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Will Arvell Reese Or CJ Hicks Pair Up With Sonny Styles At Linebacker This Fall? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes Tomorrow morning for Wednesday, March fifth. I'm
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  Speaker 1: your host, tom Or the Texas game in one hundred
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  Speaker 1: and seventy eight days, the gaming It's Michigan in two
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  Speaker 1: hundred and sixty nine days. You're planning your next event,
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  Speaker 1: make it unforgettable with Grateful Griddle, Thumas's favorite food truck
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  Speaker 1: serving up Smashburger, scurmet sandwiches and good vibes. Book You're
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  Speaker 1: are immaculate. Today, our buddy Tony Gerdaman Buckeheddle dot com
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  Speaker 1: joins us and we're going to be talking linebackers today.
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  Speaker 1: We're continuing our spring preview series and the double check
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  Speaker 1: where we left off on this because it has been
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  Speaker 1: a minute. Tony was at the NFL combine all last week,
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  Speaker 1: so we get kind of out of our normal show rhythm.
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  Speaker 1: We're back now. One of the guys that you got
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  Speaker 1: to talk to Tony who is gone from that linebacker room,
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  Speaker 1: Cody Simon. He feels like he's going to leave a
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  Speaker 1: pretty significant hole in that linebacker unit that they're going
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  Speaker 1: to have to fill. Sunny Styles though he's coming back.
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  Speaker 1: And boy, the conversation around Sunny Styles last week at
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  Speaker 1: the NFL Combine and elsewhere, Boy, I think there's some
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  Speaker 1: big expectations for Sunny Styles this season.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and asking I think asked just about everybody on
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  Speaker 2: the defensive side of all their thoughts on what Sunny
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  Speaker 2: Styles can do this year, which is just a second
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  Speaker 2: year as a full time linebacker. And you had heard,
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  Speaker 2: I think Jack Sawyer said top ten pick type of
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  Speaker 2: ability somebody else mentioned in All American season. And the
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  Speaker 2: interesting thing is most of those guys also mentioned how
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  Speaker 2: he got better as the season went on. So it's
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  Speaker 2: like they acknowledged some early struggles. But by the end
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  Speaker 2: of the year when he had what three tackles for
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  Speaker 2: loss against Texas or whatever, and you know, a couple
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  Speaker 2: of sacks, and by the end of the year, he's
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  Speaker 2: playing very, very well. And yeah, that's that's not a
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  Speaker 2: surprise that the more he plays, the better he gets.
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  Speaker 2: And and as as I've said before, like don't forget
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  Speaker 2: he started the season opener at middle linebacker because Cody
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  Speaker 2: Simon was out, So that was his first start as
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  Speaker 2: a linebacker as middle linebacker after practicing all spring and
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  Speaker 2: fall camp as the will So, like everybody, I'll tell
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  Speaker 2: you how smart he is. We always talk about how
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  Speaker 2: athletic he is, but his teammates are just the intelligence
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  Speaker 2: and his ability to do whatever is needed is elite.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and he could be in an elite, elite player
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  Speaker 1: this year. The athleticism has been there since high school.
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  Speaker 1: We were talking about him as a freak athlete in
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  Speaker 1: what twenty twenty, maybe, I mean it has been a
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  Speaker 1: long time. He reclassified him to Ohio State early and
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  Speaker 1: this is his somehow fourth year. I don't know. This
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  Speaker 1: is one of those where I double check and I'm like,
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  Speaker 1: that can't be right, but yes, it is right. Fourth
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  Speaker 1: year at Ohio State for Sunny Styles. So some of
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  Speaker 1: the other veterans on that linebacker unit from last year,
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  Speaker 1: a lot of the guys in different places gave powers.
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  Speaker 1: Is literally in a different place. He transferred out CJ. Hicks.
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  Speaker 1: He could play in a couple different spots. We were
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  Speaker 1: including him with the linebacker show here because he's listed
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  Speaker 1: as a linebacker on the roster, but he could end
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  Speaker 1: up in a bunch of different spots. And then rvel Reese, boy,
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  Speaker 1: r bel Reese feels like the vibes around him are
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  Speaker 1: real strong, next man up kind of vibes to me
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  Speaker 1: going into the spring.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and he's following in the Cody Simon's footsteps. So
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  Speaker 2: Cody Simon played as that third linebacker the previous two
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  Speaker 2: years in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three, then
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  Speaker 2: stepped in as a starter. Rvel Reese started the twenty
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  Speaker 2: twenty four season as the number three middle linebacker behind
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  Speaker 2: Simon and Gabe Powers. And again, this is also his
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  Speaker 2: first full season as a linebacker because he came to
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  Speaker 2: Ohio State as a linebacker who could move to defensive end.
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  Speaker 2: He almost immediately moved to defensive end in camp because
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  Speaker 2: of need, got injured and never saw any time on
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  Speaker 2: defense in games. So last year, being his first full
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  Speaker 2: year as a linebacker, he just he ascended and before
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  Speaker 2: long he was the backup middle linebacker and he was
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  Speaker 2: the third linebacker, and when they needed to play three
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  Speaker 2: linebacker sets, he was in there. I think he started
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  Speaker 2: a game of Down down the Stretch later in the
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  Speaker 2: season as well, and talking to Cody Simon about him
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  Speaker 2: and to combine, he said he's never seen anybody that
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  Speaker 2: can close on the ball carrier like him, And this
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  Speaker 2: is the guy who's six foot four and two hundred
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  Speaker 2: and forty pounds and he can run from sideline to sideline,
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  Speaker 2: and he did. He showed that last year. Now he
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  Speaker 2: just needs to show that he can be the middle
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  Speaker 2: linebacker and be consistent and do everything that that position requires.
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  Speaker 2: The physical aspect of it is fine, and he'll he'll
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  Speaker 2: do all of that, But just being the guy, the
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  Speaker 2: quarterback of the defense, if you will, that's the next
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  Speaker 2: step for him. But everybody has confidence and he's going
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  Speaker 2: to be able to do it.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's strange to feel like you know kind of
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  Speaker 1: exactly what he's going to be so early in his
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  Speaker 1: career and with such limited explics, you know, exposure on
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  Speaker 1: the field, but it just he feels like you kind
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  Speaker 1: of know what you got there.
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  Speaker 2: CJ.
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  Speaker 1: Hicks is kind of the other end of that spectrum
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  Speaker 1: where he's been around longer than RVL Reese has. I
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  Speaker 1: don't know what to expect from CJ. Hicks this year.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know where to expect where to expect CJ.
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  Speaker 1: Hicks to be. I think my guess would be maybe
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  Speaker 1: coming off the edge, But with the addition of Matt
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  Speaker 1: Patricia as a new defensive coordinator. It feels like that
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  Speaker 1: adds some uncertainty there. I feel like we're going to
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  Speaker 1: see a lot of CJ. Hicks this spring, but beyond that,
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  Speaker 1: I don't have a real strong opinion on where what
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  Speaker 1: it's going to look like. Like I'm really intrigued by CJ.
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  Speaker 1: Hicks this spring. I just don't know what to expect.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And at the combine, when Denzel Brick was asked
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  Speaker 2: for some guys who are going to step up this
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  Speaker 2: year that maybe people aren't talking about one of the
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  Speaker 2: names of c J. Hicks, he said, I feel like CJ. Hicks,
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  Speaker 2: he's going to be on the rise. I feel like
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  Speaker 2: this is his year. And so then my follow up
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  Speaker 2: a question or two later was like where, like, Dunzel,
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  Speaker 2: where and his answer was let's see. It was I
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  Speaker 2: don't know, because we've got a new DC now, so
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  Speaker 2: we'll have a chance to see how that plays out.
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  Speaker 2: Looking for looking forward to see him play this year.
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  Speaker 2: So like my response is where is he going to play?
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  Speaker 2: And Denzel's like, I honestly don't know. With Jim Knowles,
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  Speaker 2: it's probably on the edge. Now With Matt Patricia, I'm
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  Speaker 2: gonna assume it's the same thing because they do some
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  Speaker 2: very they at New England, they would specialize guys like,
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  Speaker 2: you can do this really well, so this is what
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  Speaker 2: you're gonna do. And I think what they're gonna find
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  Speaker 2: with CJ. Hicks is what everybody's known like basically forever.
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  Speaker 2: He can get to the passer and but you need
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  Speaker 2: to be a more well rounded player and all of
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  Speaker 2: the whole scope of football. But this big hist senior year,
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  Speaker 2: it's like, well, if you can do this thing, can
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  Speaker 2: you be the Mitchell Melton for the twenty twenty five defense?
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  Speaker 2: Because I think he can And that's where I'm kind
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  Speaker 2: of expecting him to be because the linebacker situation and
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  Speaker 2: just hasn't worked out as they would hope. So if
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  Speaker 2: he wants to be on the edge, you need some
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  Speaker 2: you need some pass rushing help, and let's see what
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  Speaker 2: he can do.
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  Speaker 1: It's funny you were talking and I in my head,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to bring up Mitchell Melton because it feels
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  Speaker 1: like that might be the spotty and then go So
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  Speaker 1: I think we are on the same page. There maybe
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  Speaker 1: a more athletic version of Mitchell Meltain are a little
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  Speaker 1: faster than Mitchell Maultain. I mean, Mitchell Meltin carved out
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  Speaker 1: a really nice role for himself. He is he has departed.
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  Speaker 1: He is with the Virginia Cavaliers now, so that spot
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  Speaker 1: is available on the edge. So we'll see if that
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  Speaker 1: is where CJ. Hicks ends up. A couple guys who
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  Speaker 1: had solid through freshman seasons didn't get to play a
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  Speaker 1: whole heck of a lot. Peyton Pierce, who played a
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  Speaker 1: bunch on special teams, Garrett Stover, as well, a couple
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  Speaker 1: second year players who could be in line for potentially
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  Speaker 1: bigger roles this year. But I mean, there are three
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  Speaker 1: real talented freshmen coming up behind them. So you know,
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  Speaker 1: we did a Buckeye Weekly show talking about some of
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  Speaker 1: the guys who are kind of in that middle spot
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  Speaker 1: where it's like, yeah, they could potentially catch guys ahead
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  Speaker 1: of them, they could potentially get caught by the guys
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  Speaker 1: behind him. It's going to be a really interesting spring.
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  Speaker 1: And some are for those two guys because it feels
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  Speaker 1: like the Henchel was there. It's just okay, now you
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  Speaker 1: have an opportunity. What are you going to do with it?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And you talked with Peyton Peters at one of
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  Speaker 2: the ball games, and I think you talked about how
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  Speaker 2: he played Will last year is expecting to move to
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  Speaker 2: middle linebacker this year, and there's a real opportunity for
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  Speaker 2: him to be that third linebacker, the rfvl Reecht, the
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  Speaker 2: Cody Simon of years past, and if you're that guy,
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  Speaker 2: then you're gonna be playing a ton of minutes and
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  Speaker 2: there's gonna be a lot required of you. But Cody
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  Speaker 2: Simon said he's a super natural tackler, like not Tom
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  Speaker 2: not supernatural, he's super dash natural. He's a really really
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  Speaker 2: good and that he's a tackling machine. He you know,
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  Speaker 2: one hundred and eighty some tackles as a junior and
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  Speaker 2: senior in Texas High School. So the expectations are very
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  Speaker 2: high for him. And he played in a bunch of
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  Speaker 2: games last year, mostly special teams over the second half
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  Speaker 2: of the season. But people are confident in him, and
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  Speaker 2: Cody Simon could say enough good things about him, so
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  Speaker 2: I'm expecting this to be a pretty good spring for him. Now,
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  Speaker 2: they still need r vel ree obviously to get his
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  Speaker 2: feet under him and become the mic of the defense,
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  Speaker 2: but I'm expecting a lot of Bayton Pierce both in
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  Speaker 2: the spring and.
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  Speaker 1: The season and Garrett Stover obviously the other guy who's
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  Speaker 1: in that linebacker mixed there as a second year guy,
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  Speaker 1: and again there's the opportunity is there to be in
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  Speaker 1: that third fourth linebacker mix. It does feel like you
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  Speaker 1: kind of have a sense for where those top two
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  Speaker 1: guys are going to be, you know, with the top
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  Speaker 1: two guys are going to be, and then you know
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  Speaker 1: that those spots right behind them are open guys who
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  Speaker 1: are you know, now a little bit more experience, have
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  Speaker 1: been with James Laurer Nitis for a year and guys
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  Speaker 1: who I think James ler Nightis is pretty high on
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  Speaker 1: James Laurer and nightis also very high on the three
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  Speaker 1: true freshmen coming in Riley Petty, John tj Alfred, Eli Lee,
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  Speaker 1: those are you know. I talked to James Ler Nightis
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  Speaker 1: at the Rose Bowl about those three guys and it
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  Speaker 1: was just, you know, he started talking and it was like,
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  Speaker 1: you know, you start up took Oh you're going to
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  Speaker 1: get like thirty seconds of these guys. I was like,
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  Speaker 1: oh no, he started talking about these guys. You could
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  Speaker 1: tell he is really excited about this incoming Firsham class.
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  Speaker 2: You spend that much time on the road for your
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  Speaker 2: first true recruiting class. You're going to talk about them time.
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  Speaker 2: You're going to gush these guys. I'll tell you what
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  Speaker 2: the best of all time. But I mean they can
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  Speaker 2: they can all cover ground. Eli leeas maybe your prototype
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  Speaker 2: middle linebacker. But Riley Penny John tg Alford are both
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  Speaker 2: athletic and as we always say, if you can play
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  Speaker 2: the will, they'll also ask you to play the mic
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  Speaker 2: at times. So those two guys, good luck keeping them
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  Speaker 2: off the field. And being out of state guys, you
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  Speaker 2: don't want to keep them off the field. You're going
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  Speaker 2: to want them to get them to play as much
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  Speaker 2: as possible because there are gonna be other programs coming
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  Speaker 2: after them as as we all know. So those two guys,
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  Speaker 2: they they are athletic, they are two of the top
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  Speaker 2: linebackers in the country. They wanted to play for James
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  Speaker 2: loriniis he wanted them here. So let's see, let's see
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  Speaker 2: what all the hubbub's about. But yeah, I do expect
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  Speaker 2: those two guys to play, and not not just special
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  Speaker 2: teams like they're going to try to get those guys involved,
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  Speaker 2: whether it's fourth quarter of games or whatever. They're going
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  Speaker 2: to want to see what they can do, because again,
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  Speaker 2: who is the backup will linebacker at this point is
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  Speaker 2: is a Garrett Stover and one of these true freshmen,
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  Speaker 2: like there are two of them, Like, there's going to
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  Speaker 2: be a competition for all of these backup spots. The
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  Speaker 2: starters starters essentially set, but who is sunny Style's backup,
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  Speaker 2: especially if C. J. Hicks is not playing linebacker, if
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  Speaker 2: he's on the edge, that job behind Sunny Styles is
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  Speaker 2: wide open.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so you've got You've got a lot of guys
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  Speaker 1: who could earn a pretty significant roles this fall that
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  Speaker 1: we've been talking about. But the last thing I wanted
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  Speaker 1: to ask about, and this is kind of the guy
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  Speaker 1: who's a real mystery in terms of what's this role
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  Speaker 1: going to be? Which position group is he going to be?
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  Speaker 1: With his even his Twitter bio leaves a little bit
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  Speaker 1: of that up in the air. It is Ty Howard.
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  Speaker 1: He's a transfer from Duquane this season. And that's about
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  Speaker 1: the end of where I feel confident in saying like
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  Speaker 1: this is you know, this is the stuff that I
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  Speaker 1: feel very confident in saying about him, Ty Howard. He's
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  Speaker 1: a transfer from Ducane and he's related to another player
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  Speaker 1: on the Ohio State team this year. Other than that, Tony,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know. It's it's gonna be real interesting to
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  Speaker 1: see where he ends up slotting in.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, the older brother of incoming freshman running back Bo Jackson.
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  Speaker 2: He calls himself on Twitter a nickel linebacker. He watching
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  Speaker 2: some of his clips at Dukane kind of played a
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  Speaker 2: little bit of on the edge but also in space
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  Speaker 2: kind of a stam So I'm guessing he is a
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  Speaker 2: packaged sam in a three linebacker kind of set, whatever
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  Speaker 2: that is. Whether it's probably a three three five maybe
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  Speaker 2: or four to three, you know, whatever, whatever it is,
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  Speaker 2: that's kind of the role that he's looking at because
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  Speaker 2: I think he's listed about six foot two hundred to
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  Speaker 2: give you an idea, and he'll put on some weight,
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  Speaker 2: but maybe more of a passing down kind of guy.
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  Speaker 2: But yeah, I'm interested to see what he can do
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  Speaker 2: in spring because that'll tell us maybe not early but
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  Speaker 2: later on. Because again these transfers, a lot of these
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  Speaker 2: transfers will start kind of in the back of the line.
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  Speaker 2: So if you see him at the back of the
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  Speaker 2: line in spring practice one that means really nothing to me.
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  Speaker 2: It's by the end of spring is he's still there
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  Speaker 2: or certainly by the middle of fall camp. If he's
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  Speaker 2: still there, then you kind of know because we've seen
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  Speaker 2: that with other transfers before where they never really climb
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  Speaker 2: and yes, they want to go ahead and bring in
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  Speaker 2: starters out of the portal, but that's also kind of
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  Speaker 2: changed now with the need for depth and the way
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  Speaker 2: the scholarship situation is nowadays. So I have no idea
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  Speaker 2: what to expect, but I think probably a package sam
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  Speaker 2: type of thing.
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  Speaker 1: So what we keep in an eye on that, but
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  Speaker 1: keeping an eye on all those linebackers. It is a
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  Speaker 1: really intriguing position group to watch this spring because you
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  Speaker 1: could see any number of those guys potentially take on
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  Speaker 1: a much bigger role. This spring felt like last spring.
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  Speaker 1: We spent a lot of the time talking about, like, Wow,
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  Speaker 1: this team looks like it should be pretty good, and
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  Speaker 1: that was kind of the takeaway of the spring, and
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: you sort of knew most of the position battles were
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  Speaker 1: settled this year, more up in the air, so we
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: were watching that. Tony and I actually just did a
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  Speaker 1: show on Tuesday on the Buckeye Weekly podcast feed looking
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: at the offensive side of the ball. Some of the
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: players with the most gain and the most potentially to
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: lose this spring. You find that on the Buckeye Weekly
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  Speaker 1: podcast feed and on YouTube dot com slash Buckeye Huddle,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: and we're going to be talking about all of that
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  Speaker 1: as well at Buckeye Huddle dot com on the huddle
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  Speaker 1: Board presented by Jeff Rubies Columbus. That's where we talk
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: to all of our members, answer your questions, lots of
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: fun conversations, lots of different stuff to talk about this
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: time of the year. Basketball happening as well. Bluck Guy's
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: Tuesday night had their home finale against Nebraska, a pretty
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: big game. That's a nine o'clock tip off on Peacock.
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  Speaker 1: Very convenient time and broadcast location for what is actually
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: a pretty consequential game because the Buckeyes and Huskers both
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: right on that NCAA tournament bubble. That's going to be
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: a big game Tuesday night. We'll be talking about that
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: as well at the Huddle Board presented by Jeff Rubies
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: Columbus at Buckeye Huddle dot com. That'll do it for today.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: Thank you guys all for joining us. Have a great day.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: We'll talk to you tomorrow.