Ohio State Buckeyes College Football Pregame Quote, 01/05/2025

Q. What do you think you bring to this passing game? Obviously, people are going to focus in on Jeremiah [Smith]. What do you hope to bring and what do you think you bring?

TE GEE SCOTT JR.: I just think when you look at our offense as a whole, there’s a lot of components that you have to respect, just all across the field. When it comes to Xs and Os, just spacing out the field, being able to cover five guys down the field, it’s kind of hard, including our

running back as well.

And so I think there’s a lot of things that you have to respect on our offense. We can run the ball, we can throw it down the field to Jeremiah, we can hit a checkdown to me or to a running back.

I just think it’s the limitless potential that we have and the amount of different things that we can do, is where I would see it being a big weapon in our offense.

Q. Gee, first play out of the box, they go to you down the sideline, and you hurdle the guy and everything. Were you the primary receiver on the first play? It feels like a great call to go, not necessarily to Jeremiah [Smith] or Emeka [Egbuka] or even hand off. Go through that play, like what was going on there.

TE GEE SCOTT JR.: Yeah, I think the intention behind that was to set the tone early and kind of almost send a message that we’re not here to play conservative offense. That we’re going to come right after you guys from the first play, and we’ll be at you guys all four quarters.

And so whenever you start a game like that ‚Äì I don’t condone street fighting, but if you’re in a street fight, he who throws the first punch likely comes out with the win. So our mindset going into that was throw the first punch, and I think we did that to open the game with a gain of 30.

And then just the emotion on the sideline, the emotion that I try to bring after that play. For a defense, that’s just kind of demoralizing. Coming right off the heels, I’m sure, the coaches and the players, they had a huge pep talk and speeches going into the game. They’re excited and they’re rah-rah’ing, like, we’re going to kill these guys.

And to open up the play and to give up a 30-yard gain like that, and to see our whole sideline erupt, that has to be demoralizing for a defense.

Q. When Jeremiah [Smith] scores, there’s a picture of you and he kind of meeting face-to-face in the end zone. What is that feeling like? You guys, just in one minute, just put it right on.

TE GEE SCOTT JR.: I feel very confident with my abilities to block in space. With a ball carrier like him, as dynamic of a player as he is, I feel like when he’s running behind me ‚Äì if you look on that play, he’s kind of running right behind me there.

So it was just a really exciting moment. Hopefully we can continue to do that, those kind of things. Yeah, it was a really exciting moment.

Q. Gee, you mentioned you guys come out swinging, back to back, fast start, offense firing on all cylinders. What’s been the difference in preparation leading up to the last couple weeks?

TE GEE SCOTT JR.: I don’t know. I wouldn’t like to say that there’s been anything dramatically different than maybe even the first time we played them.

But the goal is week by week, you’ve got to upgrade. That’s the big motto that we have on this

team, that you have to upgrade week by week. That the team that you were last week or the team that you were in Week 5 just isn’t good enough to compete in the College Football Playoffs.

And so, our mindset is to get better and better and better. Call it what it is. Last time we played them, we fell short, but here we are, X amount of weeks later, we’re able to see who upgraded more. It looked like it was the Buckeyes.

And so the goal is to continue to upgrade every single week, and then you’ll look back and see how far along you’ve come.

Q. When you go back to that street fight and throwing the first punch, the fact that the coaching staff trusted you to do that. We all know how much work has gone into your career and getting to this point. Is it wrong of us to say that might mean a little something more, that you are the person they wanted to start the game with?

TE GEE SCOTT JR.: In my opinion, not necessarily. I think that the coaches have great trust in all of us that are out there. I think if they didn’t have great trust in us, I don’t think I would be out there. Or I don’t think certain guys would be out there if they weren’t trusted.

And so, I think the job of the coaches is to draw up and to put us in positions to be successful. And I’m just a true believer that our coaches do a really good job at that. And so, I don’t really ask questions on what they tell us to do. I go and I do my job at the highest level, and I try to execute it.

And so, yeah, I think it’s just my job when the ball comes my way to make good things happen, and you look forward with hopes that it will continue to keep coming your way.

Q. You have to go against JT [Tuimoloau] and Jack [Sawyer]. Seems like they keep improving. What’s it like going against them? And Tuesdays, have you seen that improvement? And how much of a challenge and help is it?

TE GEE SCOTT JR.: Yeah, those are two electrifying players. I don’t think ‚Äì just being real, I don’t think I’ve seen any defensive ends to their caliber on an opposing team yet this far.

And so, when you get to go against that every single day, going back to the analogy of fighting when your sparring partner is that good. When it’s time to show up and play on game day, you’re going to have confidence in where you’re at.

And so, I just feel like those guys have given me a great amount of confidence, going against those guys all throughout camp, throughout the entire season. Sometimes when you get to the games, it’s like, I was going against better guys at practice.

So that’s the whole goal, right? Iron sharpening iron. And we believe one man will sharpen another. That’s the goal of why we practice so hard and why we do the things that we do. Even to this point in the year, why we practice so hard still is to give ourselves the mental confidence over the opponent; that I’ve gone against better opponents, even in practice. So, that’s the goal right there.

Q. They play opposite on the field. They seem like they’re pretty different off the field.

TE GEE SCOTT JR.: Jack [Sawyer] and JT [Tuimoloau]? They’re great guys. From the top to the bottom on our team, it’s a bunch of great characters on our team, all throughout. When you get on that field, they go into a mode where they’re not to be messed with.

And so, yeah, I’m glad to be on their team.

Q. About a month ago, I asked Will [Howard] where his confidence is in the program has grown, and he said it’s night and day from January to where it is now. When he’s on time, like he has been the last few weeks, how much more confidence does that feed into the offense, knowing he’s in sync with his receivers? How much does that feed that?

TE GEE SCOTT JR.: Yeah. I think that’s the same way I’d answer that question is how I’d answer that with any player on our offense, whether that’s Will at quarterback or our offensive line or TreVeyon [Henderson] or Quinshon [Judkins] at running back or myself at tight end or the receiving core or special teams. I think our goal is to ‚Äì we preach this all week and all year long, is to be at competitive excellence and to make the play when your number is called.

And so, the more times you’re able to do that, the more often you’re going to be successful as a team. We have a goal around here to grade out a champion at 80% of the game. So the more times you can look back, at the end of the game, you can come in here on a Sunday or the day following the game, you grade out a champion, that’s your job is to take care of your 1/11th.

So, obviously, yes, when we have Will, that when he’s firing, it’s ultimately going to help our whole team. But that’s the mindset that we have for everybody is that we all need to be doing our part and doing our job. And ultimately, we have the guys, we have the talent, and so you look up at the scoreboard and like where you’re at.

Q. When it comes to trying to throw that first punch early in games, there’s different ways you can try and do it. To do so vertically in the passing game, aggressively, where does that come from? Is that a Coach [Ryan] Day message? A Coach [Chip] Kelly message? Somewhere else? Just to attack in that way, in particular, deep down the field repeatedly.

TE GEE SCOTT JR.: I think that’s our entire identity as an offense. Definitely Coach Day and Coach Kelly, they instill that mindset. We’re not going to hold back. We’re not going to hold back. We’re going to come after them.

Sometimes coming after a defense doesn’t always look like taking a 50-yard, 60-yard shot down the field. Sometimes it’s just we’re going to run the ball right at you.

And so, I think that’s kind of the mindset behind it is that we’re going to come right after you guys, despite how it looks. It might be a vertical throw, or it might be running in between the tackles.

But the whole message stays the same is that we’re going to be dominant. We’re going to be the

proactive ones. And we’re going to throw the first punch.