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Football
Two-Minute Drill: Updates from Vrabel, Zach Smith
By Brandon Castel

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio State defense played one of its best games of the season over the weekend, thanks in large part to a dominant performance from John Simon, Nathan Williams and the defensive front.

OSU defensive line coach Mike Vrabel some time talk about the defense, while receivers coach Zach Smith had some interesting things to say about the offense on Monday.

Vrabel Talks Defense

* Mike Vrabel said it's a process with freshman DE Noah Spence. It doesn't happen over night, but they're expanding his package.

* Vrabel said Spence and the other freshmen had to learn everyone is fast and athletic at this level. Said everything came so "stinking easy" to Adolphus Washington in HS. Learning how to fight through.

* Vrabel said Nathan Williams' attitude and work ethic has been tremendous. Said nobody plays harder.

* Vrabel said they need Michael Bennett to play like he did Saturday, and even better than that if they're going to be really good.

* Vrabel said it was the first time the defense believed if they could just get the ball back to Braxton in the 2nd half they would win.

* Vrabel said it's a lot easier to get guys to buy in to Meyer's system when you have this kind of success.

Boren’s Move to Defense

* Vrabel said Zach Boren gets better on D every snap. Doing a great job and it's an inspiration for the other guys.

* Boren said the first couple games at LB, he was just out there running around. Now he's really starting to feel comfortable.

* Boren said he feels like the perfect compliment to Ryan Shazier. Said they work well together out there.

* Boren said it's actually a lot more fun playing defense. Really has the right mentality for it.

Zach Smith Talks Offense

* Smith said Jake Stoneburner had to make the transition from being covered by linebackers. Said he used to get open by running average routes because he was faster than LBs. Now he's up against DBs.

* Smith said the last 3 weeks has made them realize they need to target Stoneburner more.

* Smith said you never foresee a team making the kind of progress this group has to become 9-0 this year.

* Smith said this isn't a dominant football team blowing people out, but the players come together at the end to win the game for each other.

Devin Smith, Gunner

* Zach Smith said he would be disappointed in Devin Smith if he couldn't be a good gunner because of his speed.

* Smith said he'd like to think he taught Devin how to make those plays on punt coverage.

* Devin Smith said at first he was confused when Urban Meyer asked him to run down and cover punts. Had never done that before, but Meyer explained how he wants his fastest guys out there.

* Devin Smith said he got a stinger on that first tackle and his right arm was all tingly, but he's fine now.

* Devin Smith said after he came off the field, Vrabel told him they want him over on defense to play corner or safety.

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