After nearly hauling in the No. 1 recruiting class for 2026, Ryan Day has a potential fix for high school prospects. His proposal, though, might sound insane when you first hear it. 

Ryan Day told ESPN this week that college football should explore an NFL-style draft for high school players. His idea is that if that happens, there will be no more wild-west recruiting battles and no more back-channel NIL deals at 17 years old.

“It’s not too far-fetched for me to think there’s a way that you could actually have a draft and build it like the NFL,” he said. “I know that seems a little bit out there. But we’re gonna need a lot of help to get there, I can tell you that right now.”

While it’s hard to envision a pro-style draft for high school prospects, it’s still logical thinking. College football already looks like the NFL in everything but structure. Players jump teams through the portal like free agents, while NIL collectives operate like front offices. And recruiting has become an unregulated bidding war. So, Ryan Day’s idea poses the question: why not fully embrace the NFL model instead of just acting like it?

The 47-year-old believes college football is stuck in what he calls “purgatory,” a messy, uncomfortable middle ground where nobody’s fully in control.

“Once we started going down this road of NIL, we have to go one of two ways, in my opinion,” he said. “We almost have to go back to the way we were before, or we need to go all the way toward the NFL. I think right now, we’re sort of in purgatory.”

If you look at everything that’s going on in college football right now, that might be the most accurate description in 2026. What we’re seeing now isn’t sustainable. Schools are “recruiting” players with six-figure NIL packages, some reportedly north of $150K annually for top prospects. The transfer portal has turned roster-building into a year-round scramble, and enforcement is practically nonexistent. And right now, that’s the biggest missing piece.

“The No. 1 thing… We’ve gotta figure out an enforcement system that can start enforcing rules,” Ryan Day said. “I think most college coaches would say the same thing.”

You can understand where the frustration is coming from because the current system is built on guidelines, not guardrails. The NCAA has struggled to keep up as NIL clearinghouses have lost their bite and lawsuits have turned every attempted rule into a legal landmine. Now, what makes this even more compelling is that Ryan Day isn’t speaking from a position of weakness.

Ryan Day’s star-studded 2026 class 

Ohio State just went toe-to-toe with the nation’s best in the 2026 recruiting cycle and nearly came out on top. The Buckeyes finished third with 28 commits behind USC and Notre Dame. According to Rivals, they landed five 5-star prospects, tying for the most in the country alongside the Irish. They got Jay Timmons, Jerquaden Guilford, Khary Wilder, Cincere Johnson, and Chris Henry Jr.

Maybe the most intriguing factor is that they did it while losing Brian Hartline, arguably the best WR coach in the country, to a head coaching job at USF. So, Ryan Day isn’t complaining because he’s losing. And if a coach benefiting from NIL and the current recruiting landscape is the one raising long-term concerns, it’s a cause for concern.  

Ryan Day even admits he doesn’t have all the answers. The draft idea is still conceptual and filled with logistical hurdles.

“If you want to become part of it, then you put your name in,” he said. “There’s a lot that comes with that.”

Right now, college football is trying to evolve without actually changing. It wants the money, the movement, the spotlight of a pro league without committing to the structure that makes those things sustainable. And that’s how you end up in purgatory, as Ryan Day put it. You either go back or move forward, but standing still isn’t an option anymore.