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OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 16, 2013Tim HintonQ. I just saw, it looks like the top two tight ends, their usefulness to the offense now and how they have been utilized, is this what you envisioned for them at this point in the season or maybe something more? COACH HINTON: They have both had excellent football games on Saturday night. That's the one thing that I will tell you. They were very efficient in their blocking. They were very fundamental. They did a great job of attacking their defense. And you know, really, what's so interesting, I was in a discussion with a recruit this week and one of the things, he said something about the same comment about catches. I said, the doggone defenses are not cooperating. They are really taking us to other progressions and the quarterback is giving the ball to the right guy. And the bottom line is this now, we're really doing a great job with hitting every one in our offense, exploiting the offense, and you know, we are running the ball well inside. We are running the ball well outside. We are hitting running backs in the pass game, hitting tight ends in the pass game and that's what offense is all about; take what the defense will give you and continue to excel about it. Q. Recruiting follow‑up. Interesting that you say the recruit brought that to your attention. When the catches are not there when you're trying to entice a recruit, can you tell us more about that conversation? COACH HINTON: Obviously it wasn't in a negative sense. I don't want to have any explanation of that. And obviously recruiting we're going to be very careful. The whole idea is just to go ahead‑‑ listen, we will play our offense, things equal out. It's a 12‑game season. Those guys are playing great, and when the ball gets to them, they will execute what they have to do. And the calls were there. The defense didn't cooperate. They made some good calls, too. Q. Could you compare how different the offense is right now in terms of how close it is to its potential to a year ago at this time? COACH HINTON: Well, I think it's one thing‑‑ maybe, I don't know, factually what it is, but the explosive play factor seems to be greater. You take the first three games, there's a tremendous amount of explosive plays and when you look at in‑‑ the one anything in offense, we want to have no turnovers and explosive plays. That formula, it's like 85, 90, 95 percent win formula, when you take college football across the board. If you're winning the turnover battle and winning explosive plays, normally you're going to win games. That's what I kind of sense right now is we are doing a great job in the explosive play category. You know, one of the things we did Saturday, I thought a lot better than game one and game two, is we had some more consistent drives when we didn't have the explosive play. And we really played well in the second half. That's the part that obviously we were lacking a little bit in the first two games, also, and we came out and we just were able to execute our offense all through the game. Really, I thought was really kind of cool late in the game, we kind of slowed it down and all of a sudden we are just getting first downs, first downs and pounding it out and so we really had the offense working on all phases. Q. In your second year as a staff, how much more in sync are you as a staff? COACH HINTON: That's come really naturally. You get an opportunity to do what we do, and you sit in those rooms every day and you ask questions to each other, and you look at game plans. There's certainly more continuity about what's the next move; they do this, so let's do that kind of discussions. It isn't, we are all on the same page‑‑ I sit beside Tom every day in the press box or every game in the press box and the one thing, I kind of know what he wants to hear and why he wants to hear it. So those suggestions are kind of geared one direction, and I know from Coach Meyer, he's throwing things out there and Coach Warner and Coach Drayton and Coach Smith. So there is a lot more continuity to that and it comes with maturity of a staff. Q. Usually a lot of coaches will say when you're playing Michigan or USC or Texas, you have to worry about a whole lot of motivation. Do you have to work a little harder this week playing an FCS team? COACH HINTON: The one thing I told my guys today, that's an interesting question. I said, listen, this week‑‑ and really, every week is like this, and I don't want to down play any opponent you ever play. This week is about us, where is our improvement level at our position and that's what I told my position guys. This is a challenge of us, how do we get better, the things that we can still do better. How do we improve our fundamentals, how do we improve our techniques and how do we get faster on game day, how do we play at a faster tempo. How do we execute the little minute things that you really don't know what we are trying to do unless you understand the play call and the defense behind it, and how do we do that better. Because every week, if we do that really, really well, we don't have turnovers, our odds of winning are pretty good. It really is, it comes down to, they can run a 3‑4 scheme, an odd‑stack scheme, a 4‑down scheme; they can run whatever they want. But the bottom line is how well do we do what we need to do and normally the odds are in our favor that we do a pretty good job and win the game. Q. With some of the plays you ran to get Wilson to the edge; how important is it for your tight ends to block on the edge on plays like that? COACH HINTON: I tell you, that's where I said, the catches weren't there but I don't know if Jeff Heuerman could have been happier. He was unbelievably happy after the game, because he blocked the perimeter like a champion. And we did a great job, if you look at the game, if you go back and watch it again, there's a lot of inside runs that our tight ends were able to get inside and dig out an inside linebacker or an outside linebacker trying to fit inside and then all of a sudden we are running an outside play and we are pinning him inside; then they try to run him outside and we got him pinned outside. They really were frustrated at the end of the day. Just couldn't figure out how to get around those tight ends and really not only that, our wide receivers did a great job. I know coach talked about Evan Spencer, and things we were able to do, it really was a great perimeter blocking day. Without it, those plays don't get outside. You can't run outside plays without great perimeter blocking, and that's one thing we did very, very well. Q. People like to talk about the explosive potential of this offense, but it does seem like it may not always be there with throwing the ball if you guys are running with Jordan Hall, with Dontre, the tight ends and receivers, have to be ready to block a lot of the game? COACH HINTON: Absolutely. One thing about offense, anywhere you go, the bottom line is, you want to be able to attack a defense on a broad front. If you lineup and start running one play consistently‑‑ they have answers. Those guys are sitting in a room all day, too, and those players are on scholarship, also. We threw some intermediate throws, ran outside, ran inside, ran option. All those things, it's really, really hard on a defense when you're guessing what will be the next call and the players just are not sure how to manage that next play. That was one of the things you saw done very, very well. I thought Tom Herman did an excellent job and play calling and keeping it mixed up between inside, outside, deep ball, short ball, bubble screen and those things. I thought we did a great job in the game plan and it was well executed by our players. Q. You have outscored opponents‑‑ wondering if it's always a case of what you said happened against Cal where you are intentionally trying to slow down the tempo or whether there's something else at play? COACH HINTON: That's a great stat. I knew it was high. I didn't know the exact figure on it. You know, it's not intentional. I know a couple of the other games, it was a little bit of probably lack of focus sometimes on a player and not finishing their technique and fundamental. I don't think the play calling really changed. There was a couple series in the game, we even huddled. How many times you seen Ohio State huddle this year? In the fourth quarter of that game, we started huddling a little bit and coming together. We had that lead; let's end the game and we're great. And so the idea was, yes, there's times that we want to do that but the whole thing is, we've got to be good four quarters, because as you know, every game, your opponent is going to continue to get better and every week it's going to get tougher and people will get to know who you are as an offense, and so we want to score consistently in all four quarters. And the nice thing is I thought our kids did a nice job of playing great four quarters last week. Q. The progression of Jeff Heuerman has been well documented, when you look at his growth from last year, what do you see in terms of how he's progressed? COACH HINTON: The one thing at Ohio State is we have a phenomenal strength staff. When you look at Jeff's numbers in the weight room, they are off the charts. I mean, he is really, really a phenomenal athlete. I think he leads the team in vertical jump and bench press. I mean, that's not very often that a tight end does that. If not, he's like second or third in vertical jump, and I think he is No.1 in bench press. When you look at those numbers, it's amazing to have a kid that's 6‑5 and 255 pounds that can do that. The other thing is he really started taking the game more seriously in the classroom. He focuses in on what needs to get done, on the if I will many what he needs to look at. He understands‑‑ last year, he watched film almost like a TV spectator; oh, I like the ball; oh, that was a nice play. Now he's looking at it, a backer gap exchange, how does the safety come down and rotate; how does the end line to me when I'm in those different alignments. Those are the things, when they get really good, they can look at film, understand it better and be better in the classroom. There's no one in our football team and a lot of guys do a great job, but there's no one on our football team that does a better job at taking care of their body than Jeff Heuerman. I saw that, he's in working his legs and eating and contrasting and eating right and drinking the right things. He's working really hard, because college football is a grind and it's a really hard season and he's going to play a lot of plays and he does a phenomenal job of making sure his body is right on Saturdays. Q. When he gets those outside blocks‑‑ you said he did a very good job on those‑‑ how much pride does he take? COACH HINTON: I hope a lot because really the ultimate thing is win and one thing I'll say a ton of times in our room is listen, you'll get yours if you win. No one gets anything if you lose. So let's go win. Let's do what we have got to do to win the games, and it will all sort itself out. They take a lot pride in it. We spend a lot of time blocking and doing a lot of things on the perimeter, and we really made some huge jumps in perimeter blocking this week. Q. Can you give an update on Marcus Hall? How he is coming along? COACH HINTON: Marcus is coming along really well. The honest truth is, he has not caught the ball as well as we want him to at this point in the year. He's a very athletic kid. He does really well on the field that way. But he just has not caught the ball as cleanly as he needs to and as consistently and as he learns that skill, he'll be okay. I mean, he'll do well here. We knew coming in, he was more of a wide receiver tight end than a tight end. So his blocking skills obviously need to improve yet, but he has not caught the ball as cleanly as you need to, and I'll guarantee you, it's been emphasized in a certain room. Q. Is there a potential to redshirt him? COACH HINTON: You know, Coach Meyer has that philosophy, we don't redshirt anyone. We'll play anyone who is needed to play that week and we'll see how that goes. Obviously we have had no discussion with him about that. Q. You probably wouldn't do this in the heat of the battle, but at some point will you nudge Herman in the ribs and say, "Throw my guys a bone"? COACH HINTON: I never would, really, if you look at it in the game plan, there were calls that were designated to do that. That's why I said, the doggone defense didn't cooperate. They played a lot of quarters and not to talk real football stuff, they played a lot of quarter and they really played man quarters on the tight end most of the day where he came down and played in man, locked up on him a little bit, and kind of a little surprising how they played that a few times to me. And that's okay. The ball went elsewhere. Matter of fact two of the log scores were balls I thought would end up to the tight end. They didn't, which is‑‑ listen, I don't know if you noticed it, one time Jeff run down the field, getting real excited. Well, touchdowns are fun. Especially on the road and when three quarters of the stadium is still Ohio State fans, how cool is that. Q. Take me inside the meeting room last week and this week as you prepare, yet you don't know whether 5 is going to be available or not, Braxton Miller and again this week, how do you deal with that? COACH HINTON: You know, the truth of it is, and it's so funny, it's a great question, in fact, I came up to coach Herman prior to the game. I said something to him in the hotel. I said, I've been coaching a long time, well over 30 years, and I've never went into a game, ever, where you weren't nervous about your backup quarterback having to start. Everybody's coached has known at times, there's injuries and your No. 2 has got to go in. And there was more calm and confidence than ever I've been around. The beauty of it is that we know that he's very capable.  Kenny is going to do come in and do a phenomenal job and our team respects him. And if Braxton Miller is in there, we are going to go play really hard and do really well. And if Kenny Guiton is in there, we are going to go play really hard and do really well. And you know, you just‑‑ the game is made, the next man in mentality. Hey, who is the next man in. You know, it's called competitive excellence around here and power of the unit, which if somebody is down, if it's Jeff Heuerman down, Nick Vannett has to go in and play better than Jeff Heuerman; and that's our rules and that's how we do it around here and that's something that's really driven home with Coach Meyer. Doesn't matter who it is, the competitive excellence, the next guy goes in the game, you'd better be ready to play at a higher level than the guy that just came out. Q. Are you amazed that he sees‑‑ COACH HINTON: It's funny, because if you really are here the length of time Kenny has been here and you do a good job in the classroom, the game slows down for you and that's the great thing about experience. That's the one thing that some times left out, no offense to Kenny, he's not a freshman or a young sophomore that's been thrown into this battle. He's been here a while and he's been to a lot of meetings and he's been to a lot of spring practices and seen a lot of coverages and been around a lot of those situations. The beauty of that is, that's what you hope experience does for you. And that's one of the things he does bring home and that's one of the things he's done a phenomenal job of and he does see it very well. But he has a lot of experience behind the scenes, maybe not the actual game reps other people have. But most of the time, you start bringing that young guy in, he's a freshman or a sophomore and it's a whole different game. Q. Urban mentioned that you guys are in conversation about possibly using Kenny and Braxton on the field at the same time this week. When you look at what you guys are doing offensively, do you guys have a fine line between maybe not fixing what's not‑‑ you don't fix what's broken, and getting over‑creative in terms of keeping what you guys got going on? COACH HINTON: That's a great question and it is a consistent battle between not trying to fix what's not broken, and trying to make, you know‑‑ and then looking at it, well, what didn't work, and ask yourself, why didn't it work, and not like panicking about why that, whatever that play was, whatever that series was or formation, why didn't it work. Because most of the time when you look at it, you know, there's a certain play in the game on Saturday that, you know, if we could have just got an offensive lineman to get up more on the back side backer, we ran the play only one time in the play and it looked like it was a little cloudy and the play only went for two. But you look at it, now you turn on the video, which is the luxury of running it back and forth, dang, we could have run that play five or six times and had great results. It is a fine line not to panic and just keep running the same things. The one thing, even though the offense looks like it's more adverse, the idea is we are running plays we started in summer camp all the way to now over and over and over again. Boy, football is a game of repetition. You get really good at what you do all the time, because defenses can make a lot of adjustments. But our kids understand their adjustments better, and that's what offense is all about is being able to make those adjustments on the run, because there's a lot of chaos on game day. There's a lot of things going on. When you're a spread offense, you can never really walk into a game and say, this is exactly how they are going to line up to us, because they are going to have to attack us in different ways. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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