Keenan Bailey and the Tight Ends Spoke to the Media
8/20/2024 1:19:00 PM | Football
On Jelani Thurman
"Talent is God given. But I think the biggest change in Jelani from last year to now is he's not learning as much he's remembering, He just spent a whole year learning, everything was new for Jelani, the plays, obviously the position, the techniques, but also how to practice, how to take hard coaching. He's not having to learn those. Now he's remembering. So now he's getting to apply what he's already learned and he's remembering and it's really fun to watch."
On having a starting tight end or rotating
“I'm not sure, I kind of have an idea how it might play out, but hopefully we can roll a bunch of guys. In a perfect world, everyone could do everything and we could just be fresh, just rolling the guys. I kind of have an idea of how it might play out, but we'll see.”
On how he feels different in his second year here
“I feel like I developed a lot more. I feel like I took some lessons from some older guys. I feel like I soaked up all the energy and all the gems that they gave me and I feel like I put them on the field this year to make myself better.
On the expectation to be consistent
"I feel like at this level, consistency is the key factor. If you can’t do it on every play and every down, you are not going to get it done at this level. At Ohio State, we need everybody to be on all ten, everybody knows their assignment, everybody is doing their assignment. So I feel like every day I work on being consistent, knowing what I gotta do, how I gotta do it, and why I gotta do it.”
On expanding routes in the offseason
“This summer I put a lot of work in my route running, my fine techniques. He's helped me a bunch on that. All the tight end coaches, wide receiver, coaches, former teammates, this is something that I need to take to step up to the next level and I think it's something that I've worked on a lot.”
On the transition to Ohio State
“Well, everyone's going to have to put in extra work. We don't like to call it extra work, we just call it work. We're always trying to get better. Obviously, it was faster when I got here coming from the Mac. But I thought I had a smooth transition and like I said, there's no extra work it's just work. We’re just trying to get better every day.”
On his role off the field this season
“Yeah, this year with G and I being the oldest in the room and then you got Jelani and Max Leblanc who are still coming along a little bit, my role this year has definitely been more supportive, getting guys going, getting on them a little bit accountability wise, but just showing the ropes in the weight room.”
On the accountability within the team
“I wouldn't really say that's drilling in the toughness, that's drilling in accountability issues right there. So, if we fumble, it's a lap or you false start that's a big one, both are huge ones. I would say our Indie kind of drills it in for us with toughness because our Indie is probably one of the toughest. We're just going on, full reps, one on one with each other just with a blocking scheme or a pass scheme just working. So then when we get into main practice with the ones or the twos or threes or whoever you're going against, you're ready for that moment.”
On feeling the momentum building
“It started right after the spring game, and we went into the summer. I had my tenders where I'm at, work as hard as I can in the weight room, way harder than I ever have, and I did, and I got gold over the summer, made huge strides in every area. My list, my speed, I really stopped looking at football and I took the pressure off of it. I'm coming off of a suspension and everyone's like, ok, we'll see what he does and I'm not focused on that. I'm focused on having fun and playing football what I love to do. And I think just that mentality has helped me have a really good camp and I'm looking forward to the season.”
On his technique as a blocker as well as working on his pass
"At practice Coach Key says 50 catches 25 strikes. I pride myself on being a blocker and a physical guy, but I think I really made strides in the pass game, my running my routes and man to man coverage and now I'm just really focused on becoming a complete tight end to help this offense.
On his areas of growth within the game
“I feel like I've just grown everywhere all over the field. Especially at tight end, the more reps you can put in your back pocket, the more it's going to help you out. I believe it's one of the most developmental positions on the field, so it takes a long time. You never stop growing. You're always getting better. I think this camp has been just another opportunity for me to continue to stack and build and keep adding to that repertoire.”
On Jelani’s development
“He continues to grow and to grow and to grow. Jelani was another guy that not only tight end position but tight end at Ohio State, playing at Ohio State in general it's a high standard, but then to play the position of tight end, it's not easy. I've seen Jelani take big strides on and off the field. I think he's just going to have to continue just to put those days in back-to-back and he'll be able to look up one day and be excited for where he's at. He's very talented, he's very gifted. God has given him a lot of great abilities and I think it's just his job to put in the work and he'll look up one day and he'll be excited about where he's at.”
