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Buckeyes Get Good News On Six Potential Cotton Bowl Opt-Outs · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Wednesday, December thirteenth. I'm your host,
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  Tom Moore. The Cotton Bowl game against Missouri is in sixteen days. The
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  game against Michigan in three hundred and fifty three days. We will find out
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  how many of the Buckeyes that we talked to in the Woody Has Athletic Center
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  on Tuesday afternoon are going to be here for the game against Mishigan in three
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  hundred and fifty three days. But every when we talked to Kevin Noon is
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  going to be there for the Cotton Bowl. That is pretty surprising. We
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  talked to twelve players, six of whom had real serious NFL Draft decisions to
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  make no decisions on the NFL Draft other than Cody Simon, who's coming back,
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  But everyone we talked to is playing in the Cotton Bowl. I just
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  spent the last two days trying to project with Tony Gerderman on the show who
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  was going to maybe opt out, who wasn't gonna opt out, and so
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  far they're still a bat in a thousand. I'm going to assume that Tony
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  has to sleep on the cott of shame for his predictions. But from your
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  lips to Tony's ears. I guess there you go, there you go.
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  But no, we're certainly hearing the right things. Unfinished business. I want
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  to end the season on a high note. Of course that means having to
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  beat Missouri. But we know the note that everybody had left the season on
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  was up in ann Arbor, and that one didn't turn out the right way.
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  So you know, I don't expect it to be a clean sweep.
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  I think that there may be a name or two that still decide to opt
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  out for the for the bowl game, but it's certainly you know, I
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  think that Vegas and the odds makers are going to be listening to sit there
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  and see how many Buckeyes are coming back, because this very easily could have
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  been completely turned the page to twenty twenty four, multiple double figure opt outs,
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  and it does. That does not appear to be the case. No,
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  I checked the line after I first heard the first person I heard announced,
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  well a Mecca Abuka was announced, and well, let's see, I'm
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  I'm just gonna run on the list. Jack Sawyer, Jordan Hancock, Donovan
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  Jackson, Denzel, Denzel Burke, Mecca Abuka, Tyler Williams Cody Simon,
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  all those guys are playing in the Cotton Bowl. Cody Simon and already said
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  he's coming back for twenty twenty four. But it was a Mecca and Denzel,
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  who are two guys who I think were legitimate questions, and they both
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  said that they were coming back, and I went, Okay, I'm gonna
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  hop on one of the online sites and see what the line is now,
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  and then we can look again tomorrow and see if the line has moved.
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  Ohouse State was plus two and a half at the time that those announcements were
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  made. We'll see whether that line moves at all. There are a lot
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  of names on that list that are not on that list, and those are
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  not names that we've heard are opting out. They're not names we were heard
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  are not opting out. You know, I was kind of going through in
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  my head. Okay, we still are waiting to hear from Travan Henderson.
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  We're still waiting to hear from Marvin Harrison. We're still waiting to hear from
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  Mike Hall, JT. Twey, Moloow, Cad Stover, Tommy Eikenberg,
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  Steel Chambers, Josh Proctor. We don't know Leathan ransom status from both a
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  health and return status. You know, there's there's still a lot of guys
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  that we got to hear an update on at some point, but you know,
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  it was it was much more unanimous, And I think the consistency of
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  the messaging too, was interesting to me because there was a lot of unfinished
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  business. As you said that, you know, Jordan Hancock talked about the
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  fact that you know, he came in with this great class in twenty twenty
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  one and they haven't made Michigan, they haven't gotten the Big Ten Championship game,
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  and they have won the Big dench Championship game, they have won the
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  National Championship. I mean, that's that's something that sounds like that is sort
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  of resonating with that class and with these guys as they are sort of weighing
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  what they want to do for the future, right and the fact that it
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  sounds like everybody is on the same page or that makes me think that they're
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  going to be a lot more people that are going to follow in kind.
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  And again, and I think it was Jack Sawyer that had mentioned this.
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  I would not fault anybody for a decision of opting out. Everybody's got to
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  come to their own their own determination. Here they got to do what's best
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  for them, their family, their career. But this unfinished business, I
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  think it was a case of it wasn't even necessarily a seed that need to
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  be planted by anybody. These guys are all very prideful. They all are
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  among the best at their level at what they do and do. We call
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  the Michian game a stinker. It was stinky at a couple of points,
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  and I think that a lot of these guys would like to sit there and
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  have a little bit more attached to their legacy at Ohio State. And again
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  using the Jack Sawyer interview, when asked about this being quote unquote, you
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  know, a meaningless exhibition game, he said in no, on certain terms,
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  that that kind of stance as bs this game means a lot. Yeah,
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  he spoke a foreign language guy. I know that because he said,
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  pardon my French, But yes, that was that was you know that that
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  really kind of changes the narrative around this game a little bit, maybe around
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  you know, I don't know if how much it changes is around the Ohigh
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  State fan base, but that certainly is not necessarily the narrative, you know,
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  you're there is a difference between saying the right thing and then backing it
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  up by you know, showing up and playing the game. Those are different
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  things because it's very well, it's a serious thing and we got as you
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  know, anytime, and it's an honor and YadA, YadA, YadA.
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  I mean, he seemed Jack Slary seems legitimately excited to go play in Jerry
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  World. I mean that was you know that that is a cool opportunity for
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  these guys. And you know, Jack Saar is someone who grew up watching
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  Ohio State football. He talked about Braxton Miller being his favorite Ohio State quarterback
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  when he was a kid. So, you know, one more one more
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  chance or one more chance plus another season worth of chances to play for Ohio
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  State, that obviously would be somewhat appealing. Kyle McCord it did not grow
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  up an Ohio State fan, and Kyle McCord will not be at the cotton
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  ball game. He is currently in Lincoln, Nebraska, if internet reports are
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  to be believed, with former future Ohio State quarterback Delan Roola as well.
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  He is those two guys both in the you know record in the transfer portal
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  Reola potentially flipping from Georgia. But with Cayle McCord not here, Devin Brown
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  is here. So Devin Brown, you know, the presumptive starter for the
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  Cotton Ball. I don't think I've officially announced anything yet. But what what
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  did Devin Brown have to say, because we got a chance to talk to
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  him. Yeah, Devin Brown said all the right things. He certainly at
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  one point did say it's crazy to think my first start is going to be
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  in the Cotton Bowl against a great SEC opponent in Missouri. Well, nothing's
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  been named yet, and I mean after the interview there was a little bit
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  of a clarification there. He has not been named the starter. But you
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  have a quarterback who's approaching it as if it is going to be his job.
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  And that's not a in a stance of saying I'm the next man up.
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  I've earned it. It just is going to be mine. But I
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  don't think it's going to be a case of where in his mind that anybody
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  is going to be able to take the position away from him. Though he
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  was very complimentary of how Lincoln Keyholts has been pushing him, Lincoln is still
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  learning as a first year player, who did not have the benefit of a
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  winter term in a spring practice. But you know, there's a lot of
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  excitement in talking to Devin Brown. He did not really get a ton of
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  heads up about the move either that Devin was leaving. A lot of players
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  said that they kind of learned on social media. But you know, sad
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  to see Kyle move on, but excited to potentially get his journey moving forward.
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  And one other thing that I think that will probably be asked by fans
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  right now in the chat or in the comments, when asked about a potential
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  of a transfer quarterback coming in, He's like, look, I'm just here.
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  I'm here to compete against the best. That's why I picked Ohio State
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  that had to deal with the burning of the ships. I'm not concerned about
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  any of that. Yeah, And just so there's clarity on that. You
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  know, even if ohiostad did and add a transfer quarterback, I mean,
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  if they can add a transfer quarterback five minutes from now, that guy's not
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  eligible for the Cotton Bowl. That's a twenty twenty four edition. So it
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  is Devin Brown, Lincoln Keenholes, Tristanjebia, and then walk On's who are
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  the options and Savior Johnson everything else. Yeah, yeah, he does do
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  just about everything else. So yeah, but you know, Devin Brown was
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  the clear cut number two quarterback this year, so you know, and repped
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  when he was healthy, repped ahead of Lincoln king Holes all year long,
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  so you would certainly assume he's the starter for the Cotton Bowl and then for
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  twenty twenty four, it's probably an open competition between Devin Brown, Lincoln Keyholes,
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  and Alan air Noland and mystery quarterback you know, behind door number two.
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  So we'll see, we'll see what Monty Hall comes up with there.
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  But in the meantime, Josh Pryor was asked about the transfer portal and he
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  was he was another one I believe who said he found out from social media
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  about commic Cord transferring and he said, in general, he's not you know,
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  like this was not a statement specific to Comiccord, but he just said
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  this was he's not a big fan of the transfer portal in general about in
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  college football because he said, you know, this is his what fourth year,
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  third year, I mean, he he has been into Ohio State for
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  quite a while. I mean, you know, he said it would very
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  easy to walk out the door, but he pointed to former Ohio State offensive
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  longan Josh Myers, who said to him, do not leave, Do not
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  leave, stay there, because Josh Myers took a while to get to the
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  field too. And Josh Myers was a five star prospect at one point and
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  I think it entered as a four star prospect. And Tony Gerderman shared with
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  Josh Fryer the story of Josh Myers coming to Ohio State as a tackle and
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  then going up against Nick Bosa, and I think it was Nick Bosa.
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  It was either Nicker Joey Bosa in practice and then he wasn't a tackle anymore.
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  And you know, so Josh Myers had a little bit of a long
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  and winding path to the playing field at Ohio State and then has now had
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  a very successful NFL career. But Myers told Josh Fryer, you got people
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  around you who are gonna, you know, you were going to be set
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  up for success for life. Do not leave, stay there, stick it
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  out. And you know that that's something that resonated quite a bit with Josh
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  Fryer. I'm trying to think if there was anything else that was real notable,
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  just a lot of guys pointing to that Michigan game pointing to you know,
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  a a lot of the unfinished business that was. You can always kind
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  of tell when the message inside you know, what the message inside the building
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  is because you hear it come out of five different people's mouths at different times,
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  very clearly. That's the conversation behind the scenes, and that's going to
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  be something that I don't know if that's the soul driving factor in the twenty
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  twenty four decisions. That's probably a little over simplistic, but it certainly seems
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  like that's going to be a factor in the twenty twenty four decisions for a
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  lot of these guys, right, And so it'll be interesting to see.
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  I've been you know, we've heard names along the way of oh, don't
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  have this guy pushed out the door quite yet, And you know, it's
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  starting I think to ring true a little bit more with what we picked up
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  on Tuesday. And everybody's looking at whatever the number is of players entering the
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  transperporter from Ohio State. I think it's up to fifteen now with wiltroll Hartson
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  who wasn't on scholarship, and everybody's like, what are they going to be
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  able to field a roster if a majority of the guys that we spoke to
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  on Tuesday or back. I mean, this team suddenly goes from being really
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  young to probably being one of the more experienced teams in the in the Big
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  Ten year, one of the Big Ten being in its new eighteen team configuration
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  and the twelve team playoff. And you do also have a little bit of
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  you know, there's the in addition to the want to beat Michigan, want
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  to go to the Big Ten Championship game, win the Big Ten Championship Game,
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  compete for the National championshipion. In addition to all that stuff, the
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  math on some of these decisions has changed a little bit with NIL, where
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  you know, I'm still Marvin Harrison has not announced the decision. I'm still
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  expecting Marvin Harrison to turn pro. I think that's probably the safest of the
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  bets on anyone right now. Like I saw the report about he's been offered
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  twenty to twenty five million dollars in NIL. Yeah, me too. I
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  think there's an order of magnitude issue there with that reporting. But you know,
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  he he's more than likely probably going to end up deciding the NFL whenever
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  that decision is made, just about anyone else unless you're a top half of
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  the first round guy, and maybe maybe in all of the first round guy,
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  you can make an argument for comeback, put another year, good film
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  together. The nil. You go from you know what, not being able
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  to earn money to now you can. You see Michigan very successfully brought back
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  a bunch of their guys with the I think it was like the one more
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  Year campaign, and you brought back Blake Korm and a bunch of guys for
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  one more year with nil payments. It feels like the math on that is
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  sort of changing a little bit, and I wonder how much that impacts all
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  these guys coming back, because if you opt out, you've sort of made
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  your decision. If you have a major decision, then you can sort of
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  get more information from the NFL, figure out where exactly you stand, figure
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  out what your options are. It's interesting. I would have thought for sure
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  that this would be a year where you saw more opt outs, but you've
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  seen I mean, so far, we've seen again. I expect thing to
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  see at least one or two probably, but so far none. And I
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  wonder how much that you know, the delay in the twenty twenty four decision
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  plays into the guys coming back for the Cotton Bowl, and I think that
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  there's something too. It's like, well, if you look to the left
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  and you look to your right, and both these guys are coming back,
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  I'm going to come back to as for your pro discussion. I mean,
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  the only person that's really come out and toid they're going pro is Mayan Williams,
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  but he was already banged up at that point. And truthfully, at
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  some points you're like, well, I'm probably a I'm probably a late day
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  two guy to begin with, and if I come back for another year,
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  I'm probably still a late day two guy. So I don't know if there's
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  really a ton of upside to it. Yeah, it'd be great to be
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  able to spend time with my guys, But you know, if you have
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  a degree in hand and some of these other things you've you've accomplished a lot
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  of your goals. At that point, you're going to have an opportunity to
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  make an NFL squad, to get drafted and do those things. But uh,
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  yeah, I think that all of this stuff sounds really good in terms
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  for what some of these twenty four decisions could be but you know, you
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  just don't know, and I don't And and the thing is is that I
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  think it's a lot easier to kind of get caught up in the group moment
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  when it's I'm going to come back and play for the ball game. But
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  when you're talking about something that's as huge of a decision as whether or not
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  you're going to leave eligibility on the table or go to the league and things
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  of that nature, I think everybody's going to have I think that one is
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  everybody's going to have to come to their own decision. Yeah, and we'll
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  see when that decision comes. At this point, I would certainly assume if
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  guys are playing in the bowl game, those decisions are probably going to come
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  at some point in January. That's usually a few days after the bowl game.
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  That you, right, I think it's I think the deadline for declaration
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  and the portal closes on the second. I think the declaration deadline's like the
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  fourteenth. Yeah, it's usually the second end of the second week, early
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  third week of January for that. So we'll keep an eye on all that
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  stuff. But boy, we've got a much more interesting Cotton Bowl to cover
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  than we might have guessed twenty four hours ago or forty eight hours ago or
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  so. So we will. Kevin and I will be down there along with
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  Tony covering that game. We'll be down there starting on Christmas night. You'll
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  probably start seeing I think the first media event is on the twenty sixth,
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  So we'll be live from Dallas on the morning of the twenty sixth with interviews,
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  and we'll have practice coverage and interviews with Ohio State players and coaches,
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  Missouri players and coaches, Ohio State practice, Missouri practice, all that fun
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  stuff, and then probably a barbecue triple h and then I'm going to guess
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  we may find ourselves in a lodge of some pecan nature one way or the
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  other, as one does when we are down in the Metroplex. But we'll
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  be down there for all that fun stuff. But before we go down there
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  for that fun stuff, we have early Signing Day coming up on the twentieth.
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  Next Wednesday, transfer portal still open, still potentially some business to be
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  done there, both in the incoming and outgoing varieties. So we'll see whether
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  the Buckey hawicked. If the Buckeyes are in the portal, and also so
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  we got recruiting get portal, we got the game, we got access and
• 16:02
  no stuff with Ross and Devin and Mickey and Justin all at buckey Huddle dot
• 16:06
  com, making you a smarter football fan, I'll say, rather fun and
• 16:08
  active board, which just I'm going to guess has been pretty active this afternoon
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  as well. Well, we've been at interviews, so we'll be we're there
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  plenty of live content coming for you in the next few weeks. I guess
• 16:34
  we'll have some shows about NFL draft decisions, some shows about you know,
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  bold decisions, Bowl opt outs or opt ins, potentially some recruiting flips and
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  much more. That's all at buckey Huddle dot com and YouTube dot com.
• 16:48
  Slash Buckeye huddle. That will do it for today. I thank you guys
• 16:51
  all for joining us. Have a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.