Ryan Day knows what’s it going to take to keep Ohio State’s best players in Columbus. Cleveland.com is reporting that Day told about 100 members of the Columbus business community Thursday morning that OSU needs about $13 million in NIL money to keep the Buckeye roster intact.

NIL (name, image and likeness) compensation has been the hottest topic of the college football offseason. With the increasing popularity of the transfer portal, and the NCAA allowing undergraduates one transfer with immediate eligibility without a waiver, NIL has helped create what many in the college football community see as unregulated free agency. The transfer portal also allows players to withdraw and return to the team, leading some players to enter the transfer portal primarily to get a feel for their NIL market value.

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Day wants to keep OSU players from entering the transfer portal and leaving for greener pastures.

“One phone call, and they’re out the door,” Day said, per Doug Lesmerises of cleveland.com. “We cannot let that happen at Ohio State. I’m not trying to sound the alarm, I’m just trying to be transparent about what we’re dealing with.”

Day made his pitch at an OSU on-campus event to unveil an NIL Corporate Ambassador Program. Through the program, businesses go through the OSU athletic department to hire and partner with Buckeye athletes. Per Lesmerises, Day’s $13 million figure includes NIL collectives in addition to the ambassador program. The Ohio State head coach provided some insight on what the top players expect in terms of compensation:

Day said the Buckeyes have been gathering information by talking to recruits and their families and getting a sense of what other schools might be discussing with NIL deals. He said he believes right now top-shelf quarterbacks require $2 million in NIL money. Major offensive tackles and edge rushers he said are about $1 million.

More from Day on the NIL landscape can be found in Lesmerises’ full article here.