Quick Hits: Ohio State Captains Discuss Leadership, High Expectations Entering 2024 Season

The four seniors who were selected by their teammates to be the team’s official leaders this season – running back TreVeyon Henderson, wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, defensive end Jack Sawyer and linebacker Cody Simon – each met with the media on Wednesday to talk about what it means to them to be captains, how they’re serving their team as leaders and the Buckeyes’ high expectations entering the 2024 season, which begins Saturday when Ohio State hosts Akron at Ohio Stadium (3:30 p.m., CBS).

Jack Sawyer

“That meant everything to me, it's one of the most special moments of my life. It's something that I've dreamt of since I committed here.”– Jack Sawyer on being named a captain

• On how the team is feeling entering the season opener: “I think we feel really good. I think we're in a really good spot, and we're all just chomping at the bit to get on the field this Saturday.”
• “When you have expectations, that means people expect things from you.” He thinks the team is handling the expectations “really well.”
• Sawyer said the defense expects to be dominant. “That's why we all came back. We came back to be the best defense in the country.”
• On Caleb Downs: “He's just so mature for his age, and a super hard worker … he's only a sophomore, but he's such a veteran guy already.”
• On Will Howard: “He's put in a lot of hard work, super team-first guy, and an excellent player from what I've seen.”
• On JT Tuimoloau: “He's been consistently one of the best defensive ends in college football, if you turn on the tape.”
• Sawyer said it isn’t hard to get excited to play Akron. “We only get eight shots left in the Shoe, and we gotta make every one of them count.”
• Sawyer said he has not watched the “Sign Stealer” documentary. “I got no comment on that.”
• Sawyer said he, Tuimoloau and Tyleik Williams were watching film from their freshman year and said “Holy shit, we came a long way.”

TreVeyon Henderson

“It’s been great. He’s a hard worker, man. He comes in (and is) trying to get better each and every day. We’re pushing each other, encouraging each other. I’m thankful he’s here. Playing alongside him, such a great player, a great person.”– TreVeyon Henderson on life with Quinshon Judkins as his teammate

• On what he learned from Ryan Day when Day took over as running backs coach following Tony Alford’s departure: “He taught us so much during that small period of time. … Coach Day is such a great coach. He’s such a player's coach. It’s bigger than football with him. He does a good job of establishing relationships with his players and just checking on them outside of football and off the field.”
• Day named James Peoples as Ohio State’s No. 3 running back behind Henderson and Judkins this week. When asked about Peoples, Henderson said he has been “so good” in preseason camp. “He’s a really good person, a good player. He comes in every day and is just trying to get better. He reminds me a lot of myself in some way — just his hunger and everything. He’s going to be a great player here.”
• On Ohio State’s championship expectations: “Shoot, man, it’s a long season. I think the biggest thing we’re trying to do as a team is not look too far ahead. Just take it one game at a time. I think that’s the biggest thing right there. Let’s just focus on Akron, (then Western Michigan), then Marshall, then the next game, then the next game.”

Emeka Egbuka

“Coming full circle, it is a really surreal moment to be in my senior year playing against the people I got my first catch against.”– Emeka Egbuka, whose first career catch came against Akron in 2021

• Egbuka’s seen improvements from Will Howard in the lead-up to the season. “When you look on film, you can just tell his mind's in a better spot. He's more clean with his reads and yeah, he's just on point.”
• On what it’s like to huddle presnap: “I like it. We get a chance to be able to communicate before the play, kind of get our minds right before everything.”
• On being a senior leader in the receiver room: “It's a huge honor for me just to be able to kind of look up to the guys who were in the room when I was a freshman and sophomore and kind of see how I've matured and developed into this new role. I always described it as the torch being passed down, but that's truly what it is. So, when my time is done, I'm going to hand it down to the next person. They're going to continue to keep the legacy of what Zone Six is.”
• On Caleb Downs: “He's just a very cerebral kid, very smart and he's able to kind of take control of the defense, make the right calls, make the right checks. So he's definitely annoying for the offense to deal with, but it makes us better.”
• On the team’s mindset entering the Akron game: “We're really just trying to be clean, go out there, play a fast, complete football game, clicking on and firing on all cylinders. So by no means are you underestimating any opponent. We go out there on the field every Saturday expecting to blow out whoever lines up across from us. So that's just our mentality. So we're going to hold true to that.”

Cody Simon

“He’s super smart. Like I was telling you earlier, his football IQ is super high. It’s just another coach on the field, pretty much.” – Cody Simon on what Caleb Downs’ presence does for him as a mLB

• Simon said Ohio State isn’t taking any opponent lightly this season and the Buckeyes will prepare every game the same knowing they’re going to get everybody’s best shot.
• Simon said Arvell Reese has made a lot of strides in fall camp, lauding his understanding of the defense, the structure of how OSU plays and his athleticism.
• Simon said he’s getting used to the helmet communication and that it may be difficult to adjust in home games with 100,000 screaming fans and trying to communicate the calls, but said he’s embracing the challenge and thinks it will be great preparation for the NFL. He said he wasn’t sure yet if it will be him primarily always communicating in the calls, saying “we’ll see how it goes.”