On Mike Sainristil's performance against Ohio State

He's a captain of the team, he's definitely a captain of the defense. He practiced extremely hard last week. He was in there doing extra study, the extra time with the holiday. He was studying the tight ends, the receivers, the quarterback and different formations. He was definitely on it. He's always texting me and telling me what he sees on film. All those guys. I knew he was prepared mentally. Then, when you get down there, it's a different deal. You have to just wait out the storm a little bit. Just wait it out and once they all got settled in, he was able to make some good plays, critical plays, really, down in the red zone to help us win.

On the priority of recruiting Ohio

It's a major priority. To be honest with you, anywhere we have connections and anywhere there is talented football players, it's an extreme priority. Ohio just being right down the street. I'm from Ohio and I know the football there is high level. We definitely want to continue to tap into that. The different players we have on our team from Ohio have been big impacts for us. Want to continue to do that, build those relationships back up and continue to bring those players up here and show them what we're about. It's been going pretty well here recently. Want to continue that trend and want to continue with the '24 class and anybody else, finalize the '23 class.

On what point did he realize the defense was comfortable on Saturday

I knew they were comfortable at the beginning of the year. We've been in that environment before. I know sometimes you get there and, oh, everybody makes it out to be something—you know what we do. We make it a bigger thing. They're on the field, they're in between the lines. As long as they can communicate to one another everything kind of settles in. You make it loud in practice, you make it chaotic. As a coach, I put them in stressful situations, I make them react with different emotions. I felt that going into halftime and we went into that locker room and they were really positive and we got them right where we want them, I felt that when we came out and performed in the second half, it wasn't unexpected by us. Our big thing is emphasizing, I'm sure Jesse probably mentioned it, trying to take the ball away more. That helped we were able to get those takeaways. We felt that they would give us an opportunity to do it and when we did, we had to capitalize. It worked out.

On how much of his time right now is spent recruiting

As soon as I walk away from this podium I'll text or get a call, or make a call. It's non-stop. It's non-stop. It's part of the profession, I love about this job. Building a relationship with those players and continue to get the good players here. It's non-stop. You go home, it's non-stop. You're texting—again, if a kid is in California, you might be getting a text at midnight and turn around and come to work at 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning. It's non-stop.

On what he's learned from Jim Harbaugh

I learned to be myself. For years, everybody in the media, everybody has got an opinion on Coach Harbaugh. From this, that and the third. He's been himself since I've met him. He's a lovable guy and he loves football, you know that. Second thing is love of the game. If you're going to be a part of this program, you have to love football. You have to love being around it, you have to love everything it's done to bridge the gap between the guy from Youngstown, Ohio, a guy from everywhere, Ohio, he traveled everywhere. Just bridging the gap and loving the game. Caring about your players. I'll tell you one thing, being around a lot of head coaches, they don't know all their players like Coach Harbaugh does. The parents are welcome any time here. I mean, any time. He has a great relationship with the coaches and the players. He's not afraid, which I'm not either and I think we're similar in this aspect, to handle the truth right there in front of you. He does a great job with that and I really appreciate him for that.

On how much is the defensive scheme set up to not have defensive busts

I'm a bend dont' break philosophy type of DB coach. I think you have to take risks in everything. I didn't know that stat, I wouldn't have believed it because I feel like we have gave up too many. We leave game sometimes and we gave up one and I'm still not satisfied because if we turn to find the ball, we'll make a play on it. You just have to emphasize that in the meeting room and players have kind of grown accustomed to that. Everybody has. They catch a five-yard hitch and everybody is not happy. We go out and try to redeem ourselves. You try to practice that, you gotta emphasize that and you have to show them the film because the two things that we said all along is be urgent in the game last week, be urgent in the game this week and don't allow them to throw the ball over our heads. We make them earn it and we play fundamentally sound then we gotta get the ball back to our offense and let them to continue to do that all year.

On whether the play of the safeties has helped

Disguising guys is important. Sometimes you want to show a rotation for a certain reason, to show a blitz or deter a run from going that way. Quarterbacks and offenses check a lot things off the safety rotation. Sometimes our corners will act like they're doing something and they're not. Everybody thinks they might be playing man but they're playing Cover 2. You don't know. I think mixing that in gives a quarterback a different picture once the ball is snapped. When he sees a picture and then it changes when that ball is snapped, I think it delays the time a little bit and it gives us a chance to cover a little longer. Gives our lineman more time to get to him.

On how influential the win over Ohio State was for recruiting

I think it's been big for, at least, in Ohio. Nationally, I think a lot of people have taken notice. I think all the victories have been big. I think having the record we have right now is huge. The way we win, the style we play with, I think everybody—it's just refreshing to see a team play together and not just one side of the ball being so impactful. That's what I think has been critical for us in recruiting and in any aspect. They like the way we play, they like the style, our band of play.

On how Jesse Minter has continued the culture Mike Macdonald has set

I think he came right in and established his own way. Jesse is not a yeller or screamer by any means. We want to continue to build on who we have now and not focus—can you guys hear me? I'll say this again because I've been saying it all year. We're not going to focus on the guys who were here last year, we're going to focus on the team now and the team that's here. I just want to make sure everybody hears that. That's what he said in the beginning, that's what he said to the team this week how proud he was for winning that game. Showing everybody that we can do it with the people we have in that room. That's the culture he's created. Everybody has their little styles, their little bit of culture they create. Like I said a few minutes ago, we're going to play as a team and we understand our role on the defense and what we're responsible for. He just emphasizes that, the pillars we have, to make us a great defense.

On what he can take from Ohio State's passing game as they prepare for Purdue

Well, what I can take from it is we did enough to win, I feel like we could do more. Everybody is so proud and happy. I really believe that we left some things out there and I want—we're fixing those. Our guys are going out there and do what they're taught to do. Be fundamentally sound, execute the assignment, I'm going to coach them better. We're not going to get complacent, we're not going to let that win last week affect this game. They do pass the ball a lot and they're very good at doing it. They know exactly what to do, when to do it. They know how to attack different coverages. If you show them those coverages or if they understand what you're in. We have to be prepared. It's the bigger challenge because it's the only challenge this week. We're going to approach these guys like we do every week. That game from last week is over. We learn from our mistakes every week and we go back all year, I go back to all the games and make cut-ups of the plays that hurt us, the plays that should've hurt us and we practice those plays and we emphasize because we know we're going to see them. You do, you see them every week, You see a play from a game three weeks ago or five weeks ago that somebody thinks it's going to work on us again and we're prepared for it.

On Will Johnson

I've always treated Will like a starter. When coach put the depth chart out there, those three guys were starting corners. This day and age, when you're playing games, I mean, at halftime we've played 50 snaps. You can't ask a guy to be at his best and play 82 snaps or more. He was starting in the beginning his amount just increased every week. Last week, we knew going into the season that he's talented, he's smart, he's mature for his age. We're going to need him as well as a couple of other guys to help us win and cover those receivers and beat Ohio State. The development of Will has been transitioning all year. Leaving him in for the majority of the reps, I didn't even notice, to be honest with you. He did his job, I expect all those guys to do their jobs when they're out there and he performed to the ability we needed him to. He set the tone the very first play. He set the tone of what we're going to do and what we're capable of. Now, I told him the biggest challenge is now that you've shown that you can do that with the best receivers in the country, now you have to show that every week. Every receiver on every team is going to challenge all of us and so now it's time to step up our game even more which is a great challenge and we're going to continue to elevate.

On Charlie Jones

We faced him last year. I think he does a good job with the system. When we watch game film of that offense, there's definitely a role that position that he plays is familiar. He does a good job of executing the plays they allow him to do. He's very good with his hands, catches the ball well. He's a quick receiver, does a good job getting those open-access plays and he's definitely a threat when he gets the ball in his hands. Our plan is just going to continue to do what we do and know where he is at all times. We will have to have a plan for him because he's effective and they throw him the ball quite a bit. He's always involved.

On playing indoors

I think it affects—playing outdoors definitely—the wind, the sun, sometimes it affects certain aspects of the game. As far as we're concerned in the defense, we could play in that parking lot but we need to execute. We're excited about playing in the dome. We think it'll give us an opportunity to go out there and showcase our talent. We don't really think about it that much until it becomes a factor like playing outside. I think playing in a dome is going to be an excellent opportunity for both teams to showcase talent. I look forward to seeing what our guys do when we get there on Saturday.

On Mike Sainristil's transition to DB

At first, I wasn't sure either. I talked to coach, I said, OK, I'm going to follow your lead. He knew—again, I got here in the summertime, I knew the DBs. I have a relationship with the receivers and he thought that Mikey could contribute and help us. His skillset would be great for that position. I said alright, coach, let's go. I'll do whatever you ask me to do. After the first practice, I could tell. I walked up to him, I think you're on to something. He's just natural. I was excited, still am excited about it. Mikey is like a son to me, I like the way he approaches life. I like the way he approaches the game, I like the man that he has become. I'm happy and excited that coach made that decision.

On how he understands the concept of leverage

Really, the concept of leverage is newer to him. That's one area that he definitely continues to work on. Keeping outside leverage on the receiver, or keep the inside receiver. Especially in the slot. When you play corner, it's a little easier because you have the sideline. What they do to the corners, they bring the receivers in closer to the hash, now they have more space to deal with. Mikey has always got that space. Inside, outside, behind him, doesn't have a lot of people over top of him. He's really right there. There's an island within an island, that's what he's doing. He's out there trying to understand leverage more, something that you think he understands as a receiver but until you have to keep that leverage, I tell him buy it, don't lease it. It's your leverage, buy it. Buy the home, don't lease it. Own that leverage until the snap is over. Until he continues to own his leverage, he'll continue to learn this game and continue to try to understand. The receiver leverage is a little bit different than the DB leverage. The other aspect, too, for him is you play probably 25-30 snaps at receiver and you're playing 70-80 snaps at nickel. He's the only defensive back that doesn't get rotated out. If that says anything about the way we feel about the young man and the trust that he's earned with me and other coaches and Coach Harbaugh. I think that says it all.