Coach Ryan Day
RYAN DAY: Really, really excited about this opportunity to have our team go down to Miami, play against an unbelievable opponent with such great history. So much respect for them, what they’ve been able to do. Coach Saban, his staff.
Our team is very, very excited to have this opportunity. This is something that we talked about really early on, and then when the season was canceled we talked about the opportunity to get back or an opportunity to play in this very game, and here we are.
Already started with a great week of preparation and continue that preparation this week as we head down to Miami.
Q. You guys are still on target to play Monday, correct?
RYAN DAY: Correct.
Q. When Urban first brought you in, what was he looking for as far as changes in the offense, and what did you envision the changes that you could bring to this offense?
RYAN DAY: You know, we didn’t really get into specifics on what was looking to be changed. I think he just felt like there needed to be a change.
We spent a lot of time talking about what really the offense was and where he saw it going.
You know, so many things that were in the offense already and just how could we use those things.
We really kept it the same. We really didn’t change much in terms of the terminology, the formations, anything like that. We just spent most of our time trying to figure out how to best utilize the players we had and continue to recruit at a high level.
So between he, Kevin Wilson, myself, Coach Stud, we just all sat down and tried to figure out what was right for the next season when we had J.T., and then it changed and we had Dwayne, and now Justin. Each year it’s changed, tweaked here and there, but at the end of the day I think the basis of it has pretty much stayed the same.
Q. Obviously you guys have been dealing with the COVID issues pretty constantly for the last six weeks as far as having to miss guys. But coming off a big win like the Sugar Bowl and having to deal with new cases this week, how is that sort of not like a mental gut punch for the program, or is it something that players and coaches are kind of just steeled to at this point and better able to deal with?
RYAN DAY: Well, any time you deal with that and you lose people, it is a gut punch. But it’s not something that we’re not used to. We’ve played games with the majority of our offensive line out. We played the Big Ten Championship game without our top receivers, or some of our top receivers. We’ve had starters all over the place down at different times, and we’ve found ways to work through it. It’s just been the way it is.
And you can feel sorry for yourself or you can just continue to work on and push through it. The hard thing is at the end of the day most people don’t really care. They just watch the game and the result is the result.
But for us, that’s why the story about this season is just so amazing to me, is that we just continued to push through despite all those difficult challenges along the way.
And no different this week. We’ve got a new set of challenges this week. We’re going to have to figure it out, go down to Miami and play.
Q. Wanted to see if you had an update for us on the status of Justin Fields, and kind of as a follow-up to that, even if he is healthy enough to play, would you consider tailoring the offense, perhaps limiting designed quarterback runs to account for where Justin is at?
RYAN DAY: Yeah, no real update. Don’t really give out injury updates.
And then we’ll do what we think is best in the game based on our opponent, based on our personnel and where we’re at during the game. That’s kind of what we’ve done for every game that we’ve been in.
So we’ll continue to do that this week.
Q. Yesterday Kerry was talking about how actually rewarding this season has been. I was asking about the uncertainty of a roster every week and working new guys in and having to really burn through different solutions. Is rewarding the word you would use as the head coach, or what has this been like dealing with these challenges every week?
RYAN DAY: I think this is just the way that this has gone. The minute you want to feel good and take a deep breath and count your blessings, and like you said, feel the reward of what we’ve done, something new comes at you and you’ve just got to handle it.
I know this: The finish line is coming on Monday, and we’ve got to finish this thing strong. No matter what’s come our way we’ve handled it, and we’ve got to continue to do that. That’s really what it is.
To say it’s easy? No. To sit back and say that we can pat ourselves on the back or feel good about what’s gone on? No. We’ve got to finish this thing off on Monday, and then when the season is over we’ll go back and think about all the great things that have happened this year because there’s a lot of them.
Q. I know you’ve been an advocate for mental health even before the pandemic started, and you guys have been very open about how stressful this season has been. Just curious how much have you had to kind of check in with guys just from a mental standpoint along the way, whether it was the season being postponed, reinstated, COVID, playing this week, not playing this week, that process for such a long period of time for this group of guys given their age?
RYAN DAY: It’s something we talk about a lot. Our position coaches really keep a close eye on it. When we communicate with our parents we’re constantly talking about it. It hasn’t been easy. I think the hardest part was probably going through the holidays, not being around their families. And then the constant change, like you’re saying. Lack of routine, change of course here and there, and then the uncertainty.
It’s something that has been difficult. I’ll say this, though: I think, and I’ve said this before, I think going through this time has made our guys stronger mentally. They’ve been able to sustain through a lot of tough times and adversity, so that’s been one of the silver linings here.
But it’s something we really keep a close eye on and try to do everything we can to provide the resources that guys want.
Q. Pat Fitzgerald and Mike Hankwitz are so good; was that more about them going against your offense in that championship game, or was it more about the offense not functioning as well or a combination of both?
RYAN DAY: Yeah, I think it’s a combination of both. They do a great job. Always have. I think we were also really weren’t clicking that day. It doesn’t take much to be off. We say that all the time.
But I think it was a combination of things.
Q. You and Justin have, I think, a very strong relationship, and having talked to him, I know he’s kind of very close with his dad, very much a small-town guy, and yet he committed to Ohio State without actually having gone to campus first. I’m wondering what has sort of made your relationship work with him so much. Do you consider it sort of a unique bond for yourself, as well, and how much do you think that has played into the level of effort and dedication that he’s shown to the program throughout this really tumultuous year?
RYAN DAY: First off, it started off right from the get-go when Justin and I started our relationship and tried to be up front and honest with him. He was going to have to come in here and earn a spot. It was going to take hard work, what being the quarterback at Ohio State meant, and then we just went to work.
Mike Yuricich early on that first year spent a lot of time with him. I spent some time with him, especially on the field. And then in the off-season this year, I spent a ton of time with him and I’ve spent some time with him certainly this year, a lot of time this fall.
When you go through things together your relationship gets stronger, and we went through a lot of great times last year. You go through that Clemson game and you just learn about each other. Your relationship gets stronger when you go through tough times. You find out about each other.
And then the off-season and fighting for a season and speaking up and his leadership and all those things, and then as we got into the season, a lot of the stuff we worked on during the season, and Coach Dennis and he worked on. It all kind of worked together early on, and then we went through a couple tough games where it didn’t really click the way we wanted to.
And to see him play the way he did and overcome a little adversity in this past game is what it’s all about, and that’s what life is all about.
I think he knows how much I care for him and I’m always there for him and try to help him the best I can, and that’s part of it, too. It’s one thing to care about somebody, and it’s another thing to be able to help them, and I think that he knows that I’m here to help him and I can find ways to help him here and there. I think that there’s a trust there, and there’s obviously an unbelievable respect for what I have for him as a competitor and as a person.
Q. You’re in the National Championship game in only your second year as coach. With all you’ve had to deal with this year I’m not that’s really not in the forefront of your mind, but can you put into words what it’s like for you to be at this point and what it would be like to win it, especially when you’re going against somebody like Nick Saban?
RYAN DAY: I appreciate those words. I think you probably know me now. I’m probably not going to get into that right now just because we’re in the moment, and all that really matters is preparing for this game. I think when you start to take a step back you get distracted. Every minute of the day I tell the players should be spent on Alabama. That’s it.
If you’re spending your time thinking about anything else, tickets, travel, family, this, that, what’s going on after, what went on last week, it’s a distraction towards focusing on this game because this is what matters.
Certainly very, very honored to be in this situation, don’t get me wrong. And it’s really about the players, the fact that these guys have an opportunity to now go play in this game and do something that would just be amazing.
That’s really it. Just focusing on the game. I think hopefully after this game we’re able to take a deep breath. I hope anyways. I feel like during these past two years and even a little bit more I just haven’t been able to take a deep breath. I felt maybe after last year into March I was able to, and then the quarantine hit and then it just became chaos again.
Looking forward to finishing this thing the right way and then taking a deep breath and decompressing and trying to reflect on what just happened this year.
Q. Just wondering how many players do you guys have available for the game?
RYAN DAY: How many do we have available? I don’t know the number on that. I’d have to check.
Q. But you’re confident that you’ll have the full number required to play in the game?
RYAN DAY: Yeah, we’ll have plenty of players.
Q. Earlier this year Nick Saban had said that he doesn’t believe that good defense beats good offense anymore as it relates to the way college football has gone. I’m curious what your sentiment is on that and how — what good defense is is now required to win a championship in this age of college football.
RYAN DAY: Yeah, no, it’s a great question. I think it has changed. Fundamentally it hasn’t changed, but just the way the game is being played has, and it’s all about getting stops. I mean, it isn’t really about how many yards you give up. I think controlling the game does matter, but at the end of the day it’s about getting stops, forcing field goals, and getting turnovers.
You can let them drive the entire length of the field, but if they kick field goals or you get turnovers along the way, good things are going to happen.
I think that really is where it’s at. It depends on how strong your offense is and I think both sides have to play off of each other. I think that’s really, really important.
One good thing about being so involved in the offense is that you kind of understand as the head coach that it takes both sides in all three phases to mesh together for it to work. You can’t work in three different silos. I think that’s a big part of it, as well.
When you tie the two sides in together with special teams, then I think you can put together a good plan. But to answer your question, I think nowadays it’s not about how many yards you give up. It’s just literally how many stops you can get, whether by turnovers, or forcing field goals.
Q. Part of this feels a little similar to the 2014 season Ohio State had where in that year getting to the semifinal and playing Alabama seemed like such a target and then they accomplished it and sort of had to recalibrate to play the national title game. I think on some level Clemson was a target for you guys. But to have such an emotional win against a team that you had been thinking about a lot and turning around and having to play this, is there any difficulty in ratcheting up the same kind of emotion again?
RYAN DAY: I mean, any time you play somebody like Alabama for a National Championship, it’s going to be a challenge. You know, it was an emotional game, it was an emotional win, but nobody said they wanted to come back to just play in this game, they came back to win it.
I think our guys have the eyes on the prize, and it’s a slow build towards the game. But I think we’re going to come out with our hair on fire and play as hard as we possibly can and go from there.
And I think the thing we’ve got to — we’ve just got to take it one play at a time. You can’t go on and try to do too much against a great team like this. You have to just play one play at a time. On defense you get one stop at a time, on offense you get one 1st down at a time. You just focus on that, you look up in the fourth quarter, you see where you’re at.
But I know our guys are going to play really, really hard.
Q. I was at the game in Columbus in ’17. That was sort of Trey Sermon’s coming out party. You’re on the other side of the ball in terms of preparation. Do you remember much about his game against the Buckeyes in ’17, and did you know how good he was until you actually got him on campus?
RYAN DAY: I remember some of them and then I watched a little bit of that game, and certainly when he had an opportunity to transfer and had a great conversation with Coach Riley, and he had nothing but great things to say about Trey and it just seemed like the right fit here.
The thing that, again, I just go back to is it didn’t all come at once for Trey. He worked really hard early on but didn’t have the preseason and the lead-up and the non-conference games, and so — and he was kind of splitting time with Master.
But he never came into my office, never said a word, just kept working, and then when his opportunity came to be the guy, he took it and ran.
What an amazing story, a special young man. We’ll see what happens. But no, to say I knew he’d be doing this right now, no, this has been a pleasant surprise. But couldn’t happen to a better guy. He’s done a great job in a short period of time. The players on his team really appreciate who he is, and I’m happy for him.
Q. When Justin got hurt against Clemson and there’s the decision of whether to put him back into the game and the injection or two that he seems to have gotten, what are the discussions that take place, the coaches, the medical people about, I guess, whether he can — when he goes back into the game how well he can protect himself, what are the questions of possible further injury, and because this is somebody who seemingly has a pretty lucrative future in front of him, I guess how are those things kind of balanced and played out?
RYAN DAY: I mean, Justin isn’t treated any differently than any other student-athlete. Our medical people are the best in the country at what they do. They identify what’s going on. They communicate with the player. They diagnose what happened and then make the decision on whether he’s able to go back in the game. That’s what happened here.
Obviously they use the feedback of the player, too. What an unbelievable competitor Justin is. Just never forget that night. He’s just tough.
People forget that what happened in the team up north game when he took that shot in the knee, one play came out, he went back in one play later and threw a touchdown pass scrambling to his left to Garrett Wilson in the end zone. It was like, Whoa. And then this was another one.
So then to see him come back after that hit and throw four touchdown passes, throw the ball 65 yards down the field, I mean, unbelievable.
Q. Are there things that you look at, though, with just making a determination of whether he can protect himself? I don’t think anybody questions his competitiveness and interest in being out there, but just as far as whether he can protect himself, the way he can move around, et cetera.
RYAN DAY: I mean, yeah, that’s up to our medical people, and it’s the same thing we do for every game.
Q. Back on Trey, he was a guy who transferred in here at a time when he didn’t necessarily transfer like Justin did where he kind of had an off season to really get to know a lot of these guys and do the stuff you would do if we weren’t in the middle of a pandemic. Saying that, when did you see him start to get comfortable around his teammates, and how did that maybe translate on to the field?
RYAN DAY: Yeah, probably the Michigan State game and then into the — but he popped a few runs there, okay, that was good. But then the Big Ten Championship game was when he really took off. As early as that. I mean, it was probably the second half is when I really realized what was going on. He was running hard, but then it just kind of went to a second level, and then he played great last week.
Kevin Wilson
Q. You’ve been around a number of high-level quarterbacks. Just looking at Justin purely from the way he throws, if we can assume that he might not run as much on Monday night, how does he stack up with some of the best just pure passers you’ve been around?
KEVIN WILSON: You know, I’ve been around some guys and I’ve coached the position, although never having played quarterback I don’t know if I’m an expert on the throw part of it.
I kind of — I’d always dealt with quarterbacks as a guy that was a — a golf-related guy who was more about what you see in your feet and how to process more than the throw.
So from a mechanical standpoint I really don’t get on that. I know Ryan has kind of worked a lot with him through the off-season to continue to enhance his movement within the pocket and how to keep his eyes downfield and stay with his reads and have subtle movements and staying alive, because he is a really good athlete that can take off and move within the pocket and try to extend the play with the arm.
He can make a lot of throws, make a lot of great throws. He throws the deep ball. He not only has a big arm to throw the deep ball, but he’s really, really accurate with the deep ball, and I think Ryan has done a tremendous job, he and Coach Dennis, of just trying to clean him up on the intermediate and make the high percentage throws more high, high percentage for him.
Had a great week of practice last week and off to a good start here this week, so we’ll see how it goes. We’ve got a tremendous challenge with a tremendous defense, tremendous secondary, tremendous coverage with Coach Saban; Coach Golding is back now. We’ll have our hands full for him throwing the ball, that’s going to be for sure.
He also throws the ball when protection is good, and that will be a challenge with Alabama, as well. But he can make all the throws, and at the same time as talented he is I think he’s scratching the surface. He has a bright, bright future in this game.
Q. When you came in with Ryan, what did he and you envision for this offense? Obviously you were brought in by Urban to make some changes. You had never worked with Ryan before, at least I don’t think. Where did sort of your philosophies meld? What was his vision? What was your vision? And, again, what was the evolution that you guys were looking to sort of take place on Ohio State’s offense?
KEVIN WILSON: You know, I think with his background having played in a similar offense that in time, you know, my background being older, it went from the original I-formation, Midwest offenses that were ran — my college coach came from the Mid-American-conference, Dick Crum from Ohio, and when he went to North Carolina he ran the sprint draw and the power and the counter and the fullback belly and the toss and the power pass and sprint draw pass and counter boot and old fashioned I-formation plays, and we did that, and in time the only reason why we changed when we went to Northwestern in the 2000 season was just a need of not having tight ends that led to the evolution of running this offense.
Well, Coach Day’s coordinator at New Hampshire was Chip Kelly. Me and Chip had crossed paths through a mutual friend, James Patton, and got to know Chip when he was coaching at Rhode Island. Chip was New Hampshire, now we’re at Northwestern, so we visited. I think Chip kind of ran with it his way. We were kind of running with it our way in the spread. Over time I was the offensive line guy, background guy that had a little bit of quarterback play, but Ryan is a pure quarterback guy.
But I think him being around his background at Boston College and his background being around some of the coaches that he had, a couple stints there with Coach O’Brien and Coach Addazio where he had some really good line background head coaches.
So I think Ryan is a skill guy that understands line play. I’m a ling guy that knows a little bit about skill play. Not a lot, but a little bit.
And I think we have similar views but slightly different but they’re cohesive in that we’re playing through the spread game.
When we came here it wasn’t like we were putting ideas in. We were learning what Coach Meyer wanted us to do, period. We learned that style of offense and what the language was and the way he wanted to operate and getting the ball to Paris Campbell, and at the time we had J.K. and Mike Weber throwing the ball and what J.T. Barrett could do with the line.
Over time, with Haskins in the passing game it evolved a little bit the next year, but that initial year we got here was really just trying to be a great teammate and be a part of what Coach Meyer would always say is the Ohio State offense.
Over time each year the Ohio State offense has evolved a little bit, and in Ryan’s time and with him we’ve changed a little, but really we haven’t gotten away from trying to be physical, run the ball, score touchdowns in the scoring zone, take care of the football.
So, you know, our vision never changed because we never got away from the core values. When I was at Ohio — excuse me, Northwestern years ago and we changed to the spread, we never got away from the core values that Randy Walker wanted. We were going to run the ball, we were going to try to be physical, we were going to take care of the quarterback, we were going to win the turnover battle, we were going to win the field position battle, play good defense, kick the ball well. Those are the same things we try do here at Ohio State, and those will be things we try to do Monday night, because that’s going to be the key to winning.
We’ve been able to morph and evolve, but it really just started what Coach Meyer wanted, and since that time we’ve kind of played to the strength of our players more than things that Coach Day or I or anybody wants to do.
Q. I wanted to ask you about Patrick Surtain. He’s maybe the best defensive player in the country, and just wondered what challenges he poses to you guys and what you have in your bag of tricks to try to neutralize that guy?
KEVIN WILSON: Well, you know, his thing is of course he can do many different things with their coverages and adjustments, but in reality he’s such a great cover guy that basically you put an X on that guy because he’s covered up a lot.
And that being said, he doesn’t need to have a lot of safety help or bracket help or inside help. He can play a guy one-on-one, so that allows the defense to then bracket other receivers or that allows the defense then to cheat with linebackers and safeties to outnumber you and out-gap you in the run game.
I mean, he’s a tremendous player. A guy we recruited hard. I know Coach Coombs was disappointed when we didn’t get half and those guys were dealing trying to get him in here. I think it was just Coach Coombs back then. But he’s a tremendous player. He’s athletic. He’s long. He’s going to do a great job.
Doing his part in helping a very, very strong defense do well. I’m sure there’s going to be some reads where the ball is going to go that way because Justin is going to fill the match-up. We have good receivers that goes through that guy. But he’s one of the best players in college football and has a great future playing defensive back. He’s one of the premier defenders, and he’ll have a great career, not only in college but moving forward.
Q. You gave us a good — sort of a good lineage of your offensive past going back to Dick Crum. Where does your ’07-’08 no-huddle stuff fit in there? How much of what you did in Norman in those two years tie in with any of the stuff you’re doing now or that really anybody is doing in this offensive world we live in?
KEVIN WILSON: Yeah, we didn’t want to go, didn’t plan to go no-huddle when we were at Northwestern, but back then we were studying what Coach Rodriguez did. We were trying to find something, because we did not have tight ends and fullbacks. We did it in a spread set because that’s what everyone did. I was fortunate enough to get hired by Coach Stoops to come to Oklahoma, and we fiddled around my first year or so a little bit in some practices with Coach Long, but it really didn’t fit the terminology we had at the time and really didn’t fit our guys.
We were playing really, really good back then. That’s in — as a matter of fact, that was the team actually played Coach Saban’s team in 2002, and then the 2003 team that played in Sugar Bowl.
So we didn’t really come to it until the 2008 year when Sam was coming back, Bob came in the off-season and said, I think we need to look at no-huddle. I said, Coach, if you want to we need to change a couple things the way we practice, because you’ve got to practice a certain way and I don’t know if that fits the way you want to do things defensively.
I remember he had Coach Snyder came down that year from K-State. He was out of coaching at that time and did a clinic, and I met with Coach Snyder and I said, Coach, I’m struggling because Coach Stoops wants to go no-huddle and I think that might mess us up because we’re really pretty good on defense. What do you think?
And he says, Well, because you’ve got a good offense I think you’re going to get more at bats. What we were able to do Jermaine Gresham, Brody Eldridge, a phenomenal player, Matt Clapp, we were able to then start doing no-huddle with personnel groupings where were weren’t spread out all the time or it wasn’t quarterback run game all the time.
We were able to add the Mike Leach style passing that we had continued to do that Mike had brought in there in ’99. We were add that with some really string tight end play with Jermaine and Brody. We had a really good offensive line. Trent Williams and Phil Loadholt and Duke Robinson and John Cooper. I mean, we had some good players. Manny Johnson and Joaquin. We had DiMarco and Chris Brown dotting the I back there, so some good players. But the deal was, I remember talking to Herbstreit preseason, he said, You guys are going to be good. I said, Kirk, I don’t want to say anything until after we get by this game in the middle of October, but I think we’re going to go no-huddle with this multiple-personnel groupings. I think we can mess with some people. Now the game has caught — defenses have caught up, but I think from that’s from there where the RPOs started coming in, the multiple personnel groupings, offense has continued to grow.
There’s still some great defenses, but you’re going to see two strong defenses playing against two pretty really strong offenses on Monday night, and that’s kind of where the game has evolved. Even the pro game where guys are scoring 35, 40, 40-some points now.
Q. A lot has been said about Justin’s guts and taking the shot to the ribs during that game against Clemson. I wonder if you could portray from your perspective how that went with him playing with it. And then what was the difference between what Northwestern did to you guys and why Justin and the offense prospered so much against Clemson?
KEVIN WILSON: Different defenses. I mean, Northwestern is — they played well in in their bowl game against Auburn. I think they won like 35 to 18 or 19. They had a really good season. They’re a little bit different, not as multiple with pressures or looks as Clemson, but Coach Hankwitz is in own way different, but great coordinator and had a great run up there.
So they were able to keep the ball in front of them. We had a couple receivers out that maybe threw our timing out a little bit of whack. I think as much as anything, after a couple losses it just looked like last week Coach Day was able to — the last two weeks prior to that Clemson game was able to Justin to settle down and get his eyes back where they need to be and not force plays and take what’s there and trust what’s there, and we were able to have some success in the running game.
As the running game got going well, he was able to complement the pass game and that was that game. This is a different game. It’s going to be hard to run on these guys. They’re strong and stout and keep our balance, but we’ve got to find a way to keep the chains on schedule and try to find a way to get some 1st downs and try to find a way to get Justin going.
In the game when he took the hit it was a big hit, and all we thought after that was if he could go we needed to be very smart, because we’re going to do a bunch of QB runs after that. He was able to, I guess, come back and play. I don’t know the conversations that he and Coach Day had. We just tried to be really smart with the decisions we put — we still were able to throw the ball.
I think he showed a year ago he took a pretty good hit and took a low injury in a rivalry game up north and came out and made one of the best plays of his life the next play after coming off that deal.
So he’s been able to fight through some adversity and he’s a very good player and he’s a tough player, and just — I think that’s just his DNA and his makeup it looks like.
Q. Offensive lines need cohesion, and you guys have not had that luxury with the COVID situation that you’ve had. How have you been able, you and Stud, to be able to counteract that, and how important is the same kind of performance that you had against Clemson going to be against Alabama?
KEVIN WILSON: I don’t know, I mean, we missed some of those games with the — we lose the Maryland game, then we lose our Illinois game, and then we lose our rival game, so we’re kind of going every other week.
This has always been a great practice outfit. Our Tuesdays and Wednesdays, a lot of good-on-good, whether it be individual periods, group periods, inside run periods, team periods. And that being said, sometimes our second team players, we do a lot of twos on ones, and sometimes our second team players are playing against some of the best players in the country in practice.
We had a game where we had a couple linemen out, but to me I wasn’t really overly concerned about that game. I knew we had some talented players coming, they had been practicing well. So I actually think — I mean, I don’t think you run the ball the way we’ve been running in a team that’s not an option-oriented team and don’t have pretty good line play and cohesion.
And I think it’s also complemented by a couple really good tight ends that no one wants to talk about unless they catch a ball. Them guys touch their butts off every week. So it’s a solid front. Is it a great, great phenomenal line? I don’t know about that, but they’re really good. They’re great kids. They give us great practice habits. They’re talented. We work really hard to try to put them in good schemes. It’s hard because every team is out-gapping you.
Tough thing in college ball, one week it’s this scheme, then it’s that scheme. Every week it’s different schemes. But Coach Stud does a great job. Those linemen are really playing solid to me. You don’t know if it’s a good line until the end of the year and you can look back and see what you did.
So we’ll wait until Monday night to see how good a line it is, and they’re going to get their strongest test Monday night with Alabama’s front because they’re the best we’ve seen. But I’ve got a lot of respect for Coach Stud. I’ve got a lot of respect for the O-line, and I appreciate that our group at tight end can complement and help those guys.
And then with that, Trey makes the plays, Justin makes the plays. But without those cats up front, it wouldn’t be the offense that we have.
Q. Seven of the last eight games Alabama has played, statistically their defense has been pretty good. I’m curious what you’ve seen they’ve done well that stands out, and on the flipside, with the success Florida and Ole Miss had moving the ball, what can you take away from that as you strategize?
KEVIN WILSON: Yeah, the Ole Miss game is early and I think it looks like as they’ve been able to play — one of the best ways to get better is by playing. I think that’s why we played pretty well the other night. We finally got to game 6, game 7, game 8. Typically that’s when we’d have like a — one of our Big Ten road or home games that middle third, second, third, fourth week of October, big game. That’s kind of where last week was in our calendar of games the way the schedule fell this year.
I think Alabama has gotten better because they’ve been able to play, play in a great league against great players every week. I know Florida got hot and I think got into a little bit of a shootout. Credit to Florida to making some plays and keeping some drives extended.
But to me, I haven’t played Alabama in quite a while. You watch them — I’ve always watched Coach Saban’s teams. Shoot, I think the first year we competed against him was like ’90, ’91 at Miami of Ohio when he was at Toledo or something like 1990 I think it was, and he was the head coach up there. Crossed his path at Michigan State, as well. Crossed him at LSU, and now here we are seeing his Alabama team.
They’re a great defense with talent, length. They’re going to make it unbelievably challenging. I just think as they’ve played they’ve gotten better and better, and you can skew the numbers and statistically we can always make offenses and defenses look better than they are or worse than they are. The key things is the great teams do what it takes to win every week, and that’s what their defense does and that’s what Coach Saban has done as well as anyone that’s ever coached the game of football.
Q. I was talking to some people about Thayer Munford the other night and they were mentioning this meeting you and Stud had with him late in the recruiting process. You were having him go through some offensive stuff. What do you remember about that meeting and just what perspective do you have now on the accomplishment of him getting to Ohio State, getting through his career but then also the season he’s had?
KEVIN WILSON: I had gotten hired a couple weeks, and I don’t know the issue with why we were taking — I don’t know if we had lost someone or someone had left or transferred — but all of a sudden we wanted to take one more lineman. We were going back and forth, and Thayer as I think a junior, I think is when I remember seeing Thayer myself as a sophomore when I went and watched a practice when his head coach was at Massillon when they were over at LaSalle at the time down in Cincinnati. As a matter of fact, our punter, Drew Christian, was there, and he said, Coach, I’ve got a good punter, and Drew punted one across the field over the press box. I’ll never forget that. I was like, geez, I’ve never seen a guy kick it over the press box.
But Thayer, I remember Thayer as a young player, and Coach Meyer wanted me to go up to this meeting with Stud because I have a linebacker background to give my opinion. So we get down, ask him, hey, let me see you, let’s watch a little tape with you, talk some ball, tell me what you know, draw a play. His coach had him get in a stance and all that stuff. I looked at Stud and go, what’s wrong with this guy.
And at the same time because I had just gotten here, I’m afraid, well if I put my stamp on this guy as a thumbs up and he’s a flop, it’s like I don’t know what I’m talking about, but the whole time, I’m like, what’s wrong with this guy; this guy is going to be an elite player. I know he was a three-star recruit, but I thought he had a great — I just thought he was going to be awesome.
Credit to him, though. He’s the guy that stayed healthy. He’s the guy that’s worked hard to stay in shape. He’s the guy that’s gotten stronger. So Thayer himself has made himself into a great player.
But I remember that first meeting there was some hemming and hawing by a lot of people and should we, and I’m glad we had the meeting. It was very quick for me to think he had a chance. Doesn’t mean he’s going to make it. He’s made it because Thayer and his family and everyone has backed him and we’ve had great support here, but I do remember that meeting specifically in the Massillon — it was a little basketball game they were having up at Massillon. I remember specifically Coach Meyer, me and Coach Stud sitting there one day with him.
Wyatt Davis
Q. I know that there’s been a little bit of a trend in recent years of players from California going south and Midwest, especially some of the higher recruited ones. I wanted to see how that applied to you and what your reasons were and why you think that’s happening.
WYATT DAVIS: Honestly, at least for me, I know my reason for coming all the way to Ohio State was to have the opportunity to play in a game like this. For me personally, I just always was infatuated with programs like Ohio State.
It was the easy decision for me, and I just feel like guys from out west, especially in California, if you’re going to go through college football and put yourself through the type of commitment that it is, why not go to a school that puts you in the position to play for it all.
So at least for me, that’s what I think the reasoning is for why a lot of people are choosing where I’m from to go to these bigger schools is to have the opportunity to play in games like this.
Q. Obviously you almost made the decision to not play this season, to opt out. You come back and now you’re here in the National Championship game. How special is it that this all culminates in an opportunity for you to play for a title?
WYATT DAVIS: It’s huge. I mean, there were guys on my team after the Clemson game messing with me about it, saying, Wow, you would have chose to sit out and miss out on this. It’s honestly crazy just how everything that I wanted to happen this season is happening. Now we just have to go finish.
Words can’t really describe how I feel personally just to have this opportunity I’m in. I remember watching in high school the National Championship and just how much of a big deal it is for me, me telling myself at a young age back then, hopefully one day I’ll be on that field playing, and here I am now a couple years later with that opportunity.
It’s definitely special.
Q. I’m sure that you’re somewhat privy to a lot of the things that Thayer Munford had to go through just to attend Ohio State, let alone have the career he’s had, and you’re familiar with some of the things he’s gone through since he’s been there. What do you maybe respect the most — what do you remember the most about him as a teammate and what he’s gone through during his time here?
WYATT DAVIS: Just how much of a brother he is to me. I mean, we came into this program and we were roommates actually in the dorm, as well. And like what you said, what he had to go through. He played a whole season with a messed-up back and didn’t complain once. I mean, that was a guy that was at practice every day that season practicing with his back issue. The way he bounced back from that. A lot of guys in his situation could have quit.
But what I would say is the thing I’m most impressed with him and respect the most is his determination and grit. I mean, like you said, him coming here, just all the obstacles he had to go through in life, and he never once quit I think says a lot about his character and the type of person he is.
That’s one guy if he has a goal set, he’s going to get it done. That’s probably something that I will definitely remember the most from him.
Q. Two years ago when Coach Day took over, there was a lot of people that wondered if Coach Stud would be retained on the staff and stay moving forward. Fast forward, you guys have had one of the best offensive lines in the country. What is it about Stud, the way he’s handled the last couple years, the way he coaches you guys that has produced this level of school?
WYATT DAVIS: I would say his expectation. It all starts from practice. I feel like a lot of it — I feel more nervous to make mistakes in practice than I do in games just because he expects a lot out of us and he pushes us to get to points where we’re at now, to have success, for yourself as well as for the team.
I will just say the thing he does the best and that I’ve noticed is whether you’re a walk-on or a starter, when he gets into you, it’s the same as everybody else. No one is held to a different standard. That standard is excellence, and that’s what he demands out of us.
At least for me it’s more a thing I want to play so hard because of him and how he pushes us because I know he’s doing everything in his power to put us in a great position to succeed. You know, as far as it goes for me playing, I feel like I have to return the favor.
I feel like he’s a great leader, and he’s just so knowledgeable of the game, techniques and what to do in certain situations. I mean, there’s stuff that we’ve done this year against certain teams as far as blitzes go that teams were struggling with, and he just breaks it down so easy for us to understand and to really look for it.
I feel like his film sessions is a lot of the reason why we’ve had the success we’ve had, because I thought I knew how to watch film until I got here and started working with Coach Stud. Just all those things combined is I think why we’re so successful.
Q. Yesterday we heard Haskell Garrett say this game will be won in the trenches on Monday. So looking forward to the National Championship, how important do you think your match-up against the Alabama defensive line will be important in winning this game?
WYATT DAVIS: It’s going to be very important. I feel like that’s basically how it goes every single game, Alabama or not. The battle is won in the trenches. They have a great defensive line up front, they have a great offensive line, Joe Moore Award winners, and we’re just going to have to come out and play football.
Obviously they’re very talented. We’re very talented, as well, otherwise we wouldn’t be playing each other in this situation.
So going into it we know where the battle has to be done, and it’s definitely in the trenches. And they have great players and a great scheme defensively, which is what we’ve been working on all week.
Just going out there and playing I think is probably the most important. Just playing the game of football.
Q. What has stood out the most about Justin’s game in the Sugar Bowl, and for people who might have been doubting him or questioning him after the Northwestern game, what do you think he showed?
WYATT DAVIS: I think exactly that, not to count him out. The shots that he took during that Clemson game and the fact that he came back after that and had the type of game he had says a lot about the type of leader he is, which is what I’ve been preaching all season. The amount of respect he has for his brothers to just not quit. I think that’s why he’s so respected on this team and he’s held at a high standard.
I don’t think there were any doubts, again, that if he could, he would go back in and play. But I would just say as far as playing goes, I mean, in pass protections, obviously it’s great that we have Josh Myers who’s extremely smart and breaks it down, but we also have Justin back there, too, that is a student of the game.
He helps us out at times where we might not see something that he sees that they’re going to bring, just stuff like that. I mean, this is a guy that watches film for hours and will be the last guy leaving, the Woody Hayes. So just his will to win I would say is probably the most impressive thing for me.
Q. You talked a little bit about the toughness that Justin showed there. I remember talking to him, though, about sort of when he first got to Ohio State, and of course he committed without having been on campus and met all you guys in advance, about him being a little bit homesick, not really knowing where he fit in with things, and it took him a while to get his footing there. What do you remember about how you guys sort of embraced him when he got there, and when did you start to see him really start to come out of his shell and become that leader that you’re talking about?
WYATT DAVIS: Yeah, so I could definitely tell when he first got here he was definitely trying to figure out his role and didn’t really know anybody on the team really. I had reached out — the whole O-line reached out to him prior to him being here and working out with us.
But I would say he started — I would probably say after that FAU game is really when I felt like he was truly comfortable with everything and felt comfortable enough as a leader on the team to speak out. I would say that this year he’s taken it to another level, hence why he’s the captain this year.
But, again, I would say probably after that FAU — after the first game, especially when he had that long run, I remember everyone on the team was like, Sheesh, this guy can move. I just feel like as the season went on, the more and more comfortable he got.
Q. You had already talked about opting back into the season and all that, but what’s it been like the last two years? I think you’ve talked about this before. What’s it been like the last two years just being beside Josh and working with him and growing with him as two offensive linemen that probably deserve a little more recognition than they both get?
WYATT DAVIS: Well, it’s been great. I knew Josh even prior to coming to Ohio State. Went to camps with him together, and we just built a great relationship from the first time we met. And going into college, pretty much going through similar stuff, we both got here, we both redshirted and then just really working to earn our spot as a starter.
We just went through such a similar grind, and to now be able to do the type of stuff that we’ve done — I mean, he’s a Rimington finalist, and honestly, I couldn’t be more proud of just how he’s grown, not only as a player, but to me as a brother and a friend.
It’s been really cool just to see the evolution of Josh Myers take off. It’s been great, and I’m really excited for the future he’s going to have as far as football goes. He pushes me to go harder every day. That’s a guy that I know going into each game I’ve got to compete with him with knock-downs, because if he has more than me, he’ll definitely let me hear it.
But no, it’s been great seeing him grow.
Luke Farrell
Q. Luke, could you talk about what you see of Dylan Moses, No. 32? He’s kind of the play caller and everything, has a lot of roles on their defense.
LUKE FARRELL: Yeah, I think they’re really well-coached and he’s really smart with the adjustments they make on the field, and I know he plays really hard. You know, he’s not afraid to come put his face in there and hit you.
From both those aspects, I think he does a really good job.
Q. What have you learned about playing in championship settings or championship moments that maybe you’ve taken from earlier in your career that you think you can apply to your individual game here this weekend?
LUKE FARRELL: I would say from our past experience with the Big Ten Championship and being in that game last year, it’s just like you have to have that mindset that, like, this is your last game.
I guess in this situation it will be. But you can’t be afraid to die out there and you’ve got to put everything and more into it in every play and try to execute as well as you can.
So I would say that mindset is really important.
Q. We know from asking you guys a thousand times that you and Jeremy don’t care necessarily if you’re heavily involved in the passing game every week, but certainly it was a bonus in the Sugar Bowl. Did you guys know going into it that that was probably going to be the case, or is that still just a matter of getting into it and see what happens?
LUKE FARRELL: No, that’s really how the game works out. As the game goes along you get your opportunities in practice and just whether it’s going to work out coverage wise, where you’re at in the game, what gets called. I mean, we couldn’t be happier. I mean, I don’t know what more we would want, dominating the ball, three touchdowns for the tight end unit, so that was great.
Q. When you look back to the Sugar Bowl and Justin’s performance, what are you going to remember the most? Is there something that kind of is going to stick with you as you remember that performance?
LUKE FARRELL: I mean, it’s just a perfect example of how tough that guy is. You take a hit like that and come back pretty much right away and make some of the throws that he made, it’s just like, you just stand there in awe of like the toughness and his ability to execute after taking a hit like that and just the leadership it shows.
I mean, it really gets the rest of your offense and the rest of your team going when you see a guy do something like that.
Yeah, just incredible toughness and super gutsy.
Q. Being a guy who’s a senior, how special is this for you to have this opportunity to culminate your career by playing in a National Championship game?
LUKE FARRELL: I mean, it’s the best. Wouldn’t want to be anywhere else to play my last game here. That’s the way I’m going to play it. We’ve been wanting to get this shot for as long as I’ve been here and it’s here. Now we’ve just got to capitalize on it.
And yeah, couldn’t be happier.
Q. I don’t know how privy you are to some of the things that Thayer Munford had to go through in order to even play at Ohio State in the first place. Obviously you’re familiar with some of the things he’s gone through since he’s been there. What are you going to take away or respect about him the most from your time with him as a teammate?
LUKE FARRELL: I would say I know what he went through throughout his whole career from high school to here, and I think just the work ethic he has and not — never stepping back and trying to complain about anything. Just whatever happens, he takes it, moves on, sees how he can get better from it every day.
Yeah, I’ve never seen him complain about anything. Yeah, it’s really respectable and it’s something I aspire to be like, as well, that he shows that every day.
Q. Who inspired you growing up as a young athlete, and is there any player who you’ve modeled your game after throughout your collegiate career?
LUKE FARRELL: When I was really young it was my brother, you know, just older brother. Wanted to do whatever he did. Initially when I started playing football it was because of him.
And then as I started to play tight end, I mean, the obvious answer growing up was Gronk and just his ability to block like the best tight end in the NFL and then also make some of the catches he did. Looked like — making it look easy.
And then as I’ve grown I’ve watched Zach Ertz, Kittle, Kelce, all those guys, and watched their film and just tried to take something from each of them that they do really well and put it into my game.
Q. You decided to stay in your home state and go to Ohio State for college. What would it mean to you to bring home a National Championship following Monday?
LUKE FARRELL: I mean, that’s everything growing up as a kid in Ohio. I actually didn’t watch a ton of sports growing up, but the one sport I did watch was Ohio State football.
You know, yeah, it means everything to the football fans in the state of Ohio and the people where I’m from, so it would mean everything.
So yeah.
Q. Just talk about going down to Miami. What do you have to do down in Miami, because this time of year with the humidity might be an issue for you guys because up north with the cold, and also you’re so used to practicing in the cold. What do you guys have to do to keep yourselves hydrated?
LUKE FARRELL: Yeah, I think that just goes into the preparation leading up to the game, throughout the days before, during the day. I think we have the best in the country to help us with that, with our training staff, Coach Mick, nutrition and all them. I know we’ll be ready because of what they do.
And then, yeah, just continuing that throughout the game.
Q. Going back to the Sugar Bowl, what was it like to beat the Tigers after being told by doubters and critics that you had next to no chance?
LUKE FARRELL: I think that just got a weight lifted off of our shoulders and my shoulders. It was like a relief, but then knowing the job is not done.
But yeah, I was a redshirt freshman in 2016 when we were at the Fiesta Bowl, so that taste was in our mouth for the past four years. So yeah, huge relief, and then just really great to finally get that win.
Justin Fields
Q. I know your role on that team in 2018 was just totally different than what it is now, but you did get an opportunity —
JUSTIN FIELDS: 2019?
Q. 2018 when you played Bama when you were still at Georgia.
JUSTIN FIELDS: Oh, yeah.
Q. It’s a different role. Obviously it’s more than just you coming in for a couple series or a couple snaps. Do you remember anything from that game, because a lot of those guys still have a role? Is there anything you can take from that and actually use it as experience?
JUSTIN FIELDS: I remember it. A freshman playing in that game, I was just like, I’m actually in this moment, but that’s pretty much the biggest thing that I remember, of course from that game, and of course the two plays I went in.
I took a lot from that game, first playing Alabama and playing those guys. But, yeah, just being at this stage, I feel like that’s the biggest thing that I remember.
Q. I’m wondering since you and Trey are both from Georgia how well you all knew each other, whether you had a relationship or friendship before he got there, and just how you’ve seen him really turn things on the last few games?
JUSTIN FIELDS: Yeah, I think I’ve known Trey since my junior year in high school. We actually played against each other my junior year. He was a senior at the time. I think we beat them — yeah, we beat them by two or three touchdowns.
But, yeah, I’ve known Trey for a long time. We have one of the same trainers that — you know, we’ve been working out together since probably like my senior year of high school. We’ve known each other a long time now for sure.
Q. I remember talking to you before about when you were leaving Georgia, and you had talked to Coach Day but you had not yet actually set foot on campus at Ohio State when you committed there. I know maybe the first week or two was probably not the easiest for you, either. What was it about your connection with Coach Day that made you confident that you had made the right decision to go to Ohio State, and when did it sort of click that, yeah, this is going to work out okay?
JUSTIN FIELDS: I think the connection that me and Coach Day had from day one was genuine. Of course everyone knows he’s a great offensive-minded coach, and I knew that he was going to make me a better player. That’s all I was really worried about when choosing a school.
And when I knew it was going to work out was the first touchdown I scored against FAU during the first game of last year. So, yeah.
Q. What do you remember about that fake punt against Alabama, and do you still hear about that now that it’s two years down the road?
JUSTIN FIELDS: No, I don’t really hear about it anymore. All I remember is that I went out on the punt. Everybody was yelling my name and the punt didn’t go the way we wanted to. That’s the only memory that I have from that one play.
Q. I’m not sure if this is something more instinctual or something you’ve worked on with quarterback trainers and coaches, but it looked like in the second half after you had absorbed that big hit in the Sugar Bowl you kind of adjusted some mechanics with your throwing and you were taking a bigger stride into the throw and relying less on your upper body. Is that something that you worked on specifically or how were you trying to manage that?
JUSTIN FIELDS: Yeah, I think it just comes naturally, of course, when you’re trying to complete a pass in a game and you might not have all of the body parts working like you would, I guess, want them to. You would have to alter another thing to get the ball where it needs to go.
I might have been altering my footwork or motion a little bit, but that was just coming off of the injury, so of course I was dealing with that.
Q. Did you tell your teammates to stop slapping you on the back when you were making big plays on the sideline?
JUSTIN FIELDS: No, I don’t think they smacked me right there in the side. Not right on the side. But of course I think those guys were conscious of my injury, so I didn’t really get a lot of slaps or punches to the side.
Q. I want to follow up on the question from a minute ago. What more can you say about your relationship with Trey, how that’s kind of grown, and have you guys kind of compared your journeys at all starting out at other places, ending up here in the National Championship game and being two Cobb County guys trying to play for a national title?
JUSTIN FIELDS: Yeah, it’s definitely crazy just seeing the position that we are, where we are right now. But yeah, I’ve known Trey for a long time. He’s always been a hard worker. I think we’ll talk about this in a few years from now, but I think right now we’re more so living in the moment. So yeah, we haven’t really looked back on it.
Of course I tell him after every big game we win, I usually go up to him after the game and say to him, I told you that you should have came here. But yeah, other than that, that’s all we talk about. We don’t really talk about how this is all crazy and stuff like that.
But I definitely think for sure down the line we will.
Q. Under any circumstances you’d be gratified to get to this game, but looking at the arc of this season, when you even had to speak out just so there would be a season, being here, is that any more meaningful to you?
JUSTIN FIELDS: I mean, it’s definitely more meaningful because this is where we wanted to be before the season even started and when our season got canceled. I think all of the stuff we’ve done in the past, all of the workouts, all of the getting the games canceled, saying we’re playing and saying we’re not playing, that messes with your mental.
But just all of the stuff that this team has been through and all the stuff that everybody has been through here is just a big sacrifice just for this moment, so we’re just glad that we have the opportunity to play.
Q. Playing off the question you had earlier about what connected well with Coach Day, was there anything in particular about the offense or anything you remember talking, Hey, here’s how we’re going to play that made you feel like, oh, yeah, this would work for me?
JUSTIN FIELDS: No, not really. I feel like I’m able to adjust to, I guess, any kind of offense. But there wasn’t, I guess, one specific thing where — that kind of jumped out at me. It was just Ohio State’s — their success with quarterbacks on the college level and just the amount of success that I would have under Coach Day and being able to learn from him, because of course he’s been in the NFL, he’s been to the level that I’m trying to go.
I’ve definitely learned a lot from him.
Q. How are you feeling and how do you think you might be affected? And do you want to clarify anything you said after the game about how everything was handled?
JUSTIN FIELDS: Yeah, I think what I said after the game was kind of taken out of context. I just want to make one thing clear, it’s that I have my full trust in the trainers here at Ohio State and Dr. Borchers.
I wasn’t, you know, I guess hesitant on taking anything that they would give me, but I was just trying to do whatever I could do to get back on the field. I think those guys handled it the way I would have wanted it to be handled.
I just put my full trust in those guys and I see how they deal with guys here, and I have personal relationships with all of them. I just don’t want anything I’ve said in the postgame interview to kind of get taken out of context and to be like, Oh, they just shot him up and sent him back out there.
No. It wasn’t like that. I think they did a full, I guess, analysis of my injury and how it was, and they thought — they did what they thought was best. Yeah, I was fully comfortable with that.
I’ll be good come Monday night.
Q. You don’t think you’ll be affected at all?
JUSTIN FIELDS: I’ll be good by Monday night.
Q. I realize that the number of Buckeyes that have played for a National Championship in their career is certainly an elite fraternity within your own program. Have you personally or as a team, have any of you guys heard from former guys that have played for National Championships, and have they shared anything with you that you could share with us?
JUSTIN FIELDS: No, I haven’t heard anything from the recent players, but I’m sure I will hear some things from them as we get closer to the game. But from this point, I haven’t heard from anybody that’s played in that game before.
Q. I know you’re not going to talk specifically about how you’re feeling, but Coach Day said that maybe on Saturday you woke up feeling better than you expected. When you went to bed did you have any doubts about your body holding up well enough to get to Monday night?
JUSTIN FIELDS: Yeah, I think the day after the game I woke up definitely better than expected, but the days that I didn’t expect to wake up kind of hurting was two or three nights after the game.
I mean, I really haven’t thought about how this injury is going to affect how I’m going to play. I’m just thinking about getting as much treatment as possible and trying to get my body right so it’s 100 percent to be able to perform at a max level come Monday night.
Q. What did Northwestern do that night, and how much do you give them credit for how they approached your offense and how much you put it on yourself that night? And another question, do you ever check the amount of signatures on that petition, because there’s quite a few now?
JUSTIN FIELDS: No. I mean, I stopped probably checking it probably when they said that we would have a season. You know, at that point, that was the whole goal of it was to have a season. After they said that we were able to have a season I was just fine with whatever number that was up there.
Q. Just going back to what you were saying about the injury against Clemson, was part of the discussion at all about how well you could protect yourself, just because you looked like you were — you obviously played really well, but you weren’t able to move like you probably would normally.
JUSTIN FIELDS: What’s the question again? I’m sorry.
Q. Was part of the discussions that you had with Dr. Borchers, and I don’t know if the coaches, did it ever come up, not just a pain tolerance, but could you move around well enough to protect yourself?
JUSTIN FIELDS: I mean, I feel like me and Coach Day probably had some conversation about it, what certain plays we could run and couldn’t run.
Other than that, if I can’t protect myself then I don’t need to be out on the field, so I thought personally that I was able to go out there and protect myself if something bad would happen.
Q. Just going back to your last game in high school when you got hurt and then you weren’t able to go on, does that in any way, I guess, motivate you, some of the injuries that you’ve had in college and just have played through? Or is it more just the types of injuries where that was something where it just really impacted how you could throw the ball?
JUSTIN FIELDS: No, not really. I wouldn’t say that motivated me, but to be honest, I just look at injuries like it’s a part of football. It doesn’t matter who you are. You can get injured on one play and never be able to play football again in your life, but again, like I said before, it’s what we sign up for. We know the risks coming into this. That’s why we just try to, I guess, stay as safe as possible when we’re playing the sport, and that’s why we have rules set in place.
Chris Olave
Q. Chris, can you just take us through that process of having the Big Ten title game taken away from you and working to get back and how great that felt to get your redemption there against Clemson?
CHRIS OLAVE: It was tough. I mean, going into the week that was the best I ever felt. My legs were under me. I was practicing real hard going into the Big Ten Championship, trying to go against a good Northwestern defense and just trying to win that game.
To get that tap on my shoulder was tough. I called my parents right after and had to go into quarantine for 10 days in the hotel. It was tough. I didn’t really do much in the hotel. Just tried to stay in shape. We couldn’t really go for a run, so we just had to work out with bands, do a lot of situps, pushups, staying there.
But when I did come back out it was tough in practice, being real tired in practice and just sleeping a lot and I didn’t really get my legs back until towards the end of the week.
I think Wednesday or — yeah, Wednesday was the day I started to feel good, and thankfully I had a good game on Friday.
Q. DeVonta Smith has got a lot of the headlines going into the game as the Heisman winner. Do you enjoy having the opportunity as a competitor to kind of go head to head with him in this game?
CHRIS OLAVE: I don’t really look at it like that. I just want to win this game. There’s a lot of talent on the field. He’s a great player, Heisman winner. There’s a lot of talent on the field, like I said, and I’m just looking forward to winning the game.
Q. I wanted to know given that you are a person that firsthand dealt with coronavirus and have seen many teammates go through it all throughout the season, kind of what it was like mentally and in the moments when you weren’t at practice to kind of go through the season and know that there were going to have to be sacrifices made but there’s still going to be tough points that you have to go through, as well?
CHRIS OLAVE: It’s tough. I mean, we — outside of football we’re kind of at the house so we can’t really do much, but to catch it this late in the season, it’s tough. I mean, it’s terrible timing, and I know mentally I was messed up, especially catching it towards the end of the season. I mean, you can’t really control that. Just try to control what you can control and do what’s best for the team.
That week I was just trying to hype my guys up. I’m just glad that we came out with a win that week.
Q. Sort of a question on the opposite side of that, how much have you — you can speak for yourself or the whole team. How much have you sort of been perceptive of the toll this has taken on Ryan Day or the rest of the coaching staff, and how have you guys tried to help them? Or has it been more the other way around, that they try to hide how much this might be affecting them for the sake of you guys?
CHRIS OLAVE: I mean, it’s taken a toll on everybody. I feel that. Playing a season through the middle of a pandemic, nobody expected this to happen. But at the end of the day we just have to control what we can control and just be there for each other at the end of the day. I mean, we’re all going through it. We haven’t seen family in so long but we’ve got each other here, so we had to make so many sacrifices this year.
It’s come down to the final game, and we’re in the National Championship. We’re all blessed and we’re thankful for the opportunity to play in this game.
Q. You’re likely to be seeing a lot of Patrick Surtain. He’s a finalist for the Bednarik Award as you probably know. I’m wondering what you see on tape from him, what he does well, what you’re going to have to do to beat him.
CHRIS OLAVE: He’s a great player. I mean, he’s a great player, long, fast, physical. Can’t really ask for much in a DB. I know he went against Okudah last year. He’s damn near equal to him. He’s a great player and they’ve got great DBs, great linebackers, a great defense, talent all over the field.
We’re going to have to find a way to beat them. I’m looking forward to it.
Q. I remember talking to Justin last year about when he first got to Ohio State, and it was obviously such a new experience for him being away from home. I think he’s sort of a little bit more of a reserved guy to begin it and he was talking about how homesick he was and wondering if he made the right decisions. How did you guys as teammates embrace him and how have you seen him come out of his shell in the two years you’ve been together, and do you feel like the performance he put on against Clemson under such an adverse scenario is sort of the culmination of how much he’s embraced being one of your teammates and wanting to win for you guys at all costs?
CHRIS OLAVE: That’s the kind of guy Justin is. He’s kind of a shy guy first, but once he gets comfortable, he’s comfortable. To have that game, for him to have that game, he had a couple of bad games under his standards, and to have that game, especially in the playoffs, is huge for him and for the team.
I’m definitely happy for him. I’m always on his side and always have his back.
Q. What is the secret for you guys to catch that lightning in a bottle like y’all had last Friday night as an offense where everything started clicking, the passing game, Justin was on point? Do you have to go into a game and just let it happen, or do you — you know what I mean? How do you keep from pressing for that to happen again?
CHRIS OLAVE: That just doesn’t happen. The chemistry we have, the trust we have in each other, we all knew we all had trust going into the game in each other. We all wanted to put it all on the field and leave nothing. Coach Day dialed up some things and we went out there and executed, but that doesn’t happen just that week.
That happens all in the off-season, all grinding together, all blood, sweat, and tears. Just to come to that game and perform.
Like I said, we’ve dreamed of that since we were kids and now we were in that moment, and we’ve got another game to have fun and cherish.
Q. When you guys go deep on those play action passes, can you tell pre-snap when you’re going to be able to be the guy off the line of scrimmage and get a step on them?
CHRIS OLAVE: Yeah, pre-snap I could see coverages. I could see where guys were going to be. I’m on the same page as Justin, so whatever he sees I see. Definitely on the deep balls, on the play action balls, I definitely know when it’s coming to me or when it’s going to somebody else pre-snap.
If they switch it post-snap I can see that, too.
Like I said, we’re all on the same page and we know where the ball is going to go.
Q. Is there anything in common you see from defenses on some of those players?
CHRIS OLAVE: No, it’s just the coverage, personnel. Just a lot of different things, but that’s pretty much at the top.
Q. So much of the buildup to the last game when we were talking to you was about beating Clemson and whatnot. How much is that your motivation rather than just to get redemption in that game?
CHRIS OLAVE: Yeah, that’s what you come to Ohio State for, is to go to the National Championship, win a National Championship. I know in recruiting that’s why I wanted to come here and play with the best. We get to do that on Monday, and I’m thankful for the opportunity and I’m truly blessed.
Q. As stated before, you’ll be lining up against one of the top cornerbacks in the country in Patrick Surtain. How have your match-ups against Shaun Wade in practices helped you prepare for these kind of high-caliber match-ups?
CHRIS OLAVE: I mean, since my freshman year there’s been a lot of DBs here, Harnish, Jeff Okudah, Kendall Sheffield, Shaun Wade, go down the line. But Surtain, he’s a great player, one of the best players in the country, I believe, and it’s going to be a tough match-up, but we’ve got to compete. It’s going to be fun. I’m just happy to be in this opportunity, and I’m blessed.
Q. I know you and Garrett have caught a fair share of the passes. I’m curious if you feel Jameson Williams is underrated. He had that big touchdown touch against Clemson so I’m curious what you’ve seen from him.
CHRIS OLAVE: That’s my job. Me and Jameson, Garrett, we all competed in the off-season. We still compete to this day. But he’s really underrated, I think. He can take the top off at any time, one of the fastest players I’ve seen. He’s my guy, and I’m happy he had the game that he had last week.
Josh Myers
Q. You kind of talked about this a little bit after the game, the Clemson game, but an offensive line needs cohesion, needs time together, and you guys haven’t had that the last several games. How have you been able to overcome that, first of all? And how important is the same kind of dominance you had against Clemson to be displayed against Alabama?
JOSH MYERS: Yeah, well, for starters, it’s really important. I truly believe in my heart that games are won at the line of scrimmage, won or lost at the line of scrimmage. So it’s always important, and it’s always a focal point of what we do. Huge for sure.
And then, yeah, just in terms of cohesion within an offensive line group, it is really important, and we’re just kind of — you’re right, we haven’t been able to do it a whole lot this year. Just so many things getting shifted around, so many people in and out.
I think we just got used to not having it, not used to the same five guys always being there, just doing what we have to to get it done. I don’t know. It’s a good question.
Q. Congratulations on getting this far in the season and having a chance to cap it down in Miami. I’m curious if you could tell us maybe what you’ve learned from both Coach Meyer and Coach Day about training to play in championship moments and being at your mental best to perform in those moments?
JOSH MYERS: Yeah, well, thank you very much. I really appreciate that. Yeah, I’ve learned a lot from both of them. I think in terms of what has stuck out to me the most has just been the preparation throughout the week. Both of them have been huge on the preparation throughout the week, and both of them really have always said that the games aren’t won on Saturday or in this case Monday. The games are won on a hard Tuesday practice, a padded Wednesday practice.
I think that myself and our team really takes that to heart, and we always try and show up and give it everything we’ve got and prep the best we can, especially those earlier in the week practices where they’re padded.
For me, I think that’s the most important thing.
Q. I think Matt Jones has two starts and two champion grades. What does that say about him and his ability to step in and maybe about the unit as a whole to stay ready?
JOSH MYERS: Yeah, I think Matt has done a great job, and that’s huge. They haven’t been two easy games, either. They’ve been really important games. So he’s done a great job.
And I think it says a lot. You’ve seen our team throughout this season miss people, people who would normally be starting, that just aren’t there certain weeks. And I think what you’ve seen throughout our team is people who typically wouldn’t be starting in a situation and understanding that they have to do what they have to do to help our team win the game.
It’s a very different mindset when you’re going into a game and you’re a second-team guy that I think you’re probably not going to play as compared to when you know you’re going to start and you have no choice but to play, but to prepare, but to take the week just dead serious the whole time. I think that’s been huge for Matt.
He was in that situation, and he has no choice, know what I mean? He’s there. He has to perform and he knows it, and that’s what he’s done. I think it speaks volumes to the character of our team.
Q. Paris Johnson has to come in and play some guard, which is not necessarily his forte, and I think ends up playing both guard spots in that game. How have you seen him develop over the course of the season as someone who can help you guys in a moment like that, and also what does that sort of versatility tell you about what he might be down the road, even when he is focusing on tackle?
JOSH MYERS: Yeah, Paris is an extremely talented football player and offensive lineman. He has the right skill set. He has what God has given him, and God has given him a lot. And he also has the mindset.
I don’t know if I should say this or not because it’s pretty early on in Paris’ career, but in my personal opinion, if Paris isn’t an Outland Trophy winner before he leaves here then he’s screwed something up, because he should be by the time he leaves. In my opinion. He’s that talented.
So, yeah, he’s a ball player, man. He’s good. I think he could step in pretty much anywhere on the offensive line and be just fine.
Q. I would love your perspective as somebody who blocks for him what you have thought about what Trey has been able to do the last few games for your team?
JOSH MYERS: Yeah. Trey has been huge for our team and it’s been so fun. I think I heard Coach Day say something about this in a different interview, that Trey never once complained. He was a big-time running back from Oklahoma that transferred to Ohio State, and the start of his career at Ohio State didn’t exactly go perfectly.
There were just — things were different and he had a bit of a slower start than he would have wanted, and he never said anything. Never not one time did he complain. Never not one time did he ask for more carries. He never had a bad attitude, he just kept coming to work.
I think that’s the most satisfying part for me in watching him succeed now and how well he’s playing. He just does everything right. He never complains. Honestly I can’t say enough how happy I am for him.
Q. Do your tackles, the starting tackles, get talked about enough for what they do for you guys and how talented they are?
JOSH MYERS: I don’t think so. I don’t think they get talked about enough. I think both of them are really, really good players. I mean, you just look at the Clemson game. I mean, even just their pass protection was incredible all night, and they’ve been doing it all season.
It’s weird. It’s a weird thing when tackles get slightly overlooked among members of the offensive line, but somehow it’s managed to happen this year. But those two guys are so valuable to our team and what we do every week. So yeah, I think they don’t get enough recognition for what they do.
Q. What have you seen in Alabama’s front seven that might pose as a threat for you all going into this game?
JOSH MYERS: Yeah, they’re really talented. Really talented across the board. They have good, big, strong, athletic guys across the board, and they know their scheme really well. You can just see it coming from film. They’re extremely disciplined and extremely good with their technique. You can tell their technique is outstanding all the time.
They’re just the type of group that never makes a mistake in terms of what gap they’re supposed to be in. If they’re on a blitz, no one messes up, which you see fairly often in college football where a blitz gets communicated incorrectly and some guy loops the wrong way or someone hits the wrong gap. I’ve been watching a bunch of film on them, and I don’t think I’ve seen it one time. So that’s the thing that jumps out the most to me.
Q. You were among the players honored on senior day. I was just wondering, have you made a final decision yet on whether this will be your last game as a Buckeye?
JOSH MYERS: You guys will know that answer on the 12th.
Q. What do you love about playing at Ohio State and the winning and competitive culture that is cemented at the university, and what have you taken away from playing with so many gifted football players during your time there?
JOSH MYERS: Yeah, that’s a great question. There are so many things that make Ohio State a great place. I think what separates Ohio State is — so there’s great people at Ohio State. I think there’s great people at a lot of places.
But there’s great people at Ohio State who care about you and also will push you in the direction that you need to go to get you to where you need to be in your career, and I think that’s a special thing, and I think that the way that the entire university and the coaching staff and everyone inside the facility goes about it is what separates us, in my personal opinion.
And then on top of that, just like you said, the culture and the history behind Ohio State football, man, it’s just so special. All of the things that we get to do, the skull session on a regular season, and then playing in the Horseshoe, there’s just — I could talk about it forever, to be honest with you.
Q. I wanted to ask about Miyan Williams, who’s come on late this year. What’s it like to block for a guy like that?
JOSH MYERS: Yeah, it’s fun, man. I’ve gotten asked that a — a couple questions about different running backs that we’ve had, and they’re all fun to block for. Just super — Miyan is going to have a great career here. He runs the ball extremely hard, and as an offensive lineman, I just love that. The lower your shoulder mentality is — I’d like to think that’s how I would be if I was a running back.
It’s been fun to watch him grow this year and contribute. And man, he’s contributed some pretty key moments, as well. It’s been fun.
Q. I don’t want to add to the hyperbole, but a coach of yours told me before the season that Paris Johnson was the most talented freshman offensive lineman they’d ever seen. Now what you’re saying about the Outland, what does it say about you guys as a group that, A, he’s not even playing, but B, what has your role been, yours, Wyatt, Thayer, Nick, the role just as far as guiding him in this weird season?
JOSH MYERS: Yeah, Paris would be a starting offensive tackle at 99 percent of the universities in the country this season. I think part of our role, and the reason why I said I’m not sure I should say this or not, is because he is a young guy and he has things he needs to improve on, and I don’t want him to hear that and start — you know what I mean?
But I know Paris well enough now to understand that he won’t take it that way. Yeah, I mean, I think me, Thayer and Wyatt have just tried to keep his head in it, which he’s done a great job of doing. It was a great year for him to just continue to get better, and he has just all year. He’s gone hard, and he’s been committed to getting better.
He’s been a pleasure to play with, and one day he’s going to be a whole lot better than probably anyone else on our starting line right now.
Trey Sermon
Q. Throughout the year we’ve seen how talented Alabama defense can be against the run. What is something you think has stood out about them on film?
TREY SERMON: That they’re pretty aggressive and they do their best to try to control the line of scrimmage. I mean, with them being that, we just have to be physical and be tough up front.
Q. Going back to that 2017 Oklahoma-Ohio State game in Columbus, that was sort of your coming-out party. You got the chance to play, especially in the second half, and really performed. What do you remember about that game and how much it did to sort of elevate your stock?
TREY SERMON: I remember everything about that game. To me it felt like my first big college game, so I mean, I remember it vividly. I mean, I just remember just being able to make plays. I mean, it was just an exciting moment. I was just trying to enjoy every moment of it.
Q. The offensive line that you’re running behind, I know you had a good one at Oklahoma, but how well is this line playing, and what kind of stands out about their blocking and maybe just their mentality or chemistry?
TREY SERMON: Those guys are great up front. They make my job easy. They control the line of scrimmage. They get great push, and like I said, they make my job a lot easier.
I mean, just being able to just get in sync with them, it’s gotten easy over time just because of how great they’ve been.
And, again, they do a great job of just getting off the ball and just moving bodies.
Q. I know you’ve always considered being a receiver out of the backfield to be part of your skill set, but the Sugar Bowl was your second-best career game there statistically, and a lot of it seemed to come on Justin looking for you in those check-down situations. Was that something accidental that happened in that game, or was it something you guys wanted to incorporate more? And why do you think that was so successful?
TREY SERMON: I mean, I feel like we work on it quite a bit. I mean, even during periods in practice. If nothing is there, then he’ll check it down. I mean, it’s something that we just kind of work on like every day. It just happens.
In the game it just worked out well because I would get out there and just kind of be uncovered or just the easy check-down, and just being able to just get vertical and just have a positive play.
Q. ACL is a very serious injury. I know it’s a long comeback period physically for it, but mentally I guess when did you start to feel like yourself coming off that injury and working out in the spring?
TREY SERMON: Really after — it was my LCL, I just kind of — it kind of took some time. I’d probably say like as soon as I started like my rehab and like getting off crutches and everything, I kind of started to feel a little bit better, but I mean, I didn’t feel really good until about the time where I started working with Rashard down in Houston, just gaining confidence back in my knee and knowing that I’m still explosive coming in and out of my cuts.
Q. What’s he like as a trainer?
TREY SERMON: He’s passionate, and I mean, he coaches you hard. Like he doesn’t let you, like, slack off. Not one bit. And I mean it. If you need an example, he’ll do it first and show you how it’s supposed to be done. I feel like that’s the biggest thing with him.
If you have a trainer that can do the drill the right way and show you how it’s supposed to be done, that can just help you elevate your game and get you that much better.
Q. I’m wondering how you might be dealing with the added pressure of expectations now that you’ve had these two huge performances back to back. Do you feel any extra anxiety or extra pressure that you have to perform in a huge way?
TREY SERMON: No, I actually don’t. I mean, I’m confident in my ability and I know that I prepare well for each game. I mean, there’s no pressure. I just know I just have to go out there and execute, do my job to the best of my ability, and, I mean, I know that I’m going to be fine.
Q. You’ve shown a lot of resilience throughout your career, and it sounds like that’s something that maybe you picked up from or learned from your mom. Just wondering how much her example has allowed you to overcome some of the obstacles that you have faced and just how important she’s been for you in your life.
TREY SERMON: She’s been very important. I mean, I’ve just seen all the things that she’s been through, how she was able to just persevere, still continue to work hard for our family, and I feel like that just helped me throughout my career because, I mean, I’ve faced a ton of challenges, a bunch of adversity.
But I know that, again, there’s light at the end of the tunnel, so I just have to keep working hard, and I know everything will pay off.
Q. I’m sure you’ve taken a shot in the ribs before in your career. I wonder if you could quantify what that feels like and maybe what Justin is going through and went through when he got that shot against Clemson.
TREY SERMON: It’s extremely painful. I mean, especially when you’re not really like expecting it. I mean, it’s pretty painful. I mean, I know him. He’s a tough dude so I know that he’ll be fine. But again, like it’s just not something that you want to happen at all, no matter what, because, I mean, it’s just — like I said, it just hurts.
Q. I want to ask about Miyan Williams coming out of nowhere, what you’ve seen out of him this year and what’s it like having watched him grow as the season has gone on.
TREY SERMON: Oh, man. Miyan, he’s been great. I’ve just seen him improve from when we started camp. You could tell like a freshman coming in he was like a little bit lost, just trying to learn everything, and just to see how far he’s come, he just makes plays and he plays with so much energy and emotion.
I mean, it just gets everybody motivated and hyped up. It’s a good thing to see.
Q. We haven’t talked to you a ton about Master and your relationship. What has that been like throughout this year, getting to know him, and then kind of the back and forth with you guys both getting carries? And now as you’ve kind of stepped into the forefront, how has your relationship developed and what’s it been like recently?
TREY SERMON: Our relationship has been the same. We’ve always been there to kind of help each other out, even like during games. Like if we see something we’ll just kind of give out some tips just to help each other do better. I mean, even in practice. Like we compete, we push each other to get better, and I mean, that’s just kind of how our relationship has been from day one. It’s still been like that throughout this entire time.
Q. Being more than just a football player, can you tell me a little bit how Coach Day and your position coach kind of displayed treating you as more than just a football player and about what happened yesterday? Did you guys talk as a team about what happened yesterday?
TREY SERMON: We didn’t really talk too much about it yesterday. But, I mean, they always encourage us to use our voice and use our platform because, I mean, they believe in us and they trust us and they have the same views as us.
I mean, with them setting the standard, we all believe in the same values and everything. I mean, they just encourage us to use our platform the right way and speak out on the right things.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
