On Tuesday, Ohio State beat reporters gathered at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center to speak with offensive coordinator Brian Hartline and wide receivers Marvin Harrison Jr., Emeka Egbuka and Julian Fleming. The media also met with special teams coach Parker Fleming, punter Jesse Mirco and long snapper John Ferlmann.
As for the specialists, Parker Fleming talked about the kicker competition between Jayden Fielding and Parker Lewis and broke down who will return kicks and punts for the Buckeyes this year. Meanwhile, Mirco shared how he has taken on a leadership role in the offseason, and Ferlmann explained how he has adjusted to life as a Buckeye after his lone season at Arizona State.
Hartline said Carnell Tate has"done a great job" since he became a Buckeye in January."As a football player, he is very mature. When you give that mature tag to a football player, it says a lot. His ability to take meetings to the field. His ability to correct mistakes in one try. His ability to hold himself accountable to mistakes. ... I am really proud of him." He later added that Tate has been"very, very impressive.
When asked what he looks for in receivers at the high school level, Hartline said, "It's my secret. I can't tell you that." He laughed and said that Ohio State has no secret, but they develop their wide receivers at a high level.On Julian Fleming: “He’s just continued to work hard, continued to put in my work outside of practice in his free time. Taking care of his body, getting extra passes on the Monarch . Just whatever he can do to get ready for this season.
Looking at Xavier Johnson’s story, how he walked on and has fought through injury and moved positions without complaint, Harrison feels he was the ideal recipient of the team’s “Block O” jersey: “I think X is the perfect example for what you want an Ohio State player to be.” On if two quarterbacks playing in the same game would be distracting: “Football is going to be football regardless. We still have our assignments on plays and we’re expected to operate on a high level and execute at a high level. That’s the standard at Ohio State and the standard in the zone six wide receiver room. We feel confident with anyone behind center.”
Coming from a small football town where he was part of a Wing-T offense in high school, Fleming has had to learn how to play the wide receiver position throughout his career at Ohio State. “Definitely a big learning curve but now I feel confident with everything.” There’s been an impetus in the wide receiver room to go the extra step in helping the new quarterback adjust to the offense, Fleming said. If that’s getting open a second earlier, if that’s running your route a second faster, if that’s making a 50/50 catch — a 50/50 catch should be 70/30 in our receiver room. So that’s how we look at everything.”
Fleming said he doesn't have a timeline set for when he would want to decide a kicker."We just want to make sure that when we do make a decision we feel good about it." Fleming added that he believes Ohio State has"two capable guys" and that the Buckeyes want to use them"to the best of their ability."