Ohio State brought three redshirt seniors with them to Chicago on Monday for Big Ten Media Days. Center Billy Price, defensive end Tyquan Lewis, and middle linebacker Chris Worley were all on hand to productively spend the day talking non-stop with reporters.
During their session with the “print” media, they each spent an hour answering questions. I floated around with each player for 20 minutes. Here are the notes from what they had to say while I was within earshot.
Billy Price Updates
+ “Football is controlled rage. We’re all nuts. You’ve got to be a little crazy to play football.”
+ Chalk Billy Price up as someone who isn’t a fan of the way recruiting has evolved today. The amount of attention given to high school players can be a bit much.
+ He thinks about last year’s Penn State loss every day.
+ J.T. Barrett is plenty tough and has no problem getting in the face of defenders.
+ Price likes the attributes of all three freshman offensive linemen. He’s looking forward to seeing what they do in camp.
+ Opening against Indiana brings an added element to the first game of the season. The goal is to win the Big Ten, which makes this game special.
+ Another season like 2014 for J.T. Barrett would cement Barrett’s Ohio State legacy.
+ Kevin Wilson is a funny and witty guy. The funniest coach he’s ever had is Tom Herman. Price said you have to have a high level of wit to be an offensive coordinator.
Tyquan Lewis Updates
+ It was a very tough decision to return for his fifth season. He talked to Larry Johnson and his mother a lot. He said there was still a lot of things that he wanted to do, including being introduced on Senior Day with his mom. He owed his mom one last season.
+ His time has flown by at Ohio State. He never set out to earn accolades or be a captain or come to Chicago. He just wanted to play football for the Buckeyes.
+ He said everybody is ready for camp to open, but did grumble a little bit about how early it’s starting. That’s the price to pay for no two-a-days, however.
+ The freshmen shut their mouths and go to work every day. They are a very mature group.
+ The Penn State game last year showed the team leaders they had to be accountable. They stepped up after that.
+ Lewis wants this to be the best defensive line in Ohio State history.
+ His favorite thing about this defensive line is how close they all are. There is no selfishness. They all want to see everyone play and succeed.
Chris Worley Updates
+ The adversity the team faced in 2014 is what allowed them to win a national title that year.
+ Worley kept getting asked about the Clemson game and said he’s trying to get away from it, but people won’t let it go.
+ J.T. Barrett gave up his spot for this trip to Worley. Worley said it speaks to how unselfish Barrett is as a teammate.
+ After the Clemson game, Urban Meyer pulled Worley and J.T. Barrett aside and had a “grown man conversation” with them about what it takes to never let that happen again.
+ Worley recalled his recruitment in 2012 and a conversation he had with Urban Meyer. Meyer had recently moved Zach Boren from fullback to middle linebacker and said to Worley — who at that time was a safety recruit, “Do you realize that if you were here right now, you’d be our starting middle linebacker?”
+ On which players could emerge like Jerome Baker and Malik Hooker did a season ago, “My advice is just watch.” He didn’t want to name names because it wouldn’t be fair to those he left out.
+ He said he would have liked to play 10 overtimes against Michigan, but after two he was completely spent. He didn’t realize until he went to bed that night that he had dislocated a finger.
