Ryan Day appears to call out Jim Harbaugh in new comments
The Ohio State-Michigan rivalry takes another turn as Ryan Day appeared to fire a shot at Jim Harbaugh with his comments about new RBs coach Carlos Locklyn
The little back-and-forth between Ryan Day and Jim Harbaugh may have taken another subtle turn this week when the Ohio State football coach was speaking about the addition of new Buckeyes running backs coach Carlos Locklyn recently.
Speaking about Locklyn, who refers to himself as the "Walk On Coach" in reference to his working his way up the coaching ladder, Day appeared to have also fired a shot at Harbaugh, who comes from a very well-known football coaching family.
"Like some of us in this profession, he came up not in a football family, but grew up and kind of had to figure it out on their own," Day said on 97.1 FM in Columbus.
"He's one of those people. When you listen to how he came up in this thing, he's very appreciative of all the opportunities he's gotten. But he's earned them all, and he deserved them all. He really earned and deserved this opportunity."
Maybe we're reading too much into it, but Day's comments about Locklyn not coming from "a football family" appear to indirectly reference his former counterpart at Michigan, whose father, Jack, was a former coach, and whose brother, John, is the current head coach of the Baltimore Ravens.
"We wanted to find somebody who wanted to be at Ohio State at a high level," Day said. "Carlos does that. He checks that box. He brings a lot of energy to the table."
Most recently, Locklyn served as running backs coach at Oregon, where he emerged as an important recruiter both on the trail and in the transfer portal, attracting key talent like Bucky Irving, Noah Whittington, and Jordan James.
A year ago under his leadership, Oregon ranked second in FBS with 5.91 yards per carry on average as Irving and James combined for 1,939 yards and 22 rushing touchdowns.
Before that, Locklyn worked at the high school and college level, in positions ranging from weight room assistant to offensive analyst to director of high school relations at the NCAA level before his first on-field role as RBs coach at Western Kentucky, which was second in scoring offense during his tenure.
Now, Locklyn enters a running back room at Ohio State that figures to be in the conversation as college football's most talented, featuring not only returning starter TreVeyon Henderson but added key transfer Quinshon Judkins, who led the SEC in rushing the last two seasons at Ole Miss.
"I think he's gonna have a great impact on our team and a great impact on recruiting," Day said. "I think he's gonna be a tremendous coach."
(97.1 FM)
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