Buckeyes Speak to the Media Following Day 2 of Training Camp
8/1/2025 12:55:00 PM | General, Football
On the best thing Jeremiah does when he plays the reps where he doesn’t have the ball in his hands:
“I think that the best thing Jeremiah does is he just always wants to learn. As a coach you can't baby him. You can't put him on a pedestal. He does not want that. So, him being held accountable, there have been opportunities to finish more, hold the ball in your hands, turn off field. I identify it and he applies. I'm not going to say there's one individual thing when the ball isn’t in his hands, overall for him, he's always trying to learn, he's always trying to contribute whether it’s a decoy-ish mentality or a blocking mentality because he's a big guy or whatever that role is, he just loves learning the why and then applying it in that role or in that play.”
On the quarterbacks and what he is looking for in them during camp:
“Consistency. What you do most often is exactly who you are. Rather you consistently make the play, communicate, are loud, have energy, prepare well, or whatever that is. The consistency level of anybody ultimately dictates your identity. So we're chasing that. It's too early right now to speak past that, but we're going to keep building.”
On what is going to be different about his defense this year:
“Obviously, I was not firsthand in the building last year, but we have great coaches that are here and were here last year. I think it is my job to make sure I’m adapting and learning too. We did really well last year, and we have great coaches who coach these guys really well and develop these players at a high level. I think from that standpoint, there will be some things that are very similar to what everybody is used to. I might teach a bit differently. I can’t really speak on it —I just teach the way that I do, it’s more conceptual, big picture, things like that, which gives us more position flexibility to put guys in different roles.”
On his emphasis on building relationships with players:
“I have great friends and relationships with players that I’ve coached in the NFL, and we have great guys here. The players here are just great young men; you can’t help but gravitate to them. As a coach, that’s my role, right? I want to mentor, coach and help develop these 18- to 22-year-old men in those stages of not only football but life. It’s a true joy for me just to be around them. They have that energy, they have that youthfulness about them, they’re very into the game of football which I love, so they love to learn and I love to teach it. Being able to be in that situation where I can help them outside of the game is really important to me. I tell a lot of them; I have kids now that look up to them. It’s my job to be able to do everything I can to help them be the best versions of themselves—those are what my kids are looking up to.”
On what it is like for him this fall camp:
“I feel blessed. I feel like my time is finally here. I know what I can do. I know what my teammates believe in me to do and I am ready for the moment."
On what time he game time he likes:
“I like night games, that’s my thing. I like the spotlight. Everybody watches primetime games. I like the pressure. Pressure is a privilege.”
On why he had the patience to stay with Ohio State:
“I’ve always said, if you have the same exact guy that has the same stats from a different school, the guy from Ohio State is going to get picked first."
On what it is like to contribute in special teams and why he gravitated there:
“Coach Day talks about it all the time, how in order to get on the field, you need to play on special teams. The best players play on special teams. I think that’s what drew me in ever since I got here. Ever since then, I tried to get better with Coach Keys and Coach Ebner. I have super smart and special people around me, so just trying to learn from them and enhance my game that way.”
On his goals for this season:
“Honestly, just helping the team any way that I can. I want to try to get on more special teams, like kickoff and find myself more in there. Anyway I can help the guys, that’s the goal.”
On what he learned from himself and others about the wide receiver standard:
“I learned from older guys like Emeka. I'm learning how to be a pro and how to compete at your best every day.”
On receiver team bonding in California in the off season:
“I'd say that bonding just helped us being around each other for that long. It’ll help and it’ll pay off during the season, so we know each other like the back of our hand.”
On Carnell Tate and his leadership:
“He’s always been a leader and a role model to me since I got here, but I’ve seen the leap and jump he’s made since last year.”
On how excited he is for this season:
“I love to play the game. I love to win. I love to compete.”
On what’s being built within this year’s group:
“We help each other. We’re deep in our position and I think that goes to show when you come here, you come and play at an elite level and that’s on all factors.”
On the urgency in camp considering that Texas is our first opponent:
“It's definitely high demand. We have Texas Week 1 and we had a battle with them last year in the CFP. We have a good understanding of what they do, they probably have a good understanding of what we do. At the end of the day you have to spot the ball, you have to play and I think that's what that game is going to be a true representation of. Spotting the ball, executing better than them and playing harder than them Being the hardest team to play in America."
On getting out of his comfort zone to be a vocal leader for the wide receiver room:
“That is very much out of my comfort zone. This is not last year’s team, we have a lot of young guys. We need to grow up as a team, become more mature and everyone needs to take that next step.”
On the pride he takes in the strength of the wide receiver room:
“We take all the pride in the world. We know we’re going to lose a receiver every year; it’s just next man up. We are talented enough to pick up what is gone. We just always believe in ourselves. “
On the difference he has seen in Jeremiah Smith this fall camp:
“He is faster, bigger, stronger and he is more vocal this year.”
