Ryan Day Says Tim Walton is “Gonna Be a Huge Part” of Ohio State’s Defensive Game Planning, TreVeyon Henderson’s High-Ceiling Comparison is Hall of Famer Curtis Martin
MATT PATRICIA *HANDSHAKE* TIM WALTON. Last week, Ryan Day and thousands more boarded the Buckeye Cruise for Cancer. As the cruise sailed from Grand Cayman to Jamaica and the Bahamas, Dom Tiberi of 10TV interviewed the Ohio State head coach to learn more about his experience on the cruise following a national championship, as well as the football program’s plans for the offseason.
On whether Ohio State’s national championship has “sunk in”
“I think it’s been great for our current players to be around this family and be around Buckeye Nation and let them put their hair down a little bit. But also, it’s spending time and seeing what it means. Last night at the event, (Caleb Downs, Lincoln Kienholz and others) all stood up and gave $500 to fund a need. That speaks to the culture of Ohio State in general. That was great.
“In terms of it sinking in, there’s been times when it has sunk in and other times when it hasn’t. Sometimes you wake up in the morning and say, ‘We really did this.’ You know, the thing to me that has been great is just hearing the stories: where everybody was, how it brought generations together and how proud everybody is.”
On Ohio State’s 2025 team rebuilding the culture
“We had a leadership meeting and the first thing on the board was, ‘Reinforce the culture.’ By the end of the meeting, it was, ‘Rebuild the culture.’ This group in particular hasn’t done anything as a group, coaches and players included. That’s what we’re gonna do. Spring ball is gonna be an important part of that. We feel like we just got done with the season, so spring ball may look a little bit different. We’re gonna still kind of work through that. It will only be four weeks this year as opposed to five. We’ll adjust. But spring will be important for us.”
On Matt Patricia, Ohio State’s defensive staff
“Well, the first thing was we want to continue with what we’ve been doing on defense. We don’t want to bring in a whole new defense. Tim Walton is gonna be a huge part of this. He and Matt are gonna work together. Tim and Matt (Guerrieri) and Larry (Johnson) and James (Laurinaitis) all work together really well, and so bringing Matt into this thing was important. But he also had to understand that there were certain things in place that are gonna continue. He also brings three Super Bowl rings, an unbelievable amount of experience, an expertise — anybody you know who’s spent time with him will tell you he’s a very smart guy.
“He’s had a ton of energy so far. He’s dove into our coaches, dove into our guys on defense and got a chance to know them. We’re gonna be doing everything we can to run a defense that fits what we have. There’s a lot of things that we’re gonna do that are gonna carry over from last year, but some other things we have to look at based on our personnel. I think that’s what coaching is all about.”
On what he learned from the 2024 season
“It is a long season. You’re talking about preparing for 16 games. The thing that’s different for us this year is now we’re coming off a 16-game season. What does that mean? We got done on Jan. 20, but a lot of people had been done Dec. 20. We’re at a month of catching up a little bit. It’s allowing some of the guys who played a lot of football to recover, but we also got to get some of these younger guys going. Building depth will be very, very important. It looks like we’re gonna be down to a roster limit of 105 (from 120), which brings a whole bunch of challenges to the table. A lot of things that are changing here. Revenue sharing is gonna be right around the corner here. A lot of change, but we’re gonna do everything we can to stay ahead of the curve.”
You love to see Downs, Kienholz and other Buckeyes use their platform and resources for good.
You also love to see (or at least I love to see) Day discuss Ohio State’s defense as a collaborative effort between Patricia and Walton. The former can provide fresh ideas, and the latter can reinforce what’s worked for the past two to three seasons. In other words, he can be the OG!