Taking A Look At The Future of Ohio State Football

It has not been a good year for people who live in Ohio or out of Ohio that are fans of the Ohio football teams. Starting in the NFL, the Browns and Bengals have continued to struggle with health, losing key players to injury and underperforming according to fans. At the same time Ohio State has lost to Michigan 3 years a row, missed this year's college football playoff, and their coach is in the middle of the Michigan Sign Stealing scandal. Lastly, the top recruits in Ohio high school football are choosing Michigan or other colleges out of state.

These are not new happenings for the football fans in Ohio as the last couple of years have been a true struggle, but they aren't ready for the storm that's coming around the corner. Ohio State football and their fans are in for a rough off season as there are tons of questions that need to be answered, but as of right now the talent doesn't look like it will be anywhere near as good as it has been over the last 2 decades.

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Loser's Luck

One of the worst things you can do in college football is lose to your bitter rival multiple times in a row. College athletes take big games and their results into factor when deciding where they want to play at the next level. For the better part of the past decade Ohio State has won the big games and brought in big name recruits, after the last couple of seasons, I think things change.

They have lost 3 college football playoff games, 3 games to the Michigan Wolverines, and had some other close calls since Ryan Day has been named the head coach of the Buckeyes. Many people believed that he needed to beat Michigan this year, especially after accusing them of stealing signs, and he did not, so Ryan Day's return to the sideline is the biggest question of them all.

Risky Returns

Now, that's one of the other pieces we need to talk about, the fact that many people on the Ohio State sideline may not be returning for the next football season. There is no surprise that Ryan Day and his staff are on the hot seat and may get replaced but what about the potential draft picks on this team? Do they return to try and beat their rival on the way to a national championship or do they go and achieve their dreams by getting that NFL contract?

Names like Marvin Harrison Jr, Cade Stover, Treyveon Henderson, Emeka Egbuka, JT Tuimolao, Denzel Burke, Jack Sawyer, and Micheal Hall Jr are some of the top prospects in the country. All of them may choose to go or some of them may choose to stay, but the reality is that most of them are choosing to not risk injury or a fall in draft stock and will take the NFL contract.

Transfer Time

Some of those who were wearing the scarlet and grey have already decided that Columbus is not the place for them, and they will be transferring to another school and program in college football. This means that once again, Ohio State fans are seeing more great talent decide the team isn't good enough and is leaving.

So far, the Buckeyes have had 12 players enter the portal including QB Kyle McCord, Evan Pryor, Julian Fleming, Vic Cutler, Jakob James, Omari Abor, Reid Carrico, Jyaire Brown, Camreon Martinex, and more. There is no guarantee these players will leave as they can return to Ohio State, but Michigan and every other program is free game.

I'm not saying that Ohio State will be a bad football team or that Michigan and every other team will just wash them, but it's intriguing to see what's going to happen and how this program looks at the beginning of next season. Their future weighs heavily on the decisions made by the school and coaching staff over the next few months.