Ohio State has officially arrived in Dallas.
The Buckeyes touched down in Dallas on Wednesday evening just under 48 hours ahead of their College Football Playoff semifinal matchup with Texas at the Cotton Bowl on Friday.
The Buckeyes have arrived in Dallas. pic.twitter.com/9hs3SP3em9
— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) January 9, 2025
Moments after they arrived at their team hotel, Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, defensive coordinator Jim Knowles and four Buckeye seniors – wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, left tackle Donovan Jackson, linebacker Cody Simon and cornerback Jordan Hancock – met with the media to field a variety of questions ahead of their battle with the Longhorns.
Among other topics, Kelly praised Ryan Day’s consistent leadership and the special talent of Jeremiah Smith while Knowles talked about what’s enabled his defense to be successful at all three levels. Egbuka talked about the relationship he built with Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers during his brief time at Ohio State, Jackson talked about his successful move to left tackle and his excitement to play in his home state of Texas, Simon spoke about his love for Day and how he represents Ohio State and Hancock spoke about how coverage and rush are working together in the Buckeyes’ defense.
Some video, quotes and a few notes from each of their interview sessions can be found below.
OC Chip Kelly
“Yeah, winning is fun.”– Chip Kelly when asked if he’s having fun this season
- On whether Jeremiah Smith is the best receiver he’s ever coached: “Jeremiah is a once-in-a-lifetime talent, so I’m not into comparisons of who’s this, who’s that. He’s a special player that we’re really, really fortunate to have.”
- Asked about the idea that Ryan Day has been more involved in game planning during the CFP than he was during the regular season, Kelly said Day has “been heavily involved in offense, defense, special teams since the day I walked in the building in February … I would say he’s probably more involved in offense, defense, and special teams game plan than any other head coach in the country.”
- Kelly said Day has been an “extremely consistent” leader regardless of the noise outside the program this season during the Buckeyes’ highs and lows. “He’s done a great job of not being distracted.”
- Kelly said it didn’t surprise him that Jackson has played as well as he has at left tackle because he knew Jackson had the skill level and the mindset to do it.
DC Jim Knowles
“Tyleik (Williams), Ty (Hamilton), those guys are controlling the front, which I think you all would agree that they have consistently. ... It changes how you call the game because it allows you to do other things.”– Jim Knowles on how Ohio State’s defensive tackles are boosting the defense
- On Cody Simon: “He’s playing great. He’s in all the right spots. Making checks for the defense. He understands how I think, we’ve been together three years. He knows what I’m thinking. It’s easy for me to say something to him and he can change it on the spot.”
- Knowles said a mix of coverages is helping lead to Ohio State’s increased sack production. “We’ve done enough now with the coverage and structure, the way we look, that hopefully it’s forcing the quarterback to hold the ball a little bit longer. And that’s when the rush delivers.”
- Knowles said the defensive line’s“When you can make an offense one-sided, I think those guys have a chance to go to work.”
- On moving Caleb Downs around the defense: “He’s just really good, so it makes me look good. I’ve done that throughout my career with different players, more from the front than the back end (of the defense). At Oklahoma State when you had to defend against the explosive play all the time is really when I created that structure.”
WR Emeka Egbuka
“I think our culture is strong, especially through the leaders. When it’s strong throughout the leaders, it permeates through the rest of the team. I think when you see it from the top down, from the younger guys to maybe the freshmen, it speaks volumes and reflects the character of the leaders and the captains.”– Emeka Egbuka on why Ohio State has so many players willing to check their egos at the door
- Egbuka says he believes Ohio State’s execution has taken a step up within the last few weeks. He says the team had its ebbs and flows throughout the regular season, but for whatever reason has stepped up since the playoffs started from an execution standpoint.
- Egbuka says he “loves” Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers. “He reclassified into my class and obviously we got pretty tight. I think we hung out a bunch of times, whether it was me, him, Kyle (McCord), Jack (Sawyer), just hanging out, getting food or chopping it up in the locker room. We definitely spent a decent amount of time together when he was here. That’s just part of college football, the transfer portal and stuff like that. I’m glad to see him doing his thing at Texas, it’s going to be a fun matchup for sure.”
- Egbuka is proud of the way Will Howard has conducted himself since arriving at Ohio State and said he noticed Texas was Howard’s “team up north” before he came to OSU, so he wants to help him notch a win against his former rival.
- Egbuka considers Texas’ defense the second-best in the country, only behind Ohio State’s defense.
LT Donovan Jackson
“If you need to have motivation to go play a game, you shouldn’t be playing a sport. We’re not looking for that angle or anything like that. We’re just looking forward to competing at the Cotton Bowl at the highest level.”– Donovan Jackson on Ohio State maintaining its edge
- Jackson says going up against Jack Sawyer, JT Tuimoloau, Kenyatta Jackson Jr. and Caden Curry in practice has enabled him to thrive in his transition to left tackle. “I practice against two really good edge rushers every day. I have no choice but to get better. If not, I’m going to get exposed every day in practice. Jack and JT, Kenyatta, Caden, all those guys have helped me progress in my game at tackle. They make it hard in practice so in the games I’m able to execute at a high level.”
- Jackson said he’s having a lot more fun playing tackle than he thought he would. He said he felt confident playing the position after his second game at LT against Purdue.
- Jackson said it “means the world” to be able to play a College Football Playoff game in his home state of Texas. “Being able to see this stadium as a kid, being able to see this bowl game as a kid, sitting in front of my couch watching this is a surreal moment for me, being able to play in the College Football Playoffs with the guys I work so hard with.”
- The offensive line remains motivated by the fact that many people still doubt their ability, Jackson said. “Just because we had a couple good games don’t mean anything. We don’t have anything to show for it yet, so we just gotta keep grinding and stay together as a unit and just execute what’s called.”
- Asked if it’s difficult to maintain intensity for a third straight playoff game, Jackson replied, “It’s not difficult if you have a strong mentality. You’ve got to remind yourself that the team we’re playing has played as many games as we have and they want it just as bad as us. It’s a battle of discipline. It’s a battle of who’s willing to do their job and strain the longest.”
- Jackson said this year’s Ohio State team “might be the closest-knit team I’ve been on,” citing the highs and lows the Buckeyes have had to endure and how they’ve stayed together through it all.
- Jackson said Texas is “probably the fastest team we’ve gone against.”
LB Cody Simon
“I love coach Day. That’s one thing about our team, we all ride for him.”– Cody Simon on how much he appreciates playing for Ryan Day
- Simon says Quinn Ewers is a good competitor and expects a good game from him on Friday. OSU’s defense hopes to take some stuff away from him and force him to play their game.
- When he was asked about Jim Knowles saying he expects Simon being a future President of the United States one day, Simon chuckled and said he’s tried to not let that go to his head. He also mentioned he’s pretty apolitical so that’s probably not in the cards for him.
- Simon said he felt honored to be chosen by his teammates to be a captain and the recipient of the Block O. “It’s not just about me, it’s about the people who came before. I just want to treat it right and honor the number.”
- Simon said OSU finished its practice in the snow today, so the cold weather expected in Texas won’t affect them whatsoever.
CB Jordan Hancock
“We’re gonna stick to what we’ve been doing. Obviously we changed a little bit of stuff, we can’t run the same stuff (we did against Oregon), it’s about updating every week and upgrading every week.”– Jordan Hancock on what it will take to beat Texas
- On mixing in at safety: “Why I chose this school is to become versatile. That’s why I chose Ohio State over every other school is because I knew I could play different positions. So it’s coming out the way I expected it, for real, playing every position.”
- On Cody Simon: “He does everything right. Literally, he does everything right. He says the right stuff, he goes out there, he prepares the right way and that’s what he does.”
- Hancock says the secondary takes pride in coverage sacks, which Ohio State had several of against Oregon. “We harp ourselves on the saying, ‘Coverage and rush working together.’ It’s kind of a soundbite we use, but we don’t take that lightly. We feel if we hold our own in the back end then nobody can block our defensive ends and defensive tackles.”
- On disguising more coverages to confuse quarterbacks: “Me having more reps at safety and stuff like that, it makes it easier for the defense for me to disguise and stuff like that. Early in the season, I couldn’t really disguise because I didn’t really know too much. But now it’s easy because I feel like it’s a natural position.”
