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C O A C H S P E A K • E X C E R P T S F R O M J A M E S F R A N K L I N ' S W E E K L Y P R E S S E R How different is Ohio State's offense from the one you've seen the last four years? I think the biggest difference for them in some ways, probably similar to us, is that it's the best O-line that they've had. They are massive. You look at them on film and it's like they're all legs. It's unusual to see a 6-foot-7 center. That's not something you typically see, and they're pretty much 6-foot-6 to 6-foot-7 across the board, about 315 pounds across the board. This is a big, athletic offensive line, and I think they kind of set the tone for everything and then they're just so balanced. They've got two of the better backs in the country. They are explosive at the wide receiver position. They got a quarterback who is able to make all the throws and distribute the ball. So they're putting up big num- bers and doing a lot of really good things, and it's going to be a tremendous chal- lenge for us. I wanted to get your thoughts on Ricky Slade's play against Illinois. Given Mark Allen's career-ending in- jury, do you think he's ready for a big- ger role in the run game? Yeah, Ricky is doing some really nice things for us as a true freshman, is getting better every single practice. His attitude, his work ethic and his demeanor have been really good. He's working hard in pass protection, which is typically a chal- lenge for young backs, but he's been really good in those areas as well. So yeah, we're excited about his future. I think obviously you have Miles [Sanders] and Ricky and Journey [Brown] and Johnathan Thomas. We're going to miss Mark, but we still feel really good about those four guys. Are there one or two things that stand out to you about how your offensive line has improved since last season, and how would you rate your depth on that unit at this point? We feel like we've got six starters in [Ryan] Bates and [Steven] Gonzalez and [Michal] Menet and [Connor] McGovern and [Will] Fries and Chasz Wright. We look at all those guys as starters because they've all played a lot of football for us. We've gotten bigger, we've gotten stronger. We've gained a lot of experience over the last couple of years. Besides Michal Menet, those guys have all played a lot of football for us. And Michal has been in the program for a number of years now, and he understands the expectations and the standards. But we also know we're going to be playing one of the better D-lines in college football. Their whole scheme is built around their D-line. They play predominantly press coverage, so the quarterback has to hold onto the ball, and they're expecting those four D-linemen to be able to get to the quarterback or cause the quarterback discomfort in the pocket. That's how they're built. So it's going to be a challenge, but again, I think we're in a much different position than we've been in the past with our offensive line, not only [in terms of] protecting our quarter- back, but also more consistently being able to run the ball. Now, obviously this is the first opponent we've played to this level – the type of tal- ent that they have, the type of size and depth, one of the more talented rosters in the country, if not the most talented ros- ter in the country. So this is going to be a different type of challenge. There's no doubt about that. A7er the Illinois game, you men- tioned that you're still looking for an eraser on defense. Who could that be? I think or defensive ends as a group can be, and they're moving in that direction. I think Shareef [Miller] has the chance to be that type of player. I think Yetur [Gross- Matos] has the chance to be that type of player. I think Kevin Givens has the chance to be that type of player and Robert Windsor. So we need that front to really be those types of players for our de- fense, and then we need to develop that second level of guys, especially at the de- fensive tackle position to really help us out. At the next level, at the linebacker level, obviously you've got some inexperience there. I think at times Cam Brown shows that, and we'll probably need it a little bit more consistently out of him. And then in the secondary, I think our group of cor- ners have the ability to be that for us but have not [been that] yet. Amani [Oruwariye] and John Reid and Tariq Cas- tro-Fields have played a lot of football for us, so we need them to be that as well. Your safety position, how do you think it's developed? Where are those guys at? Has it been as good as you think it needs to be or should be right now? Yeah, I think Nick Scott is doing some nice things for us and been really consis- tent. Garrett Taylor was the player of the week [against Illinois] from a coaching staff perspective. So we obviously feel like he's growing into that role as well. And I will say John Sutherland all the way back to the spring game is a guy who flashes. We're talking about getting him more in- volved. I think he's one of the better tack- lers on our defense. So I think we're getting better and we're going to need to continue to get better each day this week to put us in the best position to play on Saturday. But we're going to be chal- lenged. We'll be challenged this week at every level, defensively with the number of athletes that they have. You treat every game the same from week to week no matter who the oppo- nent is, but when you go out among people, do they stop you more o7en and encourage you to win this week more than say any other week? Yeah. I think our players will. I think the coaches will. I got a note in the mailbox last night, my wife gave it to me from the mailman, or mail woman I guess it was actually. You go downtown, there are peo- ple making comments. I had this four weeks ago. I'm trying to talk about App State and people want to talk about this game. So I think that's kind of the perfect reason why we approach things the way we do. But you can't just say those things in press conferences and then go act dif- ferent in front of your team. It's got to be a consistent approach in all the things we do. They're hearing it from everybody. They don't need to hear it from us. So it will be the standard operation for us. We just want to focus on today and maximize today and have the best practice we possi- bly could have, best Tuesday practice of S E P T E M B E R   2 6 ,   2 0 1 8 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 10

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