{"id":100571,"date":"2025-12-30T23:42:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T23:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/100571\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T23:42:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T23:42:17","slug":"everything-ohio-state-coach-ryan-day-said-about-miami-quarterback-julian-sayin-and-more-at-cotton-bowl-press-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/100571\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything Ohio State coach Ryan Day said about Miami, quarterback Julian Sayin and more at Cotton Bowl press conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ohio State<\/a>Updated: Dec. 30, 2025, 4:42 p.m.|Published: Dec. 30, 2025, 2:04 p.m.\"OhioOhio State coach Ryan Day is making final preparations for the Cotton Bowl against Miami. (AP Photo\/Jay LaPrete)<\/p>\n

ARLINGTON, Texas — Ohio State coach Ryan Day addressed the media along with Miami coach Mario Cristobal ahead of the Cotton Bowl on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

Day and his team made their third-straight trip to the Cotton Bowl, and this time, it will be in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal against Miami. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s everything Day said at the media day press conference:<\/p>\n

On game preparation: \u201cWe had to have a plan in place for this time. I thought we were very specific on what we wanted to get done. We needed players and coaches to all be bought in to how we want to approach this … I think practice has been efficient, our preparation has been efficient. But now we need to continue to do that as we head into this game.\u201dOn quarterback Julian Sayin wining Freshman Of The Year, he said that it\u2019s good to see him get recognized for what he\u2019s done. \u201cYou can see the growth, how fast from the first game to where he\u2019s gone.\u201d He said he\u2019s got a lot of football ahead of him, and a huge ceiling.On managing a team when there are so many distractions during a bowl game: \u201cWhen you get guys into the routine, they\u2019re able to focus and concentrate more on their preparation.\u201dOn right guard Gabe VanSickle if he gets the start: \u201cYou think about last year at this time and where we were, Luke Montgomery is a great example of that … Gabe, whose continually gotten better each week. So, he should have confidence.\u201d He said that the team has confidence that he\u2019ll do his job.On Brian Hartline and where he\u2019ll be located during the game, Day said that Hartline will be on the field and tight ends coach Keenan Bailey will be up in the press box. \u201cEverybody\u2019s involved in the play-calling, ultimately I\u2019ll have the last say.\u201dOn how Sayin has grown, he said that every time he gets a new experience, he gets a different perspective. \u201cWhen you play the quarterback position, that\u2019s a big part of it. You can\u2019t substitute experience. When you don\u2019t make the same mistake twice, and you learn quickly, it gives you the best chance for growth.\u201dOn the future of recruiting in South Florida for Ohio State: \u201cSouth Florida has great players, great talent, great high school programs, so we always want to bring in the best talent we possibly can.\u201d He credited Cristobal as having done a great job recruiting that area, and that the landscape of recruiting is totally different from what he said. He added that stability is a key right now, in terms of what\u2019s sustainable. Day said that the size, and talent, are impressive with Miami. \u201cTalent is one thing, but the way they play is different… They\u2019re as good as anybody in the country. And it starts with the guys up front and goes to the back-end.\u201dOn the impact of defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, he said it began with building trust in the building. \u201cMatt is a good man, he\u2019s a good dad, he\u2019s a good husband, he really dives into the players, dives into relationships with guys on staff.\u201d He added his NFL experience was part of why they brought him into the program.On the senior class, and their motivation coming off last year, Day said they have a young team but quickly realized it was a mature team that grew into the role. \u201cThey made it pretty clear 10 months ago they wanted to make history.\u201dOn how Day thinks Sayin has done delivering the ball quickly, he said that Miami has done a great job putting things together to get after the quarterback. \u201cWe have to continue to be who we ware and be aggressive, but we have to understand what we\u2019re up against.\u201dWhat it\u2019s meant to have Bailey on staff, Day said that stability is more important than ever and having continuity on your staff is more important than ever. \u201cHe\u2019s the first guy in the building, he\u2019s the last guy to leave.\u201dOn the competition at kicker, and if Jayden Fielding will still be the starter, Day confirmed that will be the case.On the confidence that of a new-look play-calling in the CFP, he said that it\u2019s based on experience in the past and headed into the playoff, up to this point. When asked about unsung heroes for Ohio State, Day said tight end Will Kacmarek has done a lot of dirty work for them, and cornerback Davison Igbinosun changed the culture of the secondary when he got here. \u201cHe has had a major impact on our program.\u201dOn Igbinosun and how he helped change the culture of the secondary, \u201cJust the way he goes about his business every day. The way he competes every day in practice…He doesn\u2019t back down to anybody.\u201d He said you want a secondary that\u2019s built that way.When asked about a 2003 game when both he and Cristobal were assistant coaches, Day laughed that he didn\u2019t remember that game. \u201cA lot of that time was a blur. You have a lot going on when you\u2019re a young coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrew Gillis covers Ohio State football and recruiting for Cleveland.com. He provides updates on Ohio State football as a whole, its prospects and the Buckeyes each week. He previously covered the Bengals for… more<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ohio StateUpdated: Dec. 30, 2025, 4:42 p.m.|Published: Dec. 30, 2025, 2:04 p.m.Ohio State coach Ryan Day is making…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124,37370],"class_list":["post-100571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-ryan-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}