\n The spotlight was on Ohio State\u2019s running backs and defensive tackles during this week\u2019s Wednesday media interviews at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. <\/p>\n
\n\tRunning backs Bo Jackson, Isaiah West and James Peoples all met with the media on Wednesday, as did defensive tackles Eddrick Houston and Will Smith Jr.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tJackson and West talked about their breakout freshman seasons and how they believe they complement each other, while Peoples talked about how he\u2019s adjusted to being in a four-man running back rotation with Jackson, West and CJ Donaldson. Houston talked about how the extra work he\u2019s put in after practice has helped him improve over the course of the season, while Smith talked about how his confidence has grown this year as he and the rest of Ohio State\u2019s defensive tackles used the preseason narratives about their position group as motivation.\n<\/p>\n
\tRB Bo Jackson<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI feel like there\u2019s always home run potential\u2026 I feel like I always got that potential to make big plays.\u201d\u2013 Bo Jackson on whether he\u2019s confidence in his home run potential\n<\/p>\n
\t\tOn his first season at Ohio State: \u201cIt\u2019s been very fun, just being able to get adjusted and play as much as I\u2019ve been able to play as a freshman.\u201d Jackson said he takes pride in his toughness but said he has to work on \u201ceverything in my game\u201d and continue improving as a runner, pass blocker and pass catcher.<\/p>\n
\t\tJackson said it was a \u201cbummer\u201d to have his 75-yard touchdown run against Purdue called back because of a block in the back penalty on Jeremiah Smith. Jackson said he and Smith \u201cmade jokes about it\u201d after the game and have \u201claughed at it\u201d since. Jackson is confident he will break off a long touchdown run soon.<\/p>\n
\t\tOn what it took to earn playing time as a freshman: \u201cYou just gotta put your head down and trust the process, trust the coaches and just buy in and believe everything they say.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tRB Isaiah West<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cBo, he\u2019s a slasher. You put him in, big play at any moment. Then you put me in to switch it up, I feel like that controls the pace of the game and it keeps us two fresh.\u201d\u2013 Isaiah West on how he and Bo Jackson complement each other\n<\/p>\n
\t\tWest said his relationship with Bo Jackson is getting closer every day. They\u2019re roommates during road trips.<\/p>\n
\t\tWest said his high school (St. Joseph\u2019s Prep in Philadelphia) had a six-man running back rotation, so he\u2019s used to playing in a deep rotation of backs.<\/p>\n
\t\tOn running backs coach Carlos Locklyn and his high expectations for his players: \u201cOne of the many things I love about him is he\u2019s real. He keeps it absolutely real. He\u2019s the same dude that recruited me back in high school and he holds us to that standard and I appreciate that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tWest believes vision is the key to success as a running back. \u201cEverything begins with vision as a running back. At the end of the day, it don\u2019t matter how fast your little feet can move if you don\u2019t know where you\u2019re going.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tRB James Peoples<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI’m hungry for it, man. I came here and I want to be a contributor to this team, of course. So every time I’m in there, I’m gonna give it my all.\u201d\u2013 James Peoples on his mentality when he\u2019s in the game\n<\/p>\n
\t\tPeoples thinks Ohio State has done a good job of using the running backs to their individual strengths. Asked what he thinks his strengths are, Peoples said he\u2019s worked on making everything in his game a strength. \u201cI love running between the tackles, catching the ball, being put out in space, making people miss, getting downhill.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tPeoples said he didn\u2019t see a four-man running back rotation coming, but he thinks it\u2019s been a positive. \u201cSeeing everybody eat, seeing everybody go out there and perform and do their absolute best has been something that’s really good and unique about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tAsked if it\u2019s been frustrating not to get as many carries as expected, Peoples replied, \u201cThat comes with it, absolutely,\u201d but said he\u2019s keeping his focus on the team\u2019s goals.<\/p>\n
\t\tPeoples said he started out as a receiver when he began playing football, which he thinks makes him good in the passing game out of the backfield.<\/p>\n
\tDT Eddrick Houston<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cJust being able to take on that role, listen to the coaches, because that comes with a lot. There\u2019 s a different animal inside. Being able to listen to the coaches and them beong able to help me out with whatever I need really helped me through this process.\u201d\u2013 Eddrick Houston on becoming more mature while transitioning from DE to DT\n<\/p>\n
\t\tHouston said putting in extra work after practice has helped him improve as a player. \u201cThere\u2019s plenty of things that people do well and people need to work on. Being able to take that time out of practice instead of going straight home, just with different coaches, having that time out to just work on whatever I need has helped me a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tHouston said his teammates and his desire to play at the next level have motivated him to improve. \u201cCoach (Matt) Patricia, Coach (Larry Johnson), anybody in the facility will tell you if you want to get to the next level, you got to be willing to put in the work. Or if you want to get on the field and contribute, you got to put in the extra work after practice or whenever you can.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tHouston said Johnson wants his defensive line room to have a \u201cKing Kong mentality.\u201d While he didn\u2019t elaborate on what that means, Houston said Johnson has been willing to help him with everything he needs and always has his door open.<\/p>\n
\tDT Will Smith Jr.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThere’s a lot of talk out there and sometimes it’s hard to block it all out. So it’s definitely a big motivating factor for me, I feel like, and I know for Eddrick, K-Mac and Tywone and everybody else, it’s just like, we need to put ourselves on the map and we need to show people who we are.\u201d\u2013 Will Smith Jr. on how public conversation about Ohio State\u2019s defensive tackles motivated them\n<\/p>\n
\t\tOn where he\u2019s improved this season: \u201cI feel like my confidence has grown a bunch and I feel like my strength is showing. I feel like I’ve been working at getting stronger, and I’m feeling out there on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tEddrick Houston\u2019s approach to practice every day made him ready to start, Smith said. \u201cI see his hustle. Like, he’s a hustler for sure and he loves the game. I just, we be joking back and forth in film, just talking, and we can just tell like we got something special. I feel like we’re getting better and we both just want it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tSlowing mobile quarterback Nico Iamaleava is simple, though not easy, Smith said. \u201cJust cage the pocket, really.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tOn how last year\u2019s starting defensive tackles, Tyleik Williams and Ty Hamilton, taught him and other defensive tackles to stay healthy throughout the season: \u201cThey taught us a lot on how to stay healthy throughout the season while you’re playing, like, 40 to 50 plays (a game).\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The spotlight was on Ohio State\u2019s running backs and defensive tackles during this week\u2019s Wednesday media interviews at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-288596","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}