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Which Ohio State Position Group Will Exceed Expectations In 2026? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Tuesday, August fourth. I'm
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  Speaker 1: your host, Tom Moore. The ball state game in thirty
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  Speaker 1: two days, the game against Michigan in one hundred and
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  Speaker 1: sixteen days. Our show today is sponsored by our friends
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  Speaker 1: to detail that is simply unmatched. Just go to Jeffruber
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  Speaker 1: make a reservation. Today. All right, we are continuing the
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  Speaker 1: countdown to the start of Ohio state fall practice that
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  Speaker 1: happens a little later on this week. And welcome in
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  Speaker 1: Tony Gerdaman off Bucky Insiders dot com. He will be
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  Speaker 1: there for that first practice on Thursday. And Tony, I
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  Speaker 1: wanted to go through it feels like we've sort of
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  Speaker 1: established expectations for a lot of these players, a lot
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  Speaker 1: of his position groups team on the whole, But I
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  Speaker 1: wanted to go through which position groups might maybe exceed
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  Speaker 1: what we're expecting from them. And don't worry, We're not
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  Speaker 1: completely just homers. We're going to do a show about
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  Speaker 1: like which position groups might be a bigger concern than
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  Speaker 1: with So we'll kind of cover all of our bases here,
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  Speaker 1: but we'll start on an optimistic note. Do you I'll
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  Speaker 1: share my thoughts in just a minute, but I want
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  Speaker 1: to let you go first here. Which position group do
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  Speaker 1: you think has a chance to really exceed what the
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  Speaker 1: baseline expectation is for them right now?
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  Speaker 2: Well, if I give you an answer on this show
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  Speaker 2: about this position, can I also give you the same
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  Speaker 2: position on the next show when we talked about that?
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  Speaker 2: Because I feel like linebacker is a position where there
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  Speaker 2: are a number of options, a number of talented options,
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  Speaker 2: not a lot of proven production, So I figure the
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  Speaker 2: expectations aren't super high, even though it is the Ohio
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  Speaker 2: State linebacker room, which should always have high expectations. And
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  Speaker 2: James lauren Nidis has been able as a linebacker's coach
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  Speaker 2: to put good groups out there. But I think with
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  Speaker 2: all of the different options that Ohio State has, there's
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  Speaker 2: plenty of reason to expect some stellar play. And you
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  Speaker 2: bring in the experience to Christian al grow from Wisconsin,
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  Speaker 2: Peyton Pierce as your middle linebacker, TJ Alfred and Riley
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  Speaker 2: Penny John as these upstart sophomores. We have not yet
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  Speaker 2: seen Riley Petty John. He was out in the spring,
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  Speaker 2: So I think that's another kind of a boost that
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  Speaker 2: they can get from that room. And those are just,
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  Speaker 2: you know, four guys that we're talking about. There, there's
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  Speaker 2: guys besides those that could impact things as well, including
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  Speaker 2: a very good freshman class shoe Eli Lee, the Redchick
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  Speaker 2: freshman was a star in the spring game. Garrett Stover
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  Speaker 2: as the backup middle linebacker. There's I think there's enough
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  Speaker 2: there there for me to say I think this group
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  Speaker 2: is going to exceed expectations.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's an interesting choice. That was not the one
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  Speaker 1: that I had in mind, but you said it and
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  Speaker 1: I kind of went, yeah, okay, I mean I can
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  Speaker 1: I can certainly see that because there is the expectation
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  Speaker 1: is not immensely high right now for that position group
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  Speaker 1: where they're you know, I think there's questions, you're not
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  Speaker 1: the baseline being last year's linebacker. You're not going to
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  Speaker 1: live up to this standard of last year's linebackers. So
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  Speaker 1: I think it's kind of easy to go, well, okay,
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  Speaker 1: so they're not gonna be as good as as last
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  Speaker 1: year's linebackers, because you had two guys picked in the
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  Speaker 1: top ten of the NFL Draft, So that is a
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  Speaker 1: standard that's almost impossible for any position group on any
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  Speaker 1: team to ever meet again. So you're not going to
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  Speaker 1: get there. But there is a lot of potential in
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  Speaker 1: that room, and it feels like we can just sort
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  Speaker 1: of write Peyton Pierce in there and say he's gonna
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  Speaker 1: be good. Is he going to be Sunny Styles good?
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  Speaker 1: Is he going to be Rville Reese good. We'll see,
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  Speaker 1: but I think he's going to at least give you
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  Speaker 1: a really good solid base there. Christian Allegro, I know
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  Speaker 1: we've talked about a bunch in terms of having some
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  Speaker 1: really high expectations for him. TJ. Alfred and Riley Petty John.
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  Speaker 1: Both of those guys were impressive as true freshmen. You
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  Speaker 1: typically see those guys take another move, another step forward there,
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  Speaker 1: and then you know you've got plenty of other guys
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  Speaker 1: who are, you know, sort of intriguing in that room.
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  Speaker 1: You mentioned Eli Lee Garrett Stover was one of those
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  Speaker 1: guys who got a lot of attention during the spring
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  Speaker 1: and summer. It just feels like there's a lot of
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  Speaker 1: possible answers in that room, not too many sure things,
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  Speaker 1: which is why there's room sort of for, you know,
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  Speaker 1: for the expectations to be exceeded. But you've got enough
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  Speaker 1: guys in there that it's like, you know, I think
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  Speaker 1: they're going to have some not just some answers, but
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  Speaker 1: some good answers in there, and we'll just kind of
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  Speaker 1: see how that all sorts itself out. My position group
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  Speaker 1: where I think you may see them exceed expectations is
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  Speaker 1: at defensive end, where ken Yata Jackson. You know what
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  Speaker 1: you got with Kanyada Jackson. I think the expectations for
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  Speaker 1: Kanyata Jackson are high but extremely reasonable at this point.
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  Speaker 1: You know where you're going to have a eight ten
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  Speaker 1: sacks something like that out of him. But other than
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  Speaker 1: ken YadA Jackson, everyone else is a little bit of
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  Speaker 1: a question mark. And it's kind of the same thing
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  Speaker 1: as linebacker to me, where they have lots of guys
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  Speaker 1: who could take that next step, who could be you know,
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  Speaker 1: you start with the veteran bo Atkinson, who could take
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  Speaker 1: a step forward from where he was last year. But
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  Speaker 1: then you got the second year guys. You get at Pisatanlea,
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  Speaker 1: you got Zion Grady, and then you got the true
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  Speaker 1: freshman Kry Wilder, who, you know, whatever you get out
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  Speaker 1: of a true freshman at that position is kind of
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  Speaker 1: a bonus Quay Russol. We kind of lump him into
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  Speaker 1: this group, and I have basically been the president of
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  Speaker 1: the Quay Russol fan club. It feels like for a
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  Speaker 1: few months, it just feels like, ken YadA Jackson, you
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  Speaker 1: know what you got there, You like what you got there,
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  Speaker 1: and then you don't need to hit a home run
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  Speaker 1: on every other name that I said there, but you
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  Speaker 1: hit a home run or you hit it, you know,
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  Speaker 1: at least a good solid double With a couple of
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  Speaker 1: those guys, I think that's going to be a better
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  Speaker 1: defensive end group than people are expecting. Right now, I'll.
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  Speaker 2: Give you a timely referenced Tom the eighty five Cardinals,
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  Speaker 2: where can YadA Jackson is the Jack Clark and everybody
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  Speaker 2: else just gets on base and steals the base here
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  Speaker 2: and there. You said a lot of coods in that.
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  Speaker 2: But this is also the second group that I wrote
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  Speaker 2: down for this show, and it's also a group that
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  Speaker 2: maybe we discuss on the next show. But I'm with
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  Speaker 2: you because the potential is there, and you said, carry Wilder,
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  Speaker 2: what could we see from him? Like, my thought is,
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  Speaker 2: if you get what you got out of Zion Grady,
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  Speaker 2: you know, as a true freshman last year, good. I
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  Speaker 2: mean if he can pass by an older player. There's
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  Speaker 2: some positives to that, there's some negatives to that. I
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  Speaker 2: don't know. I think this room is probably too deep
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  Speaker 2: for that this year, which is a good thing. And
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  Speaker 2: I do expect more from bo Atkinson, who worked on
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  Speaker 2: his flexibility and basically just acclimating to being Ohio State Buckeye,
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  Speaker 2: which is much different than being a UNC tar heel
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  Speaker 2: and Epicitanola has been talked about for a while now
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  Speaker 2: in terms of his natural pass rushing ability. So I
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  Speaker 2: feel like, you look at this room, you're losing first
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  Speaker 2: team All American Kayden Curry and his sacks and his
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  Speaker 2: tackles for loss, but the amount of confidence and it's
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  Speaker 2: just like when people talk about Kenyada Jackson, it's just
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  Speaker 2: it's understood he's going to be very, very good this year.
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  Speaker 2: Just a matter of can you get what you got
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  Speaker 2: out of Kenyada Jackson from everybody else? And I think
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  Speaker 2: that's entirely possible. And I'm really really fascinated to see
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  Speaker 2: what Jackson does this year because I could see it
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  Speaker 2: being really really impactful in terms of numbers and just
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  Speaker 2: being a guy that everybody talks about and everybody has
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  Speaker 2: to be concerned about. And you go into that Texas
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  Speaker 2: game and it's gonna be a marquee matchup against him
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  Speaker 2: and left tackle Trevor Goosby stuff like that, where he
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  Speaker 2: is going to be a major factor this year. So
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  Speaker 2: I'm good with this one, can I I'm thinking also
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  Speaker 2: tight end where there's really very few expectations, but you
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  Speaker 2: bring in two veterans and maybe the guy starting as
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  Speaker 2: a true sophomore, and then also Bennett Christian is a
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  Speaker 2: veteran who's been around, so it's an experienced room. I
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  Speaker 2: think there's some versatility there, but I also just think
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  Speaker 2: there's some natural talent and pass catching ability as well. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: I think that's a good one as well, because it's
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  Speaker 1: not one where there's huge expectations. Really there's almost no
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  Speaker 1: expectations there. It's a spot where we haven't we haven't
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  Speaker 1: talked about them as like, oh boy, this is a
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  Speaker 1: big area of concern or oh boy, this is an
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  Speaker 1: area where they're likely to really be an outstanding It's
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  Speaker 1: just kind of also there's tight ends there sometimes, and
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  Speaker 1: that's kind of been the end of the conversation. I
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  Speaker 1: do think Nate Roberts is someone who if you were
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  Speaker 1: going to make a list of guys who the fan
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  Speaker 1: base's opinion changes on the most this season, I think
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  Speaker 1: he'd be someone who I'd have pretty high on that list.
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  Speaker 1: Where he was kind of put in a role that
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  Speaker 1: everyone sort of rolled their eyes when he would try
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  Speaker 1: it out there as a fullback and they would pull
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  Speaker 1: a wide receiver off the field. This year, he's going
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  Speaker 1: to be someone who I think is going to stand
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  Speaker 1: out as a pass catcher for this offense. And you
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  Speaker 1: brought in another couple of tight ends who have played before,
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  Speaker 1: you know, Hunter Wilson playing at Northwestern, Mason Williams having
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  Speaker 1: played at Ohio. I think there's I think there's some
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  Speaker 1: real possibility there. This is this is a good one
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  Speaker 1: as well. I would not have had this at the
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  Speaker 1: top of my list, but it certainly does seem like
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  Speaker 1: one where it's not going to take that much for
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  Speaker 1: this to exceed expectations, just because it feels like this
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  Speaker 1: is just a spot where as much as you cannot
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  Speaker 1: have any expectations for a position group as the Ohios.
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  Speaker 1: You know, for the Ohio State fan base, this is
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  Speaker 1: about as no real expectations as I can remember a
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  Speaker 1: position group being. So yeah, if there are not any
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  Speaker 1: real high expectations, yeah, that's definitely a spot where you
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  Speaker 1: could exceed those not particularly high expectations. So there go
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  Speaker 1: three position groups where you could see the Ohio State
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  Speaker 1: fan the Ohios yet team exceed expectations this fall. We're
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  Speaker 1: going to do our very best to exceed your expectations.
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  Speaker 1: At Buckeye Insiders dot com. That's where Tony and I
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: are your team insiders. Juck Mletty Easy Recruiting Inside, Ross
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: and Michael they are your scheme insiders. Marcus Hartman he
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: is your basketball insider. We have a really fun and
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: active community there as well. That board is lively already
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: and fall camp hasn't even started yet, so really looking
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: forward to spending the fall there with all of our
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: members on the insiders board presented by Jeffrubis Columbus at
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: Buckeye Insiders dot com, and we would love to see
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  Speaker 1: you there as well. Get access to our whole team
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: of insiders and much more. It is a really fun community.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: I think you guys will enjoy that. We have some
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: fun stuff planned for this fall. Would love to see
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  Speaker 1: you there as a part of all that. And thanks
• 10:32
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• 10:44
  Speaker 1: for today. Thank you guys all for joining us. Have
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.