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How Elite Freshman WR Quincy Porter Lost His Black Stripe So Early · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Tuesday, April eight, time
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Speaker 1: your host Tom or the Texas game in one hundred
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Speaker 1: and forty four days the game against Michigan in two
0:07
Speaker 1: hundred and thirty five days. If you're planning your next event,
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Speaker 1: make it unforgettable with Grateful Griddle, Columbus's favorite food truck
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Speaker 1: serving up Smashburger's gourmet sandwiches and good vibes. Book you're
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Speaker 1: catering today at Gratefulgriddle oh dot com. The vibes pretty
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Speaker 1: good in Columbus this week. Weather is pretty good. The
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Speaker 1: weather for Saturdays Spring game looking pretty good. It should
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Speaker 1: be a lovely day out at Ohio Stadium. We will
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Speaker 1: be there and there's going to be plenty of interesting
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Speaker 1: storylines to talk through and watch as the Buckeyes take
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Speaker 1: the field for the twenty twenty five spring game. In
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Speaker 1: the lead up to that, we're going to get let
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Speaker 1: you hear a little bit today from Ryan Day. We
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Speaker 1: got a chance to hear from him after the Buckeyes
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Speaker 1: practice on Monday. Had a lot of interesting stuff to
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Speaker 1: talk about, certainly a lot about the quarterback battle, but
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Speaker 1: a lot about some other positional battles as well. It's
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Speaker 1: interesting stuff about why they helped head the quarterbacks go
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Speaker 1: live during practice on Saturday, and much more. But of
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Speaker 1: course you gotta start with the quarterback battle. It's all
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Speaker 1: anyone wants to talk about. So let's talk about the
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Speaker 1: quarterback battle. Ryan Day, what is the latest on the
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Speaker 1: quarterback battle?
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Speaker 2: Well, one thing I met with the quarterbacks, and you know,
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Speaker 2: I made the comment that the only thing that was
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Speaker 2: different about Saturday's practice was the fact that you know,
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Speaker 2: we had students there and we had the media there.
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Speaker 2: Other than that, it was it was just another practice.
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Speaker 2: But what it does make you realize is how important
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Speaker 2: every rep is. And that's you know, my job, and
1:34
Speaker 2: that's Billy Fessler and Brian Hartline's job is to make
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Speaker 2: sure that you know, they understand every single play matters,
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Speaker 2: and we got to get better every day. That being said,
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Speaker 2: it's been you know, three guys getting after it every day.
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Speaker 2: Improvement across the board. Yo, there's been good, good days
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Speaker 2: on all all fronts, but then there's been other days
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Speaker 2: and not so good. They're growing, they're learning. You know,
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Speaker 2: there's nobody that's any much that much further ahead of
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Speaker 2: the other one right now. So they're going to continue
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Speaker 2: to compete, and this is a big week for him
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Speaker 2: and Saturday it'll be a big day for them as well.
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Speaker 2: Get in front of everybody and have an opportunity to compete.
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Speaker 1: This is not the first quarterback battle that Ryan Day
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Speaker 1: has been a part of at Ohio State. The first one,
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Speaker 1: of course, was Joe Burrow versus Dwayne Haskins. That was
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Speaker 1: back in the spring of twenty eighteen. So was that
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Speaker 1: a nerve racking experience for Ryan Day to sort of
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Speaker 1: be a part of deciding Ohio State starting quarterback for
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Speaker 1: the first time? And what did he learn from that?
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Speaker 1: You're gonna hear that answer, And then a quick follow
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Speaker 1: up from Dave Biddle of fuck Nuts if you have
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Speaker 1: trouble hearing him, He's asking if this one is nerve
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Speaker 1: racking as well.
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Speaker 2: It's nerve wracking when you don't have a quarterback. You know,
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Speaker 2: it's a good problem when you have a room full
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Speaker 2: of quarterbacks and that's part of the process is find
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Speaker 2: the right one and trying to do the best decision
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Speaker 2: you can.
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Speaker 3: And there's a lot that goes with it.
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Speaker 2: And you know, in that situation, you know had two
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Speaker 2: great quarterbacks and they both had great careers, So that's
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Speaker 2: not the one that's is nerve wracking.
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Speaker 3: When nerve wracking is when you don't have one.
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Speaker 2: So but but yeah, every year there's just been you know,
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Speaker 2: a different challenge, you know, figuring out who that guy
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Speaker 2: is going to be and figuring out where their growth
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Speaker 2: takes them. Uh, this is a situation where you have
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Speaker 2: Lincoln who's been here now for three years, and Julian
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Speaker 2: you know, just for a year, and then Tavian.
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Speaker 3: Just showed up.
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Speaker 2: So all three different points of their career, but all
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Speaker 2: still learning and growing. None of them really have you know,
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Speaker 2: a ton of significant playing experience. We'll see, yeah, we'll see.
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Speaker 2: I think that there's been good play. You know, there's
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Speaker 2: been mistakes made, but that's part of growing.
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Speaker 3: You know.
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Speaker 2: Another question is are you going to continue to make
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Speaker 2: the same mistakes over and over again. That's when you know,
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Speaker 2: we start to get nerve nervous. But right now we're
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Speaker 2: still kind of in that growth phase and learning phase.
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Speaker 1: One of the other positional battles that's quite interesting is
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Speaker 1: along the offensive line. And one of the things that
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Speaker 1: makes that interesting is there are a bunch of guys
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Speaker 1: who could slot in at any number of places the quarterbacks,
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Speaker 1: they're just going to be playing quarterback. Someone like Austin
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Speaker 1: Syraveld Well, he could be a guard, he could tackle,
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Speaker 1: He could fit in a bunch of different places. So
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Speaker 1: is he really going to be a factor in that
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Speaker 1: right tackle race.
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Speaker 3: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: I think Austin's had a very good spring. He's been
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Speaker 2: playing multiple positions and I think he's a true swing
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Speaker 2: player who can do both guard and tackle and he's
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Speaker 2: shown to be able to do that and a part
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Speaker 2: of that is being able to handle it mentally making
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Speaker 2: that jump and you know, so he's been doing good
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Speaker 2: job of that, and like we talked about in here before,
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Speaker 2: having a primary position and then the secondary position is
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Speaker 2: something that we've focused on. So you know, he's getting
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Speaker 2: to the point where I think he could start at
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Speaker 2: either guard or tackle.
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Speaker 1: We got a chance to watch these student appreciation practice
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Speaker 1: on Saturday, and Lincoln keen Holes had a very impressive day.
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Speaker 1: So what is Ryan Day like about Lincoln keen Hols
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Speaker 1: and what does he still need to improve and is
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Speaker 1: he still a legitimate, legitimate candidate for that starting job.
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Speaker 3: Absolutely. You saw his on some of the throws that
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Speaker 3: he made.
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Speaker 2: You saw his athleticism show we did at point make
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Speaker 2: the quarterbacks live I think, which is the first time
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Speaker 2: we've ever done that. I've ever done that, but I
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Speaker 2: felt like it was important for them, and that was
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Speaker 2: good to see them, you know, move in the pocket
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Speaker 2: and understand what live bolts are going to be like.
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Speaker 2: And we're I think that's behind us now, but we
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Speaker 2: got that in and that was good. But I think
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Speaker 2: that Lincoln, and I think it's the same for all
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Speaker 2: the quarterbacks. We're trying to make the routine plays routinely.
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Speaker 2: And I know you've heard me say that before, but
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Speaker 2: like that's really important to keep the offense moving. We
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Speaker 2: have good skilled players, we have good pieces around them.
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Speaker 2: You know, if they can just keep the offense on
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Speaker 2: track on first and second down and then play good
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Speaker 2: smart football on third down, make the throws in a
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Speaker 2: red zone, and then when it's time to win the
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Speaker 2: game in a two minute trill, like that's when they
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Speaker 2: have to be special. Right now, we're to the point
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Speaker 2: where we just need to make routine plays routinely. We've
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Speaker 2: seen them make this spectacular. We need them to make
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Speaker 2: routine plays and be consistent, and sometimes that can be boring,
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Speaker 2: but that's playing the position of quarterback and all it
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Speaker 2: takes is one or two plays to ruin.
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Speaker 3: Your entire day.
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Speaker 2: You know, we've been there before. You know, we're a
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Speaker 2: quarterback and played really really good, but one play could
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Speaker 2: ruin the entire afternoon in the game. So you know,
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Speaker 2: I'm kind of bouncing around on you. But what with Lincoln,
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Speaker 2: I think that's the case, But it's like that with
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Speaker 2: all the quarterbacks.
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Speaker 1: This is year two for Jeremiah Smith, and he is
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Speaker 1: obviously way way way ahead of what you would reasonably
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Speaker 1: expect someone entering his second season to be. Jinnny Gerdaman
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Speaker 1: put together a list of true freshman seasons and stats
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Speaker 1: throughout Ohio state football history for wide receivers and it
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Speaker 1: was incredible because no two other true freshmen had more receptions, yards,
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Speaker 1: or touchdowns than Jeremiah Smith. The only two people combined
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Speaker 1: who matched him in any category where Chris Carter and
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Speaker 1: David Boston, who combined for fifteen touchdowns, which matched Jeremiah
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Speaker 1: Smith true freshman season. So he's way way way ahead
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Speaker 1: of the curve on what it means to be a
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Speaker 1: freshman wide receiver. So, okay, now, heading into year two,
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Speaker 1: what's the expectation for him and where can he continue
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Speaker 1: to grow?
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Speaker 2: I think everybody on the team is at a different point,
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Speaker 2: and that was the message today to the team that
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Speaker 2: everybody has to continue to get better when they're on
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Speaker 2: the field. Now where is you know, Jeremiah as opposed
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Speaker 2: to you know, Tavi and Saint Clair or Devin Sanchez,
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Speaker 2: they're different different points. But you know, for Jeremiah, it's like,
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Speaker 2: how do I get that one percent better every day?
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Speaker 2: And a lot of it is, you know, learning how
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Speaker 2: to become a good teammate, learning how to you know,
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Speaker 2: encourage other guys around him to play winning football, which
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Speaker 2: he does. But you're starting to see him come out
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Speaker 2: of his shellow bunch. You know, He's done some some
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Speaker 2: route work inside in the slot, which is you know,
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Speaker 2: mostly he was outside last year. We're going to increase
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Speaker 2: his route tree as time goes on. So I mean,
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Speaker 2: there's a lot of things that he can improve on, certainly,
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Speaker 2: but getting more and more experience is part of it.
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Speaker 2: But also just you know, you know, growing into his
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Speaker 2: position and his personality on the team.
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Speaker 1: This time last year, Jeremiah Smith was the true freshman
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Speaker 1: wide receiver whoever was talking about This year, it is
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Speaker 1: Quincy Porter, and while let's pump the brakes, he is
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Speaker 1: not Jeremiah Smith. He did manage to lose his black
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Speaker 1: stripe on Saturday. That's pretty darn early for a true freshman.
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Speaker 1: So what did he do to become the first true
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Speaker 1: freshman to lose his black stripe this year?
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Speaker 2: He was productive. He made a lot of contested catches.
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Speaker 2: You guys were able to see that. We've seen a
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Speaker 2: lot of that leading up to this point, and you know,
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Speaker 2: we don't like to get those those black stripes off
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Speaker 2: too early for the freshman. But he earned it, and
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Speaker 2: especially in a competitive live day like that, to make
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Speaker 2: some of those catches. And you had a couple of
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Speaker 2: catches before you guys even got in there that day.
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Speaker 2: That kind of lit up the group. So I like
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Speaker 2: just how gritty he was, how competitive he was, and
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Speaker 2: he's showing toughness again making those contested, physical catches. And
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Speaker 2: so if he can keep playing like that, he's going
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Speaker 2: to find himself playing a lot of football this year.
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Speaker 1: Now back to Jared amia Smith for a minute. How
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Speaker 1: is he managing sort of the off field pressure and
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Speaker 1: all the stuff that comes with being a star player
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Speaker 1: at Ohio State. We saw the students just mob him
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Speaker 1: during the post practice photo and autograph session, and that
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Speaker 1: seems like that might be a microcosm for what life
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Speaker 1: might be like for him anytime he goes out in public.
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Speaker 1: So how can Brian Day and the coaching staff help
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Speaker 1: him with that?
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Speaker 2: Well, Jeremiah is a fairly private person, so that is
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Speaker 2: in his favor. But we've talked about it, and you know,
9:32
Speaker 2: every time a situation like this comes up, we need
9:34
Speaker 2: to have a plan. C. J. Barnett has a big
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Speaker 2: part in this, and you know we talked about that
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Speaker 2: and we spoke with Jeremiah even for that event there
9:41
Speaker 2: what the plan was. You know, he's become obviously just
9:47
Speaker 2: kind of a complete lightning rod. I mean you see
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Speaker 2: him and it's just, you know, everybody lights up because
9:51
Speaker 2: not only what type of player he is, but who
9:53
Speaker 2: he is as a person. He's got that smile that
9:55
Speaker 2: just lights up a room, and he's just magnetic personality.
9:58
Speaker 2: So you know, all the recruits when they come in,
10:01
Speaker 2: you ask him, so would you like to practice? You know,
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Speaker 2: every single one of them say, Jeremiah Smith. But I
10:06
Speaker 2: think with him, it's not just the ability of what
10:08
Speaker 2: he does on the field, is how he works. It's
10:10
Speaker 2: his personalities, humility, all those things. So but to answer
10:14
Speaker 2: your question, yeah, I mean we have to put a
10:16
Speaker 2: plan together. You know, he's in the city of Columbus.
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Speaker 2: He's one of the most high profile players you know,
10:22
Speaker 2: in the country and certainly one of the most high
10:24
Speaker 2: profile people in the state of Ohio now and that's
10:26
Speaker 2: really the reality. So putting that in place, and I
10:29
Speaker 2: know fans respect that. You know, he's also still just
10:33
Speaker 2: you know, a young man trying to find his way,
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Speaker 2: and he is you know, when you look at him,
10:37
Speaker 2: you don't think of it like that, but but he is.
10:40
Speaker 2: And so we put a good play together to make
10:41
Speaker 2: sure that he has what he needs.
10:44
Speaker 1: Another second year player who looked mighty impressive during that
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Speaker 1: student appreciation practice was linebacker Peyton Pierce, and he potentially
10:52
Speaker 1: be that third linebacker for the Buckeyes this year. You know,
10:55
Speaker 1: you know what you got with r vel Reese and
10:57
Speaker 1: sunny styles, but you've also seen linebackers like Cody Simon
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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three and rvol Reese in twenty twenty
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Speaker 1: four really kind of helped pick up the slack and
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Speaker 1: help pick up some crucial reps. So can Peyton Pierce
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Speaker 1: maybe be that guy this year?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think Peyton Pierce is thriving right now with
11:15
Speaker 2: you know, having James and having Matt there. Matt certainly
11:18
Speaker 2: has a great background and linebacker play, and you know,
11:21
Speaker 2: just some of the new things and some of the
11:23
Speaker 2: schemes and techniques that are going on. You know, he's
11:26
Speaker 2: a guy that understands football at a high level. He's
11:29
Speaker 2: a great tackler. He was a high school wrestler. He
11:32
Speaker 2: can really see it.
11:34
Speaker 3: You know.
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Speaker 2: I think he's really coming into his own. He was
11:36
Speaker 2: coming off an injury coming out of high school getting
11:38
Speaker 2: here and then you know, you have that freshman year.
11:40
Speaker 2: Now he's got a whole off season to really train
11:42
Speaker 2: and he's playing well here, so he's seeing things well,
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Speaker 2: he's playing fast, and this is another guy that's going
11:48
Speaker 2: to have a big impact for us this year.
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Speaker 1: All right back to the quarterback race now, and Ryan
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Speaker 1: Day was asked to, so just break the race down.
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Speaker 1: Is there any gap in there between any of the guys.
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Speaker 2: I think it's fair to say that Tavian has probably
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Speaker 2: the longest way to go, just because of just the
12:02
Speaker 2: lack of experience.
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Speaker 3: I think it's easy to see. You guys saw it
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Speaker 3: on Saturday.
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Speaker 2: The talent and his ability to run, his athleticism, the arm.
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Speaker 2: You know, he has all those things. He just needs
12:15
Speaker 2: to play more. He needs to see it more. That
12:17
Speaker 2: the game's just moving really fast for him right now.
12:19
Speaker 2: But he's picking it up. He's getting it every day.
12:23
Speaker 2: So I'd say he probably has the farthest way to go,
12:25
Speaker 2: and then Lincoln and Julian or you know, pretty much
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Speaker 2: neck and neck right now.
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Speaker 1: One thing that was very unusual during practice on Saturday
12:33
Speaker 1: was that there were certain sections of practice when the
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Speaker 1: quarterbacks were live that meant if you could hit the quarterback,
12:38
Speaker 1: you could take the quarterback to the ground. That is
12:41
Speaker 1: very much not the norm during practices and especially during
12:44
Speaker 1: spring practices for the Buckeyes over the years. Normally they
12:47
Speaker 1: have the quarterback wearing those black jerseys, which means if
12:50
Speaker 1: you hit this guy, you're in trouble. They were still
12:52
Speaker 1: wearing the black jerseys on Saturday, but there were times
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Speaker 1: when you could hit him if you could get him there.
12:56
Speaker 1: So what went into the decision to make those quarterbacks
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Speaker 1: live during practice?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, first, I think all three of them needed
13:04
Speaker 2: it for different reasons.
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Speaker 3: I'll start with with Tavian.
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Speaker 2: You know, Tavian, you know, coming in and seeing the
13:12
Speaker 2: speed of all this, We're not going to do it
13:14
Speaker 2: in the preseason, so this was really about the only
13:16
Speaker 2: time we could do it. And I felt like he
13:17
Speaker 2: needed to feel the speed of the game, you know,
13:21
Speaker 2: because the first time is going to be against Texas,
13:23
Speaker 2: you know, and if if the first game wasn't Texas,
13:26
Speaker 2: I don't know if we would do it, but it is,
13:27
Speaker 2: so we've got to be ready, Lincoln.
13:30
Speaker 3: You know.
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Speaker 2: Other than that the bowl game, he really hasn't played
13:33
Speaker 2: a lot of significant football, so you start to get
13:35
Speaker 2: into a rhythm of practicing as opposed to playing.
13:39
Speaker 3: So you're sitting in the pocket, you start to.
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Speaker 2: Feel like, you know, you almost have an unrealistic view
13:44
Speaker 2: of your protection in there and getting to feel for
13:46
Speaker 2: that part of it. I also felt like he needed
13:48
Speaker 2: to let you know he's he's bigger, stronger, and more
13:50
Speaker 2: athletic than he's been and I feel like he needed
13:53
Speaker 2: to let his athleticism go with some of the pocket
13:56
Speaker 2: movement things, some scrambles, just to feel what that is like.
13:59
Speaker 2: So I wanted to make sure, you know, he got
14:01
Speaker 2: a feel because when you're standing there as a quarterback
14:03
Speaker 2: and you know you're live. That's just a whole different feel,
14:05
Speaker 2: you know, being a quarterback. Knowing what that's like. I
14:07
Speaker 2: thought that was important. And then allow to see with
14:10
Speaker 2: Julian and again, you know, he had a few snaps
14:13
Speaker 2: last year but hadn't really played you know, college live football,
14:18
Speaker 2: and and so I wanted to just get that feel
14:21
Speaker 2: of what that was like. And you know, when you're
14:23
Speaker 2: in the pocket and you get too much depth and
14:25
Speaker 2: the defensive ends are rushing up the field, you know
14:28
Speaker 2: that that's a sack. You know they're gonna they're gonna
14:31
Speaker 2: whiz by you to stay off the quarterback because that's
14:33
Speaker 2: what we do. But you got to feel what that
14:35
Speaker 2: that is like. And so I felt like that was
14:37
Speaker 2: important for for all three guys for different reasons. But
14:41
Speaker 2: you know, that's probably the hardest thing for a young
14:44
Speaker 2: quarterback to understand, is standing in the pocket, when to
14:47
Speaker 2: stand in there, when to slide and create, and when
14:50
Speaker 2: to escape, and if you're not live, it's it's really
14:53
Speaker 2: hard to replicate that. So I felt like it was
14:55
Speaker 2: important everybody came out alive. And and so I think
14:58
Speaker 2: we we we feel good about that.
15:01
Speaker 3: Well, I was date.
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Speaker 1: Obviously coming off of a national championship season. So in
15:05
Speaker 1: a year when you won it all, I'm sure there's
15:07
Speaker 1: a temptation to just say, all right, well, we're just
15:09
Speaker 1: going to run back and do everything the same way
15:11
Speaker 1: we did last year. So how much has Ryan Day
15:14
Speaker 1: stuck with what worked last year and last spring in
15:16
Speaker 1: terms of getting the team ready, and how much has
15:18
Speaker 1: changed this.
15:19
Speaker 2: Year coming off of last year. My initial first two
15:23
Speaker 2: weeks after the season was okay, I wasn't even thinking
15:26
Speaker 2: about anything moving forward. Boy, we have to take a
15:29
Speaker 2: step back in spring. We just played sixteen games. It's
15:32
Speaker 2: a long year. We have to be really smart. Our
15:35
Speaker 2: roster goes to one oh five. We can't afford to
15:38
Speaker 2: lose anybody. Got about a week and a half into
15:41
Speaker 2: spring and realized, you know, the guys who left played
15:45
Speaker 2: a lot of football. Majority of these guys haven't played
15:47
Speaker 2: a lot of football. We need about five more weeks
15:49
Speaker 2: of spring football. We do, so we're going to petition
15:52
Speaker 2: the NCAA to see if we can get five more weeks.
15:54
Speaker 2: But I don't think they're going to pass that one.
15:57
Speaker 2: So it's actually become one of the most physical spring
16:01
Speaker 2: balls we ever had. Now, guys like Kleb, guys like Sonny,
16:05
Speaker 2: you know, you know, some of the older guys, we've
16:06
Speaker 2: kind of pulled out a little bit. We've played a
16:08
Speaker 2: little bit more with the twos and the threes, getting
16:10
Speaker 2: those guys more and more reps because they need to play.
16:13
Speaker 3: They haven't played.
16:15
Speaker 2: And it's so much different when you're a backup and
16:17
Speaker 2: you flash and you make a player two.
16:19
Speaker 3: When you're with the two's.
16:20
Speaker 2: Okay now, but now you know, you're the guy that
16:22
Speaker 2: we're focusing on. You got to sustain that level of
16:24
Speaker 2: play throughout a whole game. And we call it you know,
16:27
Speaker 2: you got to carry water. You got to be able
16:29
Speaker 2: to do the work. And that's growing up, as we
16:31
Speaker 2: all know. And so you know, we're looking for a
16:34
Speaker 2: lot of these guys to take the next step with that,
16:36
Speaker 2: to be able to now take more of these reps
16:37
Speaker 2: and be able to handle that for extended periods of
16:40
Speaker 2: time and and so that's that's what we're growing. But
16:43
Speaker 2: we're we're young, inexperienced. But the more we can do this,
16:46
Speaker 2: the more we can play and you know, get scrimmage
16:50
Speaker 2: like environments, the better. So we're going to do that
16:53
Speaker 2: at the spring game on Saturday, just to kind of
16:55
Speaker 2: hit that format. So we'll break up offense and defense,
16:58
Speaker 2: and in the first part of that will be thud,
17:01
Speaker 2: you know, for some of the guys who have played
17:03
Speaker 2: a lot of football, But we'll be doing that, and
17:06
Speaker 2: then once once that happens, after a few drives, we'll
17:09
Speaker 2: get right into it and we'll be tackling. The quarterbacks
17:11
Speaker 2: will not be live, but everybody else will and it'll
17:13
Speaker 2: look like a normal spring game.
17:16
Speaker 1: If you are looking for a position group to sort
17:18
Speaker 1: of furrow your brow and maybe be a little bit
17:20
Speaker 1: concerned about, you, can you have my permission to be
17:22
Speaker 1: a little bit concerned about the depth at defensive tackle
17:25
Speaker 1: right now. That's something that Ryan Day has sort of
17:27
Speaker 1: talked about on and off in a position where we've
17:30
Speaker 1: sort of speculated that they might be looking at the
17:32
Speaker 1: transfer portal following Spring Bowl. But let's get an update
17:36
Speaker 1: on where things stand right now with that defensive tackle spot.
17:39
Speaker 1: They feel pretty good about the top two guys there,
17:41
Speaker 1: but what about the depth? Ryan Day was asked what
17:43
Speaker 1: he was seen there over the last week or so.
17:46
Speaker 2: There's been flashes, but in order for us to play
17:51
Speaker 2: defense like we did last year, we're going to need
17:53
Speaker 2: those guys to step up more than a half. I
17:57
Speaker 2: think again there's ability there, but consistently playing at a
18:01
Speaker 2: certain level is something that's a challenge that I know
18:03
Speaker 2: that Coach Johnson is going to be pushing these guys
18:06
Speaker 2: for over and over again, and you know, we need
18:09
Speaker 2: these guys to step up in a big way. I
18:12
Speaker 2: think that they you know, guys have gotten better, for sure.
18:14
Speaker 2: I think you're seeing it. But in order to be
18:17
Speaker 2: where we need to be next year, that needs to
18:19
Speaker 2: be more and more growth as we move forward.
18:22
Speaker 1: The spring game is sort of like the final exam
18:24
Speaker 1: for spring practice for the players in all the different positions.
18:27
Speaker 1: But let's talk again at the quarterbacks again. When you're
18:31
Speaker 1: sort of putting together your final grades for the spring,
18:33
Speaker 1: how much does the spring game really count in that assessment.
18:37
Speaker 1: Does it get extra credit because you're doing it in
18:39
Speaker 1: front of the stadium, in front of a stadium full
18:42
Speaker 1: of fans and it's your last chance to do it,
18:44
Speaker 1: or is it just kind of one of the fifteen practices.
18:47
Speaker 3: It's a piece, it's a piece, you know.
18:50
Speaker 2: It's I think about quarterbacks journeys along the way, and
18:55
Speaker 2: you just take certain guys you know now that are
18:57
Speaker 2: in the NFL and you just start went in high
18:59
Speaker 2: school and go to college, and you see their journey,
19:01
Speaker 2: and some guys transfer and they go somewhere, and then
19:04
Speaker 2: they transfer somewhere else and they finally play their best
19:06
Speaker 2: football late later on, or then maybe some guys you
19:11
Speaker 2: know go on and play some of their best football
19:12
Speaker 2: in the NFL. It's it's a process and a journey
19:15
Speaker 2: along the way. So it's hard to make hard and
19:18
Speaker 2: fast decisions sometimes with young players. The key to all
19:21
Speaker 2: of it is is them being resilient and learning and growing.
19:24
Speaker 2: And the faster they can learn from their mistakes and
19:27
Speaker 2: get better, the better off they're going to be. And
19:29
Speaker 2: so I don't have a crystal ball. I don't know
19:31
Speaker 2: what it's going to look like. But you know, this
19:34
Speaker 2: is just the beginning, you know. I don't know, like
19:36
Speaker 2: you said, like what percentage we're there, I can't really
19:40
Speaker 2: tell you, but I know that, you know, these guys
19:43
Speaker 2: all have to continue to grow and get better, and
19:45
Speaker 2: you know, part of that may be throughout the fall.
19:47
Speaker 3: I don't know.
19:47
Speaker 2: I'll have to see where it goes. But the good
19:50
Speaker 2: news is all three can do it. They physically can
19:52
Speaker 2: do it. They can throw, You've seen them do that before,
19:55
Speaker 2: but it's now playing winning football for us. So the
20:00
Speaker 2: best we can do is put them in game environments.
20:02
Speaker 2: That's our job as coaches. But you know they're they're
20:05
Speaker 2: still green.
20:06
Speaker 1: And finally, looking back at last Saturday's practice when we
20:10
Speaker 1: were inside the Woody Hayes Athletics Center for that spring practice,
20:13
Speaker 1: for that student appreciation practice, it's probably the defense was
20:17
Speaker 1: playing pretty well and playing pretty fast, which is pretty
20:20
Speaker 1: impressive for a defense that only was returning three starters.
20:22
Speaker 1: And honestly, we did not see a lot of Caleb
20:25
Speaker 1: downs in sunny styles, so it was really mostly guys
20:28
Speaker 1: playing who had not played a whole hack of a
20:29
Speaker 1: lot last year. So was Ryan Day happy with how
20:32
Speaker 1: the defense is playing right now?
20:34
Speaker 2: Well, that that's why we went live to feel that velocity,
20:36
Speaker 2: because there's just a different feel when you're tagging off
20:38
Speaker 2: sometimes on the perimeter thud, you know, when you're tackling
20:42
Speaker 2: your role and you're playing fast and those angles change quickly.
20:45
Speaker 2: So yeah, I'll say this about this group. They are competitive,
20:49
Speaker 2: they're edgy, They've given great effort on the field. That
20:52
Speaker 2: that has been every practice so far, so that that
20:56
Speaker 2: that is something that's like a foundation you can build
20:58
Speaker 2: off of. I think that's excellent. I think you saw
21:01
Speaker 2: how hard they were practicing on Saturday, and.
21:02
Speaker 3: That's that's been.
21:03
Speaker 2: Now we've condensed this thing down to four weeks, so
21:06
Speaker 2: we've been going back to back to back with some
21:07
Speaker 2: of these practices and they've been physical. So I get
21:11
Speaker 2: I get the guys a lot of credit. I mean,
21:13
Speaker 2: that's that's a great jumping off point as a team. Now,
21:15
Speaker 2: if we can just keep building and growing, we'll have something.
21:18
Speaker 1: We will be back at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center
21:20
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, get a chance to talk to at wide receivers,
21:24
Speaker 1: get our last position interviews of the spring, and then
21:28
Speaker 1: the countdown to Saturday is officially on. We will be
21:31
Speaker 1: there for the spring game Saturday. Weather looks like it's
21:34
Speaker 1: pretty good. Look at a nice sunny day, not too hot,
21:37
Speaker 1: now too cold. Should be a lovely day inside Ohio Stadium.
21:40
Speaker 1: We will be there. If you want to be there
21:42
Speaker 1: as well, you can get tickets at ohiostate Buckeyes dot com.
21:44
Speaker 1: And if you can't make it out to the stadium,
21:46
Speaker 1: well make sure you check us out at bucke huddle
21:48
Speaker 1: dot com and YouTube dot com slash Bucket Huddle. We
21:51
Speaker 1: will have full coverage pre and postgame for you all
21:54
Speaker 1: day long from the Ohio State Ohio Stadium of the
21:58
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five Ohio States Spring Game. Looking forward to that,
22:02
Speaker 1: hope you guys can join us there. So that'll do
22:04
Speaker 1: it for today. Thank you guys all for joining us.
22:06
Speaker 1: Have a great day.
22:07
Speaker 3: We'll talk to you tomorrow.