Ryan Day Updates: Buckeyes Picking Up Where They Left Off

COLUMBUS — Ohio State head coach Ryan Day met with reporters on Tuesday to discuss the Buckeyes’ week off and look ahead to Saturday’s matchup with Marshall. He provided some health updates and answered a number of questions about his football team. The highlights of everything that was said can be found below.

What don’t people get to see about Will Howard? You are seeing more and more his command in games. “He’s played a lot of college football.” He is more and more comfortable every day he’s in the building.
Lorenzo Styles plays well on special teams, which means he’s earning more and more trust with the staff. They have preached that forever. If you build trust, you will play more. They’ll see how it shakes out defensively for Styles because the effort is always there.
How is the process going for finding the offense’s fastball? “I think we’re getting there.” It’s still early in the process but you saw a lot of variations last Saturday. Mixing tempos, zone vs. gap, and stressing the defense in a number of ways. The balance and energy they had two weeks ago is what they’re looking for each week.
Is having an off week this early an impediment to keeping the same pace you had in the first two weeks? “We’ll see.” It is what it is. He told his team go watch football this weekend to gain a different perspective.
Quinshon Judkins is more comfortable every day. He has learned the offense. They do some different things than Ole Miss. He and TreVeyon Henderson have a great relationship. “You can see what he can do with the ball in his hands.” He’s explosive and powerful. His protection is improving. “You can see what a weapon he is for us when he’s out there.”
What did you do on Saturday? Got up in the morning and had breakfast with the family. Then you start watching games at noon. Now you can watch multiple games at once. “You just watch.” You watch the coaches, the players, the demeanors, the body types. They brought up some of the game situations from Saturday on Sunday in the team meeting.
Is Caleb Downs an offensive option? He’s focused on being the best safety in America so those plans aren’t in play right now. Punt returner could be a possibility. It’s good to see James Peoples doing well and getting Sam Williams-Dixon out there as well.
Day is much more involved in the punting game. “I feel much more in control of it than I was in the past.” “We want to grab every inch we can possibly grab.” “We’re not where we need to be.”
Donovan Jackson is ready to roll. Austin Siereveld will still play. “We’ll figure out how that looks.” He has provided them some depth that they didn’t know they had.
How are the linebackers doing? It’s just the start and he doesn’t like to summarize things this early, but guys are running to the ball and making plays, “so that’s exciting.” It’s good to see guys step up. It’s a position that requires a lot of prep work.
On Marshall: They have a very good coaching staff. A good mix of youth and experience. The players play hard. They have an identity on offense. They want to spread you out and throw it around, and then mix some runs in. “They’re going to come in here and play open and free.”
How often do you show clips of other games/situations during the season? Periodically, but it’s easier when it’s coming off of a week they don’t play. Usually when you’re coming off of a game, there are already enough things to hit on that you just focus on yourself. But there teachable moments out there from other games that you can draw on at times.
What’s made Will Howard effective with play-action? It starts by how well you’re running the ball. But they also have put in a lot of work on the timing of those concepts. The protection has been good as well. The RPOs have helped as well. You’re always looking to put a defender in conflict and then marrying the things you do that can create issues for a defense — i.e. running/play-action.
Jelani Thurman allows himself to be coached “really, really hard.” He doesn’t let one bad play affect him. His attention to detail has improved. His meetings have improved. Every time he plays in Ohio Stadium, it helps him. He has questions and answers, which is what you’re looking for from a young play. The sky is the limit from him.
He texted CJ Stroud after the Texans game to let him know he’s proud of the way he’s handling everything in the NFL. “He’s got a lot of people here pulling for him.”
When it comes to injury decisions, he relies on the sports health people to make the decisions, but you also use everything you have experienced in the past to help make decisions when a player COULD play if he was really needed. They held Donovan Jackson out in the last game but he could have gone if there was an emergency situation.
They felt like if Donovan Jackson had a full week last week and a full week this week then he’s ready to go, and so far he has.
Everybody is competing to get on the field, even between position groups.
How are things going at three-tech behind Tyleik Williams? Hero Kanu is right there, but they need guys behind him to step up. There are candidates but that room is pushing somebody to step up. There are names that they believe can do it, but they are looking for somebody to step up.
The defense has not faced a red-zone situation yet this season but they work on it every day in practice. They are also working on two-minute situations at the end of the game “because we all know they’re coming.”
How has the last 5-6 years of QB recruiting shifted your philosophy? “When you know, you know.” They really want to make sure they evaluate as much as they possibly can. “We feel good about the guys that we have committed.” “What we can’t do is be unsure because it’s such a huge decision.”
Did you see any coaching situations on Saturday where you were scratching your head? He puts himself in their shoes every game he watches. He does it out loud as well and his family is tired of hearing it from him. He is always playing it out in his head and the variables that can happen. They have hired an analytics group to give them information after each week and after their own games?
“Marvin Harrison is a wonderful player. He’s gonna have a great player in the NFL.” He will translate very well in that league. “This is just the beginning.”
On the Big Ten coaches group chat that they have? Just things that come up like upcoming legislation that they need to get on the same page on.
Tegra Tshabola is the starter at right guard.
Donovan Jackson and Seth McLaughlin are great communicators and do a great job of keeping everybody on the same page.
The offensive line improved from game one to game two. They finished on long touchdowns. They played harder and finished the plays. They also communicated well and they are doing a better job of trusting their technique. “We can build on that.”