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Why Ohio State Will Have A New Look At Linebacker In 2026 · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Friday, August twenty first
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  Speaker 1: time your host Tom or the ball State game in
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  Speaker 1: fifteen days, the game against Michigan in ninety nine days. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: double digits till the game, and just over two weeks
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  Speaker 1: till the Ball State game. It is starting to get real.
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  Speaker 1: If you want to celebrate the fact that it started
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  Speaker 1: to get real, let me recommend a great place to
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  Speaker 1: do that. That would be Jeff Rubi's of Columbus, proudly
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  Speaker 1: Columbus to check out the menu and make a reservation today.
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  Speaker 1: Welcome in, Tony Gerdaman of Buckeye Insiders dot com. We
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  Speaker 1: just recorded a podcast for the Buckeye Weekly Feed where
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  Speaker 1: we talked about some of the stuff we learned from
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  Speaker 1: the Big Ten Network day at Ohio States practice on Thursday,
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  Speaker 1: and now we're going to hear a little bit about
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  Speaker 1: what we learned after the practice on Thursday. Getting a
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  Speaker 1: chance to talk, especially to the linebackers and Tony. I
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  Speaker 1: think one of the really interesting pieces of this year's
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State team was last year it was just it
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  Speaker 1: was kind of easy. Like some people might say too easy.
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  Speaker 1: Matt Patricia, I'm sure would say, like it was fine.
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  Speaker 1: It wasn't wasn't easy, it was just it was fine.
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  Speaker 1: But yeah, you just had two guys who were just Okay,
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  Speaker 1: it's r VL recent at sunny styles and all right,
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  Speaker 1: bust your hands that the linebacker question is answered. This year,
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  Speaker 1: it's a little more complicated, and I think it's a
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  Speaker 1: little bit more of an open question how all these
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  Speaker 1: pieces are going to fit together in a linebacker room.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's a good question because it is a
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  Speaker 2: versatile group that as Christiana Legro told me when I
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  Speaker 2: asked him, he said it said, you describe the linebacker room?
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  Speaker 2: He said, strong, fast, and aggressive. I think we have
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  Speaker 2: multiple different players that can play multiple different positions. And
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  Speaker 2: so when you've got that, Tom, you've got to figure
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  Speaker 2: it all out and you got to say, Okay, where's
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  Speaker 2: where's this guy's best position, where's the second best position,
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  Speaker 2: and how do you make all of these pieces fit.
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  Speaker 2: I think a lot of it is just ath or
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  Speaker 2: you know, like a puzzle game sort of thing where
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  Speaker 2: you're like, Okay, can we get this in here with this?
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  Speaker 2: And then is there enough room for this here? Well
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  Speaker 2: maybe if we put tj Alford here, and then we
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  Speaker 2: could put Rilly like all of that trying to figure
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  Speaker 2: that out and then well how much of that? And
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  Speaker 2: so yeah, I think that's one of the reasons Matt
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  Speaker 2: Patricia said on the Big ten Network show that it's
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  Speaker 2: taken him longer this time around to figure out what
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  Speaker 2: everybody can do because there's just I think more ingredients
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  Speaker 2: and so yes, you're you're you're planning all of that
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  Speaker 2: and dealing with that, and I think, you know, what
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  Speaker 2: we've learned is that you've got a couple of guys
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  Speaker 2: that can play inside and outside, and Christian Legro and
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  Speaker 2: Riley Petty John and two guys that can play inside.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, I will or Mike and Peyton Pierce
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  Speaker 2: and TJ Alford. Pierce is the middle linebacker. But I
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  Speaker 2: think it was a TJ. Alfred was asked, so who
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  Speaker 2: all has played middle linebackers? Like, well, you know, Peyton me,
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  Speaker 2: I think Riley's done it, Christian's done it, Eli done it,
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  Speaker 2: like you know, there's five guys that have been doing it,
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  Speaker 2: and Christian Alegro had nothing but good things to say
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  Speaker 2: about Eli Lee, how he's forced more fumbles in camp
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  Speaker 2: than anybody else. So they that's a guy that we
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  Speaker 2: don't even talk about, is Eli Lee and all of this. So, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: there's a lot to figure out why.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, good question, Tom, Yeah, it is a really really
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  Speaker 1: interesting group because you're you're not going to play We've
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  Speaker 1: talked about you know, Hey, they're gonna be to four
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  Speaker 1: to three. Hey they're going to be a four two five.
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  Speaker 1: Hey they might be in a three three five, that's
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  Speaker 1: a possibility. I don't think they're going to be in
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  Speaker 1: a two seven to two. I'm pretty sure they're not
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  Speaker 1: going to play all of these guys at once. So
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  Speaker 1: then it's just a matter of which guys are best
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  Speaker 1: at which things. And then you're sort of shuffling guys
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  Speaker 1: in and out and Brian Day talking about finding, you know,
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  Speaker 1: different situational packages, and it feels like someone like Christian
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  Speaker 1: Legro could potentially fit almost anywhere. Do you want him
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  Speaker 1: to rush off the edge almost like a Kway Russol, Like, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: he could probably do that. You want him to be
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  Speaker 1: the Mike. If Peyton Pierce isn't there, Yeah, he could
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  Speaker 1: probably do that. He's someone who you know as a
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  Speaker 1: veteran guy. You know, this is a relatively young room
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  Speaker 1: and a relatively unproven room outside of Peyton Pierce having
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  Speaker 1: been the third guy last year. But it feels like
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  Speaker 1: Christian Allegro kind of maybe papers over some of those
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  Speaker 1: concerns just because he hasn't done it at Ohio State.
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  Speaker 1: But we've certainly seen him do this already.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it was interesting talking with him about he said,
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  Speaker 2: he's mainly mostly just doing the outside linebacker stuff, SAM
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  Speaker 2: stuff until only recently he's been playing more off ball
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  Speaker 2: inside stuff. And we saw him. We've seen him inside
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  Speaker 2: and outside and when I say inside, him talking Will
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  Speaker 2: and Mike mainly Will, because I don't know that I've
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  Speaker 2: actually seen him at Mike and outside being the SAM
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  Speaker 2: on a line of scrimmage. And also sometimes then you
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  Speaker 2: have just to flex out to defend a slot receiver
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  Speaker 2: or a tight end or or a tight end, and
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  Speaker 2: so you know, he said that he's comfortable doing both
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  Speaker 2: because he did it. It was kind of but here he's
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  Speaker 2: learning more, he's practicing more techniques and so he feels
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  Speaker 2: like he is a better player now, and this has
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  Speaker 2: been a good eight months of growth for him and
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  Speaker 2: preparation for getting him ready to do the inside and
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  Speaker 2: outside thing. But I thought it was interesting that only
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  Speaker 2: recently he said he's been playing more inside than outside,
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  Speaker 2: and I think that is I don't know, is that
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  Speaker 2: related to Riley Petty John getting some good looks on
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  Speaker 2: the outside right now. Probably.
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  Speaker 1: It certainly feels like if you're moving him off of
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  Speaker 1: a spot and you feel like he's good in that spot,
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  Speaker 1: then it's because, well, maybe you've got someone else who's
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  Speaker 1: good in that spot and he might be able to
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  Speaker 1: solve a different problem for you somewhere else. I feel
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  Speaker 1: like Petty John and tj. Alford are somewhat interchangeable in
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  Speaker 1: people's minds. Where you saw more of Petty John last year.
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  Speaker 1: He really you know, he had a big game against
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  Speaker 1: Grambling and it is just grambling. We get it, Yes,
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  Speaker 1: it's just grambling. But he showed which is something real. Early.
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  Speaker 1: I think that stuck in a lot of people's minds.
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  Speaker 1: And then we didn't see him in the spring because
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  Speaker 1: he was banged up, really missed most of the spring.
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  Speaker 1: But you saw a bunch of TJ Alford and it
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  Speaker 1: was like, okay, has TJ. Alfred now caught back up?
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  Speaker 1: Those two guys feel like those they might help decide
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  Speaker 1: where a Christian Allegro plays, depending on, Okay, which one
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  Speaker 1: of those guys is closer to being ready or you
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  Speaker 1: know ahead right now, and then where do they fit
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  Speaker 1: and then Christian that might impact where Christian Legro goes.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and those two guys, TJ Alfred, Riley Pennay genn
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  Speaker 2: we always kind of mentioning them together, but they can
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  Speaker 2: absolutely play together as well. And talking with TJ Alford,
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  Speaker 2: you know, they all realize that I think they all
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  Speaker 2: believe that they're all going to play, so they know
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  Speaker 2: I'm not going to get sixty five snaps. Peyton will
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  Speaker 2: get sixty five probably, but everybody else is, you know,
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  Speaker 2: maybe thirty five to forty. However that math works out
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  Speaker 2: in there and there they seem pretty cool with it
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  Speaker 2: because they're all upbeat dudes. And you know, talking with TJ. Alfred,
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  Speaker 2: he talked about the Riley Penny gen as well, just
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  Speaker 2: the difficulty last year as a true freshman, and he said,
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  Speaker 2: you come out of high school and this is tg
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  Speaker 2: Alford say, you expect to come in and play, make plays,
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  Speaker 2: but then you get here and sometimes it's like you
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  Speaker 2: get punched in the mouth. Like you've got to sit
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  Speaker 2: back and reflect on that. And then I asked him, like, so,
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  Speaker 2: who punched you in the mouth last year? And he' said, well,
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  Speaker 2: I personally didn't get punched in the mouth. You know,
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  Speaker 2: it's just the thing that you've got to get used to.
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  Speaker 2: And I think that's just life as a freshman and
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  Speaker 2: you grow from it. And that's why they tried to
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  Speaker 2: play them as much as they did, Like they burned
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  Speaker 2: a year and I don't know that they needed to
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  Speaker 2: with either of those guys. Doesn't matter now, but like
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  Speaker 2: in the past, you might want to, like, well, let's
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  Speaker 2: try to keep these guys for five years. They're not
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  Speaker 2: going to be five year players, but this TG Alfred,
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  Speaker 2: Riley Penny John two aggressive guys, and Alfred said his
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  Speaker 2: I think one of his best traits is his just
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  Speaker 2: ability to like get the ball and knock that guy down.
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  Speaker 2: And Riley Petty John his traits are he's a good
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  Speaker 2: rusher and he said he's worked on it. It's not
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  Speaker 2: something he did in high school, but it's something he's
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  Speaker 2: worked out on a lot since last year, and you
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  Speaker 2: get these two guys who came in together, and I
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  Speaker 2: think I think at some point you could see all
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  Speaker 2: three of those guys from the twenty twenty five class
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  Speaker 2: on the field together, with Eli Lee being the man
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  Speaker 2: in the middle there and Petty John and Alford being
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  Speaker 2: the other guys there as well.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that might be a twenty twenty seven thing,
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  Speaker 1: but there is plenty of twenty twenty six football where
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  Speaker 1: we will see at least two of those guys, I'm
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  Speaker 1: guessing on the field quite a bit this fall. It
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  Speaker 1: is going to be a really fun year to just
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  Speaker 1: watch that linebacker group. It just feels like it's it's
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  Speaker 1: gonna be a different kind of fun than it was
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  Speaker 1: last year. Last year was just like, holy crap, look
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  Speaker 1: at these guys. This is going to be you know,
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  Speaker 1: finding ways to do creative things and find creative solutions
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  Speaker 1: with I mean, this is this is a talent, a
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  Speaker 1: level of talent that about sixteen other Big ten team
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  Speaker 1: would probably be killing four. So you know, this is
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  Speaker 1: this is not exactly doing it with duct tape and
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  Speaker 1: bailing wire at the linebacker position. James Blueridis has a
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  Speaker 1: very very good room this year and has a defensive
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  Speaker 1: coordinator who has done things pretty creatively in the past
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  Speaker 1: in Matt Patricia as well, So it'll be fun to
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  Speaker 1: watch how Matt Patricia chooses to attack things this year
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  Speaker 1: with that Ohio state defense. If you enjoy talking about
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  Speaker 1: that and talking about some of the schematic stuff, We're
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  Speaker 1: gonna be diving deep and deeper with on that stuff
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  Speaker 1: in the coming days with Michael Pettitt and Ross Fulton
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  Speaker 1: planning onto doing some shows with both of those guys
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  Speaker 1: talking about some of the scheme stuff. We have also
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: put out a call to our members at Buckeye insiders
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  Speaker 1: dot com. On the Insiders board, we have a thread
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  Speaker 1: where we've asked people to put in questions for scheme
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: shows that they want or scheme questions that they want answered. Wow,
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  Speaker 1: there has been a lot. Turns out you guys are
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: really interested in scheme stuff, which is good news. We
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: have two scheme guys among our staff at Buckeye Insiders
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  Speaker 1: dot com. If you want to read more, you want
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: to ask some those questions, you can. We'll do chats
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: on that stuff. Like you tell us what you want,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: we will do it for you. That is all at
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: Buckeyeinsiders dot com. Just announced our first member only tailgate
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  Speaker 1: coming up for later this fall. That's gonna be really
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: fun getting some fun live events with where our members
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  Speaker 1: as well. So if you want to be a part
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: of all that fun, you can get access for the
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: price Tony off a lousy chainstore pizza. And that was
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: like the price with a lousy chainstore pizza like five
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: years ago. Chainstore pizzas are more expensive now, Buckeye Insiders
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: still the price of a lousy chainstore pizza from like
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  Speaker 1: six years ago. So you want to find us, you
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: can find us there at Buckeye Insiders dot com. And
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: thanks again to our friends at Jeff Ruby's of Columbus,
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  Speaker 1: out the menu and make a reservation today. That will
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: do it for today. Thank you guys all for joining us.
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  Speaker 1: Have a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.