COLUMBUS — Ohio State head coach Ryan Day will speak with reporters for about 30 minutes beginning at 12:00 pm today. We will provided live updates once the session begins. Day is expected to look back again on Saturday night’s victory in Lincoln, and then also look ahead to OSU’s biggest defensive test of the season. Refresh for the latest once things get under way at Noon.
+ “I think our staff has done a wonderful job.” Piecing together a staff is really important. If the staff doesn’t get along, the players feel that.
+ Day and Hafley had several conversations in San Francisco that they would coach together in college. “That was somebody I’d always want to be around.” He didn’t necessarily have a list because you never know where people are at in their careers, but he always wanted to have Hafley with him.
+ Master Teague is a great changeup to JK Dobbins, and that matters. He’s done a great job of taking care of the ball. He’s had one fumble. He runs hard and downhill. When he sees the lane, he goes. He’s practicing, which helps too.
+ You get a vibe during the week of practice of how you’re going to play. You also get that on game day, but you have to be careful with a night game. If they wake up juiced for a noon game, they’re probably going to play well. One of the arts of coaching this generation is to keep players from getting tired of hearing the messages.
+ On why Fields hasn’t thrown any interceptions, he said he’s doing a good job of decisions, but has thrown a few that were in harm’s way.
+ They won’t hold anything back for Justin Fields in this game. You have to be aggressive, disciplined, and tough. This is one of those games.
+ He’s not surprised by what Justin Fields has done because he tries not to have too many expectations. He still hasn’t played four quarters yet.
+ Kenny Willekes is productive and gets off of blocks better than anybody he’s seen on film the last couple of years in the Big Ten. He’s in on every tackle it seems like.
+ It’s important to understand what you are getting into every week, which is why he has told his players what Michigan State has done to Ohio State in the past. “It’s important to know the history.”
+ The pass rush and coverage works hand in hand.
+ Michigan State’s defense has answers to everything that you do. You might have success once, then they fix it. You do the best you can to get Justin Fields ready for that kind of adjusting defense.
+ The quarterback situation in college football is as sensitive as it can be. You always want to have four on scholarship. All they can guarantee a quarterback commit is that there are going to be three other scholarship guys in a room with you, and that might be freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior.
+ This offensive line has embraced the need for toughness and it has helped them run the ball well, but he’s not surprised at the success of the running game.
+ Any time a recruit plays multiple positions or multiple sports it’s a positive because it increases their abilities as a total offense.
+ In terms of the name and likeness issue, Day is in line with Gene Smith. He is interested to see where it goes and there is opportunity out there for the players, but it’s not easy. He knows people are sensitive to changing college football.
+ When you are facing a great defensive player like Chase Young, you have to be careful not to focus too much on him, but you also can’t take him lightly because he will beat you. That’s one of the tough things about coaching.
+ Josh Alabi was the offensive player of the game this weekend. He played well and it was a tribute to his attitude in a world where people run to the portal. He stuck around and kept a great attitude. He’s proven that he can play at a high level last year and again this past weekend.
+ Tuesday practices are necessary because you can’t just play hard on Saturday without playing hard during the week. Tuesday practices are tough and important. Today will be a hot one as well. “It’s all about how you train.”
+ Jeff Okudah had a good offseason. He seems to be a good fit with what Jeff Hafley is asking. But he’s also a year older and has embraced this style of defense.
+ Watching film is never as good or as bad as you thought.
+ Great defenses make corrections in areas that went badly the week before because they know the next opponent will try to take advantage of it.
+ On how to decide when to bring Justin Fields out of a game, he says there is no magic formula and you have to trust your guy. In college, games can flip really fast.
+ Ryan Day has talked about having his assistants here for a long time and he’d rather not have them here for one year and then leave. But they do expect two years when building commitments in recruiting. “I don’t expect anybody to leave anytime soon.”
+ Got another big challenge ahead of them. Got a ton of respect for Mark Dantonio and MSU’s history against Ohio State.
Hopefully OSU is watching game tape from MSU in 2015 and PUR last year. Sparty knows how to win this game, lengthy, time consuming drives and limiting OSU’s possessions. It all comes down to the trenches.
love day’s interviews. honest, direct, balanced and positive when called for. and he is smart about what these first 5 games mean and what they don’t. his comment “One of the arts of coaching this generation is to keep players from getting tired of hearing the messages.” that’s so true,and it would also fit to what a key to parenting is as well.
sparty will not go down easily, and i can vividly recall witnessing the brutal game 4 years ago, freezing to death.
He describes the what…
and explains the why.
Coach Day is so far a “live update”. ;-{)}
And so far, he’s ‘live’… TODAY… leaving the ‘can’ts’ and sayings and narratives… to Yesterday.