Ohio State Football Notebook: ‘They didn’t think I was good enough’

Unhappy Valley

Ohio State quarterback Will Howard grew up a Penn State fan. As a high schooler, he was a three-star recruit out of Downington, Pennsylvania. He dreamed of becoming a Nittany Lion and playing in Beaver Stadium.

Penn State never offered him, however. Kansas State did, as did Kansas, Minnesota, Harvard, Yale, Maryland, and the like. He of course ended up at Kansas State where he spent the first four years of his college football career. Now he is leading the Buckeye offense as the starting quarterback at Ohio State.

In the aftermath of last week’s surprisingly hard-fought win over Nebraska, Howard was asked if he was excited to be going back home.

“I’m stoked,” he said. “I’m stoked. I cannot wait. It’s going to be a homecoming for me. I grew up a Penn State fan. I wanted to go there my whole life but they didn’t think I was good enough. I guess we’ll see next week if I was.”

That was the last question for Howard after the Nebraska game and the media hasn’t been able to speak with him since.

As is custom, Will Howard will likely speak after this game win or lose. Plenty of questions will be answered, perhaps including some of his own.

The Injury Front

The Buckeyes have been dealing with a small handful of key injuries of late. Starting left tackle Josh Simmons is lost for the season, but his back Zen Michalski went down in the fourth quarter last week against Nebraska.

Earlier in the week, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day wasn’t ready to write Michalski off, but on Wednesday, Day provided a semi-definitive update.

“Yeah, I would say it’s trending that he is not going to play,” Day said of Michalski. “So we’ll keep evaluating it, but I think we’ve got a pretty good plan moving forward.”

And what is that plan at left tackle?

“We’ll just save that for Saturday,” Day said.

The Buckeye head coach was much less coy about the return of another key figure for Ohio State. Starting safety Lathan Ransom missed last week’s game following an undisclosed injury. On Wednesday, Day was asked for an update on his veteran safety.

“Yeah, he had a great day of practice today,” he said. “Full practice, ready to go.”

With Lathan Ransom back, the Buckeyes will be able to revert back to their starting secondary, which will include moving senior Jordan Hancock back to nickel after he stepped in at safety last week.

Not-So-Heavy Rotation

Ohio State’s four starting defensive linemen each played a season-high in snaps last week against Nebraska. Fortunately, it did not wear them down to the point where they were unable to respond in the fourth quarter when they were needed most.

Buckeye defensive line coach Larry Johnson always talks about having a healthy rotation of at least four defensive ends and four defensive tackles, but that rarely happens in games that are close.

Like all head coaches, Ryan Day gives his position coaches the responsibility of determining which of their players are in the game when. There are discussions throughout the week and perhaps some feedback during a game, but coaches are entrusted to know what is best for their position on any given snap.

Ryan Day was asked this week about the rotation being lacking against Nebraska and if defensive coordinator Jim Knowles needs to take more responsibility in making sure the rotations happen.

“I think at the end of the day, we’ve got to win the game,” he said. “That’s the first thing. So whatever we feel like going into the game is the right thing — and we certainly take the opinions of the assistant coaches — but at the end of the day, I’m the head coach. So it goes through me and so, yeah, I think we need to continue to roll guys.

“We roll guys. How many reps? You know, that’s different. I mean in that Oregon game, every rep counts in that game. So, we’ve got to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to be fresh in the fourth quarter for sure. But we also do everything we can to win the game. So we will rotate some guys in there, but we’ll again evaluate as we get closer to the game. But we’re obviously rotating guys in practice and we want to be fresh in the fourth quarter.”

The message for the starters when they are in the game is clear, defensive line or not.

“In these types of games, our best players have to play well,” Day said. “That was the message. Our leaders have got to lead and our best players have to play well in games like this.”

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