‘I feel pretty strong about that' – Ohio State HC Ryan Day isn't shying away from the big change he wants to see for college football

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College football keeps changing at a quick rate and the game looks much different than it did 10 years ago. Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day wants to see one clear change within the sport.

The Ohio State Buckeyes have maneuvered the new era of college football as well as anyone, and it’s why they continue to be in the mix to win it all every year under Ryan Day. 

College football has changed a ton over the last handful of years with NIL, the transfer portal, and revenue share. Ohio State remains in as good a spot as they’ve ever been in 2026, but it doesn’t mean Day doesn’t want to see changes for the sport. 

Ryan Day wants to see a big change for the college portal that would have major transfer portal implications 

Ohio State’s head man wants to see a mandatory two-year commitment from college football players before they decide to enter the transfer portal. As it currently stands, any player gets the chance to transfer out once a year following every regular season they play in college football.   

“I feel pretty strong about that. I do,” Day said of his thoughts on the rule change he wants to see in a recent interview with Josh Pate.

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

Day’s thought process on this is that we’re seeing players transfer out before they can really get things going. It’s a solid thought process because the freshman season is always the toughest as young men get acclimated to the life of playing college football. Still, we’re seeing a ton of freshmen hit the portal around the country, not really giving it a good chance where they’re currently at. 

“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 went on to say. “It’s emotional, it’s raw. A lot of times, the season is still going on.”

Day laid out a solid process, along with how this could be better for the players in the end. An obvious impact for the schools as well, who will get two years to make it work with every player with said change. Sometimes players are receiving big paydays and dipping out before their sophomore season, that’s tough to swallow for the football program as well as team donors. 

At some point, we’re going to see more guidelines placed in the game of college football. It’s a matter of when, not if, because the game is spiraling at a wild rate. The game isn’t spiraling downward because it’s still growing. Still, there needs to be more guidelines with all of the new. Day might be on to something with the rule he wants. 

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