Ryan Day raves about the leadership of Jack Sawyer after Rose Bowl win

Ryan Day raved about veteran EDGE Jack Sawyer and his leadership following Ohio State’s dominant Rose Bowl victory over Oregon.

With that, the Buckeyes advanced to the College Football Playoff semifinals against Texas. Sawyer was a big factor, making life difficult for Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel and the offense.

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Sawyer is the type of person to wear his heart on his sleeve and it could certainly help carry Ohio State to a national title.

“I can’t say enough about Jack as a leader, as a person,” Day said postgame. “He really stands for what it means to be a Buckeye, and to see him playing at a high level, he’s the heart and soul of the front.

“And Cody will tell you just what he brings every day. He brings a hard hat and a lunch pail and goes to work, and it’s showing late in the season. He’s playing a lot of great football. He’s a big reason we won today.”

Sawyer finished the Rose Bowl with two tackles for loss and two sacks in the game. The Oregon offensive line had a pretty tough containing the veteran pass rusher.

Sawyer, as previously mentioned, lets his emotions show in big moments. It was tough for Ohio State to see Michigan win for the fourth straight year, but the Buckeyes have certainly done their part to make up for it so far.

“Well, in this game, there are ups and downs along the way, and when things are going good you’ve got to hug the guys you love the most and when things aren’t, you’ve got to hug them even harder. And you just hang in there and you keep swinging,” Day said.

“I talked to these guys about it a couple of weeks ago. That’s life. And this team is resilient. And when you surround yourself with great people, with great character, you find yourself working through difficult times. At the end of the day, we wanted to win a national championship, and the way that we got here wasn’t what we expected. It wasn’t what we planned for.”

Sawyer and the Buckeyes, despite some disappointments, are just two wins away from a national title.

“But nonetheless, we had an opportunity to come back and play Oregon after we had already played them early in the season, and that’s the only thing that mattered,” Day said. “And the guys have been doing a great job staying focused. The staff have stuck together.

“But the players have stuck together and they’re fighting to stay together because the winner gets to play together another week. The loser doesn’t. So those guys have worked hard to stay together, and now we’ve got an opportunity to go play Texas and a lot of football ahead of us.”