Ohio State Head Coach Ryan Day Would Support Two-Year Commitment Mandate For Student Athletes

Since it was adopted ahead of the 2021 football season, the transfer portal has certainly created player mobility, but in the eyes of Ohio State head coach Ryan Day and many others, it has also had its drawbacks.

Over the last several years, thousands of college football players have entered the transfer portal. Although Ohio State has managed to retain its best players more often than not, Day’s program also lost its share of players to the portal after last season. The Buckeyes eventually had over 30 players depart from the program via the portal, including multiple players, such as five-star receiver Quincy Porter, who had only spent one year with the program.

In an appearance on Josh Pate’s College Football Show, Day said he would support the NCAA mandating student-athletes to make a two-year commitment before entering the transfer portal.

“If you’re looking at the player who comes in at midyear now, their (high school) season gets done, they jump right into spring ball, they have this season,” Day said. “During that freshman season, typically, they’re not playing as much as they’d like. They’re going through challenges. They’re failing. But that’s part of being a freshman. You have to fail. You have to fail to learn. That’s how it works.”

Day continued saying that young players are put in a position to make quick decisions during an emotional time immediately after the season.

“There are all these expectations in recruiting, and then when their freshman year doesn’t go exactly the way they want, they get done in December and January, and there’s no cooling off phase right there,” Day said. “It’s emotional. It’s raw. A lot of times, the season is still going on.”

Day, an outspoken advocate for mental health, added that a mandate for players to stay at a given school for two years would only bolster student-athletes’ mental health.

“I just think it’s good for their overall mental health knowing that I’m somewhere for two years, and I know I have to push through adversity along the way, and I have to grow,” Day said. “For a lot of us who went through that, we had four years. Transferring wasn’t an option. You had to figure it out. That’s a healthy thing.”