Ryan Day Sees Talented Terrapins, Buckeye Defense Trending Well

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day took part in his weekly radio show on Thursday, then followed that up with his weekly “Lightning Round” session with reporters via Zoom. Day was asked plenty of questions about his team and Saturday’s game against Maryland. The highlights of everything he had to say can be found below.

Lightning Round

• Miyan Williams hasn’t been held back by anything, he’s just had a good week this week and Day is looking forward to seeing him run.
• They sat down with Josh Proctor after last year about leaving or staying. Proctor felt like the injury last year limited his NFL potential and he wanted a full season playing healthy at Ohio State, and not just to reach individual goals, but team goals as well. They are counting on him to be consistent throughout the season.
• They are getting set for eight games with no breaks, but they prepared for this. They are also preparing for more bad weather games. They have talked about all of these things as a staff. October and November are always difficult, but you can’t look ahead. You look at one game at a time.
• On Marvin Harrison’s ankle, “looks good, had a really good week of practice. Looks ready to roll.”
• Kyle McCord is a very cerebral quarterback. He thinks through things. He’s smart. He is trusting his eyes. You have to find the rhythm of the game, trust your training, trust your feet, and let it go. You don’t want to overthink things, but it happens. The more you play, the better you get.
• Josh Proctor is a more mature player than he was in the past. “Josh and I have had a lot of talks together. I love Josh.” His best football is ahead of him, the second half of this season. Proctor has learned a lot about himself through all of these injuries and adversity. He has always had a smile and lights up the room. He plays hard on the field. “The investment in him is starting to pay off.”
• How much more confidence does he have in the safeties than he did before the season. Each game is its own game and you have to bring it every week. That being said, there is more confidence being built because you’re seeing the production on the field. They can still get better there and those guys want to make that happen. You’re starting to see the potential and what they can get to at that position.

Radio Show

• Having the experience they have on defense now makes him think about the defense a couple of years ago when they had so little experience. But now they need to continue to maximize themselves individually and as a unit. It isn’t just a Saturday thing, it’s an all-week thing.

• There is a fine line of keeping the DEs fresh but also those guys getting a feel for how teams are operating against them and taking advantage of it.
• Xavier Johnson has become a clutch player for them. His versatility is a huge thing for them in big games.
• TreVeyon Henderson is playing his best football. You can see what he can do in the open field. He’s a home-run hitter.

• The kickoff out of bounds at the end of the Notre Dame was NOT intentional.

• They want to have balance on offense at all positions. If defenses want to focus on Marvin Harrison, then that opens other things up. When you have that balance, it puts stress on a defense across the board.
• The times you see the bracket coverage on Marvin Harrison the most are on third downs and in the red zone. If it’s first and second down, it’s a little different because of the different things that are still available offensively.
• They are looking forward to getting Miyan Williams going this week. He’s had a good week of practice. Defenses have to be aware of OSU’s depth and differing styles of tailbacks.
• Marvin Harrison and Emeka Egbuka came in as freshmen and you knew there was something different about them. Those two are very close and they have both made huge plays in their careers.
• Are teams going for it more on fourth and short? Still depends on the situation and where the ball is and what the score is. When is it during the game?
• On Caden Curry playing fullback against Notre Dame: He’s got good explosion. He did good things on both sides of the ball in high school. “He’s a football player that can do a lot of things for us. We’re going to keep looking at him on that field.”
• It is a process of players learning how to communicate what’s happening on the field to the coaches on the sideline in a manner that allows the situation to be corrected.
• The scout team did a great job this week. It’s a lot easier to learn lessons in practice about the scheme you’re facing than it is in the game.
• Freshman quarterback Lincoln Kienholz has done a good job this year on scout team, and this week as well.

• Maryland’s defense does a good job of mixing up their fronts. They do a good job two-gapping. They are really good in the secondary. They have veteran linebackers. They have done a good job recruiting and they have good athletes all over.
• Every year with Mike Locksley being at Maryland you can see the talent increase.
• QB Taulia Tagovailoa is one of the most experienced quarterbacks in the nation. They have good receivers on the outside.
• Is there an art to moving past a big win? Not sure if there’s an art to it, but when you hit the practice field on Sunday, you have to be past the previous game. You build on the past, you don’t stay there.
• The bye week allows them to give some veterans a rest in practice and give those reps to the young guys who haven’t gotten to play much.
• As time as gone on, they’ve watched the OSU cornerbacks get better. They have to take another step this week against Maryland. It starts with getting a rush, or else you have to cover a little bit longer.

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