Where Are The Phenoms? Day Explains What It Takes To Get On The Field

Talent gets you recruited, but Ryan Day says that doesn’t guarantee playing time, especially for freshmen. The key is meeting the coaches’ expectations.

Columbus, OH – Where’s Legend Bey? Why doesn’t Chris Henry Jr. catch more passes? Why didn’t Khary Wilder play against Iowa?

The answer to each question is simple.

Every recruit needs Ohio State more than Ohio State needs them. Each of the aforementioned players might become an All-American, but no one arrives with the promise of being an immediate contributor, let alone starter. More than talent (much more) is required.

Head Buckeye Ryan Day was asked about Wilder on Tuesday, but he didn’t single out Wilder with his answer. Instead, he answered in reference to every new face, of which there are 51 this season.

“When you’re coming into the program, whether you’re a freshman or you’re a transfer, we all say you have an opportunity to compete for jobs,” Day said.

That’s a really good thing for the players. They need to learn the lesson that nothing in adult life is given. You must earn it. Some might have been hard workers in high school, but they were all going to play regardless because of their talent.

Day demands great effort and attention to detail to earn playing time in a program such as Ohio State. That’s why his program is immune from dips into irrelevancy. The idea of the black stripe removal to symbolically be a part of the program helps build the culture.

“If you compromise your culture and your values and the requirements it takes to be a player in this program, then we’re going to lose our culture,” Day said. “And that cannot happen.”

So, on Saturday against Maryland, if Bey, Henry Jr., Wilder or any other new or young player begins to play more or be given more chances to touch the ball when they do play, you can bet all the scarlet and gray you own that they are becoming a cultural fit.

Day explained Tuesday how it all works.

First: “We recruit guys to come in and play. That’s why they’re here. We wouldn’t invest all the time and resources into each player if we didn’t want them to play.”

Next, to be a player instead of a watcher, there’s a list the coaching staff monitors.

“It’s the coach’s job to make sure that they’re checking all the boxes and all the requirements to make sure that they’ve earned the opportunity to get on the field.”

Simultaneously, the players must know what those boxes are.

“It’s also the player’s responsibility to take the accountability to check those boxes of all the things that they need to do in order to get on the field. Nobody just gets on the field because they have talent.”

And when the coach and player mesh in this process?

“When that happens, you’ve seen us put them on the field. Whether it’s a transfer that comes in day one or a freshman, when guys don’t do that, then they haven’t earned the opportunity to play.”

Getting on the field once when it matters guarantees nothing. Because getting back on the field can be just as difficult. Bey wowed the crowd in the opener with a true scatback touchdown catch and run. He’s hardly been seen since. Wilder played in pass-rush situations until the Iowa game. Henry Jr. plays more than Bey and Wilder, but Jeremiah Smith is the first option.

Read between the lines.

“They need to make sure they’re doing their part to earn these opportunities,” Day said. “And once they earn the opportunities, then they have to do their job on the field and grade out. It doesn’t just work like, I go out there and I don’t really do my job, and then I get another opportunity. Well, you might eventually, but you got to do your job when you get that opportunity.”

The press box will be looking for these three players Saturday. Henry Jr. played 21 snaps against Iowa and fellow freshman Brock Boyd played 20. Only the three starters played more. Henry Jr. and Boyd are averaging over 20 snaps a game. Don’t expect much to change there.

Bey’s biggest game was the opener against Ball State with 10 snaps. He played one snap at Texas, three against Kent State, and none since.

Wilder has played double-digit snaps three times. Then nothing against Iowa.

“Those are all the growing pains,” Day said. “That’s part of the maturation of a player. We have a lot of faith in a lot of the young guys. We think they’re going to be really good players, and the faster that we can get these guys to earn these opportunities, and then learn what comes with it, the faster their career and their development’s going to take off.”

An important piece of development, Day says, is communication of expectations. He wants to be fair to every player, and he wants feedback from them on anything they believe unfair.

“Please speak up if that’s the case,” Day said of any unfair feelings.

Day doesn’t anyone to be blindsided. So what gets communicated when a player wonders why he isn’t playing?

“Here’s exactly what the expectations are, and if you fulfill the expectations, then we’re good,” Day said. “I would say that everything that we do in this program is fair. It’s very transparent, and sometimes it just takes a little bit of time. But it ultimately comes down to communication.”

As much as Day says the players are accountable, he puts a lot of the responsibility on himself and his assistant coaches.

“As coaches, we have to bring these guys along,” he said. “If this is your son, how would you talk to him? How would you explain this is it? I love you, but this is what needs to get done in order for you to have these opportunities, and that’s really how you do it.”

And why?

“That’s the approach we’ll continue to take because, ultimately, this is bigger than any of us,” Day said. “It’s bigger than me. It’s bigger than the players. It’s bigger than any one person, and so we have to understand what we’re here for. And the minute we start to compromise that, there’s a bigger problem, and we can’t do that.”

Tracking Jeremiah

No one is rooting for Jeremiah Smith to win the Heisman Trophy more than his teammates.

He gets that support because as the best player on the team he is also often mentioned as team’s hardest worker. On a podcast this week with Urban Meyer, Day talked about having to tell Smith to stop taking reps.

“JJ is a tremendous player, but even a better human being,” offensive guard Luke Montgomery said Tuesday. “He’s definitely the hardest worker here at Ohio State.”

Watching Smith play is enough to convince a lot of observers that he is the frontrunner for the Heisman. Then there are the numbers.

A new one emerges every week. This week the stat making the rounds is that he his 823 receiving yards are more than 22 teams. Those yards, his average of 164.6 yards per game, his 44 receptions, his 8.8 receptions per game and his nine touchdowns all lead the nation.

Smith struck a Heisman pose after one of his touchdowns last week at Iowa. When the lineman got to the end zone, Montgomery and Smith made eye contact and struck Heisman poses together.

“There’s no doubt in my mind he’s the best player in the country,” Montgomery said. “I don’t know why people think he’s one of the best – no, he is the best player in the country. There shouldn’t be any question about that.”

The last receiver to win the Heisman was Alabama’s DaVonta Smith in 2019. In 11 regular-season games and the SEC championship game, he had 98 catches for 1,511 yards and 17 touchdowns.

For 12 regular-season games, Jeremiah Smith is on a pace for 105 receptions, 1,975 yards and 22 touchdowns. Depending on how far the Buckeyes advance in the playoffs, Smith could set the national single-season record.

Smith is Ohio State’s career receiving triple-crown record holder with 207 receptions, 3,381 yards and 36 touchdowns.

Next is his pursuit of the Big Ten triple crown.

First up could be the touchdown record of 39 by Michigan’s Braylon Edwards. Michigan’s Anthony Carter is second with 37. Next would be 408 yards to surpass the record of 3,788 set by Purdue’s John Standeford. Smith will pass six others on his way to the record.

The third leg could be a stretch. The record of 316 belongs to Purdue’s Taylor Stubblefield. The maximum number of remaining games for the Buckeyes is 12. If they play that many, Smith must average 9.1 catches per game to set the record.