COLUMBUS — Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer spoke with reporters on Monday to provide updates on his Buckeye football team. He talked about injuries and other personnel injuries, and answered plenty of other questions as well. He also recapped the win over Minnesota a bit and looked ahead to Saturday’s game against Purdue. Here are the highlights.
+ Meyer started out by mentioning the Champions on defense and offense.
+ Sean Nuernberger strained his groin or quad in warmups. “Blake came in and he really hammered the ball.”
+ Purdue is scoring a lot of points and the Ohio State defense needs to get healthy.
+ Nick Bosa gets a checkup tomorrow. Meyer is hoping to have him back this season.
+ A lot of OSU’s passes are RPO. Dwayne Haskins is reading someone and around 10-12 called runs are ending up as passes. Haskins is reading things well.
+ Thayer Munford is sore. He is probable for the game Saturday.
+ They constantly evaluate how they are doing defensively and formationally what they should be doing. The slants need to be snuffed out, but they held Minnesota to 14 points and forced turnovers.
+ OSU defensive staff said Purdue offense is very good.
+ Justin Hilliard is “one of my favorite players from one of my favorite families.” He played “pretty good” last week getting his first start. This is really his second year of football because he has been injured so often in his career. He can still reach his ceiling. You saw that with Marshon Lattimore.
+ There are a lot of defensive looks from opponents where the opponents want OSU to throw rather than run it.
+ In short-yardage situations they are loading the boxes against OSU.
+ The kicker job is “open for conversation.”
+ The quick passing on the RPOs is considered part of the running game when the coaches look the numbers.
+ Turnovers are part of the game and the Buckeyes are aggressive on defense to force them. They rely on forcing turnovers to help them win games.
+ Isaiah Pryor played okay. Didn’t look great at times. Shaun Wade did some good things. That position is not finalized.
+ The tight ends is a very healthy position right now. Jake Hausmann is finally healthy as well. Luke Farrell and Rashod Berry have been playing well.
+ Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm is an excellent head coach.
+ Michael Jordan has had a very good year. He needs to be the apex of the offense.
+ They’ve been cautious about fatigue. “This is a big one before the bye week.”
+ Purdue freshman slot receiver Rondale Moore is an explosive player. You have to be very aware of where he is.
+ Conversations among the coaching staff is that they have put up 500 yards of offense again and held the opponent to 14 points, but there are still issues to be fixed.
+ Meyer feels like the team is getting better and he feels like they are close to where they need to be. Marcus Hooker and Josh Proctor are contributing on special teams. “I try to build on those positives.” Wyatt Davis is getting very close to playing.
+ Malik Harrison and Jonathon Cooper are back. Damon Arnette is questionable. Robert Landers are probable.