Phillip Daniels and Zion Grady are both likely to miss their second straight game as the Ohio State right tackle and defensive end were downgraded to doubtful on Friday night’s injury report: elevenwarriors.com/ohio-stat…

Zion Grady and Phillip Daniels remain questionable for Illinois, while walk-on wide receiver Amari Valerio-Hudson is the only new addition to Ohio State’s availability report. elevenwarriors.com/ohio-stat…

Jason Moore could have transferred after three quiet years at Ohio State. Instead, Moore stayed the course, and the fourth-year Buckeye who was a top-70 recruit is now emerging as one of OSU’s top DTs. “It just goes to show that hard work still pays off.” elevenwarriors.com/ohio-stat…

Eddrick Houston on Larry Johnson: "That's like granddad. That's what I think of Coach J. You can go to him if you need him for football, or you can go to him if you got something going on outside of football. It's just great to talk to Coach J.”

Eddrick Houston said he was excited to see Jamir Perez’s scoop-and-score touchdown, but also poked some fun at his freshman teammate: “Like Coach Day said, terrible ball security ... and the dancing at the end, we gotta cut it out.”

Ryan Day gave a shoutout on his radio show to fifth-year senior cornerback Inky Jones, a former walk-on. Day said Jones is “killing it on special teams right now” and thinks Jones can be one of the best gunners in the country.

Ryan Day on Connor Hawkins: “He’s been very consistent in practice, and so we have all the faith in the world that he’s gonna continue to do his job at a high level. He’s gonna have an opportunity at some point to make some big kicks here, and we know that he has the ability to do that.”

Ryan Day on Jamir Perez: “He has the size to really make a difference inside. I believe that everything we invest in him, we’re gonna get back in the end. It’s his job to make sure he’s doing everything he can to build the trust of the staff so he can get reps with those guys up there.” “... I think we all see the talent. We think he has a bright future here.”

Ryan Day on Luke Fahey: “He’s a smart guy. He’s a competitive guy. He’s an edgy guy. He learns quickly. He eats up all the work. Loves to be out there. Never feels like anything is too big for him. Just kind of walked in here and the first day he felt like he should be taking snaps with the first group. That’s just how he’s wired.”

Ryan Day complimented Justyn Martin for how he’s embraced his role as Ohio State’s scout-team quarterback. “It’s one of those guys that I wish we had a little more time with.” Day said Ohio State has had conversations about finding a package of plays for him with the athleticism he’s shown in practice.

While Ryan Day was disappointed about losing to Texas, he said a silver lining was learning where Ohio State must improve: “Glad that we had the Texas game in between (BSU and KSU). Obviously not excited about the result, but glad that we have a reference point of things we needed to get addressed going into this one.”

Ryan Day on Devin Sanchez: “You see the ability there. But the question is gonna be, as time goes on, is he gonna be the guy we can count on throughout the whole season? I think we all believe he can be; it’s just a matter of him doing it.” “... We know what we see in practice. He’s doing a good job against the receivers we have, but now you got to go do it and put it on the field based on the packages we’re putting in there.” “... He has the right mindset. He has a huge ‘want to.’ He cares a lot about his teammates, cares a lot about Ohio State. Now that we’re getting into conference play, he really wants to stack some of these games and be that guy that we’re counting on.”

Ryan Day on 97.1 The Fan says he sees Chris Henry Jr. and Brock Boyd "playing a lot of football" moving forward. "They're going to be major contributors, and we need them to not play like freshmen, to really step up, because they're going to have the opportunity."

Phillip Daniels and Zion Grady are questionable and Bennett Christian is out vs. Illinois, but James Smith and Legend Bey have been cleared to play after leaving last week’s game with injuries: elevenwarriors.com/ohio-stat…

Ian Moore said he loves playing next to Jake Cook and was thrilled to see him play as a sixth offensive lineman against Kent State. Moore admires Cook’s mentality, which he said is “F— it, I’m running. ... It’s f— it, I’m gonna run.”

Northwestern is on the rise after its blowout win over Colorado, while USC slides thanks to its defensive struggles against Rutgers. Big Ten Power Rankings as conference play begins: elevenwarriors.com/the-big-t…

Ohio State had just four runs of 10+ yards vs. Kent State, which ranks 106th in the FBS in yards allowed per carry. Ryan Day was disappointed by the lack of explosive runs and challenged his RBs, particularly Bo Jackson and Isaiah West, to “run angry”: elevenwarriors.com/ohio-stat…

Christian Alliegro said Ohio State has had high urgency all year, but the urgency increased after the Buckeyes’ loss to Texas: “We got to win out from here on out.”