Ryan Day Radio Show: Ryan Day Thinks Ohio State-Indiana Will “Come Down to Leadership,” Calls on Will Howard and Veterans to “Rally” the Team After Seth McLaughlin’s Injury

Following Seth McLaughlin's Achilles tear, Day called on Ohio State's captains and veterans to "rally" the Buckeyes before their matchup with the Hoosiers. Of those leaders, Day said Will Howard needs to be at the forefront.

"Here we go. Game 11, top-five matchup, it's gonna come down to leadership," Day said. "The No. 1 job for the quarterback is to lead the team to the end zone and lead the team to victory. His leadership has been excellent. Excellent."

Day addressed several other topics on this week's Ryan Day Radio Show. Offensive lineman Donovan Jackson also answered questions at the end of the broadcast. Here is a bullet-point recap of their comments:

Ryan Day

On Carson Hinzman and Austin Siereveld

• "It's an opportunity. Every week is an opportunity."
• "Nothing that's happened in the past matters moving forward. It's all about what you do moving forward. All the work that's been put in leading up to this point now has to pay off."
• "These guys are gonna have great opportunities."
• Day said Hinzman and Siereveld have experience and will benefit from the bonds they've created with the teammates around them on the offensive line. He said they'll also benefit from blocking Tyleik Williams and Ty Hamilton in practice each day.

On how Ohio State will respond to Seth McLaughlin's injury

• "Our leaders have got to lead."
• "This team wants to win. They're not interested in individual accolades."
• "The whole team, the offense, the offensive line is crushed for Seth. But you wake up the next morning, you gotta move on. Nobody cares. The game of football doesn't care. That's the way it works. We do. We want Seth around until he has his surgery and then we'll go from there. But at the end of the day, we have to rally. The leaders have to do that."

On Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson

• "I thought they were running downhill. They're gonna need to run downhill in this game. These guys do a lot of moving and shaking in different fronts."
• "We all have to sacrifice if we want the betterment of the entire team and the goals we want to achieve. It's not about individuals. Both of those guys have sacrificed this year."
• Day said Judkins and Henderson have been able to "play fast, downhill and physical" at this point in the season because they made sacrifices earlier in the year.

On Ohio State's scout team

• "Our scout teams have been excellent this year."
• "We are able to utilize more coaches now... and have scout team meetings and really mimic the body language, the looks, the coverages and all those things. When we go to practice every day, we are working through the issues and not working through them in a game."
• "The scout teams have done a great job all season but in particular this week of showing what Indiana is gonna do on offense and defense."

On Ohio State's special teams, Indiana's special teams

• "They've had some good returns," Day said of Indiana. "They've played well on special teams."
• "We need the special teams to continue to be a plus for us. We're talking about the battle of field position in a matchup game. Every yard matters. Every inch matters."
• Day said Ohio State has "spent a good amount of time" on special teams this season and that "the focus has been good" in special teams meetings this week.

On Caleb Downs

• "He triggers. He covers a lot of ground quickly. He's explosive."
• "He puts a lot of work in. I think he's a great example to some of our younger players to see that this is a guy who is very, very talented, but he puts in just as much work, if not more work, than anybody on the defensive side of the ball."
• "We're gonna need him this week."
• "We're gonna have to have that secondary playing sound but being really competitive and getting after it."

On Sonny Styles

• "A lot of production, especially in the second half."
• "He can do things at all three levels."
• Day said people forget that Styles moved to linebacker this offseason and doesn't have much experience at the position. "The more he's seeing things, the faster he's playing."

On Ohio State making second-half adjustments

• "We have a veteran group, so it's important to recognize what's going on in a game and make those adjustments."
• "I thought we did a nice job in the middle eight (minutes) this past game."
• "I think understanding situations is as important as anything."

On making in-game adjustments

• "We got to be on our game."
• "We got to be communicating at a high level."
• Day said adjustments can happen quicker now because of the tablets Ohio State has access to.
• "Some of those TV timeouts are so long, you've got time. You might as well find something to do. Give me the tablet. We'll get some guys coached up in the huddle."

On Indiana's passing game vs. Ohio State's secondary

• "They're very balanced."
• "They're gonna throw the ball in the RPO game and take their shots."
• "They're gonna challenge our guys in the secondary, for sure. I think the quarterback does a nice job in terms of locating the football, getting the ball out on time. The receivers do a nice job of running routes... I also think they play the ball really well."
• "You see it in the numbers this year. A good challenge for our guys."

On Jack Sawyer

• "Jack has been a great leader for us."
• "He really embodies what it means to be a Buckeye. He loves his teammates. He loves this school. He loves the Buckeyes. He plays really hard out there. ... He's bringing guys with him. That's what leadership is about. ... He's been strong in there. He's had a great presence."
• "He knows he's got to be at his best just like the rest of those leaders."

On Carnell Tate

• "He's a team player."
• "I just think so many guys have so much respect for how he handled himself."
• "He's got a lot of respect in this building. A lot of people care a lot about him."
• "The whole team rallied around him. I think he felt his support."
• Day said Brandon Inniss has "always been there" for Tate. "I think he's one of the closest people in his life. You can see their relationship. When Carnell scored, Brandon was probably in the end zone by the time he landed. That's the way Brandon is. He is such a competitive dude. He loves to play."

On Will Howard, his leadership on and off the field

• "That's what we need here. Here we go. Game 11, top-five matchup, it's gonna come down to leadership. The No. 1 job for the quarterback is to lead the team to the end zone and lead the team to victory. His leadership has been excellent. Excellent."
• Day said Howard has taken command of the offense this season and has built rapport with Ohio State's running backs, wide receivers and tight ends.
• Day said Chip Kelly is the only coach who communicates with Will Howard via helmet communications. Day said he has a button he can press on his headset to communicate with Howard, but he hasn't used it much this season.

On Indiana's defense

• "They're moving every play. They have multiple fronts, multiple coversages. They are very aggressive in what they do."
• "A lot of movement up front. They do a good job of it – a lot of TFLs and they tie it all together in how they call it. They're very good. Their backend is tied in well."
• "It's a great challenge for our offense."

Donovan Jackson

On how the offensive line will respond to McLaughlin's injury

• "Guys gotta be ready to play."
• "Guys got to stop up."
• "At the end of the day, we all wear Block Os on our chest for a reason. We were all recruited to play football here for a reason."

On Hinzman and Siereveld

• "It's another opportunity for guys to shine."
• "It's competitive excellence when your number is called."
• Jackson expressed confidence that Hinzman and Siereveld are ready for the challenge on Saturday.

On Indiana defensive end Mikail Kamara

• "He's a very talented player. He knows how to use his abilities well."
• "There's a reason his numbers are so good."
• "As a unit, we have our work cut out for us. This is a very talented team, a very talented defensive front."