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Ohio State Football Insider: Final Calls On 5 Positional Battles · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Tuesday, September 1st. I'm
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  Speaker 1: your host, Tom Moore. The Ball State game in four days.
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  Speaker 1: that's it. Sales pitch over. Now we're going to talk
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  Speaker 1: about what we're here to talk about, and that is
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  Speaker 1: the final positional battles of the season of fall camp.
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  Speaker 1: Are we going to get firm and final answers from
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  Speaker 1: Ryan Day on this stuff at his press conference on Tuesday?
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  Speaker 1: So we're going to get Tony Gerderman on the record,
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  Speaker 1: making all of his predictions that we can hopefully, hopefully,
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  Speaker 1: fingers crossed, Breezing cold take on Tuesday. Tony, I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to start with an easy one, because I feel like
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  Speaker 1: we have been telling our members at BuckeyeInsiders.com the answer
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  Speaker 1: on this one for about a month, and it's still
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  Speaker 1: kind of technically, officially an open competition. So Tony, what
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  Speaker 1: is the starting offensive line?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, starting offensive line at this point will be Ian
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  Speaker 2: Moore at left tackle, Luke Montgomery at left guard, Carson
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  Speaker 2: Hinsman at center, Austin Searveld at right guard, and Phillip
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  Speaker 2: Daniels At right tackle, the big change there being, of course,
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  Speaker 2: Austin Searveld moving from left tackle to the vacated right
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  Speaker 2: guard spot. Junior Ian Moore coming in and taking that
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  Speaker 2: left tackle spot. And this feels as good as done,
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  Speaker 2: especially when Austin Searveld says last week that he's probably
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  Speaker 2: not playing left tackle this year. So based on that,
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to lock that one in.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that is a safe bet. So the
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  Speaker 1: offensive line, we've been telling you all fall behind. This
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  Speaker 1: is what we're expecting. That is what it looks like
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  Speaker 1: it is going to shake out. Now, here's something we
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  Speaker 1: weren't necessarily expecting a few months ago. There is a
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  Speaker 1: legitimate battle for the QB2 position between Tavian St. Clair
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  Speaker 1: and Luke Fahey. And this is one where, coming out
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  Speaker 1: of the spring, I don't think anyone really saw this
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  Speaker 1: as a likely positional battle that we'd be talking about
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  Speaker 1: at this point. But Luke Fahey has had a really,
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  Speaker 1: really good camp. And, you know, I know which way
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  Speaker 1: I'm leaning on this one. But, Tony, which way... Which
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  Speaker 1: way are you leaning? Is it Luke Fahey? Is it
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  Speaker 1: Tavian St. Clair? Who is getting the first snaps after
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  Speaker 1: Julian Sayen on Saturday against Ball State?
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  Speaker 2: This is one that's really difficult for me because two
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  Speaker 2: weeks ago we had intel that we talked about on
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  Speaker 2: Buckeye Insider's message board where Luke Fahey was moving and
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  Speaker 2: he was maybe the number two at that point. And
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  Speaker 2: then Ryan Day, we talked with him and he confirmed like, well,
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  Speaker 2: it's very much a competition. And When you've got a freshman,
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  Speaker 2: true freshman, that catches up that quick, and again, he
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  Speaker 2: had spring, but catches up that quick in fall camp
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  Speaker 2: and kind of, at the very least, unseats the presumed
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  Speaker 2: backup by making it a competition, then what does that
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  Speaker 2: mean for two weeks later when that competition has continued
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  Speaker 2: to go on and this true freshman continues to make waves?
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  Speaker 2: If I were just to go off of that... and
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  Speaker 2: the fact that it is absolutely a competition, I would
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  Speaker 2: say Luke Fahey. But until I see it, until Ryan
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  Speaker 2: Day says it, I'm going to go with the older guy. And,
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  Speaker 2: you know, Tom, maybe this is exactly what you wanted.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe this is the exact trap you're walking me into.
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  Speaker 2: But I'm going to say Davian St. Clair until Ryan
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  Speaker 2: Day says something different. And I'm not even convinced he
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  Speaker 2: will say anything about it on Tuesday.
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  Speaker 1: Disappointingly, I agree with 100% of what you said right there.
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  Speaker 1: It just, this feels like an, if he's even he's
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  Speaker 1: leaving situation. So as soon as Luke Fahey gets officially,
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  Speaker 1: you know, gets the tap of the sword on both
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  Speaker 1: shoulders and becomes QB too, that's it. I don't know
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  Speaker 1: that there's any going back from that. So I think
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  Speaker 1: you've got to be real, real, real sure. And we just,
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  Speaker 1: Right now, as Tony said, we've been on this one
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  Speaker 1: for quite a while on BuckeyeInsiders.com. But also, what is
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  Speaker 1: Ryan Dave really, truly thinking? Arthur Smith and Billy Fessler, really,
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  Speaker 1: truly in their heart of hearts, what are they thinking
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  Speaker 1: right now? The stuff they're not willing to say out loud.
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  Speaker 1: And that's a little harder for us to get intel on.
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  Speaker 1: So we're still projecting a little bit. I think it's
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  Speaker 1: interesting that, I think you have the, if he's even,
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  Speaker 1: he's leaving element of this. I think you also have the,
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  Speaker 1: They're going to Texas in a week. So they're going
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  Speaker 1: to play the guy, whoever is QB2, like whoever's the
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  Speaker 1: first person off the bench is going to be the
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  Speaker 1: person they feel gives them the best chance to win
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  Speaker 1: in Texas if he is, you know, if he is
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  Speaker 1: the guy who comes in. So I think I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to sort of hedge this a little bit and say
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  Speaker 1: Tavian St. Clair will be the one that will be announced.
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  Speaker 1: But I think there's a real possibility that Luke Fahey
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  Speaker 1: becomes the first guy off the bench in Austin, but
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  Speaker 1: I might have that 180 degrees wrong. It just, it's
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  Speaker 1: just so much projection based on stuff that no one
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  Speaker 1: is willing to.
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  Speaker 2: Say out loud. Can I, uh, am I remembering wrong?
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  Speaker 2: Did Jack Miller play before CJ Stroud in 2020? Yes.
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  Speaker 2: And then the next week, CJ Stroud, CJ Stroud then
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  Speaker 2: came in before Jack Miller.
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  Speaker 1: Yes.
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  Speaker 2: A hundred.
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  Speaker 1: That is exactly what happened. And that was, you know,
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  Speaker 1: and that was another case where we were hearing all summer, like,
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  Speaker 1: you're not going to, this Stroud kid is phenomenal. And
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  Speaker 1: You didn't necessarily want to completely lose Jack Miller in,
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  Speaker 1: you know, hey, you've you've lost this battle to this guy. So,
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  Speaker 1: you know, you keep you keep him engaged in the
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  Speaker 1: same way that Michigan in 2021, like we all knew
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  Speaker 1: who the starting quarterback in Michigan in 2021 was going
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  Speaker 1: to be. But you kept you gave Cade McNamara a
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  Speaker 1: start at the beginning of the year. Like I think
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  Speaker 1: there's there's some of that that comes into this. Again,
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  Speaker 1: I think by the time you're in October, it's probably
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  Speaker 1: Luke Fahey who is the first guy who comes in
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  Speaker 1: if there's an injury or something like that. I think
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  Speaker 1: this is going to get sort of stage managed a
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  Speaker 1: little bit. And so you might not get there exactly
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  Speaker 1: the way that, you know, it may not be a
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  Speaker 1: completely straight line. Another thing that is not a completely
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  Speaker 1: straight line, the defensive line. We're not actually going to
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  Speaker 1: talk about this one on this show because it's just,
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  Speaker 1: this is a spot where I know who, like the
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  Speaker 1: first four guys who come out, Those are your starters.
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  Speaker 1: Those are the ones that show up on the stat
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  Speaker 1: sheet as the starters. I don't know that the four
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  Speaker 1: guys who come out to start the game are necessarily
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  Speaker 1: going to have any real correlation to the four guys
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  Speaker 1: who play the most snaps over the course of the season.
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  Speaker 1: So this is one where we can say four names.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know if that really means anything. So instead,
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  Speaker 1: we're going to talk about linebackers. And linebacker is one
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  Speaker 1: where I feel like we have a very good sense
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  Speaker 1: of who the top two linebackers are. And I certainly
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  Speaker 1: know which way I'm leaning in terms of who the
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  Speaker 1: third linebacker is going to be.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, the top two being Peyton Pierce and Christian Allegro.
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  Speaker 2: At this point, I'm going to go with Riley Pettyjohn
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  Speaker 2: as that third linebacker. And I think we'll see quite
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  Speaker 2: a bit of three linebacker sets this year, certainly depending
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  Speaker 2: on the opponent. But they've got the versatility in terms
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  Speaker 2: of Pettyjohn and Allegro can both play inside and outside.
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  Speaker 2: But I've been pretty impressed by everything we've been hearing
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  Speaker 2: about Riley Pettyjohn, who did not have spring. And the
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  Speaker 2: fact that he was catching up so quickly. in fall
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  Speaker 2: camp and making plays and people were like, yes, he's playing.
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  Speaker 2: That's another, you know, if you're even you're leaving thing, the,
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  Speaker 2: just the amount of progress he's made in, in that time,
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  Speaker 2: I think is certainly notable to me.
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  Speaker 1: Yep. I would have Riley petty John as linebacker three
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  Speaker 1: there as well. Last spots. And this is two spots,
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  Speaker 1: but they're kind of related kick returner and punt returner.
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  Speaker 1: And this is one where we're kind of flying blind
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  Speaker 1: a little bit. And this is also one where I
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  Speaker 1: think you may have different answers for game one and
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  Speaker 1: game two this season in terms of who is standing
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  Speaker 1: out there when Ball State is punting versus who is
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  Speaker 1: standing out there when Texas is punting.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it will be interesting because Brandon Ennis is the
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  Speaker 2: punt returner, but will he be the punt returner all
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  Speaker 2: the time or will you get some young guys some opportunities?
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  Speaker 2: And we've seen all kinds of different guys back there
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  Speaker 2: in practice in terms of the punt returners, whether it's
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  Speaker 2: Legend Bay, Brock Boyd, Jeremiah Smith. It won't be Jeremiah Smith,
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  Speaker 2: but basically all of the receivers have been back there
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  Speaker 2: at some point and including Legend Bay as the receiver
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  Speaker 2: slash running back, of course. But I will be interested to,
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  Speaker 2: I think we will see more than just Brandon Ennis
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  Speaker 2: against Ball State as the punt returner. And I think
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  Speaker 2: getting Legend Bay some opportunities there would be huge. I
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  Speaker 2: expect to see him returning kicks as well, Tom, but
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  Speaker 2: all of my inflections here are questions because when was
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  Speaker 2: the last time, I throw this out there for anybody,
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  Speaker 2: when was the last time that you, as a football watcher,
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  Speaker 2: had your number one pick as the kickoff returner actually
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  Speaker 2: returning kicks? And do you have to go back to
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  Speaker 2: Ted Ginn? for that to be the case, you know?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it feels like that has not necessarily played out
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  Speaker 1: exactly right. I was all ready for you to ask
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  Speaker 1: me the last time Ohio State had a true freshman
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  Speaker 1: kick returner, but I remember Travion Henderson being out there
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  Speaker 1: for the first game at Minnesota in 2021. So that's
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  Speaker 1: certainly a possibility. But yeah, I'm with you. I'm expecting
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  Speaker 1: Legend Bay to be out there for kick returns, to
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  Speaker 1: at least some of the punt returns. But I think
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  Speaker 1: Brandon Innes is sort of your incumbent on the kick
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  Speaker 1: return or the punt returns for a reason. And Certainly
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  Speaker 1: at Texas, you're probably expecting to see Brandon in this
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  Speaker 1: back there just because he's, you know, reliable, sure thing
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  Speaker 1: back there in terms of catching the football. And some
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  Speaker 1: of this also may hinge on, does Legend Bay hang
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  Speaker 1: on to the football when he is on kick returns
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  Speaker 1: during practice this week? Does Legend Bay make good decisions
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  Speaker 1: in terms of fair catching or not fair catching? Kicks, punts,
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  Speaker 1: whatever on during practice this week. There's a lot of
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  Speaker 1: this that is a little bit, you know, information is
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  Speaker 1: still incomplete on some of this stuff. But there you go.
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  Speaker 1: Five updates on five positions where we were sort of
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  Speaker 1: giving you our final calls on five position groups where
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  Speaker 1: there's a little bit of an open question on those.
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• 11:28
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  Speaker 1: reservation today. That will do it for today. Thank you
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: guys all for joining us. Have a great day. We'll
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  Speaker 1: talk to you tomorrow.