Arkansas State Notebook: Josh Proctor Stays in Starting Lineup, Mike Hall Shines Again and Ryan Day Displeased with Penalties

When Ryan Day held his final pregame media availability of the week on Thursday, he indicated that Lathan Ransom would likely start at safety against Arkansas State, but left the door open for the possibility that Josh Proctor could remain in the starting lineup despite his benching against Notre Dame.

“That would be the plan going in,” Day said when asked Thursday if Ransom would start this week. “But let's see what happens towards the end of the week, and I'll check with Jim (Knowles) and I'll check with Perry (Eliano) and get their feedback, and we'll make the final decision as we head into Saturday.”

That final decision turned out to be keeping Proctor in the starting lineup for Saturday’s game against the Red Wolves.

Ransom still saw a healthy amount of playing time off the bench on Saturday, as the Buckeyes rotated more defensively against Arkansas State as they did in the season opener against the Fighting Irish. But it was Proctor who got the call to go on the field first at the bandit position, and he was appreciative Ohio State’s coaches trusted in him to start despite his mistake that led to a 54-yard catch-and-run by Lorenzo Styles on the first play of the game against Notre Dame.

“That definitely felt good, just getting that confidence back,” Proctor said after the game. “I took today as my second shot. I didn't get it the first week, so I just came out, played with my heart. Tried not to get overwhelmed, tried to calm myself down and just play football.”

Proctor, who was credited with three tackles in Saturday’s game, felt like he “did pretty good” with that second shot.

“I could have done a little better. Probably get on the film and watch over that with Coach (Eliano) and see where we went right, where we went wrong,” Proctor said. “But other than that, I feel pretty good.”

Proctor said he was happy for the success Ransom had against Notre Dame, and that he and Ransom – who had four tackles with a tackle for loss on Saturday – have pushed each other and will continue to push each other all year long.

“We've done that since summer, since we all got together, since Coach Perry got here, we thrive on pushing each other because we know we're gonna need each and every piece to make it through this whole season,” Proctor said.

That said, Proctor said he was motivated on Saturday and will continue to be motivated all year long by his Week 1 benching, as he wants to be out on the field making plays.

“It’s still in my head, to be honest with you. I feel like that’s just kind of fuel to the fire. For the whole season,” Proctor said. “Because I don't want that to happen again. It didn't feel good. But it's okay. You live and you learn.”

Hall stands out again

Following Mike Hall’s breakout game last weekend against Notre Dame, in which the redshirt freshman defensive tackle recorded two tackles for loss and a sack and was disruptive throughout the night, his Ohio State teammates added fuel to the hype train this week when both J.T. Tuimoloau and Cameron Brown compared Hall to NFL superstar Aaron Donald.

Day was a bit more cautious with his praise of Hall during the week, expressing a desire to see Hall back up his performance against the Fighting Irish with more productive games before anointing him as a star.

“I think any time you come in an environment like that, you prove that you belong, and he certainly did. But now what's the response to that? Is it, ‘Okay, I'm here,’ and now I start to feel good about myself and I take a step back and gear down? Or do I continue to build on that now, show that I can be consistent?” Day said Tuesday. “Because if you want to be one of the better players in the league, which he certainly has the ability to do, he's got to bring it every week. And that's what the expectation is. So it's one thing to flash in the game. It's another thing that be consistent throughout the entire fall.”

Hall responded to that challenge from Day on Saturday by recording another three tackles for loss against Arkansas State, including a 4th-and-1 sack that forced a turnover on downs.

Two things:

1. That's a sack in flag football, too.

2. @OhioStateFB's Michael Hall Jr. continues to play out of his mind. pic.twitter.com/tfm6wooljR
— Ohio State on BTN (@OhioStateOnBTN) September 10, 2022

Day confirmed after the game that he was pleased by what he saw from Hall against the Red Wolves.

“He did it again this week. And so that's good. That's progress,” Day said of Hall.

Hall suffered an injury scare in the third quarter of Saturday’s game when he needed medical attention on the field after going down on a play. After walking off the field, Hall took off his jersey and shoulder pads and was evaluated for an apparent shoulder injury by Ohio State’s athletic trainers. But Hall eventually put his jersey and helmet back on and appeared to be healthy enough to return to the game.

Ohio State kept him on the sideline for the remainder of the game for precautionary reasons, but Day said he expects Hall to be back on the field next week against Toledo.

“It's not something that we expect him to miss any time for,” Day said. “We'll see once we get an evaluation on him postgame, but there was no concern coming out of it it was gonna be long-term.”

Day displeased with penalties

Day expressed some displeasure this week that the Buckeyes had seven penalties for 75 yards against Notre Dame, so it was no surprise that he was even more displeased that the Buckeyes had nine penalties for 85 yards against Arkansas State on Saturday.

Those penalties included a pair of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties against Xavier Johnson and Taron Vincent; a quartet of offsides penalties against Ohio State defensive linemen; a pair of pass interference penalties against Denzel Burke (though one was declined after the pass was caught anyway); an illegal formation penalty that led to settling for a field goal in the red zone; and a leaping over the punt shield penalty against Teradja Mitchell that both kept Ohio State’s defense on the field and nullified a 78-yard punt return touchdown by Emeka Egbuka.

Coupling those penalties with a punt return miscue by Jakailin Johnson that gave Arkansas State the ball back in Ohio State territory late in the fourth quarter, Day felt the Buckeyes made too many avoidable mistakes that they need to clean up so they’re not cost by them in more competitive games going forward.

“When you look at the stat sheet today, it's pretty clear that we gave them two possessions. I know one was at the end of the game but still, we gave them two possessions,” Day said. “And we got to clean those things up. They had 76 plays and we had 54. We had 54 plays, we had 538 yards. On 76 plays, they had 276 yards. When you look at that stat sheet, you say wow. But with the penalties, we had nine penalties and it's unacceptable. We've got to get that fixed, and we’ve got to coach them better and we’ve got to put it on the field better. So it's going to be a huge emphasis point again this week, and it's something we have to get done.”

With the majority of those penalties coming on defense, Ohio State linebacker Cody Simon agreed with Day that the Buckeyes need to play with better discipline.

“We want to be the most disciplined team on the field,” Simon said. “And mistakes happen. And that stuff happens. But we just want to hammer home that we got to be disciplined and focused throughout the entire game.”