On national signing day, Ohio State and Ryan Day exhale with ease.

As Ryan Day was speaking about the incoming class of Ohio State Buckeyes during his signing day news conference, general manager Mark Pantoni of the program gave him a message.

The top recruit in the 2024 class and five-star wide receiver, Jeremiah Smith, just announced his commitment to Ohio State during a function held at his Miami, Florida, school.

“Really?” inquired Day.

He was really told. After weeks of rumors that he might be a late flip to Florida State or Miami, the best player in the country was back in the fold.

Day released his breath.

He murmured, “Jeez,” and then pretended to be about to pass out.

Even so, it wouldn’t be that simple. It wasn’t until 10 p.m. ET that Smith submitted his signed letter of intent to make it official. Even as Miami persisted, according to The Athletic, his representatives were in Columbus ironing out the NIL details. Day could handle the tension that resulted from it. That is the process of hiring.

In the end, he managed to stave off Alabama’s fierce last-minute attempt to steal five-star defensive end Eddrick Houston from Buford, Georgia. This is not a task for the timid.

According to Rivals.com, Ohio State has the fifth-highest recruiting class overall. Their 20-man team has the best average star rating in the country, at 3.95.

That’s a significant victory for Ohio State, and Day certainly needed it, as he wasn’t feeling well after losing to Michigan less than a month ago, despite his 56-7 record.

Ryan Day of Ohio State was exhaling on Wednesday with a sense of relaxation. (Getty Images/John Fisher)

Since then, fifteen Buckeyes—chief among them being starting quarterback Kyle McCord—have accessed the transfer portal. When you combine that with the anticipated NFL exits and the ineligible players, the roster was as unstable as you would find at any program, let alone Ohio State.

Next was the countdown until signing day. Two four-star recruits signed elsewhere just this week: running back Jordan Lyle to Miami and wide receiver Jeremiah McClellan to Oregon. They came after five-star defensive end Justin Scott decommitted in late November and switched to Miami.

Smith would therefore have been the third elite prospect to fall to the Hurricanes and head coach Mario Cristobal. Cristobal’s decision to bring in local talent must be making national schools reconsider how hard they want to recruit South Florida going forward. For the first time in decades, Miami has had consecutive top-10 national recruiting classes, and on signing day, at least, they are once again a formidable team.

When it comes to talent, Ohio State is essentially the last program that anyone should be concerned about. Buckeyes football is always good. Having said that, you can see why Ryan Day was breathing a sigh of relief upon learning that he had managed to hold onto Smith and Houston.

It might have been disastrous on Wednesday.

“We want to have the best roster in the nation come August,” Day stated in the end.

Ohio State has, or is very nearly, in many years. The Buckeyes recruit better than any other university outside of the Southeast. Day is aware that the only way to defeat Georgia and Alabama on the field is to first defeat them off the field in order to get the prospects they desire.

He didn’t hesitate to answer when asked what qualities he considers in assistant coaches.

Day stated, “Recruiting is the first thing.” That is the primary concern. You need to hire people for the role that you coach. For the job, you are the head coach. Having the greatest room in the nation is your responsibility. It should be “Wide Receiver U” while you are coaching the receivers at Ohio State. It should be “Linebacker U.” if you are the linebackers’ coach.

Some of that should be handled by this organization. The next great pass-catcher in Columbus might be Marvin Harrison Jr., of course, but if he falls inside the top five of the NFL Draft, Carnell Tate, a freshman and former five-star prospect, will take his place. Jeremiah Smith will follow.

One of Ohio State’s advantages has always been its depth of skill. The victories come after these recruiting classes pile up. That was the situation long before Woody Hayes. After his arrival, Urban Meyer expanded nationwide. Day has done likewise.

So this offseason, Buckeyes supporters have something to be happy about, at least. Though the bowl game versus Missouri is far from the playoffs, Devin Brown will have the opportunity to show that he can replace McCord, who beat him out of the job back in summer camp. The weeks after that third straight loss to the Wolverines were dismal.

Day declared, “Devin is going to play this [game].”

If that doesn’t happen, Ohio State might try to select a quarterback this spring in the draft. Alternately, it switches to a younger athlete, like Fairburn, Georgia’s Air Noland, a signee in the top 100. We’ll see.

Day appeared enthusiastic and invigorated on Wednesday, a day that could have transpired drastically otherwise, if nothing else.

Even though he appeared to be a shattered and defeated man in the moments following the Buckeyes’ defeat in Ann Arbor, this coach was actually thrilled about the opportunities his team would have going forward rather than merely the signing day flips that never happened.

Hope never fades on the day of signing.