COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF MEDIA CONFERENCE

January 6, 2021

Shaun Wade

Ohio State Buckeyes

CFP Media Conference

Q. You and Patrick Surtain are considered among the best corners in the nation. Does the fact that he's going to be on display out there, too, add motivation to you to play the game of your life on Monday?

SHAUN WADE: Really no. I'm just worried about winning this game and that's all. That's the motivation right there, is trying to win a National Championship.

Q. What have you seen from Sevyn as the season has gone on? It seems like he just keeps getting better and stronger in coverage with every game that he plays.

SHAUN WADE: Yeah, Sevyn just keeps on getting better and keeps on working on his craft every day. That's what we've been doing at practice. Sevyn is going to be a great player in the future and he just keeps on getting better, so really proud of him.

Q. When you committed to Ohio State it was pretty soon after they won the national title in '15 and beat Alabama. How monumental was that win by the Buckeyes over Alabama and your decision to commit?

SHAUN WADE: I remember that. I remember that whole day. That was very special, that day, winning against Alabama and everything and just committing on that day. It seems like history repeats itself. We had a freshman from -- not a freshman, but a native out of Jacksonville just committed, and now I'm in the same situation. And he plays cornerback. It's just crazy how everything works, and just really looking forward to this game.

Q. Mac was talking earlier about you two playing 7-on-7 together. Just kind of curious what you remember about him in high school. I know people have said he was always super confident. Any kind of specific memories of practices and stuff like that?

SHAUN WADE: Yeah, Mac knows how it is, my guy, playing against him -- I mean, not playing against him, but playing with him 7-on-7 in high school, it's just a blessing in disguise both of the places that we chose. And just us playing against each other in this game, it is a blessing.

I've been knowing Mac for a long time, Money Making Mac, that's what we called him. He is a confident guy in just how he is. He's a hard worker and great quarterback, and really looking forward to playing against him this week.

Q. In what ways have you seen Lathan Ransom prove himself in the role he's taken on the last couple weeks?

SHAUN WADE: Lathan is going to be a great player here in the future. A couple weeks ago -- not even a couple weeks, last week for the Clemson game he texted me. He was like, Can we go over some stuff in the nickel position, stuff that you did last year? We came up here, it's like 6:00 in the afternoon, just me and him. I'm just preaching to him, man, you're going to be a great player. Just play with confidence. You're going to do some great things.

That just hit him in a different way he told me after the game. I already know he's going to be a great player. He works hard. He's always in the film. Always asking just to do extra stuff and different things like that, so the sky's the limit for Lathan, and I'm really looking forward to his future.

Q. I'm curious what you've seen of Alabama's John Metchie on film and what challenges will he present to you guys and the Ohio State defense.

SHAUN WADE: He's a great player, another freshman out of Alabama. Great player. He's bigger than a lot of receivers that I see. He reminds me of Waldo a little bit about how the hair is and their body size and everything.

But he's a great player, very quick step, fast, will block, so you've got to get off blocks with him. He's a great player and he's going to have a good future for him, too.

Q. Every cornerback measures himself by what they can do one-on-one. Out of all those players at Alabama, who do you want? Who do you want a chance to go up against?

SHAUN WADE: You already know who I want to go up against at the end of the day. But at the end of the day we're just focused on this win and the way of getting the win. At the end of the day, what Coach Coombs says every day is we've got to win by one point to get the National Championship.

That's the obstacle. At the end of the day we've got to put the best on the best and just go from there, play different things, and just go from there.

Q. I'm assuming that's DeVonta you want to go against.

SHAUN WADE: Yeah.

Q. How much do you want to -- look forward to that challenge of going against the Heisman Trophy winner in the National Championship game? And just a quickie on Marcus Williamson. He said he's going to come back. What do you foresee for him next year?

SHAUN WADE: DeVonta is a very great player, quick and shifty and fast. You see it on his highlights. He can do everything in the book as a receiver, and just really looking for that match-up at the end of the day. Just want to win that game.

And then with Marcus just coming back next year is a good thing for him and that DB group, just having a leader and somebody that's older that's been through the program so many years, just leading them boys with him, as them being the older guys in the room.

Q. Going back to your time playing with Mac Jones in 7-on-7, he said you really had his back at that time. I know for a while he wasn't highly recruited. What can you kind of expound on in terms of having his back, and what did you see from him then that told you he could be a guy that could come to Alabama and do what he's done now?

SHAUN WADE: Mac always knew we had his back at the end of the day with that whole 7-on-7 group. We always took care of him because he was the guy that went to Bolles, and everybody else was the guy that went to either the Raines or the Ribault or the lower schools in the local Jacksonville area.

We made sure that Mac was -- everything was good with him. We made sure everything was just good with him.

From 7-on-7 we always knew that Mac was a great quarterback. He put the ball in the right spots just like he's doing now, strong arm. He's going to talk. Just that's how Mac is. Just really, really looking forward to seeing him Monday and just playing against him.

Q. All season you've been lined up against some of the top wide receivers in all of college football, but every day at practice you got to line up against Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson and some of those guys. How have some of those guys helped you prepare for some bigger match-ups like DeVonta Smith and guys like that?

SHAUN WADE: Just the comparison, Olave is one of the greatest in college football in my opinion. A lot of people probably don't talk about him like that, but in my opinion he's one of the greatest receivers in college football in these decades.

Just going against him and competing against them every day, I feel like Olave and DeVonta have some similarities in height and length and stuff like that.

But just them making me better, I'm making them better, and we just keep on competing.

Q. Obviously you guys, you gave up a couple touchdowns early against Clemson, and then you guys kind of straightened things out. What do you think enabled you guys to do that, and how important is it for you guys to be able to do that again against an Alabama offense that's this explosive?

SHAUN WADE: Really we just focus on getting our stops at the end of the day. Playing against teams like this, they're going to end up scoring. That's a part of game. You see it in the NFL. Everybody scores. You barely see a game where a team scores zero points.

So just playing games like this, you just got to get your stops, and make sure you get to your stops on 3rd down, so that's what we focus on. We focus on just playing every play, playing each play one at a time and not focusing on the next play in the past. Just play the play that's there right now.

Q. I was just wondering, in the last several games especially it seems like Josh Proctor has come along as the straw that stirs the drink for you. Have you seen that evolution by him, and how big a role do you see him playing on Monday night?

SHAUN WADE: Josh is going to play a big role on Monday night being that safety in the back end for us. Like I've always told you, Josh is a playmaker. He's made plays. He's a ballhawk. He's always around the ball, and that's the type of safety a lot of people want in this generation that we're in.

Really looking forward to Josh making some plays on Monday and just being Josh, and that's what we need him to be is just be Josh and that's all.

Q. You mentioned DeVonta. He's obviously had a great, great year. Nobody has stopped him. Especially when you look at what he's done recently, it's just been off the charts. What is your confidence level that you can at least contain him or slow him down?

SHAUN WADE: Really all I care about is winning the game, and if we win by one point, that's all I care about. That's all I care about is just winning by one point at the end of the day and just getting this National Championship.