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Ohio State Loses Major Recruit To Michigan As Ryan Day’s Troubles Continue

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Ohio State Loses Major Recruit To Michigan As Ryan Day's Troubles Continue

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After losing his first 5 games to the Ohio State Buckeyes, Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh has strung together back-to-back wins for a streak. The ‘Ryan Day was born on 3rd base and is now on 2nd’ jokes were out in full force after the Michigan Wolverines won ‘The Game’, beating the Buckeyes 45-23 in a matchup of #2 vs #3.

As is the case with every pair of rivals in college football, the annual Rivalry Week carries a lot of College Football Recruiting implications. Recruits who might be on the fence between two schools might allow for a rivalry game to sway them in one direction or the other.

In the first sign of cracks in Ryan Day’s armor at Ohio State, a 4-star offensive lineman recruit from Avon, Ohio has chosen to commit to the Michigan Wolverines over the Ohio State Buckeyes after The Game. At 6’5″, Luke Hamilton is already a 4-star recruit with a ’90’ rating on 247sports. Luke Hamilton is the #8 overall OT and #5 recruit in his state.

Ohio State is doing just fine in recruiting. They have the #8 ranked class in 2024 and #6 in 2023. But it is the comments from 4-star recruit Luke Hamilton about Ohio State’s treatment of him and his family that is raising some eyebrows:

This quote from Luke Hamilton published in the Morning Journal is particularly damming:

“At Michigan, I always feel like I am at home. Even before I got the offer, I always felt like I was at home. Going to Ohio State, I was kind of on edge on whether they were going to treat me good or are they going to treat me bad. As soon as I walked in the door, I could tell that there was not good energy.”

Hamilton added that he believes recruits aren’t getting a shot to play quickly enough under Ryan Day. He said:

“(Ohio State) did this to all of the in-state (recruits). They put us on the back burner and will wait until the last second, because they think they have us committed there if they offer, which I think is totally stupid. That is not how that works at all. I’ve talked to linemen all around Cleveland and people that I know and they all feel the same way. … I think Ohio State is taking too long and I don’t think they are doing it right (at this time).”

Lots of folks in the Twitter comments are calling Ryan Day ‘John Cooper 2.0’. Cooper was the head coach of Ohio State from 1988-2000:

Ohio State demands more from their program than most schools. Missing the Big Ten Championship after losing to their rival is unacceptable. And it’s already costing them recruits. It’s safe to say that Ryan Day’s seat is piping hot at this point.