Skull Session: Urban Meyer Says Ryan Day and Arthur Smith’s Relationship Has “Been Pretty Good” So Far, Ohio State Finishes With Three Composite Five-Star Recruits in the 2026 Class

By Chase Brown on February 3, 2026 at 5:00 am
Ryan Day
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch
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Welcome to the Skull Session.

I talked some ball with Doug Lesmerises, Bill Landis and JBook on Monday. Give it a watch or listen!

Have a good Tuesday.

 “IT’S BEEN PRETTY GOOD.” In the latest episode of The Triple Option podcast, Urban Meyer offered some insight into what Ryan Day and Arthur Smith working together could look like at Ohio State — and why a complete offensive overhaul is possible but not probable.

“Ryan is pretty well set in his offense,” Meyer said. “That’s the same offensive terminology we used when I was there, and Chip Kelly changed it a little bit — I remember asking Ryan about it. The minute you hire a big-name coordinator, the coordinator is gonna run his stuff. So you’re gonna have 100 people in that program now learning new terminology, unless there was an agreement. Whenever I hired a coordinator, I would give them the playbook and say, ‘This is what we’re gonna run.’ I usually elevated my guys and we ran it because I wanted to know what was going on.”

Meyer added that Day has never walked into a coach’s room asking, “What the hell is going on?” He doesn’t expect that to change with Smith calling plays. So far, it hasn’t.

“It’s been pretty good,” Meyer said of the early coexistence. “I think there’s probably gonna be a little bit of a mesh of what he’s done before.”

I like the sound of that.

During Monday’s Beat Writer Chat, a reader asked whether Day’s offense has become “stale.” I wouldn’t go that far, but it did lack some of the spark it had when Kelly was calling plays two seasons ago. There are several possible reasons the unit took a step back in 2025, but handing playcalling duties to Brian Hartline likely added to Day’s already full plate. Managing a coaching staff, roster construction, recruiting, NIL, fundraising and everything else that comes with the job leaves only so much bandwidth.

With Smith bringing six years of NFL playcalling experience, Day should be able to hand over the keys to the offense more comfortably and settle into a CEO role — one he already parlayed into a national championship in 2024. I wouldn’t hate it if the 2026 season ended the same way!

 ALL THE STARS. In its final update for the 2026 class, Rivals ranked five Buckeyes as five-star prospects: cornerback Jay Timmons (No. 12 overall), wide receiver Jerquaden Guilford (No. 17), defensive end Khary Wilder (No. 22), linebacker Cincere Johnson (No. 26) and wide receiver Chris Henry Jr. (No. 31).

Nearly a week later, 247Sports released its final rankings with a more conservative view, slotting just two Buckeyes as five-stars: Henry (No. 24) and Johnson (No. 25). Even so, Ohio State still placed 13 of its 28 signees in the Top247. Here’s where the remaining 11 incoming freshmen ranked:

  • 35. OT Sam Greer
  • 47. CB Jay Timmons
  • 75. WR Jerquaden Guilford
  • 81. DE Khary Wilder
  • 146. CB Blaine Bradford
  • 148. DT Emanuel Ruffin
  • 151. RB/WR Legend Bey
  • 168. OL Maxwell Riley
  • 175. CB Jordan Thomas
  • 208. S Khmari Bing
  • 237. DE Dre Quinn

Eleven Warriors uses the 247Sports Composite as its primary reference for recruiting rankings. By that measure, Ohio State signed four top-50 prospects in Henry (No. 14), Johnson (No. 16), Timmons (No. 24) and Guilford (No. 44), with the first three earning five-star status. The Buckeyes also landed two more top-100 recruits in Greer (No. 52) and Bradford (No. 73).

Just outside the top 100 — but still among the nation’s elite — were Bey (No. 126), Riley (No. 176), safety Simeon Caldwell (No. 187), defensive tackle Damari Simeon (No. 215), Ruffin (No. 245) and linebackers Braxton Rembert (No. 249) and CJ Sanna (No. 261).

Ohio State finished with the No. 4 recruiting class for 2026, trailing only USC, Alabama and Oregon. 

Is that good?

It seems good.

Rounding out the top 10 behind the Buckeyes were Notre Dame, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, Miami and Texas A&M. Michigan checked in at No. 12, with Washington (No. 13) and Illinois (No. 23) joining the Wolverines as Big Ten programs inside the top 25.

 ATTITUDE REFLECTS LEADERSHIP, CAPTAIN. It’s been some time since Ohio State men’s basketball lost to Wisconsin on the road, but a moment from that game that has stuck with me since has been Bruce Thornton getting in his teammates’ faces when the Buckeyes were down eight in the second half.

“I definitely screamed at them to do stuff that we’ve been working on all week to prepare for this game,” Thornton told The Columbus Dispatch’s Adam Jardy after the game. “We weren’t communicating all the little stuff that we worked on. It was definitely frustrating in that time.”

Later, Thornton added, “[It was] me just being frustrated, just trying to win at the highest level I possibly can. I feel like my teammates wasn’t.”

Because the loss was Ohio State’s seventh of the season, the margin for error down the stretch is thin. Still, moments like that inspire confidence (for me, at least). Attitude reflects leadership, and Ohio State’s leadership is in good hands when one of the nation’s best players is running the point — figuratively and literally. If Thornton’s teammates can respond to his call for action (and communication), Ohio State may go dancin’ after all.

 IN MARK MAY’S NIGHTMARES. Wait… Terry Glenn was goated.

While scrolling social media Monday, I came across a post from friend of the program, Colton Denning of 2StripesCPD, who shared an almost two-minute video of Terry Glenn torching Pitt in 1995 for nine catches, 253 yards and four touchdowns. Ohio State rolled 54-14 in a game that still lives rent-free in Mark May’s head, right alongside a 63-28 win in 1993, a 27-3 victory in 1994 and a 72-0 obliteration in 1992.

That season, Glenn became the first Ohio State receiver to win the Biletnikoff Award, hauling in 57 passes for 1,316 yards and 17 touchdowns. Nearly three decades later, he remains one of just two Buckeyes to earn the honor, joined by Marvin Harrison Jr. in 2023 — though Jeremiah Smith should’ve won it in 2024 and will win it in 2025. (Yes, I said it.)

I have no idea what Smith’s stat lines will look like next fall, but I’d love to see at least one like Glenn’s performance at Pitt. How about 200-plus yards and multiple touchdowns against Texas, Iowa, Indiana, USC, Oregon and/or Michigan? That’d be great!

 PLEASE BRING THIS BACK. Another piece of doom-scrolling #content comes courtesy of Mr. Cleveland Sports on X, who posted a video of Ohio State legends Cris Carter and Chris Spielman appearing on television after earning All-American honors in 1986.

As one of the “youngs” — a title the Eleven Warriors oldheads have bestowed upon Andy Anders and me — I had no idea what I was watching. Consider this a Diet Coke version of Remember When, because apparently college football’s All-American teams used to be celebrated on national television.

From the always-trustworthy Wikipedia:

From 1946 to 1970, Look published the FWAA team and brought players and selected writers to New York City for a celebration. During that 25-year period, the FWAA team was introduced on national television shows by Bob Hope, Steve Allen, Perry Como and others. After Look folded, the FWAA started a long association with NCAA Films (later known as NCAA Productions), which produced a 30-minute television show and sold it to sponsors. The team was part of ABC Television's 1981 College Football Series. From 1983 to 1990, the team was either on ABC or ESPN, and since 1991 has returned to the national spotlight on ABC.

I need ABC to bring this back!

 SONG OF THE DAY. "Yukon" - Justin Bieber.

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