Ohio State football coach Ryan Day press conference: Will Howard's debut, Archie Griffin's return

just want to say uh great crowd today um you know skull session was rocking um and and a great crowd so uh what a great way to start the season uh and then also again just another shout out to uh Archie Griffin you know I said it during the ceremony you know you talk about the impact that uh a person's made in his life and they've been playing college football a long time there's only one two-time Heisman Trophy winner that's Archie Griffin but to me and I didn't get a chance to see him play but I did um get a chance to see the impact he made off the field with people in the community with Charities and uh just have so much respect for what he's done on the field but also off the field and he's a great role model for our team so congrats to him on his recognition this weekend we're going to open up questions over to the left Rob all or Columbus Dispatch Ryan until you see will Howard in action in the shoe you don't you don't know exactly now you have a much better idea what did you like specifically about what he did where's a little area where okay we're going to keep working on that I I'm going to watch the film and and kind of make that determination um I I thought he had pretty good Poise the whole day he took care of the football other than the one crazy decision there at at the end of the half there to try to force something actually he's got to take a deep breath on that but um you know for your first start in the shoe now he is a more experienced guy but he's in a new offense in new environment um I'll say this overall I felt like early on you know the three inside guys you know they hadn't played and they you know Seth and Austin first start Tegra Jeremiah will U you know Quin Sean's first time playing here and I think just across the board there was just you know they were a little uptight early on I think you know they were kind of worked up and you just saw a couple things off and uh we got ourselves off schedule I thought chip did a nice job of continually pushing the run you could see that start to take its effect in the second half and then I thought we we sort of settled in and started to have more fun and and kind of you know we started to play with a little little looser uh which is the way we need to play and um I I thought we were a little bit uptight early on and you know we can't play like that we got to uh come out of the gates you know playing loose but um but I get it and so we're going to get on the film and grow from there but for for a lot of these guys at the start and their first start so and then also um good to see some some younger guys towards the end get in there and play and and those guys are in there like to play and it's not just to eat up reps and it's not just to build depth for the future it's also because there are metrics in play here for the playoffs we have to make sure that we're um you know a part of in terms of offense and defense and so um those guys have been told that and I thought they did go in there and compete towards the end over here to the right Austin Ward and then it'll go to Spencer Ryan it seemed like a a great coaching decision to let Jeremiah play through those uh early mistakes there uh what did you make of his debut you tried not to talk about him too much in August but he ended on a pretty good note yeah um you can see the talent and like you said we're going to play right through just about all of it um you know I think he's another guy I mean you know sometimes you look at him you don't even think he's quite human but he is and um you know he's going to make a few early mistakes but not very many um you can see the talent there and uh he's going to sleep good tonight though I can tell you that and I think they all need to get some rest tonight it was a long week it was a hot week we practiced really hard we practiced Monday Tuesday and Wednesday in pads physical for a reason and uh and it was hot out there today but that's good it was hard and um they'll sleep good tonight and we'll get back at it tomorrow over to the left Cameron Teague Robinson the athletic Ryan kind of kind of off that oh you left sorry you kind of off that you talk a lot about you wanting to see players fight through ad adversity what does it say about Jeremiah it's so so young that he's able to put those two plays in the first drive away and still put the the day he had together yeah he's uh he's he's built different he is um just the way his approach is you can see his size and speed and all that but typically somebody with that type of talent doesn't have the discipline the focus that he does um you know and so uh you know nobody even batted in an eye I mean nobody said a word like it was like he's just going to play through this and we're going to be fine it wasn't even consideration because we see what he does every day in practice and we knew he was going to settle in over here to the right uh Spencer Holbrook Letterman row Ryan the Run game looked like it was a little I don't know clunky in the first half how do you grade that knowing that like you said the three guys on the interior were were new and then quinan trayon kind of that duo but how do you grade the Run game today before you watch the film yeah uh when I looked at the numbers at halftime I thought it was going to be a lot worse than it was I think I think Trey was averaging six yards a carry and Quin sha was just under four and then it looked much better in the second half um I I just think there was some things off in there uh on the interior guys you know just weren't quite fitting it upright we weren't that far off I thought schematically we had some good ideas and what we were doing um and and there was a couple runs that maybe we could have hit better uh at running back but I just think that we were just not great in the fits early on and I think you know you have to ask those guys they seemed like they were pressing a little bit early on again but but then I thought they really settled in a little bit you know I thought chip called a good game I really do I think that you know he he knew he knows what he wants to get done with this team he wants to establish this run and that means you know maybe that's not scoring you know 70 or whatever you know but we need to establish the run late in the season so we're going to do that um and you know the quarterback's going to be a part of it and um so I don't know how to grade it I got to watch the film and see well the good thing is I actually get to watch some of the film during the game now so I can't just always say I'm going to wait till tomorrow to make a decision so I did see some of it and it wasn't all great uh it wasn't all bad either though uh folks we're going to do one more question for Co I'll do multiple questions for Coach but one more and then I'm bringing lean Ransom in I'm sending them to the far back table so if you have anything on that back table please clean it off um over here to the left Bill reinitz Columbus Dispatch Ryan last year's defense was good in a lot of ways but didn't create a lot of turnovers um not a lot of sacks you had a bunch of sacks in the first half you had the two you know scores how important was it to for the defense to to do that today yeah it was great uh I thought you know the Joe had a pretty good plan of getting the ball out of the quarterback's hand quickly and that can eliminate the um you know can eliminate the pass rush quickly and tire the front but uh I thought our guys did a good job of getting their their hands on some stuff and make that adjustment but then I know we tightened up some coverage a little bit made him you know hold on to it a few times and and so then you know we were able to hit get home with it I thought the effort play by Kaden Curry was was tremendous to come back around cuz that wasn't you know as I remember it it wasn't like you know U you know a sack you know in the first second or two of the play I mean it was a scramble step up he was kind of towards the line of scrimmage and then he retraced back with a great effort play and knocked the ball out and that's something we talk a lot about when you're talking about turnovers we did a quick study about the college and the NFL and one of the big percentage of turnovers is strip sacks on the quarterback uh whether he's in the pocket or coming out of the pocket and that was a great one and then the other study that we did is just you know on fumbles uh and you know how we want to you know handle those you know if we're in tight areas we want to get on them if we get them open areas we're scooping and scoring and there's an art to that and we practice that every Tuesday but then I also thought there was some really good block setup on that play as well I thought the tip ball you know Gabe made a really nice play on the ball uh that was just kind of a more athletic play but uh ball disruption is something we spent some time on this offseason and ball security you know if we're going to win you know these these games we got to make make sure that we're win the the U ball security and turnover um you know part of the game but yeah anytime you get a defensive score uh that's huge and you know you could see we were close to in a couple of returns you know I mean we're working at it and we were just a one or two away I don't know what what Brandon's uh return yardage was but uh you can see there's some potential back there we got a bunch of guys buying into that and and we we getting there I mean it was better today than I remember it in the past and so uh we'll keep working on that because if we can get some special team scores defensive scores that can be a huge part of our season over here to the right Dylan Davis Delaware Gazette Sunny was ready to be your starting whe linebacker then he gets thrust in playing that mic with Cody out I guess just what stood out to you about him today and just how impressive it is that he's ready to go do that and be that Green Dot guy for you in a in a pinch well here's a guy who went from safety to linebacker to Will and then had to move to Mike when you know Cody was down you know hoping to get Cody back next week we'll see how this week goes but um very impressed with playing his real first game at linebacker in a position that he really hadn't been training at for the majority of spring and fall um he's very conscientious very smart and um you know handled that very very well over to the left Joey Kaufman Columbus Dispatch Ryan how how close was Donovan to to being available just what's his status then what led to the switch at at punter as well I know you're playing to start Nick and then switch to Joe yeah um Donnie he's gon to have a full week full week next week we plan on him playing next week if he doesn't then you know that means he has had a setback but we want to be smart we know it's a long season uh he was you know really all over us about getting you know getting back but we're only going to do it when when we feel like you know the trainers give him the full goal on that stepen means I got to hit the punter part my so yeah so um going into it uh you know going into uh last week I felt like Nick was ahead of Joe uh Joe had a much better week of practice leading up to it significant and we felt like um Joe's experience in the program being here for a year um was better we probably could have given Nick one down the stretch there uh in hindsight probably could have done that and should have done that but uh we wanted to be go with the experienced guy in week one if Nick can continue to grow and build and learn then we'll get him in there because he does have a lot of potential in a big leg but um Joe right now is a little bit more consistent over to the right Steven means cleveland.com right I know you've you've got some scrimmages so you've got at least a walkr but you just didn't call plays for the first time in like five years um how were you how were you out there how did it feel not calling players were the things that maybe you were able to get to that you didn't necessarily have to do in the past like just walk us through doing something for five years so I I don't know what the film will show but I felt like I was like shaking over there like I was like um you know I I think again chip is great because chip knows what he wants to get done he's got a long-term Vision about what he wants to establish what he wants this offense to look like and you know and in my mind like you know I want to score 50 right now and just you know um but you know when you're running the ball you know that that takes work you have to work through you know what we saw a little bit in the first half and you know when you have younger guys in there and you're pushing through that I mean it it's not just going to happen overnight you got to push through those things he understands that he's got great experience in that so um you know I thought you know he he did a nice job of you know staying poised in there sticking with what he wanted to get done um there's still a lot of back and forth you know in terms of all of us talking during the game but uh overall I thought he called a good game and um and and establish what he wants to establish let's get that on film let's figure out where where we go next week we're going to do two more for Coach over to the left Pat Murphy 247 Sports Ryan defensive line uh you guys got a lot of pressure last year didn't always get home yeah five sacks 10 tackles for a loss I think is what it is just what did you make of of those guys and you getting to the the finish line so to speak being disruption being disruptive or being dominant or two different things I guess right and and you know being um know somebody who's making sacks and getting tfls that's that's a lot more than being disruptive and and that's what we're looking for and that's the potential that we have and but one thing again it's like on offense when you go out there kind of looking for that and pressing for those type of plays uh you can get yourself out of whack and you have to just trust the defense and you got to trust the technique that that Coach Johnson is is teaching and and those plays come when when you're not pressing you got to play loose you got to trust your teammates and and they'll come and they did today and and some of those plays were just plays just Flatout effort the second part again I use Kaden for an example you know it wasn't the rush move it was the counter back because someone flushed the pocket and he came from behind so you never know how that's going to shake you never know which way the line's going to slide How Deep The drop's going to be you just got to trust your Technique and go and um you know again if we can continue on that that path of um being disruptive in terms of creating tfls but being dominant and getting sacks that can be big and final question for Coach Dave Holmes WSYX Ryan earlier week you said you make assumptions in Camp and then week one you learn maybe you weren't right about everything I'm curious looking ahead to week two is there something you were surprised by something you need to work on what's your assumption as you head into week two I think again I'm going to get on it and figure out who graded out Champion again for us grading out a champion is grading over 80% um figure out what that looks like um you know in terms of who did who didn't you know really make sure that I'm saying this the right way before I just kind of make assumptions afterwards but um no I I think overall the bottom line coming out of the game is I thought we played hard I thought that we got into rhythm in the second half played looser played aggressive I thought we were a little bit uptight early on impressed a little bit that's that's kind of how I feel but again we'll take a look at the film and go from there great coach thank you very much