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

Q. What’s it been like to watch yourself grow throughout this season and become a part of this offense and get ready to go when your number is called?

WR BRANDON INNISS: It’s been amazing so far. Just going through last year to last game, and seeing where I was at until now, it’s been amazing. I get with Coach [Brian] Hartline each week, just to see everything I can do on the offense and help them in any way. It’s been amazing.

Q. Brandon, after the Rose Bowl win, there were multiple videos of you guys calling Ryan [Day] the best coach in the nation and rallying around him. Tell me about how this team has rallied around your coach, and you’re not afraid to show it?

WR BRANDON INNISS: Yeah, to me, everything I said in that video is still true in my heart. Coach [Ryan] Day is the best coach in the nation. We see the work he puts in. He’s here all day, every day. To have a guy like that, you want to play for him.

I mean, Coach Day is like no other coach I’ve had in my life, and I appreciate the opportunity for me to come here.

Q. I don’t know how much time you have to get into this, but Emeka’s [Egbuka] value to the room, the leadership he shows. What has he meant to you? What does he mean to the whole group?

WR BRANDON INNISS: He means a lot to us. He’s so smart. Emeka is probably the smartest football player I’ve ever been around. So me and JJ (Jayden Fielding?? no idea!) and Carnell [Tate], we still ask him questions about certain things.

Even this past week in the game, there was a look I haven’t seen yet because I haven’t played a whole lot. Being able to ask him on the sideline, for him to give me a response right away, is huge for us.

Q. Following up on that, you had a couple huge plays against Penn State. You didn’t start the game, but what is it like knowing there could be a moment, the next snap, where you’ve got to deliver? What is that like waiting your turn, but then taking advantage of it?

WR BRANDON INNISS: Yeah, we call it competitive excellence, making the play when your number is called. And I feel like in those moments right there, I made the play. And I’ve just got to continue doing that whenever I get my opportunity to get into the game, make a huge block, whatever it is, just make the play when your number is called.

Q. Is that depth what sets you apart, to a certain extent? Not just depth, but guys ready to play, for want of another term?

WR BRANDON INNISS: Yeah. If you see last game, it was kind of hot out there. We haven’t played in a whole lot of heat the last couple months, so we had some guys a little tired. So we had guys ready to go in. That’s Coach [Brian] Hartline developing his receivers and being ready for any moment.

Q. What impresses you most about Will [Howard] What’s the confidence in you knowing he’s the one running your team and leading the offense?

WR BRANDON INNISS: What impresses me most about Will is his leadership. A guy coming from Kansas State, a transfer in year one, you wouldn’t expect that guy to be a leader like how he is. He’s an unbelievable leader, and we all lean on him.

He runs this whole team, and he knows that, and we’ll go as far as he goes.

Q. We talked a little bit last week about you becoming one of the emotional leaders of this team. Walking off the field at halftime on Wednesday, I happened to be down by the locker room. I was the only person taking photos of you guys down there, which is weird (laughter). But everyone looked super nervous. You were up 34-8, and it looked like you guys were down by 26 points. Did you feel something different about the focus at that point in this team? Or is it just the embodiment of what’s going on right now? Because it seemed different.

WR BRANDON INNISS: I just think the job wasn’t done. We had nothing to be excited about at the moment. We were excited during the game when we were making the plays, but at halftime, you go back to 0-0. They scored at the end of the half. We knew they got the ball back.

The defense wasn’t quite happy that they gave up that touchdown at the end, and we knew they’d be getting the ball back coming out, but we weren’t excited because we knew the job wasn’t done yet.

Q. You were a five-star guy. All these guys in the room almost were five-star guys. And then there’s Jeremiah [Smith]. Is he like in awe of you guys in the room?

WR BRANDON INNISS: I’m not sure. That’s probably something you’ve got to ask him. Jeremiah has played with a lot of great guys throughout his career. He’s seen all the talent you can see in the world. But I don’t know if he’s ever in awe.

Q. Are you in awe of him?

WR BRANDON INNISS: Oh, yeah. I mean, I’m not surprised at anything he does now. I’ve seen him since we were 9 years old. So anything he does, any one-handed catch, I’ve seen. I’m not surprised with anything he does.

Q. Since 9, but did you know this was something special even at 9?

WR BRANDON INNISS: Oh, yeah. Coaches were coming up to us complaining that we weren’t 9 years old. Can we get their I.D.s, stuff like that.

So, there’s definitely some footage we’ve got to go find. But the plays we used to make when we were younger and just to see where he is now is amazing.

Q. (Jeremiah Smith) seems very unaffected by all of the stardom. How does that happen?

WR BRANDON INNISS: I think how he was raised. He’s very level-headed. He knows his goals and what he wants to get done in life, and this is just one step of the way for him.

Q. I want to go back to what you were talking about with Coach [Ryan] Day earlier. Whenever he talks about this team s success, he says all the credit goes to the players. It seems like the players think that he deserves some of the credit. How big, how influential, has he been in the turnaround you guys have had these last few weeks?

WR BRANDON INNISS: He’s been huge, man. Coming here after that team up north (University of Michigan) loss, it was heartbreaking, of course. But we came in here, we had a leadership meeting, and he was in here, and then we had a team meeting after that.

Hearing the stuff he had to say, and we had to say, going back and forth. We knew we would have his back no matter what. I mean, there’s a lot of stuff said about him and his family and stuff like that. But in here, we’re a brotherhood and we’re a family. And we’re going to stand by him no matter what.

Q. I’m sure you came in here to Ohio State thinking you’d probably be starting here in your second year, but it seems like you’ve really embraced the growth process. What’s that process been like for you of embracing your role this season and continuing to develop?

WR BRANDON INNISS: In life, things don’t go the way you exactly plan it to. That just didn’t happen. Things happened to Emeka [Egbuka] last year that allowed him to come back, and that allowed me to learn more. And that’s just how I see it. It makes me a better football player for the future.

Q. Brandon, there are a lot of clips of you this year where you’re super, super excited after a block and kind of showing your emotion there. What about blocking do you love so much as a receiver?

WR BRANDON INNISS: Just being able to hit another guy with all my power, as hard as I can, without getting any consequences; except if you hold, of course.

But yeah, just bringing that power. I mean, I heard some of the defensive guys telling me yesterday, they were like: Bro, I would hate to go against you.

So knowing that from the defensive guys. I know what the other defensive guys are thinking, like just keep bringing it to them. They’re not going to like it for four quarters. That’s my mindset.

Q. What are your impressions of these Texas defensive backs? And what you’ve seen from them on film so far?

WR BRANDON INNISS: The last couple days we watched them, they’re a fast team. They don’t give up many big plays downfield. They’re aggressive.

But I actually know some of the DBs they have at corner there. I played with Malik Muhammad at SFE (South Florida Express), so I know him a little bit.

But watching them, they’re a fast team. They’re physical. They’re disciplined. But we’ve just got to get the job done.

Q. One of the issues Texas has had the second half of the year is finishing. They had trouble, obviously, in the Peach Bowl. Blew a 16-point lead. Can you talk about finishing and having a killer instinct? And you guys, obviously, seem to have that now.

WR BRANDON INNISS: Yeah, I think that started in the offseason training at fall camp. We always say, “go plus two.” If you’re doing a ten-yard pro shuttle, you have to go plus two throughout the line. That’s just finishing as well.

We’re ready to go.

Fall camp, we had these long, two and a half-hour practices or whatnot. We came out, and we had to do these “finishers,” we called them. That’s for games late in the year like this. I think Coach [Ryan] Day did a great job preparing all of us for these moments.