COLUMBUS — Following a hard-fought 37-14 win by Urban Meyer’s Gray squad over his Scarlet team, the Buckeye head coach spoke with reporters to share his thoughts on the game and the spring as a whole. Also speaking with the media were quarterbacks Joe Burrow and Dwayne Haskins, as well as defensive coordinator Greg Schiano. Here are the highlights.
Urban Meyer
+ On the quarterback battle: “We have to make some decisions. Decisions have not been made.”
+ Fifth-year senior Brady Taylor will leave spring as the starting center.
+ There is a solid two-deep on the offensive line this year for the first time in a long while.
+ Redshirt sophomore Luke Farrell is the No. 1 tight end leaving spring. Rashod Berry did not play today because he’s had a couple of stingers recently.
+ Fourth-year junior defensive tackle Dre’Mont Jones has probably had the best spring of any of the Buckeyes.
+ There is currently a three-man rotation at cornerback with Damon Arnette, Kendall Sheffield, and Jeff Okudah. Meyer said a fourth corner could work his way in there as well.
+ Meyer will talk to Ryan Day and Kevin Wilson about the quarterbacks today, then everybody will go do some recruiting, then they’ll get back together early next week to talk about the quarterbacks with all of the information they have at hand.
+ Meyer didn’t care which QB got the first snap today.
+ Meyer’s gut feel and the QB intangibles will factor into the quarterback decision.
+ Isaiah Prince and Thayer Munford have been switching positions at LT and RT. They will eventually make a decision on who will be where.
+ Joe Burrow has improved his delivery speed greatly over the last couple years.
+ Binjimen Victor has the talent, but still has a ways to go to get where they want him consistently.
Greg Schiano
+ Schiano said the boundary safety is still a concern, but he feels like they have enough talent that they’ll be okay this season. He would have liked to see somebody emerge over the others — you always would, but they have options.
+ Even though the linebackers are inexperienced, he likes the depth. Also, there’s no rule that says only three can play.
+ The more reps Justin Hilliard gets, the better he continues to play.
Dwayne Haskins
+ Haskins believes he has done enough this spring to prove that he should be the starting quarterback, but also said the other quarterbacks probably feel the same way.
+ Haskins feels like he does a good job making all of the throws anywhere on the field.
+ His favorite throw was probably the deep completion to Binjimen Victor.
+ The QBs are all fighting for the same thing, but the biggest thing is maintaining that friendship to work together each day.
+ This is a very deep team. Haskins got to see that depth playing on both teams.
+ He will continue to compete during offseason workouts in order to show his coaches that he is dedicated.
+ “I’m going to doing what I have to do until it’s no longer a question.”
+ It takes time to be ready to be the starting quarterback, and that will include fall camp.
Joe Burr0w
+ This was the best offseason he has had as a Buckeye.
+ “Now some decisions have to be made.” You have to take a step back and meet with the coaches and evaluate everything.
+ He put everything he had into the spring and played as well as he could have.
+ Now he can sit back and relax and wait for the decision.
+ Burrow doesn’t necessarily need to hear something in particular, he just wants to have a conversation together with the coaches and see how it goes.
+ “I would say just about everything’s on the table right now.”
+ If it’s too close to call for the coaches, that’s where conversations will come in and a decision will be made.
+ “I came here to play. I didn’t come here to sit on the bench for four years. I know I’m a pretty darn good quarterback.”
+ He thinks his toughness and leadership may put him over the top if all things are equal.
Urban has known since last year who the QB is going to be, why not just get it out?