Latest / Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning / Bonus Episode: Is Ryan Day Expecting A Rebuilding Year On Defense?

Transcript

Bonus Episode: Is Ryan Day Expecting A Rebuilding Year On Defense? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, we got another bonus episode for you. This
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: one is gonna be Ryan Day, and it's just gonna
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: be focused on the defensive side of the ball and
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: one of the areas where there's been a lot of
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: conversation this fall has been around the linebacker room. So
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: trying to replace Sonny Styles, trying to replace Arvel Reeves.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: That is not an easy task to replace one former
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: NFL top top ten draft pick let alone too. So
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: where do things stand right now with that position group? Now,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: this answer, I'm going to let you know. This answer
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: here starts with TJ. Alfred and Riley Petty John, which
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: is just kind of interesting, but it sounds like there's
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: going to be a lot of mixing and matching in
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: that linebacker room this fall.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm actually going to start with TJ and Riley
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: because I think both of those guys are putting in
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: a lot of good work. You know, ste Stove in there,
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: and you know again they're they're they're doing a good
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: job on special teams, which is only going to lead
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: to them playing on the field. They're showing up. Watched
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: the film and see how they did and the live
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: work today and then Peyton and Christian have been solid.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: So again another room that we feel like we have
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: depth in, you know, and I think James feels that
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: feels that way. I think you will see us rotate
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: guys and trying to figure out how all those pieces work.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: You know, as you know, Matt and James and you
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: know everybody there on defense does a good job of
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: making sure we put guys in the right position, and
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: so we want to maximize their skill sets. You know,
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: all four of those guys sort of have different skill sets,
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: which is good, and there's certain things they do the same,
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: but they're into it. You know, they're you know, they're
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: they're making the calls. You know, they recognize you know,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: plays quickly and diagnosed plays quickly. They'll i mean they
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: look good when you know they come off the bus.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: And so again, just nine practices in, but excited about
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: that room. In terms of being on the play depth
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: of season.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: I'm going to talk a little bit about the special
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: teams on this show as well, and the kicking position
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: in particular, because I know that is one that has
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: gotten a lot of interest in Ohio State fans over
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: the last year or so. Buck guys went into the
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: portal added two different kickers through the portal. Connor Hawkins,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: that's the name. You've probably heard a bunch about it.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: He came over from Baylor with a lot of fanfare.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: He has quite a track record there and has won
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: some games for the Baylor Bears, so hoping he can
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: do that for them this year. They also brought in
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: Marcelo Diomede from Notre Dame. He's got a big leg.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: He may have a whole separate role from Connor Hawkins
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: on this year's team. Brian Day was asked how things
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: are going at that kicker position and what to expect
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: from each of those guys.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Connor has has done a good job. He made
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: a couple a couple of nice kicks for us today
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: and some pressure spots that we want to challenge him
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: with and we'll continue to do that throughout camp. I
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: think the consistency with the snap and the hold and
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: the kick has been good. And but now we just
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: got to go put put him in these situations in
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: practice where there's a lot of pressure and see how
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: he responds. His past would tell you that he will
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: respond to well, and so we've seen that so far
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: in practice. But you know, we'll see. Marcelo, you know,
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: has a really strong leg, and so it gives us
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: an opportunity to have somebody to help with the kickoffs
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: and also long field goals at times. So still early
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: in camp, but that's what he brings, a really strong
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: leg to the table.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: This is going to be a very new look to
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: the Ohio State defense. They lost eight starters off of
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: last year's defense, including Caleb Downs, Buddy Styles, Rvel Reese
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: who were all first round picks. Lost Kid McDonald who
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: was the second round pick, lost Kyateen Curry. I mean,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: they lost a ton of talent off of that defense.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: So it seems reasonable to think, Okay, there's going to
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: be a step back this year. It almost has to
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: be a step back this year after last year's team
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: was one of the best, if not the best defense
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: in program history. But doesn't sound like that's the way
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: that the team or the program or the coaching staff
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: is approaching things.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's no like rebuilding of anything around here, as
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: you know, So like that's the standard, the standards of standard.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: And I think that all the guys on the defensive
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: staff and the players would tell you the same thing.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: They're expecting me the best defense in the country, and
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: same thing on offense. But that being said, different group
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: of guys. And it's one thing to you know, play
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: in that role where you're coming in and playing fifteen
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: to twenty steps. Another thing to carry all the water
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: and carry the burden of making the plays and the
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: number of plays that it's going to require throughout the season.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: So I think guys are learning and getting playing into
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: those roles. But the potential is there and and honestly,
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: the experience is there, just not altogether. Here at Ohio State.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: There's some guys who played football, so you know, well,
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: we'll see. But it is like literally I said all
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: the time, a race against time to get better, and
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: you know the coaches understand that, and and so this
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: is this will be a big week, I think for
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: the defense to see, you know, where it can take
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: the next step, where it can continue to improve. Because yeah,
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: to your point, you know, there's no like, Okay, well,
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: you know, we'll kind of figure this out and you know,
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: get it, get it figured out halfway through the season.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: It's not going to work that way. But but there's
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: nobody in the building that would say that. I think
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: they all understand what needs to get done.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: And then there was a question about the three transferred
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: defensive lineman James Smith and Quay Rusaw who transferred in
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: from Alabama, John Walker who transferred in from UCF. How
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: much can they do this year? How much are they
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: going to play this year? How important are they to
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: this year's Ohio State defense and defensive line? And what
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: will they mean to this year's team. You'll hear that
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: answer and then a quick follow up from Bill Rebinowitz.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: Well, we need them to have a major impact. You know,
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: we're counting on that. And there's been a lot of good.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: I think I'm interested to see what it looked like
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: today when we were you know, these some of these
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: sustained drives, because when we watch the team work where
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: you get four plays and you're out and the two's
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: come in and the four plays, you know, it's there's
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: a lot of good. There a lot of good. But
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: the question for defensive linement is can you consistently do
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: it over an extend a period of time and during
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: a drive? And I'd like to see what that looks
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: like today. But there's certainly more than capable, and you know,
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: and we're counting on them, and I think that they
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: understand that part of it and gotten really good with
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: their strike in their hands and have great attitudes. Of
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: the three everge more than the others, No, I wouldn't
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: say that. I mean they're all a little bit different.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: You know. John is big, strong and powerful. James is
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: a little quicker, you know, and they're very disruptive and
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: then quays a little bit more on the edge and
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: pass rusher. It can do some things in the flat,
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: you know. He's very versatile on what he does.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: All right, that will do it for now. That is
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: your bonus share, your newest bonus show for you. We
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: will probably have more of those coming up this week.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: We've got more interviews coming up. We'll have more practice
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: reports coming up. We will have more everything for you
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: at Buckeye Insiders dot com. We would love to see
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: you there. You can just go to the front page
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: of Buckeye Insiders dot com. We've got lots of reporting
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: on the team, on recruiting, on x's and o's, on basketball.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: You can find all that there at Buckeye Insiders dot com.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: But if you want to dive even deeper, be even
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: more ready for the season. We would love to see
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: you on the Insiders Board. You hit that subscribe button
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: right on the front page get access to our whole
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: team of insiders, ask us anything you want to do.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: As we've said before, we can generally share a lot
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: more information there on the Insiders Board than we can
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: share publicly on shows, on YouTube shows, or on podcasts.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: So you want to dive a little deeper on the
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six Ohio State Buckeyes, the place to do
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: it is on the Insiders Board at buckeyeinsiders dot com.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: We hope to see you there. That'll do it for now.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Thank you guys all for joining us. We'll talk to
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: you later on