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Ohio State Transfer Portal Update: How Concerned Should Buckeye Fans Be? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning. From Monday, January twelfth, I'm
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Speaker 1: your host, Tom Or the ball State game in two
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Speaker 1: hundred and thirty six days, the gimm against Michigan in
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Speaker 1: All right, So today's show, I was going to have
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Speaker 1: Tony Gerderman on to talk about the status of Ohio
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Speaker 1: State in the Transfer Portal and our should Ohio State
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Speaker 1: fans be worried? Are some of these concerns overblown? What's
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Speaker 1: going on? What's sort of the why behind of what
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Speaker 1: a lot of what's happening in the transfer portal? And
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Speaker 1: Tony and I were recording a different show for the
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Speaker 1: Buckeye Weekly podcast on Sunday, and he said, oh, that's funny.
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Speaker 1: I just recorded a show with good Buddy Juck talking
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Speaker 1: about exactly that. And I said, well, I have feeling
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Speaker 1: we don't need to reinvent the wheel here. So in
1:03
Speaker 1: this episode, you're going to be hearing an episode of
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Speaker 1: the Chuck on Bucks podcast. You know Chuck from the
1:08
Speaker 1: Buckeye Huddle primetime podcast that he does with us. He
1:12
Speaker 1: has his own show as well. Take a second and
1:15
Speaker 1: check out Chuck on Bucks on where you ever pot
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Speaker 1: you find fine a podcast. You can also find.
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Speaker 2: Him on YouTube.
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Speaker 1: Check him out both of those places, make sure you're subscribed,
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Speaker 1: leave him a nice rating, and review both of those
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Speaker 1: places as well. But here's Tony Gerdaman with Juck on
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Speaker 1: the Juck on Bucks podcast talking about what's going on
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Speaker 1: right now in the Ohio State Transfer Portal.
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Speaker 3: World and welcome and appreciate you so much for joining us.
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Speaker 3: We got our man, Tony Gerdaman here with us today. Tony,
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Speaker 3: my man, thank you so much for coming on today.
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Speaker 3: I appreciate you, buddy.
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Speaker 2: Well, I appreciate you having me on. We'll see how
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Speaker 2: this goes. I know the fires are stoked and I
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Speaker 2: probably sometimes to stay out of it, but you know,
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Speaker 2: we're in a new age of a fire here.
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Speaker 4: No doubt, no doubt about it.
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Speaker 3: And Tony and I were texting this morning back and forth,
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Speaker 3: and you know, I just want to get you know,
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Speaker 3: we just kind of want to talk through what's going
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Speaker 3: on at Ohio State with the roster transition, that we're
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Speaker 3: seeing potential issues, the.
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Speaker 4: Severity of the.
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Speaker 3: Guys that are leaving, Like, how big of a deal
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Speaker 3: are the guys that are actually leaving the roster, What
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Speaker 3: is the potential strategy here moving forward?
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Speaker 4: And all the kind of comings and goings.
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Speaker 3: So much is what we each maybe think here and
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Speaker 3: see if we can kind of come to come to
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Speaker 3: an agreement here. Because Tony, I think based on our
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Speaker 3: conversation earlier, just briefly texting that.
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Speaker 4: You don't feel like this is that big of a deal.
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Speaker 2: It's a big deal because it's different. But they lost
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Speaker 2: about the same number of scholarship players before the twenty
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Speaker 2: twenty four season and they managed that. Okay, I think
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Speaker 2: the big difference here is there's no spring portal. So
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Speaker 2: if your agent is probably telling you, well, I mean,
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Speaker 2: if you think there's a chance you might want to
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Speaker 2: go on spring and you're not going to lock down
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Speaker 2: a job, get going now. And so a lot of
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Speaker 2: guys that would wait, would have waited until spring and
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Speaker 2: then maybe won a job, there'd be no reason for
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Speaker 2: them to leave. Now those guys are thinking, well, I
3:30
Speaker 2: don't know if I'm going to win a job in
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Speaker 2: a spring, and I'm going to go now. And also
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Speaker 2: there's probably more money out there for me if I do,
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Speaker 2: so what's the downside of leaving at this point? And
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Speaker 2: then you know, when you look at the players that
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Speaker 2: have left, you're talking about one departed starter and that's
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Speaker 2: Tanker Shabola, who the fan base wanted gone anyway. But
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Speaker 2: you know what we're texting, and you're telling me that
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Speaker 2: the level of players are different in terms of this
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Speaker 2: time and last time. You know, I go ahead, look
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Speaker 2: and Noah Rodgers commensurate to Quincy Porter. You lose, you lose.
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Speaker 2: Noah Rodgers prior to the twenty twenty four season, very
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Speaker 2: similar to Quincy Porter in terms of rankings, in terms
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Speaker 2: of you know, just expectations. You don't think so I don't, okay, go.
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Speaker 3: Ahead, not at all, not even close.
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Speaker 2: I think Quinchy Porter is a much better player, but
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Speaker 2: at that point that was seen as a big loss
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Speaker 2: and it didn't amount to much. And it was also
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Speaker 2: like a top fifty player as well.
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Speaker 3: Quincy was a top five wide receiver, five star, six
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Speaker 3: foot three, big body guy. I don't I don't feel
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Speaker 3: like there was the same expectation there. But to your
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Speaker 3: point about the Spring portal, yes, it does make sense.
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Speaker 3: And to be clear, my stance here is that this
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Speaker 3: is different and things are going to be different moving forward.
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Speaker 3: But I think it's just fine the way Ohio State,
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Speaker 3: I feel is pivoting here. However, when you compare this
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Speaker 3: to twenty twenty four or twenty twenty.
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Speaker 4: Three, uh, this is absolutely totally different.
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Speaker 3: I mean, even if I even if I were to
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Speaker 3: give you Noah Rodgers and Quincy Porter, which I'm not
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Speaker 3: conceding that, but even if I were to give you that,
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Speaker 3: I mean, I'm just looking through here tonm like the
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Speaker 3: caliber of guy. And you and I have talked about
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Speaker 3: this for a long time, like that, we know when
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Speaker 3: the writing's on the wall for a guy, they get
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Speaker 3: passed by a younger guy, things just start working out.
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Speaker 4: They hit the portal.
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Speaker 3: We have not seen I mean we've I don't think
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Speaker 3: in all the classes combined, have we seen the number
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Speaker 3: of guys that are the criteria or the caliber of
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Speaker 3: Aaron Scott, Bryce West Fahem De Layne, Jarques Carter, Myland, Graham,
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Speaker 3: Quincy Porter.
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Speaker 4: I think we could go through and we could look
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Speaker 4: and add it all up.
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Speaker 3: I don't think we've seen that combined in all the
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Speaker 3: classes combined, and I don't think it's an Ohio State issue.
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Speaker 4: This This is what I think, Tony.
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Speaker 3: I think that for a long time, the culture at
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Speaker 3: Ohio State has been such that guys all came not
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Speaker 3: getting the best offer. Ryan Day and Mark Pantoni made
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Speaker 3: that a thing. We don't want the guy coming in
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Speaker 3: for the best offer because of this, because they know
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Speaker 3: that that guy, when he gets in this position, will
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Speaker 3: then in turn go try to get the best offer.
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Speaker 3: And they've done a great job with that. And I
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Speaker 3: also think the culture was such that, man, you didn't
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Speaker 3: want to be the teammate on this roster that rocked
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Speaker 3: the boat, that went in looking like the greedy guy,
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Speaker 3: like I deserve more. And I feel like once that
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Speaker 3: seal broke, it was like, Okay, now the attitude kind
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Speaker 3: of permeates. All Right, I'm gonna get mine too. I'm
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Speaker 3: gonna get mine too. And all of a sudden, when
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Speaker 3: you've got a roster so deep, which Ohio State has
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Speaker 3: been able to stack a roster so deep for years
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Speaker 3: and years and years, there are guys that are starters
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Speaker 3: at other places. And we've known this forever. And obviously
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Speaker 3: you can't pay more than one starter at Ohio State.
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Speaker 3: Those guys can get starter money elsewhere and there they go.
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Speaker 3: They're off and running, and it's different.
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Speaker 4: It sucks, But I think.
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Speaker 3: Now what you do is you shrink the roster, You
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Speaker 3: shrink how many guys you're gonna pay, you go and
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Speaker 3: lean towards production in the portal versus prospects like, for instance,
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Speaker 3: the fihem Delaine situation. Fahim a ton of talent, projected
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Speaker 3: most likely to be a starter, and you think that
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Speaker 3: Fahim is going to come in and be a great player.
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Speaker 3: You think he is. But I can look at this
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Speaker 3: guy here that's a senior in the portal, and he's experienced,
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Speaker 3: and he's put it on the field, and I can
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Speaker 3: bring him in and I know what I'm going to
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Speaker 3: get out of him. I'm not sure what I'm going
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Speaker 3: to get out of Fajim. So are those two worth
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Speaker 3: the same amount of money even if that guy that
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Speaker 3: proven guys up side might not be as high as
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Speaker 3: being And that's kind of the way I see this
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Speaker 3: all shaken out.
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Speaker 4: What are your thoughts?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, all over the place. I mean you mentioned Aaron
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Speaker 2: Scott and Bryce West. Both of those guys were passed
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Speaker 2: by a younger guy and Devin Sanchez, and so there's
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Speaker 2: some something there, like when I text you how many starters?
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Speaker 2: How many potential starters out of those thirty guys that
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Speaker 2: are in there, of which I think maybe twenty five
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Speaker 2: were actually scholarship legit scholarship as they recruited scholarship players,
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Speaker 2: you know how many of those are it would eventually
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Speaker 2: be starters. And Blee Cartford tried for two years, tried
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Speaker 2: for three years, and it didn't happen. He was passed
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Speaker 2: by a younger guy. I think fa him Delaine certainly
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Speaker 2: could have progressed into a starter and was likely to
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Speaker 2: do that. I also wonder at this point, now moving forward,
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Speaker 2: if you rely on freshmen to become starters as sophomores,
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Speaker 2: and you develop them and you build them to that,
9:00
Speaker 2: are going to view themselves as sophomores as starters, and
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Speaker 2: they're gonna want to start a money without ever having
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Speaker 2: been a starter. And I think I'm not saying that's
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Speaker 2: what's happened with with Quincy Porter and for him delayed,
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Speaker 2: but it's like, all right, my time is now, where's
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Speaker 2: my money? And it's like, but you haven't done anything
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Speaker 2: yet for him delayed at this point has done as
9:16
Speaker 2: much as lee Very Roker in terms of snaps. You
9:19
Speaker 2: know that that's he's been a backup safety, which is
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Speaker 2: a great start for a true freshman. That's that's Jordan Fuller,
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Speaker 2: backup free safety as a true freshman. Eventually you know
9:30
Speaker 2: he becomes more. He's not been the only one that
9:32
Speaker 2: has done that and followed that progression. Josh Proctor took
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Speaker 2: a little bit longer. Boy, the most patient. You'll never
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Speaker 2: see that kind of patience again in college football at
9:40
Speaker 2: one place. But Jarq west Carter, could he have progressed
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Speaker 2: him to a starter? That's the thought. It wouldn't have
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Speaker 2: been this year. It probably wouldn't have been next year.
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Speaker 2: Behind Edreck Houston play in the same position. I like
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Speaker 2: Maxwell Roy no idea never seen him play. He can't
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Speaker 2: call it. You can't say he's going to be a starter.
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Speaker 2: Quincy Porter, of course you expect him to be a starter.
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Speaker 2: Milon Graham two years in right now they need a zee.
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Speaker 2: You would think he would be the guy. He felt
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Speaker 2: he's not, So can you consider him a starter, a
10:16
Speaker 2: you know, a future possible starter. I'm just scrolling through James.
10:19
Speaker 2: People's of course already off to Penn State, pushed out
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Speaker 2: by a younger guy, Two younger guys, Cija Hicks, you know,
10:27
Speaker 2: younger guys, Lannie Fairman, same thing. Like, I guess my
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Speaker 2: question to you what was the tipping point? And for
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Speaker 2: you to speak with fans, speak for yourself, it feels
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Speaker 2: like this is more about Quincy Porter, Marlon Graham, and
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Speaker 2: Fahim de Layne, and then the number is all just
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Speaker 2: kind of there's so many, but also it's these three
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Speaker 2: guys that are really and maybe Jarck west Carter, just
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Speaker 2: the young guys who didn't give it a chance or
10:56
Speaker 2: weren't given a chance, or weren't given the money that
10:59
Speaker 2: has people upset.
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Speaker 3: So I went live yesterday after the Fajem delayed news broke,
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Speaker 3: and that was kind of the tipping point. I think
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Speaker 3: for a lot of people, like something doesn't smell right now,
11:17
Speaker 3: something is starting to smell off.
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Speaker 4: Now.
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Speaker 3: My thought there is if we were to see Okay,
11:24
Speaker 3: shut it down, this is the roster we're rolling into
11:27
Speaker 3: the season with right now, I'd feel the same. However,
11:31
Speaker 3: you've got plenty of time to sign guys. And to
11:35
Speaker 3: be clear, they're not attempting to nor should they be
11:39
Speaker 3: trying to replace all of those guys. All they're trying
11:41
Speaker 3: to do is replace starters. You're shrinking the amount of
11:44
Speaker 3: guys that you want to pay here on the roster.
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Speaker 3: That's the goal here. And it's a fact. And this
11:51
Speaker 3: is what's not this is what's not good. Tony Ohio
11:54
Speaker 3: State has been able to operate the way they've been
11:55
Speaker 3: able to operate, and they no longer are going to
11:58
Speaker 3: be able to operate or be as deep as they are,
12:00
Speaker 3: and that is not by their choice. That has been
12:02
Speaker 3: forced upon them. And that's not a good thing, no
12:05
Speaker 3: matter how you slice it. That they were able to
12:08
Speaker 3: get away with this stacking a roster on eighty seven
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Speaker 3: percent blue chippers. That is not going to happen ever again.
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Speaker 3: And and the way that it's going you're losing a
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Speaker 3: lot of depth. And the way they're responding to it,
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Speaker 3: I think is the proper way. I think it's the
12:24
Speaker 3: proper way. But anyway you slice it, it's not a
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Speaker 3: good thing. It's a negative thing. And it was always
12:31
Speaker 3: going to have to be a purge when you transitioned.
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Speaker 4: From old way to new era.
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Speaker 3: But it's doesn't feel good, and I think that's what
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Speaker 3: a lot of people are going. This does not feel
12:42
Speaker 3: good at all. Also, the way they've handled the transfer
12:45
Speaker 3: portal so far. Number one, I think what you saw
12:49
Speaker 3: were two perfect models of what they're looking for. And
12:55
Speaker 3: Christian Legro from Wisconsin produces every year, comes in final year,
13:00
Speaker 3: money year. Same thing with Devin McEwen produces every year
13:04
Speaker 3: coming in money year. That's the model moving forward. That's
13:08
Speaker 3: the guy you want to bring in as a starter production.
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Speaker 3: Those kind of guys. So that's great, but I think
13:13
Speaker 3: that the speed with which it's happening also has people
13:16
Speaker 3: panicking because a lot of visits have come and haven't
13:19
Speaker 3: come to fruition. So anyway, that's that's what I think
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Speaker 3: is is the crux of the issue.
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Speaker 2: And the speed of all of this. And you also
13:28
Speaker 2: have Ohio States. They need to pick up the speed
13:31
Speaker 2: in terms of what they're willing to pay, what they
13:33
Speaker 2: can pay, what you know, what number they're willing to
13:36
Speaker 2: go to for each of these players, while also still
13:39
Speaker 2: waiting on some decisions from their existing players on what
13:41
Speaker 2: they're going to do. You know, Kenyana Jackson. Given that
13:44
Speaker 2: we haven't seen any announcements, maybe nobody Like generally when
13:50
Speaker 2: guys are going to the NFL, they'll announce it everyone
13:53
Speaker 2: one a day, you know, until the streak is streak
13:56
Speaker 2: is through. That's just how the social media aspect of
13:58
Speaker 2: it is done. And the fact that they announce anybody
14:00
Speaker 2: yesterday telling me there's still some decisions and things in
14:04
Speaker 2: the works, whether you know portal or whatever. But yeah,
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Speaker 2: I mean it's a it's a different time. You don't
14:10
Speaker 2: know how much money you can spend because you're still
14:12
Speaker 2: trying to keep guys that you want. And every dollar
14:16
Speaker 2: spent on Conyata Jackson is you know something that I
14:19
Speaker 2: think is better spent on Kenyada than somebody you don't know,
14:23
Speaker 2: And just looking at I guess also it's the guys
14:28
Speaker 2: at Ohio State has missed on that has people upset.
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Speaker 2: You know, Chas Coleman, where boy, he's this should be
14:35
Speaker 2: just locked up. He's the number one prospect in the
14:37
Speaker 2: in the portal. And I also think stop looking at
14:40
Speaker 2: the rankings because the fact that you had organizations having
14:44
Speaker 2: him number one when they're like legitimate, proven or productive
14:50
Speaker 2: defensive ends in the portal that a ranked below him.
14:52
Speaker 2: It's like you got to take the rankings with a
14:55
Speaker 2: grain of salt. And then also, do you want somebody
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Speaker 2: and I know you and I differ. I mentioned that
15:00
Speaker 2: the Zion Grady stats compared to Chas Coleman, and they're
15:04
Speaker 2: very similar, and you went with the past with the
15:07
Speaker 2: win rate on the pass rush and I'm just throwing
15:10
Speaker 2: the basic stats out there in terms of are you
15:13
Speaker 2: going to pay? Then you out a jack the money
15:16
Speaker 2: for Chas Coleman, not knowing that Chas Coleman is that guy,
15:21
Speaker 2: or you know, are you that are you that in
15:25
Speaker 2: need of a defenseman right now? Ohio State isn't, but
15:28
Speaker 2: they're still in the market and they're still looking. I
15:30
Speaker 2: still think for me, they need to go find a
15:33
Speaker 2: nickel unless Jermaine Matthews is willing to do that, and
15:35
Speaker 2: then if he is, you need to find a quarter.
15:37
Speaker 2: And of course you know there's still a safety need
15:40
Speaker 2: as well. But man, this is this is a new
15:45
Speaker 2: new world for Ohio State because again, you can plan
15:48
Speaker 2: on developing guys and bringing guys up through the ranks,
15:52
Speaker 2: but when the ranks are all like we'll see you later,
15:56
Speaker 2: then you know, you've got to you've got to make
15:58
Speaker 2: a change, and you know, is maybe been slower to
16:02
Speaker 2: the change than some others and they're not alone, and
16:06
Speaker 2: that it's I don't know if it's doing with your
16:09
Speaker 2: feet dragging or just doing it so that you know,
16:13
Speaker 2: people know that this is not the right way or
16:15
Speaker 2: this is not the way that they had planned. And
16:18
Speaker 2: so now you're here and you've got to move forward
16:20
Speaker 2: and not it's it's tough when everybody's bidding for the
16:24
Speaker 2: same guys. You got a finite amount of money and
16:28
Speaker 2: you're still trying to figure out who you're gonna bring back.
16:33
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
16:35
Speaker 3: As far as the Chazz situation, uh my, my opinion
16:39
Speaker 3: on this is Chazz and Ziggy are just different players, right,
16:43
Speaker 3: that's just a different style player. But when we talk
16:49
Speaker 3: about Chaz and the number one ranking, uh my opinion
16:52
Speaker 3: on this is when the when the price went to
16:55
Speaker 3: went to what it did, it made it no longer
16:57
Speaker 3: made sense. So I have a state missed on him
16:59
Speaker 3: when they missed him out of Warren, right, Like that's
17:03
Speaker 3: when they missed on him. They didn't miss on him here.
17:05
Speaker 3: They made the right decision based on the model. What's
17:09
Speaker 3: the model. We've seen the model. It doesn't need to
17:10
Speaker 3: be number one guys. The model needs to be experienced production.
17:15
Speaker 3: And Damon Wilson would have been a much better pickup
17:18
Speaker 3: had they had they got a guy that was gonna
17:20
Speaker 3: cost that kind of money in my view, because what
17:23
Speaker 3: happens after twenty twenty six when Chaz has a good season, Well,
17:27
Speaker 3: then he's gonna go have a great season in twenty
17:28
Speaker 3: twenty seven somewhere else, because he's gonna want two and
17:31
Speaker 3: a half million for twenty seven.
17:33
Speaker 2: You don't even need to have a season, because if
17:35
Speaker 2: they had signed him in twenty five, he's still in
17:38
Speaker 2: the portal, perhaps without having any kind of season, because
17:41
Speaker 2: dark West Carter's in the portal. Max reyll Roy is
17:43
Speaker 2: in the porter being delayed. Like you don't have to
17:46
Speaker 2: have a good season to go into the portal and
17:48
Speaker 2: expect to be paid.
17:49
Speaker 4: You did have to.
17:50
Speaker 2: I think this is one of the things that's going
17:52
Speaker 2: through my mind, and I don't need to cut you off,
17:53
Speaker 2: but I did, so I'll just continue growing up what
17:57
Speaker 2: I did, and I've stopped following baseball for a long time.
18:01
Speaker 2: But Yankee's prospects were always completely overvalued and the Yankees
18:06
Speaker 2: could trade those guys in August and September or whatever
18:09
Speaker 2: before the trade deadline and bring in like legit players.
18:12
Speaker 2: I kind of wonder how much the agents now do
18:17
Speaker 2: players Ohio State player Boom value goes up right and
18:21
Speaker 2: everything is inflated, will they get the money that they're
18:24
Speaker 2: looking for. I don't know. I haven't seen only seen
18:26
Speaker 2: a hand hindful of them signed. Don't know what they're getting,
18:29
Speaker 2: but I do think there's some pachet not just Ohio State.
18:34
Speaker 2: Why you're seeing players from all over the place. But
18:36
Speaker 2: I think agents like to use the names of the
18:39
Speaker 2: places that the players are coming from and that their values.
18:44
Speaker 3: Without a doubt, similar to what we see in recruiting
18:49
Speaker 3: with an Ohio State kid who's been offered by Ohio
18:51
Speaker 3: State or you know how he chooses. You throw that
18:55
Speaker 3: on there, but no, I totally agree, and I think
18:56
Speaker 3: it is really incredible that Ohio State now has agents
19:01
Speaker 3: coming in and the player that they're negotiating trying to
19:04
Speaker 3: keep his value on the market is more. It's higher
19:08
Speaker 3: because Ohio State has the player. It's just a pretty
19:13
Speaker 3: unbelievable conundrum to be in, Like you have made this
19:15
Speaker 3: player more valuable, and now you're bidding against this elevated
19:21
Speaker 3: value because he's with you.
19:22
Speaker 4: It's crazy. It is a crazy situation, no doubt about it.
19:26
Speaker 3: When I look at some of these guys and just
19:30
Speaker 3: to say, all right, so moving forward, when we look
19:34
Speaker 3: at a guy like Jarques Carter, who I loved, who
19:37
Speaker 3: is a six foot two inch two hundred and eighty
19:40
Speaker 3: eighty five pound quick defensive tackle, who is incredibly strong,
19:46
Speaker 3: who just finished a pretty good start to his freshman
19:49
Speaker 3: year and then didn't get to play at all the
19:50
Speaker 3: second half, has a lot of promise. When I was
19:53
Speaker 3: looking at the roster, my thought was, if Kenyat is back,
19:58
Speaker 3: I actually feel pretty damn good with one or two
20:02
Speaker 3: of Zion Grady carry Wilder or epistani La holding down
20:05
Speaker 3: the other side. My thought was, I feel a little
20:07
Speaker 3: less confident about Edwrick Houston and Jarquez as a pair.
20:10
Speaker 3: So rather than keep Jarquez, sure you'd like to and
20:15
Speaker 3: bring in another three tech, but Jarquez heading out getting
20:19
Speaker 3: that money off the books and bringing in a Francis
20:23
Speaker 3: Brewu from Pitt who is the same player. Right, He's
20:27
Speaker 3: actually what you hope Jarques develops into. That's what you
20:31
Speaker 3: hope you get out of Jarques, so I can get
20:34
Speaker 3: this guy from Pitt who is the same style of
20:36
Speaker 3: defensive tackle. He has production for two years in college,
20:40
Speaker 3: and I can now bring this guy in. And that
20:44
Speaker 3: kind of feels like, all right, man, that's better. I
20:47
Speaker 3: want that production. Like it doesn't feel good, it's not
20:49
Speaker 3: the way I like it. But from a business standpoint,
20:53
Speaker 3: if this is the way you've been forced to operate,
20:55
Speaker 3: that's the better move.
20:57
Speaker 4: Get the bad payroll off the books.
20:59
Speaker 3: And what's the bad payroll, Well, the worst payroll are
21:02
Speaker 3: guys with guys that are prospects with high ceilings, that
21:06
Speaker 3: are costing money, that are sitting on the bench. You've
21:09
Speaker 3: got to clear that money out.
21:10
Speaker 4: You have to.
21:11
Speaker 3: That takes away from your overall depth. It also puts
21:14
Speaker 3: you in a situation where you need to be more
21:17
Speaker 3: active every single year, building that starting roster in the
21:20
Speaker 3: portal you got to be. But we have now seen
21:24
Speaker 3: the blueprints out there. We're seeing people succeed with its
21:26
Speaker 3: own How States started twenty seven percent transfers. These other
21:30
Speaker 3: schools are at sixty they're still playing.
21:33
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, I think you're gonna see Ohio State start
21:36
Speaker 2: to operate where you just let the rest of collegeball
21:40
Speaker 2: be the minor league for you, Like that's what everybody's doing. Now.
21:43
Speaker 2: You let other programs develop the players. Then you go
21:45
Speaker 2: grab the players that are more developed. But the problem is,
21:48
Speaker 2: you know you're dealing with you're all bidders here in that.
21:52
Speaker 2: And I think that's one of the reasons, and we've
21:54
Speaker 2: probably talked about this before about the larger recruiting class,
21:57
Speaker 2: Like ten three star guys don't costume much. They maybe
22:01
Speaker 2: maybe they'll stay on the roster, but they're there for
22:03
Speaker 2: you at least for the time that you need them,
22:07
Speaker 2: and then maybe they developed, but they don't. They're not
22:10
Speaker 2: five star guys sitting on the bench just soaking up
22:16
Speaker 2: your your your salary there. And so then maybe these
22:20
Speaker 2: younger guys will develop and they're from Ohio and maybe
22:23
Speaker 2: they want to be buck Eyes. But apparently that's that's
22:25
Speaker 2: also no longer the thing that it used to be,
22:28
Speaker 2: which is I think that's been my years long complained
22:31
Speaker 2: about college basketball where the home state no longer is
22:34
Speaker 2: a draw because of the aausation of the sport and
22:38
Speaker 2: now the agents and the nil and all that is
22:42
Speaker 2: kind of diluted. The these want to stay home that
22:46
Speaker 2: that sort of thing of the players. But again to
22:50
Speaker 2: go back to the players, they've lost in the portal.
22:53
Speaker 2: I'll throw this out there and and I don't want
22:55
Speaker 2: to speak too soon on this because more can happen,
22:57
Speaker 2: but so they've lost I think forty six tackles from
23:01
Speaker 2: this year's team into the portal, four hundred nineteen yards rushing,
23:05
Speaker 2: which is James People's Lincoln keenoles and nine from Sam
23:09
Speaker 2: Williams Dayton thirty three catches, ten of which are from
23:13
Speaker 2: James People's. So when you look at the production that
23:19
Speaker 2: they've lost, it's not that much. But when it comes
23:23
Speaker 2: to what they could be next year, that's that's where
23:27
Speaker 2: the things come in, and that's where you've got to
23:28
Speaker 2: fill those holes. And I think we all really I
23:33
Speaker 2: think once Quincy Porter hit is like, oh this is
23:36
Speaker 2: this is different than for him to lay in hints,
23:38
Speaker 2: and it's like, well, this is completely unlike anything. Because
23:40
Speaker 2: you've talked about players that were in line. The fact
23:44
Speaker 2: that Aaron Scott and Bryce West left didn't really shock me.
23:48
Speaker 2: Especially Aaron Scott been two years he's been passed by
23:52
Speaker 2: Bryce West. I thought it was in line to start,
23:53
Speaker 2: you know, for complete Pete first started at Nickel, so
23:57
Speaker 2: that one again, that nickel spot is also tricky because
24:01
Speaker 2: everybody wants to be a corner and you've got to
24:04
Speaker 2: convince players to be a nickel. Talk with Kante Scott
24:07
Speaker 2: about that at the Cotton Bowl, and it's something that
24:10
Speaker 2: he had to learn to appreciate and more than that,
24:12
Speaker 2: you got to learn to love it. And it's not
24:14
Speaker 2: something that everybody can do. But I just think the
24:20
Speaker 2: Quincy Porter and the Fiend delayed is just such a
24:22
Speaker 2: huge wake up call. And not even the Mylon Grhat
24:25
Speaker 2: thing because he played two years and didn't play.
24:30
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean the mile in one. I kind of,
24:33
Speaker 4: you know, I was thinking that might happen. That was,
24:35
Speaker 4: you know, the other ones I didn't think like that
24:37
Speaker 4: one was kind of on the radar.
24:39
Speaker 2: I think we he was on my list of I've
24:41
Speaker 2: got a list of like twenty five guys that I
24:43
Speaker 2: thought would go and.
24:44
Speaker 3: He was on there. We're not allowed to talk about
24:46
Speaker 3: it in the past, Tony, I'm talking about it moving forward.
24:49
Speaker 4: I'm not like all glove the glove. That's the other
24:52
Speaker 4: thing that sucks about this.
24:54
Speaker 3: I used to talk about the NFL and NFL players
24:56
Speaker 3: in a totally different way than I talk about college players.
24:59
Speaker 4: That's all over, Like it's totally calloused now, and I
25:03
Speaker 4: hate that about it.
25:05
Speaker 3: But when you got guys who come in and leave
25:08
Speaker 3: after their freshman flipping year, after they just went through
25:12
Speaker 3: a freshman year talking about I want to be a
25:15
Speaker 3: buck eye. Okay, now I'm going to go to the
25:17
Speaker 3: portal because the Buckeyes don't pay me enough.
25:19
Speaker 4: Money, you know what I mean. It's like, all right, well,
25:22
Speaker 4: now we're just calloused over.
25:24
Speaker 3: Okay, So if I think you're gonna enter the portal,
25:26
Speaker 3: I'm gonna say it and not feel guilty about it.
25:29
Speaker 2: Well, and it's true, Like Tom and I own Bucket
25:32
Speaker 2: Weekly podcast have had this rule like we don't push
25:35
Speaker 2: people into the portal. We don't push players under the portal.
25:38
Speaker 2: We're not going to project people want to know who
25:39
Speaker 2: do you think is going to go in there? It's
25:40
Speaker 2: like we're not gonna ever talk about that. But then
25:42
Speaker 2: we kind of mended the rule to quarterbacks because that's
25:45
Speaker 2: such a different position. It's like, yeah, you know, you
25:48
Speaker 2: can only have one everybody goes into the portal. If
25:50
Speaker 2: you're a quarterback and you haven't transferred, it's because you've
25:53
Speaker 2: gone growing three years or you've quit basically, so it's
25:56
Speaker 2: kind of a different thing. But I mean, at this
26:00
Speaker 2: point you have to couch every conversation or every topic
26:04
Speaker 2: with like assuming somebody doesn't leave early. You know that
26:07
Speaker 2: that's assuming, assuming assuming, and it's such a different world.
26:12
Speaker 2: I can think back to I don't remember which postseason
26:15
Speaker 2: game was maybe a big than championship game or something,
26:17
Speaker 2: when when Joe Burrow was still at Ohio State, and
26:19
Speaker 2: I think it was I g at the end of
26:21
Speaker 2: the twenty seventeen season. I think it was like me
26:24
Speaker 2: and Ari Washerman talking to him and like finally talking
26:27
Speaker 2: about transferring and it's like you didn't openly talk to players.
26:32
Speaker 2: I think he might have been like the first where
26:34
Speaker 2: you just start talking about it and he's talking about
26:37
Speaker 2: it and it's like, you know, the T word, and
26:40
Speaker 2: he starts to get into it, and now it's just
26:42
Speaker 2: like And it's also funny because talking to players at
26:46
Speaker 2: the Cotton Ball, the Cotton Bowl or these bowl games
26:50
Speaker 2: whatever they are, the playoff games or media, we are
26:53
Speaker 2: also trying to talk to the young guys. So we
26:55
Speaker 2: have stories for February, you know, because this is the
26:57
Speaker 2: only time we get to talk to him, and I know,
27:00
Speaker 2: I talked to Quincy Porter about a story for February,
27:03
Speaker 2: Tom talked with Bryce West, Aaron Scott beam Delay, like
27:07
Speaker 2: all of these guys that we've talked, we talked to
27:09
Speaker 2: so we can ask them stories about the young, up
27:11
Speaker 2: and coming buck Eyes in twenty twenty six, and it's
27:15
Speaker 2: like they're gone, and uh, you know, it's just a
27:21
Speaker 2: it's an interesting world that we live in right now.
27:24
Speaker 4: It is. And I think that, uh, you know, I
27:27
Speaker 4: I mean that that sucks for your content. You know
27:29
Speaker 4: what else sucks for content for me?
27:31
Speaker 3: Covering recruiting, because Tony, there's a lot of people who
27:34
Speaker 3: are gonna be anywhere near as interested anymore in recruiting.
27:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I was talking with somebody on Twitter about
27:40
Speaker 2: that and then they're like, it's it certainly takes the
27:42
Speaker 2: fun out of it. And you know what's gonna happen
27:44
Speaker 2: with the the recruiting companies. I'm like, well, they'll just
27:47
Speaker 2: kind of transition to portal as much, you know, more
27:49
Speaker 2: portal stuff, and I assume business will exist as usual.
27:54
Speaker 2: But man, without without the belief that recruiting is the bix,
28:00
Speaker 2: the end all be all that's a that's a tough
28:03
Speaker 2: thing to fill where it's like, well, yeah, you'll just
28:06
Speaker 2: go get somebody from Buffalo or you know, you'll get
28:10
Speaker 2: you'll get a senior wide receiver from UTSA. And it's like, well,
28:13
Speaker 2: how do I get excited about that? And when do
28:15
Speaker 2: I get excited about that? And I won't know, you know,
28:18
Speaker 2: it's how do you win that? You know you can win,
28:22
Speaker 2: you can win the recruiting battles, how do you how
28:24
Speaker 2: do you win a portal? And it's yeah, I do
28:27
Speaker 2: wonder how the uh the operations. Maybe that's why Sanitary
28:31
Speaker 2: State taking a step back eventually here at on three,
28:33
Speaker 2: it's like, well, you know what, there's gonna be some
28:36
Speaker 2: some shifts in the marketplace based on recruiting and the
28:40
Speaker 2: fact that these are just you know now now everything
28:42
Speaker 2: is just a one year deal.
28:45
Speaker 3: Five guys from the class at twenty twenty five now gone.
28:49
Speaker 3: And when we look to the class last State just
28:54
Speaker 3: put together this twenty eight man class. I think if
28:57
Speaker 3: the order had been different portal first, class second, it
29:02
Speaker 3: would be a drastically different class. And I think that
29:05
Speaker 3: what we're most likely going to see moving forward is
29:08
Speaker 3: a shift where you're investing still heavily in your top
29:12
Speaker 3: tier guys, five star, top one hundred guys, and they
29:16
Speaker 3: got to show it year one and make you confident
29:18
Speaker 3: that they can really play in year two or that
29:20
Speaker 3: money needs off the books. And then of course you're
29:23
Speaker 3: going to have your free stars. The guys who want
29:25
Speaker 3: to be at Ohias State want to try to develop,
29:27
Speaker 3: you'll add them. So the top tier, the bottom tier,
29:30
Speaker 3: that middle tier where Ohio State currently spends money to
29:33
Speaker 3: get those guys in the recruiting class, I think that
29:36
Speaker 3: is eviscerated. I think it's you got to kind of
29:40
Speaker 3: totally wipe it out because it's just bad money on
29:42
Speaker 3: the books.
29:44
Speaker 2: Well, and when you look at the developmental positions like
29:48
Speaker 2: offensive line, defensive line, those are longer term things where
29:53
Speaker 2: those are developmental positions. So do you just let other
29:55
Speaker 2: schools develop those guys and then you bring them in
29:58
Speaker 2: as forthier players and plug him in at that point?
30:02
Speaker 4: But I do.
30:03
Speaker 2: I do also think you're gonna see more freshmen have
30:07
Speaker 2: to play and impact. I'm looking like twenty twenty six
30:10
Speaker 2: you could see Jay Timmons involved. I think you're you're
30:12
Speaker 2: gonna see Kerry Wilder involve. You can see Blake Bradford involved, Like,
30:16
Speaker 2: I think they're gonna place them, and I think they're
30:18
Speaker 2: all very, very good. This is maybe a good year
30:20
Speaker 2: to have a bad situation in the portal with particularly
30:23
Speaker 2: the those three guys on the different side of things.
30:26
Speaker 2: I think they can do something this year. And you know,
30:30
Speaker 2: we've seen really really good teams start true freshmen in
30:33
Speaker 2: the secondary or in various places. It can happen, and
30:37
Speaker 2: it's not the end of the world. Should it happened
30:40
Speaker 2: for Ohio State, but yeah, I think I think this
30:44
Speaker 2: twenty sixth class could have a significant impact. The problem
30:49
Speaker 2: is that you're gonna have to pay them, as you know,
30:52
Speaker 2: you're gonna have to whether whether they're starting or now
30:55
Speaker 2: I'm in line to start, I don't want to start
30:57
Speaker 2: in money. It's like we just did, we just do this,
31:00
Speaker 2: and so then yeah, we're going to decide what's the
31:03
Speaker 2: best way to approach this because would you rather as
31:06
Speaker 2: you said, I think we started out stressing, would you
31:08
Speaker 2: rather pay starter starter money or potential starter started money?
31:11
Speaker 2: And I think the answers a rather than be that's it.
31:15
Speaker 3: Just like you said, the guys, the guys at Ohio
31:17
Speaker 3: State lost you know, you pay for production. Now that
31:20
Speaker 3: is the model that we've seen. The folks who are
31:23
Speaker 3: good at this model, that's what they do. They pay
31:26
Speaker 3: for production and that's it. And age and I do
31:30
Speaker 3: agree with you. Ohio State will be older right on
31:33
Speaker 3: the portal end. And then we're gonna see a lot
31:37
Speaker 3: of the top tier freshmen playing as well moving forward,
31:39
Speaker 3: So super young guys mixed in with the super old guys.
31:43
Speaker 3: And just like the class the recruiting classes where you'll
31:46
Speaker 3: see the top and the bottom middle gone, I think
31:48
Speaker 3: we'll see a lot of the middle missing. And when
31:50
Speaker 3: we talk about like recruiting and defensive linemen and offensive linemen,
31:54
Speaker 3: you know when you can't hold on after one year
31:56
Speaker 3: to a guy like Jarquiz Carter and Max Roy, you
31:59
Speaker 3: know what I mean, Like what are we doing here?
32:02
Speaker 3: And to be honest, they came in with trade and otum.
32:04
Speaker 3: He was the one I thought might hit the portal
32:06
Speaker 3: after this year. That was the guy I had targeted,
32:09
Speaker 3: you know.
32:10
Speaker 4: So and he still could.
32:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was the guy Larry Johnson told me. He's like,
32:15
Speaker 2: he's probably more of a project kind of guy. And
32:18
Speaker 2: the last one standing there.
32:21
Speaker 3: It's now yeah, and now we look at a six
32:25
Speaker 3: man defensive line class coming in five man offensive line class.
32:29
Speaker 4: Be interesting to see what happens.
32:31
Speaker 3: I would brace everybody not to get too attached to
32:33
Speaker 3: this freshman class because I think it would have been
32:36
Speaker 3: probably about seventeen eighteen guys if it had happened after
32:39
Speaker 3: this portal class. And there will definitely be some big
32:42
Speaker 3: time departures. But tone, thank you so much for giving
32:45
Speaker 3: me a half an hour of your Sunday. Always a
32:48
Speaker 3: great time. And uh, you're the best man. Appreciate you now,
32:52
Speaker 3: you're the best. Thank you for having me talk to you.
32:53
Speaker 3: Letter latery buddy,