With the first month of games in the books and the fifth game of the season at Nebraska coming up this weekend, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day met with the media for his weekly press conference on Tuesday, and he was joined by special teams coordinator Matt Barnes and wide receivers coach Brian Hartline.
We're updating this post with notes from each of their press conferences today, while updates from defensive tackle Jashon Cornell, left guard Jonah Jackson, wide receiver Austin Mack and quarterback Justin Fields will follow in a second post.
Ryan Day:
- "We've got a real big challenge ahead of us this week." Said Nebraska is "by far" the most talented team Ohio State has played so far this season.
- On Garrett Wilson's role as a punt returner: "I think it's going to progress ... the more he can take on, the better for him. He's still a young player, but the more he can take on, the more we'll give him."
- On Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez: "Adrian's a very talented young man. Great kid. We recruited him. I spent a lot of time with him ... On the field, he's big and strong and powerful. He's very athletic ... You got to get him on the ground, which is not easy ... Throwing the ball, he's really accurate. So I think when you combine that together, his ability to run and throw, he is the best quarterback by far we've seen."
- On Wisconsin: "They're off to a great start." Said he has only seen highlights of the Badgers, but is impressed with what he's seen.
- On Jeff Okudah: "I think he has done a great job of taking on the technique that Jeff is teaching him."
- "We have to be able to play 60 minutes and prove that we can play 60 minutes." The Buckeyes haven't had to do that yet because their first four games have all been lopsided.
- On preparing for a night game: "You can't go win the game at 10:30 in the morning." Said the coaches have to build up in their preparation over the course of the day so that they don't get them too jacked up hours before kickoff.
- On Isaiah Pryor's decision to transfer: "We wish him nothing but the best. We're obviously disappointed that he made the decision to leave the program four games in ... but there's no ill will there." Day said he still feels good about the Buckeyes' depth at safety, though, with Josh Proctor, Jahsen Wint and Marcus Hooker all being options to play at safety behind Jordan Fuller.
- Day said it was "critical" to make sure that special teams remained just as much of an emphasis this year as it was when Urban Meyer was coach. Matt Barnes leads the Buckeyes' special teams efforts, but every coach is involved in special teams, and Day attends every special teams meeting.
- On true freshman wide receiver Jameson Williams: "When Jameson got here, we knew his track times were off the charts ... but what we didn't know was how tough he was ... that really impressed all of us." Said he believes Williams has a "really bright future."
- Day said Nebraska hybrid back/receiver Wan'Dale Robinson reminds him of Purdue's Rondale Moore. "He's really dynamic."
- Day compared Ohio State to a prize fighter: "If you ever let your guard down, somebody's going to knock you out."
- This week's game is Ohio State's "first real challenge as a team," Day said.
- Day said Adrian Martinez was "very close" to getting a scholarship offer from Ohio State. "It was just hard for us because there was no senior film, and at the end of the day, we just weren't sure," because Martinez had a shoulder injury his senior year. But Day "had a feeling he was going to be a special player."
- "I am proud to say that I think we're playing hard, we're playing tough, we're playing clean, not a lot of turnovers."
- Day said he does not know what uniform Nebraska will wear on Saturday.
- On Nebraska's 42-38 win against Illinois: "I think they pretty much dominated the whole game, they just turned the ball over. If they didn't turn the ball over, I don't think that game's even close."
- On Justin Fields: "He has grown, for sure, and he will continue to grow. He has a good approach to him, and he's got the right mindset, but there's going to be adversity along the way, and he's got to handle that."
- Is it more telling what you see in practice or what you see in games? "It's both. Because you practice more than you play. And what you see in practice, you typically see in the game."
- Day said the new defensive scheme, in which the Buckeyes are only using one deep safety on most plays, has changed the way they are recruiting at the safety position.
- Day said he prefers for less conversation on the headset during games rather than everyone trying to speak over each other. Wants assistant coaches to speak up when they need to speak up, but not to be talking constantly.
Matt Barnes:
- Barnes said Ohio State already had a great culture on special teams when he arrived, so he's just tried to build on that. Said the Buckeyes' best players come to him wanting to play on special teams.
- Barnes said the Buckeyes used Dawand Jones on the field goal block team against Cincinnati because they felt the kicker did not get as much lift on the ball, which made Jones' 6-foot-8 height an advantage. Said there is more that goes into blocking field goals than just being tall, though.
- On the difference between Ohio State's special teams culture and other schools he's coached at: "No place has been like here."
- Barnes credited Bryson Shaw with getting Garrett Wilson's 52-yard punt return started with a key block on Saturday. Said Wilson has impressed him on punt returns and Jameson Williams has also played really hard on special teams.
- On Garrett Wilson as a punt returner: "He's aggressive. He's going to go attack the ball. That's where it starts."
- On Nebraska: "I think they're pretty good on special teams." Said he expects the Cornhuskers to shore up the issues they've had in the kicking game.
- On safety depth: "I think we have some young guys that are extremely talented."
- Barnes correctly guessed when asked that Ohio State last returned a kickoff for a touchdown in 2010 and that Ohio State last returned a punt for a touchdown in 2014.
- On Demario McCall as a kickoff returner: "I've been on the wrong end of that one before," referring to last year when McCall had a crucial long kickoff return late in the game against Maryland, when Barnes was the Terrapins' special teams coordinator.
Brian Hartline:
- On Jameson Williams: "The impact he's having in our receiver room is growing." Said he views Chris Olave as a good example for Williams, as Williams is in a similar position now to where Olave was last year as a true freshman.
- On his room as a whole: "I think the guys have prepared to get better every week." He said his receivers understand that they need to continue to grow as the season progresses, and what was good enough in Week 1 might not be good enough in Week 12.
- On Binjimen Victor: "He's been a huge leader in our room. He's doing a great job on the field. And he'll even tell you, he can be better."
- How deep can the receiver rotation go? "It's on them." Said the way they perform in practice determines how many reps they'll get.
- Hartline said the Buckeyes want to have more receivers who are ready to play than are actually playing regularly than the other way around. He believes they have a lot of receivers who are ready to play, but there's only so many snaps to go around.
- On Garrett Wilson's progression from the start of the season to now: "I think Garrett's progression has been really good."
- Hartline said he still uses clips of Terry McLaurin, Parris Campbell and Johnnie Dixon in the meeting room as examples of how to do things the right way. He said he doesn't think he needs to talk much about how well McLaurin is doing in the NFL right now, though, because the players already see that on social media.
- Is it possible to ever have too many good receivers on the roster? "I don't think it's a negative. I think it adds a dynamic." Hartline acknowledges there are challenges to keeping everyone happy when there's only so much playing time to go around, but he wants to have as many great receivers as possible.
