The Manchester native attended the NFL draft in Pittsburgh on Thursday before returning to his home city on Friday to host a mental health event for local middle and high school students at the Palace Theatre.
The Ohio State University football coach since 2019, Day concluded his program’s spring practices with its annual spring game on April 18.
Four former Buckeyes — wide receiver Carnell Tate (fourth overall, Tennessee Titans), edge Arvell Reese (fifth, New York Giants), linebacker Sonny Styles (seventh, Washington Commanders) and safety Caleb Downs (11th, Dallas Cowboys) — were taken with the first 11 picks on Thursday night.
The Union Leader had plenty to talk about with the former star quarterback at Manchester Central and the University of New Hampshire on Thursday ahead of his visit and the NFL draft.
Union Leader: Do you feel like this is one of the most talented draft classes you’ve had over your time at Ohio State?
Ryan Day: We’ve had a lot of talented players. Ohio State has for years. What’s significant about this group of guys is (No.) 1, how many guys are projected to go in the top 10-15 and, (No.) 2, how young they are. It’s exciting. They’re all winners. They all won national championships with us the year before and I think they all have a lot of runway ahead of them.
RD: I think, first off, Arvell is somebody who has a lot of versatility. He can line up on the ball or he can line up off the ball. I think that makes him unique. He’s somebody who is very physical and strong and powerful. He’ll run and hit, he’s got a high motor and so I think a lot of defensive coordinators will and can be creative with how they use him and he does a really good job of keeping things simple. I think sometimes players can overcomplicate things. He has a unique way of just keeping things simple and playing really fast. But, again, he’s 20 years old so, man, he’s got a bright future ahead of him. He’s only going to get better with time.
Sonny is somebody who, when you talk to NFL personnel and head coaches, they say he was one of the best interviews they’ve had, which goes to show you not only who he is as a person — the way he communicates – but his football IQ. He’s a tremendous athlete. He’s somebody who’s going to walk into any organization and present like a veteran Day 1. He’s another guy with a lot of versatility. He started at safety and then came down to play linebacker. He’s got excellent spatial awareness — high school basketball player — diagnoses plays really fast. Another guy that has a lot of flexibility.
Caleb is somebody who has always loved the game of football. He does everything right — the way he prepares, the way he communicates. He is somebody who makes a lot of plays. I think when you watch him when he was in college, he made a lot of plays. He understands the game very well. He plays the game the way it’s supposed to be — physical, fast, violent — and he is somebody who when you talk about great players, they make everybody around them better. I think that’s case with Caleb.
I feel like with Carnell, he’s always been a really great route runner. He’s been smooth. I think he’s really refined his game over the last year as well. He’s a down-the-field threat. He’s strong with his hands. I think he’s somebody who Day 1 will walk into an organization and have receiver (No.) 1-type talent and I think he’ll make that impact early on.
RD: I’ve always said I don’t think I’ve ever come out of the spring game feeling great and I’m going to keep it that way this year. That’s just the way it goes but for the forecast being the way it was and the way the weather was, we ended up having a solid crowd. I think it scared away some of the fans but we still had a good crowd. It was good to see how some of the guys reacted. I thought it was a good day overall in terms of being able to evaluate the players. Now we’re into the process of evaluating this spring, evaluating the game and then giving the guys the feedback so they have their plan for the summer going into preseason camp.
UL: What positions are you going to have the most and least experience coming back at next year?
RD: The offensive line is probably the most experienced. Julian (Goines-Jackson) will be a second-year starter. We have some experience at receiver with Jeremiah (Smith) and then with Brandon (Inniss) and then we have some guys we added in the portal and some good young guys coming up behind them. On defense, we have experience but a lot of the experience that we have (is) guys that came in the portal. We added Cam Calhoun (CB, Alabama), Dom Kelly (CB, Georgia), Earl little Jr. (CB, Florida State), Terry Moore (S, Duke), Christian Alliegro (LB, Wisconsin), James Smith (DT, Alabama), Qua Russaw (DE, Alabama) and John Walker (DT, Central Florida). When you look at those guys, they’ve played a lot of college football but they haven’t played a lot of college football at Ohio State. We’re counting on guys coming back from last year ... to help with the culture to make sure that they understand it. It’s been good to see them getting started with the process of coming together as a defense.
UL: With how the Division I landscape has changed with NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) compensation, how do you feel that affects FCS level schools like UNH?
RD: Well, first off, I think it affects every level in a big way. You asked in particular about the FCS schools, well, I think you’re just going to see a lot more movement, I would think. But it’s still about people and the resources are going to give people an advantage, for sure. It’s all relative just with the different levels but it certainly does affect how you go about recruiting players.
UL: What made you choose UNH out of Central and do you feel like those aspects are still appealing to recruits nowadays?
RD: Well, it’s a great school with a great history and tradition of winning. The people there are great and it’s always going to come down to people. One of the reasons why I went there was because of the people, because of the coaches, because of their history, because I was from the state. Those were all the reasons. Those things haven’t changed. I think coach (Sean) Goldrich is going to do a great job there and he’s already done a great job of communicating his vision, communicating to some of the alumni about what he wants to get done within program, so he’s already really got some momentum going, which is great. Had some early wins just in terms of communicating with folks. Excited to see — this is his first year — where it goes but he’s gaining a lot of support and I’m certainly a proud alum and I’m glad to see he’s so excited about the opportunity
(Editor’s note: UNH will play at Ohio State on Sept. 11, 2027).
UL: Do you feel like the state schools at the FCS level are at a disadvantage compared to private schools or do you see it differently?
RD: Well, I think we always want to get more resources no matter where we are and it’s an advantage now more than ever. I think any coach would tell you that they want more. The more we can help coach (Goldrich) at UNH — everybody who is a supporter of the program or (an) alum — will certainly do a lot to help him secure the program moving forward, recruit good talent and coaches and then retain them.