Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer spoke for a few minutes on the Big Ten coaches teleconference on Tuesday to provide some updates on his Buckeye team and to preview Saturday’s matchup against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Here are the highlights.
+ Asked to assess his team so far, the pass defense is No. 1 on the hit parade in terms of what needs fixed. No. 2 is consistency on offense, especially as you start playing better defenses. There is some good development taking place with young players.
+ Meyer has worked hard to develop a culture of team and respect, and so when there are outside things going on around the country, they talk about it and make sure to have respect when the discussions come up.
+ Tracy Sprinkle is a character guy. His teammates love him. He’s getting back into the groove where he was before he got hurt. He continues to get more confident in his leg.
+ Asked if a player were to come to him and ask to protest the anthem, Meyer said it hasn’t happened and if it did, he probably wouldn’t share it with the media. “That’s between me and them.”
+ Meyer agrees with Jim Harbaugh and he has already begun to make sure “gamesmanship” doesn’t happen at Ohio State. They have been to a couple of places where they have looked around and said, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” It will be brought up at the B1G ADs meeting next month. It will be looked at very closely moving forward.
+ Sam Hubbard is going to have a great future. “He’s one of my all-time favorite players.”
+ Asked about the freshmen, Meyer said Pete Werner and Baron Browning could start to see some more time because they are making strides. Jeff Okudah has made giant strides and is going to get some playing time. Trevon Grimes is not in the rotation yet, but he’s getting better.
+ Demario McCall wasn’t himself. He wasn’t dynamic on Saturday when he had the ball in his hands. “That wasn’t the Demario McCall that we’ve seen in the open field.” He needs to regain his confidence and get fully healthy.