Tuesday was secondary day for media interviews at Ohio State as Tim Walton and five of his cornerbacks met with the media alongside Matt Guerrieri and four of his safeties.
In this edition of Quick Hits, we’re focused on Walton and the cornerbacks with a roundup of what Ohio State’s newly promoted co-defensive coordinator had to say along with a quintet of players in his position group. While projected starting cornerbacks Davison Igbinosun and Jermaine Mathews Jr. did not participate in Tuesday’s media session, potential starting nickel Lorenzo Styles Jr. did along with highly touted freshman Devin Sanchez and second-year cornerbacks Aaron Scott Jr., Bryce West and Miles Lockhart.
During their interviews, Walton talked about the progress of Igbinosun, Mathews and other cornerbacks while Sanchez talked about his approach to his first year at Ohio State. Scott, West and Lockhart each talked about how they're growing in their second spring as Buckeyes while Styles explained why he was “a little delusional” when he got to OSU and how he’s developed entering his third year with the Buckeyes.
Videos, quotes and notes from each of their interviews can be found below.
Tim Walton
“No one cares that you're young. They're throwing the ball over there when it's game time. So you've got to grow up fast, and the competition is real. So we preach the competition, we don't shy away from it, and you've got to pick it up and go, whether you're a third-year guy or whether you're an incoming guy.”– Tim Walton on holding young cornerbacks to the same standard as veterans
- Walton said the biggest things he looks for from his cornerbacks in determining whether they’re ready to play is how they compete and how they process the game.
- Jermaine Mathews Jr. has had an “outstanding” spring, Walton said. He said he already viewed Mathews as a starter last year even though he came off the bench behind Denzel Burke and Davison Igbinosun.
- Walton believes Igbinosun’s penalty issues from the past two seasons are correctable. He said he’s working with Igbinosun on doing a better job moving his feet so that he doesn’t have to reach as much.
Devin Sanchez
“Up here, it's not about your age, it's about being a man and stepping up, because they're going to need me to step up.”– Devin Sanchez on preparing to play as a freshman
- Sanchez said he likes that Tim Walton coaches him hard. “When he's coaching you hard from the jump, that means he wants the best for you. He's not going to let me slack off.”
- He shut down his recruitment after committing to Ohio State because he felt OSU was home. He said he visited Ohio State 13 times as a recruit. “I didn't really feel like staying in Texas was a good thing for me. I didn't feel like that was home for me,” Sanchez said. “Up here, I just felt like it was home, with Coach Walt and Coach Day, them making me feel important up here.”
- Sanchez thinks playing at the highest level of high school football in Texas helped him prepare to play at Ohio State. He mentioned going head-to-head with Dakorien Moore, the top-ranked receiver in the 2025 recruiting class, three times during his high school career, and he looks forward to facing Moore again at the collegiate level now that Moore is at Oregon.
Lorenzo Styles Jr.
“It’s refreshing to have a coach who spends a lot of time with his players and really cares about them.”– Lorenzo Styles Jr. on what stands out about Matt Patricia
- Styles said he has a growth mindset this offseason. “By continuing to get better, continuing to be a guy on the rise, my season will turn out the way I want it to.”
- Lathan Ransom recently called Styles “the most confident guy in the world.” Styles’ response? “When I came here, I was seventh on the depth chart. I always knew, like, you got to have that confidence to play DB here at a high level. … I’m excited to go out here and ball this year. You got to be a little delusional. You got to be a little delusional coming into such a competitive place. I came here playing receiver, and I think I want to show my boy (Lathan) I wasn’t delusional and that I’ll put it all together this year. I’ve always beena guy that’s talking trash still. Even when I might not have it all together, I’m still trying to get better every day.”
- Styles said he wants to be on all four special teams units. “I know playing nickel at the next level, you’ve got to be on special teams. I hold that standard when I go play. Being an asset there is critical to help the team win this year.”
Aaron Scott Jr.
“Everything is slower than my freshman year. My high school defense, all we ran was man, so all this was new to me, especially with Coach Knowles’ defense. This year, everything has slowed down.”– Aaron Scott Jr. on the biggest difference between his first and second seasons
- Scott said his command of how to play cornerback has grown a lot already this offseason. “I'm just more attuned to what's going on and understanding how the game goes.”
- On Matt Patricia: “He's very caring and he makes sure he gets a relationship with all of us. He's making sure he's checking on us, trying to get in whenever we can. He makes sure you feel comfortable in the building. He says, whenever you're in there, just come in and talk to him. He makes you want to come in and learn more.”
- Scott said he feels games are easier than practice given the talent he goes up against in Ohio State’s wide receiver room each day. “I feel like we've got the best receivers in the country.”
Bryce West
“The relationship with Coach (Patricia) is amazing. He’s a great dude. He’s always around the team. He’s around us when we’re lifting. … It’s not always about football. He talks to us about life. He’s always there to help us.”– Bryce West on his relationship with Matt Patricia
- West called his interception against Tennessee “a confidence booster.” He said it felt great to have Tim Walton, Denzel Burke, Davison Igbinosun and Jermaine Mathews Jr. support him before and after that moment.
- West said he’s working on eye discipline, footwork and hand-eye coordination this offseason. “Coach Walt preaches eyes, feet, hands. You see it, move your feet and get your hands on a man. When you’re out there and you’re able to process the way the receiver is coming off the ball, looking at the hips and seeing the way he moving, you’re able to pick up the route concepts. … Being under Coach Walt and having him break down football to you one-on-one is very beneficial.”
- On Devin Sanchez: “He’s very talented. He’s a great dude. He’s a humble guy, a great teammate, very supportive, a guy that you want around. You feed off him and his energy. When he makes a play, he’s hype. He’s like IGB. He’s like IGB 2.0. When you get out there with guys like that with good energy, it makes you play a little bit harder. When you make a play, he’s out there helping you. Being out there with him, he’s a very good player.”
Miles Lockhart
“I feel like I’ve been working a long time for it. It’s definitely a blessing.”– Miles Lockhart on shedding his black stripe
- On how his spring is going: “I feel like now I’m actually competing. When I first came last year, I was really just trying to wrap my head around the defense. I was playing a new position. So I was just running around really, not knowing too much.”
- Lockhart said defensive coordinator Matt Patricia is a “personable guy” and a “really cool dude” who is “about the ball, too.”
- On what he enjoys about playing nickel: “I like being able to be versatile with it. Go off the edge and blitz. You have to guard the slot, quick shifty guy. Go up and (be) a free safety sometimes.”
