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PLAYSTATION FIESTA BOWL: OHIO STATE VS CLEMSON

December 29, 2016

Raekwon McMillan

Glendale, Arizona

Q. What does Ohio State mean to you?
RAEKWON MCMILLAN: Last three years, last three, four years of my life it's been everything. Everything that I give my time to, my effort, my energy to has been Ohio State.

I mean, I'll always be a Buckeye for the rest of my life. This university has done so much for me, not just on the field but off. Giving me a chance to pledge my fraternity, (indiscernible), and also just being able to express how I feel to the other communities around Ohio State, being able to give back to the communities and also compete with my fellow colleagues.

Q. How excited has this been that you guys are vying for a spot in the National Championship?
RAEKWON MCMILLAN: It's very exciting to have such a young team out here. I understand we have a young team, but I just turned 21 myself. Being out here, man, in this atmosphere in this incredible atmosphere that PlayStation has put on for us, it's just an awesome feel, awesome environment, awesome everything, man, because with all the blessings and hard work that we've been through this season, we wouldn't be able to be in this situation. And we're just happy to be here and hopefully we can get the job done Saturday.

Q. You guys were here just a year ago (indiscernible), but how different is it going to be on Saturday when you walk in to the University of Phoenix Stadium knowing this is a playoff not just for the Fiesta Bowl?
RAEKWON MCMILLAN: It's different because you know that at the end of this tunnel there's another one, to get to the National Championship. So when they raise the white ropes Saturday after the game, either you're in or you're out. Either you're going home and your season is over or you're going home with a chance to play in the National Championship.

Q. How excited are you to have the chance to be able to go up against Deshaun Watson and that offense?
RAEKWON MCMILLAN: That's something I wanted to do for the last three years, man. When I was getting recruited and I committed to Ohio State, I knew it was a possibility that I was going to have a chance to play him. But after this year, after last year I thought it wasn't going to happen. But this year I got a chance to. So try to make the most of it.

Q. What's that challenge going to be like for you on defense?
RAEKWON MCMILLAN: They've got athletes all across the ball, even on the O line. They're athletic, big guys, that can make plays.

Mike Williams on the outside, Jordan Leggett, Deshaun Watson and Wayne Gallman, those guys can make plays all over the field. Gotta be prepared for all of them.

Q. Is there one part of their game that you kind of limit or try to take away completely and another is take away their pass game or take away their run game?
RAEKWON MCMILLAN: For us, man, it's disrupt the quarterback. The more hands and the more hits we can get on the quarterback, then the easier the game should be for us.

Q. I was talking to Nick Bosa. He was talking about his first sack, he wasn't sure whether or not you wanted to throw up a shrug. He said he looked at you and you started shrugging, tagging him on the shrug. What do you recall about that?
RAEKWON MCMILLAN: It's like just another -- Bosa came in. As soon as one left, another one came in, making plays. When I seen him make the sack, I just had to do it for him. It was only right.

Because last year I didn't really get to do it much with Joey. Because Joey hit it real fast before I got there. And I never got to do it. But little Bosa, man, he didn't know what to do so I did it for him.

Q. What have you seen from him as a player?
RAEKWON MCMILLAN: I think he can be just like his brother, man. Even better. Because of the guys we have here at Ohio State that can develop him, Coach Johnson, Coach Meyer and Coach Schiano and Coach Billy Davis next year. But those guys can develop him really well and help him reach all his dreams.

Q. What's the best advice you've gotten at Ohio State in terms of handling being the player, being the student, the whole big picture of being the player?
RAEKWON MCMILLAN: Some of the best advice I ever got was from James Laurinaitis. He told me that.

Q. From who?
RAEKWON MCMILLAN: James Laurinaitis. He told me that there's always going to be speculations about whether I'm living up to expectations here at Ohio State. And you can't let the media limit you to what they think that you should be. As long as you're out there doing what you're supposed to do and doing the right thing for your university and for your team, you're always going to be on the good side.

Q. (Indiscernible) Deshaun, you guys knew each other during recruiting and stayed in contact. What's that like in college? Were you at all close to considering Clemson?
RAEKWON MCMILLAN: Yeah, he was recruiting me very hard to go to Clemson. And I was kind of trying to get him to come to Ohio State for a little while. For a little while he was telling me to come to Clemson. But up until the last week I was solidified on Ohio State. And that whole last week, man, I was like trying to get him to come to Ohio State or whatever. But you know we kept in contact.

And I'm not going to say we had the strongest relationship. We're cool and cordial, but that's one of my guys.

Q. How much does that -- you always hear about guys sort of recruiting for their team, right, like you maybe commit early and say I'll try to get guys on. Were you able to do that at all when you were committing to Ohio State? Anybody you were able to think that maybe I kind of helped get this guy to come on board?
RAEKWON MCMILLAN: It's kind of weird, because when I wasn't committed to Ohio State, I was kind of coming to Ohio State visiting. And then Curtis Samuel was there, and I kind of helped recruit him to Ohio State. He committed before me. Jalyn Holmes committed before me. Kind of all those guys committed.

But the only guy that I can really say that committed after me was Johnnie Dixon. So really all those guys were recruiting me to come to Ohio State. I didn't do much of the work.

Q. You play college football. What was the feeling about Alabama within the Ohio State Buckeyes scene? Because seems like everybody talks Alabama, Alabama. And do you have any thought about how they seem to be such a big presence in college football?
RAEKWON MCMILLAN: I mean, they're definitely one of the most dominant teams in college football. I mean, they're undefeated, haven't lost a game in I don't know how long.

But as Ohio State -- and I could just speak for us -- like I said yesterday, we don't roll in any stadium thinking we're going to lose the game.

That's the type of confidence you're going to have when you're playing a team like that. If you go in there with any doubt that you're going to lose the game, it's certain that you're going to lose.

Because as soon as you go through some adversity, you're bound to shut down because you have that in the back of your head. But with us, we have so much confidence that we go in there thinking we're going to win it the whole time.

Q. You're so rarely the underdog. Is it true being an athlete that when someone says you're the underdog, does that add motivation? When someone says, before the game happens someone says, oh, they're better than you, does that motivate you?
RAEKWON MCMILLAN: Yeah, it motivates you because as a player and as a competitor, you never want anybody to say somebody else is better than you. When somebody else says they are, you try to prove them wrong.

So when we roll into games as the underdog, like we were last year -- not last year, but my freshman year, we were trying to prove to the world that Ohio State is the best team in the nation. And we were.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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