Ohio State acting head coach Ryan Day and defensive coordinator Greg Schiano will be sitting in for Urban Meyer during his call-in show today. We will be providing live updates throughout the hour as the two coaches talk about their players, how camp went, and the challenge that the Oregon State Beavers will present. Refresh for new updates.
Greg Schiano
+ Nick Bosa has gotten better and never been satisfied with how good he is. “He is an even better player than he was last year, and that’s hard to imagine. He is a dominating football player.” He can contort his body and his hands while his legs are running at full speed. He’s also just a very passionate guy about football.
+ How do you have a defense that scores touchdowns? “You recruit Malik Hooker.” They don’t like the word “turnover” because turnover means the offense gives you something. They want to go take it from them. They dictate those turnovers. The focus is on disrupting the football. Don’t be satisfied with a sack. Get the football out of the quarterback’s hands.
+ Jordan Fuller works so hard, physically and mentally. “He’s very bright.” They rely on him to be one of the coaches on the field and get his teammates straight when they may get a little messed up.
+ The safety spot opposite Jordan Fuller has been going well. “It’s been a really good battle.” Both Isaiah Pryor and Jahsen Wint will play, and both Amir Riep and Brendon White are coming on. “They’re all very talented, it’s just a matter of when it clicks.”
+ The new kickoff rule will be interesting, but with the games last week there was only one fair catch. Ohio State doesn’t know what to expect because teams know how they like to pin opponents on the kickoff. “I do think it changes things.” He’s not sure which way teams will decide to go when it comes to fair catching. “I don’t know what to expect.”
+ “The Dream Team” is the scout punt block team and they put as many fast players on that unit as they can to test the Ohio State punting game.
+ Pete Werner has put on good weight and gotten stronger. He is a tremendous athlete who was athletic enough to play safety in high school. He hasn’t lost a step and may even be faster. He’s physical, a great competitor, and a smart player.
+ The linebackers are deep, but not very experienced. Pete Werner had a tremendous offseason. Malik Harrison “is just a gigantic man.” He’s only gotten better. Baron Browning is going to get his chance to play now, “and I’m anxious to see that.” Dante Booker is available now to play and getting healthy. They may try to rotate linebackers throughout the game this year because of that depth.
+ They will let Nick Bosa play a little more this year. They don’t want him out there when he’s tired, but he’s too good to pull off the field as much as they did last year.
+ Asked about some new names we’ll get to see up front, Schiano mentioned Tyler Friday and Tommy Togiai. Haskell Garrett will play. Tyreke Smith will play. Larry Johnson has done a great job of rotating guys, and that will continue with the heat and humidity on Saturday.
+ The Oregon State offensive line is good-sized, physical, and they move well. “They make you defend the whole field.”
+ Preparing for a new coaching staff is hard. They are trying to mesh the past stops together and what other people are hearing through the grapevine. You hope your defense is flexible enough to react.
Ryan Day
+ Day has known Chip Kelly since he was eight years old.
+ The types of players and families they are recruiting right now has allowed the Buckeyes to go through this period without losing much in terms of commits and relationships.
+ Day said he could talk about Mickey Marotti for six hours. He is the heart and soul of the program. He spends more time with the players than anybody else. The entire strength staff is amazing. The best thing that Marotti does is take the old school mentality and combines it with modern sports science technology. It’s all top of the line. The combination of those two things makes him really good.
+ Freshmen who are standing out have been Master Teague, Brian Snead, Chris Olave, Jaelen Gill, Matt Baldwin (he is still a week or two away from practicing 100%), Jeremy Ruckert, Tyreke Smith, Taron Vincent, Tyler Friday — the defensive line class “is really special”, the linebackers have come on.
+ The redshirt rule has brought a lot of conversations out as well. The goal is to play as many freshmen as they can, but he doesn’t think the conversations will really start about the four games until later in the season. “But it’s tricky.”
+ They have had a lot of conversation about the new kickoff rule. It definitely changes things in terms of the differences in kinds of kicks and schematics. They have made adjustments as to what they are going to do, but he did not say what those things are.
+ The Ohio State specialists have been great. They have to self-police themselves because they work on their own so often. They seem like professionals.
+ The game day routine will be the same. “You don’t realize how many things are on that list until you’ve got to do them.”
+ The receivers are very, very deep. Brian Hartline will roll them and rotate them and keep their legs fresh. “We’re going to keep doing that.” Terry McLaurin has had one of the best preseasons Day has ever been around in terms of work ethic. “At the H position we’re almost four deep.” They want to play with tempo, so they’ll need to rotate. This is an unselfish group. “That’s what makes them special to me.”
+ Tate Martell won’t be put in right now “for packages.” When he plays, it will be with the full Ohio State offense.
+ Tight end Luke Farrell is still the starter. Even though they lost Marcus Baugh, the tight end group is deeper than it was at this time last year. Jeremy Ruckert has a high ceiling, but he’s still learning. “He’s going to play early on.” Rashod Berry has done well in camp. Jake Hausmann has been battling injuries, but he’ll be back.
+ Haskins’ body has changed. He’s gotten stronger. He was “doughy” when he first got to Ohio State, but he is solid now. He has also gotten stronger mentally.
+ They’ll see how the season goes on as to how many times Weber and Dobbins will be on the field together. They have 8-10 receivers they want to play, so it makes things difficult.
+ Brian Snead and Master Teague are different styles of runner. Teague is a downhill guy and Snead is a little more shifty.
+ J.K. Dobbins has gotten better just by being in the program for an entire year now. He is tightening up his understanding of the entire offense and the pass protection.
+ Having J.K. Dobbins and Mike Weber on this team “is a big deal for the program.” They know they’re both going “to split a bunch of carries.” They also know that when one guy is hot, the other guy is going to sit. “It’s a long season and those guys are pulling for each other.”
+ The skill players around Haskins are very good as well and he can lean on those guys to make his first start a bit easier as well.
+ The offensive line is a veteran group that gives Dwayne Haskins some reassurance. The move that Michael Jordan hasn’t been easy and he’s done it in a short period of time.
+ Asked what advice he’d give to first-time starters, he said they need to focus on their effort because they can control how hard they play. Also, they can’t let one bad play determine how you’re game is going to go. “Don’t ride the emotional roller coaster.”
+ Day begins the show be reiterating what he said on Monday, that everybody on the team — coaches and players — had to step up. They are excited about finally getting to play this weekend.
+ Oregon State has a new head coach and new coordinators, so game planning for the Beavers is more about looking at what those coaches did at other teams last year. “But you don’t know going into the first game based on their personnel.” They have to be able to fit the scheme to the players they have.
+ Alex Grinch and Taver Johnson have brought great energy to the program. He knew Grinch back at New Hampshire. He holds his guys accountable and what he did last year at Wazzu “speaks to how great he is.” Taver Johnson has the respect of his players and is familiar with Ohio State.
+ One of the jobs of the cornerbacks coach/special teams coordinator is to bring energy, and Johnson has done just that.