Ryan Day's Ohio State strengthen special teams as former Ball State kicker makes commitment

The Ohio State Buckeyes are looking to retain the national championship they won last season. For this, every part of the team needs to be as strong as possible. Most of the squad building normally involves the offense or defense, which is very understandable. However, the special teams are sometimes forgotten, an important part that also needs to be strengthened from season to season.

This is what Ryan Day's side has done.

Ohio State added a veteran kicker to its roster.

" Ohio State adds an experienced kicker to its roster alongside Jayden Fielding as former Ball State kicker Jackson Courville commits to Ohio State."

Jackson Courville spent his first two seasons in college football with the Ball State Cardinals. There, he had an accuracy rate of 84.6% (going 11 for 13) and made 63 points during the 2024 season. His longest kick was from 53 yards.

Courville is now making the massive move up to one of the biggest programs in all of college football. However, he will not start immediately. This is because the Buckeyes have a successful kicker on their roster in the form of Jayden Fielding.

During the 2024 season, Fielding made every single extra point attempt and had an accuracy rate of 76.5% on field goals (going 13 from 17).

Fielding will likely be the starter this season, but with Courville on the roster, the Buckeyes will not have to worry about their special teams for a few seasons.

Ohio State coach Ryan Day on only having one transfer window

This move happened during the spring transfer window. This is the second transfer window period, with the winter transfer window happening in December.

Ohio State coach Ryan Day believes that there should only be one portal opening period. He told the "College GameDay Podcast" on Wednesday,

“I do believe that there should be one transfer portal in the spring only. I think for us to try to do a transfer portal, like, for instance, we had the transfer portal open and close before our season was even over. How do you even explain that?”

The winter transfer window period has garnered criticism from many college football coaches. This is because of the perceived unfairness of the timing of the portal on those teams that have made the college football playoff. These teams have to deal with players leaving via the portal when they could be needed in a playoff game.

Day believes that there should be one portal opening in the spring when everyone's season is over. This will stop the portal from impacting the playoffs, allowing each team to fully focus on winning the national championship instead of worrying about players leaving.