COLUMBUS, Ohio — When Gene Smith and Ryan Day met after the season, the athletic director made it clear he was going “all in” on football. Ohio State heavily investing in football is hardly new, but after three consecutive losses to Michigan, Smith wanted to take it up a notch before retiring this summer.

Smith sketched out a long list of donors that the Buckeyes needed to call. He passed it to his sixth-year head coach.

“Ryan, you need to call these guys,” Smith recalled telling Day. “I can answer the questions, but you’re the football coach.”

The program needed some upkeep on the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, and Smith expects to go to the Ohio State board in May with proposed changes before his June 30 retirement date. And whatever coaching changes Day needed to make, Smith was on board for those too. Day’s assistant salary pool is now $11.4 million, up from $9.3 million last season.

But most importantly, Ohio State needed to take a step up in the name, image and likeness realm. After taking it slow the first year or two, Smith and Ohio State more aggressively embraced NIL, with Day freed up to take a lead role.

“If I call, 99.9 percent of the time they know why I’m calling,” Smith said. “But if it’s Ryan, that’s a game-changer.”

Most of Ohio State’s highly touted junior class returned, with the exception of Marvin Harrison Jr. and Michael Hall Jr. Ask people around Ohio State why, and they’ll say it’s a mix of the culture, wanting to beat Michigan and competing for a national championship. After all, nobody in the junior class has beaten the Wolverines.

“I had a first- or second-round grade,” cornerback Denzel Burke said, “but at the end of the day I had no gold pants, no Big Ten, no natty, so it’s just being able to come back with my brothers and do it for the state of Ohio.”

But there’s no denying that NIL helped make it possible to retain players who might have otherwise entered the draft.

“This was the best decision for me and there’s no reason for me to rush to the league — we have NIL now,” Burke said. “We’re not worried about too many things.”

In addition to stars like Burke, running back TreVeyon Henderson and receiver Emeka Egbuka deciding to stay, Ohio State hit the transfer portal hard, landing one of the top portal classes in the country in the winter. The Buckeyes signed Freshman All-America safety Caleb Downs from Alabama, All-SEC running back Quinshon Judkins from Ole Miss, Kansas State starting quarterback Will Howard, Alabama starting center Seth McLaughlin and the No. 1 quarterback recruit in the 2024 class in Julian Sayin, who transferred from Alabama after Nick Saban retired.

The portal success wouldn’t have happened without increased alignment at every level, from coaches to administrators to NIL collectives and donors. There’s a sense of urgency inside the program that extends to Ohio State’s primary NIL collectives, The Foundation and The 1870 Society.

The Foundation, which signed an exclusive deal with Downs and also has a deal with Howard, top-ranked 2024 signee Jeremiah Smith and many others, has raised 10 times more than what it raised at this point last year, said Brian Schottenstein, a co-founder and board member of The Foundation.

The success Ohio State is having this offseason isn’t a byproduct of just one thing or one motivating loss. It’s been constant conversations since 2021 on how Ohio State can best approach NIL, and it has the Buckeyes at the forefront of the 2024 national title conversation.

“I think this is what the country was afraid of,” said Ohio State donor Gary Marcinick, founder of the non-profit Cohesion Foundation collective.

CB Denzel Burke is a potential first-round NFL Draft pick. (Tim Heitman / USA Today)

How did Ohio State get here?

When The Foundation started as the first of Ohio State’s NIL collectives in February 2022, skepticism and confusion followed. There was a belief among many that because the Buckeyes were already one of the premier football programs, how much did they truly need NIL to compete?

Many donors didn’t know how NIL worked, either.

“The university wanted to take their time and engage in understanding the dos and don’ts before just fully supporting it, and I would’ve taken the same approach,” said former Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones, a co-founder and general manager of The Foundation. “The athletic department’s job is to raise money for the university as a whole, and you don’t want to steer dollars away if things aren’t on the up and up with a program or collective.”

Much has changed in NIL in the past three years for people like Jones, who has his hands on everything The Foundation does, even in recruiting. He’s the point person for talking to players, recruits and their families about NIL contracts. Former Ohio State safety Tyvis Powell fills a similar role with The 1870 Society as the director of player engagement.

Ohio State wasn’t against paying athletes at the start — most of its players had NIL contracts with at least one of the collectives — but for a time it wasn’t willing to go all in on NIL in recruiting.

“I think anything new takes time,” Schottenstein said. “Donors might have been confused, a lot of articles made NIL scary, but when it comes down to it, it’s just marketing deals for athletes.”

Ohio State’s growth is a mix of a few things, starting with Day’s evolving focus.

Before Ohio State’s loss to Missouri in the Cotton Bowl, Day began to think about taking on more of a CEO role, stepping back from calling plays on offense. He hinted at the possibility last offseason but didn’t turn the duties over to first-year offensive coordinator Brian Hartline.

He decided this offseason, with financial backing from Smith, that he would hire an experienced offensive coordinator he could trust to call plays.

The first hire was Bill O’Brien, who lasted just three weeks before taking the head coaching job at Boston College. Then came UCLA head coach Chip Kelly, Day’s mentor, who wanted to move in the opposite direction and narrow his focus to running an offense. Now Day gets more free time to manage the big picture.

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The impact of Day’s name popping up on a donor’s phone is substantial. Even new men’s basketball coach Jake Diebler has benefitted from his growing fundraising duties.

“We have a big list of contacts, but we’ve had them make the calls because it goes further,” Schottenstein said. “It makes it more real. They can talk about the team and make the donor feel they have the inside access. … It makes them feel part of the team and it helps them want to donate because they are part of the family.”

Mark Stetson, a longtime donor who founded The 1870 Society, said getting a call from the head coach can tip the scales for a donor who may be on the fence. It’s less about Day calling and asking for money than it is him explaining to donors how NIL can impact athletes.

“I think when you are communicating with a coach you can feel the need ,and that’s where you get a lot of the positives of NIL,” Stetson said. “You go across the non-rev sports, there’s kids who work two or three jobs to be able to live, but with NIL they can focus more on athletic and academic hours. Hearing that from the coach is a direct line to see the impact.”

This isn’t the first time Day has pushed for more NIL support. In 2022, Cleveland.com reported that Day told the Columbus business community he believed it would take $13 million to keep the roster intact.

But now with some responsibilities given to Kelly, Day has ramped up his NIL fundraising efforts on a more direct, day-to-day basis.

“It’s become much more of a part of it,” Day said. “You have to be involved with that now, because fundraising has always been important, but I think now it’s even more important.”

Quinshon Judkins had two 1,000-yard seasons at Ole Miss. (Adam Cairns / Columbus Dispatch / USA Today Network)

Can Buckeyes sustain success?

Being compliant in the NIL world takes a careful balance for football coaches and programs.

In the past, the coaching staff would have to wait for a student athlete or parent to bring up NIL and pass the prospect to the collectives, which is where Jones and Powell came in. Now, after a federal judge in Tennessee granted a preliminary injunction to prohibit the NCAA from enforcing its own rules against pay-for-play recruiting, that’s not the case.

Collectives are allowed to talk directly to recruits for the first time, simplifying the process.

“I think it makes us more powerful because we can talk to portal players when they enter,” Schottenstein said. “We couldn’t do that before, so it makes that donation even more important now because retention is important, but the transfer portal is too.”

There’s an education process that Jones enjoys when he’s talking to recruits. Both Jones and Powell are finding success in their roles because neither put together a long-term NFL career, but they have found a way to build careers off their success at Ohio State.

Powell, who was vocal about Ohio State’s struggles after the Cotton Bowl loss, has given Day credit for the changes he made on his staff and evaluating the program’s mindset around NIL.

“I challenged Ryan Day to look at his staff and figure out who is bringing something to the table and if they’re not, you have to get them out of there because you’re doing the kids a disservice,” Powell said. “I was hopeful he would make some changes and he did. They changed their approach on NIL in the offseason.”

There’s more to transferring to Ohio State than just receiving NIL money, which is something that players like Downs and Judkins have emphasized. Still, the additions of Downs, Judkins, Howard and McLaughlin were part of Ohio State’s NIL budget.

That’s not to say Ohio State just decided to pay every player a million dollars or more. Though no financial terms of NIL deals are disclosed, Powell said that Ohio State has roster construction priorities like any other team.

“If you are the No. 1 player in the country it’s easy to market and sell that, it’s easy to give them a bunch of money. But if you get these three-star kids, maybe they don’t have the big name or game, they aren’t getting a bag,” Powell said. “Now, don’t get me wrong, they’re getting a couple of dollars in their pocket, but I would not call it a bag.

“It goes off of team needs too. If you’re a premier defensive end, those go for more than a center. That’s the nature of the business. If a team needs a premier corner, then they will pay more for that guy than a defensive tackle. It reminds me of the NFL a little bit because when free agency hits, guys will overpay for that position because they need it.”

Though most of its spending goes to football, in part because of the sheer size of the roster, The Foundation has signed every player on the men’s basketball team, including the new transfer additions.

Excited to get to work on and off the field, in the  Columbus community as a student-athlete partner of @TheFoundation1_

To learn more about THE Foundation and how you can support student-athletes, visit https://t.co/zKJsWeKmBC. #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/5fxHp6xn8p

— Caleb Downs (@caleb_downs2) January 25, 2024

The 1870 Society has only been around since the spring of 2023, so Stetson said they don’t have a lot to compare it to, but this year’s NIL fundraising has been substantial.

“I think there’s been some real extraordinary support,” Stetson said. “There’s been a huge influx of $10 a month and the bigger ticket purchases, as well. Regardless of trending year over year the support has been incredible.”

Everything is working for Ohio State now, but there are constant conversations about what’s coming next and accounting for the possibility of donor fatigue. Stetson said that’s where creativity on part of the collectives comes into play.

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The Foundation, for a week in January, matched all donations that were made. It ended up matching the $500,000 that fans donated, which also included a donation from former quarterback C.J. Stroud. In total, The Foundation raised more than $1 million in a week. It’s now in the middle of another matching promotion, which will extend to the end of May and has raised around $220,000 as of April 30, according to Schottenstein.

But more than just asking for donations, both Ohio State collectives have hosted events with the proceeds going toward NIL. In July, The Foundation will host what it calls “The Fantasy Experience,” which will allow participants to go behind the scenes like a prospective recruit to see what goes into a game day at Ohio State, meet alumni and more. In March, The 1870 Society, with the help of the football program, sold tickets to a tour of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, which included meet-and-greets with players and coaches.

Stetson said he sees it as the collective’s job to find creative ways to raise money without always asking donors directly for money.

“It’s about creative events or opportunities for fans to get access or create new content, or being very engaged with the business community across the country, or how can we tap into what NIL is intended to be?” Stetson said. “I would hope that a donor-centric model has built a bridge and on the other side of that bridge is a more sustainable model.”

Regardless of what’s next, Ohio State is in a position to chase a national championship now with one of the best rosters in the country after watching its archrival win one last season. It happened thanks to a combination of strong recruiting, player retention and transfer portal success.

Amid the angst of losing to Michigan, Gene Smith hopes he helped put Ohio State on stable ground as former Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork gets set to take over this summer.

“Where we are with football, not winning Big Ten championships, I wanted to make sure that we did everything we could to make sure football has a real chance next year,” Smith said. “When I think about my legacy, I think about that. I hate to leave Ohio State when football is not back to winning Big Ten championships.”

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(Top photo: Jason Mowry / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The NFL Draft is complete, which means the country’s most dominant sports league will now take a short break from dominating television ratings and the athletic world’s oxygen (no offense to Schedule Release Day or the social media teams that work so hard to make that fun). But before we get started on summer, the Power Rankings will assess where everyone stands after their rookie additions.

Post-free agency rank: 1

Dane Brugler’s draft ranking: 13

The Chiefs have managed to muddle through just fine in the two seasons since trading Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins. In fact, they’ve won two Super Bowls. Still, they seem to have decided a three-peat might be easier with another jet-pack wide receiver. That’s why they traded up for Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy, who ran the fastest 40-yard dash in NFL combine history (4.21).

Post-free agency rank: 2

Brugler’s draft ranking: 25

Did the 49ers take Florida wide receiver Ricky Pearsall because they plan to trade Brandon Aiyuk or Deebo Samuel? Or did they did do it because coach Kyle Shanahan just wants another tough-as-nails wide receiver to terrorize defenses? We don’t know yet, but they did strengthen their defense with two defensive backs (Renardo Green and Malik Mustapha) who will help right away.

Post-free agency rank: 3

Brugler’s draft ranking: 3

Detroit was 28th last season in defensive passing EPA so it used its first two picks on cornerbacks. Sensible enough. Then the Lions returned to their contrarian form by using their third pick (a fourth-rounder, which they acquired by trading away a 2025 third-rounder) on a Tongan offensive tackle from Canada (Giovanni Manu) whom Brugler projected as a priority free agent. That’s the wacky Brad Holmes-Dan Campbell Lions we’ve come to love here.

The Ravens know what they’re doing in the draft, and second-round pick Roger Rosengarten will fit right in. (Ken Murray / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Post-free agency rank: 6

Brugler’s draft ranking: 12

Baltimore did Baltimore things in the draft, stockpiling players at premium positions up and down the board. The beauty of the Ravens’ approach is they never seem to need immediate help. This is still the team that led the NFL in point margin last year (plus-203). Second-round offensive tackle Roger Rosengarten could end up being one of the steals of the draft.

Post-free agency rank: 4

Brugler’s draft ranking: 28

The Texans added a lot of players (nine) but nobody who is expected to move the needle much this season. Having no first-round pick this year is the price they paid for wheeling and dealing in last year’s draft. It’s a price they were happy to pay considering they got quarterback C.J. Stroud and edge Will Anderson Jr. in that draft, which is why they’re still high on this list.

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Post-free agency rank: 5

Brugler’s draft ranking: 21

While everyone’s draft focus was on the Falcons saying they were trying to turbocharge the Packers’ quarterback succession model, Green Bay might have quietly done it again. The Packers picked Tulane quarterback Michael Pratt in the seventh round. The 6-foot-3, 217-pound Pratt might have to wait a long time if he’s going to succeed Jordan Love, but he’s more than worth the gamble at pick No. 245 after starting 44 college games and throwing 90 career touchdowns.

Post-free agency rank: 9

Brugler’s draft ranking: 10

For 51 weeks of the year, it feels like the Cowboys are all over the map. Somebody, usually the owner, is saying quizzical things. Expectations are being elevated and then left unmet. And then comes draft week, and Cowboys just quietly go about doing a very good job. It’s why they get away with all the other stuff. Dallas got value with all three of its top picks, and second-round edge rusher Marshawn Kneeland could be a star. (Adding back Ezekiel Elliott in free agency doesn’t move the needle much at this point.)

Post-free agency rank: 7

Brugler’s draft ranking: 30

It’s tough to add much help when your first pick is at No. 54, but Cleveland was still paying bills from the Deshaun Watson trade. The good news is that trade is now officially complete, and the Browns will have a first-round draft pick in 2025 for the first time since 2021. Unless, of course, they make another deal.

Post-free agency rank: 8

Brugler’s draft ranking: 18

Let’s take a moment to visualize Cincinnati’s dream offensive line of the future. The Bengals used their first-round pick on 6-8, 340-pound Amarius Mims even though Mims made only eight college starts. Cincinnati already has 6-8, 345-pound Orlando Brown Jr. entrenched at left tackle and 6-8, 355-pound Trent Brown penciled in on the right side on a one-year contract. It’s possible Mims won’t start this season, but if he does, it will be fun to watch.

Wide receiver Keon Coleman is a key addition for Josh Allen and the Bills, who no longer have Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis. (Don Juan Moore / Getty Images)

Post-free agency rank: 10

Brugler’s draft ranking: 20

The draft was another reminder that the Bills are in a controlled rebuild. They traded all the way out of the first round to add more affordable assets to the roster. The good news is they still came away with a pretty good receiver with their first pick, taking Florida State’s Keon Coleman with the first choice of the second round. If Coleman can develop a quick connection with Josh Allen, it will go a long way toward stabilizing Buffalo’s reset.

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Post-free agency rank: 16

Brugler’s draft ranking: 4

After grabbing two of the top corners early in the draft, Philadelphia added some potential high-reward players in Round 3 and later. Edge rusher Jalyx Hunt out of Houston Christian (6-4, 252 pounds) is a perfect example. Hunt started his career as an Ivy League safety, but he had the fifth-longest arms of any edge rusher in this class and is an explosive athlete who could turn into a steal.

Post-free agency rank: 11

Brugler’s draft ranking: 24

Jared Verse must feel special. That’s whom Los Angeles picked with its first first-round pick since 2016 (which it spent on Jared Goff). Verse, and his former Florida State teammate Braden Fiske, a defensive tackle, will help a defense that finished 22nd last year in points allowed (22.2). Now if they can keep quarterback Matthew Stafford happy (he wants a contract adjustment with more guaranteed money, NFL Network reported during the draft), they’ll be a sleeper NFC title game candidate.

Post-free agency rank: 23

Brugler’s draft ranking: 1

No one moved up more in this edition of the Power Rankings than the Bears, who drafted uber-talented quarterback Caleb Williams with the No. 1 pick and elite wide receiver prospect Rome Odunze with the No. 9 pick. They made only five draft picks, but that’s not doing anything to slow down expectations in Chicago. The Bears have one division title in the last 13 years, but they’re expected to be true challengers to the Lions and Packers this year.

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Post-free agency rank: 14

Brugler’s draft ranking: 14

The Colts landed two of the draft’s most talented players with their first two picks, which is impressive considering those picks came at 15 and 52. They did have to take on some risk to do it, though. UCLA edge rusher Laiatu Latu medically retired from football at one point in his college career, and Texas wide receiver Adonai Mitchell raised some concerns about non-football issues in the scouting community. (Don’t tell GM Chris Ballard about that second part, though. He doesn’t want to hear it.)

Colts GM Chris Ballard was preachin’ about the pre-draft reports on AD Mitchell 🗣️pic.twitter.com/KqyJFwsLY8

— Jon Tweets Sports (@jontweetssports) April 27, 2024

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Post-free agency rank: 12

Brugler’s draft ranking: 22

Jason Licht might be the NFL’s poster boy for patience. Licht has been the Buccaneers’ general manager since 2014. In four of his first five seasons, Tampa Bay finished last in the NFC South. Now the Bucs have won the division three years in a row, and Licht seems to keep bringing in good players. This year, he got every analyst’s favorite under-the-radar offensive lineman, Duke’s Graham Barton.

Post-free agency rank: 13

Brugler’s draft ranking: 23

Mike McDaniel is committed to the bit. The head coach of the NFL’s fastest team traded up to take the second-fastest running back in this year’s draft in Round 4 (Tennessee’s Jaylen Wright) and then drafted a high school sprinting state champion — Virginia wide receiver Malik Washington — in the fifth round. Give him credit, too, for getting big guys in the first two rounds in edge Chop Robinson and offensive tackle Patrick Paul.

Post-free agency rank: 15

Brugler’s draft ranking: 17

The Jets drafted an Aaron Rodgers support staff, getting offensive tackle Olu Fashanu, wide receiver Malachi Corley and running back Braelon Allen with their first three picks. Fashanu might not start right away, but he has that kind of talent, and Corley should join Mike Williams and Garrett Wilson in the starting lineup immediately.

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Post-free agency rank: 22

Brugler’s draft ranking: 2

Whoever ends up playing quarterback for the Steelers (Russell Wilson and Justin Fields are the contenders, in case you hadn’t heard), he should have plenty of protection. Pittsburgh took three offensive linemen, including two of the feistiest in this draft (tackle Troy Fautanu and center Zach Frazier), with their first two picks.

Post-free agency rank: 18

Brugler’s draft ranking: 16

Seattle’s first two picks weigh a combined 614 pounds, so we know general manager John Schneider, in his first draft post-Pete Carroll, wanted to rebuild the Seahawks’ trenches. Defensive tackle Bryron Murphy II (6-foot, 297 pounds) might end up being the best defensive player in this draft, and guard Christian Haynes (6-3, 317) will provide immediate offensive line depth and a possible Day 1 starter.

If quarterback J.J. McCarthy is as good as the Vikings believe he is, they’ll be in great shape. (Rick Osentoski / USA Today)

Post-free agency rank: 19

Brugler’s draft ranking: 15

If J.J. McCarthy is as good as (or even close to as good as) Kirk Cousins, the Vikings will have had the best draft of the year. If he’s not the guy, then Minnesota will have let a solid veteran quarterback leave and then expended a lot of draft assets only to fail to answer the quarterback question. Getting Alabama edge Dallas Turner at No. 17 is a nice touch either way.

Post-free agency rank: 26

Brugler’s draft ranking: 6

Jim Harbaugh stuck to his guns. After saying for weeks leading up to the draft that his team placed a premium on offensive linemen, he passed on two elite wide receiver prospects (Malik Nabers and Rome Odunze) to take offensive tackle Joe Alt fifth. “Offensive linemen we look at as weapons,” Harbaugh said. “Offensive line is the tip of the spear.”

Post-free agency rank: 17

Brugler’s draft ranking: 32

The talk of the draft, but not for the right reasons, the Falcons passed on their best chance to make the 2024 team better by drafting quarterback Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 pick. It might turn out to be a genius move for the future, but it won’t help this year with Penix sitting behind Kirk Cousins. The five front-seven defenders they drafted after Penix might help, though.

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Post-free agency rank: 28

Brugler’s draft ranking: 9

The Commanders completed their extreme home makeover (the owner, general manager and head coach are all brand new) with their quarterback of the future. At least, that’s the hope. Former LSU quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels was the most physically dynamic quarterback on the board, but he does not come without risk. Should be a fun season in Washington, which would be new, too.

Post-free agency rank: 29

Brugler’s draft ranking: 8

The Patriots had the good fortune to be picking third in a draft that had three highly regarded quarterback prospects. And they had the good sense to simply take North Carolina’s Drake Maye instead of trading the pick. New England signed Jacoby Brissett in free agency, so it can afford to give Maye plenty of time to get ready before throwing him into an offense that isn’t good enough to help him as a rookie.

Post-free agency rank: 21

Brugler’s draft ranking: 11

The Raiders were rumored to be in the quarterback trade market but stayed in their draft slot and took the best player available — Georgia tight end Brock Bowers. It was a very un-Vegas move. Then they compounded the common sense by taking offensive linemen with their next two picks.

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Post-free agency rank: 20

Brugler’s draft ranking: 29

The Jaguars like LSU players, and they don’t much care what everyone else thinks of their new players. Jacksonville started the draft by taking wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr., the first of three Tigers it drafted. The next eight players all ranked among some of the biggest reaches in the draft based on consensus mock draft rankings.

Wide receiver Malik Nabers should give Daniel Jones and the Giants offense an immediate boost. (John Korduner / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Post-free agency rank: 27

Brugler’s draft ranking: 7

The Giants passed on an opportunity to get out of the Daniel Jones business and really shake up the draft by taking a quarterback with the sixth pick. Instead, they went with dynamic wide receiver Malik Nabers in hopes he’ll help lift Jones to another level. If that doesn’t work, New York can exit Jones’ contract pretty easily after this year. It did bring in Drew Lock as a veteran contingency plan.

Post-free agency rank: 24

Brugler’s draft ranking: 26

The Titans got bigger in the draft. A lot bigger, using their first pick on 342-pound offensive tackle JC Latham and their second pick on 366-pound defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat. The Sweat pick in the second round (No. 38) raised eyebrows because he wasn’t expected to go nearly that high, but if he matures and can keep his weight in check, he could be a superstar. Latham is expected to be a Day 1 starter.

Post-free agency rank: 31

Brugler’s draft ranking: 5

This was the draft Arizona had been waiting for. The Cardinals had seven of the first 90 picks. Teams generally hope to get at least starting-quality players out of that type of draft capital. If Arizona did that, its turnaround could begin now.

Post-free agency rank: 30

Brugler’s draft ranking: 19

The Saints might have stumbled into their next starting quarterback … or into a quarterback controversy. New Orleans drafted South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler with the 150th pick. Given current starter Derek Carr’s sometimes shaky hold on the job and Rattler’s NFL arm, Saints fans might be calling for a change by midseason.

Post-free agency rank: 25

Brugler’s draft ranking: 31

The Falcons’ quarterback selection kept Denver off the national hot seat. The Broncos took Oregon quarterback Bo Nix at No. 12, which was 32 spots higher than The Athletic’s Dane Brugler had him ranked. If it works, Sean Payton can turn Denver around quickly. If it doesn’t, it’ll be another in a series of very curious Broncos moves.

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Post-free agency rank: 32

Brugler’s draft ranking: 27

Owner David Tepper stole the show again. And, again, not in a good way. Tepper turned the draft weekend narrative on himself when he stopped at a local bar to question the owner about a snarky sign out front. There’s a reason Carolina has occupied this spot in the rankings for so long.

(Top photo of Caleb Williams: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)

STANFORD, Calif. — The dugout chatter for intrasquad games at the Sunken Diamond can be merciless.

The slings and arrows are nonstop when Stanford baseball players are pitted against one another. The guys wearing red jerseys shout streams of insults at players on the black team and vice versa. “Whoa, hey, Luke’s got a new stance,” a player wearing a black jersey yells as freshman catcher Luke Lavin stands upright in the batter’s box, perhaps imitating the Chicago Cubs’ Cody Bellinger.

Lavin pops up the next pitch. “Same swing, though!”

But the tone changes when No. 3 for the black team, a husky teenager and early enrollee who won’t begin his freshman season until next year, steps in the box. The good-natured ribbing gives way to full-throated encouragement from both sides. Let’s go Rintaro! C’mon Rintaro! Give it a ride, Rintaro!

“We still can’t believe he’s here,” infielder Jimmy Nati said. “We’re all fanboying him, for sure.”

Rintaro Sasaki is not the typical Stanford baseball recruit. Back home in Japan, he is a national celebrity, instantly recognizable almost anywhere he goes. Last year, Sasaki was the top-rated high school player in a country where high school baseball is a national obsession. The left-handed slugger was projected to be the most coveted name in last October’s Nippon Professional Baseball draft. He mashed a national record 140 home runs, with twice as many walks as strikeouts, for Hanamaki-Higashi High School in Iwate Prefecture, the same school that produced Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani and Toronto Blue Jays left-hander Yusei Kikuchi. Sasaki’s father, Hiroshi, coached all of them and is a legendary figure in his own right.

When Rintaro graduated from high school this past March, television stations dispatched more than 30 camera crews to cover the event.

It would be a last glimpse. Sasaki announced a few weeks prior to the NPB draft that he would not register for it. Instead, he would blaze a trail and play collegiate ball in the United States — a nearly unprecedented path that could fast-track him to Major League Baseball as a draft-eligible sophomore in 2026.

In February, Sasaki stunned Stanford coach David Esquer and recruiting coordinator Thomas Eager when he requested a Zoom call with them, asked a few logistical questions, then told them that he was selecting the Cardinal over Cal, UCLA, and Vanderbilt.

Sasaki arrived on campus at the beginning of April, moved into a dorm room and enrolled in three classes as a pre-freshman. He can participate in all team activities except playing in games. He practices and works out with his new teammates. On game days, he suits up, cheers them on from the dugout and eagerly takes part in all the pregame traditions. He’s gone on road trips to Utah and Oregon State. He’s surprised everyone with how much English he understands, and he’s left them slack-jawed with his batting-practice shots over the light standards. When he turned 19 on April 18, his teammates took him out to a dinner that included ice cream, candles and tables of complete strangers joining in to sing “Happy Birthday.”

He is absolutely loving all of it.

“I made the right choice,” Sasaki said through interpreter and team trainer Tomoo Yamada. “People are nice to me. Everyone is my friend. I haven’t missed Japan yet. I feel completely settled. I can’t believe it’s been only four weeks. I’m enjoying life.”

Beyond the right field fence at Klein Field, past the scoreboard and a stand of trees, is the Avery Aquatic Center. It’s where Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky would lap the competition during her brief time as a Stanford student. As best as anyone can tell, that’s where a couple of Sasaki’s tape-measure home runs have splashed down.

Everything about Sasaki is broad and powerful, a body rendered in letterbox format. He stands 6 feet and 250 pounds, and his full-tilt swing puts every ounce behind the baseball. He hits line drives to left field that dismiss gravity as they streak over the fence. His pull power is pure astonishment. The ear-splitting sound off his aluminum bat exceeds OSHA safety standards.

“He looks like Barry Bonds,” Nati said. “That’s how good he’s going to be. When he runs into balls, he hits them over the light tower. It’s crazy.

“The ball comes off different. You can close your eyes, hear the sound and know it’s him.”

In a simulated game at Stanford last Wednesday, Sasaki lined a single off the fence and crushed two homers. According to Trackman, the second homer traveled 422 feet, with an exit velocity of 111 mph.

“Hey Rintaro,” Esquer called out. “You’ll need to get that one out of the swimming pool.”

“Swimming pool?” Sasaki replied, then nodded and laughed. He knew what the words meant. He just needed a second to process them.

Here’s another word to add to his growing vocabulary: Trailblazer.

“Ah, pioneer?” Sasaki said in English. “Yes, I know it.”

If Sasaki had been drafted by an NPB team, he would have been under club control for nine years. Although Japanese pro teams often gain a windfall in posting fees by making their players available to MLB before their nine years are up, there are no guarantees. Sasaki might have been pushing 30 by the time he had an opportunity to play in the U.S.

He made it clear: His goal is to play in the major leagues.

“Ohtani and Kikuchi are already overseas,” Sasaki said. “I always thought one day, hopefully I can get there. They were big influences for me. Ohtani said, ‘Follow your instinct. That is what you decided. That is a path you need to keep walking.’”

Sasaki’s path — to become MLB draft-eligible by attending an American university — has almost no precedent. Rikuu Nishida, a speedy infielder from Sendai, was an 11th-round pick of the Chicago White Sox last year after a standout season at the University of Oregon. But Nishida, who played two seasons at a junior college upon arriving in the U.S., was not an NPB draft prospect in Japan.

Although there are no written rules that would prohibit an MLB team from signing a Japanese high school player out of its international signing pool, there’s been an unofficial understanding among teams against the practice. (Until 2020, when it rescinded its rule, NPB enforced a ban of two to three years on Japanese players who opted out of the draft and signed with a foreign league.)

Ohtani came close to setting a groundbreaking precedent as a high school phenom in 2012, when he advised NBP teams against drafting him, saying that he intended to sign with an MLB franchise. The Nippon Ham Fighters took him anyway, then persuaded him to sign by promising to let him develop as a two-way player.

NPB teams had no such hope of signing Sasaki, who ensured that he would be taken off the NPB draft board by attending an American university. Now he will have two seasons to improve his conditioning and address weaknesses in his game before turning pro.

The chance to develop in less of a fishbowl environment was appealing to Sasaki and his father, as well.

“In Japan, people tend to focus more on shortcomings. But in the U.S., they develop individuality,” Hiroshi Sasaki told CNN in March.  “I think this is a very good choice for him.”

It is a choice that involves financial risk and delayed gratification. As a first-round pick in NPB, Sasaki likely would have received a signing bonus and incentives worth more than $1 million, plus personal services contracts that could have earned him hundreds of thousands more. At Stanford, of course, he is merely a student-athlete on scholarship. He also cannot participate in NIL opportunities while on U.S. soil because he is an international player on a student visa.

He would earn a multimillion bonus if he is a first-round pick in 2026, but that is far from assured. Because he is limited to first base and his defensive skills are unpolished, his bat must be compelling. And although he faced top high school competition in Japan, advancing to the Best Eight at the famed Koshien tournament last year, he mostly hit against pitchers who threw in the upper 80s.

He is betting on himself. And on Stanford to help him develop his gifts.

“I had the confidence to come to the States,” Sasaki said. “Right now I want to settle in here, take classes and do well. Take one step at a time. And two years from today, we’ll see where I am at. Getting to the major leagues is not everything for my life. Of course I want to get drafted and get to the major leagues. But I want to keep studying and also be a good person.”

Does that make him a pioneer? He shrugged. That’s for others to decide.

“He’s showing a lot of courage to come here spring quarter, practice on a daily basis with a college team and look so comfortable,” Esquer said. “He wants to get an education and maybe become an entrepreneur, but he’s also told us that he wants to leave a mark and blaze a trail for Japanese players to come here and play college baseball. Eighteen-year-old kids don’t normally think that way.

“He grew up with Ohtani. He’s seen the standard of what it takes to be great.”

If Sasaki becomes a top MLB draft prospect two years from now, he’s likely to be regarded as the baseball player who upended an entire system — something that even Ohtani could not accomplish.

Ohtani, asked about his influence on Sasaki’s decision, said he merely offered support and encouragement.

“I didn’t really offer any advice or anything like that,” Ohtani said through Dodgers interpreter Will Ireton. “Making the best decision usually comes from being convicted. I’ve made decisions like that in the past as well. I feel like that’s the decision he made from his conviction.”

Sasaki (right) has known Ohtani since he was young, and has turned to the megastar for advice over the years. (Courtesy of the Sasaki family)

Esquer and his coaches still have trouble believing Sasaki is here.

Stanford was a late entrant when the recruitment process began last year. Sasaki took unofficial visits to Vanderbilt, Duke, UCLA and Cal — he also attended a Giants game at Oracle Park — but did not go to Palo Alto. At the time, there wasn’t a spot for him at Stanford, which allows a strict number of admissions per sport. Then two Cardinal players entered the transfer portal and a few others de-committed.

Suddenly, Stanford had a spot — and plenty of interest.

“We were playing catch-up, to be honest with you,” said Eager, who is the team’s pitching coach as well as recruiting coordinator. “In the Japanese culture, because we weren’t involved in the first go-around, we didn’t know if they would take it as a sign of disrespect. We hoped to explain that this is just how it operates here. We liked him all along. And we had a good official visit in January. But I tell you what, I did not think we were getting him.”

The official visit included meet-and-greets with three Stanford alums who are major leaguers: Chicago Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner, Kansas City Royals pitcher Kris Bubic and San Francisco Giants pitcher Tristan Beck. Hoerner drew on his experience playing with Japanese outfielder Seiya Suzuki in Chicago while encouraging Sasaki to make sure he could continue the routines that are important to him.

“You can do your best to put yourself in someone’s shoes, but it is a totally different experience what he’s going to be doing,” Hoerner said. “The adjustment to college, even for myself, driving 45 minutes from where I grew up, was really different. Doing that with a language barrier, taking classes, and the whole schedule is a lot.

“In pro ball, you’re in charge of your own career at the end of the day. But a lot of times in college, you’re pretty much subject to whatever the program believes in. So I just felt it was really important to stress that whatever it is that makes him tick as a player, he’d be able to continue to do that. Because not all college programs would really be (OK) with that. And I did feel like Stanford, with the staff that they have, are there for whatever the players need.”

Esquer knew what was at stake, even beyond adding a potential impact hitter. If Sasaki chose Stanford, it would enhance the university’s already prestigious international brand. And if Sasaki became the first arrival that breaks a dam, perhaps the pipeline of talent from Japan would lead directly to the Sunken Diamond.

Sasaki’s visit was thorough but not ostentatious. The team hired a taco truck to cater a post-practice party. Several players remarked that they saw Esquer wearing a suit for the first time. Mostly, Esquer hoped to convey that Sasaki would have every resource to develop as a player and person.

“My promise to you is that we’re going to take care of your son,” Esquer told Hiroshi Sasaki. “We’re going to coach him and help him get better, but also we’re going to make sure he’s well looked after.”

Beck laughed when he recalled his recruiting visit more than a decade ago. No taco trucks, no meetings with trustees, no coaches in suits. But he remembered one thing someone told him that might have resonated with an international celebrity like Sasaki.

“One of the adages I heard before I enrolled was, ‘Don’t worry about being bothered, because the most famous people here don’t play sports at all,’” Beck said. “The most interesting people here aren’t even athletes, even with people like Andrew Luck walking around campus.

“He did mention his favorite team was the Giants, which is sweet. I made sure he said that a couple more times so Nico and Kris were sure to hear it.”

Sasaki was projected to be a top pick in the NBP draft after hitting a national record 140 home runs in high school. (Courtesy of Stanford Athletics)

You might assume that Sasaki wants to become the next Ohtani. But there’s another home run hitter that he has spent his life emulating.

“I don’t know how far I can go, but I respect Barry Bonds a lot,” Sasaki said. “(To) one day get to be as close as possible to Barry Bonds — that is my goal.”

Bonds, and not Shohei?

“Ever since I was in elementary school, I was watching Barry Bonds,” Sasaki said. “Ohtani was one of my mentors. Sometimes I communicate with him and get advice. But Barry Bonds was my ultimate goal since I was little. Don’t misunderstand. I respect Shohei and Barry Bonds both.

“When Bonds got in the batter’s box, people expected to see something big or something special. I want to be like that.”

Rintaro Sasaki, my goodness.

Wish we could’ve seen this swing in NPB but I’m confident he’s going to blossom into a superstar. pic.twitter.com/ifkODlbc2g

— Yakyu Cosmopolitan (@yakyucosmo) April 30, 2024

For now, Sasaki just wants to be a good teammate and fit in. He is taking a language skills class with other international students, but his other two courses, including an introductory class in human biology, are in English. He understands more than he can speak, but baseball tends to operate with its own universal language. When Yamada, the trainer, returned to Japan for a week, Sasaki appeared to manage just fine. If Sasaki gets stuck on a word, bullpen catcher Michael Fung, who is minoring in East Asian Studies and spent time last year studying in Stanford’s overseas program in Kyoto, is usually able to help bridge any language gap.

Sasaki declined Esquer’s offer of a full-time interpreter, saying he would chip away at the language barrier faster with the help of his teammates.

“It fired us up to hear that,” said Lavin, who has become one of Sasaki’s more steady companions. “Because it seems he’s really bought into the team’s culture and being around us. He’s a normal teammate here. You can’t tell from talking to him that he’s super famous. He has not brought it up once, how many people know his name.”

Still, Sasaki is likely to draw crowds very soon. The word is just beginning to trickle out that he is on campus. At a recent game at Santa Clara University, two dozen Japanese baseball fans waited outside the ballpark so they could meet Sasaki and take pictures with him. Stanford officials are gearing up for more attention, more media and more fans.

For now, his competition is limited to those spirited intrasquad games. A couple of his teammates already feel comfortable enough to engage in a bit of sarcastic banter. And they’ve learned that Sasaki is already comfortable enough to dish it right back.

“We were at Oregon State and I’m watching him flick home runs the other way,” Lavin said. “So I said to him, ‘Ah, it’s just the wind.’ Then the wind died down and he started hitting pull-side homers over the stands.

“And he looked at me and said, ‘It’s not the wind.’”

The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya and Patrick Mooney contributed to this story. 

(Top image: Sean Reilly / The Athletic; Photos: Courtesy of Stanford Athletics)