Ohio State head coach Ryan Day had sharp response to '$20 million roster' report

Only one day after ESPN published an insightful story about how Ohio State recovered from a devastating end to the 2023 season, including spending $20 million on its roster, Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day had a response. It's safe to say he didn't appreciate any insinuation this roster was bought and full of pay-to-play athletes.

Everyone knows how good this Ohio State is on paper. They're ranked second in the AP poll, trailing only Georgia. Most non-media folks would go further to agree Ohio State should be the favorite to win the national championship. The media has given Georgia extra grace, and deservedly so.

"Pound for pound, player for player," a scout said in the ESPN report, "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."

Just two years ago, Day informed supporters that assembling the Buckeyes team would require an investment of $13 million in NIL funds.

Tyvis Powell, who serves as the director of player engagement for Ohio State's 1870 Society collective, previously mentioned that the Buckeyes lost opportunities to recruit desired players due to insufficient NIL funds. Nowadays, Ohio State ranks as one of the top spenders in college football's NIL landscape.

But Day does not feel the money has defined this program, telling reporters at his press conference that, ""I think sometimes things are said, but when you look at our guys, they're here because they want to be Buckeyes. They're here because they want to win championships."

We've previously covered how the Buckeyes could have as much as $8 million budgeted for just its 2025 recruiting class alone. The vast majority of programs would love to have that much to build its entire roster. This isn't slamming Day or the Buckeyes, but the sharp reality of where college football is.

What we can say is this has put an immense pressure on this Buckeyes team to win it all in 2024-25. I think they'll pull it off, but do you?