Ohio State football reporters entered the Woody Hayes Athletic Center around 6:10 p.m. Twenty minutes later, the reporters left.
Ohio State head coach Ryan Day, running back TreVeyon Henderson, wide receiver Carnell Tate, tight end Jelani Thurman, offensive lineman Carson Hinzman, linebackers Cody Simon and Sonny Styles and defensive back Jordan Hancock all had quick interviews on Wednesday.
That was expected, to some extent, coming off a 45-0 win over Purdue and entering a matchup with Northwestern in which the Buckeyes started the week as 30.5-point favorites.
Despite the brevity, Eleven Warriors was out in full force to ask Day and his players questions. We've collected the best notes and quotes from each interview below.
RB TreVeyon Henderson
“I will honestly say blocking. Because blocking as a running back, it’s not easy at all, man. There’s a lot of work that goes into that.” – TreVeyon Henderson on whether he prefers blocking or scoring a touchdown as a running back
- Henderson said there’s been “a lot of work” that went into his long reception against Purdue on Saturday and that he had been hitting the jugs hard lately as a receiver.
- Henderson said he’s been grateful for his health all season and that splitting carries with Quinshon Judkins has helped keep him healthy throughout the year.
- When Henderson and Judkins are on the field at the same time in a formation, Henderson said it’s a special feeling and that he hopes to see more of it in games down the stretch.
- Henderson says he doesn’t watch baseball, though he became a softball fan last year, but he still thinks it will be a “cool opportunity” to play at Wrigley Field.
WR Carnell Tate
“It’s a very historic place, so it’s going to be very exciting to play there.” – Carnell Tate on playing at Wrigley Field
- A Chicago native, Tate said he expects to have “a lot of family and friends” at Saturday’s game. “I’ve got at least 30-40 people coming trying to get tickets right now.”
- Tate said it doesn’t bother him that he has to share touches with Ohio State’s other playmakers. “We’ve got two great running backs, we’ve got a great quarterback and we’ve got three great receivers that are all trying to get the ball.”
- Tate said he likes playing a lot of noon games. “We love it. We like to play noon games. We like to wake up and go straight to the field and play. The earlier the game is, the more time you’ve got on the back end of your day.”
TE Jelani Thurman
“You guys were on the edge of your seat, I was feeling it on the field. They said I had four catches in one drive, so I’ll take the stats.” – Jelani Thurman on his bobbling fourth-down catch at Penn State
- On making catches in back-to-back games for the first time: “I love making plays, so it’s just been feeling good to actually go out there and make some.”
- Thurman said Will Kacmarek has been coaching him up while recovering from injury. “He’ll be back soon.”
- Thurman said it “really doesn’t matter” to him what time the game kicks off, but he likes playing at noon. “12:00, we get in, get out, have a good game, get to lay on the couch after that and watch the games.”
OL Carson Hinzman
“You’re kind of going from a phone booth to, like, a shed. ... You got to get a little used to being on your own a little more, which I mean, I'm still figuring it out. But It's definitely something that (I’ll) keep on developing into this later half of the season.”– Carson Hinzman on switching from center to guard
- On how the Purdue game built on his play at left guard: “It definitely comes with experience and I think only playing left guard now for about 16 days, I think, every snap, every rep counts. I think it definitely helped us, me and Donnie, just that chemistry and our O-line overall, just kind of working out some of those smaller kinks going into the latter half of the season.”
- Hinzman said his coaches, teammates and experience at center prepared him to step in at left guard. “I think that just comes from that next man up mentality. Obviously understanding the offense. That kind of falls on the guys around me and obviously coaches keeping us ready wherever we need to be. Then also being an interior guy, you can kind of understand a little bit more. You can kind of move around because you work with those guys directly a lot.”
- On Donovan Jackson and the chemistry they have from playing together last year: “Our chemistry is really good, whether it's with trusting each other's calls or asking him if I'm not exactly sure like what I should do on this set or with my hands in this play. He's super knowledgeable in that fact, even though he's learning a new spot, he's definitely helping me out a lot.”
- On his injury scare against Purdue: “Donovan is superhuman, so he was trying to dump guys everywhere. Unfortunately, one was right into my knee. So just hyperextended (it) a little bit, but obviously, thank God I was wearing a knee brace right there. Obviously could have been a lot worse watching the film, but definitely was saved.”
LB Cody Simon
“I feel like I’ve always tried to be an effective blitzer. Sometimes it works better than others. But I’ve never really felt different about blitzing in certain ways. Whatever they ask me to do, I want to do it to the best of my ability.” – Cody Simon on how much more comfortable he feels as a blitzer this year
- Simon says he thinks the biggest thing athletes have to fight is complacency and that he and the team have tried to focus and get better at handling that this year.
- On Eddrick Houston drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Purdue, Simon says he told him football is an emotional game and sometimes things happen, but he stressed that players need to get used to playing when things aren’t going your way and to learn from the experience because something like that could cost Ohio State a game in the future.
- Simon says he loves Houston’s aggressiveness and that he isn’t afraid to go make a play on defense.
LB Sonny Styles
“I just feel like each game I’m starting to get better and better. I’m starting to see things a little faster. There’s still a lot to work on each game, but I think I’m starting to get a better feel for it.” – Sonny Styles on settling in at linebacker this year
- Styles said he continues to feel more comfortable playing linebacker with each week that passes: “I don’t even know. There was no certain point where it was like, ‘Oh, I’m comfortable.’ I started feeling comfortable in camp because I had a full spring playing backer. I started feeling good in camp.”
- After a string of good performances for Ohio State’s defense, Styles said the Buckeyes can’t rest on their laurels but need to keep playing to their standard: “Just keep getting better each week and keep rising to our standard. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing — we always say it’s about us. And that’s not to say Northwestern’s not a good team, they have a good offense. But if you’re playing Northwestern, Oregon, ‘Team Up North,’ Penn State, it’s about our standard, it’s about us, not them. Just rushing to our standard each game.”
- Styles said it’s been “great” to see his brother Lorenzo’s role expand this season. “He’s always in the building. He always knows what he’s doing. He knows multiple positions. You can kind of put him anywhere. You can throw him out there whenever. His best trait is his availability. He can play nickel, corner, boundary corner, field corner, dime — whatever it is.”
DB Jordan Hancock
“The Oregon game, we addressed the issues right there. Now we’re playing with a chip on our shoulder. We got a lot of confidence after the Nebraska game, and we just pitched a shutout, and now we expect that at Northwestern.” – Jordan Hancock on when Ohio State’s defense turned a corner this season
- Hancock said playing safety comes naturally to him because he lined up at the position for several years during youth football. “I think it comes from little league. I played safety in little league. I grew up playing safety and then I transferred to corner later down in my career. It’s definitely an easy transition, for sure.”
- On playing different positions for Ohio State: “It’s super fun. I remember when I was getting recruited, that’s what I wanted to do — it was to play every position in the secondary. That’s playing out to fruition (now). It’s everything I dreamed of, everything that I wanted.”
- Hancock said opposing quarterbacks are “feeling the pressure” when Ohio State blitzes. He’s seen the Buckeyes’ being more aggressive pay off late in games this year after the defense has worn down the offensive line and quarterback earlier in the contest.
