Three days ahead of Ohio State's final home game this season against Minnesota, an assortment of coaches and players met the media at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
Offensive coordinator Brian Hartline, safeties coach Perry Eliano, special teams coordinator Parker Fleming, quarterback Kyle McCord, safety Sonny Styles, linebacker Steele Chambers, tight end Cade Stover and offensive lineman Matt Jones participated in press conferences on the indoor field at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on Wednesday.
Among the many topics discussed between Buckeyes and reporters, McCord said he's “spoiled” with all the talent around him on Ohio State's offense, Fleming explained the good and bad of Ohio State's special teams’ performances the past two seasons and Matt Jones said he has “embraced” his six-year journey in Columbus.
Videos of the media sessions from the eight coaches and players, as well as bullet-point recaps of what each person said can be found below.
Offensive Coordinator Brian Hartline
- On what he remembers about Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck being a coach at Ohio State when he played for the Buckeyes: “P.J. was great. Going back to the early 2000s, he was a reference point at that point, he was a good that played some good ball and played some different spots. I was picking his brain. He was always available and always had the passion like he does now. I feel like I learned a good deal from being around coach Fleck and I appreciate our relationship to this day.”
- On wide receivers blocking this year: “We’ve thrown a lot into the perimeter blocking game. We always were pretty willing, but when push came to shove, we needed to do a better job at executing at times. But they’ve really bought in. And it has to continue.”
- On the growth of Carnell Tate: “I would say it’s the natural growth of a young athlete becoming a grown athlete. When you’re young the body of work is not there and you usually need a body of work to build trust. I’d say he kind of defied that by making corrections the first time he made a mistake and he did a good job of preventing a lot of mistakes. I can’t speak highly enough about him. He’s doing a great job. He was rolling through camp, got dinged up in camp, then it kind of took him until the bye to get healthy again. Once that happened, he picked up where he left off. I expect him to carry that momentum through the rest of this year and into next year.”
- On Marvin Harrison Jr. getting Heisman consideration: “It’s a big testament to him getting the hype. It’s also a big testament to his university and his offense. When people think of the level of which we’re playing, he’s been a major focus of our offense and still productive with Emeka being out and Julian banged up. I don’t get caught up too much, he’s very deserving based off the work he’s put in, but I’ll echo what he says, he’s here to win championships.”
- On if he’s happy to see a wide receiver is earning consideration for the Heisman: “It’s really cool. You hope these awards aren’t just stat awards. There’s a lot that goes into things. If it was a stat award, they should just call it that. But if they’re trying to find the best player in college football, and obviously I’m biased, but he’s the best player in college football. It just depends on what you’re looking for.”
- On Emeka Egbuka dealing with injury: “I think Emeka is a warrior. He’d tell you where he is and say ‘Oh I’m 100 percent’ where the reality of it is he’s good enough to play, which I appreciate. But you can’t tell me you feel as good as he feels in January. He’s battling, he always will and it’s a huge testament to him how he’s playing with that injury.”
Safeties Coach Perry Eliano
- Asked when he knew Malik Hartford could contribute this year, Eliano said Hartford “showed flashes in the spring.” He continued to improve in the summer, “and then really in fall camp, he was able to get his hands on balls, he was always around the ball, and just was able to handle the workload and handle the pressure of, ‘Hey, you got to step up and play.’
- Eliano said it has been difficult for Lathan Ransom to watch from the sideline “because he’s the ultra competitor, he’s fierce,” but said Ransom has been “a great leader” for the safety room even though he can’t play right now.
- Eliano said he’s not surprised by how well Josh Proctor has played this season because “it was never an ability thing with Proctor, it was moreso of a mindset thing.” He says Proctor has taken his preparation more seriously this year, which Eliano thinks has led to his improved play.
- Eliano said he thinks Kye Stokes’ development has been “good” despite his lack of playing time. “Obviously, you come in as a freshman and you want to play right away, and sometimes that doesn’t happen. And then you come back the next year, and it may start off slow, but you just got to stick with it. We always talk about competitive excellence and that’s being ready when your number’s called and he’s done that to this point.”
- On Jordan Hancock’s transition to nickel: “It’s been awesome. He takes the game serious. He puts in the time, he puts in the effort. He puts in the preparation. And so what you see from him on game day is not a shocker because we see what he does in the Woody each and every day.”
- On walk-on safety Brenten “Inky” Jones being Ohio State’s Burlsworth Trophy nominee this year: “Inky’s awesome. He just comes to work every day with a smile on his face, whatever we’re asking him to do, whether it’s on special teams, whether it’s on defense, whether it’s on scout team, he just comes to work. And I’ve seen him grow by leaps and bounds from when I got here last year to this year. So great young man, awesome family, and I’m just happy that he’s got that opportunity.” Eliano said he thinks Jones “can contribute in a major way” in the future.
Special Teams Coordinator Parker Fleming
- On Ohio State’s special teams performance: “There are a lot of plays that we wish we had back for one reason or another. And there’s some we’re really excited and happy with.”
- Fleming acknowledged that there have been more mistakes on special teams than there should be. “Our job is to put our team in the best position to win. And like I said, there’s some spots that we have not done that clearly.”
- Asked if Ohio State was ready for Michigan State’s fake punt on 4th-and-1 last week, which the Spartans converted, Fleming replied: “Obviously not, right? If they got it, then you weren’t ready enough.”
- “We try to put our players in the best position to go make plays. And then when they make plays, that’s awesome. That’s them making plays. When they don’t, I didn’t prepare him well enough to make the play.”
- Fleming didn’t want to get into detail about the miscommunication that led to Jesse Mirco running for an unsuccessful fake punt against Rutgers, but said he took accountability for it: “If there’s a miscommunication, which there was that, I can’t let that happen.” He said he is in charge of communicating to the players what’s supposed to happen on a special teams play.
- Fleming believes Ohio State’s special teams has done a lot of good things, but he understands why people focus on the mistakes. “Our job is to change field position, create explosives when we have opportunities to, and we’ve done some of that. We have. When you look at the net field position in a bunch of games, we’ve won it. Right. People don’t care about that, because the big things can’t happen, and they’re right. You can’t put your team in some situations that we have, and I totally understand that.”
- On Jayden Fielding’s performance: “I’m happy with Jayden. He’s done a really good job. He’s obviously, he’s not perfect. And that’s something that he’s done. He’s taken that over, kicked off well last year, kicked off well this year and I’m happy with his progress right now.”
- Asked about the notion that people believe a mistake on special teams could cost Ohio State in a big game, Fleming said that was something he’d take inside with him and “think about it and digest it a little bit, because that’s something we can’t have happen.”
QB Kyle McCord
- On the connection he has with Cade Stover and how that paid dividends vs. Michigan State: “He knew exactly where I was going to put it. I knew that he was going to trust it. That’s chemistry.”
- On whether he is “hitting his stride” with timing throws: “Yeah, I think so. It’s all the reps we’ve put in. That allows you to go out there and have confidence and play with anticipation and play with timing.”
- McCord said TreVeyon Henderson has stepped up in pass protection this season. McCord said “that won’t go down in the stat sheet,” but he thinks Henderson has earned the credit and respect from his teammates. “Tre is showing that he’s a complete back. There’s not a situation that you have to take him off the field. He’s a three-down back. He’s done a great job in that, catching the ball and then, obviously, in the run game.”
- McCord said his touchdown pass to Stover was his favorite throw of the Michigan State game because “we’ve repped (it) a bunch and there was good coverage on him, too.”
- “Coming off the year he had last year, there was a lot of expectation around him. In the offseason, the biggest thing we did was put the work in. He’s a great player. Anytime you can get the ball in his hands, good things happen. That’s a result of how good of a player he is. I am spoiled with all the talent around me, all the weapons I have. … It’s been a long time coming playing in high school together, and coming here and seeing the whole thing play out has been sweet.
- On Ohio State’s offensive success vs. Michigan State: “A quarterback’s success in dependent on the offense around him, and obviously here, there’s not a better group of guys.”
S Sonny Styles
- “When Lathan went down, that hurt us. I had to step up and play that boundary safety, so going from 30 plays to 70 plays, that’s a little bit of an adjustment, but I think I did fine. … My body feels good. … It was a bigger role. When Proctor went down, it was me trying to step up and be more of a leader in the secondary.”
- On being a veteran in the defensive back room with Ransom and Proctor out last week: “It’s funny to say that. With Proctor and Lathan going down, I feel like I had to step up a little bit. Obviously, Denzel (Burke) and (Davison Igbinosun) are leaders in our secondary, but I feel like I had to step up for the safety room and be a leader.”
- On which safety position makes him the most comfortable: “I’ve always been familiar with all three spots. … I am able to process and execute at each position.”
- On Jordan Hancock: “Jordan is a really good player. He’s able to cover well like a corner and he’s able to get in the run fit when he needs to. It’s been really big the amount of depth we’ve had in the secondary. Malik (Hartford) had to step up for Proctor when he went down. He executed. He did well. We have a lot of guys who are game-ready and ready to play.”
- On the attitude Ohio State has had this season: “The attitude is that it’s about us each game. We know what it felt like to come up short last year. We’ve made a big emphasis on not leaving anything out on the field… and going as hard as you can. As a defense, we’ve emphasized eliminating explosives on our mistakes. We can’t give them free plays. If they’re gonna get a play, we have to make them earn it.”
LB Steele Chambers
- C.J. Hicks crashed the interview and asked Chambers what his mindset is when he enters the football field. Chambers responded it’s the Mario Theme Song after he picks up a star.
- On Ohio State’s run defense: “I think we’re improving a lot. We’re very gap-sound as of now. There’s still some plays where someone might get a little antsy and get out of their gap trying to make a play but you have to trust the guy next to you that he’s going to be in his gap and someone is going to make the play and the tackle.”
- On Cody Simon: “I played with Cody all throughout spring ball. Anyone in that room I can play next to, it’s awesome.”
- Chambers said Ryan Day was adamant this week about taking things day by day and preparing for Minnesota and to not look too far ahead to next week.
- On how his fifth year at Ohio State has been: “You never really realize it until you get to that moment. Like they said one time in 'The Office,' you never really realize you’re in the good times until you get there. But Tommy (Eichenberg) and I realized this is the last time we’re going to be chilling at the hotel room on Friday nights and you only get a few more weeks of hanging out with guys at the house and stuff. So you’re just cherishing those moments.”
TE Cade Stover
- Stover said catching seven passes in the first half against Michigan State was a “nice warm welcome back” after missing the Rutgers game due to injury.
- On what it means to him to perform well at Ohio Stadium: “It’s really special. It’s special to look up there and see you’re family in the stands and play with all the boys you’ve been through a lot with. Knowing these times are coming to an end really quick, you try to make the most of them.
- On his touchdown catch against MSU: “That throw (from Kyle) was nothing I don’t see every day from him. That’s a super special player. I think you’re just beginning to see how good that kid is.”
- On what Senior Day means to him: “It’s special. It’s hard to believe you’re a senior, but time doesn’t stop for anybody. It’ll be special to go out there one last time with these guys.”
- On what comes to mind on Jelani Thurman: “Big. That’s a big-ass little kid right there. He looks the part and he’s getting more mature every day. He has a bright future.”
- Stover dropped several expletives when a reporter said he couldn’t remember the last time Stover dropped a pass. “I can't answer that question ... that's like the commentator saying this guy's got one more pitch left to throw before he gets a no-hitter and the guy hits a home run. Holy moly.”
OL Matt Jones
- On playing his first snaps at center this year against Michigan State: “It’s nothing new. I felt comfortable. It was pretty good.” Jones said he practices snapping twice a week and he’s always prepared to move over and play center if needed. Asked how comfortable he’d be if he was called upon to play center in a big game, Jones said “I feel like I’d be very comfortable doing it.”
- On how his sixth year has gone: “Honestly, it’s been great. I’m glad to do a sixth year. I feel like I’ve embraced it and improved a lot.”
- On what he’s learned in his six years at Ohio State: “I feel like I learned a lot just maturity-wise and about life. The game of football that I love, and I feel like everything has been improved.” He said he’s learned that everyone faces different obstacles, “and it’s just about how you respond to how you take it in.”
- Jones said he’s seen Carson Hinzman grow over the course of the season in terms of his communication and confidence. “He’s demonstrative and just knowing what he’s doing. The more he knows what he’s doing, the confidence he brings to our offensive line, it also helps us.” Jones says there has been “major improvement” with the communication along the offensive line over the course of the season.
- Jones said he thinks Josh Simmons has “improved every week.” Jones said Simmons “always asks questions” because he wants to get better.
- On what he thinks makes this year’s team special: “Nobody’s holding back. Everybody is full gas, ready to go. Everybody wants to learn. Nobody just hesitates or anything. When Coach says next man up, everybody is ready to go.”
