Always excuses. No one likes giving excuses for why they haven’t met expectations.
However, the excuses are sometimes real.
All inside sources we abundantly trust informed Bucknuts that Ohio State had lost a handful of 2023 recruits due to collectives elsewhere offering NIL upfront money that some young men felt of not being able to pass up. And we don’t blame young men for that at all. Take your bag, young man.
Additionally, we’re told that these particular rookies wanted to play for the Buckeyes, but since OSU collectives are trying to play by the rules – due to the cumbersome nature of Ohio State’s bloated and outdated compliance department – and failing to provide initial payments to recruits, some young men felt they had no choice but to take the money and run away. And that doesn’t make them pranksters, Maurice. This is the reality of the situation.
During Wednesday’s signing day press conference at Ohio State, Bucknuts asked the head coach Ryan Day – roughly speaking – how many 2023 recruits does he think his program has lost because they can’t provide NIL upfront payments.
It’s a good question. It depends on when you ask that question,” Day said. No, I think, you know, it’s part of the conversation for sure. But the 19 guys have already signed, signed today at the start of the period. I guess it’s 12:30 right now and so it’s still an open period to sign. So we’re going to keep swinging on this thing.
“But I think for me today is like, okay, these 19 guys who signed right now, they deserve recognition on a day like today, because that’s a big group. And I think when you look at the quality of people that we bring in, I think that’s the focus right now. I think that has to be for us. You know what I mean? So, I am proud of our guys and they are definitely going to have an amazing opportunity here.
Speaking of the players who signed up for Ohio State’s class of 2023, a lot of them of course had other programs (again, the rosters, not the programs themselves) trying to poach them with significant initial offers. But those rookies didn’t budge and signed on the dotted line with the Buckeyes.
“That says a lot about these guys,” Day said. “Seven guys from Ohio and 19 guys total here, I mean, these are guys who want to be Buckeyes. They know the opportunity here and there’s a lot to decide where to go to in a school. A lot of these guys did it for the right reasons. What I mean by that is like focusing on the things that really matter and one of those things, first of all, is the development that you’ll get to Ohio State. It’s the opportunity to come and get an incredible education, it’s part of a program that’s going to be in the hunt for the national championship every year, but also part of an incredible culture. And be in the city of Columbus.
There are so many things that come with being a Buckeye that these guys recognize early on. And it’s about relationships. And I think our coaching staff has done an incredible job of building relationships through that process. Because this year was a unique season (because of NIL) and it’s going to be a whole different, you know, unique recruiting cycle next year, and every year it changes. This year there have certainly been a lot of changes. But at the end of the day, it’s all about relationships, and our guys have done a great job of that.
And let’s be clear. The Buckeyes signed a very good class which, at the time of publication, was ranked as the No. 5th class in the nation in ’23. Not too bad. The point of this story is all the sources that informed us that the Buckeyes didn’t just miss a top player or two due to NULLs in that circle, they lost a “handful” as one source put it and “several” as another did. And listening to Day’s responses to our questions, our sources seem 100% on point.
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