Ohio State Buckeyes College Football Pregame Quote, 01/08/2025

Q. Obviously, Cody’s [Simon] teammates respect him. It seems like the last part of the season, he’s really raised the level of play where he’s not just the leader, but he’s a star as well.

COACH KNOWLES: Yeah. That’s good to see, because I think Cody, my first two years here, wasn’t a star.

In this day of transfer portal, he’s a guy that could have easily I mean, he could have been a starter. I mean, he was as good as Tommy [Eichenberg] and Steele [Chambers] and moved around and played different things. Never complained. Never said a word. He’s really an old school guy when it comes to being a football player.

Q. And just how well is he playing?

COACH KNOWLES: He’s playing great. He’s in all the right spots. As then, as you said, not only that, but making checks for the defense.

He understands how I think. We’ve been together three years, and he knows what I’m thinking. It’s easy for me to say something to him and he can change it on the spot.

But, like you said, he’s also making plays that are showing up.

Q. He’s triggering extremely well, right?

COACH KNOWLES: He’s seeing everything. He really is.

Q. Did you see him click in the middle of the year? He really jumped out at you from the Nebraska game on, in my opinion.

COACH KNOWLES: I did not, but I’m with these guys every day for three years. People have asked the same thing about Jack [Sawyer] and JT [Tuimoloau]. To me are a function of your habits.

These guys have been doing all the right things. When you watch every play and evaluate them to do all the right things. When you do that on a consistent play, the big plays come. I think that’s a matter of how you prepare and train.

Q. I feel like in the second half of the year, a lot of the pressure was coming from adding blitz and maybe some different looks, and you didn’t have to do that really hardly at all, at least it didn’t seem like that against Oregon.

COACH KNOWLES: No.

Q. Why were you able to do it?

COACH KNOWLES: I feel like we’ve done enough now with the coverage and structure of the way we look that, hopefully, it’s forcing the quarterback to hold the ball a little bit longer. And that’s when the rush delivers.

Q. It feels like even there’ was one of the three mans, maybe it was Cody’s [Simon] sack where Jack [Sawyer] was still winning up front. That wasn’t happening a ton in the first half of the year. I know it’s been in them. In addition to maybe different looks in the secondary, it feels like there’s a different level of production coming up front.

COACH KNOWLES: Yeah, I don’t know, I mean, I think the guys are cutting it loose. You get down to the end, and they want to keep playing together. They don’t want it to stop. Sometimes when you get to these moments of your career, we have veterans, there’s always that a little bit of extra level. That’s human nature. You think you have given it all until everything is on the line, and then you see, okay, wow, I do have an extra to give. I think you are seeing some of that.

Q. Does it impact on the way you call the game?

COACH KNOWLES: Absolutely. My job is to help win the football game. You definitely have to play off the situation of the game. That’s all part of it.

Our offense has been doing so well, particularly early in the game. I think that changes the way I call it, for sure.

Q. The things you’re doing with Caleb [Downs], you have him in the middle there, what’s the impetus of that? In your coaching career, when did you start using the safeties that way? And does Caleb unlock anything new for you that you haven’t been able to do in the past?

COACH KNOWLES: He’s just really good. I mean, so it makes me look good.

I’ve done that throughout my career with different players. More with players from the front than the backend. But at Oklahoma State, when you had to defend against the explosive play all the time, it is really when I created the structure. It just makes sense when you have a kid that wants to get in the middle of the action.