Ohio State offensive linemen Wyatt Davis and Josh Myers answered questions from media members on a May 14 teleconference. What follows is a bullet-point rundown of everything the returning starters discussed Thursday, including Davis’ late grandfather, working out amid quarantine, playing without fans, the position battles among the linemen, and more.
- Josh Myers: I hope everyone’s doing well, staying healthy.
- This time away has been difficult. I think Zoom meetings and keeping in touch with the guys has kept me sane. Fortunately, I’ve got a lot of weights to use. I’ve been keeping up with schoolwork and my internships.
- Wyatt Davis: I have access to a lot of weights like Josh. I’ve just been trying to keep busy. With school starting back up, it’s helped take my mind off the situation. I’m trying to make the most of the situation we’ve been dealt.
- Josh Myers: Coach Stud misses us and obviously wishes we were around. A bunch of us hop on the meeting before we have to, so we can just talk and joke around before getting to business. Coach Stud will join in conversations before we get to work. When it’s time to get to work, it’s time to get work. You can tell we all miss it.
- Wyatt Davis: Grandfather? It was honestly very tough when he passed. My grandad was struggling with his health for the past couple years now. My grandad was essentially my hero growing up, he was one of them. His story – how he came from nothing and made something of himself. He went from a late-round draft pick and turned it into a Hall of Fame career. He made more in his business ventures than he did in the NFL. He never let anyone put him in a box. His work ethic was inspiring. We focused more on the positives of the situation.
- Wyatt Davis: Every time I came back home, I’d go to see him. He helped my brother and I with football, and he held us to very high standards because he knew what we were capable. Even though he couldn’t physically go to my games, I knew he was always watching. His wife used to send me videos of him after every game congratulating me. He was my idol, and I want to be like him in football and in business.
- Josh Myers: Offensive line play is so different than any other position in sports, just because you have to have athleticism and also have the strength to move large, grown men, who don’t want to be moved. There’s no other position like it. There is a sled in the Woody that we use to help work on driving our feet after contact, but we don’t have that at home. Luckily for me, I have my brother, who played at Kentucky
- Wyatt Davis: There is a lot more that goes into offensive line training besides just the weights. I’ve been trying to do drills on my own, because it’s important to hark on those things and continue to develop muscle memory. I want to be as crisp as I can be when I come back. I want to have the same quickness that I had before the coronavirus. Conditioning is important too. It’s hard to do with everything going on.
- Wyatt Davis: Where that fire came from was a build-up of emotions based off how we finished this last season. The speech came during the winter, and we were going to have mat drills, and for the first time we were going to do mat drills in back-to-back years. Before last year, I hadn’t felt like I was in a place to speak up, but after last season, I felt like I could. Essentially there are a lot of guys that say they want things, but there aren’t many that are willing to put in the work for it. After that loss last season, I don’t want to experience that. And I remember looking in the seniors eyes after that loss, and for some of them it was their last game ever. And I don’t want to ever go out like that again.
- The point of my message was being accountable. A lot of people say they want to be the best. At the end of the day, nobody is really going to know what you did besides you. I truly believe that we have a lot of guys are on our team that are accountable. I get the sense that people are really working and really want to be great.
- I have seen some film from when my grandad was playing. Thank God, I didn’t have to play against someone like that yet. I feel like the reason I have that fire is what they instilled in my brother and I – don’t be complacent. Do what you need to do to be noticed. That competitive nature drives me. And as far as that physical nastiness, my grandad told me that he didn’t wear a mouthguard and when he sacked the quarterback, his front teeth came out and he continued to play the game.
- Josh Myers: I think the camaraderie will be better than when we left. It’s hard sometimes that you get so into the routine of things that you take things for granted. I think it will make our bond stronger.
- Wyatt Davis: That’s how I feel too. You can tell when we get on Zoom meetings and everyone’s cracking jokes and talking about how much we miss each other.
- Being leaders?
- Josh Myers: For me, when we do have meetings, trying to be vocal. Holding guys accountable. Also, I let the guys know that I love them and care for them, and we want them to succeed. We want to leave Ohio State better than how we found it. That’s really important to me.
- Wyatt Davis: I try to let them know that I genuinely care. I feel like as far as being leader, the best thing you can do right now is just be vocal. I let them know that if they need anything, they can call me.
- Josh Myers: I think having Jonah last year helped a lot with all his experience. I think it helps that we have Wyatt, Thayer and I all coming back as starters.
- Wyatt Davis: We had absolutely no clue what to expect. Now that all three of us have gameday experience, and we understand how our bodies will feel deep in the season.
- Josh Myers: Yes, absolutely. I would do anything really to play this season. I don’t know what I would do without football. With that would come sacrifices, and I’m willing to sacrifice whatever, whether it is to quarantine myself or whatever.
- Wyatt Davis: I definitely would do anything to have this season. Whether that would be self-quarantine, Would it suck not having fans? Yes. But would that affect me not playing the season? No. Fans or no fans, I would want to play.
- What would concern you the most if you come back to play this season?
- Wyatt Davis: There’s a long list of worries. Starting off, with the whole pandemic, making sure you’re not spreading it around. Especially in football, when you’ve got guys sweating and grinding on each other. Another concern is being game-ready. Not having spring ball was a big deal. It’s a time to work on your craft and correct the things you need to work on, so that by fall camp, you’re tuned up and ready to go. At the end of the day, you can only worry so much.
- Josh Myers: For me, the majority of my fears of actually getting the coronavirus are geared toward my family. If I get it, that’s obviously not good, but my biggest fear would be giving it to my family, like my parents. In terms of being ready for the season, like Wyatt said, spring ball is critical. It’s critical for the young guys, and it’s critical for everyone to work on our game. Hopefully we’re able to train for two weeks before we start hitting. If we don’t have those two weeks, and we have to hop right in, I think we have to hope that what we’ve done is enough.
- What would you guys want to have if they decide you can come back?
- Wyatt Davis: Definitely getting your temperature checked before you walk into the Woody Hayes Athletic Center and wearing masks. Monitoring how many people are gathered together at once. Our medical staff has been great throughout this entire thing, telling us the dos and don’ts.
- Josh Myers: Wyatt hit the nail right on the head. One thing that they’ve been huge on has been not having more than 10 people working out at once. We trust our coaches, we trust our medical staff, and I know they’re going to try to do right by us and keep us safe.
- Losing year of development and exposure?
- Josh Myers: It’s a nightmare to be honest with you. That’s time that we can never get back. I was so excited for this season, and I’m still hoping and praying that it happens, and I trust that it will. Even the thought of not playing this season is terrifying.
- Wyatt Davis: I was looking so forward to this season, because I felt like last season I was just barely breaching the surface. I know this is a very big year for me. And I know this is a very big year for our team, coming off a bittersweet season last year. I know that our coaches would be very upset as well, and losing that extra year would definitely hurt. My back-up plan is just to work even harder.
- Routine?
- Wyatt Davis: I wake up at 6, head down to the gym at 6:40 and I work out for an hour and change. Then after eating and showering, we have meetings and I go to a field by my house and do position drills. I’m trying to get these gains, man.
- Josh Myers: I wake up at 7:15 and I work out at 8 with my brother every morning and we go through some drills right after that until about 10. Then I eat and shower and get ready for meetings. I’m also trying to get my internship situated, because I need internship credit to work.
- Wyatt Davis: In those first three practices, we saw a lot of strides. And not even spring ball, but even in the winter. There’s just something about this year – we saw a lot of guys starting to take that next step – Harry Miller, Nick Petit-Frere, Matt Jones, Dawand Jones and all the early enrollees like Paris Johnson and Luke Wypler.
- Matt Jones has changed his whole mentality and it’s great to see him willing to put in the work.
- Josh Myers: I agree wholeheartedly. I think we were taking a huge step as an offensive line group. I could tell we had guys who were going to get a lot better this spring. It was fun to watch the competitions, which don’t have clear-cut leaders right now. Anything short of us all grading out as champions and dominating is not acceptable.
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