You've heard it, I've heard it, we've all heard it: "Ohio State spent 20 Million on their roster!", "it's the best lineup that money can buy" etc. etc. Okay we get it, Desmond Howard.
While it's easy to try and discredit what the Buckeyes just accomplished, the reality is this program was largely developed from within.
Let's start with Ryan Day himself. When Urban Meyer announced his departure following the 2018 season, a program like Ohio State could have gone out and grabbed virtually anyone short of Nick Saban. Instead, Urban and the Buckeyes looked inward and promoted Coach Day from Offensive Coordinator to Head Coach.
Onto the players. Ohio State's leading rusher TreVeyon Henderson committed to the Buckeyes in 2020. At the end of last season, he turned down the opportunity to play on Sundays to return to Columbus and compete for a national title.
The Buckeyes' three leading receivers, Emeka Egbuka, Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate, were all recruited by WR Coach Brian Hartline. Three starters on defense, including the now legendary Jack Sawyer, are from the same Columbus suburb of Pickerington. Other integral parts of this title run include Donovan Jackson, Cody Simon, JT Tuimoloau, Lathan Ransom and Jordan Hancock. Each of those players were recruited and then developed by The Ohio State University.
Now it would be foolish to claim that transfers didn't play a crucial role for the Buckeyes this season. QB Will Howard (Kansas State), RB Quinshon Judkins (Ole Miss) and star safety Caleb Downs (Alabama) were all integral parts of this title run.
But Ohio State wasn't the only program to go out and snag sought-after transfers this past off-season. Each of the three most recent teams they beat in the playoffs, Notre Dame, Oregon, and Texas, featured a starting QB acquired via the Transfer Portal.
Like it or not, the Transfer Portal is a huge part of this new era of college football. Programs have no choice but to get behind it or get left in the dust (I'm looking at you, Dabo Swinney).
It would also be foolish to claim NIL hasn't played a role in the Buckeyes success as of late. It is true that big time programs like Ohio State, Alabama and Texas have monetary resources that other schools simply do not have. But again, that's just the reality of the sport today.
Pumping money into your NIL collective also doesn't guarantee results. Programs like LSU, Florida and Texas A&M for example all have massive NIL budgets, but none even sniffed a title this year.
This National Championship run will live forever in Columbus. Emeka Egbuka, TreVeyon Henderson, Jack Sawyer, JT Tuimoloau, Tyleik Williams, Cody Simon, Lathan Ransom, Denzel Burke, Josh Fryar, and more.
Recruited. Tested. Developed. Champions.