Presser Bullets: Ryan Day, Kerry Coombs and Kevin Wilson Discuss Ohio State's Win at Penn State, Cornerback Depth Concerns and Preparation for Rutgers

While Ohio State players had the day off from team activities for Election Day, the Buckeyes' coaches were still hard at work on Tuesday as they prepare for their third game of the season – a 7:30 p.m. home game under the lights at Ohio Stadium – against Rutgers on Saturday. Day, defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs and offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson each took a few minutes away from that preparation to talk about the Buckeyes' start to the season, how they're preparing for the Scarlet Knights and where things stand with the team after the first two wins.

A bullet-point roundup of some of what each of them had to say, beginning with Day:

Ryan Day

• On Cameron Brown's season-ending injury: “Cam came in with experience this season at a position where we couldn't afford to lose anyone. So to lose Cam, it's a significant hit. I really feel bad for Cam and his family.”
• Asked about Wisconsin having to cancel its second straight game due to COVID-19, Day said it's “week-to-week, day-to-day” in knowing whether you'll actually play each week, so it does “sort of” feel like a victory every time you get to play.
• Day said he was really impressed with Ohio State's physicality against Penn State, but there are some things the Buckeyes need to clean up including “silly penalties,” the snap over Justin Fields' head at the 1-yard line and missed field goals.
• On the two missed short field goals: “Just ridiculous. Those are chip shots.”
• Day said the jet sweep, like Ohio State ran with Garrett Wilson on the first play of Saturday's game, is a play the Buckeyes can use to get some runs on the perimeter without a back like J.K. Dobbins.
• Day said there was a conversation with the Big Ten about what happened at the end of the first half at Penn State, but he didn't want to get too much into it. “Apparently there was more than two seconds on the clock, which I don't really understand, but I'm just going to move on.”
• Day said the Buckeyes practiced on Monday instead of Tuesday since today is a mandatory day off for players due to Election Day. Said the Buckeyes had a “really good practice, very spirited” on Monday, but it is a significant change from their usual routine. Day said that just about all of the players had already voted, but everyone has to deal with the schedule change, so they just have to handle it better than their opponent.
• Day said Tyreke Johnson is the first guy that needs to step up at cornerback, along with freshmen like Ryan Watts and Cameron Martinez, with Cameron Brown out. Day said Ohio State is hoping to get Lejond Cavazos, who's been unavailable, back soon, and Marcus Williamson could also cross-train at outside cornerback even though he's been playing in the slot.
• Lathan Ransom has also been coming along well, and he's a guy who can play both safety and nickelback, Day said.
• Day said freshman kicker Jake Seibert could be an option if Blake Haubeil is unable to play going forward, even though Dominic DiMaccio replaced Haubeil at Penn State. Day says it's “kind of a day-to-day thing” with whether or not Haubeil will be available against Rutgers.
• Day said he thought Shaun Wade and Sevyn Banks played well for the most part at Penn State, but Jahan Dotson made some really good plays against them.
• On Greg Schiano: “A lot of the respect for the way he went about his business every day (when he was at Ohio State).” Said Schiano was a “great resource” when he served as the acting head coach in 2018, and “I'm forever in debt to him for that.” Day said “it's no surprise, you can already see how well things are going at Rutgers ... I think he's going to build something really good there.“
• Day said that if Ohio State wants to be a great team, it can't just continue to do what it's doing, it has to keep getting better in all areas.
• On Jonathon Cooper's performance at Penn State: “He played like a guy that was dying to play a month ago ... He was playing hungry, he was playing with passion, and it was really cool to see a guy playing like that with the Block O on his chest.”
• Day said that while Ohio State wasn't perfect in the red zone against Penn State, he still thought the Buckeyes played well in that area, though they can certainly keep getting better.
• Day said it's “really hard” to communicate when the artificial crowd noise is turned up to 90 decibels. He said the crowd noise doesn't have to be turned down to 70 decibels until the center is over the ball, so it's a “major challenge.”
• “If we're chasing greatness, and that's what we want to be, then every day we should be going after this thing, 100 miles per hour. ... Right now, we got a long way to go.”
• On the defensive line rotation: “We'll play as many guys as we think have the opportunity to play at a championship level.”
• Day said he thought Ohio State “did as good a job as you could do” dealing with the different protocols on the road this year for the first time at Penn State. He said Ohio State must continue to stay focused on trying to prevent COVID-19 cases every day, and they have to assume that everyone on the team could have it and adhere strictly to protocols.
• Day confirmed Justin Hilliard had a false positive from the rapid response test, then took a PCR test that confirmed he was negative for COVID-19, but due to Big Ten policy, he was still not allowed to play on Saturday. “We felt awful for Justin.” He says the Big Ten is talking about the policies to figure out the "best thing moving forward."

Kerry Coombs

• Coombs thought Jahan Dotson pushed off on his touchdown catch Saturday – though “that's neither here nor there“ – but gave credit to Dotson for making great plays, and said they need to work with Shaun Wade on covering inward-breaking routes. Expects Wade to continue improving, and he wouldn't characterize those plays as “bad moments” for Wade. “I have no worries about Shaun Wade.”
• Coombs said he thought the defensive coaching staff did a really good job coming up with a plan to stop the run and to keep Sean Clifford from being comfortable in the pocket against Penn State. “That's a good offense.”
• Coombs said Tyreke Johnson works really hard in practice and is always prepared to play.
• Ohio State's defensive backs all need to have a “next man up” mentality and be prepared to play multiple spots in the secondary, Coombs said. In a year like this where the Buckeyes have the potential to lose any player at any time for three weeks at a time with a positive COVID-19 test, everyone has to be prepared to do different things – you can't just be set on playing one roles.
• Coombs said he “learned a lot of football from Greg” Schiano when they were at Ohio State together. On Schiano's start at Rutgers, “The stamp that you see already on that program is those guys are playing hard.”
• Coombs said it was unfortunate that the freshmen didn't have to get to have a full offseason to get ready for their first season, but he's encouraged by the way they've been growing and they know they need to be ready to play, and they're going to play.
• Coombs said he thinks Ohio State's defensive structure is “remarkably similar” to last season. He said the Buckeyes are doing some different things on the back end, but they're not major structural changes.
• On freshman defensive back Lathan Ransom: “Lathan is a run-and-hit guy, and run-and-hit guys always end up playing football.” He said all of the freshmen needed to be ready to play at Penn State, and it just so happened to be Lathan who got in late in the game. “I suspect that his role will continue to increase as the season goes on.”

Kevin Wilson

• Asked about the tight ends catching more passes, Wilson pointed out the number of snaps they've played, the impact they've made even when they're not catching passes and how other recent Ohio State tight ends like Marcus Baugh and Rashod Berry are now playing in the NFL.
• Wilson said he's proud of the sacrifices his tight ends make and how they've bought into doing what's best for the program.
• Wilson said Ohio State doesn't change many play calls based on who's in the game at running back. Occasionally there's a situation where they specifically want Master Teague or Trey Sermon in the game, but they're mostly interchangeable. He thinks the running backs improved from game one to game two, and he thinks they'll keep getting better.
• Wilson said he thinks Justin Fields does a good job running the quarterback sneak, so they'll continue using it when they need it, though they have to be careful with it because those are hits on the quarterback and they want to keep him healthy.
• Wilson said now that his son Toby's high school football season is over, he's going to make some visits to campuses on his own, so he understands why Ohio State recruits are doing the same, even though the coaches aren't encouraging those visits as they remain in a dead period.
• Wilson said the more balanced the offense is, the better, and the Buckeyes need everyone to be able to contribute on both passing and running plays so that their personnel doesn't give away what they're going to do.
• On left guard Harry Miller: “From game one to game two, probably made as much improvement as anybody on our offense.”
• Wilson on what he thinks about Nicholas Petit-Frere and Harry Miller: "Very encouraged." "Not to get into Harry's Russian literature thoughts, but they're very smart guys."
• He said Penn State shifted Shaka Toney over to Nicholas Petit-Frere's side to try to take advantage of his inexperience, and Petit-Frere held up well.
• Wilson said Luke Farrell had a “gash,” which is why he had to leave the game on Saturday, but he was able to return to the game and will be fine.
• Wilson joked that he wished he could have been on Petit-Frere's diet for the past couple years as he had to gain weight.
• On how the offense is balanced: “We got to play to Justin's strengths ... we got to play to what's best for the offense to win the game.”
• On Wyatt Davis: “He's one of the juice guys of the offense. He plays very hard, he plays very tough, but he brings a lot of energy ... When it's time to stand in front our team and talk as a player ... he's one of the best verbalizers on the team and articulating the way we want to play.”