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February 20, 2025
Columbus, Ohio – Ohio State head football coach Ryan Day addressed the defensive coordinator vacancy last week as he announced the onboarding of long-time NFL defensive coordinator-turned-head-coach Matt Patricia to succeed Buckeye defector Jim Knowles. Patricia is apparently using the new assignment as an opportunity to turn over a new leaf—and pencil.
“People don’t know this, but Matt was a No. 1 pencil guy for his entire tenure in New England. He dabbled with a No. 4 for a hot minute in Detroit, but now, coming back to college, he’s finally making the move to No. 2. Which, of course, is no indication of where he hopes to help the Buckeyes finish this or any season he’s a part of the program,” said Jerry Emig, Ohio State’s Associate Athletic Director of Communications via Google Hangouts early Thursday morning.
What’s informing the change, then? Emig said a number of factors played into the decision.
“First things first, he had to think about availability, he had to think about supply. No. 2 pencils are the definitive required pencil for scantron tests across the entire university world, and so with his return to college, shifting to No. 2 felt natural. He knows there will always be an abundance of No. 2s on and around campus on game days,” Emig said.
“Beyond that, the No. 2 pencil is kind of the perfect hybrid pencil. Nice mix of graphite and clay, so it’s sturdy enough to be reliable, but it can be used for some light sketching, were there ever a game situation that demanded it,” Emig concluded.
