As Ohio State prepares for this week's trip to Maryland with its eyes on continuing to build upon its 3-0 start to the season, Ohio State quarterback (and newly minted Heisman frontrunner) Justin Fields met with the media on Wednesday, along with linebacker Tuf Borland and tight ends Jeremy Ruckert and Luke Farrell.
A quick bullet-point recap of what each of them had to say:
Justin Fields
- Fields said he doesn't really look at other players' success as a motivating factor for him.
- On his performance through three games: “I think it's what I was supposed to do.” Said his numbers to be quite what they are now, but “it's definitely not surprising with the way I worked in the offseason.” He thinks all the way he put in during the offseason is paying off right now.
- He thinks having more touchdowns than incompletions is his craziest stat right now.
- Fields said Chris Olave is the best receiver he's seen tracking the ball in the air. “I have full trust in Chris.”
- Olave is an introvert, but the more you get to know him, the more he opens up, Fields said. “He's just a great overall person, and he's one of our leaders on the team.”
- Fields said he believes his baseball background has helped him with making off-platform throws on the run.
- Fields said he golfed a lot more this offseason than he ever did before in his life. “I'm not really a good golf player, but I feel like I'm better than I'm supposed to be.”
- Fields said Ohio State ran more plays this offseason than ever before because of the later start to the season, so he feels like the Buckeyes have answers for whatever a defense that can throw at them.
- On people talking about him as a Heisman frontrunner: “Of course I see it,” but he knows he has to keep playing as well as he has or that won't matter. He's focused more on Ohio State's team goals than his individual goals, noting that there are important qualities to the team like leadership that don't show up on a stat sheet.
- Fields said Garrett Wilson has gotten more mature from his freshman to sophomore year, and that he's improved on the practice field, leading to more production in games.
- Fields said he mostly studies NFL quarterbacks like Russell Wilson, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Cam Newton.
- Fields doesn't think about his completion percentage during a game, but “my goal is to complete every ball I throw.”
- On how many talented options he has at receiver: “It doesn't really matter who I throw to ... if my guy's open, he's open, then I throw to him.”
- On Julian Fleming, who dropped a wide-open pass on Saturday: “I trust Julian, so I'm still gonna throw to him, because I see him make plays in practice.”
- Fields said he started his day today with lifting and a massage. He was watching film during the day today, then planned to take a nap before practice.
- “I don't really go anywhere. The only place I go is the Woody (Hayes Athletic Center) and my house, and I might go to the grocery store when I need to ... I haven't been spending a lot of gas money lately.” He's doing that to protect himself from COVID-19, but also because he's a low-key guy who doesn't like a lot of attention.
Tuf Borland
- On the defense's performance against Maryland in 2018: “It obviously wasn't good.” He says he doesn't think many players still think a lot about that game since most of the defensive players are different now, but he does think back on that game from time to time.
- “We're not focused on 2018. As a defense, as a player, I'm not focused on 2018. Because it's in the past, you can't really do anything about it. We're just focused on the here and now.”
- Borland said Taulia Tagovailoa is a great quarterback who has a quick release and can use his feet to extend plays, and the Terrapins have “playmakers on the outside that can hurt you.”
- On Maryland wide receiver Rakim Jarrett: “Great player, great player ... a guy who can hurt you in multiple ways, so we have to prepare accordingly.”
- “The thing about watching film is it's never as good and it's never as bad as you think it is.” Said there were some things the Buckeyes didn't like when they watched the film against Rutgers that they need to clean up.
- On Maryland: “They're playing with extreme confidence right now, and a lot of energy, and you can tell that they're having fun playing.”
- On Ohio State's defensive line: “Good defensive line play all comes down to being disruptive, and that's what those guys are ... those guys come ready to play every week.”
- Borland said effort is a big factor in making sure the defense doesn't get beat by trick plays.
Luke Farrell
- Farrell said Ruckert made big strides this offseason as a blocker. “I think he always had the ability, but it's like he's taken the governor off, and he's just taking swings.”
- On tight ends being more involved in the passing game this year: “That's always nice ... It definitely lightens the mood in our room ... Seeing our guys in the end zone is great.” He believes those opportunities have increased because of how often the Buckeyes have used 12 personnel this year; he says they've had two tight ends on the field for 112 snaps so far this season.
- On Ryan Day, Kevin Wilson and the rest of Ohio State's offensive coaches: “They scheme better than anybody I've seen.”
- Farrell said Justin Fields' “production has spoken for itself.”
- On Fields' Heisman candidacy: “Justin's obviously got my vote ... but we're just focused on how do we win Saturday ... it's not necessarily something we think about all the time, but he's definitely deserving of it.”
- On how he and Ruckert are playing: “The work we've put in is definitely paying off.”
- On Cade Stover: “Cade's probably one of the toughest guys I know.”
- Farrell said he is seeing freshman tight end Joe Royer starting to progress as a blocker after he was used more as a receiver in high school.
Jeremy Ruckert
- On Ohio State's offensive play calling: “I think since we have such a deep and talented offense, we can pretty much do whatever Coach Day thinks is the best each week.”
- “My goal coming into this season was to be the most complete tight end I can be,” and he believes he's made that happen.
- Ruckert said he is happiest with his blocking performance so far through three games.
- Ruckert said he never would have guessed out of high school that he'd been lining up at fullback on some plays at Ohio State, but he's enjoying it now and is happy to do whatever's best for the team.
- On his ice-in-his-veins touchdown celebration, Ruckert said his friends back home told him he had to make that his celebration after he did it in the Big Ten Championship Game last year.
- Ruckert said he didn't realize he was third on the team in catches. He's happy to have more passes coming his way, but he thinks that's a product of what the tight ends are doing as run blockers to set up play-action opportunities.
- On Fields: “In many ways, he's our leader, and you can tell that he's just about us.”
- Ruckert said knockdown blocks are the biggest stat they talk about in their room. He said walk-on Mitch Rossi had the most knockdowns of anyone in their room last year even though he didn't play often.
- “I'm a pretty confident player. I play with confidence.” He said that can sometimes hurt him as a blocker because he can swing overconfidently, but he's confident because of the amount of work he's put in to prepare.
- Ruckert said Day has many plays that Ohio State can run out of every formation it lines up.
- Ruckert said he wants to be a teacher after his football career is over.
