Buckeyes Spoke To The Media Before They Hit The Road to Illinois
10/8/2025 10:05:00 AM | Football
On learning from his quarterback
I think it’s extremely important what you learn, again I use this term all the time, you build trust. You build trust with the coaches; you build trust with your teammates and then you build confidence, and I think the more you have prepared and the better you prepare, the more confidence that you can play with on gameday and a big part of that is practice and how you practice.
On having the best defense in the country
I always say you know just like everyone else, ignore the noise, but more importantly right now, ignore the noise. I feel like when you hear something like that you are just getting set up so, it has nothing to do with what’s going on from here on out, nobody’s going to probably remember much about the first or five games we played, but they’re going to remember the rest of them, so, we got to keep getting better every day so what’ll matter in the end is who’s the best defense at the end of the year. Not right now.
On attempted the fewest third downs this season
Third downs are huge as you know, we have to be on our stuff on third downs. The more we play the more we are learning about it, we need to be on schedule so that were not in a third and long situation and then you know converting on those. But you know, I think for us the ability to spread the filed with multiple weapons gives us an advantage but well know as we continue to get more and more opportunities, but our conversion rate has been solid, but we always want to be better.
On helping Max Klare getting more comfort
For sure! I think that helped me a lot to become more of a leader and using my voice, talking to him just one on one, and motivating him when he is doing the rep, so I feel like that definitely helped me a lot this offseason.
On Brandon Inniss getting a opportunity
Yeah, Brandon is a dog. We all know in this facility and this team that Brandon is a dog and he going to do everything that you asked him to do and he's not going to complain about it. I see the things people say about him, but I know the type of player he is. I know the things that he can do and I'm pretty sure everybody on offense and everybody around Ohio State knows the things that he can accomplish, but hopefully this week the ball goes his way, but I know for sure the ball in his hands is something dangerous.
On Julian Sayins progress
He's very different, as he is taking that step each and every week. We see the progress, I have said already since the offseason that he's that guy, and he can make any every throw and it's all starting to show.
On what stands out to him about Zion Grady and Logan George on defense
You see what they do on Saturday nights and every practice, I’m not surprised that they’re out there making plays. Zion’s been making plays since spring ball, when he got here. So, I’m glad they gotten reps and got the opportunities to go out there and show what they do every practice.
On being a former wrestler and how that’s helped him in Football
I definitely think wrestling is almost like my foundation for Football. Not even the physical stuff but the mentality of it. It’s just so hard and I’ve learned so many lessons from wrestling. There’s a quote that Dan Gable says, ‘Once you’ve wrestled in life, everything else is easy.’ and to a degree, it’s kind of true. I feel like it’s definitely helped me, with my mentality and then physically it obviously helps with playing Linebacker.
On what the feeling of getting an important third down call
It’s good because you get to open up guys like Arvell and all the defensive ends we have and Sonny, and they get to have fun and rush the passer or rush the quarterback.
On Julian taking a hit
He’s a tough guy. I mean when he’s able to stand in there and take a hit like that and put the ball where he wants to, I mean it’s pretty special. But you know its Julian.
On turning more into a Buckeye week by week
Getting more and more into the culture, being around the guys and you know just everything. Just being here, you know what I mean, just growing in everything I do and just continuing to build that rapport with Ohio State and I think I have done a pretty good job of that, so I feel pretty good.
On the support of the guys
It’s awesome, I mean having guys like that around you only help’s and it’s fun to go out there and play with those guys. I mean they are making plays left and right and it’s fun to see the ball go up, for a touchdown.
On what’s it been like at Ohio State so far
It’s amazing. I’ve talked about it before, the culture here is incredible, so just trying to get better each and every day. It’s been very good.
On how good the defense is right now
I think everybody’s is really selfless and trying to work hard to be the best unit we can be, even when sometimes that might not be statistically be for any individual person, but as a unit, everybody's been playing really well together, and I think it’s worked well.
On playing under Coach Patricia
I love Coach Patricia. He’s awesome, obviously a smart guy, but I mean there’s just a lot of details that a lot of people probably overlook, but that he’s able to focus on. Then obviously schematically, he’s a genius and everything.
On Sonny being a dynamic
I think we complement each other well; we can do a lot of the same stuff. There isn’t too much I can do that sonny can’t, so I think we complement each other well.
On how he's been used in games so far
Yeah, I like it, it’s been fun, I’ve been in a lot of different places outside of linebacker and it’s been fun.
On Matt Patricia maximizing his talent
I think he is doing a great job; he puts me in a lot of different sports and a lot of different roles to see how versatile I am.
On showing up and showing out every day
I just say every day you just attack it the same, you got a routine every day, you follow it, so just keep following your routine, stay in the process, and things will pay off.
On learning from Carson
Carson has definitely helped me a lot because he is really good with his brain, so definitely just using his mindset, and some of the stuff he does, it helps, and I definitely take advantage of that.
On having the opportunity to play last week
It was great, just showing that all of your hard work can pay off is definitely a big thing. I have worked towards this for my last three years I have been here, so it has definitely been a big thing being able to play.
