Ryan Day didn’t just offer Christopher Vargas a spot at Ohio State. He handed him a 20-month argument that got harder to ignore with every passing milestone.
When the Buckeyes first extended the scholarship to the 5-star St. John’s Prep quarterback in November 2024, the timing wasn’t exactly glamorous.
Ohio State had just fallen to TTUN in the 2024 edition of “The Game” at the “Shoe,” and the program was sitting in a rough place. But that didn’t stop the Buckeyes from landing the 2028 recruit, who was then a freshman in high school, and the rest of the timeline turned into one long showcase for why Columbus keeps winning these battles.
Credit to clevelanddotcom’s Stephen Means for pointing out Vargas’ offer date. Since then, Ohio State has gone from the misery of 2,191 days without beating the Wolverines to a stretch that looks like one of the best sales pitches in modern college football.
The centerpiece of that pitch was the Buckeyes’ run through the 2024/2025 CFP, which ended with a national championship in January 2025. Ohio State took down Tennessee, Oregon, Texas, and Notre Dame on the way to the title, and that path only sharpened the appeal for a prospect like Vargas.
Tennessee made the opening round feel bigger, but the other matchups carried serious weight, too. Oregon had beaten Ohio State at home earlier in the regular season.
Texas brought a roster that would later send 12 players into the draft. Notre Dame came in loaded as well, with Al Golden coordinating a defense and Riley Leonard steering the offense.
Indiana dealt with a comparable gauntlet, but Ohio State’s run may still stand as the most impressive in the 12-team CFP era. For a quarterback recruit, that kind of proof matters.
Then came the moment that had to feel especially sweet in Columbus: finally beating TTUN. The Buckeyes rolled the Wolverines 27-9 in Ann Arbor this past November, and even Michigan tried the same basic tactic afterward by offering Vargas following a loss. TTUN extended its offer this past January, while Sherrone Moore never offered and Kyle Whittingham did, joining a list of more than 20 programs that went after Vargas.
It didn’t move him. Ohio State’s win over Michigan may have been the final touch on a pursuit that already had plenty going for it. Day delivered a title, crossed the Wolverines off the list, and then watched the 2025 season end with the Buckeyes losing only to the two teams in the 2025/2026 CFP title game.
Still, it’s fair to wonder whether Vargas needed all of that.
There’s an easy draw to Ohio State for any top quarterback, especially one from Massachusetts, where the local powerhouse picture doesn’t look the way it once did in the Matt Ryan days. Even from farther away, the appeal holds. Brady Edmunds and Julian Sayin came from California before him, and the Buckeye Way still traveled.
That’s the real force here: the consistency, the culture, the way the product keeps showing up year after year. Ohio State has built enough respect that the pitch almost writes itself.
Vargas may have been leaning toward the Buckeyes before any of the last 20 months happened. Day, after all, is from New England too, and he was developing NFL quarterbacks long before the title run changed the conversation in Columbus. The job would have looked strong either way.
But the Buckeyes made it even stronger.
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