Ryan Day describes Emeka Egbuka as 'a warrior' following career-best outing vs. Iowa
Ryan Day is thankful Emeka Egbuka returned for one more season at Ohio State. Now, the star wide receiver is the veteran leader inside the WR room for the Buckeyes.
After an injury-plagued 2023, Egbuka’s performance dropped drastically from his breakout sophomore campaign. Instead of turning pro, he returned to show what he can do and rebuild his NFL Draft stock.
Egbuka has been doing just that all season long, but his tape against Iowa on Saturday was especially impressive. He tied a career-high in catches with 9 against a veteran Hawkeye secondary and set a new career-high with 3 touchdown catches.
After the game, the head coach made sure to give Egbuka “some credit” for the 2nd-half spark after the offense scored just one touchdown before the break:
“3 touchdown catches. This guy’s a warrior, he came back for a reason, and I’m just really proud of the day he had,” said Day in his on-field interview.
Egbuka himself was asked about the performance and he pointed to a strong week of practice between himself and Will Howard. The work of Ohio State’s quarterback was also evident as he completed 21 of 25 passes.
“You’ve got to put it in during the week in practice. That’s really the only way you can build confidence during the week is by making the plays in practice,” said Egbuka. “Me and Will had a special connection this week, and we were just making sure we were getting all the looks, doing everything we needed to so that on Saturday when it showed up, we made the plays.”
“Me and Will (Howard) had a special connection this week.”@OhioStateFB star WR Emeka Egbuka and head coach Ryan Day spoke w/ @JennyDell_ after Egbuka’s 3-TD performance vs. Iowa pic.twitter.com/XU6I7kYN56
— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) October 5, 2024
Day continued to praise the senior receiver at his postgame press conference. He listed Egbuka as one of the best in the country and “a complete player” for the Buckeyes. Earlier in the week, Day praised Egbuka for his ability to do the dirty work in the blocking game, and his time to rack up the touchdowns finally came vs. Iowa.
Ryan Day on Emeka Egbuka:
“I think Emeka’s one of the best receivers in the country,” he said. “You see a complete player. He’s a captain of our team. He’s a warrior. He does all the dirty work. … I think, again, one of the better receivers in the entire country.”
— Chase Brown (@chaseabrown__) October 5, 2024