Ryan Day's Attitude About Recruiting Rankings Further Proves Ohio State Football is in Great Hands

When it comes to player recruiting rankings, Ryan Day claims he doesn't have a preference.

Ohio State's new head coach spoke about multiple 5-star recruits reporting to the program's training camp, which started Monday. Day reportedly told Eleven Warriors that "the stars don't mean a thing."

Ryan Day on when five-star players get to camp: "Nobody cares. The stars don’t mean a thing."
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) August 6, 2019

Ohio State could be the odd one out, but it's pretty certain that nearly every other team would be thrilled to have multiple 5-star recruits coming in at once. While this is surely a positive answer from Day, and one that will go over well with parents, we're not sure we fully believe him. Recruiting rankings can make or break a coach's salary or even employment opportunities. In fact, Day being ranked as one of the best recruiters in the nation as an assistant to Urban Meyer is part of what helped him supplant the former Buckeyes head coach.

Day took the 2019 Class' No. 2-ranked 2019 center in Harry Miller for example, who's competing to for the backup spot behind Josh Myers.

On whether Harry Miller be the No. 2 center this year behind Josh Myers, Ryan Day said: "I don't know if he should be. I think he has the ability to." Day said he expects Miller to get playing time this season, but will see how the depth chart shakes out as camp continues.
— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) August 6, 2019

Miller will be joined by two other Class of 2019 5-star recruits this fall: WR Garrett Wilson and WDE Zach Harrison.

It's a great idea for Coach Day to prioritize performance and results over talent and expectation, but it's hard to argue with stacking as much talent as possible if given the opportunity. Day has done just that, and it's in part because his talent evaluators target the top prospects. It's doubtful they know who to offer simply based on tape.

However, Day's philosophy is perfect once these freshmen arrive on campus--it doesn't matter what they accomplished in high school. In order to get playing time, they must earn their spot.