Scarlet Sunrise: Buckeyes improvement in NIL space contributing to recruiting momentum

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Buckeyes improvement in NIL space contributing to recruiting momentum

Ohio State announced another collective, The 1870 Society, this week. It’s a for-profit business aiming to bump up the corporate sponsorship count for Buckeyes student-athletes. Along with the merging of THE Foundation and The O Foundation, which occurred earlier this year, The 1870 Society is the latest Ohio State development in the name, image and likeness space.

This comes a week after Ohio State hosted its annual Career Fair, which was rebranded as the Career and NIL Expo. Next week, Day and Ohio State men’s basketball head coach Chris Holtmann, as well as several Ohio State student-athletes, will fill The Schottenstein Center for The Foundation’s spring festival. After that, Buckeyes coaches, such as Day, offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach Brian Hartline and assistant linebackers coach James Laurinaitis will attend a meet-and-greet through the Cohesion collective.

The Buckeyes’ NIL growth has contributed to its recent recruiting hot streak, fifth-year head coach Ryan Day said Wednesday. The Buckeyes have landed 10 commits so far this cycle, making up an already promising 2024 class that currently ranks third nationally according to the On3 Industry Ranking.

“I am trying to circulate the conversation — for everybody in Buckeye Nation, the City of Columbus, the state of Ohio to normalize NIL,” Day said. “Because it’s not going anywhere, and it’s a critical part of our recruiting. We’ve had a lot of people who have embraced it. And, because of that, we’re starting to build some momentum here in recruiting. But we’re gonna need more and more help.

“That’s just the way it is. And so I’ve tried to do the best I can to, again, normalize the conversation and help our guys with opportunities — not that I can directly do that, but by talking to folks and letting them understand that this is OK. This is something that is important to our program.”

Day emphasized that Ohio State has adapted, in terms of NIL. It’s no secret that the Buckeyes missed on some 2023 recruiting targets, and NIL was certainly at play in those whiffs. When reflecting on last year’s class, Day noted that he was still pleased with the quality of the group. He did, however, point out that the Buckeyes are now “in a better place to compete for some of the bigger guys in the country.”

As much as Ohio State’s NIL efforts are growing, Day would like more congressional enforcement in the space.

“I think the biggest struggle that a lot of us have, I know that I have, is we’re talking about something like this — and there are other things like this right now in college football — there’s really nothing to compare it to,” Day said. “There’s no benchmark, there’s no precedence for something like this. And that makes it hard because sometimes you don’t know where you’re going. But I do know that some sort of guardrails around this would certainly help.”

Devin Brown unavailable for spring game following procedure

Well, the biggest storyline of the Ohio State spring game has changed drastically. All eyes were going to be on the two-way race for QB1 between junior Kyle McCord and redshirt freshman Devin Brown. But, now, Brown is unavailable for the intrasquad exhibition. He had a minor procedure Wednesday on his throwing hand for an injured finger, according to head coach Ryan Day.

Day expects Brown to be throwing again “real soon” and that the Gilbert, Arizona, native should “have pretty much a full summer” after the setback.

Now, the Buckeyes will be down to two scholarship quarterbacks for the spring game: McCord and seventh-year Oregon State transfer Tristan Gebbia.

For more on Brown’s status, head on over here.

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What Devin Brown missing spring game means for Buckeyes

Ohio State reveals format for spring game

Ohio State and head coach Ryan Day have revealed the format of Saturday’s spring game, which is set to kick off inside the Horseshoe at 12:05 p.m.

It will be Scarlet (offense) vs. Gray (defense) in a four-quarter matchup that could see a running clock kick in for the second half, or maybe just the fourth quarter, Day said.

There will be traditional offensive scoring. As for the other side of the ball, the Buckeyes defense gets six points for a takeaway touchdown, three points for a takeaway, three points for a three-and-out, two points for a sack and one point for a forced punt.

Day said the first couple drives with the ones will be “thud,” while the rest of the intrasquad exhibition will be live. For more details on the spring game, go here.

Counting down

Buckeyes vs. Indiana: 142 days

Buckeyes vs. Michigan: 226 days

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The post Scarlet Sunrise: Buckeyes improvement in NIL space contributing to recruiting momentum appeared first on On3.