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OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 6, 2011

Nate Ebner

Q. What does it mean to be a captain for a guy who has kind of been under the radar?
NATE EBNER: I think it's extremely exciting. It's humbling. And I'm excited to be a senior and lead the team. And it's a great opportunity.

Q. Akron and Toledo, same conference, but they seem like dramatically different teams. Could you talk a little bit about Toledo, what you might have seen on film so far?
NATE EBNER: Obviously people know they like to pass the ball. And I think our biggest improvements are going to be from week one to week two. And I'm excited to see how we improve, especially against a team that's probably going to pass it around a little bit more.

Q. Obviously so many people have known you because of your rugby background and your experience. People get to see you on national television playing and maybe started to associate you, the rugby player, with you, the football player. Can you kind of explain how that background led to football? You didn't play high school football. So how did that lead to being a productive college football player, those skills developed into the different sport?
NATE EBNER: How I got to playing football?

Q. How the skill development in rugby led you to be a successful player at Ohio State.
NATE EBNER: Well, I think they're two totally different sports. But I think playing at a high level at a young age, with the U-20s and U-19s and a couple of World Cups and the NI4 and all that helped me, the high performance training was a big help with coming here to play football.
I think that's the biggest similarity that I can associate between the two. As far as football skills, I don't necessarily think that playing rugby helps me play football, because I think the two sports are so different. The only similarity to me -- I mean, I guess you tackle in rugby and you tackle in football, but even that is so different, just the way that happens.
So the biggest similarity I could say is definitely the high performance training at the rugby level bringing it to the football was the most helpful thing.

Q. I assume you're on both the kick and punt coverage teams; is that right?
NATE EBNER: Yes.

Q. Talk about those two units. It seemed like they did a good job in the opening game. Last year I believe Ohio State was 94th nationally in net punting. I don't know if it reflects bad on the punter or reflects bad on the coverage team, whatever it might be, but just the emphasis that was put on doing a better job punting and covering those punts and kicks as well.
NATE EBNER: I think all the special teams, we've made a big effort towards understanding that it's about our effort every play. It's a one-drive series. And the guys understand we have to out-effort anyone that we play against.
And I think that showed Saturday. Those guys are winning individual battles, and we got some guys wanting to run down and make plays. And that made a big difference. I think that showed.

Q. Who are a couple of the young guys that have really caught your eye that they're not going to be starters on offense or defense, but they're getting that chance on special teams to make some plays, who are maybe two or three guys that you really like that took that challenge and have made some plays for you guys?
NATE EBNER: I think everyone has come a long way. I mean, all the players have gotten a lot better. I mean, I think Jamie Wood's has done a great job, he did a great job getting double teamed all weekend Saturday, or all week Saturday. And he did a great job handling that. And Zach Domicone, great effort on all of his plays.
A lot of the guys, Christian Bryant, you know, they're all doing a great job. I couldn't say enough about all of them.

Q. There's been a lot of talk about improvement. Ohio State wins the game 42-0 on Saturday. Pretty much kept Akron in check. If you had to pick out one thing the defense has to get better at, what is it?
NATE EBNER: I don't know that I can put one thing into words. I think we just need to improve on all the little things, fundamentals, bending our knees a little bit more, running to the ball a little bit more. Everything just needs to improve a little bit more. And I think that's going to make us better as a unit.

Q. Could you talk about your decision to switch from rugby to football? And also when were you put on scholarship?
NATE EBNER: I was put on scholarship just recently, the beginning of this fall, the end of summer, since we haven't started school yet.
But the transition from rugby to football, you know, rugby is a passion of mine, and I played a lot of high level rugby at a young age. And I wanted -- I talked with my parents that I wanted to get my degree before I would play professionally or anything like that.
I came to Ohio State. I always wanted to go to Ohio State. I didn't play football my senior year with Hilliard Davidson in 2007. They won a state championship that year.
I was almost out there, went to some meetings, went to some things with the team, just didn't do it because I had a World Cup coming up. And then they win the state championship. So that was a little bittersweet.
So I came to Ohio State. And the rugby was -- going from the U.S.A. stuff to just staying at Ohio State was -- I guess you could say not satisfying enough. And I missed football from like when I was in eighth grade and whatnot. And I was upset about the decision not maybe playing my senior year, so I decided to walk on. And it's been a great decision. And I'm glad I did it.

Q. How much does it help to have a scholarship now?
NATE EBNER: Oh, it's amazing. I'm just glad I could do that for my parents, really. And it's a great opportunity. And I'm just really thankful and blessed.

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