The ‘like father, like son’ narrative is already running strong in college football. With the Sanders boys off to the NFL, multiple new chapters are coming up under the same theme. Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin’s son, Knox, has already gotten his hands on multiple offers. Now, it’s time for Ryan Day’s son, RJ Day, to be in the spotlight. And it’s a Big 10 program that’s shining that light on RJ.

The 2024 season has been too harsh on the Day family at large. When Ohio State lost to their archrivals, Michigan, calls started to mount: ‘Fire Ryan Day.’ And guess what? Not just the head coach was dragged through the mud. His wife and son’s lives were made miserable. As Bruce Feldman of The Athletic and FOX Sports reported, “R.J., his son, told me school was really rough. He had grown men coming after him. They hired their own, you know, security firm.” However, Day’s son is gradually getting back on the main track of life.

On June 13, Steve Wiltfong reported, “Columbus (Ohio) St. Frances DeSales 2027 QB RJ Day adds a Purdue offer. He visited in the spring.” Even though Day’s son is part of the Class of 2027, he has already become the all-time passing yardage leader per MaxPreps.

Per the MaxPreps report, he threw for 1,425 passing yards on the season, and while it might sound crazy given his age, the school has been around for more than 80 years. Even though every offer is special, when considering Purdue, he must need to seek his dad Day’s permission. Now come on, the Ohio State Buckeyes and Purdue Boilermakers have a long history that goes way back to October 21, 1989. 

And we all are aware how Day’s boys crushed Purdue into mere specks of dust in a 45-0 heroic feat in 2024. Now, even if we don’t consider the last season’s face-off, Ohio State holds a commanding lead in the all-time series with a record of 41-15-2. Keeping that aside, it won’t be an easy task for Barry Odom to hunt RJ.

Day’s son now holds the offer from Boston College, Marshall, and Toledo, along with a bunch of others. He even took a visit to Clemson and South Carolina in spring 2024. This year, Ryan Day’s son picked up his eighth offer, from Bowling Green and new head coach Eddie George. Of course, George, a former Buckeye great and 1995 Heisman Trophy winner, has stayed close to the program and is close to the sophomore’s dad. 

Before Purdue, his latest offer came from the Cincinnati Bearcats in May. Now, as the offers pile up, which program has that edge? Well, it can be Boston College. Wondering why?

The elder Day started his coaching career at New Hampshire, where he played from 1998-2001, in 2002. He then went through the ranks at multiple colleges, with his next coaching stop at Boston College. Now that RJ is becoming a hot recruit, will it change Day’s ‘last leap’ narrative in Columbus?  

Does Ryan Day have one foot out of the door?

Well, nobody wants to see their families in pain. And when the fandom of your program is termed as the “lunatic fringe,” the anxiety gets 100x.

Ohio State’s fandom even made its way to the top position in Elite College Football’s list of the ‘Most Toxic Fanbases in College Football’ with a toxicity rating of 10.0. So, it’s obvious that Day must be highly concerned over the fact of whether he can keep the Ohio State fan base happy by throwing top-three finishes on a year-by-year basis.

This topic was taken up on The Next Round podcast. And host Lance Taylor did not seem confident about seeing Day after this season. As he stated, “He doesn’t seem like a guy, and this is going to sound a little hollow based on the fact that going into the playoffs had all the pressure in the world, and they were able to win a national championship. But if he’s already talking about this coming off a national championship, this has been really bothering him behind the scenes, and I’m sure it did, but to publicly come out and say this, I don’t think Ryan Day is going to last. I think Ryan Day is going to end up going to the NFL, if he gets an opportunity, based on comments.” However, all this uncertainty did not stop Day from taking a firm stand. 

The College Football Playoff Committee is now pushing for a 16-team CFP format. And that’s when Ryan Day shared how he is not okay with giving away the same “automatic qualifier” privilege to the SEC. The head coach stated, “If you don’t have those automatic qualifiers, you’re less likely to play a game like we’re playing this year against Texas, because it just won’t make sense. If we do, then you’re more likely to do that, because we play nine conference games in the Big Ten. The SEC doesn’t. So it’s not equal.” Between a brand-new playoff era and watching his son suit up in college, Day has plenty of chapters left to write—retirement isn’t in the script just yet.