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5 Buckeyes Poised To Have Breakout Seasons In 2025 · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes Tomorrow morning for Friday, July eleventh, I'm
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  Speaker 1: your host, tom Or the Texas game in fifty days
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  Speaker 1: the game against Michigan in one hundred and forty one days.
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  Speaker 1: If you're planning your next event, make it unforgettable with
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  Speaker 1: Grateful Griddle, Columbus's favorite food truck serving up smashburger scoremet
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  Speaker 1: sandwiches and good vibes. Booker catering today at gratefulgriddleoh dot com.
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  Speaker 1: Every time I do that countdown at the beginning of
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  Speaker 1: the shows, it's like, boy, we are actually kind of
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  Speaker 1: getting there towards the college football season. Saturday will be
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  Speaker 1: seven weeks from the Texas game, and it will also
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  Speaker 1: be one hundred and forty days works out to twenty
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  Speaker 1: weeks until the Michigan game, so not that far from
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  Speaker 1: the start of college football season, which means like this
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  Speaker 1: is a great time to take a look at some
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  Speaker 1: of the Buckeyes who may be taking on bigger roles
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  Speaker 1: this year. On the intro to Yesterday show, I talked
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  Speaker 1: about the fact that it was sort of list season
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  Speaker 1: right now, in that window between camp season and media
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  Speaker 1: days talking season, this is kind of list season and
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  Speaker 1: Tony Gerdman put together a really interesting list at buckehuddle
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  Speaker 1: dot com of five Buckeyes primed for a big step
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  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty five. I've Tony, this was a really
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  Speaker 1: rare piece of work from you, because I looked at
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  Speaker 1: it and I was like, Yeah, this is really well done.
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  Speaker 1: I have no real disagreements with any of these, so
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  Speaker 1: I was like, Wow, good, we'll have to have Tony
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  Speaker 1: on to talk about it. I haven't had something said
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  Speaker 1: something nice to Tony in a while, backhanded or not.
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  Speaker 1: So Tony, welcome to the show. Let's talk about Brandon
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  Speaker 1: Innis because he feels like a great place to start
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  Speaker 1: on this because boyle, Hio State has turned out some
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  Speaker 1: wide receivers and he seems like could be one of
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  Speaker 1: the next ones to kind of follow in that path.
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  Speaker 2: First off, time, I accept your apology, but yeah, Brandon Innis,
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  Speaker 2: and as I write about here, he's slated to be
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  Speaker 2: Ohio State starting slot receiver. And if you are Ohio
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  Speaker 2: State starting slot receiver, you can go back to like
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  Speaker 2: from the start of the Urban Meyer era basically, but
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  Speaker 2: I went, you know, if you go back to when
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  Speaker 2: Ryan Day shows up in twenty seventeen, that starting slot
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  Speaker 2: receivers averaged sixty five catches for nine hundred and eleven
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  Speaker 2: yards and eight touchdowns. And that's including a year where
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  Speaker 2: Machabuka was injured basically for most of the year. That's
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  Speaker 2: including COVID. So in normal years, this is a thousand
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  Speaker 2: yard receiver. Now I'm not saying that Brandon and this
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  Speaker 2: is going to be a thousand yard receiver. But he
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  Speaker 2: came into this season with fifteen career reception so I
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  Speaker 2: think you're going to see you three times. That I
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  Speaker 2: think is maybe a fair bet for him because he's
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  Speaker 2: not forget he's a former five star guy and he's
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  Speaker 2: waited his turn behind a Mecca Abuka, and now I
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  Speaker 2: would expect him to perform pretty well.
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  Speaker 1: And you've seen him just the way he gets treated
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  Speaker 1: by his teammates. They know you can get happy talked
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  Speaker 1: by coaches, but the teammates know, and he just he
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  Speaker 1: has been held in the regard of someone who is
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  Speaker 1: you know, it is a in line behind other guys
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  Speaker 1: kind of issue rather than a the talent is in
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  Speaker 1: there kind of issue. There's been plenty of talent sitting
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  Speaker 1: behind in Mecca. Ubuka is no great shame mecha Ubuka
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  Speaker 1: being off to the NFL. Now the now the floor
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  Speaker 1: is his. We will see what he does with it.
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  Speaker 1: Someone else who's kind of in that group is James People's.
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  Speaker 1: He came in last year. There was a lot of
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  Speaker 1: optimism around him very early last year, but he was
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  Speaker 1: behind Travon Henderson and Quinshawn Jodkins, who both stayed pretty
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  Speaker 1: healthy throughout the course of the year and split carries,
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  Speaker 1: and so James People's kind of had to wait his turn.
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  Speaker 1: But when you saw him, you can already kind of
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  Speaker 1: see it, and you could also kind of see it
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  Speaker 1: this spring too.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And he's another one the way people talk about
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  Speaker 2: him and the confidence that they have, and they talk
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  Speaker 2: about him as if it's he's just a known quantity,
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  Speaker 2: it's a done deal, like there are no questions. But
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  Speaker 2: when you're the third running back like he was last year,
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  Speaker 2: and the two guys that have you stay healthy and
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  Speaker 2: then you also have a quarterback that runs the ball,
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  Speaker 2: there's just nothing left for you. And that's been the
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  Speaker 2: case before with other running backs as well at Ohio State.
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  Speaker 2: When top to you guys stay healthy, there's just not
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  Speaker 2: enough for you. And he ran about forty nine times
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  Speaker 2: last year for one hundred and ninety seven yards career high.
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  Speaker 2: Have ten carries for fifty one yards against Western Michigan,
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  Speaker 2: I believe, and you would think that that's that's gonna
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  Speaker 2: be a standard half for him this year. You know,
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  Speaker 2: ten carries in the first half and four or five
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  Speaker 2: or six in the second half. As you know, the
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  Speaker 2: game is put away. But go from one hundred and
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  Speaker 2: ninety seven yards this year to maybe maybe ten times
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  Speaker 2: that this year, and that's that's a pretty big step up, Tom.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know if you know understand what ten x means.
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  Speaker 1: One hundred and ninety seven times ten would be the
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  Speaker 1: second greatest season in Ohio state football history. So that
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  Speaker 1: would be pretty ambitious. But even if it's even if
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  Speaker 1: it's five or six x, yeah, yeah, that gets you.
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  Speaker 1: That gets you just about to a thousand or a
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  Speaker 1: little north of a thousand. So that would be a
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  Speaker 1: pretty good, pretty good season and very much in in
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  Speaker 1: alignment with what you saw out of Ohio States running
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  Speaker 1: backs last year. So that's he is. He is number
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  Speaker 1: two on this list, number three. This is a guy
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  Speaker 1: who hasn't even officially won the starting job, but you know,
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  Speaker 1: we've been talking about guys talking about other guys on
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  Speaker 1: the team. Jeremiah Smith ched just had some stuff to
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  Speaker 1: say about Julian Saying, and I think Saying has been
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  Speaker 1: broadly viewed as the favorite to win the starting quarterback job.
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  Speaker 1: But then when you have Jeremiah Smith kind of speaking
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  Speaker 1: up about him recently in an interview, it's kind of,
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  Speaker 1: you know, it feels a little bit like the secret
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  Speaker 1: may be out.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And this is one of the difficulties I've had
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  Speaker 2: with the like that you said, said the list season
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  Speaker 2: or the summer season, where you're you're riding about Ohio
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  Speaker 2: State in a way, in a daily way, and been
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  Speaker 2: kind of reticent to just say Julian saying. It's for
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  Speaker 2: a while it's been like Julian Saying or Lincoln Keyenolts.
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  Speaker 2: But eventually you've just got to pick a horse and
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  Speaker 2: go with it. So that's that's where I am with
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  Speaker 2: Julian's saying, and it's because of what everybody else is
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  Speaker 2: saying about him. And I know Ryan Day said then
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  Speaker 2: at some point this earlier in the spring, at one
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  Speaker 2: point in the spring, Lincoln Keynolts was ahead. But when
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  Speaker 2: you have players that work with him every day. Talk
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  Speaker 2: about Julian saying the way they do, I'm going to
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  Speaker 2: side with them over the head coach. But what in
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  Speaker 2: terms of what to expect, you know, he was what
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  Speaker 2: five of twelve last year for eighty four yards and
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  Speaker 2: what fifty six of that or so as to Bennett Christian,
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  Speaker 2: So in first time starting quarterbacks under Ryan Day have
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  Speaker 2: averaged thirty nine hundred and twenty seven yards, forty touchdowns,
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  Speaker 2: and six interceptions, which is pretty crazy. I think maybe
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  Speaker 2: the six interceptions is maybe the most impressive, and maybe
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  Speaker 2: the forty touchdowns, but like he's going to have all
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  Speaker 2: of the weapons to do just that. But I think
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  Speaker 2: it's probably going to be somewhere between that and say
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  Speaker 2: comm accords thirty one and seventy yards, twenty four touchdowns,
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  Speaker 2: and six interceptions. I think I'll take the over on
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  Speaker 2: every single one of those numbers. For Julian saying this
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  Speaker 2: year regarding a comic coord's twenty twenty three seasons.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that that has felt kind of like the
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  Speaker 1: floor for a Ryan Day quarterback because I mean, you
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  Speaker 1: go back a year now, and even at this time
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  Speaker 1: last year, there were a lot of questions about will
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  Speaker 1: Howard and when Will Howard was announced as he's the
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  Speaker 1: guy who Ohio State's going to get in the portal,
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  Speaker 1: there were opposing fan bases that thought that was hilarious
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  Speaker 1: because this is the guy that lost the job at
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  Speaker 1: Kansas State and you know, he how good can he
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  Speaker 1: possibly be? And then you saw the year that he
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  Speaker 1: put up and ended by going sixteen for sixteen to
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  Speaker 1: start the National Championship Game, which you know, I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to grade that out as at least passing. That's not bad. So,
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  Speaker 1: you know, with a Julian Sayan who does have the
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  Speaker 1: a little bit more of the pedigree than Will Howard had.
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  Speaker 1: Will Howard had the experience, but not necessarily all of
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  Speaker 1: the you know, the incredible arm strength, the incredible accuracy.
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  Speaker 1: It got a lot better when he was working with
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  Speaker 1: Ryan Day and Chip Kelly last year, but he didn't
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  Speaker 1: necessarily have that in his recruiting background or his just
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  Speaker 1: overall game before he got to Columbus. Julian Sayan does
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  Speaker 1: have that stuff. He doesn't have the experience that Will
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  Speaker 1: Howard does, but he will gain that experience over the
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  Speaker 1: course of the year. So next up, let's go to
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  Speaker 1: the other side of the ball. The defensive line has
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  Speaker 1: been an area that has been viewed as probably the
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  Speaker 1: biggest question mark on the team. So we're going to
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  Speaker 1: have two guys here. This is good news if you're
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  Speaker 1: going to if you need guys to take this step forward,
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  Speaker 1: you are two guys on the defensive line to take
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  Speaker 1: a step forward. One of them is an edge, one
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  Speaker 1: of them is a tackle. We're gonna start with Kenyatta
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  Speaker 1: Jackson off the edge. He's someone I keep looking at
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  Speaker 1: his numbers from last year and going that can't be right.
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  Speaker 1: It feels like he played more than he did. It
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  Speaker 1: feels like he made more of an impact than he did.
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  Speaker 1: But he was behind Jack Sawyer and j. T. Twee
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  Speaker 1: Moloau and Mitchell Melton and you know a lot of
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  Speaker 1: veteran guys there. It just it always to me felt
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  Speaker 1: like he was right on the verge of a breakout
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  Speaker 1: last year, even with being behind so many of those guys.
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  Speaker 2: You saw him and he played about roughly twenty snaps
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  Speaker 2: a game, and the number dipped a little in the
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  Speaker 2: postseason or in the final two games, but you still
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  Speaker 2: saw him out there, so you recognized him. And he's
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  Speaker 2: playing in big moments, so clearly there's confidence in him,
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  Speaker 2: but yet, like he had three tackles for loss last year,
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  Speaker 2: he had one and a half sacks, and it's like
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  Speaker 2: you just felt like it was more because he was
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  Speaker 2: maybe right behind j T. Twoey Mulla or Jackson whoever's
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  Speaker 2: getting to do the quarterback of Tyley waivems like he's
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  Speaker 2: you see him flashing in there. So now what does
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  Speaker 2: that look like with forty five snaps instead of eighteen?
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  Speaker 2: And I think there's an opportunity for him to have
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  Speaker 2: a really big year or at least, you know, a
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  Speaker 2: big step up. And again, when you look at his
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  Speaker 2: career numbers twenty five tackles, six tackles for lost, three sacks,
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  Speaker 2: I think a good year for him would be doubling
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  Speaker 2: those numbers at the very least, and that would be
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  Speaker 2: an active year for him. Now, he played the third
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  Speaker 2: most number of snaps among the defensive ends last year,
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  Speaker 2: so's he's not a new player by any means. He's
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  Speaker 2: a fourth year junior, but I think they need him
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  Speaker 2: to step up this year in the way. Again, his
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  Speaker 2: teammates have talked about how the leadership that he's shown
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  Speaker 2: in the offseason that to me is a positive sign,
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  Speaker 2: but I'm interested to see what he looks like as
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  Speaker 2: a starter playing, like I said, fifty snaps a game.
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  Speaker 1: And then we're going to wrap up with the fifth guy.
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  Speaker 1: And this is someone who a year ago we were
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  Speaker 1: talking about. Listen, you just got to be patient. He's
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  Speaker 1: buried on the depth chart at the edge and you're
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  Speaker 1: just you're not going to get on the field very much.
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  Speaker 1: There's a lot of talent there, there's a lot of
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  Speaker 1: you know, a lot of optimism on the coaching staff
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  Speaker 1: about what this guy could be, but you know, he's
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  Speaker 1: an edge. They're really deep. There's just you know, there's
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  Speaker 1: not a real great path to a lot of playing
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  Speaker 1: time there. And then part way through the season, Edric
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  Speaker 1: Houston was playing a ton of meaningful reps at three
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  Speaker 1: Tech and you saw him be a really impact player
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  Speaker 1: kind of throughout the year. And now, you know, even
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  Speaker 1: through into the college football playoffs and now with the
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  Speaker 1: starters from last year's team off to the NFL, Tyler Williams,
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  Speaker 1: ty Hamilton Hero Canoe in the transfer portal to Texas, Boy,
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  Speaker 1: there's a lot of reps available in the middle of
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  Speaker 1: that defensive line. Kate McDonald can't take them all, you
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  Speaker 1: get the sense that this could be, you know, a
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  Speaker 1: true breakout season for Edrick Hugh where he goes from
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  Speaker 1: the guy who plays a little bit and looks pretty
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  Speaker 1: decent when he's doing it to the guy who's you know,
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  Speaker 1: getting getting circled with the telestrator on the I was
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  Speaker 1: going to say on the primetime broadcast, but on the
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  Speaker 1: big new and broadcast, Tony, they're going to circle him
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  Speaker 1: on with the telestrator and then the nation will know
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  Speaker 1: who introcused it.
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  Speaker 2: He played double digit snaps in all four of the
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  Speaker 2: postseason games, and he's another one where you would see
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  Speaker 2: him and it's like, okay, let's let's see more. Because
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  Speaker 2: he finished with seven tackles on the season. But what
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  Speaker 2: do you you know, what is a good expectation for
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  Speaker 2: a defensive tackle. But now like they need him to
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  Speaker 2: be a producer, an active guy somebody that is Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I've mentioned Draymont Jones before and Larry Johnson's been like,
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  Speaker 2: just calm down about the Draymont Jones thing. But Draymont
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  Speaker 2: Jones in his first year as a starter as rechart freshman,
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  Speaker 2: was a very active defender. And can they get thirty
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  Speaker 2: or forty tackles out of Edric Houston, because if they can,
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  Speaker 2: then this is the kind of of playmaker, disruptor, active,
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  Speaker 2: kind of guy that can make life miserable for not
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  Speaker 2: just the running game, but also the passing game because
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  Speaker 2: he's a natural pass rusher. So now you go from
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  Speaker 2: being the the number four tackle basically in terms of
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  Speaker 2: snaps last year to he and Kate McDonald are going
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  Speaker 2: to be one and two one way or another, and
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  Speaker 2: they need him to play again forty snaps and in
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  Speaker 2: the big games forty to fifty snaps. In the big games.
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  Speaker 2: They don't need him to do that against Western Michigan
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  Speaker 2: or Acron or whoever you know, Grambling or whatever, but
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  Speaker 2: in those big games when Tyler Williams and ty Hamilton
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  Speaker 2: were playing fifty snaps a game, that's Edric Houston now,
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  Speaker 2: and so he should be. They're very confident in him.
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  Speaker 2: And if he's playing those number of snaps, I'm going
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  Speaker 2: to assume his production is going to go way up
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  Speaker 2: as well.
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  Speaker 1: Probably a safe assumption, but we will, we will, We'll
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  Speaker 1: make sure we are there for all of those games
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  Speaker 1: this year to check it out in person and report
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  Speaker 1: back to you at Bucke huddle dot com and YouTube
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: dot com slash Buckeye Huddle. We're going to start those
• 12:58
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  Speaker 1: 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.