A player for the Ohio State Buckeyes has decided to end his or her career due to family issues.

“Confidence and momentum is such a huge part — attitude — about playing defense. Probably where I’m most proud of them is we got the stop in their end and then we turned it over on the punt return and we came right back out and stopped them again. I think that shows a lot of confidence and a lot of want to. ‘Hey, okay, that’s fine, put us (in).’ You don’t flinch in that situation, because that’s easy to hang your head and they went out there and got the stop. So I think that sequence kind of shows where we’re at right now.”

“There’s a lot of depth there. There’s a lot of guys that play. They’ve really been solid all year. Guys inside making tackles. We’ve been getting pressure. So, yeah, I mean, I think maybe people look at stats only, but I could see the film. I knew we have a really good group and they showed up.”

ON THE BIGGEST THING THAT HAS CLICKED THIS YEAR FOR THE OHIO STATE DEFENSE:

“You got great leadership. You got guys who want to, I don’t know, hold up our end. Guys who want to be counted on and you throw that in with an extra-year knowledge of the scheme. Knowledge of the scheme is really a big deal. Being able to see the forest through the trees, understanding, being able to handle adjustments during the week where maybe in the past you’re hesitant to put new things in because guys don’t quite understand. And they pick things up and they study and they take a lot of pride.”

“The explosive plays were just bad calls by me. And so I started making better calls.”

ON THINGS HE WAS CONCERNED PENN STATE MIGHT DO OFFENSIVELY AND HAVE SUCCESS:

“Yeah, certainly the running game. They were a team that could drive the ball and the intermediate passing game, very effective. So, we wanted to get them in situations where they had to throw the ball down the field and give our rush a chance to get there. We mixed things up somewhat in the rush. We did the right things early early in the series to get them in situations where we could force them to try to throw the ball down the field.”

ON GETTING EXTRA FIRED UP PLAYING PENN STATE:

“Yeah, it all starts on Monday with coach [Larry Johnson]. He gets us fired. Top-5 matchup in ‘The Shoe.’ You don’t need any more motivation than that.”

ON THE OHIO STATE DEFENSE PERFORMING THE WAY JIM KNOWLES ENVISIONED:

“It feels great. Just trusting in the process and planning and staying close to God. None of this is ever possible — myself and the team if God’s not involved. God’s the center of everything. I believe that patience is especially hard with the ups and downs, but I think this defense, we have a chip on our shoulder especially from last year.”