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OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 20, 2011

Zach Boren

THE MODERATOR: We'll bring in Zach Boren.

Q. A year ago in this offense you were certainly a guy who got a lot of touches who was using some creative ways. That hasn't quite been the case at this point. Is it frustrating? Do you feel like you can give more to the offense than is being asked of you right now?
ZACH BOREN: Yeah, I definitely think I can give more. But at the same time we're just trying to do what we can right now, kind of create our personality as an offense.
When you create your personality, first couple games of the season, you can't get too creative. You just have to kind of go out and run what you think you can do against a given defense.

Q. How do you think the rest of the team responded to the way Miami played, came at you early and often? How did you feel you came back at them?
ZACH BOREN: Well, at first I thought the atmosphere kind of around the team was like Wisconsin last year where we came out a little flat. That was definitely the hard part. You're sitting on the sidelines like, Wow, I've had this feeling before. It's not a good feeling.
Our defense was holding them. After those first two drives, our defense started playing their butts off. We could have finished two drives in the first half. We should have. But when you're down 17-6 at halftime you're feeling pretty good for getting outplayed pretty much. Coach Fickell got us fired up, told us we had to come out and play.
I feel like we fought the whole game. Like I said, we came out a little dead. But I feel like we fought. Especially on the road, that's hard to do at times.

Q. After two wins, a lot of your fans thought this is great. Now some have doubts. Is there any danger that players could also have doubts?
ZACH BOREN: We don't have doubts one bit, I'll tell you that right now. None of us have any doubts. We're going to go out on the practice field every single day and fight our butts off at practice. We're going to go out and try and win every game. No matter if it's by one point or 50 points, we don't care, we're going to go out and win every game.
That's our mentality. We can't have any doubts, especially with everything that's happened this year. We have to go out and prove people wrong.

Q. How do you keep the morale of some of the younger guys up on this team?
ZACH BOREN: Honestly, you just have to keep pushing them. Practice, they line up wrong, run the wrong route, you have to push them and tell them they're needed. I can't count how many times I went to them and said, We need you guys, we need you guys. You have to show people why you came to Ohio State, to play on the big stage and stuff like that. It was the first road game in Dolphin Stadium. It was hard for those guys. They'll learn from it. I expect great things from those guys.

Q. What did Jordan Hall specifically bring to the table? What do you sense he brings to the offense now?
ZACH BOREN: I mean, I think you guys saw it. He is an explosive player. When he gets his hands on the ball, he can do amazing things. You saw that in punt returns last year. He just can make people miss.
The guy is small. I don't even know how tall he is. But he hides behind offensive linemen well. His vision is great, for him being back there and stuff like that. He's a play-maker and that's what we need.

Q. For right now coach sounds like he's going to continue the two quarterback system. As you're in the offensive huddle, on the sidelines, is there a growing sense that one of those guys, Joe or Braxton, is gaining a little bit more confidence amongst the other offensive players?
ZACH BOREN: No, I don't feel that at all. I feel like whenever we're out in the offensive huddle, whoever is out there we're going to support and we're pushing for them. You know what I'm saying? We're hoping whichever quarterback is out there they make the smart plays.
We support whoever is out there. It's not we're leaning one way or another. We just hope whoever is out there is out there making plays.

Q. You have some guys watching right now. This offense is in dire need of somebody stepping up and making a play. Do you see someone who is ready to do that, taking over those roles right now?
ZACH BOREN: Yeah, I definitely think a lot of guys are capable of taking over that role. Right now, especially after this week, after the loss, someone needs to step up and take that role.
Jordan Hall is more than capable. All the runningbacks are capable of doing that. Even out wide, the young guys. I think we have the fastest team I've ever been a part of here at Ohio State. We definitely have that capability of guys to be able to make big plays, be that play-maker. Someone just needs to step up and do it.

Q. You mentioned trying to figure out your personality on offense. What do you feel the personality of this offense is? If there's one drive you have to figure out, what do you think you're best at doing?
ZACH BOREN: You know, I would say right now we're best at running the ball. I think that comes from our offensive line. Our offensive line is tough and physical. They'll come out and fire off the ball and hit people.
I mean, like I said, we really don't know just because against Toledo, we weren't effective running the ball. Against Akron, Miami, we were. It depends on the game. Depends how we're feeling. Depends what the defense is giving us, stuff like that. It's kind of an adapting process throughout the game.

Q. Do you feel it's still a work in progress?
ZACH BOREN: Yeah, a little bit. But like years in the past even when we've had our full squad, it's taken us a couple games. I know a bunch of times people have gotten honest about the running game not getting started till the Big Ten season.
Our personality is definitely evolving still, and we'll see what comes out Saturday.

Q. At your fullback position, what can you tell us about Adam's injury?
ZACH BOREN: Adam will be fine. I'll tell you that. He should be back if not this week next week. Adam is a tough competitor. He fights his butt off. He'll show that through rehab and everything else. He'll be as ready as he possibly can and as fast as he can.
Davis a great guy. Hard worker, one of the hardest workers we have on the team. He comes out every day at practice and works his butt off. That's what we love about him.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Zach.
ZACH BOREN: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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