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5 Things We Learned Inside Ohio State Football Practice · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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Welcome to a very special live episode of Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Sunday, March
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thirty. First time, your host Tom Moore. Jeremiah Smith. Okay,
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I was going to see how long I could go without saying his name.
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All right, We're going to get through the rest of the intro. The
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Akron Gabe is in fifty three days to gets fisually into two hundred and forty
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four days. I'm going by Tody Gerderman fuckyehuddle dot Com. Just got the
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chance to watch the Ohio State student appreciation practice, basically the longest practice,
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longest time we get to watch a practice all throughout the spring, Tony I
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have I titled the show five things we learned about the Ohio State football team
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during you know, inside sport student appreciation practice. We'll get to whatever the
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other four things are. I kept watching Jeremiah Smith making incredible plays and incredible
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plays, and like stuff is starting to pop up on Twitter. Now we
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had a research gentleman, we could release videos. And in my head,
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you know in the movies when you know the hero is like going through and
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then you know the door's open and then sees the room of gold and he
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goes the legends are true. That was kind of how I felt watching Jeremiah
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Smith during practice on Saturday. I think you were such a narcissist that you
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saw that today and you consider yourself the hero of the story. I mean,
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anyway, it is and this is the things that we learned today.
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This is not regurditting old information. So yeah, the first one was like
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an eighty yarder. He went up for one for a catch on Jermaine Matthews,
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came down with it on Jermaine Matthews, and then ran for like the
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last forty yards for the touchdown. The second one was maybe like fifty yards
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and he went and caught it on Denzel Burke and Caleb Downs was a little
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bit late getting there, and there's just this buzz like I stopped paying attention
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for the next few plays because you just like you're looking around at everybody like
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did you did you just what I was looking at at my camera, going
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well, I've got a picture of this, and it looks like that's number
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ten and number two in coverage, but that can't be right. Yeah,
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he's just a freshman, and those are two of the best defensive backs in
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the entire country. In coverage on the same play at the same time.
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That can't be right, Denze. I think got him back later with a
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past breakup near the goal line in the end zone. But Tom, you
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have been very slow on the uptake. I've I've already said on the previous
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show, one thousand yards responsible, Responsible, you're looking for? What was?
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What was Ryan Day's quote when he was asked about him said, I'm
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gonna be careful what I say. See, I'm basically Ryan Day. I'm
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the Ryan Day of show. When a coaches like, you know what,
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I'm gonna be careful what I say here, I am at the point,
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I mean, go back three weeks and I'm saying like, look, you
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can't expect the true freshman to start. He's a true freshman. I don't
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know where he's been. And I'm sure there are people in the NFL right
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now who are going to tell you no, no, no, no,
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no, he's eligible for the draft next year. That's fine. I I
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think it is time to remove the restrictor plate from the hype machine because,
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uh he it brings me no joy to say this, But are you well,
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I'm not. It's not It's not that I didn't think he was good.
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It's just that, look, that's not a fair expectation. And at
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this point, I'm sorry he's doing this to himself. If he didn't want
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people to talk about him, he shouldn't do incredible things repeatedly in front of
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the biggest audience he's going to be in front of until the spring. It
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We talked on I think an episode of Buckeye Weekly recently about how one of
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the descriptions of him or last Saturday was breathtaking. Was that fitting because I
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mean there you're like like literally, oh breathe it like yeah, and this
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is not just us docking. This as everybody like we're all shoulder to shoulder
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with fellow media students' family members, and you just like you're looking at everybody
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like this is this is happening. That's not normal. Nor this is not
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normal. That we've seen a lot of remarkable freshmen come through, freshman receivers
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come to We're like, we know what Garret Wilson or his first practice was
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like, oh wow, this guy's good. The first time we saw Jackson
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Smith and Jagna, you know, in that weird in that weird twenty twenty
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season, the first time we saw him, I was like, oh wow,
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like this is this is different from me, even than the guys who
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are different, Like this is different different, And yeah, I you know,
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sometimes we joke with our fellow media members and I said, do you
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think they're gonna put Jeremiah or JJ on the Bletatnikoff gup of this year?
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And I'm joking. But with the trend, the the speed, Yeah,
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this is like, if these trends continue with the speed at which my expectations
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from home or changing, he might I know, he's probably eighteen years old.
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He might be president in November. I don't. I can't tell you
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he's sorry, sorry president elect, because President Otel John w All the year.
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Sorry Emperor. I don't. I don't know. I I am.
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I am at a loss for words at what we just saw, because this
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is not like, well, you know, hey, this is gonna This
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says a bunch of really bad things about the defensive backs, like no,
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no, the defense. Look, the defenses aren't there. The defense looked
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good all day. The defense controlled the offense for long stretches. There's one
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point where there were three straight plays coming up from the end zone and the
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defense got safeties plays in a row. So this is not oh boy,
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this has bad things about the Higsted defense. The Oist defense is exactly what
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you think it is. This is a whole separate thing. Yeah, the
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quarterbacks did not have much time to throw today, but and it's not just
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the deep stuff because there were you know, quick outs and you know,
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just hitches and just it's very easy for him and you're you want to see
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more. That's that's you leave this wanting to see more and talking with a
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bunch of people like I don't know how the quarterbacks have to like fight to
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just I'm just gonna throw it to him, you like we saw last year
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of just throwing it up to Marvin, Like I'm just gonna you know,
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whether or not, you know, if Jeremiah's first and the progression or third
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or whatever. It's like, I'm just gonna skip to the end and go
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to that progression. We got a question on Bucky Weekly on Friday, which
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I mean literally a day ago. We had a listener and then a question
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that was based but like, well, if he was just the first rude
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I never played, what was that line looked like? And I don't know
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how he's not. I mean like watching and it's they have a mega book,
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They've got Karl on it, they have great other receivers, and then
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it's like this is a loaded wide receiver room and it's still like you already
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you can like you kind of fall into that mindset of like, well you
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can throw the ball to Jeremiah Space. He's like Poochie, like, if
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you're not throwing the ball to with Jeremiah, why don't you throwing the ball
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to Jeremiah Smith? And the running back you know, quin Chin Judkins had
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some nice plays, Gregan Henderson had a nice place. I can get good
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running backs. Like It's just like but that that was coming in with high
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expectations and to have them exceeded to the degree that you had them exceeded.
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It is just one practice and we're going to repeat it is just it is
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just one practice. A few more times throughout the show on both good things
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and bad things. But that was that was about as far as I have
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had my expectation expectations exceeded at a practice by an individual player, and I
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already had fairly high expectations. Yeah, it's just one practice today, but
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this is what he's been doing all camp long. Yes, so that's why
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it's and this is our first time getting an opportunity to really watch it.
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But the people who are here constantly, this isn't new for them. And
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we're told that he's been targeted more than anybody else, and we saw that
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today. Well you know it was he He's not always playing, you know,
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because they're just running. But he sure seems to be out there with
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the one a lot. Yeah, yeah, he definitely was. But yeah,
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and we're gonna you'll all get to see maybe he'll play during the spring
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game. I don't know, if you just want to don't show him to
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anybody else at this point? Is this I looked at the long term forecast
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a day or two ago, and it looks good. You should buy your
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tickets. I think you should buy your tickets because I think you want to
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see the show, is what I kind of think. Yeah, all right,
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we can't just talk about Jeremiah Smith. We got to talk about some
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other people. Let's start with the quarterbacks next, and then we'll get to
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We saw a player lose his black stripe at the end of practice. That
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was exciting. Let's go next to the quarterbacks. This is the first time,
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and again it's just one practice. The same caveats are going to apply
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for the good things and bad things. This is the first time I have
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seen Devin Brown look like clearly he was the best of the quarterbacks. I
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think, you know, Lincoln Kinghols was good, Julian saying, you can
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see it. It's not there yet, but you can see it. Will
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Howard had some moments, but wasn't you know, the consistency wasn't necessarily there.
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And this is practice number eight for him, so okay. But to
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me, I thought Devin Round was the best of the four quarterbacks. Yeah,
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and you say four quarterback quarterbacks because Eron Nolan wasn't wasn't going during the
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eleven and elevens. But but yeah, he was here practicing. But yes,
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I'm with you, Devin Brown. That was the best I've seen from
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him, and I thought, I thought he looked like the best quarterback on
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the day. A lot of downfield shots that were not just to to Jeremy
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Smith. He had a really nice throw to Bryce and Rogers a catch and
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run down the scene that went for about seventy five yards for a score.
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But yeah, he seemed to be confident in control. Will Howard did lose
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his black stripe after practice, you know, so did. Ryan Day talked
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about how he likes his composure in the pocket, his pocket awareness. I
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mentioned c J. Stroud in terms of a guy who was always just very
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comfortable in there, and so, yeah, but I thought I was.
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I was impressed. And it was also good to see the running game infused
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with the quarterback run down in the red zone, which is where I think
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you'll see it a lot or comparatively a lot down there. So all of
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the quarterbacks were running it. I had Julian said stepped up into the pocket
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on one deep shot and it was just under thrown. I think too Mecca
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Abuca, but I thought he had some moments and he does not look worried
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or concerned. But they, like I said, they did not have a
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lot of time to throw. The defensive line was getting after it. Yeah,
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the defensive line was very very good. You saw pressure. There was
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one where I saw Caleb Downs coming in BLITZA. I mean the CJ.
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Hicks defense was not holding back at all. Jim Knowles was getting into his
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bag a little bit, and I mean the defense looked very good. I
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don't you know. This is one of the things where it's spring, So
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every time the defensive line looks good, it must mean that the offensive line
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is terrible. And I don't think the offensive line is terrible. I think
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we have sort of a baseline expectation for what this offensive line is. They
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had, you know, with the ones, I think I saw more of
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Sevendcloughlin than Carson Hinton with the ones at center, right guard, I think
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I saw a lot of Luke Montgomery right guard with the ones, Josh Fryer
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obviously right tackle, joshim Is at left tackle, Donovan Jackson at left guard.
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So this is you know, the offensive line is four more or less
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proven players and Luke Montgomery, who's you know, We've heard kind of consistently
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good things, So I don't think this is, boy, the offensive line
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is a big concern like it was last year. This feels like, Yeah,
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the defensive line, even when they're mixing and matching and it's not J
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T. Twimolo and Jack Sawyer, even with some of the other guys in
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there, it looks pretty darn good. Yeah, And down in the red
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zone here, when in the one yard line, when they're going out from
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the one those three straight safeties. One of those had I think Kate McDonald
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just put Luke Montgomery on his butt, like and just blew the play up
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because we're looking from way over there and looking over like four rows of people,
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and I think I just see some legs sticking up in the air and
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they get stands back up and it's number fifty one. So I was like,
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he ran there. I think Josh Fryer may have gotten knocked down as
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well, So that was one of those. But yeah, the defensive line,
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and then of course the blitzing. CJ. Hicks had some sacks on
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some blitzes, and Ryan Days said afterwards, you know CJ likes to blitz,
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and he's timing it up really well and just you know, a gap
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nobody there and then just blowing it up. So pretty impressive. I liked
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one play with Sunny Styles on a early on they ran that jet sweep Mecca
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and and Sonny just shot through there and stopped it. You you joked that
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it was the fourth and one drill. Yes, they ran. I think
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at least twice I saw them run a jet sweep to a book into the
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boundary and not have a lot of success, and I thought this is not
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going to go over well on Twitter after practice, But yeah, there was
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you know, they this was a random mishmash. Yeah, first teamers and
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second teamers and third teamers, and sometimes Jefan Brown's in there with the third
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team, sometimes Julian Sands in the first team, and it's just all over
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the place. You get, you know, and I think there is questionable
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validity to you know, hey, you know, potential QB one is in
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there throwing to walk on wide receivers against walk on defense backs. I don't
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know how much we really are supposed to learn from that, but you know,
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you're, you're just kind of accumulating all of this information. I don't
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think I saw on Twitter, you know, stop me, ready to set
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your face to shock, ready to ready to lose your breath once again with
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the shock of this. I saw something stupid on Twitter where someone posted like
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one someone had posted like one play of a quarterback for yourn interception last week
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and it was getting quote tweeted with oh boys. So it wasn't Kyle McCord's
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fault last year. It was such your high state quarterback rooms a disaster.
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No, the High State quarterback room is absolutely fine. I've got multiple guys
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who had who were good against a very good defense. So yeah, you
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can go ahead. And I'm sure people were not all that worried about that,
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but you can set that one to decide. There were no quarterback turnovers.
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I don't remember any interception. I shouldn't see any fumbles, so they
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were. But there was one fumble on a wide receiver I don't remember who.
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It was, fumbled after a catch, and that was that. That
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was the only turnover I really remember. But yeah, you know, and
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this is again one practice, so not not a tons of glean from there.
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But I didn't I didn't see anything that made me think, oh boy,
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the quarterbacks are a big problem. No offensive line. I'm talking talking
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about it a little bit. Sethn glaughlin lost his black stripe, so he
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and Will Howard both lose their black stripes after practice. You know. He
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again, one practice, you don't want to read too much into it.
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I think I only saw one bad snap, or like noticeably bad snap all
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day. It was a Carson Hensman and the seventh clocks, and it was
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one. It wasn't like it was constant. He was in there for a
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bunch of times. So one bad snap there, I don't think I saw
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a bad snap from seven oclaughlin the whole day. I think I would look
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based on what I saw, I would probably have McLaughlan ahead of Carson Heinsman
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right now. And again, this is one I'm going to competing. It's
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one practice we didn't even get to see the entirety of the practice, but
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you know, it felt like he was maybe a little ahead of Hintsman.
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He was running with the ones, maybe a little more than Hinsman. Still
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kind of an open competition. Him losing his black stripe though, tells me
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and the coaches are seeing this is someone who is probably going to be contributor
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for us. Yeah. Well, when they went to the eleven and eleven
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the first team offensive that the offensive line stayed the same. From what I
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saw, it was and Hensman or McLaughlan was always with the first team offensive
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line when they did and it was the last I don't know, forty five
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minutes is eleven on eleven Like he was a bunch. Yeah, it was
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a bunch. So, I mean he was out there as the number one
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center of the entire time. Second team was the same as it's been.
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It's it's been yeah, Zen Mahlski had left tackle, and then Enoch Vima
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he is at one of the guards, Hinsman takers, Bola is at the
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right tackle, and Austin Seerveld is one of the guards in there as well.
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They did say that Sabola has also been playing some guard along with Friar,
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and of course look Montgommer, which is so interesting because just a couple
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of weeks ago he said that Taylor was pretty much a pure tackle, which
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is so that's that's really intriguing to me. I hear that, and I
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wonder does that mean that Josh Fryar is pretty set at that right tackle spot
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and so now you don't feel like you need to worry about So let's see,
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if you know, we know the best five is going to involve Josh
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Brett right tackle. This is me interpreting two separate things that Ryan Day has
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said two weeks apart. So you can take that for whatever it's worth or
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isn't. But you know, to me, if you tell me he's going
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to be a tackle and then all of a sudden he's playing guard, that
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tells me you're feeling pretty good about who your tackle is. And then if
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the other two guys are both playing guard, that tells me who you probably
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are feeling good about. So this is you know, this is spring,
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this is reading tea leaves. You never get told, you know, they
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never like print out the too deep and hand it out to the media.
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We're kind of always looking and judging, interpreting. That's kind of what I
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think, might I might read into that. Yeah, and we didn't see
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any Carson Hinsman or set the Clockland as a guard. They were either they
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were at center of the entire time. But yeah, they just can continue
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to move through there. And not that we're putting a two deeper depth chart
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or anything together, but these kind of practices, they just rolled them through.
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Like with the quarterbacks, they would they would all four just like kind
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of rotate. Here's the first team offensive line and receivers. Now you're with
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the second team offensive line and receivers. Like there, like you said,
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there were times where Devin Brown is throwing to walk on being protected by second
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teamers. Like it's just a constant movement there to get guys as many reps
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as possible. This is one chance when we get you really get to see
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a bunch of And this is I'm not counting this as one of our five
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things we noticed. This is just you sort of will notice some guys you
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had and haven't. We haven't talked about a lot. Brenton Jones, they
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called him. He was everywhere. He was everywhere. Yeah, I think
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Stubenville he was just I kept looking and going, thirty two is and then
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Micky Jones, and it is. And you kept seeing him all over the
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place. And you know this is not me saying watch out Lathan Ransom and
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you're going to get a run for your money. But it's you know,
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he he was all over the place, very consistently impressive. Just I mean,
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that's just that's a file it away. And maybe he's impressive in the
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second you know, maybe he has an interception in the second half of the
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Acron game or something like. I'm not expecting him to start against Michigan.
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I'm just saying, hey, that he had a he had a really nice
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day. Yeah, And seeing him wear thirty two reminds me a Brandon Mitchell,
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another former bigger safety, but in front of him, jayde Bonsu running
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with the ones that strong safety with Laithan Ransom just being eased into things,
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and so I thought it's good to see him out there, you know,
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and being elevated and doing well enough. Fried Day said that he corrects the
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mistakes like when he makes them, he corrects him. That's why you can
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trust him to be out there. Other than that, with the first team,
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it's pretty much what you would expect. No no other you know,
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they they opened in four to three the first when we first got in here.
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So it is Sonny at the Sam cg at the well, and of
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course Cody Simon at the mic, and then behind Cody you've got Gabe Powers
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and Inn rvel Reese. I thought I had some moments today as the third
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team middle linebacker. He's just a big yeah, big dude. Yeah he's
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he's you know, when he was being recruited, there was always a question,
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well, linebacker, defensive end. He's maybe a little bit of between
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er. He is a big linebacker, but that you know, he's a
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big linebacker. He's out there. He is a big linebacker. So yeah,
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he was. He was solid. Just thinking through oh you know who
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else. I was impressed with a couple of times Lorenzo Styles junior. Yes,
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he was. He was blankets, there were I think there was a
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point. I'm almost positive there was a point where he was covering Jeremiah Smith
19:45
because I think it was number four on number four. I'm almost positive he
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had a couple of pass breakups. He I came away and you know,
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again, I don't think he's unseating Davis Nigunoson or Denzel Burger, maybe even
19:59
you know, Jermain Matthews. But he's he We saw him in the slot,
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we saw him outside. I think when we came in here, he
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was working in the slot, and I'm like, looking on Jordan Hancock.
20:11
Did Jordan Hancock play? He did a some. Yeah, so he was
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you know, I don't think it's an injury thing. He was just probably
20:15
working. Again, they rotate these guys to constantly, So yeah, I
20:21
was impressed with Lorenzo Styles junior. He looked like someone who you know,
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he came in last year and it was kind of like expect nothing your freshman
20:29
year, your first year at ohivestate because he hadn't played defense really at all
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since high school. And it was like to see that today was like,
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Okay, I he he is someone who I'm now moving up mentally on the
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depth chart a little bit. Yeah, I think he's somebody that can help
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them. And yeah he was when the ball was thrown towards his guy,
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he was right there and that was that Nicol whether you know, wherever he
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was defending. I was impressed, and it was it was tight coverage and
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they were letting them get away with some things throughout not him though, Like
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this was all just really really good coverage. Eventually I started flagging Jamaie Matthews,
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but yeah, I walk away here thinking more, not more of Laurence
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styles, but just impressed by what he was able to do. Anything else
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that really jumped out to you during the course of the practice, I mean,
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Judkins, how about that throw? How about Jeolannie Thurman down the middle
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from Lincoln Keenholes. That was a good throw and good catch and in coverage
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two guys there and he went up and got it. They threw downfield to
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the tight ends a lot. But it is spring, don't let that.
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I mean, it is also the year of the tight end, but they
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really do that in the spring. So I think that is a weapon that
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has been good for them with cag Dover and I don't think you want to
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get rid of that. But also some of the stuff with Chip Kelly.
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I don't know what happened with the flare pass to quinch On Judkins. There
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was nobody near him and so I don't know if that was a misdirection or
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was this a play action fake to him on a little sweep and nobody picked
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him up and then he just was out there and Will Howard hit him.
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That was that was actually nickel. That may have been a Nickel blitz on
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that. But he went to the right guy and there was nobody there and
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he just you know, he didn't walk into the ends and he ran very
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fast and the zumba got chased there well, and he you know, we
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have not gotten a chance to see him a ton in person yet. You've
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obviously seen him play at all miss and you know he's a pretty darn good
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running back. Seeing him in person, there's a burst there. I was
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impressed. I was impressed with quinch On Judkins both in the you know,
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through the air. He had a couple of receptions on the ground as well.
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The spring is not an easy time to run the football. They you
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know, they they're not tackling for long stretches, so it's like if someone
22:33
gets close to you, Okay, you're down. He had a couple of
22:36
nice runs, I thought during practice, and a couple of nice receptions tight
22:41
ends. Yeah, they threw to the tight end. And every time they
22:42
threw to the tight end. I kind of had the I mean, you're
22:45
not gonna do this drink games though, right because wide receivers. I mean,
22:49
you've got Trevian Henderson, quinch On Jade kids coming out of the backfield.
22:53
You've got Carnel Tate run Backabuka and Jeremiah Smith and Brendan Innis and who
23:00
whoever else on the wide receiver unit. Bryson Rogers. I think you may
23:03
have mentioned this earlier. Bryon Rodgers had a nice law of reception, a
23:06
nice long touchdown. Yeah, he I mean, you've got such a good
23:11
wide receiver room. You've gotten a couple, you know, a couple of
23:14
the nation's best running backs. I understand you have to throw the tight end,
23:18
and normally I'm a big fan of throwing the tight end. Like every
23:21
time you throw the ball at the tight end, to paraphrase the O every
23:23
time I throw the ball at the tight end. I'm not throwing it to
23:26
Ted getting Well, every time I throw the ball to the tight end,
23:30
I'm not throwing it to Parnel Tata or Mecca Booker, Jeremiah Smith or whoever
23:34
else. I was wrong. It wasn't the Nickel blitz on that one.
23:37
The Nickel blitz that I noted was the throw from Devin Brown to a Mecca
23:41
Abuka just threw it up and then I caught it like over his head,
23:45
and that was that was a heck of a a blitz coming. And so
23:52
he it was a lot like not exactly because I don't you know, it
23:56
wasn't quite as pinpoint as the C. J. Stroud too, was it
24:03
Jacksons Rose Bowl where he I mean, he's you know that one it was
24:07
like he had three inches to keep his toes it down. This one he
24:10
had a little more space to work, so it wasn't quite a his pinpoint,
24:11
but it was the same type of route and adjustment to a ball in
24:15
the air. So yeah, that was that was impressive. You know who
24:18
else? I like James People's and Sam Williams Dixon as well, but I
24:21
was really impressed with People's quickness, his balance, he's just he keeps his
24:26
balance really well. He gets low, he takes some weird steps and but
24:29
he's quick. He's good in between the tackles, and he finds room where
24:33
there shouldn't be much. So I thought he looked pretty good today, and
24:37
they've got some pretty decent running backs doll and Hayden looked good to me today
24:41
as well. He's still here the contrary to popular belief, he is here,
24:47
yes, And Brian Day said they should have a running backs coach by
24:51
next week. Interesting. Yeah, you I was not over with Brian Day
24:56
during the press covers anything any other big takeaways from that conversation. And I
25:00
don't know so long ago, but that was the big thing, Like obviously
25:04
you're taking your time with the running backs coach and you want to get the
25:07
right guy. But then at the end he's like, yeah, but we
25:10
should have somebody by next week. There you go, good to know,
25:14
right. Also he also mentioned tc Caafy as a guy that and we'll play
25:17
this year, yeah, Kafy. And Kafy was someone who I think it
25:18
was was at the Akron game two years ago. There was there was a
25:22
you know, one of the early season Matt games where Kaffe had like a
25:25
fifty yard touchdown and everyone kind of went whoa. And then last year he
25:29
was hurting this most were all of the seasons. So yes, that's a
25:30
name that people may remember that you know, running back dep that's not a
25:34
big concern this year. But another another guy you might see her here from
25:38
this year. Good questions, Kevin, Yeah, Patrick would like to know
25:44
how the offensive line looked today. Last week the d line dominated the inside
25:48
run period against them. It was a lot like that. Yeah, yeah,
25:52
And again, you never know quite how much to put on this is
25:59
good for the defensive line versus this is bad for the offensive line. The
26:03
defensive line had the better of the day. I tend to put a lot
26:10
of that on just how good I think this defensive line is going. I
26:12
think this very well might be the best defensive line in the country. I
26:17
so, you know, yeah, they're gonna probably do that to a bunch
26:19
of people. I don't think coaches a head coach wants an offensive line to
26:25
dominate as defensive line. I think if you're gonna have it one way or
26:29
the other, you want your defensive line to dominate your offensive line. For
26:30
one tells you you've got a good defensive line. For two, it's gonna
26:33
make the offensive line better. But you need to stop the run to be
26:37
able to win. And if your defensive line is making life miserable, and
26:42
like there, we still saw some really really good throws, some good runs,
26:47
so they didn't own everything, but they did not make it easy,
26:51
which is pretty much the perfect recipe. Well, and you also had I
26:55
think Jim Knowle's getting a little bit creative at times where you can, you
27:00
know, the especially when it's a head coach who's an offensive coach, he
27:03
can put all sorts of rules into place that are, well, okay,
27:07
if you blitz, you can't have blitz ones every three downs and you have
27:10
to call three mississippis and then you have and I think there's questionable utility to
27:15
that that like, okay, well we're going to set this up for the
27:18
offense to be successful. And it does not seem like that there were a
27:21
lot of restrictions on the defense based on the different things that we saw.
27:25
So yeah, I mean again, I this is I think an offensive line
27:30
that is it is not a perfect offensive line. This is not the Joe
27:33
Moore Award favorite at this time of year or anything like that. But this
27:37
offensive line feels like it is three or four steps ahead of where the offensive
27:42
line was at this time last year. Yeah, I don't really have concerns
27:47
about it, like they can still get better, but I think they will
27:49
well have said McLaughlin, let's assume that he's the center just for the moment.
27:53
We'll stipulate for a moment his ethniclo offensive center because he was running with
27:57
the ones more often. This is his eighth practice at Ohio State, and
28:02
the first two kind of don't count because they're more or less just figuring out
28:03
where to get lined up and o that kind of stuff. So this is
28:07
practice six. They have thirty more after this, so it's going to be
28:12
you know, he's going to have a lot of time and he's got that.
28:15
You know, he has played center in the SEC for a couple,
28:18
you know, several years, been a starting center in the SEC, so
28:21
he can you know, the big concern was, you know, the snaps
28:23
coming in, and we didn't see any issues with the snaps, so it's
28:26
like, okay, you can cross that off the list of concerns at least
28:29
for now. And so you know, I think there's probably a lot of
28:33
learning the playbook, learning the scheme, learning the line calls, all that
28:36
kind of stuff, Like you got to figure that stuff out. But you're
28:38
going up against you know, do you have any concerns about the Ohio State
28:42
defensive backs coming off of this practice? No? Probably not. So it
28:47
feels like you kind of know what you got there. It feels like this
28:51
is there's much much more of a known around this Ohio State offensive line than
28:56
it was. Yeah, we were talking during the practice that as long as
29:00
Jeremiah Smith doesn't flip teams during the game, you're gonna feel pretty good about
29:03
the highest state secondary it comes out after having n WO exactly. That's the
29:07
thing I don't want to see that. Kevin next one here would like to
29:15
know if there was a unit that didn't look up to the rest. Was
29:19
there a unit that didn't look up to the rest? I mean, tight
29:25
ends were not great today. I think there's some drops, you know,
29:29
but I can I can solve that problem by throwing to the wide receivers more.
29:37
Maybe it's a good problem. Yeah, the tight ends were definitely not
29:41
great, and that's you know, if you had to pick one of the
29:45
units is not looking great. And it wasn't even that they were getting their
29:49
blocks blown. No, necessarily, there was one where one of the tight
29:52
ends I think was coming in motion and basically like ran into the ball carrier.
29:56
That wasn't great, but they were they were you know, a few
30:00
drops, like three or four drops in the tight ends and so, okay,
30:04
how big a big is a concern? Is it that we you know,
30:07
number two or number three or whatever tight end dropped the ball in practice
30:11
like that's there are many teams that have much bigger concerns than that. But
30:15
yeah, I think I think that's probably a fair assessment that that was.
30:18
That was where you know, and again, outside of g Scott, you've
30:22
got a guy who missed last season with the suspension, a guy who just
30:25
transferred in from o' have a university, and neither of your true freshmen are
30:26
here yet. I mean, this is you can you can look, you've
30:30
got to walk on and Patrick Kurds, you gotta you know, there's kind
30:33
of a yeah, but to a lot of the stuff going on in the
30:36
tight end room right now. And if they're not in twelve personnel that much
30:40
this year, I don't think that's a huge problem. Hevin, Yeah,
30:47
Crawford, at you, Dad, at you, Fay Happy east Year.
30:51
Do you think Scott will be used primarily for run blocking? So? Do
30:55
we think Scott will be used primarily for run blocking? I mean I I
30:59
still will think of him like he's a much improved as a blocker. I
31:03
still think of him primarily as a receiving tight end. He can handle the
31:07
run blocking responsibilities. I don't think he's going to be primarily a run blocker,
31:11
do you. No. I think he's going to be a tight end
31:15
and is going to be running routes and is going to be the way what
31:18
they thought what they had with Kate Stover. And you're just going to treat
31:22
him like your typical tight end, and that's what you've been building up to.
31:26
He's not been building up to be a gimmick, you know. He's
31:30
been building up to be a legitimate I can do whatever tight end, you
31:34
know, like all four downs basically super chat folck guy. Did Ransom play
31:40
today or is he still recovering? If not? And with Hartford out as
31:44
well, who was playing bandits? So did Lathan Ransom play? He might
31:48
have played a little bit, not at all, well maybe early on,
31:52
but then yes, no Lathan Ransom and that's a precautionary thing. That's not
31:57
a new injury. So no Ransom. No Malie Hartford, he's out for
32:01
the spring. So yeah, it was Jaden Bondsu was running with the ones
32:05
right, yeah, which is bandit is the boundary safety spot, the Ransom
32:08
spot. Caleb Bawns is up the adjuster, which is deep safety spot.
32:14
So it was Jayden Bondsu and then behind Jayden Bonds Inkey Jones. We talked
32:20
about him earlier, the walk on Brenton Inkey Jones. Who you know,
32:25
I mean, he didnt He looked good. If you didn't know he was
32:30
a walk on, you wouldn't think he was a walk on. And no,
32:31
no offense to the walk ons, but like he was out there,
32:34
he was playing well, making plays. And then the the number two adjuster
32:39
at this point was Jalen McLain because Marley Carford is out and it's it's always
32:46
just interesting to see freshman out there calling like signaling, and you know they
32:51
have to know so much as true freshman if you're gonna be playing fleet free
32:53
safety or if you're gonna be playing middle linebacker so you've got to have just
32:59
a of knowledge already built in, and I always think that's interesting when somebody
33:02
is able to do that. Yeah, sorry, I was looking at who
33:07
was back pay attention to the show. Any wagers on who finishes better Cubs
33:14
or Tom's Mets? Well, Tom's Mets. Who The question was, Who's
33:19
gonna finish better Tony's Cubs or Thomas Mets? Tom's me. Did you see
33:22
how many hits the Mets got on opening Day? No? Is it one?
33:25
It was my favorite hit of the of the day for them. Yes,
33:28
it was a home run by uh what's his name? The right fielder
33:32
who had growing surgery last year and is never going to plague meaningfully again.
33:37
Uh uh yeah he had. He had a home run in the third inning,
33:42
and uh boy, they used up all their hits all in that all
33:45
in that one. So yes, there's a time for optimism except uh just
33:49
google family guy, Mets fan. I sleep that video. It feels like
33:52
three times a year. Yesterday it was. It was opening day and as
33:55
just as it is in that clip, and boy it had it had that
33:59
vibe. So no, I am, I am not going to be putting
34:00
any faith in my Mets to exceed Tony's Cubs, who I also don't think
34:06
we're gonna be particularly good this year. They lost the opener. I never
34:10
I kept wondering, I wonder if they play today, but I never had
34:15
the energy to type into the search bar did the Cubs play today? So
34:20
I don't know if they're oh and one or oh and two. They probably
34:22
usually have Day two off. They usually have Day two off unless they're playing
34:25
in a indoor indoor stadium, because you never you want to have opening Day
34:30
and if it gets Opening Day gets rained out, as it did for the
34:34
Mets, you have the the open date the following day, so that then
34:37
you when you have your sold out stadium, you don't have an issue A
34:39
bunch of rain jacks and stuff. Perfect yep, Patrick Peck, I knew
34:45
Jeremiah was a beast when I first saw him at practice last week. He
34:49
will start on day one, uh, Brian Day. Brian Day was asked
34:54
about the chances that he starts, and he's like, well, he continues
35:00
to play like this, He's going to play a whole lot. And then
35:05
I think at the end he was like and he's he's gonna have a pretty
35:07
good chance to start so breaking and again this is the eighth practice of the
35:14
spring, which is really the sixth practice of the spring, because the first
35:16
two point and don't count, and you've got just about half of spring at
35:22
the halfway point of practice today, that was the halfway point of the spring
35:28
was practice eight of fifteen. And Ryan Day's already saying that. So I
35:34
feel like if you didn't believe it when I said it today, you could
35:37
believe it when Ryan Day says it. Do you think he said it because
35:39
you said it? I mean, I don't want it. I don't want
35:43
to directly say that. I'll tell you later. But the answers, yeah,
35:47
yep, yes, wing Man Chad, do the three returning quarterbacks still
35:53
take ninety five percent of the rep? Sorry if this was discussed earlier,
35:58
so wing man Ted Monsnow, do the three returning quarterbacks still like ninety five
36:00
percent of the reps? It was not ninety five percent of the reps because
36:04
Julian Zayan was in there. I mean, I don't know that he got
36:08
five percent the reps with the you know the eleven on eleven And again we
36:13
said earlier er Nolan did not really get reps during the eleven on eleven parad
36:16
he's getting reps at the other times he you know, it's not ninety five
36:22
percent, Julian say, is definitely earning, and it is earning a bigger
36:28
percentage now because you know, we we had heard a week or so back,
36:34
Mark had posted on our board like here very good things about Julian saying
36:37
coming out of the scrimmage last Saturday. And you saw, you know,
36:43
I am not saying he's going to win the starting job. In fact,
36:45
I am not expecting him to win the starting job, but you you saw
36:50
stuff that sort of aligned with what we had been hearing a week ago.
36:53
Yeah, like the one I mentioned earlier where he's getting pressure, he steps
36:58
up into the pocket and lets it rep throws it down, you know,
37:00
forty fifty yards down the sideline to a meca and it it was not caught,
37:05
wasn't. I think it was broken up, just a little short or
37:07
something like that. But like he was comfortable in there. He stepped up,
37:09
He didn't look to escape. You just you know what, we can
37:12
get up into the pocket, I'm gonna let it loose, and he did.
37:15
If I put the the percentages at thirty thirty for the two old guys,
37:21
twenty five to fifteen for the other two. It's probably not out righteous,
37:25
Yeah, largely correct within the margin of error. Probably what is the
37:29
margin of error? Fifteen? Uh, we'll say seven, Kevin. Next
37:38
time, Kevin. The next time Kevin pauses for a long time, we're
37:40
gonna start talking about chat about you. They say that I should be I
37:46
should do a cat rat cream eating eating competition with Tom and Tony and who
37:51
wins. I've never had a cat very egg. They look disgusting to me.
37:54
I'm sorry. They're fine, but I think a lot of the Easter
38:00
candy to me is a lot like like candy corn, where it's like,
38:07
I'm not gonna go buy a bag, but if someone has some, I'll
38:10
eat like some. I'll like, I'll eat one Cadbury egg or I'll eat
38:15
one handful of candy corn. It's like, all right, it's officially fall
38:19
across that up list. Okay, it's officially Easter can cross that up list.
38:24
Eggs sound like their peaks. That's well, I'm not wow, Kevin.
38:29
Kevin thinks he can eat a lot of Cadbury eggs. Kevin, how
38:31
many carburets I'm not gonna worth I'll say that two jars worth of cabury,
38:38
he said, not so I think he meant three. No, we're gonna
38:40
clip that off, he said, two jars. So if you smash them
38:46
in there they do, I can get I can get a big jar.
38:50
And yes, next, okay, I think we're I think we're done.
38:54
We have to end on Cabuary cream eggs. Despite that, how many PEAPs
38:59
do you think Kevin could couldn't be me eating one peep? Well, despite
39:07
the ending on Cadbury krum eggs, we would ask that if you're watching live,
39:12
if we hit that thumbs up button, help other folks find this show.
39:14
Later, we will be back with a whole bunch of additional content this
39:17
week. We've got interviews coming up. I think we've got coaches and players
39:21
on to you Monday, coaches and players on Monday, okay, and then
39:24
we'll have more more coverage coming up a little later on in the week.
39:28
All heading get into the Ohio State spring game two weeks from today. Crazily
39:32
enough, yes, part of believe spring football already more than halfway over.
39:37
It is. While the boy has there been a lot to talk about and
39:39
A great place to talk about all of it is at Buckeyehuddle dot com.
39:42
That's where Tony, Kevin and I cover the team. Mark covers recruiting.
39:45
He covers the team sometimes too. He was here today as well and has
39:47
already been flooding our board with content about what we've seeing and what we heard
39:52
inside the Woody today and much more, and of course our full team of
39:57
ex's and those guys making you a smarter football fan all at Buckeye Huddle dot
40:00
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make sure you get notified and you never miss a show. That'll do it
40:12
for today. Thank you guys all for joining us. Have a great day,
40:15
which all Chip Park