Bill O’Brien becomes an OC on Ryan Day’s Ohio State team…

Bill O’Brien becomes an OC on Ryan Day’s Ohio State team…

Bill O’Brien, a former NFL coach, has joined Ohio State as the new offensive coordinator, the team announced on Friday.

According to insiders, coach Ryan Day of Ohio State has been considering hiring an experienced coordinator in order to relieve him of playcalling responsibilities. This move might lead to a change in the programme.

In 2023, O’Brien was the offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots. He has a wealth of experience in both college and the NFL as a playcaller and quarterback development.

“[O’Brien] brings with him a wealth of knowledge — and a tremendous amount of success — at both the NFL and collegiate levels,” Day said in a statement. “Over his career, he has developed some truly elite players and run NFL and Power 5 programmes. He is an excellent and experienced offensive coach.” He enriches our personnel and will be a great instructor and recruiter for us.”

Ohio State will have an offensive coordinator in O’Brien who previously worked with Tom Brady, Deshaun Watson, and Bryce Young at Alabama during some of their greatest seasons. Under O’Brien’s coaching, Young won the Heisman Trophy in 2021, and Alabama’s scoring offence, which averaged 39.9 and 41.1 points per game, placed them in the top 10 in both of his seasons as coordinator. This season, Ohio State’s offence has decreased to 30.5 points per game from 44.2 the previous year.

Over his seven years (2014–20) as an NFL head coach, O’Brien guided the Houston Texans to five winning seasons and four postseason appearances. 2020 saw him sacked after a 0–4 start, and he ended his career there with a 52–48 record.

O’Brien has head coaching experience in the Big Ten as well. In 2012, he succeeded Joe Paterno as head coach of Penn State, going 15-9 in his first two seasons. The most memorable thing about his tenure there is that he helped Penn State deal with the aftermath of Jerry Sandusky’s misdeeds by acting as a reliable recruiter.

In 2010, while O’Brien was coaching the quarterbacks, Brady was named the NFL MVP. That season, O’Brien was formally named offensive coordinator by New England, and the team did not identify an offensive playcaller.

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Day has made major programme adjustments in the aftermath of three straight defeats to Michigan and a two-game losing skid to close up the 2023 campaign. Safety coach Perry Eliano and special teams coach Parker Fleming were the two assistant coaches that Ohio State opted not to rehire.

Following the conclusion of the Ohio State season, the programme has seen a rush of players who were eligible for the draft returning for a second season as well as several high-profile signings via the transfer site, indicating that the university’s administration is prepared to make a large investment.

Star wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, tailback TreVeyon Henderson, and guard Donovan Jackson are among the offensive players that are back for a fourth season. All of them were considered athletes who would give the NFL considerable consideration going into the previous campaign.

Quarterback Will Howard, formerly of Kansas State, went to the Buckeyes for his last season of eligibility via the transfer portal, while Ole Miss produced two-time All-SEC tailback Quinshon Judkins.

Ohio State recently updated the site with Seth McLaughlin, a centre from Alabama.

O’Brien began working at Brown in 1993 and is a 1993 graduate. Prior to becoming an offensive coach on the Patriots staff in 2007, he had positions at Georgia Tech, Maryland, and Duke.

On Thursday, Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer welcomed former Washington quarterback Austin Mack as his first transfer after seeing nine players leave the programme via the transfer site since his hiring.

Mack, a native of Loomis, California, signed with Washington in the 2023 class. He changed his class and entered early, although he was initially in the 2024 class. This previous season, Michael Penix Jr., the starting quarterback for the Huskies, saw the bulk of the plays, thus he took a redshirt and did not play for DeBoer’s team.

With Mack joining the team, Alabama now has an incredible depth at the position. In addition to returning starter Jalen Milroe, the Crimson Tide also have Julian Sayin, who signed in December of the 2024 cycle, and Ty Simpson.

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Mack’s departure increases Jedd Fisch, the new Washington coach,’s depth issues. The quarterbacks Dylan Morris, Will Haskell, Mack, and incoming transfer Will Rogers have all accessed the transfer site, according to the Huskies. Rogers had just recently signed up for the programme this summer, but once DeBoer departed for Alabama, he went back via the gateway.

With the signing of quarterback Demond Williams Jr. at Arizona in December, Fisch has a chance to acquire him. Williams intends to visit Washington shortly after logging into the transfer site.

DeBoer’s first move in covering the void created by the 25 scholarship players who departed the programme this summer is Mack’s departure to Alabama.

In addition, DeBoer is working strengthening his coaching staff. According to sources who spoke with ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Thursday night, he plans to bring on Wisconsin safeties coach and co-defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler.

Columbus, Ohio In a lawsuit challenging the NCAA’s transfer eligibility regulation, the Department of Justice, three more states, and the District of Columbia have joined.

In its decision this week, the federal agency agreed to support the lawsuit, stating that the NCAA transfer regulation is “an illegal restraint on college athletes’ ability to sell their image and likeness and control their education.”

Attorneys general from the District of Columbia, Minnesota, Mississippi, Virginia, and other states have also endorsed the lawsuit, according to the DOJ.

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“There is strength in numbers,” said Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who filed the first lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia on December 7 along with six other states.

The NCAA stated in an email to The Associated Press on Friday that it would not be making any further comments at this time and that it would refer to its most recent public statement dated December 15.

Athletes who want to switch schools within Division I but cannot compete in their original sport for a year are facing challenges from the states to the NCAA regulation.

If the case is successful, it might have a significant effect on collegiate athletics since it claims that the NCAA transfer rule’s waiver procedure violates federal antitrust law. The NCAA claims in court filings that the plaintiffs “seek to remake collegiate athletics and replace it with a system of perpetual and unchecked free agency.”

Initially issued as a temporary restraining order on December 13, U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey in West Virginia has since expanded it to a preliminary injunction, which forbids the NCAA from enforcing the regulation and permits collegiate athletes to compete without fear of reprisal from the organisation.

Assuring that winter and spring athletes may finish their seasons free from the regulations, the provisional injunction will remain in effect until at least the conclusion of the 2023–2024 academic year.

The case does not yet have a fixed trial date. The initial case included Ohio as well as the other states: Colorado, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

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Miami TE Mark Packer and Taylor Tannenbaum respond to Miami tight end Cam McCormick’s nine-year eligibility. Cam McCormick has announced that he would return to collegiate football for a ninth season. (1:44)

Staff Writer at ESPN David Hale
18 January 2024, 01:59 EST
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4.1K Cam McCormick, a tight end for Miami, announced on Thursday that he would rejoin the Hurricanes for his ninth collegiate football season in 2024.

After starting his career at Oregon in 2016, McCormick had injuries that caused him to miss a large portion of four seasons. Combined with his redshirt year and COVID year in 2020, these missed seasons enabled McCormick to petition the NCAA for an unprecedented ninth season of eligibility.

With the slogan “the pursuit of excellence has no goal line,” he declared his comeback on X, previously Twitter, on Thursday. He also referred to 2024 as his “last ride.”

“I’m blessed that it was me to go through it because a lot of people would have folded under the pressure — both mentally and physically,” McCormick said to ESPN. But it’s motivated me to improve myself, my relationships with others, and everything. Every year and every obstacle I’ve faced has taught me so much.”

A three-star talent out of Bend, Oregon, McCormick, 25, was first considered. He was a member of the 2016 Oregon signing class that also includes NFL veterans Nick Bosa, Ed Oliver, Rashan Gary, and Jalen Hurts, as well as quarterback Justin Herbert.

McCormick participated in 13 games as a reserve in 2017 after redshirting as a true freshman in 2016. Then came a run of mishaps: a fractured leg in 2018, issues that kept him out of action in 2019 and 2020, and a foot ailment two weeks into the 2021 campaign. 2019 saw the addition of a sixth year of eligibility for him, and in 2020, the NCAA extended eligibility for all FBS players by one more season.

Finally able to play a full season in 2022, McCormick made an appearance in 13 games with six starts, taking home the Capital One Orange Bowl FWAA Courage Award in recognition of his tenacity. Before moving to Miami in 2023, he was given permission to use his eighth and ninth years of eligibility. There, he was reunited with coach Mario Cristobal. For the Hurricanes previous season, he caught eight catches for 62 yards; however, this summer, he had to resubmit his waiver to the ACC for the ninth time.

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The ACC granted the ninth-year waiver, and McCormick said that returning was a simple option, stating that his objective is to play in the NFL.

“I want to say I gave it my best opportunity and best shot,” he said.

Despite acknowledging that some have argued he shouldn’t be playing, McCormick stated he “isn’t going to be cut short by what people are saying” and expressed the hope that his experience would serve as an example for other athletes who are dealing with ailments.

“I feel like my journey can help those that have to experience that,” he said. “It’s tough, but hopefully there’s some inspiration there, and guys who get injured can see my journey and dig deep within and keep pushing towards their goals and their future.”