Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Saturday, September twentieth.

I'm your host, Tom Moore.

The Washington game in seven days, exactly one week from today, the game against Michigan in exactly ten weeks seventy days till the game against Michigan.

If you're planning your next event, make it unforgettable with Grateful Griddle, Columbus's favorite food truck serving up Smashburger's gourmet sandwich is and good vibes.

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The vibes very very good right now around the Ohio State defense.

Defensive coordinator Matt Patricia in his first year with the Buckeyes, things going so far, so good through one quarter of the regular season.

So is maybe where are the Buckeyes maybe further along on defense than Matt Patricia might have anticipated at this point of his first season.

Yeah, you know what, that's a great question.

We got some stuff in last week.

I would say that I was glad to be able to get in and kind of get out there and practice.

But our guys are doing an unbelievable job.

I think with the installations and the learning and the different pieces and putting that all together.

I just can't give enough credit to the way that they've gone after this and studied and learned and practiced and improved.

What's really been great is, you know, we'll put things in, and sometimes you put things in and you're taking a look at and you're like, no, I'm not really sure if I like that or not.

And then they're kind of like, hey, let's give it one more look and they fixed it, you know, or they've made you feel more comfortable about those calls, which I love.

Like that ownership that they've been able to do with some of the stuff that we've done.

So it's been pretty good.

Buck guys, of course, have this weekend off, which meant they had this week off during practice, got to obviously practice, but didn't have to do game prep this week.

So what was the focus during the off week as they get ready to head into their first road game next Saturday at Washington.

Yeah, so exactly right.

We got to go on the road.

Now we've have a whole operation there that'll be a little bit different than what we're used to communication wise, and then certainly you know Washington being in their home stadium and having that advantage for their offense, so that gives us some different challenges and certainly just you know this, teams get better each week, and Washington will be, you know, the best team that we face in their offense.

And you know, co Fish does a great job.

Jeed does a great job with that unit and their quarterback and their skilled players and the running game and all the things that they present.

From a problem standpoint, I think there are tops, you know, in college football and a lot of offensive stats.

So he's a great coach.

They got really good players.

This is a huge challenge for us to travel and kind of the change of schedule.

You know, we're finally kind of getting on like a normal schedule here in season.

It's been nice to be home.

I really enjoy our crowd.

I enjoy our fans a lot.

That's a big advantage for us, and so if they can travel and get out there as much as possible, that'd be awesome.

I'm all for safety.

Caleb Downs has obviously gotten a ton of attention nationally over the last couple of years as a Buckeye, and deservedly so.

But he's got another safety next show, and that is Jail and McLean and man, he has done a really good job so far, but I think a little bit surprisingly good and played a surprisingly large amount of snaps, but there might be a little bit more of a sharing of time there.

He has been the full time starter right alongside Caleb Downs.

So what is a Jalen McClain to play alongside Caleb Downs and be able to do all of the things that he's asked to do considering how much Caleb Downs can do.

Yeah, Jalen I think really has a you know, followed along with Caleb and the communication that's the biggest piece, you know, with the safeties, they got to talk back and forth and depinding o if you're playing you know, middlefield clothes covers or split safety coverage, there's a lot of communication that goes outside from that position and then towards the front.

And I think that you know, just learning how Caleb approaches the game, Jalen's really done a good job of kind of following that model.

And you know, so it's good when you have a great player in front of you and you you do what he does, that usually helps you out a lot.

But I think those two, in their chemistry together along with the linebackers.

Those are our main communicators.

And Lorenzo's in there too a little bit, you know, because he's kind of moving positions and tied into the middle of the defense more with the communication.

I think those guys, those three in the back end, along with like Sonny and Rvel and Peyton tying that to the front.

It's been really good.

I think you see it in the meetings a lot.

You know, we talk in the meetings, and we have that conversation in the meeting room, then you feel confident when you go out on the field you'll be able to get that communication done in the moment.

Matt Patricia, of course, coach of the NFL for close to twenty years since the last time he was in college.

And when you're in the NFL, you do not have games that end seventy to nothing, like the Buckeyes had a couple of weeks ago against Brambling.

So what kind of an adjustment has it been for Matt Patricia to coaching games that are really just a total talent mismatch where you can win seventy to nothing and your players can maybe get away with some things that you know they won't be able to later in the season.

Yeah, I think that's a great point of we've got to just be consistent with what we're coaching and what we're asking the guys to do, and the coaches have done a great job of that, and the players want that too.

You know, it's good to be able to have those reps in a game where you can kind of really get that fundamental technique down and that teaching and the communication down where it's happening at game speed.

You know, practice is great, but there's nothing like being able to do it, you know, live in that environment under that sort of you know, distress of a game.

So being able to evaluate guys in those moments has been really important.

I think that's it's actually critical for us going forward as we are trying to identify players in different roles and then guys that can come in in certain situations and earn different spots in different units that we have.

So I've actually really those have been really important snaps I think in the games that we've had where those guys have gotten in.

One of the guys who has been I don't even know if it's a pleasant surprise, because I think we had high expectations for him to begin with.

But nose tackle Caden McDonald has been really really good this year in the interior that defensive line.

What does he bring to the defense in that Patricia's mind.

Yeah, you'd love to be strong in the middle of the defense, and he is strong in the middle of the defense.

He's right there, right in front of the center, right in front of the quarterback.

And I think offensively, you're trying to figure out, Okay, how do we get around this, you know, that's the biggest thing.

So that's a key piece for us.

He's done a great job I think of really improving and showing just how big he can play inside and sometimes what that does to a defense is actually allows you to push your defense out a little bit more.

Kind of went through that in some of the other nose guards that I've had, or you know, interior guys that I've had, where guys maybe can widen out some alignments, they can play a little bit off and deeper because it's going to be it's going to take the play a little bit longer to get to them when you have that ability inside.

So I think he's done a great job.

But I think those other guys really, you know, will Smith showed up.

He had a really a couple of really good plays, and Edric does a good job inside and Taiwan.

Those guys have all really kind of every single week gotten a little bit better with that technique.

I think, you know came Actually he's just ahead of those guys.

He's done a really good job with it.

Talked earlier about one of the differences between the NFL and college.

Another one is the roster size.

The NFL, you got fifty something guys, fifty four.

I think in the college you've got way more.

They used to have eighty five.

Now it's one hundred and five, so you got all sorts of guys.

You get way more players to potentially work with.

So how has that increased roster size benefited Patricia in terms of being able to mix and match all sorts of different guys who might have some different skill sets.

Yeah, it's been fun having that many piece that much depth, you know, and we have young guys in those positions too, But being able to put out different sub packages or different base packages and put some of those guys in those positions has been really good.

And you know, I think those guys earned an opportunity to go play.

So to be able to have that much opportunity to do that with those guys has been really good.

And you know, sometimes you gotta be careful because I'm looking at the board and maybe on a Tuesday and my call, we can run all these packages, and you're like, all right, we can't get that all that practice because you're trying to get everybody a job and a role.

And I think the coaches have done a good job of putting different guys in those positions to be able to get them all out in the field.

And I think all of these snaps that we're getting now are going to pay off, you know, in the long run.

We don't know what it's going to look like a month from now, but certainly getting as much game rep as we can now helps everybody.

I think one of the big off season storylines is always is the defensive coordinator or the offensive coordinator.

Are they going to be up in the booth?

Are they going to be on the sideline?

The offensive coordinator, Brian Hartline, he is up in the booth defensive corder to Matt Patrae.

He's down on the sideline.

So this is our first chance to ask him something about that since the off season and since we found out where he was going.

So what went into Matt Patrista's decision to stay on the field as opposed to being in the booth.

Yeah.

I've always been on the field calling the defense and my all the coordinating years that I had.

Just I feel that being down on the field is good from a communication standpoint, talking to the signal callers, guys, you both.

You know, some guys are upstairs and it's much calmer.

You know, it's a different atmosphere.

You can see the game.

Gotta have great eyes upstairs, you know when you're downstairs.

But what's interesting for me in the college game is the video.

That's really crazy.

You know, we have the iPad, the tablets with the you can see the whole play.

It's like the entire video.

I actually think this one got me the other day.

I was swiping through and I'm like it was probably a bad player or whatever.

I'm trying to correct and all a sudden the TV copy and there's my daughter like on this.

I was like, what the heck is going?

I was like, you know, trying to swipe through that.

I was like, all right, wait next.

But that's really been cool, you know, to be able to have the full play and to be able to adjust because you can you can really get all of that.

So in the series, it's really important to have the eyes upstairs because you're kind of trying to correct as you go, but when you get to the sideline, to be able to see that full video really makes it great down on the field, and then I can talk to the players and I can see how they're feeling, and when we make adjustments.

Maybe I'm looking at a guy, I'm like, hey, are you okay if we go to this call or maybe this disguise or this look, and forgetting the double blink, you're going, I never mind moved to something else.

So you can just kind of get a better feel for how they're feeling about maybe some of the stuff that you're trying to do during the game.

All spring long, all summer long.

One of the big questions around this team was the depth of the interior of the defensive line.

But Patricia has been able to mix and match guys in the interior there to do so many different things and really stand up pretty well against all three teams they've played so far.

How has he been able to do that.

Yeah, one of the big things during the spring that was really good was just I was able to observe and watch the different skill sets that everyone had and with the defensive line.

Coach Johnson does a humble job of coaching these guys.

They all have maybe a little bit of different things they do well and things that maybe you don't want them positions you don't want them in.

And by being able to use multiple fronts and different looks, I'm trying to just get them in the best possible position to do what it is they do well so they can go play fast and aggressive.

So using that variety I think hopefully has helped them as they're building their fundamentals and their techniques to be in positions that are advantageous for them.

And like I said, Coachy does a great job of you know, we've we've put a couple of different looks out there frontwise, and he's just been able to get them all lined up and get them ready to go and the communication and the techniques and all that stuff.

So he's done a great job with those guys.

The Buckeyes have faced three different quarterbacks that had different levels of mobility, their first three games and they're getting ready to play another one in Washington's demand Williams, how does having a pass rusher like Rvel Reeves who can also sort of spy or mirror that quarterback sort of limit him in the run game?

How does that benefit them as a defense?

Yeah, Ravel has a skill set that kind of he can do a lot of really a lot of things really well.

Early in the game he had a nice pass breakup too.

You know, he can run and he's really long, so he can cover those guys and just trying to pull a little bit of uncertain in the offense to figure out what exactly is he doing on this play.

I think that's the biggest thing that you can do with guys that have that multiple ability.

You know, on the field pass rush, he's certainly dynamic if you can get him around the quarterback for sure, and he's big and long and can run and chase these guys down.

So just continually asking him to do different things.

He's done a great job of just understanding that and being put in positions.

There's a lot of calls on the field actually where he might be changing some of the assignments based on different looks that we have, and his ability to do that has really been it's been outstanding.

So you like those pieces on the field.

One of the pleasant surprises of this year's Ohio State defense is the play of true freshman cornerback Devin Sanchez, who from day one against Texas, he was out there in that dime package, getting meaningful snaps against what was then the number one team in the country.

His first game is a true freshman.

That is not normal for a corner, a true freshman corner.

So how has he done so far and is there room for him to maybe take on a bigger role later in the season.

Yeah, I think he's done a really good job of going out there and kind of handling that's a pressure situation third down.

Some of those packages he's gone in, you know, two minute whatever it is you have to perform, you know, those are kind of got to have it moments, and I think he's done a good job.

There's certainly room for improvement, and he's a young player right now.

He's still trying to get all the different techniques in the alignments.

But the communication has been great.

Signments have been really good.

He's certainly very gifted athletically, and can handle that.

So hopefully these snaps that we're building on now can help you know, him improve as we go forward.

And certainly also we're trying to build our depth, you know, to make sure that we have that handled as we go forward, and putting him in that position in that role allows us to kind of build on that every single week.

So there's things that we're doing in practice that maybe don't show up in the game, where he's getting the game reps to be able to get a good evaluation and maybe just kind of get him that exposure.

But during practice we're have him in some different positions too where we feel like we're building confidence to be able to do that with him going forward.

We mentioned Washington's demand Williams earlier in the show, So how much does having played other mobile quarterbacks like for example, Ohio's Parker Navarro last weekend help with getting the defense prepared for the challenge of Williams out in Seattle.

Yeah, it certainly helped to be able to see that style of play, But you know, getting to Washington, he's very much a little bit almost like Kyler Murray, like that first step quickness that he has and his ability to get the top speed is it's explosive.

You know, it's fast, he's quick, he gets out of the pocket, and he's got a really strong live arm.

This thing can go downfield.

They've got good players to get the ball to.

So that's going to be a huge challenge for us.

Even when you think, you know, you watch the tape, you think you've kind of got them bottled up, he can get out.

And that reminds me a lot, like I said of Kyler Murray, who just it's so fast to that first step speed, like you can go from you know, you get to your top speed in one step.

That makes it very difficult for defensive player, especially guys in the front.

You know a lot of times they're bigger, longer, slower.

You're trying to rush or you're trying to play the run game.

Because he can obviously run with the ball to a certain way.

You think you have them leveraged, and then all of a sudden, he side steps it and then he's out the gate.

So getting a look at that last week was good for us live in game, those reps will be valuable, and then it's got to really be next level as we go forward.

To Washington, anytime guys come from the NFL to college, you're always questions about how they're going to adjust because you don't have the OTAs, you don't have the preseason games.

You also don't have guys who.

Are thirty five years old or thirty years old who have been professionals for ten years.

So it's going to be a little bit of an adjustment working with eighteen year olds as opposed.

To the thirty year old.

So what kind of professionalism has he seen from the Ohio State defenders this year?

You know, I think that's a really good, just kind of observation, and I'll second all of that.

These guys have been unbelievable to go into the meeting room, and you know, I think I've said this before, but it's just it's such a joy to like kind of be around these guys.

There there is that professionalism that you walk into the meeting room.

They're very serious, they take notes, they want to learn what the game plan is, they really want to learn about the you know, the opponent.

But then there's just that also joy of like they are young kids, you know, they are just they have that youthful energy about them.

They love the game for the game.

It's just all that stuff being around younger players that just you know, come out of them.

They have fun.

You know, they're out there celebrating the you know, six seven.

I don't even know what that is, but my kids know what it is and they get excited about it.

So, you know, I just I love to see that energy and that excitement that they have around each other.

And they are they're young, you know, they're great young men, but in that meeting room and on that practice field, they're as serious as they can be trying to just be the best players they can be.

So it's a great combination, honestly to be around.

It's a lot of fun.

Talked to Ross Fulton earlier in the week in one of those Ross Fulton analysis shows about all the different stuff that Ohio State's defense is doing and the different looks they're showing, and how you know, solid they've been overall in terms of of just being very assignment sound and doing a whole bunch of different stuff.

So how has everyone been able to pick things up so quickly?

Is that something that's not as big of an adjustment for Matt Patricia now for some reason, or is that the players were able to pick stuff up.

How did that come together so quickly for the Ohio State defense.

Yeah, I mean give credit to the players.

I think they've they've done a good job of just trying to learn.

And again, I would say we've carried some things over.

You know, it wasn't totally different, maybe just taught a little bit differently, maybe just more conceptual.

From that standpoint, there's a lot of carryover in the coverages and some of the techniques and some fronts, but not fronts that that maybe weren't in the packages.

We're just kind of utilizing guys in different ways.

So I think the guys are just done an unbelievable job of just you know, being open minded to trying to learn maybe a little bit different and put the packages together.

It's been a lot of fun.

Like I said, you know, my whole goal is to you know, teach and mentor and coach young men and help develop young men and you know, hopefully have a positive impact in their lives going forward.

And that's really what I'm trying to do and that's what's been the most fun.

Well, Patricia and the Buckeyes will get their next big challenge out in Washington, Tiken on Demand, Williams, Joanah Coleman, and Denzel Boston and the Washington offense.

Next Saturday in Seattle.

Looking forward to that one at Husky Stadium, one of the great settings in college football.

Buckeyes haven't played out there in about eighteen years, so should be a great trip, a great weekend.

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That'll do it for today.

Thank you guys all for joining us.

Have a great day.

We will talk to you tomorrow