in. Day also flipped Lafayette-area star and Acadiana defensive tackle Darryus McKinley in November after Brian Kelly was fired from the LSU Tigers. Warren Easton High School defensive back was the first Louisiana recruit to commit to Day in April 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meyer was, of course, recruiting during a different time. He retired three years before NIL was introduced and five years before pay-to-play rev-share payments were introduced. Who knows if he would've had a different experience with a level playing field? It's been said that the SEC was doing rev-share under the books before more transparency on incentivizing recruits came to be in the 2020s.
Would Meyer have stuck with his guns in the modern recruiting landscape? It's hard to say. It's a good thing that Day has been open to every change the sport has undergone, though.
Ohio State is keeping up with the times because of Ryan Day
Day has not stepped out of line in Columbus, and it's caused a pretty smooth landing for the most part. The thousand-plus-day losing streak to TTUN notwithstanding, it's tough to say he's gotten many things wrong.
Being nimble on his feet and willing to adapt with the times has led to a wildly successful career for Day as the Buckeyes' head coach. He's integrated transfer quarterbacks to great success, but has largely developed his trenches and receivers via next-man-up high school recruiting strategies. Defensively, there's been a healthy mix of high school recruits aging into their role and transfers filling the gaps.
OSU has never been accused of being cheap. Besides 2024, the program doesn't have the reputation as the most reckless, needless spender on the market. That's the Texas Tech Red Raiders until they score a single point in the CFP. Though signing Brendan Sorsby and never getting to use the quarterback because of a gambling scandal may raise the bar even higher.
The Buckeyes have adjusted, adapted, and excelled over the past six years. Day has been the kind of leader to have through the adversity of a rapidly morphing recruiting landscape. Plus, the aforementioned losing streak in "The Game" to the Wolverines.
Here's to more Louisiana talent finding that the grass is greener in Central Ohio. Day has a great offering for top recruits, wherever they're coming from.
No one is off limits, like the old days.
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