Huddle Updates: Ryan Day Radio Show, Lightning Round

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day is taking part in his weekly radio show today where he is answering questions and providing updates about his football team. Following that, he’ll be stopping by for his weekly “Lightning Round” session with reporters for 10 minutes or so. The highlights of everything that is being said can be found below. The updates are live, so refresh for the latest.

Ryan Day Lightning Round

On Emeka Egbuka returning punts: He did fine fielding them. It was a strange game in the return phase because the punter was mis-hitting some, then they moved him up and then the punter corrected things and boomed some. They may look at Cam Martinez as well to build depth there.
Cam Brown when healthy is very impactful. He is talented. He makes a big difference defensively for the team.
They know they have to stop the run defensively and then run the ball when the defense knows it’s coming. A large part of that is with him calling the game the way it needs to be called. That being said, they can throw the ball and execute better than they did last week.
All of the quarterbacks have good relationships with each other. The backups need to understand they are one play away. It may not feel like it for them, but that’s their challenge. They have to be ready to play. They have to be ready for the moment.
No freshmen played on offense or defense against Notre Dame. There wasn’t really an opportunity. There will be more opportunities coming. They have some talented freshmen.
It’s very important to have guys like Matt Jones and Enokk Vimahi sticking around for as long as they have, but it’s getting more and more difficult to keep guys for four or five years. You have to find those guys in recruiting. If they’re about NIL, you can’t expect them to stick around for long.
On the Aaron Donald comparisons for Mike Hall: He has told the team that after games there will be opinions from all directions, but if you start listening to those opinions, you better be careful. You can’t listen to the noise. Mike Hall is not going to listen to the noise.
He doesn’t want to get in the way defensively. He wants to allow Jim Knowles to call the game. Now you have to be smart when you’re doing that, but Knowles did a great job. They talked during the fourth quarter about being smart in those situations. They wanted to force Notre Dame to drive it down the field and not give them anything easy at the end of the game. The aggression is always calculated.
A couple of the 15-yard penalties are about safety and you can’t really do much about those. The personal foul penalty by Jayden Ballard was unacceptable. The ones that bothered him most were the 5-yard penalties.
Matt Jones has had a good week of practice. He stepped up last week when he wasn’t feeling his best. This game will take you to your knees. This game doesn’t care if you’re sick. That’s why when you cross the scarlet line and step onto the field, you have to leave everything else behind.
Does he get involved in the starting lineup defensively and does he expect Lathan Ransom to start? “Yes and yes.” Josh Proctor will still play. They go through personnel on both sides of the ball and he has the final say everywhere because he’s the head coach. But he obviously wants the input from his position coaches.

Ryan Day Radio Show

The punt team is comprised of the toughest, most reliable guys on the team.
You found a new kickoff man: “Thank God.” Freshman kicker Jayden Fielding had some good work in practice in the Shoe and they prepared him for that game. He had some good hang-time on his kicks that were returned, which allowed for tackles inside the 20-yard line.
It’s been great to see how quickly Lathan Ransom has returned and the demeanor with which he plays. He’s got good range, he can run, and he’s physical.
The offensive line penalties were tempo issues that they have to get cleaned up. They have to clean up the personal foul stuff. They need to be more disciplined.
Noon games are very different than night games. Gotta get up and get going. Pregame meal is at 8:00 am. They want a fast start this week.
The seams will eventually open up for the offense. Notre Dame didn’t want to give it up, which is why the throws outside the numbers were working. One-on-one, OSU should win those battles, but you don’t want to throw where the defense is sitting.
Redshirt freshman Reid Carrico is putting in his work and growing. “If he keeps working, he’ll be on the field soon.”
He likes when defensive coordinators coach linebackers because that position is tied into the defensive line and secondary, so they have a feel for the entire defense.
Mike Hall has shown what he can do, but now he has to show it week in and week out. Those who saw him in practice saw him do this all camp. It is no surprise.
Who is the fastest player on the team? Offense, there are some high 22mph guys and even a couple of 23 mph. Marvin and Emeka get up there. TreVeyon can maybe get into the 23s. Defensively, cornerbacks Denzel Burke and JK Johnson and Cam Brown can get into the high 22s, low 23s.
Day respects Arkansas State head coach Butch Jones. Arkansas State has a bunch of new players and they have players from many respectable programs.
You can’t be the same team you were last week. You have to continue to improve and upgrade or else somebody’s going to catch up with you.

The atmosphere last weekend was fun and just what they thought it would be. There was a line of cars waiting for parking lots to open.
There were over 75 recruits. “That’s a lot, and not all of those families are low maintenance.” The staff as a whole did an excellent job dealing with it.
This is the point when the season just keeps coming at you quickly.
They had staffers working ahead on Arkansas State so they could hit the ground running on Sunday in film work.
You never know how the first games are going to play out, but the team adjusted well. Losing JSN forced an adjustment. The Notre Dame style of offense was slow and OSU expected it but still had to adjust to that slow down style.
He was a bit more conservative on offense because of the confidence he had in the defense.
The offensive line and running backs wanted to finish that game out and they took pride in controlling the fourth quarter.
Great to see the receivers step up. Xavier Johnson catching his first touchdown and then making the tackle on the ensuing kickoff. Players don’t do that any more. That’s special.
Marvin Harrison and Emeka Egbuka did a great job last year, but this was new for them last week to be starters and be relied on like this. The more they played, the more they realized what it means to be a starter. Getting 50-60 reps is a lot different than just coming in for a handful of plays.
They will leave the decision on Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s availability to the medical staff. That’s the case with all of the players.
The backs ran hard but the offensive line also finished blocks. Both of them ran hard and were physical. Adding a couple of yards to each run means you’re playing downhill and that’s what they did.
The expectation is to win the game. The team doesn’t worry about stats. You can’t chase numbers or press. That never happened on Saturday.
If defenses are going to keep their safeties high to limit the passing game, then OSU has to run it and move the ball that way.
Any time you can hold somebody under 300 yards of total offense and 10 points, that’s excellent defense. It’s a start. The energy level was excellent. The players were decisive and that jumped off the film.
“I thought we looked well coached out there” on defense.
The attitude on defense was excellent. They have put in great work. Last year’s team may have panicked a little bit after that first play. Credit the staff for building that confidence throughout the offseason. “I think Jim has done a great job of that.”
Good to get Matt Jones and Donovan Jackson some positive momentum to start the season.
You have to execute at a high level, and then take pride in that because of the importance.