Presser Bullets: Ryan Day Thinks Brian Hartline Will Do a Great Job at South Florida, Mark Pantoni Dives Into Ohio State Recruiting Class

Brian Hartline, the Buckeyes' offensive coordinator and the best receivers coach in college football, is taking the next step in his coaching career by heading to South Florida. Ohio State lost out on Kayden Dixon-Wyatt in the wake of that, but is holding on to Chris Henry Jr., who reupped his pledge but hasn't signed.

With everything going on, Day's signing day presser went shorter than usual, but was still packed with information. Day had nothing but positive things to say about Hartline and laid out the plan for his transition before diving into the recruiting class of 2026.

General manager Mark Pantoni followed Day and went into the class with some more depth, calling Brock Boyd the "most underrated receiver in the country" and saying offensive tackles like Sam Greer "don't grow on trees."

Ryan Day

• On what he likes from the Ohio State recruiting class: “I felt like, from the beginning on this, what we needed to do was be thorough with our evaluations. ... The first thing we look at is certainly their ability, their talent. Their character. ... This is a very talented group of young men. When you look at the positions, we had to address all the positions, but up front is very critical. I think we did a good job there. ... It’s an excellent group. These guys care about Ohio State.”
• Day added that Ohio State isn’t entirely focused on recruiting right now with the Big Ten Championship game coming up on Saturday, but is happy to celebrate all his signees.
• On keeping recruits in the fold as the staff is in flux. “This job is bigger than any one person. Ohio State’s been good for a long time and will continue to be good moving forward.” Day added that while stability matters at coaching positions, it’s about the program around a player and promising families that their son will be taken care of that attracts recruits.”
• Day confirmed that Hartline will stay with the team through the CFP and offered nothing but congratulations to his soon-to-be-former assistant. “That’s part of the profession ... as a head coach, it’s great to see one of your assistants get one of these opportunities. I think he’s going to do great. ... The timing isn’t great, but that isn’t Brian’s fault, it’s other peoples’ fault.”
• On safety signee Blaine Bradford: “Unbelievable. I can’t tell you how excited I am. ... He’s been amazing from the jump. I think he’s a tremendous player, but I also think he has great leadership ability too. ... He should make an impact day one.”
• With the class in the fold, Day said Ohio State will have to be proactive about evaluating what it needs in the portal. The number of commits, 28, fit right in with what the Buckeyes wanted depth-wise, he noted.
• Day said that Hartline’s coaching opportunity emerged in the last 24 hours, and they had to communicate quickly with recruits, players and staff.
• Day gave high praise to offensive line coach Tyler Bowen in his first recruiting cycle. “He has an unbelievable job of connecting with (people). ... I think the guys in the room really believe in what he’s doing.”
• On James Laurinaitis and the talented linebacker class he signed: “It’s a good group. James does a great job of communicating. ... He has the credibility, toughness, he connects well with the guys ... he’s really, in a short period of time, turned into a really good coach. ... He’s straight with (his recruits), he lets them know what it’s gonna be like when they get here.”
• On Matt Patricia getting involved with recruiting: “He’s definitely done a great job of that. It’s easy to see the personality that he has. ... It’s group recruiting and you can see, something we really sell is our stability. The continuity of our staff, the type of people that are here. ... It’s more than just a relationship with a single person.”

Mark Pantoni

• On Brian Hartline’s departure: “Very happy for Hart, he deserves it. He’s done a tremendous job. ... I think we would all agree, right now, that Coach Day has about 50 missed calls from every wide receivers coach in the country. ... Hart set the standard now.”
• While Pantoni’s staff provides all the support it can, it’s still position coaches that are the most important in recruiting, he said. “Position coaches are the ones in the weeds of everything.”
• On Jay Timmons: “He’s a tremendous player, he’s an even better person. ... He’s always full of energy. But yeah, we are very excited. ... It’s a great addition, especially this late.”
• On Sam Greer and signing elite offensive tackle prospects: “Coach Day offered him as a freshman, so that helped. ... Tackles like him don’t grow on trees. ... We wanted to show he was a high priority for us. We think he’s a future left tackle here. ... He’s been one of the leaders of the class.”
• Pantoni said the goal is to build through high school as the backbone of the team, then go address any additional needs in the portal after that. He noted Ohio State’s had success in its portal players so far, though.
• “Evaluations are more important than ever” when it comes to knowing when to go all in on a prospect, Pantoni said.
• Pantoni said that Greer, Maxwell Riley and Tucker Smith were great peer recruiters on the offensive line. He added Cincere Johnson has been another fantastic peer recruiter.
• Pantoni said he’ll save his thoughts on the college football calendar and “common sense” solutions for another time.
• Pantoni said that Ohio State wants recruits who want to be in Columbus and that the Buckeyes have abandoned recruitments where NIL was the only focus, though he noted they will be competitive “At the end of the day, we’re never looking to be the highest number.”
• Offensive line and defensive line is going to be an overpayment in the portal, so there’s extra emphasis on getting those players and getting 
• On Khary Wilder: “Khary, he was a priority for us from day one. ... He’s a great addition of a guy that we need him to be ready day one to go.”
• On CJ Sanna and Kaden Gebhardt, the Buckeyes’ two signees from Olentangy: “CJ came to camp last year, he’s tough, he’s what James is looking for in terms of a guy who can go sideline-to-sideline. ... Kaden ... every game you turn on, he’s making 10, 12, 15 tackles a game.”
• On Brock Boyd: “I think Brock is probably the most underrated receiver in the country in terms of rankings. He’s at a very big program there in Texas and broke their school record.”