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Around The Big Ten: Ohio State Spring Game Takeaways, Minnesota Star Playing Both Ways · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

0:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to buck Eyes Tomorrow morning for Wednesday, April sixteenth.
0:03
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Tom Or the Texas game in one
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Speaker 1: hundred and thirty six days, the game against Michigan in
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Speaker 1: two hundred and twenty seven days. If you're planning your
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Speaker 1: next event, make it unforgettable with Grateful Grittel Clumbus's favorite
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0:21
Speaker 1: sometimes on this show we'll give you a little sneak
0:23
Speaker 1: preview of some of the other great podcasts on the
0:25
Speaker 1: Buckey Huddle podcast network. Today we're going to feature one
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Speaker 1: that we have not done before. It is the Around
0:30
Speaker 1: the Big Ten podcast that's hosted by Mark Givler and
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Speaker 1: Chip Minnick. They do a really good job giving you
0:35
Speaker 1: a little bit of a zoomed out look at the
0:38
Speaker 1: stuff around the Around the Big Ten, around the Conference.
0:41
Speaker 1: But of course they do talk Buckeyes on that show
0:43
Speaker 1: as well. This is an episode from this week where
0:46
Speaker 1: they're talking a little bit about the Ohio State spring games,
0:48
Speaker 1: some takeaways from there as well as they look at
0:50
Speaker 1: a Big Ten star at another school who could end
0:53
Speaker 1: up playing both ways this season. I would recommend if
0:56
Speaker 1: you enjoy this show, you subscribe to the Around the
0:59
Speaker 1: Big Ten Podcast wherever you find all your other bucke
1:02
Speaker 1: Huddle favorites.
1:05
Speaker 2: Hello, everyone, welcome to the Around the Big Ten Podcast.
1:09
Speaker 2: I'm Mark Givler, joinedo as always by Chip Minnick. Let's
1:12
Speaker 2: do this here on April fourteenth, twenty twenty five, right
1:16
Speaker 2: in the middle of spring. There's been a little bit
1:19
Speaker 2: of a lull in like activity, like teams are going
1:22
Speaker 2: through spring practices. There's some spring games happening. But that's
1:26
Speaker 2: about the change here in a couple of days. So
1:28
Speaker 2: we'll have a lot of transfer portal stuff here in
1:31
Speaker 2: the next week or so. But today I wanted to
1:34
Speaker 2: We got three things we kind of want to go into.
1:36
Speaker 2: One recruiting item and then a couple other interesting items
1:40
Speaker 2: around the Big Ten that we're going to talk about
1:43
Speaker 2: with with a couple of different programs. So first of all,
1:46
Speaker 2: kind of a big hit for the Big Ten on
1:49
Speaker 2: the recruiting trail. Gregory Patrick, a top one hundred caliber,
1:54
Speaker 2: top two hundred caliber nationally offensive tackle out of Portage, Michigan,
1:59
Speaker 2: committed to Notre Dame on Sunday over in state programs Michigan,
2:07
Speaker 2: Michigan State where his dad played, hen State now a
2:11
Speaker 2: state program, but another Big ten school. This is a
2:13
Speaker 2: big win for Notre Dame over a lot of Big
2:15
Speaker 2: ten schools. Chip, I guess just a little bit on that,
2:18
Speaker 2: just get your surprise level that neither of the Michigan
2:21
Speaker 2: schools were able to wrangle him.
2:25
Speaker 3: It's definitely a surprise that I'm just going to defer
2:28
Speaker 3: to the fact that it's Michigan State would be the
2:31
Speaker 3: program that and this is not meant as a shot
2:34
Speaker 3: across the ball at Michigan. I think the fact that
2:37
Speaker 3: Gregory Patrick is from the state of Michigan decided to
2:41
Speaker 3: go to Notre Dame is as the way you refer
2:44
Speaker 3: to it, Mark, it's a blow for the Big Ten.
2:46
Speaker 3: But I'm more surprised in the sense that Michigan State
2:49
Speaker 3: didn't really put greater effort. Not that I'm not trying
2:54
Speaker 3: to suggest that they didn't try, but I would have
2:57
Speaker 3: figured a legacy player from the state of Michigan would
3:01
Speaker 3: be a greater I guess, a greater focus for Jonathan Smith.
3:06
Speaker 3: I mean, the concern if I was a Michigan State fan,
3:08
Speaker 3: the concern would be, you're bringing in a coach, very
3:12
Speaker 3: good coach, but he's not from the Midwest. How is
3:15
Speaker 3: he going to be able to recruit Midwest talent? And
3:17
Speaker 3: to lose a legacy player has to be stinging very
3:21
Speaker 3: deeply if I was a fan of the Michigan State Spartans.
3:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a big pickup for Notre Dame. They've got
3:27
Speaker 2: a lot of momentum right now, coming off their National
3:30
Speaker 2: Championship runner up performance this past year. Marcus Freeman's recruiting
3:35
Speaker 2: very well, and again you're beating out Michigan, Michigan State,
3:39
Speaker 2: Penn State. He has scheduled official visits with those three
3:42
Speaker 2: programs for like the beginning of June through the end
3:45
Speaker 2: of June, and those look like they likely will not
3:48
Speaker 2: be happening now. He had some big national offers, Alabama
3:52
Speaker 2: being probably the biggest one, but also had Oklahoma offer
3:57
Speaker 2: from Stanford, which is always interesting. So this was a
4:01
Speaker 2: really big win for Notre Dame. And again, you know
4:04
Speaker 2: you've got Michigan State there as a legacy prospect, and
4:09
Speaker 2: then you've got Michigan, which has had such a great
4:13
Speaker 2: reputation for offensive linemen, especially, you know, the last several
4:16
Speaker 2: years not being able to close that one out. So
4:20
Speaker 2: that's a big win for Notre Dame. And we'll get
4:23
Speaker 2: into some more recruiting stuff here, I think later this week.
4:25
Speaker 2: There is some you know, we've talked about some recent
4:27
Speaker 2: commitments that have went the big Cans way. I think
4:30
Speaker 2: the last couple of days have maybe not gone the
4:31
Speaker 2: big kens A way. They've lost a couple of guys,
4:35
Speaker 2: a couple of kind of local players have decided to
4:40
Speaker 2: go elsewhere. But Penn State did land a quarterback in
4:43
Speaker 2: Peyton Falzoni, so that's that's a good pick up for
4:46
Speaker 2: them in twenty twenty six. We'll probably dive more into
4:48
Speaker 2: that here on a future episode. But yeah, just a
4:52
Speaker 2: bit of a weird start to the week there with
4:55
Speaker 2: Michigan State and Michigan missing out on a very good
4:58
Speaker 2: offensive lineman their backyard. Moving on to on the field stuff,
5:08
Speaker 2: some very interesting developments at Minnesota this week with PJ
5:12
Speaker 2: fleck Well. First of all, the reports came out Coy Parrich,
5:18
Speaker 2: the phenomenal second year safety at Minnesota, had a split
5:24
Speaker 2: jersey off and was kind of recorded and photographed in
5:28
Speaker 2: a split jersey signifying that he was playing both all
5:30
Speaker 2: ultimately play both offense and defense at Minnesota. PJ. Fleck
5:34
Speaker 2: talked about that a little bit on the Big Ten Network. Uh,
5:39
Speaker 2: first of all, what where do you stand on the
5:43
Speaker 2: whole idea of like taking your star player on defense
5:48
Speaker 2: and having like, you know, risking injury whatever you want
5:51
Speaker 2: to call it, by having, you know, he's already was
5:53
Speaker 2: returning kicks for them, now he's maybe playing some offense.
5:56
Speaker 2: Where do you I mean, he's a phenomenal high school
5:58
Speaker 2: player both sides of the ball. But where you kind
6:00
Speaker 2: of stand philosophically on this.
6:03
Speaker 3: Well, philosophically, I think it's a tremendous idea as long
6:06
Speaker 3: as the player is all in on it. And by
6:10
Speaker 3: all accounts, obviously Coy Perrich is that I understand the
6:14
Speaker 3: concerns about the risk of injury. My belief is that
6:18
Speaker 3: Koy Berrich, as talented as he is, I think his
6:22
Speaker 3: obligation and priorities are still going to be first and
6:25
Speaker 3: foremost playing in the secondary for Minnesota. I think that's
6:28
Speaker 3: that's his more natural position long term. And obviously, as
6:33
Speaker 3: you said, mark kickoff punt returner, I think that secondary
6:37
Speaker 3: and I think sprinkling him in as a wide receiver.
6:40
Speaker 3: I realized he played both running back and wide receiver
6:43
Speaker 3: in high school. But my reading of this is that
6:47
Speaker 3: it's going to be more wide receiver. I think it's
6:49
Speaker 3: it's tremendous. I think Cooy Perrich has certainly demonstrated to
6:54
Speaker 3: the coaching staff and his teammates that he can do it,
6:56
Speaker 3: that he wants to do it. And I think anything
6:58
Speaker 3: that can put Minnesota more of a natural national spotlight
7:04
Speaker 3: on Coit Perris, it's it's better for him as well
7:08
Speaker 3: as the program itself. So if it results in more
7:12
Speaker 3: wins for Minnesota this this season, I think I'm all
7:15
Speaker 3: for it.
7:17
Speaker 2: I would love to disagree with you just for the
7:18
Speaker 2: sake of debate, but I can't, And like, I can't
7:22
Speaker 2: love this enough. First of all, Coy is an incredible player.
7:27
Speaker 2: I covered him a little bit in high school. Incredible
7:31
Speaker 2: football player, amazing freshman year. Really see no universe where
7:37
Speaker 2: he's not a first round pick in two years. Gonna
7:42
Speaker 2: be fascinating watching both him and Caleb Downs play safety
7:44
Speaker 2: in the big time. I mean, you probably the two
7:47
Speaker 2: best safeties in America this year. So but and when
7:53
Speaker 2: we talked about this in the spring preview of Minnesota.
7:55
Speaker 2: They've done a lot of things really well PJ Flex
7:56
Speaker 2: and a lot of things really well in Minnesota. That's
7:58
Speaker 2: a program I probably would be buying stock right now.
8:02
Speaker 2: They seem to play good defense, good special teams. They
8:07
Speaker 2: developed pretty well on the offensive line. They've done a
8:10
Speaker 2: really good job at running back and having you know,
8:12
Speaker 2: really strong running games. Where we've kind of picked them
8:16
Speaker 2: apart a little bit is like, Okay, can you create
8:19
Speaker 2: explosives offensively this year? Because if you can, you may
8:24
Speaker 2: have the pieces around that to have a really great year.
8:29
Speaker 2: And Cooy Parrish is their best athlete. So this is
8:32
Speaker 2: a guy who might be able to change games for
8:35
Speaker 2: them via kick returns and via you know, playing receiver
8:38
Speaker 2: or some some trick plays or some some tailback whatever
8:40
Speaker 2: it's going to be. This is someone who I think
8:43
Speaker 2: will fill an area of significant need for Minnesota. Like
8:48
Speaker 2: if they had three, like if they had Ohio States
8:51
Speaker 2: wide receivers, I'd be like, okay, like why are we
8:54
Speaker 2: doing this? But they don't, Like they don't have this
8:58
Speaker 2: like stable of like big play web happens on offense.
9:01
Speaker 2: This gives them a legitimate game breaker at the at
9:05
Speaker 2: the receiver position wherever they decide to use them, and
9:07
Speaker 2: they've already we suspect they're gonna have a very good
9:09
Speaker 2: run game this year. They have a couple of very
9:10
Speaker 2: good running backs. So this, to me is is brilliant.
9:17
Speaker 2: And I think again, you you you hit on it.
9:22
Speaker 2: I think you hit on a bigger thing here, which
9:24
Speaker 2: is Coy Perish. If he played at Alabama last year,
9:30
Speaker 2: or Ohio State or Michigan or Notre Dame, the hype
9:34
Speaker 2: around him going into this year would be unbelievable. And
9:40
Speaker 2: for some reason it's not. And it's it's it's because
9:42
Speaker 2: he's at Minnesota. It's just that's that's just that's the reason.
9:46
Speaker 2: I think this will shine not only shine more light
9:50
Speaker 2: on Minnesota's program, which is a good thing, I think
9:53
Speaker 2: it will show to other players maybe looking at Minnesota
9:57
Speaker 2: recruits transfer portal targets to it, may be that hey,
10:03
Speaker 2: they're gonna do whatever it takes to not only shine
10:07
Speaker 2: a spotlight on Minnesota, but to put their players in
10:10
Speaker 2: positions to get the football positions to be recognized. And
10:16
Speaker 2: I think this is a great thing from like a
10:17
Speaker 2: pr standpoint for a program that maybe doesn't get that
10:21
Speaker 2: little boost that some of the blue Bloods get nationally.
10:25
Speaker 2: Whenever they have a decent player that you know, they
10:26
Speaker 2: blow up. You know, any time a Hive Steed or
10:30
Speaker 2: Michigan have a decent player, well you know, they just
10:32
Speaker 2: go nuts nationally. And so they don't Minnesota doesn't get
10:37
Speaker 2: that same benefit. And so I think this will be
10:41
Speaker 2: big for that. I really, I really do. I think
10:43
Speaker 2: that's another big thing here. So that was philosophically is
10:48
Speaker 2: one thing. Now do you think, because now the Travis
10:52
Speaker 2: Hunter suff's going to start, can he be Travis Hunter?
10:55
Speaker 2: Where do you fall on that? In terms of his
10:58
Speaker 2: effectiveness doing this?
11:01
Speaker 3: I think he's going to be tremendous and his effectiveness,
11:05
Speaker 3: Like I said a few moments ago, I think that
11:07
Speaker 3: his best position long term is in the secondary. And
11:11
Speaker 3: I think, and this is not meant maybe you have
11:14
Speaker 3: a disagreement, but I think Travis Hunter is at least
11:19
Speaker 3: at the NFL level, it sounds like he's going to
11:22
Speaker 3: be if he's selected by the Cleveland Browns second, which
11:24
Speaker 3: all the early indications are that the Cleveland Browns are
11:28
Speaker 3: going to be selecting him second overall, but playing him
11:32
Speaker 3: at wide receiver and then giving him occasional spot duty
11:36
Speaker 3: at cornerback at the next level. Getting back to koy Perrich,
11:40
Speaker 3: I think this, if anything, it kind of raises the
11:45
Speaker 3: possibility of other players around the country who are extremely
11:49
Speaker 3: talented not necessarily.
11:51
Speaker 2: Being able to do it at a high level.
11:53
Speaker 3: But koy Perrich could be like the next guy that
11:55
Speaker 3: could be Legitimately in that conversation you talked about Caleb Downs,
12:00
Speaker 3: I thought the fact that Ohio State by the end
12:03
Speaker 3: of the season was starting to play Caleb Downs as
12:05
Speaker 3: a punt returner, which you know, which which demonstrated itself
12:10
Speaker 3: very well against Indiana and that that game against the Hoosiers.
12:14
Speaker 3: But Coy Perrich, I think as a as a safety,
12:18
Speaker 3: that's first and foremost. Second secondary the excuse me, the
12:22
Speaker 3: secondary aspect is the special teams and then I think
12:28
Speaker 3: playing spot duty as long as his as long as
12:30
Speaker 3: his play on the field as in this in this
12:33
Speaker 3: Minnesota secondary doesn't suffer. I think he you can sprinkle
12:38
Speaker 3: in a number of plays for him as a wide
12:40
Speaker 3: receiver and it just provides so many opportunities for that
12:45
Speaker 3: Minnesota offense. Like you said, Mark, that they don't have
12:47
Speaker 3: any explosive talent, uh to you know, that we have
12:51
Speaker 3: seen at the wide receiver position. I think Paris is
12:53
Speaker 3: one of these guys that I think would open up
12:55
Speaker 3: opportunities for other players on that Minnesota offense if you
12:58
Speaker 3: if you give him an opportunity to play there.
13:02
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I don't think he'll play as much offense
13:05
Speaker 2: as Travis Hunter did, so I think in that sense,
13:07
Speaker 2: we're not going to see the same type of numbers,
13:11
Speaker 2: but I think he'll be When he does play offense,
13:14
Speaker 2: I think he'll be extremely effective. I think he will
13:18
Speaker 2: have the opportunity to change games, you know, in a
13:22
Speaker 2: way similar going back to like the way Chris Gamble
13:26
Speaker 2: would change games for Ohio State, where it's not like
13:29
Speaker 2: he's going to be out there every snap the way
13:31
Speaker 2: Travis Hunter was, but when he is out there, you
13:33
Speaker 2: better be careful. And so I love this idea. I
13:39
Speaker 2: think it's going to work. I think it's going to
13:41
Speaker 2: be effective. I hope they do utilize it. I hope
13:43
Speaker 2: this isn't just preseason hype and smoking mirrors and everything else.
13:46
Speaker 2: I hope we see it early in the season. We
13:48
Speaker 2: see him out there making some plays, getting some opportunities. Again,
13:52
Speaker 2: I think he's one of the best players in college football.
13:54
Speaker 2: And again, I think if he played at a higher
13:56
Speaker 2: profile program that we would be hearing a lot more
13:59
Speaker 2: about him end of the year. So of course that
14:03
Speaker 2: the other end of that coin is going to be
14:05
Speaker 2: in a world where everyone's trying to hide people, you're
14:08
Speaker 2: now going to put Koy Parrish in the spotlight even more.
14:11
Speaker 2: Wait till the you know, wait till the rumors come
14:12
Speaker 2: out after because he's only going to be a sophomore.
14:14
Speaker 2: He's not gonna be able to go to the NFL
14:15
Speaker 2: after this year. Wait till like the school X is
14:18
Speaker 2: offering Koy Parrish five million dollars to transfer for his
14:22
Speaker 2: junior year. Wait for that. But this is a kid
14:25
Speaker 2: who turned down several big time programs in high school
14:28
Speaker 2: to stay at home with Minnesota, so I think his
14:31
Speaker 2: loyalty to the program is pretty high. But that'll be
14:34
Speaker 2: a funny part of this, Uh, you know, once the
14:36
Speaker 2: national media really starts getting a hold of this, that'll
14:39
Speaker 2: be a that'll be a narrative that I'm sure is
14:42
Speaker 2: developed somewhere. But yeah, like, I love it. Great player,
14:48
Speaker 2: great idea. I think helps everyone involved, think it helps
14:52
Speaker 2: the program, certainly helps on the field. I think it
14:54
Speaker 2: helps off the field with with you know, media attention, spotlight.
14:57
Speaker 2: It certainly will help Koy Parrish, you know, elevate his profile.
15:01
Speaker 2: But it's gonna be it's gonna be fascinating or are
15:04
Speaker 2: we are we heading toward a universe where two big
15:07
Speaker 2: ten safeties are in like a Heisman discussion, because you know,
15:10
Speaker 2: I don't know how much offense Caleb Downs is gonna play,
15:13
Speaker 2: but I would venture to guess he's gonna play a
15:15
Speaker 2: significant amount in terms of special teams, especially in big,
15:18
Speaker 2: high profile games, like it wouldn't shock me the like,
15:21
Speaker 2: maybe he's not back there, you know, against against UH Grambling,
15:26
Speaker 2: but I would guess Klee Downs when they open up
15:29
Speaker 2: against Texas is going to be back there returning some kicks.
15:32
Speaker 3: I certainly think it is entirely possible that that Caleb
15:35
Speaker 3: Downs is going to be in the Heisman conversation. He
15:38
Speaker 3: is and I know that, you know, he's on the
15:41
Speaker 3: same team as Jeremiah Smith. He is the best player
15:44
Speaker 3: in the country regardless of position, and and the reality
15:47
Speaker 3: is that, uh, you know, I think back to last
15:50
Speaker 3: year when Chip Kelly, as the offensive coordinator, was openly
15:55
Speaker 3: stating like he would love to see Caleb Downs getting
15:58
Speaker 3: some opportunities at running back. Now, Ohio State has an
16:02
Speaker 3: abundance of talent at the running back position, and I
16:05
Speaker 3: realized that Caleb Downs certainly could be in the mix there.
16:08
Speaker 3: But to the point that I think, you know, utilizing
16:11
Speaker 3: him at safety and on special teams is certainly warranted
16:16
Speaker 3: enough for him to be in Heisman Trophy consideration. You know,
16:20
Speaker 3: given the spotlight games, like you said, like against Texas,
16:23
Speaker 3: I certainly see big play opportunities against the Longhorns for
16:27
Speaker 3: Caleb Downs and that would vault him into Heisman Trophy consideration.
16:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like he houses a punt against Texas and they
16:33
Speaker 2: win that game and it's a close game like that
16:35
Speaker 2: that that type of moment can just propel people. And
16:39
Speaker 2: like if Cooy Parrish like has a big play and
16:41
Speaker 2: like a big game for that for Minnesota earlier this season,
16:44
Speaker 2: the hype will start building there. So this will be
16:45
Speaker 2: interesting to kind of watch, like how early this happens,
16:48
Speaker 2: how much of an impact they can make early in
16:50
Speaker 2: the season. But like I said, it just it's fun
16:53
Speaker 2: to talk about this stuff. It's fun to see this stuff.
16:55
Speaker 2: I'm glad coaches like PJ Fleck are thinking out the box.
17:02
Speaker 2: We've got such like this hive type of mindset in
17:05
Speaker 2: college football where everyone's got to do things the same way.
17:08
Speaker 2: I like the different personalities, I like the different ideas.
17:11
Speaker 2: I like teams that try different things. So I'm looking
17:15
Speaker 2: forward to this last thing will go on today. We've
17:21
Speaker 2: talked about this before. I won't bemoan like the thing
17:24
Speaker 2: that I think Big ten schools are kind of cutting
17:30
Speaker 2: off their nose despite their face, with how they're handling
17:32
Speaker 2: spring games. But essentially, we went through a big weekend
17:37
Speaker 2: this past weekend, and it was really only Ohio State
17:40
Speaker 2: spring game that was getting headlines because other teams either
17:44
Speaker 2: didn't have it, didn't want it televised, et cetera, et cetera.
17:48
Speaker 2: So Ohio State very much took center stage. I believe
17:53
Speaker 2: the only school that had a nationally broadcast spring game
17:56
Speaker 2: over the weekend, so they were all take center stage.
17:59
Speaker 2: I think there's advantages to that. But well, we'll table
18:03
Speaker 2: that discussion for a minute. Just what were your observations,
18:06
Speaker 2: because there are a lot of people out there who
18:08
Speaker 2: are like, well, new quarterback, like brand new defensive line. Uh,
18:14
Speaker 2: they got to replace some good offensive linemen. They got
18:17
Speaker 2: to replace some Mecca Buca. They you know, probably the
18:21
Speaker 2: defense will probably be good, but will the defensive line
18:24
Speaker 2: be as disruptive and will you know, will the offense
18:26
Speaker 2: be is good with a young quarterback? Like what have
18:28
Speaker 2: you seen particularly in that game? I guess what were
18:31
Speaker 2: some of your takeaways good, bad, whatever? From the from
18:35
Speaker 2: Ohio State spring game? You know, looking at it from
18:37
Speaker 2: the lens of you know, can this team compete for
18:40
Speaker 2: a championship? You know, can can they have a competitive
18:44
Speaker 2: repeat you know, journey next year? Or is this you know,
18:49
Speaker 2: is this a team that's gonna, you know, kind of
18:51
Speaker 2: be in retool mode next year?
18:53
Speaker 3: Oh, this certainly is going to be a team that
18:55
Speaker 3: is going to be within the college football playoff discussion.
18:57
Speaker 3: I think it would be too premature. And this is
19:00
Speaker 3: as sitting here as as completely biased for Ohio State. Uh,
19:06
Speaker 3: you know, and I realized that, like you said, I
19:10
Speaker 3: mean that the spotlight was exclusively on Ohio State simply
19:14
Speaker 3: because as you as you referred to it, the Big
19:17
Speaker 3: Ten other all the other programs, with the exception of
19:20
Speaker 3: I believe like Maryland and Rutgers, but not for a
19:22
Speaker 3: couple of weeks, have decided to be very, very restrictive
19:26
Speaker 3: in terms of what people are allowed to see and
19:29
Speaker 3: what they're going to televise and things like that. So
19:32
Speaker 3: what I saw, as you know, sitting there with with
19:35
Speaker 3: my daughter and my my son and one of his
19:38
Speaker 3: friends as as a fan, I saw a lot of
19:42
Speaker 3: young talent. I can understand why Ryan Day. I realized
19:46
Speaker 3: that he was joking when he said he was going
19:48
Speaker 3: to petition the NC double A for additional weeks, But
19:51
Speaker 3: I could see why he wanted additional practice time because
19:55
Speaker 3: there's a lot of talent on that team that just
19:59
Speaker 3: needs more repetition, more practice, the more opportunity, the better
20:04
Speaker 3: they will be when the games are for real. So
20:07
Speaker 3: when I look at the talent the offensive line, yes
20:12
Speaker 3: they're having to replace people, but I saw a lot
20:14
Speaker 3: of depth. I saw that the offensive line seemed to
20:18
Speaker 3: do extremely well. Now, granted, the deficiency that I would
20:21
Speaker 3: see on Ohio State would be on the defensive line.
20:24
Speaker 3: And Ryan Day himself even said afterwards, if there are
20:27
Speaker 3: players within the transfer portal who can come in and
20:30
Speaker 3: contribute and help on that front, that Ohio State might
20:34
Speaker 3: be interested. But I think that that has to come
20:36
Speaker 3: with an asterisk. You don't want to just bring in
20:38
Speaker 3: a guy just for the sake of bringing him in,
20:39
Speaker 3: they have to be able to contribute. And I think
20:42
Speaker 3: that's where if I was as an Ohio State fan,
20:44
Speaker 3: you have to kind of take a moment and realize,
20:46
Speaker 3: all right, yes, there are players within the defensive line
20:50
Speaker 3: on the transfer portal, but are they able to come
20:52
Speaker 3: in and be a solid contributor as a backup?
20:57
Speaker 2: Because I think the.
20:58
Speaker 3: Starting defensive line is pretty well established. I think it's
21:02
Speaker 3: the backup. So getting back to other areas that I
21:05
Speaker 3: really like the running back position. The fact that James
21:08
Speaker 3: Peoples only had a few carries and State coaches had
21:13
Speaker 3: seen enough in the other practices that we as fans
21:17
Speaker 3: or the media were not able to see, I think
21:19
Speaker 3: that they are very confident in James Peoples as a
21:22
Speaker 3: starting tailback. I think they have really good things about CJ.
21:28
Speaker 3: Donaldson that they have seen and we saw in the
21:30
Speaker 3: spring game. And I was tremendously impressed by bo Jackson.
21:34
Speaker 3: I thought that his effort, his ability. I certainly believe
21:39
Speaker 3: that Sam Williams Dixon as well. It was nice to
21:42
Speaker 3: see him back as an Ohio State Buckeye. So if
21:46
Speaker 3: I had to venture a guess, as to how I
21:51
Speaker 3: foresee the Ohio State offense in the early portion of
21:54
Speaker 3: the offense and maybe i'm of the season possibly being constructed,
21:59
Speaker 3: is that, as you said, Mark, inexperienced quarterbacks. Regardless of
22:03
Speaker 3: who the starter is, I think you're going to rely
22:07
Speaker 3: on that offensive line and that running game. I'm not
22:10
Speaker 3: suggesting that that the quarterbacks can't throw it, because I
22:13
Speaker 3: realized there's a there's a wealth of talent there. But
22:15
Speaker 3: I think the running game will help to kind of
22:18
Speaker 3: get the quarterbacks feel comfortable, get their feet wet, so
22:21
Speaker 3: to speak. And let's face it, the addition of Max
22:24
Speaker 3: Claire at tight end is just a never wrinkle to
22:27
Speaker 3: that passing attack because all right, now you've got that.
22:31
Speaker 3: This is not to disparage the tight ends from the
22:34
Speaker 3: national championship season, but Max Clair is another option for
22:38
Speaker 3: that Ohio State offense. So I think Ohio State is
22:42
Speaker 3: certainly going to be well deserving of being in the
22:47
Speaker 3: in the college Football playoff discussion at the beginning of
22:49
Speaker 3: the season, and we'll see if they if they can
22:51
Speaker 3: repeat as national champions. But I always say I always
22:55
Speaker 3: just kind of shake my head when it comes to
22:58
Speaker 3: the preseason rankings because we have. We truly don't know
23:01
Speaker 3: until the I mean, regardless we're talking about a high
23:04
Speaker 3: state or any other team, until those teams get out
23:07
Speaker 3: on the field and you actually see them play. And
23:09
Speaker 3: I'm willing to say, like what three four weeks worth
23:12
Speaker 3: of play to kind of get a feel for how
23:14
Speaker 3: things are. Rankings are so premature, and the most glaring
23:20
Speaker 3: example I can give you is last year with Florida State.
23:22
Speaker 3: I mean the fact that they just they were highly
23:25
Speaker 3: ranked in the preseason and had a just dismal season.
23:29
Speaker 3: So I think Ohio State is going to be fine.
23:32
Speaker 3: I just think that if I had to sit here
23:34
Speaker 3: and guess, if they can find a contributor on the
23:37
Speaker 3: defensive line within the transfer portal, they'll do it. And
23:40
Speaker 3: if I had to guess offensively, I would suggest that
23:44
Speaker 3: they might be leaning on that running game because they
23:45
Speaker 3: have so much talent and the offensive line seem to
23:47
Speaker 3: acquit itself well, that that might be the best thing
23:50
Speaker 3: that they can do to help get their quarterbacks feeling
23:53
Speaker 3: comfortable as the season begins.
23:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're not going to be able to ease into things. No,
24:00
Speaker 2: they're Texas lost a lot to the NFL as well,
24:03
Speaker 2: but they have a lot of star power coming back.
24:07
Speaker 2: You would certainly expect them to have the edge and
24:10
Speaker 2: the quarterback matchup for a game that's being played at
24:13
Speaker 2: the end of August. Arch Manning has significantly more meaningful
24:17
Speaker 2: experience than either of the two Ohio State quarterbacks, Lincoln
24:20
Speaker 2: Keenholtz or Julian Saying, And I still expect Saying will
24:25
Speaker 2: be the early starter. But so they're gonna have to
24:30
Speaker 2: be ready to go right all of gates and beyond that.
24:34
Speaker 2: The Big Ten this year is gonna be a bear.
24:37
Speaker 2: Oregon's gonna be really good again, Penn State's gonna be
24:39
Speaker 2: really good again. I would expect Michigan to be better.
24:42
Speaker 2: They're gonna be better quarterback. They didn't really have Will
24:45
Speaker 2: Johnson last year defensively, so you know, I don't think
24:48
Speaker 2: the defensive losses are are quite as substantial as people
24:52
Speaker 2: think when you kind of put it in that context.
24:54
Speaker 2: I think the d line will be interesting, but they
24:55
Speaker 2: had a great depth there last year too, So I
24:58
Speaker 2: think there's gonna be a lot of you know, Illinois
25:00
Speaker 2: is going to be really good and they're gonna have
25:02
Speaker 2: to go there. So I think there's a lot of
25:05
Speaker 2: hurdles for them, But you're right, the talent is there,
25:08
Speaker 2: and it's just a matter of how that talent gels
25:09
Speaker 2: and comes together over the next few months. And I
25:12
Speaker 2: think Ryan Day was happy with things this spring, but
25:15
Speaker 2: like you said, I think you would have liked even
25:17
Speaker 2: more time. I think fall camp's gonna be interesting. I'll
25:20
Speaker 2: say this too, for a team trying to repeat, I
25:24
Speaker 2: think they actually are in a good situation because they
25:29
Speaker 2: this is kind of a brand new team. Yes, you know,
25:33
Speaker 2: Caleb Downs and Jeremiah Smith are back, like, I get that,
25:37
Speaker 2: but there are so many guys on this team, particularly
25:41
Speaker 2: on that defensive line and in that front seven, that
25:44
Speaker 2: haven't really had a chance to make their name yet,
25:47
Speaker 2: and so you're not gonna get this group of like
25:51
Speaker 2: like this happened to them in twenty fifteen. They you know,
25:54
Speaker 2: everyone blames the offensive coordinators and look that that was
25:57
Speaker 2: an ugly mix of offense. I'm not defending the offensive
26:00
Speaker 2: cooridators on that team, but the biggest problem that team
26:03
Speaker 2: had was that they had wanted the year before with
26:05
Speaker 2: a bunch of sophomores who couldn't go to the NFL
26:08
Speaker 2: and had to come back and could have all a
26:11
Speaker 2: lot of those guys would be first round picks after
26:12
Speaker 2: their sophomore years, certainly first second round picks. They had
26:16
Speaker 2: to come back by rule, and I don't I think
26:18
Speaker 2: most of them had to flit out the door before
26:20
Speaker 2: well before that season even started. They don't have that
26:23
Speaker 2: problem this year. When you lose that many start, you
26:25
Speaker 2: have all these hungry players. I joke about this sometimes
26:29
Speaker 2: because I don't know that I think there's some truth
26:33
Speaker 2: to it, though, Like when you win a national championship
26:37
Speaker 2: in college football, I think almost the best thing that
26:39
Speaker 2: can happen to you is to have a completely new
26:41
Speaker 2: roster the next year is to lose like fifteen starters,
26:44
Speaker 2: because then you don't have that complacency come in. You're
26:48
Speaker 2: driving competition at so many positions. There are so many
26:51
Speaker 2: guys this year who are like there's guys in their
26:54
Speaker 2: money years, like Sonny Styles is in a money year.
26:57
Speaker 2: There's guys Carnel Tats in a month year. Then there's
27:01
Speaker 2: there's young guys like Milon Graham and Julian Saying and
27:05
Speaker 2: Eedric Houston on defense who are trying to establish themselves
27:09
Speaker 2: as the next wave of star players. And so you
27:12
Speaker 2: when you get that Nix together. I just I think
27:17
Speaker 2: there will be some there will be some growing pains,
27:21
Speaker 2: without question, like, this is not a team I look
27:23
Speaker 2: at and say, oh, yeah, they've got a great chance
27:25
Speaker 2: of going undefeated, Like I would be surprised if they
27:27
Speaker 2: went undefeated in the regular season. Someone's going to get them,
27:32
Speaker 2: maybe multiple someones, who knows. But I do think the
27:36
Speaker 2: talent is there to make another playoff run. And I
27:37
Speaker 2: do think he's got the right mix of like a
27:40
Speaker 2: couple of good a couple of great players in the
27:42
Speaker 2: veteran group, but a lot of hungry, talented players who
27:46
Speaker 2: aren't resting on laurels from last year because they didn't
27:49
Speaker 2: really get to establish themselves last year. So that was
27:52
Speaker 2: Those are some of my takeaways. I think your point
27:54
Speaker 2: about the tight end posistionon was interesting. They're much They're
27:56
Speaker 2: gonna be much more dynamic a tight end this year
27:59
Speaker 2: than they were last year. They you know, Cade's do
28:01
Speaker 2: over a couple of years was pretty good for them.
28:02
Speaker 2: That last year is what they didn't get a lot
28:05
Speaker 2: out of the tight end position in the passing. I
28:07
Speaker 2: think we're getting a lot out of it this year
28:09
Speaker 2: with Claire and Jelanie Thurman who started to come on
28:11
Speaker 2: a little bit toward the end of last year. So
28:14
Speaker 2: interesting team to watch this year for sure. Talent certainly
28:18
Speaker 2: there and yeah, those were kind of my takeaways. Was
28:21
Speaker 2: you know, again, tight end is interesting. I think they've
28:25
Speaker 2: got one of the better O lines they've had recently,
28:29
Speaker 2: just depth and talent. And then you watch like a
28:32
Speaker 2: mile and Graham, who I've been really high on since
28:34
Speaker 2: high school. You watch him get his opportunities and you think, yeah,
28:38
Speaker 2: you know that receiver room is is just loaded again.
28:41
Speaker 2: But but you know, quarterback play, especially early in seasons
28:45
Speaker 2: of concern of mine. If if if you're looking at
28:47
Speaker 2: the Ohio State, you know, reasons to not be buying
28:49
Speaker 2: Ohio State right now? You know a little unknown at
28:53
Speaker 2: quarterback D line depth. Yes, here's my thing with that,
28:58
Speaker 2: and I like, I know Day talked about that a
29:00
Speaker 2: little bit. And this is kind of my last point here.
29:05
Speaker 2: If you had every I don't even know how many
29:07
Speaker 2: teams there are now in Division one, it's like one
29:09
Speaker 2: hundred and thirty some now you know whatever, whatever it is,
29:12
Speaker 2: one hundred and thirty some. If you had all of
29:14
Speaker 2: them in a room right now and you said, raise
29:17
Speaker 2: your hand, if you have enough good defensive linemen. Not
29:23
Speaker 2: a single coach would raise their hand. Everybody wants more
29:27
Speaker 2: good defensive linemen, everybody, So I get that to an extent.
29:33
Speaker 2: They have depth bodies like Taiwan Malone is fine. They
29:38
Speaker 2: have depth bodies. What they would like to have I
29:40
Speaker 2: think is one more. And they try to get a
29:43
Speaker 2: defensive vent like, well they did. They went and got
29:44
Speaker 2: Logan George. If they were also in the Damon Wilson thing,
29:47
Speaker 2: like you know, they're looking for a couple of pass
29:49
Speaker 2: rushers right now, and if they can find them, you know,
29:52
Speaker 2: that'd be great for them. But if not, I think
29:53
Speaker 2: what they've got is good enough. But yeah, like it's
29:56
Speaker 2: one of those things where we're like, yeah, they would
29:57
Speaker 2: love to have that, but like so would everybody else.
30:00
Speaker 2: And so we'll see what happens in the portal. Like
30:02
Speaker 2: they don't need to bring in a depth guy. They
30:04
Speaker 2: have depth guys they need to bring in. If we're
30:05
Speaker 2: going to get somebody, it's got to be a difference
30:07
Speaker 2: maker in my opinion. Oh sure.
30:09
Speaker 3: And I love the fact that you talked about the
30:13
Speaker 3: complacency or the lack thereof. I think that you know
30:16
Speaker 3: the fact that the reports that have surfaced it. We
30:19
Speaker 3: talked earlier about Caleb Downs, that this team still has
30:24
Speaker 3: a lot of hunger and a lot of intensity, the
30:28
Speaker 3: idea that all right, we need to tear not tear down,
30:31
Speaker 3: but we need to take down these banners for the
30:34
Speaker 3: twenty twenty four National Championship because we are we are
30:39
Speaker 3: trying to win the twenty twenty five National Championship. We
30:42
Speaker 3: haven't done anything. The players that are here now, granted
30:45
Speaker 3: Caleb Downs was a key part of that, but a
30:48
Speaker 3: lot of them have recognized the fact that, hey, we
30:50
Speaker 3: we had nothing to do with the twenty four National
30:53
Speaker 3: championship team, so we need to take those banners down.
30:55
Speaker 3: So I agree with wholeheartedly with you about the complacency thing.
30:59
Speaker 3: And this is something just to kind of throw this
31:01
Speaker 3: out there, you know, when you talk about the twenty
31:04
Speaker 3: fifteen team, and I realized, you know, kind of going
31:06
Speaker 3: in the way back machine here. But another thing that
31:10
Speaker 3: I think and I realized the spring game was just
31:14
Speaker 3: a few days ago. One of the things that I'm
31:17
Speaker 3: sure that Ryan Day and the other coaches are trying
31:20
Speaker 3: to avoid from the two thousand and two National championship
31:23
Speaker 3: team any drama, any controversy, and I realize, you know,
31:28
Speaker 3: like I am. I am one hundred percent for the
31:31
Speaker 3: fact that like the Maurice Clarett transformation from what happened
31:35
Speaker 3: back then to where he is now is tremendous. The
31:38
Speaker 3: fact that he was a positive influence on this on
31:41
Speaker 3: this past year's team kind of you know, as a
31:44
Speaker 3: sounding board for the players by by all accounts, that's
31:48
Speaker 3: something else that you know that any coach you the
31:52
Speaker 3: way you reference the fact that, okay, every coach would
31:55
Speaker 3: say all right, you know, do you have enough defensive lineman?
31:59
Speaker 3: You know there there would be no coaches that would
32:01
Speaker 3: raise her hand. And I realized this is going to
32:04
Speaker 3: sound like a snarky comment, but okay, how many coaches
32:07
Speaker 3: would want to have have any kind of like off
32:10
Speaker 3: the off the field drama like what's going on at
32:13
Speaker 3: Tennessee with you know, they were supposed to be finishing
32:16
Speaker 3: up their spring game and everything just kind of everything
32:19
Speaker 3: that happened there. And I'm not here to you know,
32:22
Speaker 3: take shots at them. I'm just saying the larger point
32:25
Speaker 3: being that you want to get out of spring first
32:27
Speaker 3: and foremost healthy, and Ohio State did that. Okay, if
32:31
Speaker 3: they can, if they can add a contributor, and I
32:34
Speaker 3: think we're both in agreement there, like not just death,
32:36
Speaker 3: but a contributor, like somebody who can come in and
32:38
Speaker 3: play meaningful snaps, not just you know, take up a
32:41
Speaker 3: spot on the roster. If they can find that on
32:43
Speaker 3: the defensive line, they'll do that. And let's just avoid
32:46
Speaker 3: any kind of controversy, any kind of drama between now
32:50
Speaker 3: and the beginning of fall camp, and everything will fall
32:53
Speaker 3: into place. I think I agree with you it. You know,
32:57
Speaker 3: it'd be wonderful for Ohio State to be able to
32:59
Speaker 3: run the table. But I can't sit here and say
33:01
Speaker 3: until especially, you know, you start to kind of get
33:05
Speaker 3: an idea in terms of what other teams look like.
33:07
Speaker 3: The fact that Ohio State is hosting Texas right from
33:10
Speaker 3: the jump doesn't do them any favors. So you're you're
33:13
Speaker 3: talking about a team that is going to be naturally
33:16
Speaker 3: itching to, you know, kind of settle the score from
33:21
Speaker 3: the College Football playoff game the national audience. So it's
33:26
Speaker 3: it's going to be a very difficult, challenging beginning for
33:30
Speaker 3: Ohio State. Like you said, the Big Ten schedule is tough,
33:34
Speaker 3: So I think that the ingredients are there, is just
33:36
Speaker 3: a matter of keeping everyone focused on the goal at hand.
33:40
Speaker 3: And I really do have the utmost confidence in Ryan Day.
33:44
Speaker 3: The coaches that he has kept, the coaches that he's
33:48
Speaker 3: brought in, seem to have really bought into the whole
33:50
Speaker 3: idea of the Ohio State program as a whole. So
33:56
Speaker 3: it's going to be exciting. It's just unfortunate. I'm with you,
34:00
Speaker 3: you know that I'm with you that I think, you know,
34:02
Speaker 3: these other Big ten programs that are trying to be
34:05
Speaker 3: very reclusive and isolating with their with their programs, they're
34:09
Speaker 3: they're not doing themselves any favors. I realize that they're
34:12
Speaker 3: trying to be protective of other programs poaching their players,
34:16
Speaker 3: but I think it's it's for the for any program,
34:20
Speaker 3: I think you want your players to you know, kind
34:23
Speaker 3: of you know, be under the under the spotlight of
34:27
Speaker 3: the fan base, you know, and getting an opportunity to
34:29
Speaker 3: perform and and especially the younger guys like to see,
34:34
Speaker 3: you know, what it's like when when the fans are
34:36
Speaker 3: in the stands.
34:38
Speaker 2: Yeah. Again, I think some missed opportunities this spring for
34:41
Speaker 2: a lot of programs around the country who I think
34:45
Speaker 2: are taking up what I think is an appropriate stance
34:50
Speaker 2: that we need some guardrails in place in college football
34:53
Speaker 2: right now. But I don't know that this is the
34:54
Speaker 2: right way to go about it. And I took advantage
34:59
Speaker 2: of things this weekend by having a big like and
35:02
Speaker 2: it's not a program, but needs like a spot like.
35:04
Speaker 2: This is a media love like. They already they already
35:08
Speaker 2: get a disproportionate amount of media attention, and you just
35:13
Speaker 2: kind of gave them some more, I think, But exactly, yeah,
35:18
Speaker 2: We'll see, We'll see how things develop with that over
35:20
Speaker 2: the next year. Would certainly love the Dion Sanders model
35:23
Speaker 2: to get pushed through and to allow a spring scrimmage.
35:26
Speaker 2: I think that would be tremendous for really everyone. I
35:29
Speaker 2: think it would be tremendous for college football, for players
35:32
Speaker 2: get trying to get better, for coaches trying to get better,
35:35
Speaker 2: and for just generally for TV ratings and the pocketbooks
35:39
Speaker 2: of everyone with big spring game crowds and everything like that.
35:42
Speaker 2: So transfer portal opens Wednesday, you and I will be
35:46
Speaker 2: on top of that. We'll be doing episodes on the
35:48
Speaker 2: transfer portal, probably quite a bit here over the next
35:50
Speaker 2: two weeks and keeping track of everything else going on
35:53
Speaker 2: in the Big Ten. But that'll do it for today's episode.
35:56
Speaker 2: We appreciate everyone's support. Appreciate everyone watching here, on YouTube
36:00
Speaker 2: dot com, slash at Saturday Glory, and you can also
36:02
Speaker 2: download us any of your podcast platforms of choice. Just
36:06
Speaker 2: search for around the Big Ten. All right, guys, I
36:09
Speaker 2: appreciate it again, everyone watching, listening, and we will talk
36:11
Speaker 2: to you again soon