For my growth, professional growth and things of that nature, I thought it was a great opportunity, and I have so much respect for Sherrone. I’ve known him for quite a while. But I just thought it was just time. It was time for both parties — I don’t know. But I thought it was time, it was a good opportunity.

A great group of kids — should say young men. They want to be coached, they want to learn. So anxious has to learn. They play hard. And I think that’s the culture that’s been built here, obviously — a culture of toughness. And so to watch them practice to where they go about their daily business, really good. So I’ve enjoyed that. So that’s kind of thing I’ve seen — just a culture of toughness. I think they want to learn and they play hard.

Well, yeah, I think anybody who watched them on tape has — just watching them, there’s a toughness that you saw, particularly in the trenches, inside, the line, guys finishing plays, and you saw that. You saw that and just reaffirmed what I already thought.

I don’t know, we’ll see. It’s going. It was a little weird putting on this blue — itwas a little weird. I hadn’t done that since my Notre Dame days nine years ago. But yeah, you know what it is going into it. And so I’m just hopefully I’m able to add value here and go from there. But yeah, I know what it is.

First of all, I have to say this: I’ve got so much respect for Ohio State and the Ohio State community and what they presented to me and my family through the years. So it was not an easy decision, obviously. I think anytime there’s someone for as long as I was — for nine years — there are some roots that have set in — not just professionally, but personally as well. So that was difficult.

But like I said, at the end of the day, it’s just something that I thought I couldn’t pass up, an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. You know, and everyone’s asking why, and what are all the intimate details of it? The people that need to know, they know. And, but at the end of the day, you know, you make movies professionally that you feel put in your best interest. Whatever those reasons are. And that’s what I did. So here we are.

I don’t know. I mean, I wasn’t here during those times when they started winning those games in The Game. But again, I just go back to there’s a level of toughness here that’s been established and firm. I think the thing that probably stood out to me the most when I got here, and it didn’t take long, just an alignment, an alignment of the staff. What Sherrone’s done, as far as staff alignment, continuity, togetherness, and I think that’s trickled down to the players. And that’s the one thing that stood out is just the alignment of the staff. And obviously, in particular on offense.

It comes up every day! He’s quick to tell me pretty much on a daily basis. ‘Coach, I’ve never lost to you,’ and I’m like yeah, I got it, onto the next.

But no, he’s a great kid. You know, I’ve known him throughout recruiting, obviously recruited him. So known him and his dad for a long time. Much respect to him. He’s had a nice career up to this point and hopefully we can continue that on his last season here. But he’s been a joy to be around and work with. So we’ve always got along so it’s good. It’s good to have him.

Again, he’s just like everybody else — he’s trying to learn and get better. He’s obviously a leader of this football team, one of the leaders of this football team that I’ve seen thus far, and definitely kind of the alpha male leader in our room, so to speak. So it’s been really good to work with him thus far.

I think, again, just watching how he interacts with the team, players, first and foremost. They believe and you can tell by the way they respond to him when he speaks — again, walking into the staff room and alignment. So I think those things have been phenomenal. I’m not here to judge or jury. But yeah, I think he’s special. He’s definitely special. The things that I saw that helped me make a decision to come here. And so he’s just confirmed everything that I thought. Again, his leadership, his way to get people all aligned in the same way, the shared vision thus far has been great. So yeah, I think he’s a special guy.

Yeah, he is what I kind of thought he’d be. He’s a dynamic player, there’s still some things we need to work on. And he will tell you that as well. Continue to progress and become a complete player, that we also desire for him to be — more so he desires to be. So there’s still some work to be done. But yeah, he’s what I thought he was. He’s bigger than I thought he’d be, you know, as far as weight and things of that nature. But, he’s a highly, highly competitive kid. Always kind of knew he was, but he’s about what I thought he was going to be. He has the ability to make plays.

Yeah, yeah. So in some regards, and that’s nobody’s fault. I mean, I was as culpable as anybody, right? And so yeah, I just thought it was time. Nine years is a long time. I just thought it was in my best interest. So yeah.

I just talked to JK yesterday, actually, at length. But you know, I don’t know — I know this: the physicality part of the game is huge. And not just that game, particularly talking about that game — I think stat line in the last 16, 17 years, whatever it is, the team that’s rushed the ball, with the most rushing yards has won that game. So that starts in the trenches.

But to sit up here and say that one team has been tougher than the next, that’s for you guys to debate, I’m not getting into all that. I just know that being here for the time that I have been the past four weeks, I have seen a level of toughness that I thought they were — in the trenches, particularly. But these kids, they work really hard at their trade. So much respect to the successes they’ve had, and I hope to be a part of their future success.

Obviously you’ve got Kalel who moved over from (linebacker). And I think he’s a dynamic player. I think the guy’s got an opportunity to make a lot of plays. He’s a smart, smart player. Still learning the running back trade per se. Works hard. He’s an extremely talented player. He has to work to continue to show — another guy that is a leader in his own right. A little different than Donovan, maybe not as vocal, but very dynamic personalities.

Then you’ve got Tavierre — a good player. Continue to get to know these guys. These guys all a little different. He’s a little longer, striding guy. Works his tail off and I know he’s worked his tail off on special teams throughout the years. So continue to work with him and he’s been a joy to work with.

Ben Hall — he redshirted last year. And big body — he’s 230, 235 pounds. He’s had a good spring. He’s had a little history as far as running vertically, he’s tough to tackle. But he’s (big), he runs hard. It’s hard to get a solid hit on him, because there’s a lot of surface area to hit.

Cole, Cole Cabana — still evaluating him. He missed some time — nothing major, just some nagging pain. But again, another kid we haven’t had an opportunity to evaluate a lot. Obviously he’s hungry and we’re gonna see what he can do for our team.

Henry Donohue, he’s a walk-on that makes plays all the time. It’s kind of wild to see he’s always making plays. We’ve got Bryson — Bryson’s another young guy that’s walked on but he’s earning his stripes.

So I’ve been very impressed with all them. They’re good kids, they work really hard. We are still in an evaluation process, so to speak. They can say it or not, but they’re still evaluating me as a coach. They came here under Mike who’s obviously very well-renowned, has done a great job throughout his whole career — as a player and as a coach, you know, has done so many good things for this place. So they’re still kind of evaluating me and I’m still in the evaluation process, seeing who’s who and what guys can do. And we’re still going through the learning curve, so to speak.

That depends who you ask.

I do, I do. Thus far from what I now has been fantastic. That’s all I can go off of.

It’s a little bit of a different pitch for me right now. Because what can you talk about academically speaking? What can you talk about with the school and stuff? I’ve walked on campus once! There’s a north campus — I just figured that out, too!

So yeah, I’m still learning a lot. I’m still learning a lot about this place. But the one thing I can tell you (about) recruiting is I think I know people. And it starts back with the head coach and staff and the men that he’s brought in here on staff. Not just the full-time coaches, and I’m talking about auxiliary staff and support staff because they’re unbelievable people.

You’d have to ask them. You’d have to ask them. I just try to present to them what I’d do to my own child. Just telling the truth. Sometimes the truth hurts. Sometimes there’s people on the outside that don’t know all the angles and all the different things that lead up to conversations. And they can have their opinions. But that’s what they are — opinions. They don’t know what they know. But I just try to be honest with kids and tell them this is what it is. Try the best I can to have unconditional relationships. Just because you don’t do something that I want or I don’t do something that you want that means that relationship is dissolved. I’ve got three sons. A lot of times they don’t do what I want either. I’m not going anywhere and still gonna love them and guide them the best you can and be the voice of reason. Teach them how to grow. And I try to be organic with those types of things. Hopefully my message is being delivered as I would like to. I’m sure I failed at times but do the best I can with kids.

I think if you just look at it holistically, I just want someone to treat — I want to treat kids as I want someone to treat my sons. Sometimes that’s tough love, sometimes that can be harsh, it can hurt. Something to help them grow as people, help them grow as men. As coaches, we have an amazing responsibility to help these young people grow. And we just get to do that in the name of football. If I was in a different walk of life, a different job setting, maybe the kids wouldn’t listen as much. But if we’re football guys and the kids walk in and we have certain emblems on our shirt, they may listen a little more. You may grab their attention — you have their attention for whatever it is. I think there’s a message that can be delivered and deliver that message however I see fit.

We’ll find out! I know where it’s not gonna be. It’s not gonna be in my closet here!

But no, we’ll figure that out. There’s a lot of people I could give it to, I guess. But again, I’ve been so fortunate, unbelievably fortunate in my career that I’ve been some really dynamic places. A lot of people say blue bloods — I’ve been all in the Midwest now. But I’ve been very blessed and very fortunate. It’s not because of me, I think it’s a lot to do with the people I’ve been around as far as coaches. The opportunity that coaches have given me, and more importantly, I’ve been blessed with the players I’ve been around. Willing to take coaching, rip their chest open and giving me their heart. Hopefully they believe I’ve done the same. So to say it’s me — I’ve been very blessed and fortunate to work with some of the guys I’ve worked with.

These players are no different. They’re good guys at heart. They want to be coached, they want to be mentored, they want to be pushed. They all want to be held accountable. If we can do that, I can do that, you can do that — let’s go.

You’re asking me how comfortable I am in competitive recruiting battles? It is what it is, you better get comfortable.

The first thing, I want guys that are tough. Toughness is a big deal with guys that have a lot of respect for this game. A lot of respect for hard work, a lot of respect for their teammates, and it’s not about them. The physical traits are the physical traits; change direction, size, all those things. But I think your attitude is paramount. And I want guys that are tough guys. Guys that are mentally tough guys. A lot of times the film doesn’t show that — that takes time to get to know someone and ask questions. And that gets spent intimate time getting to know people and the people around them. Parents and the third uncle removed, the friends and things of that nature. So I guess if you were to say what was the one trait that for me is overriding? It’s toughness.

Oh yeah. I’ve envisioned it. I won’t tell you what that vision was, but — it will be interesting.

But at the end of the day, there’s a. team across the field, a coaching staff across the field and we have ours, they have theirs. It will never be about the coaches — ever. It shouldn’t be. We’ll go from there.

The ones I’ve talked to have been great. The ones I’ve talked to have been fantastic. People can within the Ohio State organization that I was close to, those relationships have not been severed, at least to my knowledge they have not been. The high school relationships with coaches, they understand my sons played out there and those relationships have not been severed.

So yeah, recruiting’s recruiting again, it’s about relationships. There’s some great, great high school football in that state. Phenomenal coaches in that state. But it goes back to again, one of your questions again, is what message are you delivering players? To Young People? Whether you’re at Ohio State or at Michigan, you’re at Notre Dame or at USC — what message are you delivering that can help people grow?

But yeah, but if anyone’s ever asked me to say something negative about my previous place, then that’s never, never ever going to happen. Because I have nothing but the utmost respect for what that program has always been, was, continue to be. Nothing but great respect to the people that helped me, helped me grow, my career. Not just my career, but help me grow personally and helped the kids grow. I’m indebted to that.