Ohio State's Ryan Day provides discusses 'improvement week,' where Buckeyes can get better

able last that I think enjo being up there being organized separates yourself from the sideline you to think clearly it also gives you a really good vantage point there what's going on in a series great news now we have these taet we can see exactly what happen but I think overall Lally EAS yeah I think you can see some things you know we R some speed option um the other night you know that's something haven't done a lot of you see some different concepts that are out there certainly had an impact on Run game different things that you know we've done more more importantly things that are coming down the road I also think you know just understanding the things that our guys do well and that fit our guys that's that's the experience that you just can't you can't replace something like that he's been around long enough he knows what it looks like making sure that when we attack another team you know know exactly the structure what they're doing what their ER yeah um for this week we're calling it an improvement week because we need to continue to improve everybody else in the country is is playing this week you know for the most part so we have to as well we got to get each other better and so each players going to be given things that they need to improve on from their position coach we're going to work hard to go out there practice and work on our fundamentals but also look at things that you know we may need to project both sides of the ball all three phases um so I that's the number one thing this week is that we got to stay in Rhythm we got to have a good week of practice and you know think of it like a game so when it comes to off the field stuff I mean it's comes down to time management and you know these guys understand what the main thing is right now you know during the off season there's certainly great opportunities but you know unless it's something that's really pressing you know these guys you know they need to take care of the academics first and then football and the other you know will come down the road so you know the better these guys play the more opportunity they're going to have and they understand that they've been great so we don't see a lot of conflicts but um you know it call come all comes down to time management but I think some of the folks that we dealt with and that our players are dealing with understand too that once the season starts you know those asks have to be far into between and the time for that more often is during the offseason not that there aren't situations that come up but I think most respectful of that every year is different um you know the way that the schedule played out this season um you know it's a lot different than the last couple when you know we knew we had a a power five non-conference opponent on the schedule early in season so it has allowed us a little bit of an opportunity with some of the newer guys to get them going and get their feet underneath them um as we grow we know that we got a long way to go on this thing and and so it's just it just been a little bit different that way for two reasons one just a few more new faces but also you know the fact that you know we didn't have that that you know power five nonconference early in the season so um not that you know it necessarily changes your apprach that much but you know having a Buy in week two and you know allows you to kind of reassess things come up for air figure out where you need to improve and and kind of go from there but it seems like you know there's a buildup to the season as as we're moving forward so um you know it's not like you know you just kind of you know walk into the season though that's not the way this game's played I mean you got a people say it's a marathon I've said it before it's not it's it's you know 12 straight Sprints as hard as you possibly can go I do felt like you know out of the game watching the film that that we played hard on Saturday night guys play with emotion guys play with passion and and that that's a good start that's a you know good sign we're nowhere where we need to be um I think the good thing about this team is they would they would tell you these guys have played a lot of football even some of the guys that have come in like will and Seth these guys have played football before they they know that this is just the beginning like we're literally just getting out of the starting GES but U to see the guys play with the en passion and effort that we had on Saturday night that's a good start as we move forward I think if you want to have stability over an extended period of time yes very very important um you know now probably more than ever yeah um and I think when you're at Ohio State understanding those that have come before understanding the tradition understanding what it means to be a buckeye is a big part of that and so during the recruiting process or even during the acquiring of the seven transfers that we brought in you know they have to understand what it means you can't somebody to be a quote unquote mercenary they just come in and play and then leave like it just that's not what Ohio state is and so our focus is on recruiting great people developing them retaining them which is what we did this year you know there's been a lot of talk about you know numbers getting thrown out and everything well the majority if not 90% of it was retaining our roster and that's what it's all about and that's important here at Ohio State to make sure the who decided to be Buck guys in the recruiting process the guys who stuck with us when they had an opportunity to go to the transfer P the guys who decided to come back had an opportunity to go to the NFL that you know we were able to retain it because there's a lot of talent at locker room but the majority of them were already on the team and that's the recipe is recruiting great people who understand what it means to be a buck guy and developing them entertaining hard to tell I mean I think it was cleaner I think there's still this is everybody across the board I mean you know you look up at the end of the game and score is what it is we W looking at the score um but there was there was effort was go with second level finishing guys you know on the long r or the long throw to Jeremiah where you know he turned obviously ran away from everybody Josh Simmons which you everyone's looking over here he's finishing the sideline that that's to me what we need to continue to work on and focus on and build on that being said I think things were cleaner but it's just a start bigger challenges ahead um but but there is encouragement out of that group and I did think that the guys who came in in the second half in the old line was a group that again was it perfect no but I did feel like coming out of this game was better than it was the last couple years we were finishing at the end of games guys were competing um if you don't play 15 plays Champion but if you grade out over 80% and play less than 15 plays we call it honorable mention and there was a long list of honorable mention players coming out of this game in a few well when you look at it you don't usually have two by weeks I think maybe there's been a year where we did have two bys and especially this early in the season it's just these guys are hungry you know they don't want to rest right now they feel like they got momentum com coming out of this game now at the same time you know we're not going to practice on Saturday or Friday so they do get an opportunity to catch their breath but we are going to work Tuesday Wednesday Thursday because they understand how important this is how early it is in the season they want to lose their Edge either they know they have to get better so when you have a a group of Veteran guys who understand that you know we're only two games in we got a long way to go they get that they embrace it and so we we'll get you know the guys who are the ones and twos and the older guys some reps but they know how important it is when denel gets you know taken out of the game that you know Germaine's got to step up into the you know that's just one example Austin had to play the first couple games because Donan was out thrust Duty so you know I think you saw guys at the end of the game like Aaron Scott got his hands on some balls you saw the running back run well you saw jayen mlan make a tackle for a tfl so we need to continue to work to get better we got a long way to go but that that includes the older guys too I mean you know these guys want to get better and continue to work on it and so the position coaches will let them know what what they feel like they need to focus on this week and then we go from there I did um I did and I think that there was you know um you know u a couple different opinions of that after the after the um after the game and I guess that's all I can really say but yeah that's all I can say I wish I could say more no looks you know he's off to a great I've I've only seen a few highlights it looks like he's doing a great job and looks like the first couple games he's got in a good Rhythm and got a great win this past weekend so you know happy to see him doing well so far this season I know it's it's a lot different you know you see Quinn had a great win obviously this past weekend and you know Joe and obviously we've had our great quarterbacks here as well but it's the way of the world and um you know I think that's one of the reasons in recruiting that that we sell that to guys too is that when you come to Ohio State you're going to get developed at a high level at every position but at quarterback I take a lot of pride in that in the fact that we develop guys at a high level and that even if you were to leave we don't want you to leave but even if you were to leave it's still time well spent and invested and so um you know you're happy when guys go on and do well even though you know you want to retain as many guys you can that's our whole culture but it's just the way of the world so um you know happy to see Kyle do well he he won some great games here and poured a lot of effort into the program so but it's like that with with you know I think Joe Royer's doing well that at Cincinnati and so we follow those guys and want to support them I think for us seeing will out there it's all new it's fresh his first game quote unquote but he's played a lot of football um he's got a Poise out there he's got a command out there that you can feel I don't know if you guys feel it watching it but but you know I feel it on the sideline um he's able to take the practice and the meeting to the game or sometimes when you get into a game like they don't they don't see it and the information coming back like an issue here he sees it um I think and I said this like during the preseason I didn't feel like we get an idea of the type of impact that will would make until he was actually playing a football game but just kind of the way he is because of his size his ability to run you've seen him extend some plays you've seen him now his feed a little bit which will continue um and and he's made some very accurate passes um there's other ones though for sure that I know he wants back um and and to me it just comes down to his feet and um we'll continue to work on those type of things and but it's like anything else the more comfortable you are the more reps you're getting even the the plays that we're running in practice that we're not maybe not running in a game because we didn't get to them um th those are all the more he does them the more comfortable he's going to do the timing you're learning um when you do them for the first time after you do them for a while you're remembering and he's done a pretty good job of you know a play he only Reed a few times and putting it on the field and we're going to need to continue to do that but I think as time goes on you start to see that ball come out of his hand you know with even more and more Rhythm and more Pace we think that um Jaden Ballard had a a really good off season um you know was recognized as a gold uh individual during the offseason which is significant in our program so you know we've we've given him um you know the opportunity to return kicks and and uh you know a couple punts here um you know but the number one thing is taking care of the football so um that has to happen and you know we we believe in who Jaden is but at the end of the day we're going to take take care of the football so we are evaluate it U during this week and make sure that we're doing the right thing he's been a pro um same thing calms everything down inside you know even you know coach fry or myself are barking at him you know um like we will he just has a calming presence like we got it we'll get this straightened out that that's that's a good feeling that's what you want to hear as a coach I mean when you're going at somebody and they they look at you in the eye and like know we we'll get this thing straightened out and they do like that's that's when you know you got somebody who's a leader who's got Poise and and can kind of pull everybody together I do think it's been great to get Austin in there to get teger in there but now having Donovan coming back um is g to even make it more solidified in there just so that when something changes during the game um we can make quick adjustments I do think having those that tablet on the sideline is very helpful I mean because when you can identify what has happened on the last play not just coming from the booth but showing them especially a young player like there was a play particular um where you know one of the guys you know missed the block and and I'm like I haven't seen that one time in all pre-season like just let it go don't don't don't start you know stressing or having just go block techque you're blocking KY Williams every in practice I watch it on film where maybe in another scenario you you're more frustrated from the sideline because you're not sure exactly how That Shook out like he just didn't use good technique he a little T and then as time went on like the game went on got his feet underneath and just started like rolling guys out of there like I think it's really helped our coaching um in terms of being um accurate what we're saying a game but getting back to your point about Seth he gives us great information and he can help us with that in terms of seeing what's happening in the game why something maybe broke down what happened with the communication which allows us to address things faster which allows us to get in the Rhythm quicker if that'll make sense I have to say do you feel like you're demra now that you're not you're notar your that by you a little how you're re I I think when you're calling plays it it's first off it's it's hard to be anything other than calm because you know you have to your thoughts together you have to get your next you know series of plays ready your next third down call you have to communicate while the defense is out there on what just happened and make those corrections I mean there's a lot going on during that time and then when the offense is out there I mean you're calling the plays you're getting the Personnel grouping in there so there's a lot going on right there so to get too much involved with everything else um it's not that easy when you're not doing that you know now I can just be myself and just Chase everybody around and and to me like U that's that's been I've enjoyed doing that I've enjoyed being with the defense and being with the Special Teams and embarking in everybody and you know but that's that's typically how I am in practice it's just when you're in a game it's it's a little bit more difficult to do that so I have enjoyed that part of it um so far and um you know so we'll just keep growing from it but it does allow me the opportunity to have my eyes up and involve with everybody and take part in all the emotion for things a little bit there was I thinkand catch whatever or well when you have the C you got to call the next play and you can't get in but I mean yeah I mean I'm gonna I'm going to fight for everything we have and and you know fight for every every possible inch it doesn't matter what the score is that's my job as as the coach because you know these players are counting on me to do that and um but but you know not having to call the plays is certainly allowed me more of that opportunity to be more involved in the the game management you know seeing the clock communication on all three phases um encouraging the players and everything else talked a lot you guys been able to do that these first two games but down the road those opportunities I assume will will decrease how do you still work in those guys I know be as much but how do you continue to make that a focus in games opportun yeah I think we had over 80 guys playing this game yeah so uh good for team morale um good for evaluation at each depth or um in the depth of at each position um I think each position is different like I know Larry's Gonna Roll multiple guys at defensive end he wants to roll guys at defensive tackle and if guys like K Ma and hero you know continue to build and grow and those type of things then they will but I think at each position it's it's based on how those guys do and if the position coach feels like he's playing at starter level if they're playing at starter level I've said this before they deserve to roll they deserve to play I mean just because Donovan's coming back doesn't mean Austin cille doesn't deserve to play he does so we've got to get him into the mix and figure out what that balance looks like so um you know same thing at quarterback like at some point we're going to have to get you know these guys in there and playing meaningful steps in a meaningful game um so it'll it'll just depend on each position where they're at and then you know those guys got to help on special teams and then obviously when injuries pop up they got to be ready to go so um you know we'll just keep evaluating as as time goes on talked about playoff metrics are you do you have anybody doing anything right now looking at cursing playoff opponents doing any scouting teams and do you have anybody do the same in terms transfer how do you how do you PR that yeah so yeah we we have um in our recruiting department Billy Homer is is um tasked with the portal so he'll be evaluating all the all the college players across the country it's a big it's a big job and um and I think that is you know significant that the way that our structure of our entire staff uh has always got to be looked at to make sure that we're staying up with the times um and that's something we did you know um you know a couple years ago to make sure that we were we were ahead that way which is good too because it gives us some feedback on the teams that we're playing because not only is he looking at our opponents and the personnel there but he's also looking at it for down the road and possible guys that may go into the portal so um to answer your question yeah we're looking at our future opponents because we're evaluating anyways it's almost like in the NFL you have the college scouting Department then you have the the the pro football or the you know U scouting department where you know they're looking at all the free agents and guys in the league it's the same thing here you know we have we have the guys evaluating high school but then also the guys that are that are playing in college so um we'll evaluate all those guys and get personel you know information as time goes on want feedack right now any of that uh it's still a little bit early but U we have friends too you know who are out there who see some different teams and we just want to get an idea of of what's out there so yeah I'm um you know I'm constantly asking you know what's going on what's out there because you know as we look you know we got to know what we're up against and not that we're focused on any of that stuff but it is good to know and just get an idea of what's going on across the country guys CJ you kind of just I did notice this that Cody sunny and also play than line yeah yeah we have um but we we need CJ right now to play linebacker and then I think that there's certain things that you mentioned that right now he's doing better than others uh we need to find a consistency there that we we believe that he can do at linebacker um and you know although we have a few guys already uh he needs to be part of that group because you know if you're playing with three linebackers in the game all it takes is one injury and you're right in the middle of it and we know you know this is a long season so he he has to improve he's got to continue to grow uh we've seen him do it we know that he can do it it's just the consistency part of it and U and you know so we believe in CJ in a big way and um so I know James and everybody in that room is is you know trying to get him there because uh we we want and need him to play linebacker you know I guess it's hard to say what what needs to get better other than just everything um because we know we're know where we need to be but to me it's the um it's the energy it's the guys flying around it's it's knocking back to land of scrimmage it's guys on the back end running to the ball um playing with violence uh playing with great emotion you can just feel it you can see it and that's what we want um you know there was a couple third down conversions but that was that was about it I mean they they pretty much dominated like we thought they could and when you get off the field on third down against you know teams that are going to try to you know shorten the game on you that makes all the difference in the world and certainly just takes a lot of stress off the offense um now it certainly helps when the offense is scoring touchdowns like they are but um but some of those third down stops were huge you know in the first game certainly the defensive scores were big um so and it's been good to get a lot of guys reps but all these guys well maybe not all of them but you know the guys who have played a lot of football know that this is just the beginning we got a long way to go and we got a lot of big challenges coming down the road yeah granted the opponents you played obviously not been great but you scored on 186 I don't think the other team's gotten in the red zone I'm right about that but coach designed you're built to worry about things what what is keeping you up at night or what's the thing that's foremost in your mind about okay I gotta be on guard about this well and that's why you know you start from the beginning as a coach and you just say it's not about the opponent it's about it's about us it's about our standard well what is the standard great A Champion be the hardest playing team in the country so we know what the standard is and that's what we have to focus on is the process not the result and when I say like once we got going in that game like I didn't even know what the score was like it was and I I feel like the whole team was that way like we just kept playing and looked up at the end and that was the score and um I again I thought guys were competing in the second half and and so that was good but it goes back to our practice and you know if we can practice the way that we did on Tuesday and Wednesday even Thursday then you know we can be hard to beat but we have to we have to continue to do that we have to keep bringing it every single day and you know it's that competitive that I've talked about before you know so it's just the beginning you know and I know everybody's you know excited about you know how we' played the last couple games but you know it's just like anything else you know whether it's criticism or it's praise it's all noise and so you know we can't get caught up in any of that stuff but we got to get back to work and have a great week of practice this week and keep moving forward 22 view are you getting the TV view what are you able to see I assume um yeah we we get it after every Drive in all three phases so you know you get done with an offensive drive you go over it's uploaded onto the tablet and you get to see the sideline you get to see the end zone and then you do see the TV copy as well so there's three different views that you're able to see for each of those plays and then same thing will happen on special teams bunch of kick happens you're able to go over watch the kick and those three views thank you Jerry uh just a quick Point U first so what's the coaching point with denel BKE after that play he got hit the side of the helmet you're understand what I'm saying I do so what is the coaching point there that you make with yeah I I didn't really give him much of a coaching point there uh I thought he was giv great effort um you know I told him in the moment I gave him a hug and told him there's not much we can do about it right now um and then I'll try to make sure I B for you the best I can and that's what I did two Hamilton in a like his brother you know just mat he went along put him into perspective in terms of what he has brought where you saw really step up maybe last year and what he brings to that defense well first off you know Tai has been um reliable durable somebody that we can count on um for you know a few years now and he's put time and he's put effort and he's put work into this program and he was the player of the game on defense you know this week um you just can't say enough about somebody like this you know he's not somebody that garders a whole bunch of attention or you know makes it about him he's the Ultimate Team player he doesn't say a whole lot uh but he goes to work every day and you can just count on him to be there and those are the people that a you know a great team needs a foundation of people who are unselfish hardworking understand what it means to be a buckeye and now he's become a very very good player and you know if he can continue to play and take off from where he was on Saturday night then you're looking at an allconference player for sure what does this start do for Jeremiah Smith I mean are you reminding him things are going to get tougher I mean how are you approaching it with him in the stepping stone fashion that this season seems to be lined up to be he's disciplined this is not somebody who um you know I think you know needs to be told that hey you know reel it in I mean he he stays very focused if we if we recognize anything other then we'll address it but um you know he wants to be great he knows what he wants to get done I think he would tell you that this is just a start as well um I think he's always envisioned himself in this role and having an impact like this right from the jump we talked about that during the recruiting process um and so it started in January and well actually it really started during the high school process and then and then in January he got here and you know stepped right into the role so um although he's young I think he's you know Wise Beyond his years the way that he approaches the game and so U we'll keep a close eye on it but right now um he's staying very hungry thank you thanks guys yep