Ryan Day expresses confidence in Jermaine Matthews Jr. stepping into key role on Ohio State defense

Ohio State cornerback Jermaine Matthews Jr. stepped in for an injured Denzel Burke during the second half of the Cotton Bowl against Texas and more than held his own.

Matthews helped the Buckeyes hold Texas to only seven second-half points as Ohio State clinched a spot in the national championship game with a 28-14 win.

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Ohio State head coach Ryan Day was asked ahead of the national title game against Notre Dame about the play of Jermaine Matthews Jr. and how much confidence he has in him. It’s clear that he feels great about the way Matthews is playing.

“I think everybody feels comfortable putting Jermaine in the game based on the way that he’s played this year, the way that he’s practiced this year,” Ryan Day said.

“I say this all the time; you have an opportunity to earn trust in your coaches and your teammates every day, and when you get to this point in January, this is from the whole off-season, all of preseason and during the season, and we’ve talked about how depth is going to be important in this moment, a ton throughout the season, and Jermaine has done a good job.”

For the season, Jermaine Matthews has 21 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack. He has appeared in all 15 games.

Often times when a starting cornerback goes down, the opponent tries to pick on his replacement. That certainly didn’t happen with Matthews in the College Football Playoff semifinal against Texas.

“I think everybody trusts the fact that when he goes in the game, he’s going to do his job, and that’s it,” Day said. “I felt like he played well. He graded out a champion. He’s a very competitive player. He loves the competition. He loves his teammates.

“He’s a gritty type of guy that loves being a Buckeye, loves his teammates, loves, again, to compete. When his number is called, he’ll be ready to make a play in this game, as well.”

While Jermaine Matthews Jr. will be ready if needed, Day does expect Denzel Burke to be available against Notre Dame.

Either way, it sounds as if Matthews may have earned more playing time.

“He’ll be available for the for the next game,” Day said of Burke. “He was dealing with an upper extremity issue that we felt like at the time, was the right thing to do to hold him.

“Obviously, we listen to the doctors and we get the feedback from Denzel, and we felt like Jermaine was playing well at the time. So that was the decision that was made. But, Denzel will be ready to play in this game.”