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PLAYSTATION FIESTA BOWL: OHIO STATE VS CLEMSON

December 28, 2016

Greg Schiano

Glendale, Arizona

GREG SCHIANO: Probably, that's one of the things when you're on such a talented offense. Not overlooked by us, I can tell you that. We know what he's capable of. It's one of those deals, you better take care of every phase or you'll have a problem at the one that you didn't really focus on.

So that's been our challenge as a coaching staff, is to prepare our guys for every different phase of their offense.

Q. How do you handle a stable of wide receivers they have, especially a guy that's so big like Mike Williams?
GREG SCHIANO: That's one of the big challenges. And on top of that you have a guy that can get him the football anywhere on the field. He can get it when he's moving. He can get it when he's stationary in the pocket. So it's a huge challenge.

Probably the best -- not probably, the best unit of receivers that we've ever played, certainly Mike is an elite level guy, but I think the guys that surround him are not far back. That's what makes it a challenge.

If you had one great receiver you can do certain things to take him out of the game or limit his chances to touch the ball. But when you do that you leave yourself exposed in other places but you can't in this offense. The other guys will beat you there. So you gotta play more balanced up and hope that you can -- you're not going to win every battle but hope you win your share.

Q. Tell us about Urban's approach that's so successful. What do you think goes into it?
GREG SCHIANO: Well, he certainly has a strong set of beliefs on how to approach the postseason. Very similar to the way that I had done it as a head coach. So it's very comfortable for me. There's no guesswork involved.

You get to the point in your career where you've done it; it's been successful. And I think everybody in the organization gains confidence from that knowing that the leader knows exactly what he wants to do in these next 26, 30 days, whatever it is.

There's different phases in bowl preparation. It can't be just getting ready for the game the whole time. Otherwise you'll end up, I don't know if burned out is the word, but bored.

So we basically have three different phases in our preparation. And that's worked very well.

Q. Two years ago, Ohio State was tackling in practice up until the day before the National Championship game. Let's talk about that. Is that still the same deal, are you guys going live right up until the day before the game?
GREG SCHIANO: Pick your spots, yes. As long as you have shoulder pads on, there's certain things we'll do live.

When you look at bowl games, it's much like first and second games in the season. Really, first games. Because if you're not careful, in first games, what do you look at? Special teams aren't real good and tackling. Those are the two things that really jump out. Bowl games are the same.

So if you tackle in your preparation, I think you can nullify that one bad thing that can happen. And then if you really work some special teams at a high rate of speed. I'm not saying live special teams, that's too dangerous, but you really work them at a high rate of speed and you frequently do them, you can kind of get that out of the way as well. Those are two areas that I think long layoffs affect the most.

Q. Marshon Lattimore, came into this season, redshirted, barely played last year. First-round pick if he leaves. What's enabled him to make that kind of a jump as far as his play?
GREG SCHIANO: I think a couple things: Number one, he's an exceptional athlete. Physically very, very gifted. Tremendous hand-eye coordination. I think if we moved Marshon over to the other side of the ball, he would be one of the best receivers on the team. That's the kind of athlete he is.

But what he's been able to do, you mentioned he had injuries his first two years, he's been able to learn how to manage his body and take care of his body like a pro, and that's allowed him to go out and play consistently week after week after week, which allows him to make those plays.

Q. I heard the medical staff doing something like new age with him, his hamstring, could you talk about what they've done with him?
GREG SCHIANO: Really, Coach Mick and the whole staff are on the cutting edge with everything we do, without a doubt the best I've ever been around, and I think the best in America. So whatever it takes to be able to get that player to perform at a high level, that's what our performance specialists do.

There's a lot of different things they've done with testing and strength training as well as just the gear that he wears. So I think no stone is unturned when it comes to their performance.

Q. When you look at -- let's start over. You've been in this business a long time, when you look at Deshaun, where does he rank amongst some of the quarterbacks you've seen throughout your career?
GREG SCHIANO: He's one of the elite ones that I've faced for a lot of reasons. One, he makes you play 11-on-11 football. He can run the football.

Number two, he's got tremendous arm strength. So from any spot on the field, whether he's in the pocket or he's moving, by design movement passes or the play breaks down and he just uses his athleticism to get out, he can hit the -- he can throw the ball 50, 60 yards down the field. That's what makes you really have to be honest with every part of your coverage.

If for one minute you stop doing what you're supposed to do, he's going to find that. He's that kind of player. And I mentioned it earlier in our preparation: He understands not only the plays they run, but he understands the game. You can see that.

And great quarterbacks do. I think J.T. understands the game. So little things that he does that an inexperienced quarterback or a quarterback who doesn't understand the bigger game within the game, as simple as I'm going to hand the ball off when we're up by 30 even though my read tells me to keep it because we'll gain three or four yards anyway and I won't get hit.

Whereas, the game is on the line or in the red zone, I'm keeping the ball, I'm putting it in the end zone. I'm going to make the play because I'm the best player. That may sound really simple, but that's hard to get guys to do for a lot of reasons. One, selfishness, they want plays.

You can see that he's a mature quarterback as well as being one of the more gifted ones that I've seen.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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