Ryan Day’s decision to move Ohio State’s Senior Day from Week 13 against TTUN to Week 1 against Ball State is not sitting well with everyone, and Cardale Jones just gave the pushback some extra weight.
Jones, one of the Buckeyes’ modern icons, said on “The Script” podcast that he nearly came back to Columbus in 2016 and passed on an NFL draft opportunity because he wanted one more shot at the kind of moment Senior Day represents before “The Game.”
“Let these guys develop, you know, a Buckeye type of landscape and fandom and then celebrate them at the end of the season,” Jones said of the Senior Day change on "The Script" podcast. “I really considered coming back ... just to run out on Senior Day because it’s going to be home versus Michigan.
“This is my last home game in this stadium, the last time I’m playing the team up north. I want to go out there and give them my all ...
It’s unfortunate ... I talked to so many former players already about this ...
It’s Ryan Day’s program. He has the right to do whatever he thinks is best for his team."
Jones’ comments capture why the move has rubbed plenty of people the wrong way. Senior Day is supposed to feel like a final curtain call in front of the home crowd, and for a program like Ohio State, that usually means saving the celebration for a moment that carries real emotional heft.
Day, though, has treated the change with a pretty dismissive edge, and that has only added to the noise around it. The timing matters, too.
Ohio State does not lean on the transfer portal as much as a lot of teams, but this roster still has a significant number of newcomers along the defensive line, at receiver and in the secondary. That means several players will be honored before they’ve even taken a regular-season snap for the Scarlet and Gray.
Still, this may not linger as a big talking point for long. By Week 2, the Buckeyes are headed to Austin for a major non-conference showdown with Arch Manning and Texas, and that’s where the spotlight will go. There won’t be much room to keep debating a Senior Day decision with that kind of test looming.
If the Week 13 matchup with Michigan winds up deciding whether Ohio State is still in the College Football Playoff race or headed to the end of the line, then the result will end up saying plenty about Day’s choice. If the season goes well, the whole thing may fade into the background and leave people wondering whether the move mattered at all.
And with college football changing so quickly, Senior Day itself may be one of the next traditions to get squeezed by the sport’s new reality. Maybe that’s why this whole debate feels bigger than one Saturday in Columbus. For now, though, the message from Jones is clear: some things are meant to come at the end.
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