A Heisman Trophy winner and an NFL head coach were among the speakers on the second and final day of the Ohio State Coaches Clinic at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
Former Ohio State running back Eddie George, who is now the head coach at Tennessee State, was the first speaker of the day on Friday. After his speech about the cornerstones of his Tennessee State program, George spent more than 10 minutes chatting with reporters in attendance about what he’s building at Tennessee State, how his experience as a Buckeye has helped him as a head coach and the possibility that Ohio State could play Tennessee State in the future.
“I would love that,” George said about potentially scheduling a game against Ohio State, which he said he discussed with Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith this week.
In the video above, you can hear all of what George had to say in that interview session.
Fellow former Ohio State running back Pepe Pearson, who is now George’s running backs coach at Tennessee State, also made the trip to Columbus with George and other members of the Tennessee State staff. We caught up with him as well to get his thoughts on what it’s like coaching with George and how their collective experience as Buckeyes has shaped what they’re now doing in Nashville.
Along with the Ohio State assistant coaches who spoke on Friday, the other featured speaker of the day was Cincinnati Bengals coach Zac Taylor, who spoke about how he has built a winning culture in Cincinnati. He also gave plenty of praise to Ohio State during his speech, in which he said Ohio State draft prospects are “always gonna get a longer look from us,” especially with the key roles Vonn Bell, Sam Hubbard and Eli Apple played in the Bengals’ Super Bowl run last season.
Following his speech, Taylor spent a few minutes with reporters and talked about why he likes drafting Buckeyes and about his relationship with Ohio State coach Ryan Day, who he described as “very genuine.”
“You really know what you’re getting when you take a Buckeye,” Taylor said. “We know that they‘re going to be well-coached.”
