At 6-1.5 320, Havili looks and moves like a guy who fits the mold for Larry Johnson’s perfect 1. The 4 star, top 100 overall (247 Composite) has already benefited from that relationship with LJ telling Buckeye Insiders “He gave me some tips that I’ve been applying in fall camp and I’ve noticed how much it’s helped me in my pass rush”. “He’s a legendary DL Coach and is known for developing top tier talent”.

Ayden’s season at Eastside Catholic doesn’t start until September 4th and he hasn’t had much time for anything but eating and training but he’s made time to keep in touch with Coach Johnson “we’ve been tapping in with each other a lot lately since my last visit.”

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-Buckeye most likely to play himself into 1st round

With little in the way of a backup plan for DGG, we have discussed the obvious options. There’s 4 star (RB #28) Jayden Myles from Louisiana, the one other RB who took an official to Columbus. He committed to Florida State the day after his Ohio State visit. 4 star (RB #16) Nigel Newkirk from Georgia, was scheduled to visit but he committed to Alabama before he ever made it. Is there any flip potential with either player and would Ohio State even be willing to spend the necessary money to make it happen? I don’t believe so.

One of the other RB’s we have discussed is a former “name to know” in the recruiting world who has resurfaced, and that’s 3 star (RB #38) Tranard Roberts. The Buckeyes offered him in June of 2025.

Roberts transferred from Williston HS (FL) after his Freshman year to IMG Academy in Bradenton Florida. As a Sophomore at IMG, the 5’11, 185 pound Roberts put up 300 yards rushing on 42 carries with 5 td’s. Not much in the way of production, but the film doesn’t lie. Roberts showed everything you needed to see that year to let you know he was a BIG TIME back. A big enough time back to earn an initial ranking from 247 Sports as the #2 back in the nation and 33rd overall player.

After that Sophomore season, Tranard transferred out of IMG to The Villages Charter (FL). Preparing to be the primary back for the first time, things quickly took a terrible turn. On the 2nd play of his Junior season Roberts suffered an ankle injury that took him out the entire season.

After missing the year with a lower leg injury, we saw what we always see in these situations unfortunately. Schools cooled off, rankings dropped and the Roberts name fell out of the conversation and you can understand why. He was at his 3rd school entering his Senior year with roughly 700 career rushing yards. He was recovering from a season ending lower body injury. coming off of a lower body, season ending injury isn’t typically a guy we would be discussing.

But what if he comes out and looks like the same guy he was a Sophomore? Well that would mean one of the most talented backs in the class is uncommitted and wide open for business. Fortunately, Carlos Locklyn had the foresight to see this potential.

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Why the change for the ages old tradition? Every other year, the opponent for Senior Day is in a winged helmet. Over the last 2 years, Ryan Day has made several changes for the week of The Game. He relocated the traditional visit from the marching band to the football team earlier in the season. He moved “senior tackle”, a tradition that took place in the last regular season practice of the year dating back to 1913. He also chose to fly to Ann Arbor instead of driving the Busses to make it feel as normal as every other road trip.

Ryan Day discussed the change Saturday saying “The traditions at Ohio State are significant and very strong and something that we all respect and we don’t want to do anything that’s going to disrupt those traditions.” “But when we look at all the things that go on that weekend, the way things have changed, there’s some things that we thought about and the first thing was we want to keep that game, the focus on the game.” “the more distractions we have, there’s already enough distractions, this was just one more thing we thought we could move.”

Some will surely disagree with this move. I spoke with an Urban era player who said “I think it needs to stay at the end because it reminds you of all the times in the Shoe and you’re able to soak it in one last time”. Some will say “whatever it takes to win the game”.

I think there are two interesting conversations to have here.

I consider myself a “rational traditionalist” when it comes to College Football. I define that as “a prefers limited change but understands some is necessary”. The traditions are a large part of why I gravitated to CFB over the NFL as a youngin’. Sometimes traditions lose some of the value that they once had. While I would prefer, as a fan, that Senior Day remained before the final home game, this tradition has definitely lost a lot of its “special” feeling with the current state of college football.

Senior Day used to be an honor for guys who came in as young men and worked their tail off for half a decade to leave as grown men. This year’s Senior Day will include Terry Moore, Christian Alliegro, James Smith etc. That just doesn’t quite hit the same.

We are in an era where college football coaches are using their sway to get rivalries off the schedule. By comparison, Ohio State’s “rational traditionalists” haven’t had it so bad. And we got our sleeves back. But we do now have a bank advertisement on the best uniform in sports. Thankfully it’s the best patch I’ve seen.

I think the more interesting story here is Ryan Day’s relationship with The Game. I was not someone who thought it was “in his head” like many did until the 2024 game. The look on his face from the last 5 minutes, through the post game press conference was not the normal Ryan Day. I think he has had a difficult time being himself under the crushing pressure of the week. I feel like the decision to remove as much of the pomp and circumstance surrounding that week has just as much to do with Day himself as it does the team.

Day’s predecessors this century seemed to embrace all of the “extra” that goes along with that week. They played up the traditions that Day refers to as distractions. That “extra” wasn’t working for Ryan Day. If this is what the Coach feels he needs to win the most important game of the year, fair enough. As long as you keep winning the game of course.

This 2026 edition is going to be a huge one as Kyle Whittingham looks to be the 2nd straight Michigan Coach to win in his first trip to Columbus and a playoff berth could be in the balance for the Buckeyes, or maybe even both

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