COLUMBUS — Ohio State head coach Ryan Day will speak with reporters at noon on Monday to preview this Friday night’s upcoming matchup at Northwestern. He will also provide some updates on where his team stands after the week off. We will provide updates live throughout the hour when the session begins. Hit refresh for the latest.
+ What is Day happiest about? “Going back to the chemistry, I think the guys care about each other, they love each other, and they’re playing with toughness.” “I still think there could be more leadership.” There are little things to clean up as well.
+ Ryan Day sees the same defense in Northwestern that played in the Big Ten Championship Game last year. “Not much has changed there.”
+ Any time you see a team like Georgia lose at home “it gets your attention.” They don’t spend a lot of time talking about it, but it’s out there. If you don’t follow through on the plan to win, you can lose.
+ How have they stopped giving up big plays? Everybody understands where they belong on the field. There are fewer guys alone on an island, which helps.
+ Josh Myers has communicated really well. The inside guys are new and they have handled things well so far. “The tale is yet to be written, but obviously it’s a good start.”
+ The last week, they showed the players three things they do well and three things they need to do better for the team.
+ Northwestern’s defense pops out at you. “It’s hard to find a yard on them.” They held Wisconsin under 300 yards. It’s a defense that’s been around a long time. Paddy Fisher keeps everything going at linebacker. But it all goes back to Pat Fitzgerald. He’s a thorough coach.
+ The ideal quarterback room is four scholarship quarterbacks with some young guys in there who are developing and love Ohio State and want to be there forever. “Unfortunately, that’s hard right now. I’ve come to grips with that.” They will still work hard to get four.
+ They have given Justin Fields the entire offense and they don’t hold anything back. Day didn’t know if he’d be able to handle it, and he still has stuff to work on.
+ They are monitoring the transfer portal constantly, but won’t hold a scholarship spot for anybody.
+ Calling plays from last year to this year, one isn’t more fun than the other. They are very different offenses with very different people.
+ They won’t be looking ahead to Wisconsin because they can lose everything if they don’t keep their mind where it belongs. Day watched Wisconsin on television this weekend.
+ When it comes to finding H-backs, you look for the best available player and get them to do what they do best. Somebody with a really high-end skill set and you go from there. This year, the two-tight end package has been very good, which has cut into the H-back packages.
+ Demario McCall will continue to get return opportunities and he needs to make the most of those opportunities. Jaelen Gill is working to get into the depth chart.
+ Cornerback Cam Brown has shown a tremendous amount of growth over the last year. It’s never just the player, it’s the staff that brings him along as well. He has taken care of all of his business on and off the field. That’s how it usually happens. “Really impressed with how far he’s come.”
+ The conversation with young players is that they are one or two snaps away from being full-time starters. They can’t wait until guys leave the program or go to the NFL. They have to be ready now. “There’s a lot that goes with that.” It takes urgency by the player.
+ When they look at recruits, they will note whether or not the coaches believe they will be able to help right away. Not everybody needs to help immediately. “Everybody has their own way.” They try to figure out that timeframe in recruiting and plan accordingly.
+ High school players are more ready now than ever to play right away in college football. And now with the four-game redshirt rule, it forces them to play and try to prove themselves and it gives them an opportunity to see some action.
+ Demario McCall had an injury come up in the pregame against Michigan State, but he should be available this week.
+ Day has no preference on what days to play games on because it’s not something he can control, so he doesn’t worry about it.
+ The freshman class is adding depth. They have gotten a lot of reps, guys like Garrett Wilson and Zach Harrison. The concern would be if they were getting a lot of reps but not building depth.
+ Day and Chip Kelly used to watch the old Northwestern offenses under Randy Walker and Kevin Wilson. “I was like the guinea pig quarterback to try and figure it all out.” The offense Day ran as a QB at New Hampshire was influenced by that Northwestern offense.
+ Competing against the likes of Stanford in recruiting involves the off-field stuff with academics and Real Life Wednesdays. The recruiting is open to everybody. They compete against some of the top schools academically and people are seeing the number of majors and areas at Ohio State to study. The further away you go from Ohio, the more people need to learn because they don’t know everything OSU has to offer.
+ Day hasn’t received much feedback from high school coaches about OSU playing on Friday nights. It’s out of his control, but he’s sure high schools would rather not have the Buckeyes playing on Friday nights.
+ Self scouting takeaways? “Just a lot of little things here and there on both sides of the ball.” They were checking to see if they had tells and if they were doing things correctly with personnel and scheme. Players were given three areas where they could each improve upon.
+ The bye weeks are great. They allow the coaches to assess where everything stands. It allows the players to get healthy and there’s good depth on this roster.
Strategic Deception?
I know I could be wrong, but it just seems like McCall has been in the dog house. He’s such an explosive player, but I feel like he he keeps having to prove himself on special teams or prove himself in other areas.
The ship has sailed on McCall. Just didnt pan out or live up to the hype…for whatever reason(s).
If he was an explosive player, he would be playing