Latest / Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning / BONUS: Are Ja'Kobi Jackson & The Running Game Making Progress?
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: All right. Bonus episode number two, this week, you're going
- 0:02Speaker 1: to get to hear a little bit from Ryan day
- 0:05Speaker 1: about the Ohio state offense on this show. It feels
- 0:08Speaker 1: like the offense is trending in a good direction. Jeremiah
- 0:11Speaker 1: Smith has been trending in a great direction since he
- 0:13Speaker 1: got to Ohio state, but the rest of the offense,
- 0:15Speaker 1: including the running game feels like it might be picking
- 0:17Speaker 1: a business, maybe picking up a little bit for them.
- 0:20Speaker 1: Is Ryan day happy with where the running game seems
- 0:22Speaker 1: to be headed after that Iowa game?
- 0:25Speaker 2: Yeah, I think they ran downhill and they got physical.
- 0:28Speaker 2: I think our running game right now, um, when you
- 0:30Speaker 2: look at the efficiency, is solid. But we want to
- 0:34Speaker 2: be more explosive still. We want to create bigger runs.
- 0:38Speaker 2: I think that they're there to be had. But that's
- 0:40Speaker 2: everybody involved with it. I do think everybody was involved
- 0:43Speaker 2: with the run game. I think you saw the receivers
- 0:44Speaker 2: digging it in there, getting their nose dirty. I think
- 0:47Speaker 2: the tight ends battled. The offensive line was battling. And
- 0:50Speaker 2: I think for the most part, you saw both Bo, Jacoby,
- 0:53Speaker 2: and Isaiah run with their pads down and run through contact,
- 0:55Speaker 2: which was great and kept us on schedule, allowed us
- 0:58Speaker 2: to be efficient. So that needs to continue. Allowed us
- 1:02Speaker 2: to control the game, obviously, in the fourth quarter in particular.
- 1:05Speaker 2: But we always we got work to do because when
- 1:09Speaker 2: you can create explosives in a run game, that's when
- 1:11Speaker 2: your offense can really take off. And so that's that's
- 1:13Speaker 2: got to be the next step that the whole offense takes,
- 1:16Speaker 2: not just the running backs, but they're obviously the one
- 1:17Speaker 2: with the ball in their hands.
- 1:19Speaker 1: After the game on Saturday, Julian Sane was asked about
- 1:22Speaker 1: the time he threw into triple coverage and kind of
- 1:24Speaker 1: laughed and said, which one? And yeah, when you win
- 1:28Speaker 1: the game, yeah, you can laugh about it a little bit,
- 1:30Speaker 1: but it also is a little bit of a learning
- 1:31Speaker 1: lesson as well. So what kind of conversation has Ryan
- 1:35Speaker 1: Day had with Julian Sane about throwing it to Jeremiah
- 1:38Speaker 1: Smith and leaning on Jeremiah Smith the way that he has?
- 1:43Speaker 1: And that's certainly understandable when Jeremiah Smith is as good
- 1:45Speaker 1: as Jeremiah Smith is, but also kind of knowing that, yeah,
- 1:48Speaker 1: sometimes there are going to be better options like that
- 1:51Speaker 1: throw into triple coverage that turned into a 52 yard
- 1:54Speaker 1: gain on Saturday, but they were probably other guys who
- 1:56Speaker 1: were maybe a little more open. Right.
- 1:59Speaker 2: Like I said, if, if it's one-on-one, he's open. If
- 2:01Speaker 2: he's double covered, he's sort of open. If he's triple covered,
- 2:03Speaker 2: he's covered. So, uh, it means somebody has got to
- 2:08Speaker 2: be open somewhere else. I say that half kidding, but, um,
- 2:12Speaker 2: I think, uh, for Jules, it's, it's, it's always about
- 2:16Speaker 2: just like all the guys, it's always about the process
- 2:18Speaker 2: as opposed to the result, you know? Um, That was
- 2:21Speaker 2: a result of a ridiculous throw and a ridiculous catch. Eventually,
- 2:24Speaker 2: that's going to get us beat. So we have to
- 2:25Speaker 2: be smart about that. That being said, when you go
- 2:27Speaker 2: to commit to it, you've got to make it work.
- 2:29Speaker 3: And he did.
- 2:30Speaker 2: So I'll give him credit on that. And Jeremiah obviously
- 2:31Speaker 2: made a ridiculous play. But we've got to get back
- 2:34Speaker 2: to the process and staying consistent.
- 2:37Speaker 3: And when you.
- 2:37Speaker 2: Start going through all that, you start to recognize all
- 2:39Speaker 2: the areas that we can continue to get better. I
- 2:41Speaker 2: think he's made some strides the last couple of weeks.
- 2:43Speaker 2: Now we've got to keep building on that. But to
- 2:45Speaker 2: your point, one bad play can ruin your whole afternoon.
- 2:48Speaker 2: And so I think he understands that. He's got a
- 2:50Speaker 2: really good attitude. I think his leadership's been good. His
- 2:52Speaker 2: mentality's been good. He's been spending a lot of time
- 2:54Speaker 2: in here with the coaches, with the other players.
- 2:59Speaker 3: So we need him to be great. You know, can't
- 3:00Speaker 3: have a bad play, can't have a bad day.
- 3:02Speaker 1: The Ohio State offensive line was a big topic during
- 3:05Speaker 1: fall camp, and it felt like, okay, they had settled
- 3:08Speaker 1: into this is their five starters on the offensive line
- 3:10Speaker 1: at the start of the season, and then Phillip Daniels
- 3:12Speaker 1: got hurt. And that injury has kind of lingered a
- 3:15Speaker 1: little bit. So what is Phillip Daniels' status? And whenever
- 3:18Speaker 1: he is back, whether that's this week or next week
- 3:21Speaker 1: at Indiana, when he's back and healthy, will he jump
- 3:24Speaker 1: right back into the starting lineup as soon as he's available?
- 3:28Speaker 2: I've always felt like you don't lose a position just
- 3:30Speaker 2: because you get injured. That being said, I think there's
- 3:33Speaker 2: a little bit of rhythm going on right there, so
- 3:35Speaker 2: we'll have to identify that as it goes. I think
- 3:38Speaker 2: we thought Phil would have been back a little bit sooner.
- 3:41Speaker 2: He'll be limited today. We'll see how he looks today.
- 3:44Speaker 2: Hopefully we can get him going with some scout work
- 3:45Speaker 2: throughout the middle of the week and get him available
- 3:48Speaker 2: for this game. And then once he is available, we'll
- 3:52Speaker 2: figure out how many snaps he can take and then
- 3:54Speaker 2: how we would rotate that in a game.
- 3:56Speaker 3: But we're anxious to get Phil back. That's for sure.
- 4:00Speaker 2: And how he gets integrated back into it will be
- 4:02Speaker 2: based on his health.
- 4:03Speaker 1: Here's one that I know comes up on Twitter every
- 4:06Speaker 1: time I mention something about their success right before halftime.
- 4:10Speaker 1: They have scored in the last 15 seconds of the
- 4:12Speaker 1: first half in all five games. They are killing it
- 4:15Speaker 1: in the two-minute drill. So, okay, this feels like a
- 4:19Speaker 1: logical follow-up question. So All right, if it's working then,
- 4:22Speaker 1: why not use tempo more throughout the rest of the game?
- 4:25Speaker 2: When you come out of like even the one that
- 4:27Speaker 2: we had coming out of this game in particular against
- 4:30Speaker 2: a really good defense, you got to come out of it,
- 4:32Speaker 2: at least look at it and say, is this a
- 4:33Speaker 2: way to kind of change the pace of the game? Now,
- 4:36Speaker 2: the way a team is playing inside of a minute
- 4:38Speaker 2: and a half is different than how they're playing on
- 4:39Speaker 2: first and second down. So, you know, I thought our
- 4:42Speaker 2: combination of run and pass and then understanding we had
- 4:46Speaker 2: two timeouts left and all of that was really well done.
- 4:49Speaker 2: that is a different situation than being just in a normal, um,
- 4:53Speaker 2: you know, drive within, um, the body of a half.
- 4:57Speaker 2: All that being said, I think it's been pretty efficient
- 4:59Speaker 2: and I think we need to continue to look at
- 5:01Speaker 2: and see if there's some things that we can do, um,
- 5:04Speaker 2: that'll allow us to change the tempo. Um, I think
- 5:08Speaker 2: it's good when you change things up. Um, and it's
- 5:11Speaker 2: been a pretty, pretty decent weapon for us when we've
- 5:13Speaker 2: been able to move quickly. Um, But then at the
- 5:16Speaker 2: end of the game, to eat up nine and a
- 5:18Speaker 2: half minutes on your last drive, that kind of ends
- 5:21Speaker 2: the game that way. So being able to do both
- 5:23Speaker 2: of those things, one at the end of the half
- 5:25Speaker 2: when you're trying to.
- 5:27Speaker 3: Elongate the game, but then also at.
- 5:29Speaker 2: The end of the game when you're able to shorten
- 5:30Speaker 2: the game, that's schematically and strategically the best thing to do.
- 5:37Speaker 3: That's what we'll do. If we're struggling to get things going,
- 5:41Speaker 3: I think.
- 5:41Speaker 2: That would be a great opportunity to inject some tempo
- 5:44Speaker 2: to get the guys moving. But I felt for the
- 5:46Speaker 2: most part during our game, we were moving the ball decent.
- 5:48Speaker 2: I think we had a good rhythm of run pass.
- 5:51Speaker 2: One of the things about when you're in the huddle,
- 5:53Speaker 2: you get to be a little bit more efficient with
- 5:55Speaker 2: the type of plays that you run as opposed to tempo.
- 5:57Speaker 2: You're a little bit hamstrung in terms of, hey, man,
- 6:00Speaker 2: we've called this play. And if we get a bad look,
- 6:04Speaker 2: you've got to handle it. When you're dealing with a huddle,
- 6:08Speaker 2: you have a little bit more opportunities to get ourselves
- 6:10Speaker 2: into the right play and be more efficient. But there's
- 6:13Speaker 2: no question that there is a little bit of a
- 6:14Speaker 2: rhythm to a tempo that changes the pace for the
- 6:17Speaker 2: guys on defense.
- 6:18Speaker 1: This was a topic that actually started on our message
- 6:21Speaker 1: board at BuckeyeInsiders.com, and Tony Gerderman asked Brian Day about
- 6:25Speaker 1: it at interviews on Tuesday. When you have a workhorse
- 6:29Speaker 1: running back, a 1,500, 2,000-yard running back, no one asks,
- 6:34Speaker 1: can you ride a running back like that to a
- 6:36Speaker 1: national title? But it feels like there is kind of
- 6:38Speaker 1: a conversation about doing that with a wide receiver. If
- 6:42Speaker 1: you have a wide receiver as talented as Jeremiah Smith,
- 6:45Speaker 1: Can you ride a workhorse-wide receiver to a national title?
- 6:50Speaker 2: I mean, I think so. But, you know, it's got
- 6:54Speaker 2: to be more than just him, for sure. Yeah, if
- 6:56Speaker 2: we think that he's going to be the only one.
- 6:58Speaker 2: And I don't think that that's been the case. I
- 7:00Speaker 2: think it's been great to see guys step up. But
- 7:03Speaker 2: I think everybody understands that. I think the guys up front,
- 7:06Speaker 2: in particular, you know, feel like they want to win
- 7:08Speaker 2: the game. I think the other receivers want an opportunity,
- 7:11Speaker 2: I think, you know, to get Devin that early touchdown
- 7:14Speaker 2: and I thought it was a well-designed play. We got
- 7:16Speaker 2: him matched up on a Sam linebacker on kind of
- 7:18Speaker 2: a return route. And then the protection on that allowed
- 7:21Speaker 2: Julian enough time for the play to develop.
- 7:24Speaker 3: And then Devin finished it off.
- 7:25Speaker 2: I thought the move Devin had, the double move on
- 7:28Speaker 2: the corner on second and 19, that proved to be
- 7:31Speaker 2: a huge play on that drive. So it was great
- 7:34Speaker 2: to see him make those plays. And I think that's
- 7:36Speaker 2: going to build his confidence, hopefully. And then Nate Roberts
- 7:41Speaker 2: had another third down catch for us. And so Brock
- 7:44Speaker 2: and Chris both played significant minutes. Um, we're getting Kyle
- 7:47Speaker 2: Parker back now this week. So, um, you know, these are,
- 7:50Speaker 2: these are really good opportunities for all these guys to
- 7:52Speaker 2: step up and, and help, um, you know, take some
- 7:55Speaker 2: pressure off of Jeremiah. Although, you know, he, and I
- 7:59Speaker 2: think we, you know, it's a lot of work because
- 8:01Speaker 2: everyone knows who he is. I mean, and there's no
- 8:05Speaker 2: secret that, you know, he's going to be the first
- 8:07Speaker 2: progression in a lot of reads. So coming up with
- 8:09Speaker 2: different ways to get him the ball other than throwing
- 8:11Speaker 2: triple coverage is, um, is kind of exhausting. But I
- 8:16Speaker 2: think the offensive staff and Arthur have done a good job.
- 8:18Speaker 2: But Maryland's going to do a good job with this week,
- 8:22Speaker 2: their scheme and what they do, coordinator with an NFL background.
- 8:25Speaker 2: So we got to do a good job of that.
- 8:28Speaker 2: But what's the best way to do that? You know,
- 8:30Speaker 2: a really good run game, another guy stepping up in
- 8:32Speaker 2: other areas.
- 8:33Speaker 1: Teams have had to come up with a lot of
- 8:35Speaker 1: different creative solutions to try and control or contain Jeremiah
- 8:39Speaker 1: Smith this season. And not all of them have worked. Really,
- 8:42Speaker 1: most of them have not worked. But one of them
- 8:44Speaker 1: has been, you know, just grab them and see if
- 8:46Speaker 1: the officials don't throw a flag. And a lot of
- 8:48Speaker 1: times they don't. They're not going to flag everything, right?
- 8:51Speaker 1: But Brian Day was asked about, is there any frustration
- 8:58Speaker 1: with looking at some of the past interference calls that
- 9:00Speaker 1: have not been made on contact against Jeremiah Smith as
- 9:04Speaker 1: compared to some of the ones that have been called
- 9:05Speaker 1: in other situations?
- 9:07Speaker 2: Well, I'm not going to get into that too much
- 9:09Speaker 2: right now, but it's something that I try to explain
- 9:11Speaker 2: to those guys about. I mean, when you're that big
- 9:13Speaker 2: and that strong, you know, a foul doesn't look the same.
- 9:17Speaker 2: And so there are plays that I, you know, I
- 9:21Speaker 2: question and I contend are PIs in holding. But and
- 9:28Speaker 2: I think it needs to be recognized that when you're
- 9:30Speaker 2: that big of a player, it's still a foul, whether
- 9:32Speaker 2: you push through it because you have strength and size.
- 9:34Speaker 1: So.
- 9:36Speaker 2: But he's obviously very unique, and I think it's something
- 9:39Speaker 2: that they need to look at and make sure that
- 9:42Speaker 2: they're officiating the right way.
- 9:44Speaker 1: One of the pleasant surprises on this year's team is
- 9:46Speaker 1: transfer running back Jacoby Jackson. He came over from Florida
- 9:49Speaker 1: during the offseason in the transfer portal. He figured he
- 9:52Speaker 1: was maybe going to be a role player this year,
- 9:55Speaker 1: maybe something like that, and then now he's pushing Bo
- 9:57Speaker 1: Jackson for the starting job.
- 9:58Speaker 3: He was.
- 10:00Speaker 1: basically become 1A or 1A to Bo Jackson's 1B, if
- 10:04Speaker 1: not vice versa. So what is the response from Bo
- 10:07Speaker 1: Jackson been there going from pretty clearly the clear-cut starter
- 10:11Speaker 1: last year to now maybe co-starters? Yeah.
- 10:15Speaker 2: Well, I think everybody needs to feel pressure and everybody
- 10:18Speaker 2: needs to feel competition and we're challenging a lot of
- 10:22Speaker 2: different people and it's a good thing. When Quinshawn and
- 10:26Speaker 2: Travion were working together, they were challenging each other every day.
- 10:28Speaker 2: I think Quinshawn really helped Travion in a lot of
- 10:31Speaker 2: ways and I think vice versa. Well, it's the same
- 10:34Speaker 2: thing here. Jacoby's coming in and I think he's pushing Bo,
- 10:37Speaker 2: but they have a great relationship and I think it's
- 10:41Speaker 2: a healthy relationship and I think it's a healthy competition.
- 10:44Speaker 2: So And Isaiah West, you know, all three of these
- 10:46Speaker 2: guys got to play really well for us. You know,
- 10:47Speaker 2: when you think about the teams that, you know, make
- 10:52Speaker 2: deep runs, you know, have running backs they can count
- 10:54Speaker 2: on that are big time backs that play at a
- 10:57Speaker 2: high level. And so they know what the challenge has
- 11:01Speaker 2: been to them. And I think they're responding and getting
- 11:03Speaker 2: better like a lot of guys on the team. But
- 11:05Speaker 2: we still got a lot of meat left on the bone.
- 11:08Speaker 2: And so, you know, the more these guys can, again,
- 11:10Speaker 2: put pressure on each other and challenge each other along
- 11:12Speaker 2: with the coaches, the better we're going to be.
- 11:14Speaker 1: One thing that I think drove Ohio State fans crazy
- 11:17Speaker 1: on Saturday was the decision to go into the Wildcat,
- 11:20Speaker 1: and then they had a couple guys in motion. It
- 11:22Speaker 1: was just kind of a mess, and it just blew
- 11:23Speaker 1: up and killed a drive at one point earlier in
- 11:26Speaker 1: the game. So then when they went back to that
- 11:29Speaker 1: later in the game, was that just sort of a
- 11:32Speaker 1: matter of, okay, let's just try this again, and let's
- 11:36Speaker 1: get some positive good reps on film rather than just
- 11:40Speaker 1: have it be that one debacle?
- 11:43Speaker 2: It was very disappointing that we didn't execute the third one.
- 11:48Speaker 2: You can look at it and see how it finished.
- 11:49Speaker 2: At the end of the day, we didn't get that done.
- 11:52Speaker 2: And then the fourth and one, we botched. And we
- 11:55Speaker 2: put a lot of work into that. So to see
- 11:56Speaker 2: nothing come out of that was really discouraging and really
- 11:59Speaker 2: pissed everybody off. So when we had an opportunity to
- 12:03Speaker 2: finish the game with it, it was another fourth and
- 12:05Speaker 2: one situation. And we had an idea of what they
- 12:08Speaker 2: would be in. We thought it was the right thing
- 12:10Speaker 2: to do to call it again so we could at
- 12:12Speaker 2: least sleep that night. But it was good to get that.
- 12:15Speaker 2: And then Bo got to the last guy and finished
- 12:17Speaker 2: it off. The guys did a good job of handling
- 12:19Speaker 2: it up front. So we finally got that right. But yeah,
- 12:23Speaker 2: we didn't align right and it wasn't executed right. And
- 12:25Speaker 2: it just goes to show you, you've got to keep.
- 12:27Speaker 3: Doing it over and over and over and over and
- 12:29Speaker 3: over again until you get it right.
- 12:30Speaker 2: And even then, you've just got to make sure you're
- 12:33Speaker 2: focused and doing the right things. But We spent a
- 12:36Speaker 2: lot of time trying to go over those situations to
- 12:38Speaker 2: put these guys in a situation to be successful.
- 12:42Speaker 3: Ultimately, we've got to go put it on the field.
- 12:44Speaker 2: It's our job to make sure that what we're doing
- 12:46Speaker 2: in practice is simulating what's going to be in the game,
- 12:47Speaker 2: the noise, all those things.
- 12:51Speaker 1: There you go. Another bonus episode for you. I hope
- 12:54Speaker 1: you guys enjoyed that. We will have much more coverage
- 12:57Speaker 1: all week long. We've got some more bonus shows coming
- 12:59Speaker 1: up for you. We're going to have a bunch of
- 13:01Speaker 1: live stuff coming up for you this week as well.
- 13:03Speaker 1: We'll have Ohio State player interviews on Wednesday evening. You'll
- 13:07Speaker 1: have another chance to talk to Ryan Day as well.
- 13:09Speaker 1: You've got Friday, you've got Saturday, Buckeyes taking on Maryland 4.15 p.m.
- 13:15Speaker 1: at the Horseshoe. A little bit of a later kickoff.
- 13:18Speaker 1: Kind of looking forward to that one as the Buckeyes
- 13:20Speaker 1: will take on the Terrapins. We'll have your usual pregame show.
- 13:23Speaker 1: We will have your live postgame show as well for
- 13:25Speaker 1: you at youtube.com slash at Buckeye Insiders. And man, oh man,
- 13:29Speaker 1: do we have a lot of scheme coverage for you
- 13:32Speaker 1: this week. depending on when you're listening to this, some
- 13:35Speaker 1: of it is going to be out publicly probably at
- 13:37Speaker 1: this point, but we have a lot that is still
- 13:39Speaker 1: just exclusive to our members at Buckeye insiders.com. We have
- 13:43Speaker 1: three scheme insiders right now, because that is an area
- 13:46Speaker 1: where we keep getting told we want more of this. Well, okay.
- 13:49Speaker 3: You want more?
- 13:50Speaker 1: We will give you more. We've got Ross Fulton. We've
- 13:52Speaker 1: got Michael Pettit. We've got Justin Whitlatch, three players, three
- 13:55Speaker 1: guys who specialize in different areas of the game. Justin,
- 14:00Speaker 1: really big on the offensive line. Michael, a defensive guy. Ross,
- 14:04Speaker 1: he's kind of a jack of all trades. He excels
- 14:06Speaker 1: at everything. But we have coverage for you, all to
- 14:10Speaker 1: make you a smarter football fan, to explain what you
- 14:12Speaker 1: are seeing and why sometimes the conventional wisdom around what
- 14:16Speaker 1: you think is happening with Ohio State and why something
- 14:18Speaker 1: is or isn't working, well, it's not always right. So
- 14:22Speaker 1: if you want to become a smarter football fan, you
- 14:24Speaker 1: want to learn from our three scheme insiders. You can
- 14:26Speaker 1: do that at BuckeyeInsiders.com. The best way to do that
- 14:29Speaker 1: is to become a member. Get access to our whole
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