LAS VEGAS — There are reminders of Ohio State’s run to the national championship everywhere Ryan Day and his players turn — even when they’re 2,000 miles from campus.
Stationed just a few hundred feet to Day’s right as he spoke Tuesday at Big Ten Media Days inside the Mandalay Bay Convention Center was the College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy. Most of his afternoon in Las Vegas was spent answering questions about last year’s team and whether the Buckeyes can achieve the rare feat of winning back-to-back titles.
For Day and the players, the championship they won after the 2024 season will always be cherished, but they cannot allow that golden, pen-shaped trophy to overshadow their future. That’s why visible reminders of the win over Notre Dame in January are scarce around the Ohio State locker room. Championship banners and trophies are present — but not overwhelming.
“Everybody in the building has made it a point to tuck that stuff away,” linebacker Sonny Styles said. “The foundation we had last year isn’t going to work this year. It’s a completely new team, new foundation, so we’ve got to build that up.”
It’s easy to label last year’s Ohio State team as the one that name, image and likeness money built. This time last year, the Buckeyes made headlines when athletic director Ross Bjork revealed they spent $20 million on NIL deals. No matter what happened during the season, that label stuck — particularly after the Buckeyes lost to Michigan for the fourth straight year and critics leaned into their punchlines.
But Ohio State wasn’t the only team spending $20 million to build a championship roster. Ieck, it wasn’t even the only one in the Big Ten. Today, several football programs are funded by more than $40 million through NIL contracts and revenue sharing. Still, it was Ohio State that became the poster child of the NIL era.
“You realize that maybe it wasn’t that out of whack,” Day said. “Actually, I know it wasn’t, but that never decided who we were as a team. It was about a bunch of guys who decided to come back, and the fourth- and fifth-year seniors are the ones that galvanized the team when we went through adversity last year. And that’s the same thing with this season.”
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A new team
The reality is Ohio State built its roster like many must do these days: recruiting the best players they could sign and adding complementary pieces via the transfer portal. Now, the Buckeyes face another reload. Fourteen players were selected in the NFL Draft, and the program lost both its offensive and defensive coordinators — Chip Kelly to the NFL and Jim Knowles to rival Penn State.
There’s also a new quarterback — likely Alabama transfer Julian Sayin — and eight new starters on defense.
“Guys are just hungry,” Bjork said. “There’s a lot of doubters going, ‘What’s this team gonna be about?'”
That may be the case, but is it a stretch to call the Buckeyes underdogs? They have the third-best odds to win the national title and are the favorite to win the Big Ten, according to FanDuel. They also co-lead the nation with the highest percentage of blue-chip players on the roster — 89% — according to 247Sports’ Blue-Chip Ratio.
Maybe Ohio State is digging too deep to find motivation. Tghe 2025 season that starts with a bang when Texas visits Ohio Stadium on Aug. 30. The outsiders aren’t so much doubters as they are trolls, looking for any weakness to exploit.
Inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, former freshmen have stepped into new roles, and leaders have emerged, motivated to cement legacies that have yet to be written.
“Every time they hear about last year’s team and they hear about the guys that left, I think it just motivates them more, because they’re tired of hearing about that,” Day said. “This is their team, and that’s good. We want an angry team playing against Texas in 39 days, so it’s yet to be seen, but the work ethic has been there, and I think we’re all excited to see what this team looks like.”
Superstar receiver Jeremiah Smith — the spellbinding pass catcher who shattered records and helped secure the national title with his “Third and Jeremiah” catch against Notre Dame — doesn’t even view last year’s championship as his.
“Last year, that was like a Mecca with all the guys who came back. That was their national championship,” he said Tuesday. “This year is definitely gonna be for me, Sonny (Styles), Caleb (Downs), Carnell Tate and all the other guys that were young last year.”
Indeed, Ohio State last year was built on the backs of fourth- and fifth-year players, including heralded veterans who transferred into the program, such as quarterback Will Howard. It’s fair to assume Ohio State is reloading with younger players this fall — but that’s incorrect. Seventeen of the 22 projected starters are juniors or seniors, most developed within the program, waiting their turn behind former superstars.
At quarterback, Sayin is a freshman, but was recruited by the Buckeyes before initially signing with Alabama. He transferred to Ohio State in 2024 after Nick Saban retired. Sayin will battle returning backup Lincoln Kienholz — an MLB prospect and 3-handicap golfer — for the starting job.
“That was a crowded room when [Sayin] first got in there and he’s working, he’s getting better every day and whatever he gets, he’s going to earn,” Day said. “He’s earned his opportunity to now compete for the job, and if he gets the job, it’s because he earned it.”
Position battles will continue through preseason camp, which begins next week. Brian Hartline, who moves up from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator, will build the offense around the strengths of the starting quarterback. He’ll also identify a rotation at running back, where unproven James Peoples and West Virginia transfer CJ Donaldson are described by Day as “three-down ‘backs.”
Smith’s electric route running and knack for winning one-on-one battles should ease pressure on the new starters. His standout freshman season places him near the top of preseason Heisman Trophy watch lists.
“I know what defenses are doing this year,” Smith said. “I understood coverages, but I’m better this year. I feel like I’m going to be able to play faster than I did last year. I wasn’t playing as fast as I wanted to but this year I know exactly what’s going on.”
The team up north
Despite the Buckeyes’ success and praise, questions persist about their shortcomings. Michigan has defeated Ohio State four straight times, and last season’s 13-10 upset at home may have been the most frustrating. The Buckeyes rebounded, cruising through the playoffs with double-digit wins in all four games, but the rivalry remains paramount. Beating Michigan is one of Ohio State’s three preseason goals: beat Michigan, win the Big Ten and win the national title.
“You can say Oh, we lost, but we won the national championship, but we feel like we still and should win that game,” Smith said.
Still, The Game has changed. The elimination of Big Ten divisions and the creation of the 12-team College Football Playoff have transformed the Buckeyes’ approach to the rivalry.
“We’ll always have the taste in our mouth from last year until we can overcome that,” Bjork said. “But, look, here’s the thing: You could play them three times this year, because it’s a new era, it’s a new environment. You have to compartmentalize the approach. You never, ever take your foot off the gas as it relates to that rival. No one will ever do that at our place or at their place. But you could play them in the last game and then the next week or in the playoff. Which game is more important? It’s a whole new mindset.”
On Tuesday, Day sat behind a table on a small stage, fielding questions from reporters for about 45 minutes. He discussed the past and present, the evolution of recruiting and NIL, Smith’s superstardom and the quarterback competition.
Only once was he asked about the team up north.
How do you beat Michigan?
“Score more points than them,” Day said.
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