Quick Hits: Brian Hartline Calls Ohio State's Run Game “Not Good Enough,” Justin Frye Thinks O-Line Has “Legitimate Fight” to Improve and Keenan Bailey is “Super Proud” of Cade Stover

This week, however, the lineup of Buckeyes available to the media included an even mix of coaches and players, as offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Brian Hartline, offensive line coach Justin Frye, defensive line coach Larry Johnson and tight ends coach Keenan Bailey accompanied quarterback Kyle McCord, wide receiver Julian Fleming, tight end Gee Scott Jr. and defensive ends JT Tuimoloau and Caden Curry in the Q&A session with reporters.

Among the many topics discussed on Wednesday, Hartline said Ohio State's run game is "not good enough" and that Emeka Egbuka's status vs. Purdue is "a secret," Frye discussed the "legitimate fight" to improve in Ohio State's offensive line room, Bailey is "super proud" of Cade Stover and Tuimoloau believes Tyleik Williams' athleticism is "scary."

Videos from the nine media sessions and bullet-point recaps of what the coaches and players said can be found below.

Brian Hartline

• On Emeka Egbuka’s status for Saturday: “That’s a secret.” On who would receiver the most snaps if Egbuka were to miss the matchup: “That’s a secret.” 
• On Xavier Johnson: “Xavier can do it all. Whether he is playing in the slot or playing outside of playing out of the backfield next to the quarter, he’s able to do all of that. … X is excellent in everything he does.” Hartline added: “I look forward to, if (Emeka) were to be down, the opportunity that he would have.”
• On who he trusts to receive snaps halfway through the season: “I think we have a really good two-deep. I expect that to grow, not just numbers wide but with the density – how good the two-deep is.”
• Hartline said Ohio State’s run game is “not good enough.” As for how he evaluates efficiency in the run game, Hartline said, “You are evaluated when you need it most… When they know you’re gonna run it, how do you run it? When they know you’re gonna pass it, how do you pass it? That’s a good indicator. … We need to be better at running the football.”
• In addition to Ohio State needing improvement in the run game, Hartline said the Buckeyes’ passing game could get better, too. “You’re critiqued and evaluated on the opportunities that you have. … I think we need to do a better job in both areas.”
• On whether or not he plans to rotate in players like Johnson, Carnell Tate, Brandon Inniss and Jayden Ballard, among others, in for Marvin Harrison Jr., Egbuka and Julian Fleming: “Our job on the perimeter is to put the best three players on the field as much as possible. … We owe it to this team and to this offense to put the three best players on the field at all times.”
• On Ohio State’s wide receiver room: “I’m really happy with the depth.”
• On Caden Curry: “Caden is awesome. He brings (to the offense) all the things he brings to the defense. He is tough. He is willing. He wants to. He’s a joy to be around. We are very happy to have him be a part of our group at times.”
• On how he has taken to being the offensive coordinator after five games and six weeks: “I’m surrounded by great coaches. I go to them whenever I need to. I go to Coach Day whenever I need to. … What I can learn from them, how I can continue to grow. It’s been awesome.”

Justin Frye

• Frye said there’s a “legitimate fight” to get better in the offensive line room as “no one is happy” with the production so far. “We have, just in general, our room here at Ohio State, we have a very high standard. So you’re always chasing that. You’re always pushing to that. So are we there yet? No.”
• “Competitive stamina” and “growth” are some of the areas that the offensive line needs improvement in, Frey said. “The bad stuff (is) not because we’re unable physically. There’s some things going on that we need to correct that we’re capable and able of doing, just not doing right.”
• On whether he’s confused how to go about getting the front five where they need to be: “No. You can let yourself get confused, but you guys (the media) have been around me for over a year, how I talk, sometimes it’s boring. Getting back to the basics, to the fundamentals, to maybe even the scheme.”
• On how he could adjust as a coach to help the line get better: “I’m looking at how hard I’m coaching them, what I’m coaching, what details I’m giving to them. Making sure I’m not spread too thin, and then we’ve got to put them in the right schemes to go execute.”
• On whether they’re looking at tweaking the offensive philosophy toward the personnel on the line: “Yeah. If you cut yourself open and say, ‘Who are we and what are we doing and what do we do really well?’ You get rolling and going on that, then how thin do you get spread? Or maybe you get away from those core concepts, whatever that scheme may be. So that can sometimes be an answer.”
• Frye doesn’t feel Ohio State should abandon stretch or wide-zone runs, despite instances when those concepts haven’t worked in games. “There’s a lot of pieces that go into that. If it’s just five-man open stretch, then there’s a component to that. Then you’re going to add a tight end or a fullback ... that goes back to what we talked about. Are you just going to cut it away? No, because we’ve (spent) a lot of reps, a lot of time and we’ve run it really well, too.”
• On the importance of second-level blocking: “You’ve got to get displacement up front, you’ve got to get movement. (Maryland) played that 3-4 Hokie front a little bit, so getting movement on that first level and how many guys move down – when you look at that, a lot of our play-action stuff hit because those guys were down. So it’s a give-and-take. But yes, we’ve got to be more explosive on those ... getting the ball to that second level and working that.”

Larry Johnson

• On how he believes the defensive line has played: “I think the kids have played really hard and tough. They’re playing within the defensive scheme, I think that’s the most important thing, to play within the confinement of your defense. Pressure has a lot to do with what we’re doing right now and the pressure is good that we’re getting on guys and forcing the ball out quick. Those things are still important. Each team plays us differently, why, we’ll have to continue to evaluate that. The ball is coming out fast, just know when you get there, push the guy into the quarterback, get your hands up and see what happens. I’ve been very pleased. Our time is going to come as we move forward.” 
• On J.T. Tuimoloau: “He’s very consistent. Smart, high IQ, wants to be great. The biggest thing for guys like that who could get numbers is to play within the confinements (of your defense) so everyone has a chance to do well and get numbers. He’s done a great job of that and not getting frustrated that he’s not getting a sack, he’s just keep playing.” 
• On how he chooses to line up his players on the edge: “It’s comfort thing first, where they feel comfortable at. The second thing is if we want to play matchups, then we’ll switch them up. Because we don’t want teams to know where they’re at every time and start chipping. When we know that, we either do something from the backside, or move J.T. around a little bit.” 
• On Caden Curry: “I said one day while I was recruiting him, I watched in the stands of his championship game, I said ‘That guy is a football player.’ You saw him do it in high school, catch balls in the back of the end zone, play fullback. Going from sideline to sideline. It’s just who he is.” 
• On Tyleik Williams: “You saw him work (on his fitness). He knew that issue has passed, now he’s at a high level of play. I think he’s going to make us better because he can play longer.”

Keenan Bailey

• Asked about Cade Stover, Bailey said he’s “super proud of how he’s prepared.” Bailey praised how hard Stover worked through the offseason and said “I’m happy that it’s showing up on Saturdays.”
• Bailey said tight end graduate assistant Sean Binckes is “the next big young coach out of Ohio State … Him and (offensive line graduate assistant) Mike Sollenne are just rock stars.”
• Bailey said Binckes and Stover are “both kind of feisty by nature, so they’re always butting heads. They’re like two old ladies barking at each other sometimes, but I think they bring out the best in each other, and Sean’s been a huge help to me.”
• On his recruiting philosophy: “I’m looking to bring in the best tight ends in the country that are receivers and blockers and all-around guys, and hopefully with this offense, an NFL offense, you come here, you’re gonna be in the perfect position to contribute.”
• As Caden Curry was walking by his table, Bailey asked if Curry would consider himself a tight end when he enters the game on offense as a fullback. “Yup,” Curry replied.
• Could Curry catch passes on offense? “That’s to be determined,” Bailey said.
• On Gee Scott Jr.: “Gee has one of the best first two steps of anyone that I’ve seen.”
• Bailey said senior analyst Joe Philbin “has been a huge resource to me.” He said he’s told the tight ends they should be “pounding on his door” asking him for advice.

Kyle McCord

• On his slow start against Maryland: “A lot to grow upon. Obviously we need to start faster, get things going earlier, but I think it was good to see the whole offense just kind of rebound a little bit and get things going.”
• “It's hard to move the ball, especially early on when you're playing behind the sticks and you're in those third and long situations, it's an uphill battle at that point. So I think we need to do better on first and second down, I need to do better on first and second down, keeping us on schedule, especially early on, because I think we showed in that second half, when we’re moving the ball early on in the drive and we get things going, we’ll points up on the board.”
• Asked if he was dealing with an ankle injury, McCord replied, “Nah, I’m good.”
• “I think I've made good progress from game one to game five, but it's exciting knowing that we’re 5-0 and we're in a good spot, but there's so much for this team and myself included to just grow upon. I feel like we're not even tapped into the potential team that we can be. And so knowing that we have a lot more room to improve and grow upon, it’s exciting.”
• McCord said it took awhile for Gee Scott Jr. to learn how to become the physical presence he needs to be as a tight end, “but he's done a great job embracing that. He’s one of the toughest guys on the team, and I feel like he really enjoys the dirty work that a tight end does.”
• McCord isn’t worried about the potential absence of Emeka Egbuka on Saturday. “I feel like if there's any position room that could have a next guy up and really not skip a beat, it would be that receiver room.”
• On Carnell Tate’s readiness to play a bigger role: “Carnell’s been ready since the day he got here. He was extremely polished … He’s gonna be scary good. I think it's not if but when for Carnell.”
• McCord is confident the run game will get going. “I see it in practice every day. It's there. And I think it's only a matter of time now until this thing really takes off.”
• On Cade Stover: “Cade is a dog, man. There's not a thing on that field that he can't do at that tight end position.” He said Stover “has done a great job, I think, of taking that next step as a receiver.”

Julian Fleming

• On Carnell Tate: “He’s a great player already. The sky is the limit for the kid. He’s very mature, he does everything well, his route running is good as well as his hands. The sky is really the limit for him.”
• On his season: “Honestly, it’s been great. I get to go out there and I get to practice every day and do what I love every day. I get to be around the people I love every day.”
• On how Marv drawing attention can open things up for him: “It makes such an impact on defenses trying to handle him that it really opens up other aspects of the game, whether it’s the run game or opening things up for other receivers. Defenses have a hard time scheming for him and they’re going to continue having a hard time.”

Gee Scott Jr.

• On whether setting a career-high for snaps played against Maryland was a confidence boost: “It’s definitely a confidence boost. It’s good to provide value to the team in any way possible. So when I look at me getting more snaps, it’s not glorifying me as much, but more so that’s what our coaching staff thought was best to go out there and execute at a high level.”
• On where he’s at now: “Everything is amazing. It’s exactly the same as I said before, the way I approach football is the same way I approach everything else in life. Whether it’s school, relationships, the way I treat the people around here, the way I’m a leader, all of those things kind of go hand-in-hand.”
• Scott said in his previous interviews with the media that he felt he was the “best version of himself” this year, on and off the field. He wants to continue that growth. “The last time we had this interview, I was the best version of myself then. The whole goal is to be an even better version of myself now, and God willing, the next time I come in and sit down here, I’ll be an even better version of Gee Scott Jr.”
• On the biggest advantage for Ohio State when it goes 12 personnel: “Putting the defense in conflict. I don’t know what you can game plan for. We can stretch you horizontally, we can go downfield and we can also just run the ball up the middle.”
• On the biggest steps he’s taken as a blocker this year: “Just continuing to get bigger. Just bigger and stronger, and then repetition. Just like you do anything else in life, the more you do it, the better you get, the more comfortable you get.”

JT Tuimoloau

• On if a weight was lifted off his shoulders after recording his first sack of the season vs. Maryland: “There’s a lot. Nothing compares to getting your first sack or first TFL. There’s a lot of weight lifted off me after that one.”
• Tuimoloau on how he has become one of Ohio State’s better run defenders: “It all comes from the film room. It starts on Sundays and Mondays with Coach J and Coach (LaAllan) Clark. … It’s a preparation thing. … Take what you learn in the room and bring it to the field.”
• Tuimoloau said he learned that he could handle more reps in Ohio State’s defensive line room near the end of his freshman season. “It started my freshman year, seeing some of the older guys. No matter how many reps they played, they always played hard.” Tuimoloau said he watched Jonathan Cooper, Zach Harrison and other experienced players who always pushed themselves but had “fundamentals when they were tired.”
• Tuimoloau said playing added snaps in Ohio State’s matchup with Notre Dame didn’t affect him during the game, but he felt a little sore afterward. “You actually don’t feel it until Sunday practice. When you are in (the game), you don’t pay attention to plays or snaps. … I really don’t feel all the plays or snaps in the game.” Tuimoloau said he worked on his stamina in the offseason to make sure he could be out on the field for as many plays as possible in 2023.
• On whether or not he has “reached his potential” in the Ohio State defense: “Yeah. I think that goes along with having another year under Coach Knowles, having more knowledge. … Once I got honed in on that piece, I was able to go out there and play free.”
• On Tyleik Williams: “At his size, he should not be moving like that… Seeing how he moves, how physical he is, it’s scary.”

Caden Curry

• Curry said he’s having “a great time” playing fullback situationally. He said he played it in high school and he’s loving having the opportunity to do it again at a higher level. He thinks his experience playing on special teams prepared him to play fullback.
• He said he hopes he gets the opportunity to get the ball in his hands. “I don’t really make the plays, but if I did, I’d give it to me.”
• What’s the key to being good in that role? “Just having a hard nose and getting off the ball quick. I mean, how I kind of play defense is just wrecking havoc in the offense. I kind of just flip it and kind of wreck havoc in the defense and kind of just make a hole for my running back behind me to get through.”
• Curry said he’s “always switching from side to side” between the defense and offense in practice now that he’s playing fullback in addition to defensive end.
• He said special assistant Tim Hinton watches film with him and “helps me a lot” with learning how to play fullback.
• On defense, Curry said he’s been focused on “just doing my job because if you do your job, there’s no reason why not to be out there.”
• On his mentality when he’s playing: “I’m not gonna stop till the echo of the whistle’s called.”
• Curry said it’s “been a blessing” to play in his home state of Indiana three times this year, which has made it easy for his family to come see him play.
• “I was always a IU fan growing up, so I was never a Purdue fan,” Curry said.
• Curry said he’s watched “a lot of Mitch Rossi film” to prepare for playing fullback.