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10 Things We Learned Talking To Ryan Day · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

0:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to buck Eyes tomorrow morning, Friday ninth. I'm your host,
0:03
Speaker 1: Tom Moore. The Akron game in twenty two days, Yes,
0:06
Speaker 1: just three weeks and one day way, the game against
0:09
Speaker 1: Michigan in one hundred and thirteen days. Got a chance
0:12
Speaker 1: to check out Ohio State football practice on Thursday. I
0:15
Speaker 1: got to watch the whole thing, fourth time this fall
0:18
Speaker 1: we've gotten a chance to do that. There's a lot
0:20
Speaker 1: to see, a lot to take note of during that practice,
0:24
Speaker 1: and also a lot to learn after the practice as well,
0:26
Speaker 1: where we've got a chance to talk to Ohio State
0:28
Speaker 1: head coach Ryan Day on Todays show, You're going to
0:30
Speaker 1: hear directly from Day about a variety of topics, including, yes,
0:35
Speaker 1: everyone's favorite topic this time of year, who is going
0:37
Speaker 1: to be the Ohio State starting quarterback? I think we
0:40
Speaker 1: may have gotten a little bit of a hint at
0:42
Speaker 1: that answer during practice on Thursday, when boy, it seems
0:45
Speaker 1: like Will Howard was taking an awful lot of snaps
0:47
Speaker 1: with the ones on offense. So is Ryan Day officially
0:51
Speaker 1: ready to announce Will Howard as the guy as Ohio
0:54
Speaker 1: State starting quarterback for twenty twenty four?
0:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've been mixing it up a little bit, but
0:58
Speaker 2: you're starting to see he and Devin go a little
1:00
Speaker 2: bit more the lion's share of the reps with the ones.
1:04
Speaker 2: I will say that he's he's taken you know, command
1:08
Speaker 2: of the huddle at the line of scrimmage. I think
1:10
Speaker 2: he's much more confident out there. No decisions have been made.
1:15
Speaker 2: You know, we're gonna you know, probably scrimmage a little
1:17
Speaker 2: bit on Saturday. By then we'll we'll take an evaluation
1:21
Speaker 2: and kind of see where we're at. But you know,
1:23
Speaker 2: both guys are getting reps, the ones. But but I
1:25
Speaker 2: will say that, you know, Will really has you know,
1:27
Speaker 2: taken some some strides here in the last couple of practices,
1:30
Speaker 2: taking control of the offense, making plays on third down again,
1:33
Speaker 2: you know, you know, hasn't won the job, but we
1:37
Speaker 2: have seen some positive play there.
1:38
Speaker 1: All right. So not quite ready to crown Will Howard
1:42
Speaker 1: as the starter just yet. But when you look at
1:44
Speaker 1: Will Howard's game, what is it about that? What is
1:47
Speaker 1: it that Will Howard bring us to the buck Eyes
1:50
Speaker 1: that Ryan Day.
1:50
Speaker 2: Really likes This preseason, You've noticed a total command of
1:54
Speaker 2: the offense. He's put some work in I think this summer,
1:58
Speaker 2: not only on his body and by the I think
2:00
Speaker 2: it was two percent body fat that he changed, you know,
2:04
Speaker 2: and so that part was big, but also just understanding
2:07
Speaker 2: on the offense, He's worked on his throwing mechanics. But
2:11
Speaker 2: if you just said, you give me the one thing
2:12
Speaker 2: that looks different this preseason, it's his command of the
2:16
Speaker 2: commandity offense, the way that he's making decisions and his
2:21
Speaker 2: movement quarterback.
2:23
Speaker 1: Not the only spot around the field where the depth
2:25
Speaker 1: chart is still getting sorted out a little bit. Let's
2:27
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about those tight ends. He's like
2:29
Speaker 1: g Scott and Wilkasmerica have sort of separated themselves at
2:32
Speaker 1: the top of the depth chart there at tight end.
2:35
Speaker 1: So there's also other talented guys in that room, guys
2:38
Speaker 1: like Jolanni Thurman for example. He's been incredibly talented, incredibly
2:42
Speaker 1: athletic player, so when people have been very excited about
2:45
Speaker 1: since the day he stepped foot on campus, So what
2:47
Speaker 1: does Jelanie Thurman need to do to get up there
2:49
Speaker 1: near the top of that tight end depth chart as well?
2:52
Speaker 1: This is one of the more honest and direct answers
2:55
Speaker 1: you're going to hear from a coach.
2:56
Speaker 2: So take a listen. That's a great question. Jelani has
2:59
Speaker 2: the talent. You know you've heard me say this before,
3:02
Speaker 2: but he has the talent, and you can watch, you know,
3:05
Speaker 2: a five to ten play cut up and be very
3:06
Speaker 2: very impressed. But you know he needs to be consistent.
3:11
Speaker 2: It's it's all the no talent issues with him, you know,
3:13
Speaker 2: it's the focus. You know, he made some plays, but
3:17
Speaker 2: then there was some plays that you know, we got
3:19
Speaker 2: to make that weren't and and so I love the
3:22
Speaker 2: way he competes, I love his approach, I love his attitude.
3:26
Speaker 2: But you know, in order to play tight end, you
3:28
Speaker 2: have to do a lot of job descriptions, so you
3:30
Speaker 2: really got to be on it every play, and all
3:32
Speaker 2: it takes is one bad play and I can ruin
3:34
Speaker 2: a whole drive at tight end. So we say that,
3:37
Speaker 2: you know, you have to run routes like a receiver,
3:39
Speaker 2: you have to block like an offensive alignment, you have
3:42
Speaker 2: to protect like a running back, and you have to
3:45
Speaker 2: know all of them. So after I would say the
3:47
Speaker 2: quarterback the tight ends are probably has to do with
3:49
Speaker 2: the most things. So you know, we try to do
3:53
Speaker 2: the best we can and keep it simple, but the
3:54
Speaker 2: reality of it is they're asked to do a lot,
3:56
Speaker 2: So he needs to continue to work in the meeting
3:59
Speaker 2: rooms to make sure that when he gets on that
4:01
Speaker 2: field he knows exactly what he's doing, because you know,
4:05
Speaker 2: we see a huge ceiling in him. He's made strides,
4:08
Speaker 2: he's had a good first couple weeks of camp, but
4:11
Speaker 2: we need him to come on in that area and
4:13
Speaker 2: just show more consistency. If he can, he'll play for
4:15
Speaker 2: us this season.
4:17
Speaker 1: There are a whole lot of things different about college
4:19
Speaker 1: football this fall, twelve team playoff, all that fun stuff,
4:23
Speaker 1: conference realignment. Here's a little more subtle one. All the
4:26
Speaker 1: players at Ohio State football practices are wearing pads on
4:30
Speaker 1: top of their helmets during practice. That's something we saw
4:34
Speaker 1: a little bit from certain guys last year. This year
4:37
Speaker 1: everyone's doing it. So how did that go from an
4:40
Speaker 1: occasional thing to an everyone thing this year?
4:43
Speaker 2: So we had a meeting here with doctor Lonzer, who
4:46
Speaker 2: is a neurosurgeon here on campus, and he's had a
4:48
Speaker 2: relationship with the NFL Subcommittee on Concussions and we you know,
4:53
Speaker 2: looked into it last year and allowed it to be
4:55
Speaker 2: optional for our players. And then he shared with us
4:58
Speaker 2: the data coming out of the NFL last season on
5:02
Speaker 2: you know, those who had guardian caps going against each other,
5:05
Speaker 2: and it was hard to not recognize that there was
5:08
Speaker 2: definitely an improvement in that area based on the data
5:11
Speaker 2: that we received. So we made it mandatory for our team.
5:14
Speaker 2: We brought doctor Lonzo in as a resource for any
5:17
Speaker 2: of our guys that had any questions regarding it. But
5:20
Speaker 2: the NFL that was their policy. Here in the preseason,
5:23
Speaker 2: we followed that and they're going to carry it into
5:26
Speaker 2: the the the season, is what I've been told. So
5:29
Speaker 2: how we're going to do the same thing, and you know,
5:32
Speaker 2: if it can protect our players and it's safe, then
5:34
Speaker 2: we'll do that. We just wanted to see the data.
5:37
Speaker 2: The data has shown that we should do it, and
5:38
Speaker 2: so that's what we're doing, and the guys have embraced that.
5:40
Speaker 2: There was really no pushback from our players.
5:43
Speaker 1: And just to clarify something from that answer, he said
5:46
Speaker 1: it was going to carry into the season. There was
5:48
Speaker 1: a follow up question later, just getting making sure everyone understood, No,
5:52
Speaker 1: it is not going to be during games. It's just
5:54
Speaker 1: they're going to continue wearing them during practice even into
5:57
Speaker 1: the season. So just during practice not so okay, there
6:00
Speaker 1: you go, So have the Buckeyes recently just named ten
6:06
Speaker 1: players as Iron Buckeyes for their work in the weight room,
6:09
Speaker 1: putting in the work, having a good attitude, being disciplined,
6:13
Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff. Three of those ten guys
6:16
Speaker 1: on the whole team were from the offensive line, Josh Fryar,
6:19
Speaker 1: Donovan Jackson, and Carson Hinsman. So you know, that feels
6:23
Speaker 1: like just sort of the latest sign that things are
6:25
Speaker 1: maybe going to be very different in the offensive line
6:28
Speaker 1: room this year than they were a year ago. It's
6:31
Speaker 1: like we're hearing a lot of good things there. So
6:33
Speaker 1: how is Ryan Day feeling about that offensive line?
6:35
Speaker 2: An offensive line is definitely a developmental position and there's
6:39
Speaker 2: just so much that comes with it. And I think
6:41
Speaker 2: having both tackles, the left guard, you know, Carson Seth.
6:46
Speaker 2: These guys now have experience, they play, they know what
6:48
Speaker 2: it takes. So when you're in the off season, you
6:50
Speaker 2: just you know what you're up against them this you
6:52
Speaker 2: know where you need to get yourself in terms of
6:54
Speaker 2: understanding scheme, but also just physically being able to wear
6:57
Speaker 2: teams down and play in your best in the fourth quarter.
7:00
Speaker 2: So there has been a different approach to that. Another
7:02
Speaker 2: one thing is we do have a little bit of
7:04
Speaker 2: a funky virus going on with that group right there,
7:07
Speaker 2: so they've been kind of in and out. We're hoping
7:08
Speaker 2: to flush that out by the end of the week
7:10
Speaker 2: because it's you know, created a little bit of guys
7:13
Speaker 2: in and out. But but other than that, they've had
7:16
Speaker 2: a great, great off season and we're hoping that we
7:18
Speaker 2: can kind of, you know, get a rhythm with those
7:20
Speaker 2: guys here, you know, heading into next week.
7:22
Speaker 1: Another spot where Ryan Day seems like he's feeling pretty
7:24
Speaker 1: good is about the safeties. Got Laithan Ransom back after
7:28
Speaker 1: missing the end of last season with an injury. Added
7:32
Speaker 1: Caleb Downs. What does that mean those two guys and
7:36
Speaker 1: let's start with Layson Lathan Ransom. What does that mean
7:38
Speaker 1: to get those guys back for the defense this year?
7:42
Speaker 2: Well, I just love being around Lathan. I just I
7:44
Speaker 2: just love him as a person, but I just love
7:46
Speaker 2: being around him. He's just he goes so hard, he
7:48
Speaker 2: cares so much. There's just there's there's no you know,
7:53
Speaker 2: messing around. You know, he means business and but he's
7:56
Speaker 2: also got a big heart and he's a great teammate.
7:58
Speaker 2: And you know, when he decided I had to come back.
8:00
Speaker 2: That was a big deal for our entire defense and
8:02
Speaker 2: our entire team. And so, you know, I love being
8:05
Speaker 2: around Lathan. He's a competitive guy, plays really really hard,
8:08
Speaker 2: and he's poised to have a great, great season. And
8:11
Speaker 2: then he and Caleb back there, and you got Jordan
8:13
Speaker 2: at Nicol, and then you know Denzel and igb and
8:16
Speaker 2: you know, you feel Jermaine Matthews every day out there.
8:18
Speaker 2: I'm only Carford showing some different things. I mean, there's
8:21
Speaker 2: a a swagger and a strut with that defense right now.
8:25
Speaker 2: They love to compete. They love going against each other.
8:27
Speaker 2: They kind of go back and forth with the whiteouts
8:29
Speaker 2: every day and the tight ends every day in practice.
8:31
Speaker 2: I mean, if the offensive line wants to go against them,
8:33
Speaker 2: they'll do that too. It's just the way they are.
8:35
Speaker 2: They love competing and even just at the end of
8:38
Speaker 2: practice there when we're doing our finishers and they're parking
8:41
Speaker 2: because there's competition going on. So they're a gritty group.
8:44
Speaker 2: But that starts with the older guys, and Lathan's one
8:46
Speaker 2: of them.
8:47
Speaker 1: Now a little more on the tight ends. Talked about
8:49
Speaker 1: Jolannie Thurman earlier. Now let's hear about two of the
8:51
Speaker 1: guys who are ahead of him on the depth start
8:53
Speaker 1: seemingly right now, Gee, Scott and Wilkes Merrick, Where are
8:56
Speaker 1: those two guys right now in terms of pecking order
8:59
Speaker 1: and roles on the team this year.
9:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're both gonna play. It's you know, eleven and twelve,
9:04
Speaker 2: so we'll figure out where they fit into those. You know,
9:07
Speaker 2: there's a lot that comes with playing tight end. You know,
9:09
Speaker 2: Cade really two years ago probably played maybe too many snaps.
9:13
Speaker 2: I mean it was a lot of snaps for him.
9:15
Speaker 2: We tried to help him out a little bit last year,
9:17
Speaker 2: so you know, there's gonna be plenty of snaps to
9:19
Speaker 2: go around. You know, it's gonna be one of those
9:20
Speaker 2: deals where you know, does he deserve to play? If yes,
9:23
Speaker 2: we'll draw that line and roll those guys. But you know,
9:28
Speaker 2: we're we're looking for them to be able to do
9:29
Speaker 2: multiple things. You know, I don't know if you know,
9:32
Speaker 2: all the guys in that room have the same exact
9:34
Speaker 2: skill set. So we'll figure that out as we get
9:36
Speaker 2: closer to the first game. But but ultimately, you know,
9:40
Speaker 2: there they all can play why, and they all can
9:42
Speaker 2: play H and you know, I'm hoping that you know,
9:45
Speaker 2: Bennett can come along. I'm hoping Jelani can take that
9:47
Speaker 2: next step. We're seeing some good things out of Max.
9:51
Speaker 2: You know, Pat Gerd is another guy who's been around
9:53
Speaker 2: the program for a while that you know, is a
9:55
Speaker 2: guy that we hope we can rely on as well.
9:56
Speaker 2: And some of the packages that we have, so I
9:59
Speaker 2: know Coach Bailey's working hard to get those guys game ready.
10:02
Speaker 1: One of the many, many, many, many new things about
10:05
Speaker 1: college football this year is the addition of helmet communications
10:09
Speaker 1: radios in the helmets just like you kind of had
10:11
Speaker 1: in the NFL for years with the green dot and
10:13
Speaker 1: the quarterback and the Mike linebacker and all that kind
10:15
Speaker 1: of stuff that is coming to college this year. We've
10:17
Speaker 1: talked about that a few times, but the Buck guys
10:19
Speaker 1: have now gotten to work with a lot more in
10:21
Speaker 1: practice than they had the last time. We talked to
10:23
Speaker 1: Ryan Day about it back at Big ten Media Days.
10:25
Speaker 1: So how is that going to impact things on the
10:27
Speaker 1: field this fall.
10:28
Speaker 2: I think it's going to be interesting to see because
10:31
Speaker 2: you know, up until fifteen seconds, thefts coordinator can talk
10:33
Speaker 2: to the linebacker and the off cordinator can talk to
10:37
Speaker 2: the quarterback. So I'm sure it's gonna be a point
10:40
Speaker 2: where both of those guys are going to be like,
10:41
Speaker 2: will you please shut up and let me play football?
10:43
Speaker 2: But I think it's going to be different. What we
10:47
Speaker 2: haven't experienced yet is and I got to I got
10:50
Speaker 2: to figure this out going into next week. Is like
10:52
Speaker 2: at fifteen seconds when that thing shuts off, what that's
10:55
Speaker 2: going to be like, because right now, you know, we're
10:56
Speaker 2: still communicating through that. But it is different. It is
11:00
Speaker 2: different how we're doing it, and there's gonna be multiple
11:04
Speaker 2: tempos that come with it. Again, at the end of
11:08
Speaker 2: the day, footballs football, So whether we're signaling or communicating
11:11
Speaker 2: it in you know, we all have to be on
11:13
Speaker 2: the same page and play the game. But there is
11:15
Speaker 2: some nuance to it that we're working through.
11:18
Speaker 1: At Big ten media days, Ryan Day also talked about
11:20
Speaker 1: the need to find sort of the quality depth at
11:22
Speaker 1: wide receiver. Felt like they had a pretty good top
11:24
Speaker 1: three and then they needed some other guys to step up.
11:26
Speaker 1: It sounds like now Ryan Day feels like Brandon Innes
11:30
Speaker 1: is stepping up to take on a bigger role this fall.
11:32
Speaker 1: So where does he fit with the receivers.
11:36
Speaker 2: I've heard people talk about almost building a basketball team,
11:39
Speaker 2: you know, different sizes and when you look at you know,
11:41
Speaker 2: Carnell and a Mecca and Jeremiah, and then you look
11:44
Speaker 2: at Brandon, I mean they're all different sizes, and then
11:47
Speaker 2: Brandon's built load of the ground, but just super competitive.
11:51
Speaker 2: I mean we say this all the time, like can
11:53
Speaker 2: you can you see a guy play? Yeah? But can
11:54
Speaker 2: you feel a guy when he's out there? You feel
11:56
Speaker 2: eleven when he's out there. It's just the way he plays,
11:58
Speaker 2: and he's competing his tail off and you know he's
12:01
Speaker 2: john back and forth with guy. He loves the competition
12:03
Speaker 2: and and I just liked that part of part of
12:06
Speaker 2: his game. And he has toughness. I think when the
12:08
Speaker 2: ball's in his hand. You know, he's a strong runner.
12:11
Speaker 2: You know, he's played some quarterback in high school. He's
12:13
Speaker 2: played some running back in high school. I mean he's
12:15
Speaker 2: he's done a lot. He can return. He's very versatile
12:18
Speaker 2: that way. So you know he's if he continues to
12:22
Speaker 2: build and he's not perfect. I mean there's things he's
12:24
Speaker 2: got to get better at, but you know we're going
12:27
Speaker 2: to count on him to be a key contributor this year.
12:30
Speaker 1: You heard him kind of make mention earlier, just sort
12:32
Speaker 1: of been passing about a bug going around the offensive
12:34
Speaker 1: line room that a lot of guys sick and missing
12:37
Speaker 1: practice here and there. Three three guys, three prominent offensive
12:41
Speaker 1: lineman miss practice on Thursday. So how has that impacted
12:44
Speaker 1: things in practice?
12:46
Speaker 2: It hasn't. It hasn't really affected us. Yet. It did
12:48
Speaker 2: a little bit today. We had a couple of things
12:50
Speaker 2: show up and so, you know, a couple of guys
12:52
Speaker 2: in the offensive line had to double up and I
12:54
Speaker 2: called him out after practice and gave him a shout
12:57
Speaker 2: out because that wasn't easy. It wasn't all perfect, but
12:59
Speaker 2: they were. They were tough and gritty and really guided
13:02
Speaker 2: it out. You know, if this continues like this, then
13:05
Speaker 2: it is going to have an effect. You know, if
13:06
Speaker 2: we can kind of flush this out here pretty soon,
13:08
Speaker 2: then I think it'll be just just a bump in
13:10
Speaker 2: a road. So we'll see how this this weekend shakes out.
13:15
Speaker 1: Earlier mentioned the ten guys named iron Buckeyes, that three
13:17
Speaker 1: of them were offensive lineman. Well, how about this. Nine
13:20
Speaker 1: of the ten guys named Iron Buckeyes this year were
13:22
Speaker 1: third year players or later. So the third, fourth, fifth
13:25
Speaker 1: year players. Okay, yeah, sure, it makes sense. Those are
13:27
Speaker 1: guys the veterans. They know what to do, they're more
13:30
Speaker 1: physically developed, they're probably more focused, got the you know,
13:33
Speaker 1: the NFL potentially looming next season. So yeah, sure, totally
13:36
Speaker 1: makes sense. The tenth guy, nine of the ten third
13:40
Speaker 1: years or later, the tenth guy is through freshman. Go
13:43
Speaker 1: ahead and say it with me, Jeremiah Smith. Yes, he
13:45
Speaker 1: is sort of the answer to every question that a
13:47
Speaker 1: freshman is not normally the answer to this time of year,
13:50
Speaker 1: just keeps showing up in places that freshmen don't ever
13:53
Speaker 1: show up. It was sort of I think they basically
13:56
Speaker 1: said that this was the first freshman to ever be
13:58
Speaker 1: named an ironbuck eye. That was more or less official. So,
14:02
Speaker 1: you know, just remarkable. Once again, So what has Ryan
14:06
Speaker 1: Day seen from Jeremiah Smith that has made him do
14:10
Speaker 1: accomplish all of these things? And what has he seen
14:13
Speaker 1: from Jeremiah Smith in battles going up against really really
14:17
Speaker 1: top level veteran corners every day in practice?
14:21
Speaker 2: He loves it. That's who we were up in, you know,
14:24
Speaker 2: up in the training table the other day. And so
14:26
Speaker 2: that's why I came here to get better. And you know,
14:28
Speaker 2: I'm going against these guys and learning about myself and
14:31
Speaker 2: I just I love his spirit. He's so competitive, you know,
14:35
Speaker 2: for somebody who's talented he is. First off, he's strong
14:37
Speaker 2: and he's powerful and he's big, but it's his work
14:40
Speaker 2: ethic to me that just jumps out. He's physically tough.
14:44
Speaker 2: I mean physically he'll get after you, but also when
14:46
Speaker 2: he gets out there, very very few m as for
14:48
Speaker 2: a young player. He takes his his game very very seriously.
14:52
Speaker 2: He puts the work in off the field, you know,
14:55
Speaker 2: and if he doesn't, you know, make the play. He's
14:58
Speaker 2: hard on himself. And so you know, rare do you
15:01
Speaker 2: find somebody who's his talented He has, but has really
15:04
Speaker 2: good discipline and skill at that age. So we haven't
15:07
Speaker 2: played the game yet, but you know he's building a
15:09
Speaker 2: lot of respect amongst his teammates for sure.
15:13
Speaker 1: This one was a great observation by Bill Landis.
15:16
Speaker 2: He pointed out, you know.
15:17
Speaker 1: Will Howard just used these these little movements to buy
15:20
Speaker 1: time in the pocket. You know, he doesn't he's not
15:22
Speaker 1: the he doesn't have to like run around like Michael
15:24
Speaker 1: Vick or outsprint people. He just kind of can kind
15:26
Speaker 1: of dip and dodge and whatever else they said in
15:28
Speaker 1: that movie, No wrenches, but lots of defensive linemen coming
15:31
Speaker 1: at him, and he seems to just sort of be
15:33
Speaker 1: able to get around that to a certain degree. So
15:35
Speaker 1: how do you teach a skill like that to the
15:38
Speaker 1: younger guys.
15:40
Speaker 2: I think about these things a lot. I remember when
15:45
Speaker 2: each guy is a little bit different. But you know,
15:48
Speaker 2: let's take justin for example, that first spring. The minute
15:52
Speaker 2: he fell to rush, he would just start scrambling. I
15:54
Speaker 2: don't know if you guys remember that, but he was
15:56
Speaker 2: out of the pocket fast. And so you know, we
15:59
Speaker 2: just made a rule. You're not allowed to scramble. You
16:02
Speaker 2: have to stay in the pocket. You have to slide.
16:03
Speaker 2: The difference like Tom Brady couldn't scramble really, and so
16:06
Speaker 2: what did he do? He still extended plays. How did
16:09
Speaker 2: he do that? He slid in the pocket. He found
16:10
Speaker 2: the soft spot he could feel when the three technique
16:13
Speaker 2: was in his face, and they would just slide to
16:14
Speaker 2: buy himself a little bit of time. When guys are
16:17
Speaker 2: more athletic and they can escape, they find themselves using
16:20
Speaker 2: that as a tool, which is fine. But we kept
16:23
Speaker 2: him in the pocket. And then with CJ. CJ. In
16:25
Speaker 2: high school, you could see that, you know, his his
16:28
Speaker 2: offensive line at times wasn't great, and so he was
16:31
Speaker 2: he would have had to stand in the pocket, and
16:33
Speaker 2: he would stand in the pocket. And that was something
16:36
Speaker 2: he even got in high school and then he learned
16:38
Speaker 2: it more when he was here. And I think with
16:41
Speaker 2: young guys, especially with all the seven on seven that
16:44
Speaker 2: goes on, it's so unrealistic, you know. And I think
16:48
Speaker 2: sometimes you know, they train a little bit different at
16:52
Speaker 2: quarterback where like, and it's hard because when you're working
16:55
Speaker 2: with a quarterback, you want to help them learn that
16:58
Speaker 2: you have to move in the pocket, But some times
17:00
Speaker 2: you move so much that like you don't need to
17:04
Speaker 2: move in that pocket. You were fine, you were protected.
17:06
Speaker 2: You know. There's like this rhythm that you have to feel.
17:09
Speaker 2: You can't look at the rush. You have to feel
17:12
Speaker 2: the rush and you have to feel the soft spots,
17:14
Speaker 2: and like you said, it's very very hard. I mean,
17:16
Speaker 2: how can you replicate that? Do some guys innately feel it? Yes?
17:21
Speaker 2: But I think more than more than anything, it's a
17:24
Speaker 2: thing that you just need to get, you know, the
17:26
Speaker 2: rush in front of them. And the more and more
17:28
Speaker 2: they do it, the more and more comfortable they'll they'll
17:31
Speaker 2: be the better protection you have, the quicker it'll come along.
17:36
Speaker 2: And I've seen quarterbacks, you know, when I was in
17:38
Speaker 2: the NFL in different places where if they don't get
17:40
Speaker 2: any protection, they start seeing ghosts because you know, when
17:43
Speaker 2: you're in the pocket, you take one of the chops.
17:45
Speaker 2: A few times I remember happened to Duwayne out here.
17:48
Speaker 2: I want to say it was the maybe Minnesota game,
17:51
Speaker 2: or if maybe it was a Nebraska game. We missed
17:54
Speaker 2: a blitz coming off the edge and he took one.
17:56
Speaker 2: He didn't he never saw it coming. He didn't set
17:58
Speaker 2: his feet the rest of the game. So there's a
18:00
Speaker 2: lot that comes with what you're asking, and I could
18:02
Speaker 2: probably talk about it for a few hours, but the
18:04
Speaker 2: bottom line is we want to train our guys to
18:07
Speaker 2: see down the field, feel the pocket, and really try
18:10
Speaker 2: to find ways to slide and find the soft spot
18:12
Speaker 2: in there, and then when it's time to extend and escape,
18:13
Speaker 2: then do that.
18:15
Speaker 1: And finally, this is year three of the Jim Knowles defense.
18:19
Speaker 1: The year before Noles came in, they were just an
18:21
Speaker 1: absolute dumpster fire in twenty twenty one. Twenty twenty two
18:25
Speaker 1: certainly had some steps in the right direction, but gave
18:28
Speaker 1: up just a few too many big plays and big moments.
18:31
Speaker 1: Twenty twenty three, another big step forward. Defense really was
18:34
Speaker 1: one of the nation's best. Now heading into twenty twenty four,
18:38
Speaker 1: boy oh boy, they could be better than one of
18:41
Speaker 1: the nation's best this year. So how far has that
18:44
Speaker 1: defense really come in Jim Noles three years and how
18:47
Speaker 1: much does that change things for Ryan Day as a
18:51
Speaker 1: head coach when he's looking at this team.
18:52
Speaker 2: On the whole. Well, I think two things. One, I'm
18:55
Speaker 2: able to sit in those meetings a little bit more
18:56
Speaker 2: so I have a better idea what's going on. Which
19:00
Speaker 2: when when you're on the offensive side of the ball
19:02
Speaker 2: and you don't quite know you know, the answers to
19:05
Speaker 2: what the problems are, you can get a little panicky
19:08
Speaker 2: and and I think it's helped me to go in
19:09
Speaker 2: there and sit in there and ask questions. And Jim's
19:11
Speaker 2: been great just you know, fill me in on some
19:13
Speaker 2: different things, but also just where we're at in the
19:16
Speaker 2: year three. I mean, these guys have been in the
19:18
Speaker 2: been in that system now for three years, and you
19:21
Speaker 2: know a lot of them played a lot of football.
19:23
Speaker 2: So you know, when you're when you're speaking a language,
19:26
Speaker 2: it makes a big difference if you've been speaking the
19:28
Speaker 2: same language for three years, you know, the mistakes that
19:30
Speaker 2: have been made, you know, the issues with with the coverage,
19:34
Speaker 2: and then when when Jim's calling the defense, like they
19:37
Speaker 2: start to understand why, you know, we talk about this
19:39
Speaker 2: all the time. You know, what, what do you have
19:41
Speaker 2: to do? How do you do it? But then why
19:42
Speaker 2: is he calling He's calling that coverage for a reason,
19:44
Speaker 2: He's calling his botz for a reason. And when guys
19:47
Speaker 2: can get that that, then they can start anticipating as
19:49
Speaker 2: a post to reacting. So yeah, it definitely is one
19:53
Speaker 2: of those things this year, Like, you know, we have
19:55
Speaker 2: a good defense, so we need to understand that on offense,
19:57
Speaker 2: Like they're not two separate entities. We're all all one
20:00
Speaker 2: one together. And I'm hoping this year that you know,
20:03
Speaker 2: having Chip here and me kind of being able to
20:05
Speaker 2: step away just a little bit, I'm able to do
20:07
Speaker 2: that better than I have maybe in the past.
20:09
Speaker 1: We will be back at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center
20:11
Speaker 1: on Friday. Got interviews with wide receivers, got interviews with corners,
20:15
Speaker 1: So there's gonna be a lot of interesting stuff to
20:16
Speaker 1: talk about. There got plenty more to talk about as
20:19
Speaker 1: well at Buckeye huddle dot com. That's where Tony, Kevin
20:21
Speaker 1: and I covered the team, Mark covers recruiting, got our
20:23
Speaker 1: whole team of exus and those grews there, making you
20:26
Speaker 1: a smarter football fan all at buckeyehuddle dot com. Also
20:29
Speaker 1: make sure you check us out at YouTube dot com
20:31
Speaker 1: slash Buckey Huddle. We've had lots of coverage there all
20:34
Speaker 1: week long, a very very busy week of coverage. We'll
20:36
Speaker 1: have more coming for you next week as well. Lots
20:39
Speaker 1: of stuff to talk about as the Buckeyes head into
20:41
Speaker 1: the home stretch for that season opening game against Akron
20:45
Speaker 1: in just twenty two days. It's almost here. Might start
20:48
Speaker 1: wanting to plan out that tailgate, all that fun stuff.
20:51
Speaker 2: Almost there.
20:52
Speaker 1: We almost made it through the off season. We can
20:54
Speaker 1: enjoy the rest of the off season and then what
20:56
Speaker 1: should be a really fun and exciting fall. Columpus a
20:59
Speaker 1: high with us at buckeyehuddle dot com.
21:01
Speaker 2: That'll do it for today.
21:02
Speaker 1: Thank you guys all for joining us. Have a great day.
21:04
Speaker 2: We'll talk to you tomorrow.