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Ross Fulton Analysis: What Ohio State's Portal Moves Reveal About The Buckeyes' Offense · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Sunday, February eighth, 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 nine days, the game against Michigan in two
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  Speaker 1: hundred and ninety three days. On today's show, we're welcoming
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  Speaker 1: in our ex'es and o's guru Ross Fulton to talk
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  Speaker 1: about Ohio States transfer portal additions, the coaching changes on
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  Speaker 1: offense and how that might impact the twenty twenty six
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State football season. And when we have Ross in
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  Speaker 1: sooner rather than later. All right, So, Ross, we got
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  Speaker 1: to talk a little bit about some of the additions
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  Speaker 1: Ohio is date made on the offensive side of the ball.
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  Speaker 1: In the transfer portal obviously, have a new offensive coordinator
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  Speaker 1: there as well, new out wide receivers coach there as well.
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  Speaker 1: So there's lots of different sort of angles here to
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  Speaker 1: talk about what the change is. Let's just we're going
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  Speaker 1: to go with a couple of different position groups and
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  Speaker 1: what we maybe have learned from what they added, some
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  Speaker 1: things that Ryan Day said recently, and what it might
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  Speaker 1: mean for twenty twenty six. Let's start with the wide
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  Speaker 1: receiver position just mentioned. New wide receivers coach Quartes Hankton,
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  Speaker 1: new wide receiver Kyle Parker from LSU, new wide receiver
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  Speaker 1: Devin McEwen from UTSA. What do you what can you
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  Speaker 1: glean from who they added and you know what it
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  Speaker 1: might mean for the offense this year.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, as Ryan Day talked about on his radio show
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  Speaker 2: I Guess a week or two ago, it seems like
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  Speaker 2: the emphasis was really rounding out the room and balancing
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  Speaker 2: it out. You know, within the wide receivers, they you know,
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  Speaker 2: you have your X receiver or you know, sometimes thought
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  Speaker 2: of as a split end sort of like when you're
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  Speaker 2: in a you know, a formation tends to be a
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  Speaker 2: single wide receiver to the boundary. That's Jeremiah Smith, like
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  Speaker 2: he's sort of the prototypical X receiver, right, and then
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  Speaker 2: you have your slot or H, and then you have
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  Speaker 2: a Z receiver sometimes traditionally called a flanker, right. And
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  Speaker 2: you know Day's emphasis in particular was on Butcher seeing
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  Speaker 2: the Z position, which both McEwan and Kyle Parker can play.
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  Speaker 2: They can also play in the slot, and so they
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  Speaker 2: just they balance out the room more with sort of
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  Speaker 2: different body types. You know, those guys are a little
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  Speaker 2: bit a little bit smaller, a little bit more quick twitch.
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  Speaker 3: Obviously McEwen has you know, the one hundred meter.
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  Speaker 2: Speed, So I think when you're looking at it like
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  Speaker 2: before that coming in this year, you know, you know,
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  Speaker 2: part of it was Quincy Porter is also an X.
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  Speaker 2: You know, Chris Henry Junior also an X. So they
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  Speaker 2: were going to be very deep in sort of X heavy,
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  Speaker 2: which like you can you know, you can play guys
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  Speaker 2: out of position. But I think that this makes them,
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  Speaker 2: you know, a more well rounded room in terms of
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  Speaker 2: you know, guys you can throw short, guys you can
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  Speaker 2: throw over the middle too, and you know on crossing
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  Speaker 2: routes that can sort of you know, do things after
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  Speaker 2: the cash with the ball, and so I just think
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  Speaker 2: that that was obviously, you know, in addition to just
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  Speaker 2: becoming more experienced and having you know, guys come in
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  Speaker 2: who have catches to their name in college football, like
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  Speaker 2: they wanted to have a more balanced room to sort
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  Speaker 2: of play office.
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  Speaker 1: Jeremiah Smith, We Tony and I did a show on
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  Speaker 1: Philip Bell and what We're expecting from Phillip Bell this year,
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  Speaker 1: and it hasn't run yet, but we've already recorded it,
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  Speaker 1: so unfortunately I cannot cheat off your paper on this one.
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  Speaker 1: But one of the things we talked about on that
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  Speaker 1: show was whether there was maybe going to be more
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  Speaker 1: of a rotation with the Ohio state wide receivers this year,
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  Speaker 1: because last year there was you know, it's Jeremiah Smith,
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  Speaker 1: It's Carnel Tait Brandan and it's in the slot, and
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  Speaker 1: then it felt like they felt like there was a
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  Speaker 1: decent drop off to sort of the next group of
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  Speaker 1: guys behind those guys. You don't have a Carnel Tait
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  Speaker 1: in this room probably this year. So are you expecting
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  Speaker 1: you know, with potentially some more depth there and maybe
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  Speaker 1: a little bit you know, closer layering of talent, are
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  Speaker 1: you expecting them to maybe rotate the wide receivers more
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  Speaker 1: this year.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I do. I do think, you know,
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  Speaker 3: I agree on the Colnel tape point.
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  Speaker 2: I do think McEwan's being a little bit underrated just
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  Speaker 2: based on where he played last year. Like his his
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  Speaker 2: production is very high, and like as we've seen in
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  Speaker 2: college football, you know, guys that have produced a lot
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  Speaker 2: at lower levels, it has often translated for them.
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  Speaker 3: But I think it's it's similar.
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  Speaker 2: To the defense, where they just have more versatility and
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  Speaker 2: the pieces they have and more depth. So even like
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  Speaker 2: beyond the rotation, I think that they can play guys
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  Speaker 2: in different circumstances, right, Like they have more ability to
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  Speaker 2: use different three wide receiver looks. We can talk about
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  Speaker 2: the tight ends, like obviously they have the ability to
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  Speaker 2: use multi tight end sets again, and so I do
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  Speaker 2: think we'll see a little bit more rotation, and I
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  Speaker 2: also just think we'll see a little bit more strategic use,
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  Speaker 2: you know, to your Philip Bell point, like getting guys
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  Speaker 2: in places where you know you're maximizing what they do best.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you mentioned the tight ends, and let's talk about
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  Speaker 1: those guys next. They brought into Hunter Welson from Northwestern
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  Speaker 1: and Mason Williams from Ohio University. And I think Mason
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  Speaker 1: Williams everyone is kind of just sort of plugging him
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  Speaker 1: into the Will Chasmeric role for many obvious reasons. But
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  Speaker 1: then when they brought in Arthur Smith. Arthur Smith obviously
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  Speaker 1: is known for being, you know, enjoying the tight end
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  Speaker 1: position and exploring it in in his offenses. And I
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  Speaker 1: thought that that has brought some consternation to Ohio State
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  Speaker 1: fans who maybe thought it was a little two tight
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  Speaker 1: end heavy last year. What are we to you know,
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  Speaker 1: what are we to glean from the Arthur Smith higher
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  Speaker 1: and the two tight ends they brought in, and what
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  Speaker 1: does that maybe mean for the offense this year?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think as we've talked about with
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  Speaker 2: Arthur Smith and you know, the tight end position, obviously
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  Speaker 2: they you know, they lost will kas Merik and Max
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  Speaker 2: Claire and so they're sort of replacing those two guys.
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  Speaker 2: I do think it, you know, to your point, Mason
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  Speaker 2: Williams more of the inline tight end and then you know,
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  Speaker 2: well seen, I think they can use sort of like
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  Speaker 2: I mean, Arthur Smith is not just uh, you know,
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  Speaker 2: playing multi tight ends, but using a tight end as
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  Speaker 2: a fullback.
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  Speaker 3: You know there's an h BAC type.
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  Speaker 2: We saw that a little bit with Nate Roberts and
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  Speaker 2: you know, sort of talking about some of the limitations
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  Speaker 2: doing trying to do that with the true freshman who's
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  Speaker 2: never done that before. I think, well, seen can more
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  Speaker 2: give them that role. I do think though that like
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  Speaker 2: it doesn't make sense to like sell your Nate robert
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  Speaker 2: stock already based on that. I mean, they obviously, like
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  Speaker 2: you know, highly touted recruit, and you know, they thought
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  Speaker 2: enough about it of him to play him as a
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  Speaker 2: true freshman at a position that you don't normally play
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  Speaker 2: true freshman. And so again, you know, Bennet Christian's there,
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  Speaker 2: they got a lot of pieces. You know, I do
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  Speaker 2: agree if with you know, the mass general consensus that
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  Speaker 2: you know, they need better blocking or more consistent blocking
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  Speaker 2: from the tight end position, particularly when they use you know,
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  Speaker 2: those two and three tight end looks. But as we've
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  Speaker 2: talked about, like that's clearly the way football is going,
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  Speaker 2: you know, you see at the NFL level. Obviously Arthur
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  Speaker 2: Smith comes from that flavor. I do think that they will,
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  Speaker 2: as we talked about with Arthur Smith in the run game,
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  Speaker 2: like will more maximize the use of multiple tight ends
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  Speaker 2: when they do it, you know, in terms of like
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  Speaker 2: as we talked about someone like the zone wide zone
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  Speaker 2: and duo concepts where you're like more taking advantage of
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  Speaker 2: creating extra gaps with the tight ends. But you know,
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  Speaker 2: also just have to hope or expect that like Arthur Smith,
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  Speaker 2: as we've you know, will raise the general level of
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  Speaker 2: the run game, you know, both in like the finer
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  Speaker 2: details and execution of it as well. But you know,
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  Speaker 2: from a big picture of personnel perspective, obviously they do
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  Speaker 2: not want to go away. I don't think from you know,
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  Speaker 2: having multiple tight end sets as a regular feature, as
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  Speaker 2: we're saying, with versatile at the wide receiver position, they
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  Speaker 2: can I think they're going to have more ability to
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  Speaker 2: shift between you know, two and three tight end looks
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  Speaker 2: and then three wide receiver sets a different variety.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think people You mentioned Nate Roberts there in
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  Speaker 1: the middle of your answer, and I do think people
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  Speaker 1: are looking at him and going, well, this guy's terrible.
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  Speaker 1: It's like no, no, no, no, no no. The fact that
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  Speaker 1: who's playing as much as he did as a true
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  Speaker 1: freshman on that team is exactly the opposite. You may
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  Speaker 1: out have liked how they used him, but that is
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  Speaker 1: a pretty good sign for what he could be moving
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  Speaker 1: forward for this Ohio State team. Something else that Ohio
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  Speaker 1: State fans broadly did not like was they did not
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  Speaker 1: bring anyone in in the transfer portal on the offensive line.
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  Speaker 1: And we've done Tony and I have done a couple
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  Speaker 1: of shows on this and think you and I maybe
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  Speaker 1: have talked about this at some point or another, but yeah,
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  Speaker 1: every time we do a show on the transfer portal,
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  Speaker 1: why didn't they bring in another offensive lineman? Did you see?
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  Speaker 1: Did you not watch the end of the season and
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  Speaker 1: see what the offensive line looked like at the end
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  Speaker 1: of the season. And I think the fact that they
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  Speaker 1: didn't bring in anyone on the offensive line tells me
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  Speaker 1: a lot about what they think this offensive line could
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  Speaker 1: and should be this fall with as many talented guys
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  Speaker 1: coming back as they have.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you know, Ryan Day emphasized that the retention
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  Speaker 2: of it, and I think you know they have they
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  Speaker 2: were people talk about the inexperience right at quarterback with
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  Speaker 2: Julian saying and at running back, but you know, the
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  Speaker 2: offensive line was also relatively inexperienced. Some of that was
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  Speaker 2: like easy to ignore because a lot of those guys
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  Speaker 2: were forced to play in the playoffs the year before,
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  Speaker 2: but it wasn't like they were you know, Luke Montgomery
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  Speaker 2: was not a full time returning starter, right, Like this
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  Speaker 2: was his first year as a full time starter. Uh,
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  Speaker 2: And so same with Austin Sierraveld. And so I do
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  Speaker 2: think that, like you know, Bryan Day, like during his
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  Speaker 2: radio show, you know, had a good opening discussion about
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  Speaker 2: their transfer portal philosophy, right, and you know, this is
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  Speaker 2: a good example of it. If you bring in a
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  Speaker 2: offensive lineman, you're probably you know, you're gonna lose Ian More,
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  Speaker 2: You're probably gonna lose Josh Badia. So like what's the
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  Speaker 2: trade off worth there?
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  Speaker 3: Right? Obviously, like Ian Moore was in demand.
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  Speaker 2: I've talked about like I thought he played the best
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  Speaker 2: of any offensive lineman against Miami when he was forced
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  Speaker 2: into action. And so like you know, now you're seven deep, right,
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  Speaker 2: like Ryan Days talking, you know, moving Philip Daniels to guard,
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  Speaker 2: I personally think that'd be a good move.
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  Speaker 3: I think that he like.
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  Speaker 2: He's you know, his foot speed was sometimes the issue
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  Speaker 2: for him, but he like has the attitude that you'd
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  Speaker 2: want in a guard sort of the nastiness if you will,
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  Speaker 2: And so you know you're looking at pretty deep like
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  Speaker 2: it's it's some ways impressive that you got at Josh
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  Speaker 2: Padilla to come back as a senior without a guaranteed
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  Speaker 2: starting role, Like you don't see that very much. So
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  Speaker 2: they're they're actually like seven at least seven deep right
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  Speaker 2: now offensive line. And so you know when you're talking
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  Speaker 2: about like Austin Saravold and Ian Moore as your tackles,
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  Speaker 2: you know Sarahvild would have been a second third round pick,
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  Speaker 2: Like it's it's what do you want to do? You know,
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  Speaker 2: it's also like what's It's easy to say like let's
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  Speaker 2: bring in a transfer portal guy, but it's like what
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  Speaker 2: are your other options?
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  Speaker 3: Now?
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  Speaker 2: Would you rather write a big check to Jordan Seed?
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  Speaker 2: And then you're like losing four offensive linemen because they
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  Speaker 2: then you can't retain your own roster. So I do
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  Speaker 2: think that I think the pieces are there to be
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  Speaker 2: good on the offensive line. You're gonna have a lot
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  Speaker 2: of experience, as I said, like Arthur Smith should help
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  Speaker 2: make everyone look better. A more veteran run game that
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  Speaker 2: hopefully creates some explosiveness should make the offensive line look better,
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  Speaker 2: because that's just really where they're hurting all year. It
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  Speaker 2: was just like no expliciveness from the run game whatsoever,
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  Speaker 2: which you know, when you're not creating explicive plays, you
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  Speaker 2: have to sustain drives. Makes everything harder. A more experienced Juliansane,
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  Speaker 2: you know, some of those sacks were on him as
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  Speaker 2: much as the offensive line at the end of the year.
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  Speaker 2: So I personally have no issue with their approach on
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  Speaker 2: offensive line, Like I just would rather keeping Ian Moore
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  Speaker 2: and count on him as a sat starter tackle. Then
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  Speaker 2: you know, go out and get what was available and
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  Speaker 2: have to totally blow up the room, all right.
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  Speaker 1: So there you go a little bit of a look
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  Speaker 1: at what we maybe have learned from how they approach
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  Speaker 1: things on the offensive side of the ball in the
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  Speaker 1: transfer portal, and we will know a lot more of
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  Speaker 1: month from now. Starting a month from now, it's like
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  Speaker 1: one month and two days from now when Ohio State
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  Speaker 1: opens spring ball. We'll be there for that. In the meantime, though,
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  Speaker 1: we got a couple weeks to fill. And if you
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  Speaker 1: have questions for Ross or me or anyone else, go
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  Speaker 1: ahead and leave them in the comments on this video
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  Speaker 1: on YouTube. We're always happy to answer your questions. Looking
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  Speaker 1: for different different answers or different questions to that. You
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: guys are looking for answers on different topics you want
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  Speaker 1: to hear ross talk about. We're always happy to do that.
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  Speaker 1: Just leave those comments there, or of course you can
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  Speaker 1: talk about us any talk about it with us anytime
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  Speaker 1: me later. That'll lotle for today. Thank you guys all
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  Speaker 1: for joining us. Have a great day. We'll talk to
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  Speaker 1: you tomorrow