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How Much Better Can Jeremiah Smith Get In Year Two? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

0:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to buck Eyes tomorrow morning for Wednesday, April ninth.
0:03
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Tom Moore.
0:04
Speaker 2: The Texas game in one hundred and forty three days,
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Speaker 2: gratefulgreddeloh dot com.
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Speaker 1: Final interview Sessions of Spring football.
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Speaker 2: This is flown by joined by Tony Gerdaman of Back
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Speaker 2: Ahead A lot comm inside the Boody Hayes Athletic Center.
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Speaker 2: Get a chance to talk to the wide receivers and
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Speaker 2: also the specialists on Tuesday afternoon following the thirteenth practice
0:37
Speaker 2: of the spring I believe told the practice of the
0:39
Speaker 2: spring gap.
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Speaker 1: So a lot to talk about today.
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Speaker 2: I guess if we're talking about the wide receivers, you know,
0:44
Speaker 2: when we do sort of a general show, everyone wants
0:46
Speaker 2: to talk about the quarterbacks. When we do a wide
0:48
Speaker 2: receiver show, Tony, you can choose of any of the
0:52
Speaker 2: wide receivers who may have completely rewritten the Ohio State
0:54
Speaker 2: Record books last year.
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Speaker 1: Who would you want to start the show with here?
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Speaker 3: Well, here's an issue that I always said, Covering the
1:01
Speaker 3: team is yes, we're gonna talk about Jeremiah Smith. The
1:05
Speaker 3: same with covering Marvin Harrison. It's like everybody is around there.
1:09
Speaker 3: I don't what more can we learn about him? When
1:13
Speaker 3: it's like we already know a lot about him. He's
1:15
Speaker 3: really really good. So it's like, what are you doing
1:18
Speaker 3: to stay good? Like? What else are you doing?
1:21
Speaker 1: Are you still good at football?
1:23
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, it's like when you talk to
1:26
Speaker 3: anybody else, like, let's talk about your progression from low
1:29
Speaker 3: is he freshman to outstanding junior? And it's like, exactly
1:34
Speaker 3: are you still you know? What's it like being you?
1:37
Speaker 3: Is basically the level of fame that we're dealing with.
1:39
Speaker 3: He's arguably the best player in college football, and and
1:43
Speaker 3: so he's still just a sophomore. He's still very young guy.
1:45
Speaker 3: He's still developing in a lot of different ways. And
1:47
Speaker 3: I guess maybe that's that's kind of the story that
1:50
Speaker 3: you've got to discuss, because atom if he's only as good.
1:54
Speaker 2: As last year, right, Yeah, if he's only as good
1:57
Speaker 2: as last year, he's still going to be you know,
2:01
Speaker 2: Blatnikoll fall America, and you're in that conversation immediately, but
2:05
Speaker 2: you know, and you know, there was an interesting answer
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Speaker 2: later on about guys Jermaine Matthews. I think with the
2:11
Speaker 2: one who had it or Brandon innis about you know,
2:14
Speaker 2: other receivers that we should be talking about. But before
2:17
Speaker 2: we move on to the other receivers we should be
2:18
Speaker 2: talking about. He was asked about the absolute mob scene
2:23
Speaker 2: after the student appreciation practice. I put a picture on
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Speaker 2: Twitter because it was just unlike anything we've ever seen.
2:28
Speaker 2: That he is not the first famous or good football
2:30
Speaker 2: player to be in this building before, but I've never
2:33
Speaker 2: seen a response to a player from just the student
2:36
Speaker 2: body the way that we saw people just like flocking
2:40
Speaker 2: to him. It was just everyone had the same idea
2:43
Speaker 2: fifteen minutes before the end of practice was like, I'm
2:45
Speaker 2: gonna start sort of edging my way over to be
2:47
Speaker 2: a little closer to Jeremiah Smith. And then as soon
2:50
Speaker 2: as it was like okay and now we're done, it.
2:53
Speaker 1: Was just it looked like World War Ze.
2:55
Speaker 2: So he was asked about just you know, do you
2:58
Speaker 2: ever get used to that?
3:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, he said, you can't like I'll never get used
3:02
Speaker 3: to that, basically, And it's not like I'm never gonna
3:05
Speaker 3: get used to like he's he said, it's it's a blessing.
3:09
Speaker 3: He made that clear, like it is a blessing to
3:11
Speaker 3: be in his position. But I don't think anybody can
3:13
Speaker 3: get used to that. And he said, I wish I
3:15
Speaker 3: could sign autographs for everybody, but I can't. You know,
3:18
Speaker 3: I don't have that kind of time. And I think
3:20
Speaker 3: it's interesting that you compared the students to basically zombies.
3:24
Speaker 3: When Kevin and I did show the other day, I
3:28
Speaker 3: compared it to like people following Tiger Woods on the
3:32
Speaker 3: eighteenth hold of the Master's respectful, Yeah, patrons, That's how
3:36
Speaker 3: I compared the students. You, of course, being an old
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Speaker 3: h compared them to brain those zombies. But I digress.
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Speaker 3: It's it's crazy because it was You're like, are there
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Speaker 3: free wings over there? It's like, yeah, the free wings
3:49
Speaker 3: were over there, and everybody's running away from them. It's like,
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Speaker 3: was it the wings? No, it's Jeremi Smith.
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Speaker 1: Are Themento cheese sandwiches over here? I don't know. Maybe
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Speaker 1: yeah he is. He is definitely the.
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Speaker 2: Center of attention for students, fans, opposing defenses.
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Speaker 3: I mean, and when we were here last week or so,
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Speaker 3: like even parents of other players, they they want to
4:10
Speaker 3: talk to him after practice, and he'll hang out a lot,
4:13
Speaker 3: like Marvin Harrison would give everybody time, a Meca Booker
4:15
Speaker 3: would give people time.
4:16
Speaker 2: C J.
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Speaker 3: Stroud would give people time. So he's got that about him.
4:19
Speaker 3: But if Ryan Day even said it earlier in the week,
4:21
Speaker 3: even recruits want to meet him, So like, he's got
4:24
Speaker 3: a lot of obligations aside from football, and he's you
4:27
Speaker 3: still got to prioritize football through.
4:29
Speaker 2: This, right, because the goal is get one percent better
4:32
Speaker 2: every day. And that's something that's been asked a bunch
4:34
Speaker 2: of different times this spring. And the answer, you know is,
4:36
Speaker 2: you know, basically like, well, he's already incredible and maybe
4:39
Speaker 2: the best player in college football.
4:40
Speaker 1: How can you possibly get better than that?
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Speaker 2: And it's like, well, just keep working, just keep getting
4:44
Speaker 2: one percent better every day. And I think I've used
4:47
Speaker 2: this analogy before, but Mike Trout when he was, you know,
4:50
Speaker 2: on his way to setting all the records for like
4:52
Speaker 2: the highest war of any baseball player through age whatever
4:55
Speaker 2: it was, before he started having injury issues, he would
4:58
Speaker 2: just pick something over the off season and go, well,
5:01
Speaker 2: I wasn't very good against high fastballs, and just spend
5:03
Speaker 2: the off season working on hitting high fastballs. And the
5:06
Speaker 2: next year that that was no longer longer weakness. And
5:09
Speaker 2: you know, there were passes that were thrown in his
5:11
Speaker 2: direction that were incomplete. There were times when he was
5:13
Speaker 2: you know, he faced bracket coverage and he was not
5:17
Speaker 2: deemed open by the by Will Howard. So there are
5:21
Speaker 2: going to be times, you know, things that he can
5:23
Speaker 2: improve on, and it's just a matter of finding those things. Well,
5:26
Speaker 2: I thought one of the most interesting answers of the day.
5:29
Speaker 2: It was a question that was basically, like, which other
5:31
Speaker 2: receivers should we be talking about?
5:35
Speaker 1: Was it to germainetate? Okay? So which other you know
5:37
Speaker 1: other than Jeremiah Smith? Which other Jermaine Matthews? Yeah, goodness,
5:43
Speaker 1: did you do that?
5:44
Speaker 3: Or did I?
5:45
Speaker 1: Did you did? Okay?
5:47
Speaker 2: Combined a couple of familiar So Jermade Matthews was asked basically,
5:53
Speaker 2: who else should we be talking about? And normally, you know,
5:56
Speaker 2: you asked that question and it's like someone who's up
5:58
Speaker 2: and coming, Hang, and like, oh boy, here's Mylon Graham.
6:02
Speaker 2: Maybe he's going to be answer or Quincy Porter or
6:04
Speaker 2: something like that, and that wasn't his answer. And his
6:07
Speaker 2: answer is kind of like a little bit of a
6:09
Speaker 2: he's right, but I don't feel good about it.
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Speaker 3: And the answer is Carnal Tate, the elder Statesman, the
6:14
Speaker 3: leader of the room, basically. And Brian Hartline said the
6:18
Speaker 3: same thing yesterday or the day before when asking who
6:21
Speaker 3: who are the leaders in the room, he said Carnel
6:23
Speaker 3: Tate and Brandon Ennis, and then he went on to
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Speaker 3: talk about Carnal Tate and the way he has taken
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Speaker 3: guys under his wing, said and I wrote about it
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Speaker 3: on the Tuesday at Bucket Huddle in a notebook about
6:35
Speaker 3: how Carnal Tate sees the void left by Maca Buka's departure,
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Speaker 3: not on the field, not just on the field, but
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Speaker 3: off the field as a leader. And he's trying to
6:43
Speaker 3: feel that because he knows you need a certain kind
6:46
Speaker 3: of leadership to win it all, and so he's stepping
6:49
Speaker 3: up that way. But also, yeah, we've been talking about
6:52
Speaker 3: Cardinal Tate for a while now, and you kind of move,
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Speaker 3: you know, forget about him a little bit. He was
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Speaker 3: the number three. But don't tell Brian Hartline. He was
7:00
Speaker 3: the number three last year. Don't tell him he was
7:02
Speaker 3: the number three last year, and then this year it's like, yeah,
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Speaker 3: Jermaine Tatis to here, Jeremiah Jereise.
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Speaker 1: I award you zero points and may God have mercy
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Speaker 1: on your event.
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Speaker 3: It's like, well, who else? Who else?
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Speaker 2: You know?
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Speaker 3: Milond Graham, Quincy Porter, you know, like all of these
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Speaker 3: names that we're going to talk about. But yes, Carnel Tate,
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Speaker 3: a junior, probably his last year at Ohio State, probably
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Speaker 3: a first round pick coming up.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, and he we I got a chance to talk
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Speaker 1: to Carnal a little bit.
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Speaker 2: He just seems so much more comfortable, Like he was
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Speaker 2: always a little uncomfortable. He wasn't you know, he was
7:34
Speaker 2: just kind of figuring it out in terms of talking
7:37
Speaker 2: to the media last year. He still doesn't, you know,
7:40
Speaker 2: he's he's still not someone who's gonna, you know, be
7:43
Speaker 2: Will Howard and talk for two minutes on one one question.
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Speaker 1: But he just seems so much more comfortable.
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Speaker 2: And I think that is probably an offshoot of he's
7:52
Speaker 2: more comfortable talking in front of the team because he's
7:56
Speaker 2: been put into that role. He said he's worked on
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Speaker 2: being more vocal he's typically been much more of a
8:00
Speaker 2: lead by example a guy, and that's really what Jeremiah
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Speaker 2: Smith has been as well. Carnon ol Taite is now
8:05
Speaker 2: kind of you look around and it's like, well, Carnonel
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Speaker 2: Tate's the the senior guy, and the he feels like
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Speaker 2: he just got here and he's the senior guy in
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Speaker 2: that room, like Lincoln Keenhols is the senior guy in
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Speaker 2: the quarterback room. Like really, James People's the senior guy.
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Speaker 2: And I mean it's crazy, but it's a very young team.
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Speaker 2: So you have you know, you have all these guys
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Speaker 2: that were fifty year guys or fourth year guys last year.
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Speaker 2: They're all gone and now you got the third year
8:26
Speaker 2: guys sort of taking over that role. He he said,
8:29
Speaker 2: Jeremiah Smith is working on being more consistent, which you
8:33
Speaker 2: know again that's it's like, this is the stuff that
8:35
Speaker 2: you're gonna work on. You're gonna work on the little
8:37
Speaker 2: fine point stuff because you're not you know, the big
8:40
Speaker 2: picture stuff like you got that he knows how to
8:43
Speaker 2: go up and high point the ball. He knows how
8:44
Speaker 2: to use his body shielded defender. Now it's just working
8:46
Speaker 2: on refining stuff and all that kind of Yeah.
8:48
Speaker 3: Rline even said the day before like you wouldn't even
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Speaker 3: necessarily see on video and film what he's working on
8:54
Speaker 3: because it's so finite, so minute.
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Speaker 2: He was asked about the best trash talkers on the team,
9:00
Speaker 2: both in terms of cornerbacks and wide receivers. Everyone here, in,
9:04
Speaker 2: everyone at home, in podcast or YouTube land to take
9:07
Speaker 2: a second to think about who you think is going
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Speaker 2: to be the best trash talker of the cornerbacks on
9:10
Speaker 2: the team, and who the best trash talker of the
9:12
Speaker 2: wide receivers on the team.
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Speaker 1: And then I'm going to ask Tony to uh guess
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Speaker 1: who he named?
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Speaker 3: Two corners I would assume would be ig B and
9:23
Speaker 3: Jermaine Matthews.
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Speaker 2: Well there was only one quart gb Igb was the
9:26
Speaker 2: correct answer. David Niggnosen thing.
9:28
Speaker 3: And then receivers, it's it's Brandon Innis and it's Carnonel Tait.
9:31
Speaker 3: But I'm gonna say Brandon Innos.
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Speaker 1: Two for two. Well done.
9:34
Speaker 2: Yes, Brandon Innis and Davis Niggunosen in us playing more
9:38
Speaker 2: on the slot, Ignosen playing more outside.
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Speaker 1: So you're avoiding the head to head battle too much.
9:43
Speaker 2: Yes, it would be all too much to try to
9:44
Speaker 2: do a Brad battle basically, and we've done that on
9:47
Speaker 2: We've done that on this show, on this show, on
9:49
Speaker 2: this show recently.
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Speaker 1: Yes, so so that was the Carnell Tait stuff.
9:54
Speaker 2: I also get a chance to talk to Quincy Porter,
9:56
Speaker 2: Philip Bell, and Bob pin Miller, but before we get
9:58
Speaker 2: to them, you got a chance talk to Brandon in it.
10:00
Speaker 1: It's correct.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, And he's always energy. He's I mean, he is
10:05
Speaker 3: so amped up for this like this season, because he's
10:08
Speaker 3: going to be, if not in the starting lineup, he's
10:11
Speaker 3: going to be in the game a lot more than
10:12
Speaker 3: he was last year. And you know, it's just he's
10:16
Speaker 3: been it's been shown to him, like he can see
10:18
Speaker 3: the plan coming together. He never thought about leaving. He's
10:20
Speaker 3: always been happy here, he's been patient, he was, you know,
10:23
Speaker 3: a little banged up last spring. So like all of
10:25
Speaker 3: this is building up to something really really big for him.
10:29
Speaker 3: And you can see like he's always excitable. He was
10:32
Speaker 3: an energy giver, as Urban would say, so you always
10:36
Speaker 3: get that from him. But he's looking forward to just
10:39
Speaker 3: being a part of the audience of the offense for
10:42
Speaker 3: like a real legit time now. Yeah, and same with
10:46
Speaker 3: the you know we'll talk about Bryson Rogers as well,
10:48
Speaker 3: but like Brandon Innis, I don't know, you know, the
10:52
Speaker 3: slot receiver does really really well at Ohio State. So
10:57
Speaker 3: I think you can go ahead and buy some stock
10:58
Speaker 3: in him this year because one, he was the number
11:02
Speaker 3: one receiver in the twenty twenty twenty twenty three class
11:05
Speaker 3: for a reason, and I think now we're gonna get
11:08
Speaker 3: to see a lot of that. He's dropped a couple
11:10
Speaker 3: of pounds, He's you know, I don't know that anybody
11:14
Speaker 3: other than Jermaine Matthews is more excited for this season,
11:16
Speaker 3: and that's just because those two are the most, like,
11:18
Speaker 3: the most high energy guys on this team.
11:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, the guys have been around for a little while,
11:23
Speaker 2: and guys who have sort of bided their time and
11:26
Speaker 2: sort of slowly gotten bigger roles, but now were very
11:29
Speaker 2: much in a in a you know, path to get
11:33
Speaker 2: significantly more playing time this year. I thought it was
11:35
Speaker 2: interesting Jermaine Matthews basically said he didn't consider to himself
11:38
Speaker 2: a starter on last year's team, which is, you know,
11:41
Speaker 2: all the coaches talked about considering him a starter, and
11:43
Speaker 2: he certainly played basically starter snaps. So I thought that
11:46
Speaker 2: was interesting, but he you know, those are two guys
11:48
Speaker 2: who you have seen take on bigger roles throughout their
11:51
Speaker 2: their careers, and both guys who came in with plenty
11:54
Speaker 2: of hype of oh boy, you know this is someone
11:56
Speaker 2: who could cut you know, get on the field relatively early,
11:59
Speaker 2: and then you're playing behind some really talented guys. Now
12:03
Speaker 2: those guys are gone, so now this really is potentially
12:05
Speaker 2: your year for both of those guys to take that
12:08
Speaker 2: next step. I will also say, boy, if you are
12:10
Speaker 2: asking me for like buying stock in someone who is
12:14
Speaker 2: going to become a real Ohio State fan favorite on
12:18
Speaker 2: both sides of the ball, those are two pretty good guys.
12:20
Speaker 2: You know, I'd have James People's on that list, but
12:23
Speaker 2: I think those are two guys who you know, Brandon Innis,
12:26
Speaker 2: I think Ohio State fans are going to absolutely love
12:28
Speaker 2: Brandon Innis when they get to see more of him.
12:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then moving to to Bryson Rogers if we
12:33
Speaker 3: can also working in the stot building out more outside
12:37
Speaker 3: as well. He was talking about just wanting to show
12:40
Speaker 3: everybody like that he's the best receiver in the nation.
12:43
Speaker 3: I thought, okay, I mean that's that's a pretty good
12:47
Speaker 3: attitude to have, and he's excited about being in the
12:50
Speaker 3: spring game because, you know, a larger role, just now
12:55
Speaker 3: to be out there. And then of course he's going
12:58
Speaker 3: to play more this season's He and Brandon Innison, Colonel
13:01
Speaker 3: Tate are all third year guys, so like they're all
13:03
Speaker 3: stepping up as leaders. He talked about, you know, grabbing people,
13:06
Speaker 3: taking him, taking them under his wing, and just knowing
13:08
Speaker 3: that it's not easy for a true freshman. I mean
13:11
Speaker 3: he can tell you that as well as anybody. He
13:13
Speaker 3: transferred out after his true freshman season, and so he
13:16
Speaker 3: he gives a nice perspective to these young guys, you know,
13:20
Speaker 3: and if they can feel it right in the spring
13:22
Speaker 3: right away and know like it's not gonna be easy.
13:24
Speaker 3: This is what's going to happen in the summer. This
13:26
Speaker 3: is good, what's going to happen in the fall. So
13:28
Speaker 3: when when they're experiencing it and it's like, yeah, that's
13:30
Speaker 3: kind of what Bryson told me, It's like, okay, things
13:32
Speaker 3: are okay, Like this is not unusual, because I think
13:35
Speaker 3: a lot of people feel like this is the first
13:36
Speaker 3: time anybody's ever gone through it. When I'm when it's
13:38
Speaker 3: happening to me. Nobody's ever dealt with this, and it's like, no,
13:41
Speaker 3: there are thirteen other people you could talk to on
13:43
Speaker 3: this team that have been through what you've been through,
13:44
Speaker 3: and Bryson Rodgers is one of them.
13:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, everyone kind of has the big fish in a
13:48
Speaker 2: small pond to a small fish in a big pond
13:50
Speaker 2: experience here outside of Jeremiah Smith. Jeremiah Smith probably cannot
13:53
Speaker 2: relate to some of this stuff.
13:55
Speaker 3: Can I think you know what, He's not even pond.
13:57
Speaker 3: He is evolved to land animal.
14:00
Speaker 2: Whatever that big thing was in the Jurassic Park where
14:03
Speaker 2: the big fish thing, that megalodon something like that.
14:06
Speaker 3: That's a shark time. Did you hear about the dire
14:08
Speaker 3: wolves anyway, that's a different show.
14:10
Speaker 1: Different show. Speaking of things that happened haven't happened in
14:13
Speaker 1: ten thousand years. We're gonna move. I'm like, certainly my
14:18
Speaker 1: brain will fill it fell on the end of the sentence.
14:21
Speaker 3: It's just gonna be. It's not like Kevin and I
14:22
Speaker 3: was like, noone.
14:24
Speaker 1: That's why we ve We'll leave Kevin alone.
14:27
Speaker 3: That's fine.
14:29
Speaker 2: Bryson Rodgers working both inside and out. It feels a
14:32
Speaker 2: little to me like Austin Seerveld working at guard and tackle,
14:35
Speaker 2: where you know they're gonna play their best four, the
14:38
Speaker 2: best five at on the offensive line, they're gonna play
14:40
Speaker 2: their best you know, realistically, three or four maybe more
14:43
Speaker 2: than that on in the wide receiver. Him working outside
14:46
Speaker 2: and inside, boy, that really increases the likelihood that he's
14:49
Speaker 2: one of those best four. To me.
14:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, and we've seen Brandon do it as well in practice.
14:53
Speaker 3: But like when they're moving Carnel Ta and they're moving Jermaine,
14:58
Speaker 3: this is gonna be a bad one. This is get
15:00
Speaker 3: This is my Steve Sacks, Matthew Sasser thing, Jeremiah Smith
15:04
Speaker 3: when they're moving him into the slot or they're playing
15:06
Speaker 3: twelve personnel and receiver has to come off the field
15:08
Speaker 3: and you don't want to be that guy. So that, yeah, Bryon,
15:11
Speaker 3: Bryson Rodgers being able to do all of those things
15:15
Speaker 3: is big. Tom Tag.
15:20
Speaker 2: I'm just I'm just I have been in my head going,
15:22
Speaker 2: wasn't your Maine Tate on the basketball twe in the
15:24
Speaker 2: nineties and he was.
15:25
Speaker 3: Jay Sean Tate's dad, yes, thirty years ago?
15:28
Speaker 1: Yeah?
15:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, Okay, So let's move on to some of the
15:32
Speaker 2: true freshman receivers whose names you will be I guess
15:34
Speaker 2: slightly forgiven for not necessarily remembering right off the top
15:37
Speaker 2: of your head. We'll start with Quincy Porter, who has
15:39
Speaker 2: already lost his black stripe. He said, you know he can,
15:43
Speaker 2: he said, I can do it. Anyone can do it.
15:45
Speaker 2: It's just putting the work in, just in terms of
15:47
Speaker 2: like getting on the field being and it's just you
15:49
Speaker 2: gotta you gotta put the work in.
15:51
Speaker 1: That's it.
15:51
Speaker 2: And and he has been putting the work in. He
15:53
Speaker 2: talked about letting his work ethic and his play speak
15:55
Speaker 2: for him. That's that's you know, he's he's young, he
15:59
Speaker 2: is you know, I think you want to you don't
16:02
Speaker 2: want to be the guy who gets out in front
16:04
Speaker 2: of a skis kind of thing.
16:05
Speaker 1: And you sort of got the sense that he's trying
16:08
Speaker 1: not to be to you know, to get ahead of himself,
16:13
Speaker 1: but to have lost his black.
16:14
Speaker 2: Stripe at this point of the spring, he's someone else
16:17
Speaker 2: that you know, I look at him and I go, boy,
16:19
Speaker 2: I would be pretty surprised if he wasn't in the
16:21
Speaker 2: top five or six probably in that wide receiver room.
16:24
Speaker 2: And that's probably your playing. And let's set some realistic
16:29
Speaker 2: expectations for him. Where Jeremiah Smith is not a realistic expectation,
16:34
Speaker 2: Chris Carter is not a realistic expectation, David Boston is
16:37
Speaker 2: not a realistic expectation. If he has twelve catches for
16:42
Speaker 2: one hundred and eighty yards this year, that would be like, Wow,
16:45
Speaker 2: that's a really good freshman season. And I think it,
16:47
Speaker 2: you know, saying that now, I think people are going
16:49
Speaker 2: that's it, But that's that would be historically a way
16:53
Speaker 2: above average true freshman season for ohigoh state wide.
16:55
Speaker 3: Receiver Carneltey had seventeen catches as a true freshman and
16:58
Speaker 3: I think that was like fifth best in school history.
17:01
Speaker 3: So yeah, Like some of the questions for him on
17:07
Speaker 3: one was like, you know, you saw you watched Jeremiah
17:09
Speaker 3: Smith do it. Does I give you confidence that you
17:10
Speaker 3: can do it? And it's like, yeah, that's kind of
17:12
Speaker 3: what you're talking about, where you know, I've seen it,
17:14
Speaker 3: it's been possible. And then in my mind I eventually
17:17
Speaker 3: asked him like, do you think it's fair to you
17:20
Speaker 3: as a true freshman to talk about your expectations to
17:23
Speaker 3: ask about your expectations or what you could do? And
17:26
Speaker 3: I also mentioned Jeremi Smith because that's not fair to anybody, right,
17:30
Speaker 3: And he's like, well, I don't let it bother me.
17:32
Speaker 3: You know, it's not going to change anything I do,
17:34
Speaker 3: which he was. He's very mature and you're seeing the
17:37
Speaker 3: results of that on the field. So I was impressed
17:39
Speaker 3: by him, and just the one or two minutes that
17:41
Speaker 3: I got to get over there and ask him that
17:44
Speaker 3: I got a.
17:44
Speaker 2: Chance to talk to Philip Bell briefly out of California.
17:47
Speaker 2: He talked about, you know, some of the other guys
17:48
Speaker 2: out of California and knew Julian saying a little bit,
17:51
Speaker 2: and his fellow California players. He said the biggest jump
17:54
Speaker 2: for him was just a tempo and the practice tempo
17:57
Speaker 2: just everything's very intense getting adjusted to that and that's.
18:00
Speaker 3: Back in California.
18:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean he played for a pretty good
18:03
Speaker 2: program out in California, so but even so, you know,
18:06
Speaker 2: he talked about going against a five star corner by
18:08
Speaker 2: d Jon Lee in high school, they were on the
18:10
Speaker 2: same team and he went to Alabama five star corner,
18:13
Speaker 2: so you know, this is not new for him, going
18:14
Speaker 2: up against some of the best in the nation at
18:17
Speaker 2: your level in practice, but still just the tempo and
18:20
Speaker 2: the intensity of practice was kind of the biggest jump
18:23
Speaker 2: in his mind. Someone else who had a chance to
18:26
Speaker 2: work with a you know who knew Ohio State quarterbacks
18:30
Speaker 2: before they got to Ohio State was Bod pen Miller.
18:32
Speaker 2: He grew up in Ontario, Ohio, which is kind of
18:34
Speaker 2: up at Mansfield. He said, he threw he knew the
18:37
Speaker 2: coach from Bell Fountain, and he had like he and
18:42
Speaker 2: Tavan Saint Clair threw a little bit before he knew
18:45
Speaker 2: who Tavan Saint Clair was, like several years ago. He
18:47
Speaker 2: was like he just needed someone to go catch for him,
18:50
Speaker 2: and so I was like, yeah, sure, brads.
18:51
Speaker 1: And Browns for him. Bod pim Miller.
18:54
Speaker 2: He was hurt both of his sophomore his sophomore year,
18:57
Speaker 2: and then hurt himself at the track in his junior year.
18:59
Speaker 2: So his recruiting just kind of like his recruiting profile
19:01
Speaker 2: never really took off. But he's a big dude. I
19:04
Speaker 2: stood next to him. He's at least I'm six two,
19:07
Speaker 2: and he's at least six three, six four. I mean,
19:09
Speaker 2: a big, big dude, very rangy, very very raw. He
19:13
Speaker 2: was a quarterback in his high school team because he
19:15
Speaker 2: is you know, he is the guy who is the
19:17
Speaker 2: best athlete to come out of his high school in
19:19
Speaker 2: probably twenty years. So it's like you ran the bod
19:22
Speaker 2: pin Miller do something cool play and it worked quite
19:25
Speaker 2: a bit probably.
19:26
Speaker 1: In high school.
19:27
Speaker 2: But now he's got Now he's got to you know,
19:29
Speaker 2: figure out receiver and he's in that process. He said,
19:31
Speaker 2: he's working right now on using his body to his
19:34
Speaker 2: advantage and just being able to use your body position
19:37
Speaker 2: to go up and get you know, high point the
19:38
Speaker 2: ball because there's not a lot of six foot four corners.
19:40
Speaker 2: So if you can go up and get the ball,
19:41
Speaker 2: you can you can out jump a lot of corners.
19:43
Speaker 1: He said.
19:44
Speaker 2: Carnel Taita is helping him a lot. And he said
19:46
Speaker 2: Brian Hartline played quarterback in high school too, and said,
19:49
Speaker 2: you know so he sort could talk to him about, like,
19:52
Speaker 2: so here's the process about adjusting from being a high
19:54
Speaker 2: school quarterback to a college wide receiver. And he said,
19:56
Speaker 2: like a lot of you, it's gonna be rough at first,
19:58
Speaker 2: and you know, so it is going be a it's
20:01
Speaker 2: gonna be a process for of it. He is not
20:03
Speaker 2: someone who I'm expecting to see in the top six
20:05
Speaker 2: this year. And that's like not not even remotely a
20:10
Speaker 2: concern like that's that's a you're he's going to take
20:14
Speaker 2: a red shirt year this year almost certainly, and that's
20:17
Speaker 2: completely fine. That has no bearing on my view of
20:19
Speaker 2: his long term play. He said he has you know, size, speed,
20:22
Speaker 2: and can take the top off the defense. That's what
20:24
Speaker 2: he thinks he can bring. But again that's gonna be
20:26
Speaker 2: a little bit of a process.
20:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, don't worry about red shirting. Like Brandon Innis red shirted,
20:33
Speaker 3: caught one passes a true freshman, granted he was a
20:35
Speaker 3: juni and Rolyue Milon Graham a junie and really red
20:38
Speaker 3: shirted is a true freshman did not catch a pass,
20:40
Speaker 3: So there's no it's there's a long history of great
20:43
Speaker 3: wide receivers in Ohio state history who red shirted and
20:46
Speaker 3: turned out. Okay, you know Santonio Holmes one of those
20:48
Speaker 3: guys that Jim Drussel almost pulled the red shirt off
20:52
Speaker 3: to help them in two thousand and two.
20:53
Speaker 1: Michael Thomas did it as a sophomore.
20:55
Speaker 3: Exactly, and he got free passes as a true freshman.
20:59
Speaker 3: Red shirted. Terry McLaurin had a big spring game. Terry
21:02
Speaker 3: McLaurin red shirted Paris cameo red shirted.
21:04
Speaker 2: You know.
21:07
Speaker 1: It's not a it's not a concern, yep. And you
21:09
Speaker 1: get a chance of belief to talk to Des Jones,
21:11
Speaker 1: Yeah it does.
21:11
Speaker 3: Jones, who is a slot receiver and is also looking
21:17
Speaker 3: forward to being in the shoe. And I think all
21:18
Speaker 3: these freshmen are and in the spring game on Saturday.
21:21
Speaker 3: But I was asking him, and I was asking some
21:23
Speaker 3: of the other because if we talked to quite a
21:25
Speaker 3: few slot receivers, because there are a bunch of them,
21:28
Speaker 3: does it take more courage to play in the slot
21:30
Speaker 3: than it does in outside. He's like, yeah, you know
21:33
Speaker 3: it does, but it also you do have more room,
21:37
Speaker 3: but also that room could sometimes be filled by bigger players,
21:41
Speaker 3: linebackers and safeties. But he's he's an excited, excitable guy.
21:45
Speaker 3: He's he is like what you would assume a slot
21:48
Speaker 3: receiver would be, you know, like just a lot of
21:52
Speaker 3: energy and you know we'll talk and and it's happened,
21:56
Speaker 3: answer your questions and is one of those energy givers
21:59
Speaker 3: that I think they really like. But we saw him
22:00
Speaker 3: a little bit and on Saturday in the scrimmage, and
22:03
Speaker 3: you know he's he's good after the catch, he's quick,
22:06
Speaker 3: he's got good spatial awareness around him, which makes him
22:09
Speaker 3: a good slot receiver because he has he's you know,
22:13
Speaker 3: he has an understanding of where everybody is and also
22:15
Speaker 3: where the ball is and what he's doing. So he's
22:20
Speaker 3: probably another red shirt candidate, And frankly, like there may
22:24
Speaker 3: be three red shirts on this in this receiver room
22:27
Speaker 3: and these freshmen just because of the top end depth
22:31
Speaker 3: that they have and the fact that you can. Bryce
22:35
Speaker 3: West played in seven games last year in red shirt.
22:37
Speaker 3: Just so you're right, you can play a lot and
22:39
Speaker 3: still a red shirt if if four of those games
22:41
Speaker 3: are in the playoffs. But last year was the first
22:45
Speaker 3: year under Brian Hartline where only three guys, three receivers,
22:48
Speaker 3: played over two hundred snaps, and so I expect there
22:52
Speaker 3: will be more this year, but that doesn't necessarily mean
22:56
Speaker 3: there's gonna be a sixth guy that is like number
22:59
Speaker 3: six may.
22:59
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, yeah, And just to refresh everyone on the rules,
23:04
Speaker 2: you can play in up to four regular season games,
23:07
Speaker 2: so you could potentially play in nine games and still
23:11
Speaker 2: take a red shirt season keys playing four regular season
23:13
Speaker 2: games and then the conference championship game and then up
23:16
Speaker 2: to four college football playoff games. So yeah, that it
23:19
Speaker 2: used to be if you played one snap that was it,
23:22
Speaker 2: or in you know Kyle mcquart's case, you played a
23:24
Speaker 2: couple snaps in a fifth game and you're done. But
23:26
Speaker 2: you could potentially play theoretically up to nine games and
23:29
Speaker 2: still regil.
23:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think we'll probably that's probably gonna be one
23:31
Speaker 3: of the reasons they go to just five years of
23:33
Speaker 3: eligibility because Aaron Scott played in seven games but he's
23:36
Speaker 3: a sophomore. Yeah, because it was seven different games than
23:39
Speaker 3: Bryce West. They played in the same amount of games.
23:41
Speaker 3: One guy is next year of eligibility because yeah.
23:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, So that's that's one of those little minutia things
23:46
Speaker 2: that we'll get asked about at some point, so we'll
23:48
Speaker 2: just lay it out for you here. We did also
23:50
Speaker 2: get a chance to talk to the specialists, which means
23:53
Speaker 2: our Australian adjacency is way way up this year and
23:58
Speaker 2: today Nick McLarty got a chance to talk to him.
24:01
Speaker 2: He's always I think someone who is one of the
24:03
Speaker 2: one of the people who fans I think are maybe
24:06
Speaker 2: most interested in because he.
24:07
Speaker 1: Just he came in huge, you know, huge guy.
24:11
Speaker 2: I think he's six 's eight, I mean legitimately like
24:13
Speaker 2: six seven, six eight, and you saw the videos of
24:16
Speaker 2: him kicking the ball basically to the moon on Twitter,
24:19
Speaker 2: and then you really didn't see him much.
24:21
Speaker 1: I don't know that.
24:22
Speaker 2: I think he punted in one or two games, maybe
24:24
Speaker 2: just just sort of when games were out of hand.
24:26
Speaker 2: He said his first year was just a development year.
24:29
Speaker 2: The harsh reality was he was just not ready, you know,
24:32
Speaker 2: the expectations. He wasn't emotionally or physically ready like it
24:36
Speaker 2: just it was just you're coming from a different literally
24:40
Speaker 2: the whole other side of the world here, you're adjusting
24:42
Speaker 2: to life in a different climate, in a different country.
24:45
Speaker 2: You've got you know, he Joe Maguire is another Australian
24:48
Speaker 2: who's on the team, so you have someone who can,
24:50
Speaker 2: you know, sort of be like, so.
24:52
Speaker 1: This is what this is like. But it's still this
24:56
Speaker 1: is this is a huge jump. He said.
24:58
Speaker 2: The pressure that they put you under in practice is
25:00
Speaker 2: like worse than what you get on during a game.
25:04
Speaker 2: So it's just like they are really constantly working to
25:07
Speaker 2: put you under pressure. The biggest thing for him was
25:09
Speaker 2: just speed, just being able to get the ball, you know,
25:13
Speaker 2: from the snap to the ball leaving your foot, getting
25:17
Speaker 2: that time down and being able to do it and
25:19
Speaker 2: do it consistently because he traditionally was you know, take
25:23
Speaker 2: your time and really do it right and then you know, yeah,
25:26
Speaker 2: maybe it takes an extra half second, but man, I'm
25:28
Speaker 2: going to kick the ball to the moon. And it's
25:30
Speaker 2: like the most important thing is get that ball out,
25:32
Speaker 2: because he said, I think he said they hadn't had
25:34
Speaker 2: a punt blocked in four years, and a lot of
25:36
Speaker 2: that is just whatever that stopwatch says, snap to kick,
25:40
Speaker 2: it's got to be there, and you know, so he's
25:43
Speaker 2: just been working on that and just he wants his
25:46
Speaker 2: roommates with John Froelman, one of the long snappers, so
25:50
Speaker 2: he says they're working on that all the time. One
25:52
Speaker 2: of our favorite stories, the roommate story. He said, you know,
25:57
Speaker 2: he in terms of like he's had a chance to
25:59
Speaker 2: play high level Australian rules football, but he said there's
26:02
Speaker 2: you know, in terms of the exposure, like nothing, there's
26:05
Speaker 2: nothing in Australia that compares to this. You know, he said,
26:08
Speaker 2: the pressure is the same, and there's you know, jobs
26:10
Speaker 2: and money at stake and all that kind of stuff,
26:12
Speaker 2: so that kind of the pressure is sort of the same.
26:14
Speaker 2: But in terms of just like what the whole experience
26:17
Speaker 2: is like and the spotlight that's on you. Nothing, nothing
26:22
Speaker 2: even close.
26:23
Speaker 3: Now, it'll be interesting to see if he can make
26:25
Speaker 3: this a competition this year, because Joe McGuire did it
26:28
Speaker 3: all year last year, I don't think he did it
26:30
Speaker 3: well enough to where it's like he wasn't Cam Johnston
26:33
Speaker 3: or anybody like that was just like forty yards at
26:36
Speaker 3: punt and didn't necessarily ever get to turn the field
26:39
Speaker 3: as much as you would like. So I think it's
26:41
Speaker 3: gonna be a competition, but it's still still just a
26:44
Speaker 3: red shirt freshman. So we'll see.
26:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, And you know that that's one where they both
26:50
Speaker 2: have the opportunity to be better punters than they had
26:53
Speaker 2: last year.
26:53
Speaker 1: And last year was you know, they they were not lead.
26:56
Speaker 2: This is not Jim Tressel offense where they are really
26:58
Speaker 2: leaning on the punter to get them that your five
27:00
Speaker 2: yards of field position. But now they have the opportunity
27:03
Speaker 2: to maybe take a little bit of a step forward there.
27:05
Speaker 2: And you know, just just in terms of the raw athleticism,
27:08
Speaker 2: you can see it with Nick McLarty, it's just like
27:11
Speaker 2: we had talked about a bunch this time last year
27:13
Speaker 2: and then he kind of disappeared and we I had
27:17
Speaker 2: watched some of him working before practice a few times
27:20
Speaker 2: and it was just inconsistency, which if you're trying to
27:23
Speaker 2: get faster, you're speeding up your mechanics and then you
27:26
Speaker 2: lose that consistency. If he's able to like some of
27:29
Speaker 2: the the ones that he got, man, the hangtime was
27:32
Speaker 2: good and it was just just listening to him talk
27:34
Speaker 2: about it, I'm like, I am totally I am totally
27:36
Speaker 2: back on board here with both feet. This is this
27:39
Speaker 2: is definitely going to be the year of the incredible
27:41
Speaker 2: Australian putter.
27:42
Speaker 3: He has kind of built like a trebiche, you know,
27:44
Speaker 3: and it's like you just got to speed it up. Yeah,
27:46
Speaker 3: let's get let's get this thing moved quickly. I talked
27:49
Speaker 3: to John Froelman, the long snapper who you just mentioned,
27:51
Speaker 3: who like the details. It's like, well, what are you
27:54
Speaker 3: working on? Like how do you critique yourself? It's like, well,
27:58
Speaker 3: you know, if I snap it, you know, there's three
27:59
Speaker 3: and a half firtations instead of four, you know, and
28:02
Speaker 3: a short snap and it's like all of these little
28:04
Speaker 3: things that people don't even don't even understand and including
28:08
Speaker 3: including me. But but I did ask him because he
28:11
Speaker 3: is an unknown guy, like he is a very important
28:15
Speaker 3: piece of this team, was a very important piece of
28:17
Speaker 3: a national championship. But I did ask him, do you
28:19
Speaker 3: ever get recognized on campus as a football player? And
28:22
Speaker 3: of course, and I asked respectfully and he said no,
28:25
Speaker 3: But he said he does when he goes home, he's
28:28
Speaker 3: recognized by people like, oh, you're you're John who went
28:31
Speaker 3: to Ohio State. So it is interesting where and I
28:34
Speaker 3: get that you leave home and it's like, have you
28:36
Speaker 3: ever heard about this guy who actually made it out?
28:38
Speaker 3: You know, I'm not saying it's like he come from
28:40
Speaker 3: an area where.
28:41
Speaker 1: He's from Arizona. He's not from like the South Bronx
28:44
Speaker 1: in the eighties.
28:45
Speaker 3: But but but yeah, it's your famous back home. But
28:50
Speaker 3: as I told as he knows he's a long snapper,
28:53
Speaker 3: like you don't necessarily want to be known as as
28:56
Speaker 3: you know, for people to know you. So he's cool
28:59
Speaker 3: with it, and you know, he's he's a funny guy.
29:02
Speaker 3: And the long snappers are always the specialists are always
29:06
Speaker 3: pretty good. And even Jade Fielding talked about what battling
29:09
Speaker 3: an injury last year and how he's more he wants
29:13
Speaker 3: to prove himself this year because I don't know if
29:17
Speaker 3: he knows what people said. I'm pretty sure he has
29:19
Speaker 3: an understanding of what some of the Buckeye fans had
29:22
Speaker 3: to say. But apparently he wasn't happy with last year either,
29:25
Speaker 3: so he's driven as well.
29:27
Speaker 1: He's driven.
29:27
Speaker 2: But he was also asked about the game ceiling kick
29:31
Speaker 2: in the National Championship game, and it was kind of like, yeah,
29:35
Speaker 2: but I mean it wasn't last year wasn't good enough
29:37
Speaker 2: because he wasn't perfect, And that's that's a hot that's
29:42
Speaker 2: a lot of pressure. I'm sure you're getting a lot
29:44
Speaker 2: of external feedback on you know, if you're the guy
29:47
Speaker 2: who missed the kick in the Michigan game, boy, you're
29:49
Speaker 2: going to get some external feedback on that and that,
29:53
Speaker 2: you know.
29:54
Speaker 1: Now, I think I don't know the people think about
29:56
Speaker 1: that that much. With him.
29:57
Speaker 2: I think it's hey, you're the guy who sealed the
30:00
Speaker 2: against Notre Dame to win the National Championship, and so
30:03
Speaker 2: now he has an opportunity to sort of continue to
30:04
Speaker 2: build on that.
30:05
Speaker 1: Anything else from anyone that we haven't.
30:07
Speaker 3: Touched on, no, I think we got it pretty well covered.
30:09
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, then we will turn the page now to
30:13
Speaker 2: head towards Saturday's spring game kickoff at noon inside Ohio Stadium.
30:17
Speaker 2: Ticket's still available for the spring game. Forecast looks pretty nice.
30:20
Speaker 2: Looks like it's going to be in the mid fifties
30:22
Speaker 2: or so, pretty sunny, So that should be a nice
30:25
Speaker 2: day in the Horseshoe. Always nice to get out and
30:29
Speaker 2: just get an update on get an update on the team,
30:31
Speaker 2: and watch a little football. And if you have kids,
30:34
Speaker 2: that is a great game to take them to as
30:36
Speaker 2: a I remember taking my daughter when she was like
30:39
Speaker 2: three maybe, and it was just kind of like, where
30:42
Speaker 2: do you want to sit?
30:42
Speaker 1: I want to sit next to the band? Okay, we
30:44
Speaker 1: can sit next.
30:44
Speaker 2: To the band, and yeah, it's a popcorn watch a
30:48
Speaker 2: little football, and it's no pressure, no stress. You don't
30:51
Speaker 2: need to I think parking is free, I believe. So
30:55
Speaker 2: if you have kids, it is a very good chance
30:58
Speaker 2: to bring them into the Horseshoe without having to pay
31:00
Speaker 2: uh you know, nine thousand dollars to tickets and.
31:03
Speaker 1: Parking and all that kind of stuff.
31:04
Speaker 2: So uh yeah, check that out at Ohio State Buckeyes
31:08
Speaker 2: dot com and check us out at Buckeye Huddle dot com.
31:11
Speaker 2: That's where Tony Kevin and I cover the team, Mark
31:12
Speaker 2: Karvers recruiting, and we got our whole team effects and
31:15
Speaker 2: those gurus there as well, all to make you a
31:17
Speaker 2: smarter football fan. That's all at pucke huddle dot com
31:20
Speaker 2: and YouTube dot com slash Buckeyehuddle.
31:23
Speaker 1: That'll do it for today. Thank you guys all for
31:24
Speaker 1: joining us. Have a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.