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Ohio State Spring Football: The 9 Buckeyes With The Most To Prove · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to buck Guys tomorrow morning for Tuesday, February twenty seventh. I'm your
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  host, tom Or. The Akron game in one hundred and eighty six days,
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  the game against Michigan in two hundred and seventy seven days, the start
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  of spring practice in seven days. So we are going to start a week
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  of spring practice previews this morning. We're going to start it with nine guys,
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  maybe ten, might be ten guys, I'll have to count anyway,
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  ten guys with the most to prove for the buck Eyes this spring. And
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  really here here's how we're looking at this. These are guys who really did
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  not play a whole heck of a lot last year, less than one hundred
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  snaps, who you know, have potentially another year or so to earn a
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  spot, but really still kind of unproven commodities for Ohio State going into the
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  spring, but something that that might change by the end of the spring.
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  So we're going to bring in one of our proven commodities. His name is
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  Tony Gerderman at bucke Huddle dot com. Tony, I'm going to start here
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  with a pair of linebackers, Gabe Powers and CJ. Hicks, both guys
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  who we've heard positive things about this spring from James Laura, both guys who
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  came in with the recruiting bona fides to make you think, okay, these
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  are guys who are going to be starting linebackers at Ohio State. At some
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  point. This feels like a spring where they're both entering the spring with an
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  opportunity to earn a starting job. Now we gotta see him do it.
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  Yeah, that's the tough part, right actually doing it. And this is
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  this is going to be a linebacker room where you pretty much have your mid
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  A linebacker set in Cody Simon, but they still need somebody next to him,
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  and c J. Hicks has been the backup two steel Chambers that that
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  will linebacker. But to me, this is c J. Hicks Gay Powers.
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  They can they can battle for that or whoever is the second best linebacker
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  will play. But yeah, third year, third year for each guy.
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  C J. Hicks says not red shirted. Gay Powers has red shirted,
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  so there's a little bit of leeway there. But for all of the hype
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  that CJ. Hicks came in with, five star guy, five star linebacker,
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  and yet during most of his career he never really played side linebacker like
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  he's been trying to do at Ohio State. So it has taken him some
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  time. And I think what James Laureniis said when we talked to him a
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  couple a week or two ago, that he just needs to cut it loose.
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  C j X just needs to cut it loose, like there's too much
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  thinking going on. And you can understand that as a young player learning a
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  new position but also learning a new defense, and so there's there's a lot
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  being taught, there a lot being learned. There a lot of a lot
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  of mistakes being made. But this spring, I think he'll have an opportunity
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  to make mistakes. That was another thing that James lauren Niis talked about.
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  We've got to give guys an opportunity to make mistakes so that they can learn
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  from it and grow from that over the summer and both of those guys,
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  you know, gain powers. We heard good things about towards the end of
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  the season. Staff really likes him, and it's going to be interesting to
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  see how those two guys attack this spring when they see an opening and is
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  their ownership, is their competition like this I think is going to be a
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  huge spring for both of those guys, and we saw last year they could
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  play three linebackers. Cody Simon played quite a bit and James lord Nias said
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  when we talked to him, he probably should have played more. So I
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  think that's a lesson that Lord Das has learned where they can play three guys
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  in two spots and create some sort of rotation. So it's not like if
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  one guy wins it, the other guys completely out of the picture. There's
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  room enough for both guys, but they have to show that they can do
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  it in the spring. Well in another spot where there's two open starting spots,
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  you know, officially open starting spots that have been that have been vacated
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  by guys headed off to the NFL is wide receiver Marvin Harrison Junior obviously,
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  and also in the Julian Fleming heading off to Penn State, also los Avier
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  Johnson, who was certainly in the rotation there. So there are spots in
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  the wide receiver rotation. But it feels like this is going to be a
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  year when Kojo Wantwea, ke On Gray's and Jaden Ballard all have a lot
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  to prove, and those guys are sort of in different spots in their career.
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  Ballard, it felt like maybe he was on this list this time last
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  year too, and he only played fifty four snaps last season, played some
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  in the that Cotton Bowl game against Missouri. Kean Grays missed the entire season,
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  did not play at all. He was injured, so he really did
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  not get into the rotation at all. Kajo Antwi only played five snaps.
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  This is a spot where, yeah, there's two open starting spots and then
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  there's another spot in that rotation all open. But based on the way they
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  recruit wide receivers, this feels like this is still a somewhat difficult path to
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  the field for you know, certainly and more than one of these guys.
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  Yeah, when you talk about one of those freshman receivers coming in and being
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  Jeremiah Smith, all all three of those guys that you mentioned, Keiena Gray's,
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  kojo Answey and Jade Ballard had as many catches last year for Ohio State
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  as Jeremiah Smith that they had none. So that's a There was a surprising
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  turn for Jaydon Ballad, who had eight the year before. I believe,
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  uh, clearly, this is not the same passing game last year that we
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  had become a custo him too, so that has something to do with it
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  as well. But yeah, for some similar reasons, some different reasons,
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  this is a huge spring for those guys Jade Ballad we have seen have good
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  springs, but then he just can't get into the rotation to playing time never
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  shows up. And now this is what is fourth year, so you you
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  would expect if it's if it's going to happen, it has to happen now,
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  and it has to show this spring that he's capable of providing the kind
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  of target, the kind of consistency that you've come to expect from Ohio State,
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  certainly that Brian Hartline has come to expect. He's the guy that season
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  every day with Anthony and Ken Gray's again neither one of them had to catch
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  Kojo Anthwy this is his third year, he's still looking for his first catch.
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  Kean Gray's had a catch for like two yards as a true freshman.
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  So the production we've seen guys I mentioned all the time, people are probably
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  sick of it by now. Paris Cannibell, Terry McLaurin no catches in their
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  first two years as Buckeys. They turned out just fine. There is still
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  plenty of time, so it's not like it's now or never, But the
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  recruiting as it is now is much different than it was in twenty sixteen when
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  Terry McLaurin and Paris Campbell were entering their third year. This is a This
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  is another level. So it's hard to expect guys who haven't done it in
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  their first two years to suddenly do it in their third year because there's so
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  much talent being brought in, especially like Carnel Tay having the freshman year that
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  he did. Who's to say that Jeremiah Smith won't do the same thing this
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  year, And of course you've got other guys that you have expectations from and
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  some guys get recruited over So this is a huge spring for Antweet and Ken
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  Gray's as still young guys, even though they're adding into their junior season and
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  in terms of academic calendar, but they need they need to show something and
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  just prove that they can be reliable, We relied pod and that it isn't
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  time to look beyond them, and a lot of the guys we're talking about
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  here are at least in their third year and maybe older. I think they
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  all are. That feels a little bit unfair with the two guys I'm about
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  to talk about because they're offensive linemen, so the calendar really it's more like
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  if you're a third year as a wide receiver, that's kind of the equivalent
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  of being a fourth year as an offensive lineman, just because of the developmental
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  developmental pattern. But these are also both guys who we were talking about last
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  spring is being in the mix for a starting job potentially, and then neither
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  of them played more than thirty two snaps, so Zen Mahalsky and Taker Shabola.
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  Den Maholski was at one point being discussed as one of the front runners
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  to take a starting tackle job last year, and then Taker Shibola was very
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  much in the mix for some of those interior positions, and then Shabola played
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  thirty two snaps and zen Mahlsky played twenty one, and it you know,
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  this is another one where the fact that they brought in Josh Shimmons last summer
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  to be that left tackle certainly changed that picture on the offensive line a little
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  bit. The fact that Carson Hinzman won the starting job at center, the
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  fact that they then brought in Seth McLaughlin from Alabama at center as well.
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  All of a sudden, you've gone from last spring where there were three starting
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  positions open on the offensive line and you could kind of see lots of different
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  paths to the playing field. This year, theoretically, you could just have
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  your four returning starters plus the guy who was the starter for Alabama last year,
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  and bing, bang boom, you're done. I don't know that that's
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  exactly how it's going to play out, but it feels like this is a
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  This is a spring where there is not a real easy path to the playing
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  field for either of these guys necessarily well, and I think it's it's much
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  easier for Tager Shabola, who could be could be the right guard. You
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  know, if that stays open and they don't move Josh Fryer there, maybe
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  they move Josh prior to the right guard because the Hawski is ready to be
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  a right tackle. You mentioned that we talked about them last spring to zen
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  Mahowski left the spring as the number one right tackle, Josh Fryer left as
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  the number one left tackle, and it's you know, he leaves the spring
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  as one of the top five guys. He played the ninth most snaps last
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  year among offensive linemen. Zen Mahwski did to give you an idea of how
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  much changed from April until November. And so I think it's going to be
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  difficult for Mahoskey to get into that mix. If they and even if they
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  move Josh Friar inside, Luke Montgomery was playing more than Zen Mahoalsky. I
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  when I when I picture what happens if Friar moves inside to guard, I
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  picture that being Luke Montgomery or maybe even Tiger Shambola more than Zen Mahawski at
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  this point. And it's just funny given what has changed, what has taken
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  place in a year. So maybe this is an opportunity for Zen Mahwski to
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  get back in to that mix. Not maybe it is an opportunity for him
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  to get back into that mix and show that Yes, and you don't even
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  need to be one of the top five. Can he be the next tackle
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  in? Can be one of those top eight where you have a starting five,
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  then you have a backup guard, you have a backup center, and
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  a backup tackle. Can he be that guy? Because again, news flash,
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  long season injuries happen, you're one snap away. And if he's that
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  one snap away, can he can he handle like like Max Ray did several
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  years ago when he had never played hardly and then he gets a spot start
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  and does well or is it just it's never going to happen for him?
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  And so this is again a lot to prove for him this spring. I
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  wonder how much last spring helps him and you can build on that and just
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  can continue to prove yourself and prove to your coaches that I don't need to
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  be passed by I can be involved. Yeah, those are going to be
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  two guys who there's a pretty wide spectrum of possible outcomes for them this spring.
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  We'll see how that goes. The last two guys, I wanted to
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  talk to you about two guys in very different situations who ended up playing similar
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  amounts on offense end defense. We're going to start with Bennett Christian. He's
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  a tight end. He's someone who came out of high school with people telling
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  you like this could be someone who gets on the field fairly early physically kind
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  of ready to play potentially the tight end position at the college level. And
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  then he missed the entire twenty twenty three season due to a failed drug test.
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  So now Tony he comes out, he's missed the whole spring. He's
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  stuck with it. He was around all year, you know, didn't mope,
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  didn't quit, didn't you know, he's stuck it out. Now he's
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  back. So this feels like an opportunity to see, you know, if
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  he was close to the playing field potentially a couple of years ago, where
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  is he now, Because now all of a sudden, you're no longer the
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  new guy, and that tight end room has some real time in it.
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  Yeah, they brought in somebody who is as old of you, as old
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  as you, out of the portal in Wilcast America, out of Ohio,
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  who is now going into his what fourth year with two years of eligibility remaining.
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  So I think he's one year older than Bennett Christian. But you know,
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  you've got Jalannie Thurman, who I would it's gonna be You're gonna be
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  hard pressed to move past him without playing last year. So I see like
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  the number four guy right now in terms of Bennett Christian. Now, I
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  do think there's plenty of opportunity for playing time in the spring because you're going
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  to be playing a lot of twelve personnel two tight ends at the same time,
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  and so you run two tight ends on one play and they run for
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  a little while, and then you bring in two more tight ends. So
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  there's gonna be plenty of opportunity for a bunch of these guys, especially as
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  they do some goal line things and some issues like that. But again,
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  yeah, there's not a lot of not a lot of snaps for the fourth
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  guy, especially when you like your three guys. So this is a big
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  spring to show that I can. I'm he is a tight end NFL tight
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  end size, he's sixty five six six and fifty hundred and sixty pounds.
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  If he could be the best blocking tight end, there's going to be a
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  role for him. And I think now some guys buy into like, I'm
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  just going to be a long snapper. I'm going to be the best thing
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  I can do. I'm going to be the best long snapper. I'm just
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  going to focus on that. If he gets an end to his mind,
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  I am going to be the best blocking tight end on the team, There's
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  going to be an opportunity for him. Yeah, they need a blocking tight
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  end at least one, maybe two. There is an opportunity there, and
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  you know with Cade's doverging, there's a lot of snaps going. I do
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  need to shout out Dan Hope from eleven Warriors. I've been just been cribbing
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  his his snapcount notes. I feel like it's implied at this point if we're
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  talking about snapcounts, we're stealing Dan Hope's work from eleven Warriors. He does
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  great work. Appreciate everything that Dan does there. Dan has Lorenzo Styles Junior
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  with exactly three snaps on defense last year. Now he is a fourth year
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  player. Normally, when you see a fourth year player who really functionally does
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  not play on his side of the ball, you think, well, okay,
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  obviously, obviously it's just never gonna happen with Lorenzo Stoules junior, though,
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  well, there's a little bit of context there where he started his college
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  career as a wide receiver for a couple of years, so was still pretty
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  much brand new to the cornerback position last year, like the red shirt season
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  last year, only he played some on special teams. You saw him sort
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  of a punt gunner at times, and then you saw him on he saw
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  him on defense, very very sparingly. This is one Tony where they don't
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  need him. They have plenty of depth at that corner position. But it
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  feels like, Okay, now you've had a year, he is maybe one
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  of the people I'm most intrigued to see. Okay, where is this right
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  now after a year with Ohio State and working as a corner. Yeah,
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  I'm right there with you because right now I would viewed Jermaine Matthew as a
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  sophomore as the next guy in behind Denzel Burke and David ning Minoson. If
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  we're leaving Jordan Hancock in the slot and Jermaine Matthews is very very good,
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  can Lorenzo Styles can he be that fourth guy ahead of Calvin Simpson Hunt and
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  can he push to be that third guy? Or can he can he find
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  a role as the Jordan Hancock's backup? You know, what kind of role
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  representation can he have on this defense? Because last year was a learning experience,
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  so this spring will be this will be an opportunity for him to show
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  what he's learned and to continue to learn more. Obviously, it's going to
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  be very interesting because, like you said, they don't necessarily need him,
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  But how many injuries have we seen at quarterback over the last three or four
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  years. Now, they were they did pretty good last year, but you
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  still saw Jermaine Matthews have to be thrown into action as a starter. So
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  I won't be shocked again long long season, and I will also not be
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  surprised to see some load management go on this year for a number of positions
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  where it's like it's a surprising surprise hamstring injury is going to keep somebody out
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  for a game. Don't worry, it's just precautionary, a lot of a
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  lot of spring game type of thing, like we just didn't didn't want to
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  risk it. We saw that last year and I think we're going to continue
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  to see it. So that fourth corner they start a game or two this
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  year this year just because so, yeah, very interesting to see what he
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  can do. Obviously, they love his athleticism. High State wanted him as
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  a corner way back when, so they got him now to Malton. Obviously
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  a very good teacher. I do wonder just how ready he is. I
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  don't think they need him to be super ready this year, but next year
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  there's gonna be an opening opening two openings basically at corner and a third at
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  nickel when everybody leaves for the NFL. So get your foot in the door
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  right now, I would say to Lorenzo Styles Junior. For sure. Yeah,
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  definitely an opportunity, and you're going to get good work going up against
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  some very talented wide receivers in practice as well, and probably a little bit
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  of a revamped Ohio State passing game and a little bit of a revamped o
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  High State offense. There's gonna be a lot of interesting stuff to watch this
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  spring, so much so that we have six more days of pre spring talk
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  on the show. There is a ton to talk about this spring. The
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  best place to talk about all of it is at bucke huddle dot com.
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  That's where Tony Kevin and I cover the team, Mark covers recruiting. There's
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  stuff to talk about on that front as well. We've got a whole team
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  of ex'es and thse gurus breaking down the new offense, breaking down the tweaks
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  to the defense this year in year three of the gym Noles defense, and
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  much more. That is all at bucke huddle dot com. Also, we
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  just want to give you a heads up Coming up this Thursday, Tony and
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  I will be having the one thousandth episode of the Buckeye Weekly Podcast. Yes,
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  one thousand, that is a lot. We know, we were there
• 17:47
  for all of them. You can join us there at YouTube dot com slash
• 17:49
  Buckeye Huddle. We will be there on the Thursday at some point. It's
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  you know, we've done a thousand of these. We still don't plan anything,
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  so we don't know what time. So the best way to make sure
• 17:59
  you were there for it as well is to make sure you are subscribed at
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  YouTube dot com slash Bucket Huddle and you hit that bell to get notified when
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  we go live. Should be fun. We're looking forward to it. I
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  hope you guys are as well. That will do it for today. Thank
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  you guys all for joining us. Have a great day. We'll talk to
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  you tomorrow.