For most sons of famous coaches, the shadow is long. But for Ryan Day’s son, RJ, that shadow is now attracting attention from one of his father’s former conference rivals, setting the stage for a potential recruiting battle with a twist. After securing offers from multiple Division 1 programs, RJ Day is seeing interest from an ACC team.

RJ took to X to share images from a visit to James Franklin’s Virginia Tech. “Had an amazing time in Blacksburg yesterday. Beautiful campus and amazing staff. Looking forward to continuing this relationship!” he said in the caption of his post. In one of the images, the St. Francis DeSales QB is standing next to Franklin and the Hokies’ QB coach, Danny O’Brien. The QB coach came to Blacksburg after spending four years in Happy Valley, when James Franklin was hired for a five-year, $41.75 million contract.

Interestingly, Virginia Tech has yet to offer RJ Day, despite the visit. Franklin is casting a wide net for his 2027 class, with Day joining a list of targets that includes four-star David Davidson, Michigan decommit Peter Bourque, and Georgia native DJ Hunter.

As for RJ Day, he currently has offers from Purdue, Syracuse, Cincinnati, Boston College, Miami (OH), and Bowling Green, among others. On3 is giving Purdue a 56.4% chance to land the QB, followed by Miami at 4.5% and Miami (OH) at 3.8%.

RJ Day, who grew up observing elite quarterbacks like C.J. Stroud and Justin Fields at Columbus, was thrust into the starter role at St. Francis DeSales, and he quickly proved he belonged. In his freshman season, RJ threw for 1,568 yards and 15 touchdowns, setting several freshman records. In just his second year, Day became DeSales’ all-time career passing leader, while throwing for 1,425 yards and 14 touchdowns.

The peak of RJ’s high school career came in November 2025, in a game against Ashland, when the quarterback threw for 482 yards. That performance included a clutch 4-yard pass to his tight end Jordan Karhoff to seal an impressive 33-29 victory. To make it even sweeter, the Ohio State head coach was in attendance to see his son shine.

“I said to him… I’m proud of you regardless of what you do,” Ryan Day said after the game.

Interestingly, while James Franklin, who faced Ryan Day six times (and lost all of them), is showing active interest in the latter’s son, the Buckeyes have yet to extend an offer to the quarterback. According to Ohio State insiders, the decision for RJ to carve his own path may be driven more by the son than the father.

“I am confident RJ does not want to play at Ohio State. He wants to build his own path. He has two years left of high school and has made himself into a pretty good quarterback over the last couple of years,” Ohio State insider Jeremy Birmingham said in November 2025.

That desire for a specific environment is something his father, Ryan Day, understands well, having previously spoken about the type of coach he’d want his son to play for.

Ryan Day wants his son to be developed by an ACC head coach

Back in December 2025, the Ohio State head coach was asked whether there was any specific head coach he’d like his son to play for. More than the football side of things, it’s the demeanor of Dabo Swinney that places him atop Ryan Day’s list. And it all goes back to the 2019 Fiesta Bowl when Clemson faced Ohio State.

“When we first played them in ’19 in the Fiesta Bowl, they had a great team, we had a battle, and we had some really good players. And during one of the events, he and his wife came over and just had, you know, some real conversation.”

“I remember Dabo saying, ‘Listen, you’ve done an unbelievable job. You’ve done a great job recruiting in your first year. He’s like, who knows what’ll happen in this game? If you beat this, you probably win the national championship. If you don’t, you’re gonna win a national championship,’” recounted Day.

The Buckeyes HC has seen coaches who let their ego get in the way, and that was one moment when the opposite happened. Although Clemson beat Ohio State 29-23, Ryan Day eventually went on to win a national championship. And while the Tigers are yet to offer RJ Day, perhaps a similar development can happen under James Franklin, who’s known as a players’ coach.