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How Big A Role Will Tight Ends Have For The 2026 Buckeyes? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buck Eyes tomorrow morning for Friday, April third.
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  Speaker 1: I'm your host, tom Or the ball State game in
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  Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty five days.
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  Speaker 2: The game we gets Michigan.
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  Speaker 1: In two hundred and thirty nine days. Our friends are
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  Speaker 1: Grateful Brittle, Columbus's favorite food truck. They are now on Uber, each, Scrubhub,
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  Speaker 1: out Greatful Griddle oage dot com for more. Joined by
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  Speaker 1: Tony Gerdaman Bucky Huddle here on the indoor facility at
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State. Buck Guys just wrapped up practice number seven
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  Speaker 1: of the spring so seven out of fifteen. So halfway
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  Speaker 1: through the student appreciation practice on Saturday will be official
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  Speaker 1: halfway point of spring ball.
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  Speaker 2: We will be there half way through the practice. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: that's what I said.
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  Speaker 1: The halfway point of the practice will be at the
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  Speaker 1: halfway point of spring ball, and so we are now
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  Speaker 1: approaching that halfway point right now. We get a chance
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  Speaker 1: to talk after practice on Thursday with the Ohisate linebackers
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  Speaker 1: and the Ohoisate tight ends. We'll talk about the linebackers
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  Speaker 1: on the Buck guye Weekly podcast. Today we're going to
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  Speaker 1: be talking about the tight ends and tight end. We
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  Speaker 1: get a chance to doctor Keenan Bailey tight ends coach
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  Speaker 1: Nate Roberts, sophomore tight end, and you know, I after
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  Speaker 1: playing a bunch as a true freshman, I don't think
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  Speaker 1: it's a big surprise. But generally when we get a
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  Speaker 1: chance to talk to a guy, especially this early in
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  Speaker 1: the spring, it's a pretty good marker for Hey, this
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  Speaker 1: is someone who's going to be playing a pretty big
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  Speaker 1: role this upcoming season.
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  Speaker 3: And Bennett Christian is out this spring. You brought in
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  Speaker 3: two transfers. Nay Roberts got in as everybody saw it.
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  Speaker 3: Fall back last year was something he had never done before.
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  Speaker 3: So it's something that he decided to do in fall
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  Speaker 3: camp and he won the fallback job and it's it
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  Speaker 3: was good experience because it got him, got him comfortable playing,
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  Speaker 3: and now he is one of the leaders of the room.
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  Speaker 3: As a sophomore who has played a little bit of
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  Speaker 3: tight end, I don't say he is one of the
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  Speaker 3: leaders of the tight end. He said he's more comfortable,
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  Speaker 3: more confident with everything going on, and then that comes
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  Speaker 3: out in your play, and it comes out in fact.
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  Speaker 3: You have a good offseason, you're viewed as one of
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  Speaker 3: the leaders. You're the loan representative of the tight ends.
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  Speaker 3: There could have been no players, yeah, and it would
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  Speaker 3: have been like Kenan, where are there no players? And
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  Speaker 3: the good news is there was a player. And Nate
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  Speaker 3: Roberts he's all ball.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And you know you were talking about him as a
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  Speaker 1: full back last year. Keenan Bailey was not interested in
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  Speaker 1: talking about him as a full back, not that he
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  Speaker 1: didn't appreciate the role he played, but just he's a
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  Speaker 1: tight end. You know, when they split him out, He's
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  Speaker 1: not a wide receiver. He's not Keenan his coaching a
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  Speaker 1: wide receivers. It is he's a tight end who happens
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  Speaker 1: to be split out. He's a tight end who happens
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  Speaker 1: to be in the backfield. So, you know, he was
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  Speaker 1: really not interested in having that conversation at all, but
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  Speaker 1: he did talk about Roberts and the fact that you know,
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  Speaker 1: out there in game one, he's out there. The first
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  Speaker 1: he said, the first play Nate Roberts played last year
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  Speaker 1: was a fourth and one and that was against Texas,
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  Speaker 1: So a fourth and one against the number one team
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  Speaker 1: in the country.
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  Speaker 2: At that point.
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  Speaker 1: We talk a lot about Devin Sanchez and the fact
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  Speaker 1: that how telling that was that he was out there
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  Speaker 1: in that first game against Texas.
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  Speaker 2: I feel like we don't talk about Nate Roberts as
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  Speaker 2: much because he didn't, you know, he.
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  Speaker 1: He kind of it felt like he kind of had
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  Speaker 1: a similar role throughout the season. But just the fact
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  Speaker 1: that he was out there last year tells me, you know,
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  Speaker 1: in addition to yeah, we got a chance to talk
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  Speaker 1: to him, like, it just feels like he's someone.
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  Speaker 2: Who's probably not being talked about enough this spring.
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  Speaker 3: And I do think he has the highest upside of
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  Speaker 3: the tight ends. He was one of the nation's top
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  Speaker 3: tight ends and they were really deep in that room
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  Speaker 3: last year, so they didn't need to show everything that
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  Speaker 3: he can do. I think you're gonna see more of
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  Speaker 3: that this year. Even though they brought in some reinforcements
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  Speaker 3: from the Portal, you still they've become accustomed to having
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  Speaker 3: a deep room here. So it's like, well, we've got
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  Speaker 3: all of these shares, Yeah, let's put people in them.
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  Speaker 3: But there's gonna be some competition there. But I think
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  Speaker 3: to expect Nate Roberts to just be fall back when
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  Speaker 3: they bring it back and fall camp or whatever. I
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  Speaker 3: think there's gonna be more to it than that. I
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  Speaker 3: am interested to see who is the fallback, you know,
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  Speaker 3: come August, and whether or not if it's he's the
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  Speaker 3: best option for it, or they want to find the
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  Speaker 3: next back the best option for it.
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  Speaker 2: And they certainly do have other options.
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  Speaker 1: As you mentioned, Bennett Christian is out this spring, but
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  Speaker 1: they brought in a couple transfers and Hunter wellsoning and
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  Speaker 1: Mason with Williams. I almost said, Mason Wilhelm. I'm like, Nope, wrong, Mason,
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  Speaker 1: Mason Wilhelm, the tight end, Mason Williams the tight end
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  Speaker 1: transfer from Ohio University, and Hunter Wilson the tight end
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  Speaker 1: transfer from Northwestern.
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  Speaker 2: We're gonna be in here on Saturday.
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  Speaker 1: I'm very interested to see those guys because those are
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  Speaker 1: both people that you bring in and you sort of
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  Speaker 1: mentally slot in. Mason Williams in the well it's the
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  Speaker 1: tight end transfer from Ohio, so he must be this
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  Speaker 1: year's will Casmeric and Hunter will saying the veteran who
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  Speaker 1: had some good moments for a Northwestern but we had
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  Speaker 1: a really injury plague career.
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  Speaker 2: What is he going to look like this year?
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  Speaker 1: That feels like, you know, I did you were with Nate,
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  Speaker 1: I was not. Did he have anything to say about
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  Speaker 1: just some how the new guys are sort of adjusting.
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  Speaker 3: I think, well, because that's that they vet these guys, Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: as much as they can sure in the portal before
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  Speaker 3: they bring them in. So everything's going well, and you
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  Speaker 3: know he's he seems you know, when you're stepping up
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  Speaker 3: as a leader, you're gonna take some pride in keeping
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  Speaker 3: everybody on track. This sounds like that's things are going.
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  Speaker 3: I will say, I think on the first day of practice,
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  Speaker 3: we didn't see the tight ends dropping some passes first
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  Speaker 3: or second day of practice, and I there are some
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  Speaker 3: clips of it on Twitter, you know, from the videos
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  Speaker 3: that we shot, and like people are like, oh.
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  Speaker 2: Oh h, it's first day of practice.
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  Speaker 3: No one's past, right, So but again, I think it's
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  Speaker 3: going to be a deep room. They've lost a bunch
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  Speaker 3: of guys. You know, Jilanie Thurman. Where would he be
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  Speaker 3: if he was coming back, you know, he'd certainly we
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  Speaker 3: would have talked to him today for sure.
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  Speaker 2: Oh yeah.
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  Speaker 3: So it'll be interesting to see how that rises. And
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  Speaker 3: it isn't as good as it was last year. I
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  Speaker 3: don't know that it needs to be as good as
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  Speaker 3: it was last year, And honestly, I don't know that
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  Speaker 3: it's a bad thing that it won't be as good
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  Speaker 3: when you consider the rest of the personnel, right.
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  Speaker 1: And I think the wide receiver room, when we talk
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  Speaker 1: about the wide receiver room, the wide receiver room, I
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  Speaker 1: think is deeper than it was last year in terms
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  Speaker 1: of guys who they feel are very likely to be
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  Speaker 1: able to be trusted to go out and play meaningful snaps,
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  Speaker 1: probably from day one, which means if you're playing more
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  Speaker 1: wide receivers, you're probably not playing as many tight ends.
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  Speaker 1: And if you're only playing eleven personnel twelve personnel for
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  Speaker 1: the most part, you're not getting into those thirteen fourteen
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  Speaker 1: personnel packages that they played a bunch in short yardage
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  Speaker 1: and goal line and red zone and all that kind
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  Speaker 1: of stuff. They're just our fewer opportunities for those guys.
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  Speaker 1: So you know, we'll see Nate Roberts feels like the
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  Speaker 1: guy you can kind of write in and ink. Bennett
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  Speaker 1: Christian and Welsing and Mason Williams are guys who I
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  Speaker 1: feel like you can kind of at least right in
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  Speaker 1: and you know, you can push pretty hard with the
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  Speaker 1: pencil at this point and then the guys behind them
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  Speaker 1: will see overall, Keenan Bailey was very excited about you know,
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  Speaker 1: this is this is the spring, this is a time
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  Speaker 1: when everyone's going to go fifteen to oher and everyone's
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  Speaker 1: it's going to be the best.
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  Speaker 3: You know, are you about to mention a player.
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  Speaker 2: No, I was.
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  Speaker 1: I was going to say, I was just going to
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  Speaker 1: talk about the overall him his excitement level with bringing
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  Speaker 1: in Arthur Smith as the offensive coordinator. You know, he
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  Speaker 1: talked about Ryan Day as you know, I think he
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  Speaker 1: said the best offensive mind in the country, and you know,
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  Speaker 1: certainly if he's not, he's one of the best offensive
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  Speaker 1: minds of the country. But then to also add an
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  Speaker 1: Arthur Smith, who has that NFL background, has comes at it.
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  Speaker 2: From a little bit of a different perspective.
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  Speaker 1: Or Ryan Day is a little bit more passing focused
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  Speaker 1: and Arthur Smith is known a little bit more for
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  Speaker 1: the ground game. Keenan Bailey was, you know, everyone's optimistic
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  Speaker 1: this time of the year, but Keenan Bailey seemed genuinely
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  Speaker 1: optimistic about what that pairing could do.
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  Speaker 3: And this is a common theme among the offensive coaches
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  Speaker 3: and people that we've talked to that they really like
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  Speaker 3: how this is going. And it's interesting because I wonder
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  Speaker 3: how much I don't know if Keenan Bailey talked about this.
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  Speaker 3: There's a lot of blowback about the tight ends last
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  Speaker 3: year and how much he took personally, But the thing
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  Speaker 3: is they're gonna put their best players out there, and
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  Speaker 3: I think how much the tight ends played last year
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  Speaker 3: was as much a statement about the receiving room as well,
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  Speaker 3: and so now you won't maybe the tight ends won't
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  Speaker 3: be so spread so thin, and they can be a
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  Speaker 3: little bit more cohesive and what they're doing, and the
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  Speaker 3: offense may look better, may look more explosive, more wide receivers,
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  Speaker 3: so people will be happier. But overall, with Arthur Smith there,
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  Speaker 3: whatever it's going to look like, I do expect the
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  Speaker 3: running game to look better, which makes everything else look better.
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  Speaker 3: And even if they play as much twelve and thirteen
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  Speaker 3: personnel as before, if the running game is working, I
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  Speaker 3: bet nobody's gonna notice.
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  Speaker 1: Well you are sare Yeah, you sort of assume that
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  Speaker 1: the quarterback play is can better because you've got the
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  Speaker 1: same quarterback back with another year of experience. You sort
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  Speaker 1: of assume the offensive lines can be better. Because you're
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  Speaker 1: basically running it back from last year with a lot
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  Speaker 1: more experience and a lot more depth this year. Those
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  Speaker 1: two things in and of themselves should help the run game,
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  Speaker 1: should help the consistency, and potentially the explosiveness of the offense.
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  Speaker 2: We'll see.
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  Speaker 1: That's sort of a that's not really a tight end topic.
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  Speaker 1: That's more of a wide receiver and running back topics.
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  Speaker 1: So we'll probably talk about that more on other shows,
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  Speaker 1: but it's your sort of quick update on the tight
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  Speaker 1: ends and what we learned from talking to Keenan Bailey
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  Speaker 1: and Nate Roberts. So there's your kind of recap as
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  Speaker 1: we head into the halfway point of springball.
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  Speaker 2: We will be back in here on Saturday.
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  Speaker 1: We'll get a chance to watch practice, which will be
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  Speaker 1: that is always very very useful to sort of get
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  Speaker 1: a check in at the halfway point and see what
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  Speaker 1: has changed in terms of the depth chart, how many
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  Speaker 1: of those transfers have moved up in the pecking order,
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  Speaker 1: and all that kind of fun stuff. So we'll be
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  Speaker 1: in here on Saturday, I have that for you and
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  Speaker 1: have some kind of a we'll have some kind of
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  Speaker 1: a reaction show for you after that, so you can
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  Speaker 1: look forward to that, and if you want to talk
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  Speaker 1: to us before then, you can find us at buckey
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  Speaker 1: huddle dot com. Happy to talk to you there on
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  Speaker 1: the board, presented by Jeff Ruby's Columbus. That'll do it
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  Speaker 1: for today. Thank you guys all for joining us, have
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow