Ryan Day Media Availability November 8, 2023
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SportsTranscript
00:00 This is somebody who loves Ohio State football and
00:04 there's a huge number of our team.
00:06 He's got great enthusiasm every day.
00:08 He's never had a bad day.
00:09 And I'm glad that he's part of our team and
00:13 he's made a big difference this year.
00:16 >> Dan Hope, 11 Warriors.
00:17 >> Jerry Ryan, I believe that Patrick Gerdes is supposed to be with us today.
00:21 You've praised him a couple times over the past week.
00:23 What are the things that he's done to put himself in a position to earn real
00:27 playing time?
00:28 >> Well, it starts with just showing up every day and
00:30 with no expectations other than trying to get better.
00:35 And some days you wake up and you find yourself on the field.
00:37 And this is someone who came in with non-scholarship and
00:42 he's earned his way on the field.
00:45 Certainly when you're in a walk-on situation,
00:48 you have to earn everything you get and he's done that.
00:50 And he's earned the respect of the guys on the team and he's a physical guy,
00:54 he's a tough guy and no nonsense.
00:56 And when you play that position, it takes time to learn all the job descriptions.
01:00 So good to see him on the field and good to see him participating and
01:03 certainly making an impact on the offense.
01:06 >> Andy Anders, Letterman Row.
01:08 >> We were talking about, to Coach Knowles yesterday,
01:11 about Jack Sawyer a little bit and he mentioned just the work he's put in.
01:15 I mean, Jack's really been one of the most consistent producers in our tackles and
01:18 the defense wide, our defense.
01:19 Just what have you seen from him behind the scenes?
01:24 >> And when you get into year three, you see a maturity there.
01:28 But there's a physicality that's being brought and
01:30 a mentality that's being brought every day.
01:32 This is an Ohio guy who understands what it means to be a Buckeye.
01:35 I think he was the first guy that committed in that class.
01:38 I think he might have been the first recruit that committed to be in that class,
01:41 in the first class, full class.
01:43 And he knows what it means and he knows what this place, how special it is.
01:48 And he embodies everything that this program's about.
01:52 And you just see that on a daily basis.
01:56 And his attitude every day when he comes in, he works hard.
01:58 He's a hard hat kind of guy.
02:01 And you're seeing him play that way.
02:03 >> Nathan Barrett, Cleveland.com.
02:05 >> Brian, there was a report yesterday that you guys shared some information
02:10 with Purdue ahead of the 2020 national championship, big championship game.
02:13 Can you clarify what you shared, if anything, and
02:16 what you feel is within the realms of legalities there?
02:21 >> Yeah, I mean, yeah, I'm not gonna get into all of that right now.
02:25 But I can tell you this right now that nobody here did any of that.
02:31 So we went through and made sure we went and
02:36 asked all the questions and got our compliance people involved.
02:40 And none of that came back at all.
02:44 So I can answer very strongly that that did not happen.
02:50 >> You asked questions now or at the time?
02:53 >> Yeah, I'm not gonna comment anymore.
02:55 >> Austin Ward, podcast.
02:57 >> People say, I'm not asking you to talk about Nathan Barrett.
03:02 So why don't college football coaches just change their signals?
03:05 How can you, isn't it easy just to mix it up and think we're stealing it?
03:10 Why is that not a practical solution to just
03:15 change the way that all of the 13 teams are calling?
03:18 >> Yeah, I know there's a lot of questions out there and
03:21 a lot of people talking about it right now.
03:22 But for us, we have to stay focused on what matters right now.
03:26 So I'm not gonna get into that right now.
03:28 Let's just talk about these guys and focus on Michigan State.
03:31 >> Is that something that you could do week to week anyway?
03:38 I mean, just for this game against Michigan State.
03:40 >> Yeah. >> What's the difficulty in
03:41 a program changing?
03:43 >> Yeah, well, just anytime you're doing that,
03:46 you have to figure out how you're gonna communicate, right?
03:49 And that's really what it comes down to.
03:50 There's different ways to communicate.
03:52 And whether it's a different language or a different sign or something like that,
03:57 I mean, that's part of the game.
03:58 >> Spencer Holbrook, Letterman-Holbrook.
04:01 >> [INAUDIBLE]
04:11 >> Yeah, no, he's worked hard to get back
04:16 into the lineup and we want him playing his best football here in November.
04:24 He was ahead of schedule and you can see that.
04:29 I mean, shoot, he wanted to get back a few weeks ago.
04:31 And great to have him back part of it.
04:33 And we're gonna keep trying to figure out ways to have him back into the lineup.
04:38 That was the first time he's been back in, so it was good.
04:40 Now he's had another full week of practice.
04:41 So now we've got to get back to where we were before,
04:45 where he was a huge part of an impactful player on the offense.