Press Conference Transcript, Oct. 28 – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/28/2013 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 28, 2013
An Interview with: COACH MEYER, COACH FICKELL and COACH HINTON
COACH MEYER: Hi, guys, thanks for being here. A couple of quick comments about last week’s game. Very much impressed with like really impressed with the way our guys started that game. I was worried anytime he always look for advantages and disadvantages going into the game, and the fact that we had a very physical game against Iowa the previous week, very physical, and our opponent was off. So I just think our staff and our players really, the good thing about this team, I’m very honest with them and very open with them and I was very concerned about them being fresh and especially after that game we still get our work done against a fairly complex offense and defense.
And they did a great job. My hat’s off to our staff and our players for, because we didn’t practice as long as we would normally just because of the previous week’s game and then I had to get them fresh, we had to get them fresh for the Penn State game knowing that Penn State would be very fresh. Very impressed with the work ethic for that week.
On offense, the champions are Marcus Hull, Corey Linsley, those guys are playing I made a comment, if we’re not it’s hard for me to say we’re the best offensive line in America because I just don’t get to see everyone else but I’ve done this a while, and this is I take this offensive line over any offensive line that I’ve seen. These guys are tremendous players and their work ethic and alignment and cohesiveness is arguably one of the best I’ve ever been around.
Tight end Jeff Heuerman and Nick Vannett graded out champions, playing very well. Jeff Heuerman playing a very high level right now. Certainly in blocking, need to get him some more catches but playing at a very high level. Wide receivers continue to improve and play very well, Chris Fields, Devin Smith and Philly Brown. Trying to think who didn’t make it. Evan Spencer. Got dinged up a little bit but he’ll be fine for next week. Co offensesive players this week are.
Carlos Hyde playing at a very high level and then offensive tackle Captain Jack Mewhort played as well as we have seen him play and he plays at a high level too.
On defense Ryan Shazier graded at champion effort and Doran Grant, got Evan Spencer back, Braxton Miller also got hit in the knee a little bit late in the game so he’s fine. So we just gotta today’s the day to get him healthy because we need him full speed tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Q. When you took the job, you inherited a team that had a losing record, seven losses. Were you wary there might be problems with the cultures or personnel that might take longer to turn this around that what you might have played the optimum?
COACH MEYER: Not really. I guess I have so much respect for Ohio State and the previous coaching staff, I knew all those guys. I knew Coach Tressel very well. So I kind of figured it would be, there’s some maybe issues but nothing that can’t get fixed and you can recruit good players at Ohio State. I think early in the season our first year I was very alarmed. We weren’t playing very hard. We weren’t playing very smart. I had a brand new coaching staff that I was concerned about, and all those concerns seemed to be working themselves out because we had incredible leadership last year and our coaching staff turned out to be very good. But I didn’t know seven of the nine I didn’t know. So I didn’t think it was
Q. Were you a little bit surprised that, not surprised that it’s worked out how it has, but again, they’ve lost seven coming off the bowl game and big losses down the stretch the year before, that that they’ve been able to overcome any problems they’ve encountered, you win close games, big games whatever?
COACH MEYER: I try not to look back too often. I look back to the beginning of last year and that was very alarming. And up to now we’re just trying to find a way to get to the next week. And we compartmentalize. And so to answer your question, we haven’t really thought about until you brought it up, we’re just trying to get the win on the road at Purdue.
Q. You guys brought a lot more pressure defensively. Did you go to the defensive coach and say, hey, this is something I want done or can you take us through the change there?
COACH MEYER: We did have some conversation. I think Ryan Shazier is one of the blitzers in America, doesn’t blitz very much. We had that conversation. I think disruptive defense is hard to go I’m an offensive guy. Disruptive defenses are very hard to work against. And I thought Luke and Everett did a very good job mixing it in, some pressures. But we did, we disrupted this quarterback. And to let that guy sit back and throw, I’m not sure I don’t know if we’d lose a game but we certainly wouldn’t have held them to 14 points.
Q. Bogard, when he left, is he okay?
COACH MEYER: He hurt his knee. ACL, same knee. Just crushing. He’s in my office right now. Great kid. Actually very positive about it. He’s going to have surgery this week. Big blow.
Q. In terms of the defensive pressure, how frustrating was it and still last week the team seemed to be a little more passive than you want?
COACH MEYER: I think it’s frustrating for everybody. There’s a time here where a decade of defense that was as good as anybody in America, last three years hasn’t been that way. But I see improvement. I think player development is going to be very important. We lost a lot of great players from last year’s team. Last year’s defense, the last half of the year, was Buckeye defense.
I was used to watching all those years. First half was not. The first half of this season we were okay. I knew we’d have some growing pains with all their brand new players, when Christian Bryant went down, you’re playing with, I want to say, eight or nine new starters on defense. But we’re nine games into it. So I think we should be, I’m glad we played the way we did because I was starting to get a little concerned.
Q. What’s the next step, do you think, in terms of development of the defense?
COACH MEYER: Just keep doing what we need to keep doing. Next step we want to be a disruptive defense and we will be a disruptive defense. That means sometimes you’ll give up a play. That’s okay. That’s better than just giving up a bunch of plays. So I like where we’re at. I like the fact we’re getting better.
We addressed some situations and you see some development going on. The Christian Bryant injury was, I keep going back to that, because that’s not just something you brush underneath the carpet.
I mean our best player and he’s out of the game. Our best leader on that side of the ball. He’s out of the game. So I like the fact that we finally, I saw some energy. I saw some pulse on defense, and that was concern the last few weeks, like a lot of people were.
Q. With that in mind, Corey “Pitt” Brown had a big play what does that do for a player’s confidence, he was thrust into that role of Christian Bryant?
COACH MEYER: Coach Fickell and I had a meeting this morning and he made the comment, we were giving ground at alarming pace again, a little bit like the Iowa game started.
And for him to step up, you know, the energy level I go right to offense. I don’t see what happens on the sideline. You saw a very confident team coming off the field like we can do this. Where Iowa wasn’t that way at all. They score there, that’s a whole different ballgame.
Q. Dontre Wilson, he was upbeat after the game. He got more touches. I know we ask about him every week, but he seems to be adding more every week, what do you see in your crystal ball coming down the stretch?
COACH MEYER: I see a guy on one of our big plays he was blocking. That means he’s learning to be a full time member. It’s not just Dontre’s in the game. So he’ll be more and more involved. The thing that I like about Dontre that you all see is incredible passion for the game.
He’s an energizer, and we’ve, I don’t want to say mandated it, but he’ll be more and more and more. Played very well, by the way. I mean, when I say very well, of course he carried the ball well and all that. But he did a lot of things well.
Q. Is there anything that you guys do differently now that the calendar changes until November, you coach him with more urgency, do you expect more urgency from him, seems like November is a month around here where things mean a little bit more than not to dismiss anything else that’s happened but seems like there’s more of a sense of urgency in this month, not just here, but across all top 25 programs?
COACH MEYER: We don’t go into the season saying we want to win this one, this one. If you look around there’s not a bunch of goals. We’re goal win the National Championship, we don’t put that down. There’s too many variables involved.
And my concern ever since I’ve been head coach, let’s win our goals for the year and we don’t have that conversation. It’s always the same: To compete for championships in November, to get to November and then let’s go try to find a way to win a championship. Because there’s injuries and issues you have to deal with. So that’s our focus. We’re going to be in November. We are competing for championships so you can bet the focus is very intense.
Q. Things get turned up a little bit like practice?
COACH MEYER: Oh, I don’t know about that, because I think it’s on the, it’s a fine line. We have some kids eight games into it that are playing 650 plays so there’s a lot of wear and tear that we’re very cautious. But the focus is very much there.
Q. I know there’s a lot that goes into developing a quarterback. Braxton’s completion percentage is up around 12 points. What do you think has been the most important part of that improved accuracy?
COACH MEYER: Fundamentally, he’s a much better player than he was a year ago and knowledge of the offense. Those two things. I see it every day. The thing that we can’t do, and I challenge our coaches all the time, and myself, we can’t get bored and create these new plays, because you’re bored with the old ones. The old ones work fine just do it over and over again.
The more a quarterback does the same system you’ve got to figure up to this point Braxton was, his last year was the second system as a quarterback and now he’s in the same one, same coach, same system for two years you should be better. But he’s really better. I anticipated he would be better. He’s better than better. Nice job. That’s my master’s degree from Ohio State. Better than better.
Q. Go back to what Tim was saying about Dontre, have you found that he’s as available as a decoy as more valuable than when he gets the ball?
COACH MEYER: Maybe not as. Because he’s pretty lethal with the ball in his hand. Wait until you see him next year. We’ll get him big and strong. He’s gained 15 pounds since he’s been here. He’s a great practice player, on Fridays walkthroughs he’s going full speed. He’s one of those guys, gotta have him around.
Q. One of the motivating methods that coaches use with players is don’t forget the sting or the taste of losing. You got guys on this team that have never lost in college, going back a couple of years. How do you keep them agitated, you kind of lost that bullet, so to speak, to use with them.
COACH MEYER: We’re pretty good agitaters around here.
Q. So that’s one. Two, you’ve gone three years since you’ve lost a game personally. Have you lost any of the exact feeling of what, of that sense of loss and the feeling of losing, do you remember what it’s like?
COACH MEYER: Are you allowed to remove him from (laughter). I think it’s very valid, don’t worry about coaches, about players keeping them hungry. I think that’s kind of the message of the question. And that’s something we think about all the time.
But I mean that “L” word is not a good word for anyone. And so the one thing is we coach very hard. And Lou Holt said it best: You coach hard when you win. When you lose, it’s very fragile and we’re coaching you come out to practice and you are like, my gosh, you act like the offense is the worst in the country, especially on Tuesdays, they’re Bloody Tuesdays around here for a reason.
And I think that’s the as long as we’re still coaching that way and we will, they’re very hungry.
Q. The feeling of losing, do you still have it?
COACH MEYER: Do I still have it? Yeah, I mean I just want to avoid it at all costs.
Q. Urban, since Kenny Guiton was warming up at Northwestern, Braxton Miller has gone to a different level. Curious as a psychology major if you find that to be a coincidence?
COACH MEYER: I don’t think it’s coincidence. I think he knows and I’ve told him that there’s absolutely no doubt he’s like it’s maybe a little more complex than that, but if our center doesn’t play well we’re going to make a change if we have a good center behind him. And you see that in some other positions that as guys improve, we’re going to make a change.
And he knows that. He’s not used to being second fiddle, his high school and college career so far. I love him to death; he’s like a son to me. We get along great. But he knows I have a job to do and that’s to make sure the best players are on the team. The guy behind him happens to be a very good player, very good leader. Great to get him in the game. We’re going to keep trying to figure out ways to do that.
Q. On Braxton, as good as he was on Saturday, do you have an envisionment that it can get even better?
COACH MEYER: Much better. You’re talking about an incredible release, arm strength. There’s still some things he cowboyed it a few times which means when they kind of broke down he panicked in the pocket when he didn’t have to. We already had a meeting this morning about it. And he needs to know where his check down is. Those are just two things from this past game he panicked in the pocket three, four times and he panicked to the point where he didn’t know where his check down was, that’s a problem. That’s not good quarterback play.
Q. Urban, when you were running through things at the beginning you mentioned good linebacker play, defensive line, safeties, like the offensive line, the receivers are improving, tight ends, Braxton, do you feel like every part of this team is working the way you want? I know you can always improve, but do you feel like there are any weak spots on this team or is everybody doing their job?
COACH MEYER: There are. The linebacker position is still not solidified yet. We’re not Ohio State expectation level linebacker position. After this past week I think most other positions played at a very high level. And so linebacker position’s one we’re keeping our finger on hard because we need to improve the level of play and the number of backers we have in the program.
Punt team was good. Kickoff return was excellent. Kickoff coverage is probably the best we had all year. Those guys did a great job.
Q. Were you strong everywhere across the board? Are great teams strong everywhere, sometimes are great teams even covering up some deficiencies?
COACH MEYER: Great question. There are I’d say the one team that was strong across the board was 08, special teams, offense, defense, the way they played Saturday, across the table, pretty strong, the linebacker position is the one that continues to get a little better but fairly strong. But you can be strong, and our expectation level is to be strong in all areas.
Q. Curtis Grant, he got the head bump on Saturday?
COACH MEYER: Sore neck.
Q. And just want to make sure we get something in about Purdue. They’re a very young team. Is it difficult to get a read on them?
COACH MEYER: I have not watched their offense yet. I’ve watched their defense. They changed they were all 4 3 defense about three weeks ago before the Nebraska game changed completely. They’re now 3 4. Means they’re just going through some personnel issues and scheme issues. Very big up front. But like I said we’re just still trying to figure out what we’re going to see Saturday because it’s completely different from the first half of the season until now.
Q. Unrelated, but I’m curious, you get the question about the halftime speeches that go on when games aren’t going well. You’re never asked what halftime is like when the first half has been humming along. I’m wondering how you handle that break in the action when things are going as well as they were against Penn State?
COACH MEYER: If it’s a hungry team, it’s very easy and the zero, we tell them zero zero, we’re starting the game over again and you’re being evaluated. We put a lot of pressure on these players.
You come to Ohio State to start and the good thing is when you recruit fairly well, they know there’s a guy right behind you. If you want to go take a few plays off there will be someone else in there. That’s when you start getting a good program. And right now the cert positions playing the best, it’s not by accident. The gentleman asked me a question about Braxton. He knows the guy behind him know. The friggin’ stadium is calling his name. He better be pretty good.
Q. You guys play with more aggressive last week, I know that was part of the plan. How much of that is enabled by the fact that you know your offense is going to put up points if you give up a play so be it, but you want to play aggressively?
COACH FICKELL: That gives you a lot of confidence. And we tell our guys sometimes. I mean, football is a game of momentum. Where it comes from, who knows. At times you’ve got to create it yourself, at times it comes from the offense. And some points from the defense as well. Momentum all over the field the key is once you get it you’ve got to keep it. If you have to create different ways of doing it, that comes with the game. But you have some confidence built up in the fact that you know that the ball’s in the offense hands. They’ve got a real good shot to continue to move and give you some breathing room.
Q. Urban said that the one deficiency not that word but one area he’s concerned about are the linebackers. What’s your view of that position?
COACH FICKELL: It’s a daily grind. And in a situation where depth and things is really tough. You got a bunch of young guys. Sometimes you say young guys and guys that don’t have a lot of experience. That’s an area we continue to build on a daily basis. And whether it’s on the field, whether it’s off the field, whether it’s recruiting, all those situations is something that obviously I see on a daily basis. See too often. But all you can do is continue to battle through.
Q. Coach, just want to ask, you got a lot of young guys, backup players into the game in the second half, as you went back and looked at it yesterday who were maybe two or three of those guys who played all the way to the end and you had a couple of good defensive stops. Who were some guys who stood out for you in the last quarter and a half?
COACH FICKELL: We kept a lot of those guys in to an extent. But a guy like Tyvis Powell young guy railroaded shirt kid who went to play some more safety other than just nickel late in the game. You get in Vonn Bell a true freshman all of a sudden playing at star nickel back and doing some things and Trey Johnson is playing some will linebacker. When the lights are on you see some things show up from him. You continue to roll those guys up front. Those are a bunch of guys up front that those guys sub in a little bit more than maybe the other spots on the team. But don’t get an extensive work. So your Chris Carters, your Steve Miller’s and some of those things, those guys got to play in big time atmosphere see how they respond.
Q. Luke, Marcus Freeman is coaching on the other side. I know you have a history with him. Did you see a kid that maybe could become a coach one day when you had him or what did you see back then?
COACH FICKELL: Hopefully he would tell you I tried to talk him out of it, because to me that’s what you do. Any kid, player, kid someone who comes to me my own son first thing you try to do is talk them out of it. Crazy business, a lot of things you give up. Obviously there’s things you get.
But the number one thing is especially if you played here and win here sometimes you think I want to get into coaching because I want to coach at Ohio State. The reality is not every place is like this.
And if you’re really, the reason I tried to talk him out of it or tried to if you can’t talk them out of it then you know they’re fit for the coaching profession. As much as I tried I couldn’t do it. You see why.
Q. Cerebral kind of guy back then?
COACH FICKELL: Yeah, again, he loved the game. He enjoyed the game. He understood the game. And a lot of times I never thought about coaching. I never once had I grew up around coaches my whole life, wrestling coaches different things but never once did I think about coaching when football was done. When things are taken back you look and say what are the things I enjoyed what did I love to do and what do I want to continue to do. That’s I think when it becomes clearer to you.
Q. Sounds like Coach Meyer’s a little bit involved with the defense. Talking about that where Coach Tressel wasn’t involved at all in the defense. He was talking about that how he thinks Ryan Shazier is really good at blitzing what’s that like when the head coach as defensive coordinator what’s it like when the head coach is also involved in defense?
COACH FICKELL: I think it brings a lot to us. The more ideas and minds in the room at times especially when it comes from someone with a different perspective. Sometimes coming from the offensive perspective gives real insight. It’s tough at times when they come in say this hurts us this hurts us but reality it elicits conversation and you’re in this business because if you take a day off you’re losing ground in what you’re doing. You’re looking for new ways and new ideas and things that are difficult.
So I think that’s a different perspective that he brings and gives to us on a daily basis. So we want it. We really enjoy it. Sometimes it’s tough but the reality is it makes us better.
Q. Couple things. Number one, what do you remember about Coach Hayes more than anything else that stood out that allowed him to be a success at Kent State now taking on this challenge at Purdue to turn that program around, what stood out about him?
COACH FICKELL: I think probably the number one thing is he believes in what he does. Great confidence in what you do. And there’s a million different ways of doing it. I’m sure as you guys have covered and you see, every coach is different in his own way. And there’s not one formula that says this is the way to be successful. And when you go and do it yourself and you have success obviously it’s a lot easier to show. So I think when he left out of here I said the reason he’ll be successful is because I know he knows what he’s doing but more importantly he knows why he’s doing it and he’s not going to change on a daily basis. The consistency of who he was and what he does, I think it’s what you’ll eventually see.
Q. Pitt Brown with that interception much has been made about losing Christian Bryant, leadership wise, everything else. What does it do for Pitt Brown to have a big play like that that turns a game and what does it do for the confidence of the defense to know they’ve got another guy back there?
COACH FICKELL: Football’s a game of momentum. And it’s a game of when you have it you gotta keep it. And that’s probably one of the tougher things as a young group is creating that momentum. Sometimes we gotta get it from our offense. Sometimes we’ve got to get it from whomever. The reality is we’ve got a big play in the first drive.
Where it came was even bigger, but the reality whether it’s great for Pitt Brown it was great for the entire defense, it was great for the entire team it created that momentum. It created that energy. Gave us some of that confidence that hey even if people move the ball what you gotta do is force them to get into the end zone when you have a shot at something you’ve got to make the play. I’m sure it’s huge for his confidence, but it’s huge for the confidence of the whole group as well.
Q. [Indiscernible] in the season a lot of people disappointed, thought the program was at the bottom. Could you have ever foreseen it’s not [indiscernible]?
COACH FICKELL: That’s hard to look back and think about some of those things, but the reality is like coach will tell you at times you’ll hear him say there’s not bad teams. Really there’s not. I mean, there’s enough good players at most places. Maybe not the same as here as some other schools. But the reality is there are good players and having everybody on the same page is big and leadership is a part of that thing.
If you really look back, it could be completely different over the past two years. The thing is we were successful last year and a lot of those early games that what did it do? It created a great confidence. It created a great momentum, not that coach had any doubt in the way he does things and not that you would have any doubt in the way he does things because you see his record. But 18 to 22 year olds obviously as you’ve heard him say question things, and to have that success the way we did and come through maybe the first six games of the season last year, you can say you can have great players and you can have this, but the reality is that guys come together, guys believe in one another, guys have confidence in what it is that they’re doing and good things happen. Because just like you can go back to 2011 say if you would have done this in this game, you were close in a couple of games maybe the season is different. The same thing you can say last year.
And there’s something to say about going through tough times.
Q. Snowball effect both ways, things started to go bad, they continue to go bad in 2011?
COACH FICKELL: It’s a lot of that. And a lot of that is leadership, because when things are tough and times are down, you see who can get you out of those things.
There’s no substitute for momentum and energy, and I don’t care what level of football it is. And you can see that that’s what has gained. That’s what we’ve gained over the last year over this year, that we probably lost as much as anything in 2011. And how do you, if you’re going the wrong way what do you gotta do do something to create it the other way whether you have great leadership that can pull you out, whether you have to make a play or something drastic that happens that gets guys back on track.
There’s a lot of psychological things involved in it. Belief in what you’re doing is one of those big things, but people are truly buying in and having that ability to continue to, when you have the momentum to keep it and if you don’t have it find a way to get it.
Q. You guys have not given up anything close to a long run this year. Why is that? What did you do well?
COACH FICKELL: Hopefully we learned from last year. The greatest thing you can say is you learn from the things that you don’t do well. You learn from your mistakes. I think after last year, early in the season, that was one of the big things we had a problem with. And people can say it’s tackling. People can say it’s this. But the reality it’s a leverage issue. And it’s guys with great effort to the football. And when you’re playing hard and playing fast and playing with great leverage you can still give up runs and yards but the reality is you’re not going to give up the big ones, and we don’t give up the big ones you’ve got a chance to be successful. And I think that’s probably the biggest key to what we do keep the ball in front of us and make sure we’re running ourselves inside out and be aggressive. Everybody talks missed tackles no, we can’t worry about miss tackles you miss a tackle with good leverage you’ve got ten, nine other guys coming to the football.
Start worrying about I gotta make this tackle which you see some in the big field open field, guys hesitate and wait it’s hard to make the tackle when you hesitate and wait. Having that belief and that confidence in one another and playing with great leverage and learning from your mistakes is a big part of it.
Q. Have you seen either looking at Purdue and their offense on film so far or what you know of Darryl Hayes being around him does he remind you of Tressel?
COACH FICKELL: I think one of the greatest qualities he got and had and probably grew from with Coach Tressel is consistency. He’s not going to be real high and real low and that’s the sign of a great leader that you can do tough times. You don’t change who you are. And that’s what I know about him. So it’s not like he’s going to be down or he’s going to do something crazy or something different because they’re in the situation that they are that you gotta battle through tough times and when you’re consistent, your young men learn and they learn that from you that hey just because we’re on a roll he’s this way when things are down he’s this way to create that consistency, the guys learn and understand that and take that image from them as well.
Q. The way you guys are playing right now defensively, is there any personnel grouping package, scheme, that you have a reluctancy to call?
COACH FICKELL: The biggest reluctancy to call anything whether any of us calling doesn’t matter. The reality is what our guys understand. What we know what we understand as coaches doesn’t really matter. We gotta continue to focus on the things that those guys understand. When they understand what they’re doing and have an idea of not just what they’re doing but why they’re doing it then they can play a lot faster. And I think that’s what gets lost in the whole part of this is hey what about the scheme. It’s not about the scheme. It’s about the guys being in position that they can be successful.
There’s some things for the people we have that, hey, in 2007 we were really good on defense. I’m using we’re good on defense and we did a few specific things because that’s what some of our guys did really well. That’s a different team than right now. Whether it’s Mike linebacker or Will linebacker or Leo or Vipe or whatever you want to call them. We’ve got to continue to figure out what it is our guys do well and let them build off of that as opposed to asking them to do something in theory it should work but the reality is we’re asking him to do something that he physically might not be able to do.
Q. Is there something aside from Shazier athleticism that enables him to be such a successful blitzer?
COACH FICKELL: Instincts. Blitzing is about timing and guys that have great timing and understand blocking schemes and aiming point to where they’re going gives them a lot better opportunity to be successful. We’ve had some really fast guys that are not good blitzers. We’ve had slow guys really good blitzers and it’s a knack. It’s something that comes down to like I said timing and aiming point in order to be a great blitzer is something that’s sometimes tough to teach. Obviously they can get better at it but sometimes those are things that are really natural in what they do.
Q. Devin Beaugard, coach mentioned for a kid like that got such praise early on and to have an ACL.
COACH FICKELL: I didn’t know.
Q. He said he’s going to have surgery this week? COACH FICKELL: That’s news to me. I was going to say I sat at dinner with him last night he did not know anything.
Q. Devin walked into his office right before he came
COACH FICKELL: Did not know that. It’s tough for all of us but when you’re in this business for what you do, it’s much tougher knowing what the kid’s going through. We can get through it. We’ve got somebody that will step up not saying they’ll be the same person as him, but somebody will step up and take that spot the real thing that hits hard is this kid is going to go through another situation like that and how can he handle it and how tough and how strong mentally to go through another battle like this. So that’s what pulls at you.
Q. Coach, with Purdue still searching for themselves a little bit, do you kinda have to go back to the principles that you used early in the season of being ready for everything when it comes to the Boilermakers?
COACH HINTON: You know, you really do. The interesting thing about it is it looks like philosophically they made some changes here the last couple of weeks and they had a bye week about three weeks ago and it looks like defensively they schematically changed, and we’re sitting down and watching video and saying, what do they want to be right now?
It looks like they’ve bought into being more of an odd front football team, and we’ll see how it goes, and during the week we will have to throw in some four down stuff and practice it, but that makes it hard on the teams going in. When you look at it you say, okay, the teams they have done that against is Nebraska, after the bye week, and then they had Michigan State the next week, and Michigan State is not anything offensively similar to us, so you have to look at it and say how much background work do we have to look at their odd schemes. It’s interesting, it’s something you fight early in the season, when you change strategies or change position coaches, you figure out what that guy is going to do, and early in the year you see that but we’re facing it in week nine.
Q. Tim, when you’re 8 0, fourth in the country, 20 straight wins and Urban rattled off everybody who will graded out as champions, I think there is at least one guy if not two guys for every position groups, and then he said Tuesdays are “bloody Tuesday.” Are Tuesdays really bloody around here? What are Tuesday practices really like?
COACH HINTON: Let’s put it this way: I didn’t smile when you asked that question. If you had our guys up here, our position players, they would like, shake their heads, like, are you kidding me? Yes, they are. And it’s by design. My whole talk yesterday to my position group and what I normally do on Sunday meetings is I recap the week before and talk about the positive and negatives and why we played well or why we didn’t play well, and then I start focusing in on our next opponents, because obviously you get a 24 hour rule.
You can play that game, be happy, celebrate, or if you do lose, and hopefully that doesn’t happen for a long time at Ohio State, you have to put it away because when you show up, it’s time to go back to work.
One of my emphasis in talking to that group certainly was, hey, listen, you know you can’t be satisfied with where you are.
There is a guy that coached here a long time ago, who said you’re either getting better or you’re getting worse. Well, we still have a lot of room for improvement. When you turn on the video, they were coached very hard yesterday in the film session. Very, very hard. When they go out to practice on Tuesday we will throw a lot of different looks at ’em, a lot of hard things at ’em, we’ll make it very challenging, we will be demanding on their effort, we will be very demanding on the fundamentals and we will be very demanding on the execution, I mean, very demanding, like top end stuff.
When you’re throwing new schemes and every team has their own intricacies, everybody does it a little bit differently. You could say well, it’s odd defense, well it’s odd defense Purdue style, or you could say it’s four down Purdue style, so everybody does it a little differently. So that first time you really go out and you show that look, you know, there is always that hesitation, so we’ll be wrong a little bit and when you’re wrong we really get a chance to coach you hard, I mean really hard, and it’s not by accident.
We’re going to coach ’em really hard because the bottom line is all that body of work we’ve done to now doesn’t mean anything unless you continue to do your job. That’s the game.
So the body of work is all great and you can pat yourself on the back but obviously we have other things we’re trying to achieve as we go through the season, so forget about that body of work, let everyone else talk about it, we have things to do right now and that’s get better.
That was my whole emphasis yesterday. I’m sure Coach Meyer has probably alluded to that already, to the staff, and I know that I’m sure every position coach covered it that way yesterday, too.
Q. Tim, Coach Meyer said that Jeff Heuerman is playing at an extremely high level but you’ve got to get more receptions for him. What’s that like? Do you have to keep Jeff’s head up?
COACH HINTON: It’s an interesting thing. I met Jeff in the hallway today when he was coming in to get treatment and normally they will stop in and watch some film and Mondays is their day off, and in that conversation Jeff looked at me and he said, “Coach, we have a lot of good dudes on this team” that was his quote, you know, we got a lot of guys that can go! Absolutely, you know, the week before we have five catches or something like that and not a lot of yardage, but something I thought it was effective within the offense.
This week there is a couple of plays that we called that I thought going into the game the tight end would get the ball, we all thought the tight end would get the ball, Penn State didn’t cooperate. But on the one they took the two defenders and guarded the tight end on it, well Carlos Hyde caught a pass, went down the sideline, that’s okay. Really. And the bottom line is that we all get what we want if we win.
Who cares who gets the credit, how that game planned work, if we are executing at 63 or 64 points, whatever that was on Saturday night, we’re good, trust me, let’s keep executing at that level. And who is getting the catches, who is not, obviously our tight ends are integral in all phases of it because they got to run good routes to create other things for other guys, and they have to block at the point of attack, or on the perimeter and all of that is part of winning opinion.
If we’re called upon we’re going to do our job and do it well, we hope, and whatever that may be, the surface. So I don’t spend time on it, but if I had a guy that complained about it, he might not go on the field for a while, you know.
Q. How much better is Heuerman than last year? Why is he better?
COACH HINTON: The thing is early in the year we started with Zach Boren, too, so Zach was there and we made a little bit of a position change with Jay sliding out and playing more receiverish type tight end, and he was trying to find Zach because’s a bonus guy and trying to find ways to get him in the offense, and Jeff was put on the shelf early in the season and emerged late in the year. The beauty of it is when you look at what he does, one, he everybody walks up and down these hallways, when you look at his physical stature, he’s a big, strong guy and it really he has the highest vertical jump, and I think the highest bench press out there which is really, really positive stuff.
Q. Following up again on Heuerman, he seems to have a knack for the block on the end, maybe I’m wrong about that. Do you agree with that?
COACH HINTON: I think it’s all great coaching to be honest with you. (Chuckles.) Oh my God! I know I saw everyone looking, I said by the way, don’t ever coach a guy like that. I just want you to know, ever, ever. Here is the deal. He’s really, really, really good! I mean really good at what he does.
He does have a knack for it. He understands leverage, and you know like every great football player you’re around they’re very football intelligent and he’s a very football intelligent guy. He’ll sit there and when he’s wrong in a play there is a play early in the game, we run we’re on the 4 yard line and we’re running the inside zone to Carlos and he kinda cuts back and only gets down to the 2. Jeff is at fault on that play, because he saw a linebacker walk out of the box, and he thought that linebacker was blitzing and he didn’t blitz; he lined up differently than we had taught him, so he actually made a mistake because he overthought the play.
Well, you know, listen, Jeff, don’t do it again, but you love that awareness, because a guy who isn’t aware of those things and doesn’t get it, well that’s bad!
One of the things that makes him good is his understanding and awareness and he’s strong physically, really literally a gifted kid. He works so hard at it. He’s got great toughness and like every competitor, and there is a lot of we talk about being 1 0 on every snap, it’s the big Coach Urban saying, 1 0; he doesn’t like to lose any snaps, so he’s going to battle you and that’s what he does really, really well.
Q. You said a while ago that Michigan State is not like you guys offensively. Do you mean schematically?
COACH HINTON: Schematically, nothing negative to the guys up there, schematically they’re more iPro and different than we are in our spread set. Structurally when you watch video, you want to watch “like” opponents, everybody in America asks who is the most “like” us, and that’s the thing you will spend film time on. And when you change defenses in the middle of the year, like we did, it makes it a little bit harder.
Q. Coach, Coach Meyer said that Jeff Heuerman and Nick Vannett were graded out as champions. How satisfying was that for you?
COACH HINTON: Well, it is, you know, we coach for the players, you know, and funny I made that comment today, too, talking to somebody, I said, we coaches complain about this player and that player, and we wouldn’t have a job without players, right? So don’t complain about ’em, try and make ’em better. And Nick early in the year had an injury and missed crucial time in the beginning of the season as far as practice time, some real crucial time. It’s taken him a while to get back to where he was. He’s practicing really well, and to watch those guys go out and perform at the level you expect for them and you want for them as people when Coach Meyer reads off the champions, this room is full of his peers, and they get a chance to stand up and run down and shake Coach Meyer’s hand, and there is a smile on their face now they’re proud of what they just accomplished because it ain’t easy.
They got graded out at 80% in that game; that means your opponent is not grading out very well. They’re on scholarship, too, and practicing really hard. I’m pleased with how both of ’em are playing.
Again, like everything else, there is a good momentum right now in our room, good momentum on this football team, and it’s our job to continue and enhance it and take it into this week.
Q. There are times when catches are slow to come to Jeff because of what the opponent is doing, so the trickle down affect probably multiplies that for Vannett, so for Nick to get that complement from the Coach, how satisfying is that for you?
COACH HINTON: Very much so, because really Nick is a tremendous pass receiving tight end, and I mean he has great hands, good ball skills, has the ability to run very well and his day is coming at Ohio State. He’s going to have great days ahead of him. The thing is you can’t be selfish in this game. This is the ultimate team game and you have to be very, very proud. It’s like that parent who watches their kid do something they’re happy with, the parent is more proud than the kid. We gotta be that way.
Without each other being happy for Braxton Miller being successful or Chris Fields being successful, because he doesn’t play a lot either, unless we’re complementing and happy for each other, you have that dissension in a team that doesn’t allow you to be as consistent as Ohio State has been because all those things in the locker room will wear you down, and right now there is none of that, with this football team. No one cares who gets the credit; let’s get the final result Ohio State way, and that’s why there has been such consistency in our program and why we’re winning at a consistent level is that no one cares. They really don’t. It’s like, hey, what do we got this week? When it wasn’t Carlos Hyde, did anybody care? Now that Carlos is getting reps, good for Carlos, but whatever it takes, let’s find a way to win this game.
