How Ohio State built a $20 million, ‘national championship or bust’ roster
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Jake Trotter, ESPN Senior Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Two days after the Michigan Wolverines paraded through Ann Arbor with the national championship trophy in January, Ross Bjork met Ohio State coach Ryan Day for the first time.
Bjork was in Columbus, finalizing a deal to become Ohio State’s next athletic director. There and then, Day revealed a plan that ultimately produced one of the most prolific offseasons in college football history.
Since taking over as Ohio State’s head coach five years ago, Day has a sensational record of 53-8; among active FBS coaches, only Georgia‘s Kirby Smart owns a better winning percentage.
But for the Buckeyes, that hasn’t been nearly enough. Day has yet to win a national championship. Far worse, he’s suffered three straight defeats to That Team Up North, something that hadn’t happened this millennium. Stinging further, rival Michigan rolled to its first national title in 26 years. Only a week after maize and blue confetti showered the celebrating Wolverines inside Houston’s NRG Stadium, Day showed Bjork exactly how he planned to rebound.
“I was really just struck by his intensity, his thoroughness at the time,” Bjork recalled. “No one’s been happy with the last couple seasons and how they’ve ended. There’s a reset that had to take place. Coach Day was at the forefront of activating all of that. He had a methodical, intense, intentional plan. … To hear it directly from Ryan, I thought it was really exciting and encouraging.”
Day’s vision became a reality. Buoyed by a name, image and likeness war chest this year of $20 million, according to Bjork, the Buckeyes struck gold in the transfer portal, landing two of the SEC’s top players in safety Caleb Downs and running back Quinshon Judkins. Ohio State inked another star-laden recruiting class, featuring the country’s most hyped freshman wide receiver, Jeremiah Smith. Several key players from last year’s team, including preseason All-American wideout Emeka Egbuka, also put off the NFL to come back for a final season. Day even convinced sitting Power 5 head coach Chip Kelly to bolt UCLA and become his offensive playcaller.
One NFL scout called this the most talented team he’s ever evaluated at Ohio State, with more depth than the 2021 national champion Georgia team that set a draft record with 15 players selected in 2022.
“Pound for pound, player for player,” the scout said, “they have as many good players as any [college football] team that I can remember.”
Ohio State’s previous two head coaches, Urban Meyer and Jim Tressel, who each guided Ohio State to a national championship, agree on just how talented these Buckeyes appear to be. On his podcast last week, Meyer said it “might be the best roster in college football in the last decade, as far as NFL talent, as far as depth. … They are loaded.”
An offseason for the ages has only enhanced the pressure to deliver a team for the ages — pressure that a Columbus title parade alone can quash.
“We’ll find out what this foundation looks like as we get into the season and get some of those storms that are coming our way,” Day said. “They’re coming. We’ve got to be ready.
For Day, the storm has already arrived.
“To the masses of Buckeye nation, I would argue it’s national championship or bust,” said Cardale Jones, the last Ohio State quarterback to win a national championship in 2014, who later cofounded one of the school’s two primary collectives, The Foundation. “I don’t think beating Michigan, I don’t think winning the Big Ten championship game and just going to the playoffs is enough.”
ONLY TWO YEARS ago, Day told boosters it would cost $13 million in NIL money for the Buckeyes to put their team together.
Tyvis Powell, the director of player engagement for Ohio State’s other collective, the 1870 Society, said in the past the Buckeyes missed out on players they wanted because they didn’t have enough NIL money. Now, industry sources believe that Ohio State is among college football’s biggest spenders in NIL.
Both Powell and Jones, former teammates, said losing to the Wolverines again and then witnessing them win a national championship “lit a fire under more people’s butts” to get involved in giving to NIL.
“This was the first year that people were very generous donating money to collectives,” said Powell, the defensive MVP of the Buckeyes’ national title win over Oregon in 2014. “There’s something about watching your rival win it all that’s very inspiring to a lot of people. It was like, that can’t happen anymore.”
Together with longtime athletic director Gene Smith, who retired this summer, Day rallied prominent boosters to increase their commitments. Money began pouring in from small donors, as well. Suddenly, the Buckeyes had the means to execute Day’s offseason plans.
Out of the transfer portal, Ohio State snagged Kansas State quarterback Will Howard along with Downs and Judkins.
Howard, who started 28 games for the Wildcats and led K-State to the 2022 Big 12 title, was named Ohio State’s starter earlier this month. Judkins topped the SEC with 2,725 rushing yards for Ole Miss over the past two seasons. At Alabama, Downs was the SEC Freshman of the Year; the NFL scout called Downs the Crimson Tide’s “best player” last year.
Downs entered the portal Jan. 17 after Alabama coach Nick Saban stunningly announced he was retiring. Powell claimed NIL played a role in Ohio State not getting Downs out of high school. Many believed Downs would return to his home state and play for Georgia, which had just hired Downs’ Alabama position coach, Travaris Robinson. But this time around, Ohio State sold Downs on coming to Columbus (the Buckeyes also added Julian Sayin, the top quarterback recruit in 2024, and center Seth McLaughlin from Alabama’s roster). Downs, a preseason All-American, said last week that Ohio State’s talented roster played a role in him joining the Buckeyes.
“I feel like that was a major piece of it,” said Downs, who called Ohio State’s talent level “above or right at the same level” of any SEC team, including the Crimson Tide. “That’s always a plus to know that you’re walking into a real brotherhood and a real team.”
OFF LAST YEAR’S team, only wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. and defensive tackle Michael Hall Jr. left early for the NFL draft. Defensive end Jack Sawyer said he and the other draft-eligible prospects came back “for one last ride” after coming up short against Michigan and in the playoff hunt these past three years.
“I wanted to go to the NFL and chase my dream more than the next guy,” Sawyer said. “But I haven’t won a championship. I haven’t beat the team up north. And you walk around the Woody [Hayes Athletic Center] and all you see is championships and championship posters and banners. Having been here for three years and not helped our team win any of those, it’s something that wears on me and it’s something that motivates me every day.”
Day said Sawyer and the upperclassmen who returned have led the way in setting a tone, keeping one another accountable. Egbuka added that the “scars from the past” have generated a new collective focus.
“Nobody on this team has won a big game in their career at Ohio State. We just haven’t done it. It sucks to say, but that’s the reality. We don’t really have anything that counts, anything that matters,” Egbuka said. “But this has been the hardest working team that I’ve been a part of. And we’re also the most tight-knit group I’ve ever been a part of. … We’re really locked in on getting to our goals this year.”
Egbuka, Sawyer, guard Donovan Jackson, defensive tackle Tyleik Williams, defensive end JT Tuimoloau and cornerback Denzel Burke are among those who could’ve been Day 1 or 2 picks in this year’s draft. ESPN Insider Field Yates projects Egbuka, Tuimoloau and Burke to be first rounds picks next year.
“No gold pants [handed out for beating Michigan], no natty, that was a big part … of why we came back,” Burke said. “We’ve got to win every single game — no ifs, ands or buts about it.”
DAY INITIALLY TARGETED former Penn State and Houston Texas head coach Bill O’Brien to be his offensive coordinator. But when O’Brien accepted the head job at Boston College, Day turned to Kelly, his longtime mentor. Day, a former quarterback, played for Kelly at New Hampshire, and later coached with him there.
Day surrendered playcalling duties to Kelly, who took a pay cut of around $4 million to leave the Bruins and join the Buckeyes. Before becoming an NFL head coach with the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers, Kelly elevated Oregon into an offensive juggernaut. With Kelly as head coach, the Ducks averaged 45 points per game from 2009 to 2012, leading the nation in scoring over that span.
Both Kelly and Day grew up in Manchester, New Hampshire. During Big Ten media days, Day said he didn’t just trust Kelly with Ohio State’s offense, he trusted Kelly with his life.
“I feel the same way,” Kelly said. “There’s a long history. We grew up in the same hometown, we’ve known each other for almost 40 years now. … The same coaches that coached him in youth sports coached me in youth sports. There’s always going to be that connection.”
Kelly will have plenty of playmakers to deploy.
In Judkins and returning leading rusher TreVeyon Henderson, Kelly will have arguably the top running back duo in college football at his disposal. Kelly might have the country’s top receiving duo to work with, as well. Jeremiah Smith dazzled in the spring and preseason.
“You’re like, all right, this team has four guys that can kill us with the ball in their hand — what do we do?” the NFL scout said. “You should destroy everybody when you have that many good players at every position.”
With what figures to be another elite defense with stars at every level, the Buckeyes show no apparent weaknesses, on either side of the ball.
“There’s a great energy around this team,” Day said. “They know what they want. There’s an urgency, there’s a purpose and they’ve come together. You can just see it. … You can just feel it when you’re around the guys. It’s real. So what does all that mean? We’ve got to earn everything we get next year. Nothing is going to be given to us.”
That plan Day laid out to Bjork has come together. All that’s left is to earn what matters most.
“We’ve got the best. Every position group is stacked, with depth. So we have no choice but to win the national championship,” Powell said. “A lot of people love Coach Day. I think he’s a really good coach. [He has] all the resources that he possibly needs to win it all. And if he doesn’t, then the writing’s on the wall. … Nobody’s really hearing any excuse.
“But if he does, then it was all worth it.”
CHICAGO — Pete Crow-Armstrong hit an RBI single off a shaky Yu Darvish, and the Chicago Cubs shut down Fernando Tatis Jr. and the San Diego Padres for a clinching 3-1 victory in Game 3 of their NL Wild Card Series on Thursday.
Backed by a raucous crowd of 40,895 at Wrigley Field, Chicago used its stellar defense to advance in the postseason for the first time since 2017. Michael Busch hit a solo homer, and Jameson Taillon pitched four shutout innings before manager Craig Counsell used five relievers to close it out.
“This group’s battle-tested,” Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson said. “This group can grind it out. This group never backs down from and shies away from anything. This is such an amazing thing to be a part of.”
After Brad Keller faltered in the ninth — allowing Jackson Merrill‘s leadoff homer and hitting two batters with pitches — Andrew Kittredge earned the save by retiring Jake Cronenworth on a bouncer to third and Freddy Fermin on a fly ball to center field.
Next up for Chicago is a matchup with the NL Central champion Brewers in a compelling division series, beginning with Game 1 on Saturday in Milwaukee.
Counsell managed the Brewers for nine years before he was hired by the Cubs in November 2023, and he has been lustily booed in Milwaukee ever since he departed.
“It’s going to be a great atmosphere,” Counsell said. “It’s Cubs-Brewers. That’s going to be as good as it gets. It’s always a great atmosphere when the two teams play each other.”
It was another painful ending for San Diego after it made the postseason for the fourth time in six years but fell short of a pennant again. The Padres forced a decisive Game 3 with a 3-0 victory on Wednesday, but their biggest stars flopped in the series finale.
“There’s a lot of hurt guys in that clubhouse, but we left it all out on the field, and there’s no regrets on anybody’s part,” manager Mike Shildt said. “Just disappointed.”
Tatis went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, including a fly ball to right that stranded runners on second and third in the fifth. Machado, who hit a two-run homer in Game 2, bounced to shortstop Swanson for the final out of the eighth, leaving a runner at third.
“It’s not fun at all. We definitely missed an opportunity,” Tatis said.
Darvish also struggled against his former team. The Japanese right-hander was pulled after the first four Cubs batters reached in the second inning, capped by the first of Crow-Armstrong’s three hits.
Jeremiah Estrada came in and issued a bases-loaded walk to Swanson, handing the Cubs a 2-0 lead. Estrada limited the damage by striking out Matt Shaw before Busch bounced into an inning-ending double play.
Taillon allowed two hits and struck out four. Caleb Thielbar got two outs before Daniel Palencia wiggled out of a fifth-inning jam while earning his second win of the series. Drew Pomeranz managed the seventh before Keller worked the eighth.
The Cubs supported their bullpen with another solid day in the field. Swanson made a slick play on Luis Arraez‘s leadoff grounder in the sixth, and then turned an inning-ending double play following a walk to Machado.
Crow-Armstrong, who went 0-for-6 with five strikeouts in the first two games, robbed Machado of a hit with a sliding catch in center in the first.
“It’s just the next step for us,” Busch said. “You set out a goal before each and every year to do stuff like this, and you celebrate it, and it’s been fun to celebrate and continue to celebrate it tonight, but there’s a lot of work ahead.”
NEW YORK — Rookie right-hander Cam Schlittler struck out 12 in eight dominant innings and the New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 4-0 on Thursday night to win their AL Wild Card Series in a deciding third game.
Taking his place in Yankees-Red Sox rivalry lore, the 24-year-old Schlittler overpowered Boston with 100 mph heat in his 15th major league start and pitched New York into a best-of-five division series against American League East champion Toronto beginning Saturday.
“A star is born tonight. He’s a special kid, man,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He is not afraid. He expects this.”
Amed Rosario and Anthony Volpe each had an RBI single in a four-run fourth as New York became the first team to lose the opener of a best-of-three wild-card series and come back to advance since Major League Baseball expanded the first round in 2022.
“It felt like the most pressure-packed game I’ve ever experienced — World Series, clinching games, whatever,” Boone said.
Schlittler, who debuted in the majors July 9, grew up a Red Sox fan in Walpole, Massachusetts — but has said several times he wanted to play for the Yankees. He had faced Boston only once before, as a freshman at Northeastern in a 2020 spring training exhibition.
Ex-Yankees great Andy Pettitte gave Schlittler one piece of advice Wednesday: Get a good night’s sleep.
“I woke up and I was locked in, so I knew exactly what I needed to do to go out there, especially against my hometown team,” Schlittler said.
He outpitched Connelly Early, a 23-year-old left-hander who debuted Sept. 9 and became Boston’s youngest postseason starting pitcher since 21-year-old Babe Ruth in 1916.
Schlittler struck out two more than any other Yankees pitcher had in his postseason debut, allowing just five singles and walking none. He threw 11 pitches 100 mph or faster — including six in the first inning, one more than all Yankees pitchers had combined for previously since pitch tracking started in 2008.
Schlittler threw 75 of 107 pitches for strikes, starting 22 of 29 batters with strikes and topping out at 100.8 mph. David Bednar worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth as the Red Sox failed to advance a runner past second base.
Bucky Dent threw out the ceremonial first pitch on the 47th anniversary of his go-ahead, three-run homer for New York at Fenway Park in an AL East tiebreaker game, and the Yankees went on to vanquish their longtime rivals the way they often used to.
New York, which arrived packed for a late-night flight to Toronto, won its second straight after losing eight of nine postseason meetings with Boston dating to 2004 and edged ahead 14-13 in postseason games between the teams. The Red Sox cost themselves in the fourth with a defense that committed a big league-high 116 errors during the regular season.
New York’s rally began when Cody Bellinger hit a soft fly into the triangle between center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela, right fielder Wilyer Abreu and second baseman Romy González. The ball fell just in front of Rafaela, 234 feet from home plate, as Bellinger hustled into second with a double.
Giancarlo Stanton walked on a full count and with one out Rosario grounded a single into left, just past diving shortstop Trevor Story, to drive in Bellinger with the first run.
Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s single loaded the bases, and Volpe hit a grounder just past González, who had been shifted toward second, and into right for an RBI single and a 2-0 lead.
After a catcher’s interference call on Omar Narváez was overturned on a video review, Austin Wells hit a potential double-play grounder that first baseman Nathaniel Lowe tried to backhand on an in-between hop. The ball glanced off his glove and into shallow right field as two runs scored.
“We didn’t play defense,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “They didn’t hit the ball hard, but they found holes and it happened fast.”
Yankees third baseman Ryan McMahon made the defensive play of the game when he caught Jarren Duran‘s eighth-inning foul pop and somersaulted into Boston’s dugout, then emerged smiling and apparently unhurt.
Count Xander Bogaerts among those looking forward to Major League Baseball’s new challenge system for balls and strikes next season.
The San Diego Padres shortstop just wishes it were in place a little earlier.
Bogaerts struck out looking on a pitch that appeared out of the strike zone during the ninth inning of the team’s 3-1 loss to the Cubs in Game 3 of the National League Wild Card Series on Thursday in Chicago.
The call came at a critical time.
The Cubs carried a 3-0 lead into the ninth inning, but Jackson Merrill led off with a home run off Brad Keller to cut San Diego’s deficit to 3-1 and bring Bogaerts to the plate. On a 3-2 count, Keller’s 97 mph fastball appeared to miss the zone low, causing Bogaerts to crouch down in disbelief at the call and Padres manager Mike Shildt to race out of the dugout.
Keller then hit Ryan O’Hearn and Bryce Johnson with pitches. Had Bogaerts walked, the Padres could have had the bases loaded with no outs. Instead, Andrew Kittredge came on with two runners on and one out and retired the next two batters, allowing the Cubs to advance to play the Milwaukee Brewers in the next round.
Bogaerts didn’t mince words after the game when asked about the apparent missed call by plate umpire D.J. Reyburn.
“Talk about it now: What do you want me to do?” Bogaerts said, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. “It’s a ball. Messed up the whole game, you know? I mean, can’t go back in time, and talking about it now won’t change anything. So it was bad, and thank God for ABS next year because this is terrible.”
The automated ball-strike system will be implemented in the majors next season after years of testing in the minors as well as during spring training and at this year’s All-Star Game. The MLB competition committee voted last month to give teams two challenges per game using ABS if they believe a call by the plate umpire is wrong.
Thursday’s ending soured a 90-win season for San Diego, which made the playoffs for the fourth time in six seasons. It has not made it past the NL Championship Series during this recent run.
“We had a lot of fun,” Bogaerts said. “We competed with each other. We had guys that got injuries, a lot of guys stepped up. We traded for some really great people at the deadline. … It was fun until today.”
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