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In the wake of Ohio State’s loss to Oregon, Ryan Day said “structural changes” awaited Buckeye’s defense.
The statement has left many wondering what real changes the Buckeyes could make to their mid-season defensive plan, but junior wide receiver Garrett Wilson said on Wednesday they were already trying some in practice.
“We haven’t had a better training than today all year – offensively – I would say. They’re trying to learn new things from the defensive end so that comes with a learning curve, ”Wilson said. “The energy and attention to detail over the past two days, I feel like it hasn’t been like this since camp started. We knew we had issues, but every time you lose it amplifies them all. There is no more room to waste everything in training. If there was before, there isn’t any now.
Wilson said he doesn’t think determination has changed much from player to player in defense – a group that allowed 35 points and 505 total yards last weekend – citing that the unit has always brought the required intensity to the table. However, it looks like the group is playing with new elements as the Buckeyes hope to show improvement against Tulsa on Saturday.
“They bring it every day. They have new things they’re working on, and I’m going to leave it at that, ”Wilson said. “My teammates, they come over there and get to work every day on defense, on offense, on both sides.”
No defensive player was available during Wednesday’s interview series at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, but defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs said after the Oregon game that he was responsible for Ohio State’s defensive shortcomings. . Wilson said Buckeye’s offense should share some of the blame as well, and said Ohio State left plenty of runs and yards on the field even after accumulating 612 in the game.
“You can say whatever you want about the defense, but we had two chances to tie the game, and if we do what we do on the first drive, take the lead after you get those two saves – three drives, really, if you count the last ride, ”Wilson said. “We don’t feel like we’ve done enough on the offensive side. We want to control what we can control, and that puts points on the board with every practice. ”
Nicholas Petit-Frere was asked more than once on Wednesday how he saw his defensive teammates react to the loss, but like Wilson, the junior offensive lineman in the red jersey said the change came at the both on offense and defense over the past four days.
“We’re hungry. It was a learning experience for a lot of us because it hasn’t happened in a while here,” said Petit-Frère. “So Coach Day took it in. stride and said it was a learning opportunity for all of us – from coaches to players, everyone – for us to learn what we did wrong and how to improve and correct the mistakes we made so that we can become a better team. There’s just been a big hunger with all the players on both sides of the ball, and we’re just hungry and ready to compete again.
Petit-Frere said Wednesday’s training, which Wilson called the best the team has had all year, was a “great day of competition”, citing an increased level of “energy and juice” possessed both in attack and defense.
What the starting Ohio State left tackle said that has changed the most since the loss is the Buckeyes’ commitment to the intricacies of preparation.
“We just learned a lot about how to do the little things well,” said Petit-Frère. “A lot about the details of the practice, the details about things you wouldn’t even think about, like how we stretch, how we get into a practice, how we get into a group, how we are doing it. anything. All of these little details are things that we have been doing for so many years here, which is why we won, and when you lose track of some of these little details things like this can happen. So we get back to basics, we make sure we do all the little details right, correct all the little mistakes and never take anything for granted.
The early-season loss may have been a wake-up call for the Buckeyes in many ways, but Wilson won’t go so far as to call it a blessing in disguise.
“I hate to lose, so it’s no blessing to me, ever,” Wilson said. “I hate to talk about it, I hate to lose. You have to use it anyway. You can’t just take it as a loss and not use it to improve yourself or realize what the problems were and really fix them now. ”
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