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5 Things We Learned From The Ohio State Spring Game · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Sunday, April fourteenth. I'm your host Tom
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  Moore. The Akron game in one hundred and thirty nine days, the game
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  against Michigan in two hundred and thirty days. That Akron game might be the
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  next time we're inside Ohio Stadium, but we were inside Ohio Stadium right now,
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  recapping Saturday's Ohio State spring game, joined by Kevin noonof bucke Huddle dot
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  Com. Kevin, this was definitely not the most disjointed spring game we've seen
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  by a long shot, but it's never exactly mid season form. You improved
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  the most between your first game and your second game, but you improved the
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  most actually between the spring game and the first game. So how can you
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  know when you look at the Ohio State offense and all the quarterbacks were kind
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  of okay? Jeremiah Smith this was the first time we've ever seen Jeremiah Smith
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  without him doing something incredible. Is there a cause for concern or is this
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  just yeah, this is what spring games look like. We all get excited
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  for the upcoming season. We get to the spring game. We've seen bits
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  and pieces, whether it's what we get to go and cover at Ohio State
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  or what Ohio State carefully curates and releases to us high points. It's like,
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  this team can't threw this up. It's going to be a fantastic spring
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  game. It's going to be Tyson versus Tyson at his prime. You know,
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  two units that are just half no flaws whatsoever. And you do get
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  to the disjointed part of the spring game. Defense is generally going to be
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  ahead of offense. Weather conditions were you know, it was nice and sunny,
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  a little windy, so we saw some passes get kind of chopped down
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  by the wind. Certainly, the rules of the event don't really lend themselves
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  to having the most fluid of circumstances, so I put a lot more into
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  it's just the nature of what a spring game is. You've gone through fourteen
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  previous practices, the fifteen everybody wants to make the most out of every moment
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  they have, but also the lights at the end of the tunnel that spring
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  practice is almost done, and we all want to sit there and parse every
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  single snap motion that we see in the in the game, and sometimes you
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  have to remember this is you know, this is not much different than practice
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  eight during the spring period. Yeah, it's it's more game game like situations,
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  but it's not exactly a game. It's you know, there's there were
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  long stretches where they were playing essentially two hand touch for if they call it
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  thud, where anytime one of these starting running backs was in quench and drag
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  Ken's Trevan Henderson, they didn't get tackled at all. Quarterbacks obviously didn't get
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  tackled at all. So with you know, with the quarterbacks being you know,
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  the quarterback run game being a bigger piece of the offense seemingly this year,
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  that makes it a little hard to evaluate how that actually would look under
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  a real situation. And the quarterbacks they were all fine. No one jumped
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  out to me as this was amazing. Nobody jumped out like, oh boy,
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  this guy is just not gonna play this. You know. I'll just
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  read through the stats real quick. Julian's saying ten for seventeen eighty five yards,
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  no touchdowns, one interception, Lincoln Keenholes ten for seventeen seventy one yards,
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  no touchdowns, two interceptions, Will Howard nine for thirteen seventy seven yards,
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  no touchdowns, no interceptions. Air Nolan five for seven forty seven yards,
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  no touchdown, one interception. Devin Brown five for seven sixty six yards,
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  one touchdown, no interceptions. Dad Ray one of two or eleven yards,
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  no touchdowns, no interceptions. The only touchdown all day through the air
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  came with from Devin Brown throwing to a walk on wide receiver Brennan tram covered
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  by I think thirteen safety Cedra Hawkins. I think Ryan Radzinski, who's a
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  walk on safety, might have been back there as well. I you know,
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  it was. It feels like the quarterback play was fine, not super
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  thrilling, not super explosive, not super concerning, but also not super encouraging.
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  It was just kind of fine. It was just super there is what
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  it kind of was. But you know, it's really easy to minimize this
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  and say, okay, well, which do you want. Do you want
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  the offense to come out there and look good and all the concerns are about
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  where the defense is? Do you want the defense to look good? And
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  all the concerns are going to be up to where the offenses. There's no
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  you can't sit there and say, well, we wanted on a scale of
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  one to one hundred, we want this right at fifty No, because then
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  people will just be concerned that both units suck. So there's no real right
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  answer here. You got to remember that you have a lot of instances you're
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  going against the IA in the secondary, you're going against a very stout defense.
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  There were decent number of sacks along the way. I mean, of
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  course we're playing third and the quarterbacks were all were in no contact black jerseys
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  anyway, so even if they were playing full tackle, they would still be
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  spared from that. But let's use Jeremiah Smith as an example. They made
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  and they we are not letting this kid beat us. Davis and Bonosen was
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  very physical with him. Jordan Hancock was very physical with them. Yes,
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  there were a couple of throws that were maybe a little bit under I think
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  the wind chopped them down, but they were not going to let the guy
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  that makes impossible plays happen make that happen. It was beyond impossible when they
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  were covered, smothered and pepper like your favorite hash browns at waffle house.
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  Yeah, it was. There were a lot of people who were not at
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  all interested in ending up on a poster, who did not end up on
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  a poster. They they they coverage is pretty good, and they the secondary
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  this year for Ohio State is gonna be real good. And Jeremiah Smith did
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  not play I don't think at a snap in the second half where you know,
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  so he was not going up against a bunch of the other refreshment like
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  that. That honestly tells me just about as much as anything else what they
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  really think of him. You know, you can tell me what you know.
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  You can tell me or you can show me that as a show me
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  you view him as a starter probably this year. You know, the the
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  rest of the you know, the rest of the wide receivers and make a
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  book of four catches forty seven yards an incredible one handed catch. I'm waiting
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  for your picture. My picture is I put it on Twitter. Uh.
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  Davis Suosen ran directly in front of the football. I have the football on
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  his hand, Davisson's head. He was probably ten yards five yards in front
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  and just completely blocks on book. Is botty better? Yes? Yeah,
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  there's lots of ways, lots of ways to not get good pictures. Yeah,
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  so he was, he was there. There was a there was a
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  good one with h Jeremiah Smith going up in the back of the end zone
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  and David Snignosen was right there and I found them. I had my camera
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  on them, and then I kind of went, they're pretty close and they're
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  also coming in my direction and this might be real bad. And they missed
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  me by not more than a foot or two. So if you want to
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  see my face looking very scared, you can. You really, you've had
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  yourself a couple of months, you had a player like slide into your lab
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  during a basketball during basketball. I mean it's it's they're not necessarily the best
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  seats in the house, the closest seats in the house. They're not necessarily
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  the best seats in the house. But either way, yeah, the wide
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  receivers were you know, solid but not incredible. But you know, the
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  leading receiver was David Adolf, who's a walk on. The third leading receiver
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  is Brennan Tramp, who's a walk on. You know, they were There
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  are probably fifteen guys on here who caught at least one pass, nobody who
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  caught more than four passes or more than fifty yards. So they just,
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  you know, they kind of spread the ball around a little bit. You
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  know. The the wide receiver unit feels like one where I could tell you
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  they completed zero passes and no one would be concerned about the wide receiver unit
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  because you kind of know what they have there. But I think if you
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  are limiting the wide receivers in that way, that tells me so much about
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  what the secondary could be this year exactly. I mean, I think that
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  sit there and you see what what you know, what the role, what
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  the roster is. And you don't have Brandon in as he's out for a
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  little bit. We saw him on Friday on a scooter and with a boot
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  on, so which NSSBB complete recovery. But when you have the BUKA,
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  when you have Carnell Tait, when you have all of these guys, and
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  the secondary lockskis down the way that it does that is iron sharpens iron.
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  And we're going to see some great battles. Well we're not, because the
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  next ball practice we get to see will be the first ball practice that we
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  get to see. But I hear stories from people that I know that go
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  to practice about just how strong the battles are. And no, I think
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  that if Ohio State's line is able to continue to push and everything else,
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  I mean, I think that the secondary is going to put up some big
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  numbers, and by big numbers, I think it means nothing on the scoreboard,
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  and a lot of takeaways, and the running game seemed like it was
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  okay. The running game is always kind of like a side dish during the
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  spring game. He just because you're playing thud first periods and you know,
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  you're mixing and matching your offensive line at times, it just you never get
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  a good solid run game established. That's just not a thing that ever happens
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  in the spring game. Sim Williams Dixon eleven carries seventy five yards, had
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  a touchdown. He looked pretty good in the you know, the second half
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  of the game. Aaron Nolan five carries forty two yards. He was impressive
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  using his legs. James People's ten carries thirty six yards, a touchdown.
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  He was you know, he was pretty solid. When John Judkins, I
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  think to me, well, maybe just the first impressions of him, because
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  we've been to practice, we've seen them do stuff, but you didn't really
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  get to see him, you know, really good. Eleven on eleven necessarily
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  before and he was playing it was just thud. But you just there's a
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  burst there that you look at and you go yep, that's that's why you
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  were able to have a thousand carries in the SEC the last couple of years.
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  Yeah, I was sitting next to Tony in the press box and I'm
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  like, oh, he sudden when I saw him, he had little a
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  little shake there. You know. Back to Sam Williams Dixon leading the team.
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  He had the benefit of playing late when Thud was put away, and
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  it's like, Okay, we're not going to blow you dead when somebody gets
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  within a halo around you. So you're able to take what would probably be
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  a three yard run in the first quarter of this and turn it into a
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  nine yard run and turned it into a seventeen yard run or whatever, because
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  the defense has to actually bring you down. They don't have to just get
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  in your vicinity just to have it have it ended there. So I think,
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  especially when you look at Williams Dixon, who did not have the second
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  half of his high school season, ran into a transfer eligibility situation with the
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  high school Association, going from West Holmes to pick Brington North. You know,
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  so we only got to see a little of him in his final season
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  of high school football. But I think that well, that's going to be
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  one of the big takeaways. And it's not going to be a Sam Williams
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  Dixon is going to be this or that. It's I need to know more
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  about Sam Williams Stixon. I need to go on more of an exploratory mission
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  to find out what's going to happen. I think we kind of know what
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  the running back rotation is going to be. I guess the question will be
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  is where would PC Caffy be inserted. I think we know it's one in
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  one A with Henderson and Judkins. I think we know that James Peoples is
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  probably going to be year three. I mean, we know that Dallan Hayden
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  is transferring once to Portal and opens up here in a couple of days.
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  But Williams Dixon is a very interesting piece, and you know, he's he's
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  not like Evan Pryor when Evan Pryor came in and he was just still too
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  small his first year and he tried to have a blocking assignment and it went
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  poorly. Yeah, so you know, we'll see and on the other side
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  of the ball, there was you know that you go through the stats and
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  it's just kind of one hundred thousand people with between six and uh, you
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  know, six and two tackles. Basically, c J. Hicks ended up
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  the highest eight tackles. Inky Jones the walk on Safety seven, Sunday Style
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  six, Aaron Scott six. What's interesting to me there is have these guys
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  who, in c J. Hicks and Sunny Styles, came out of high
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  school incredibly highly touted, the coaching staff very high on those. Both of
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  those guys, Both of them are expected to be meaningful caributors. They were
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  out there the whole game. They were out there in the end of the
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  fourth quarter when it was there were a lot of other guys, who know,
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  people were probably reaching for their rosters checking out who is that again?
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  You had those two guys out there. They both felt like they had pretty
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  solid days. Which with the defensive line you feel pretty good about it.
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  The secondary you feel pretty good about it. The linebackers are really the biggest
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  question in terms of the defense. It feels like, I don't know exactly
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  what the answer is going to be, but it feels like the answers on
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  this roster and they've you know, between those guys, Gay Powers, Cody
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  Simon, who didn't play a whole heck of a lot. It feels like
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  there's going to be an answer there, and it's just a matter of how
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  are they going to mix and match those guys. You're not wrong in saying
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  that linebacker is probably the biggest question, But in terms of the size of
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  that question, it's not a big question to me in terms of not thinking
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  that they have the personnel. Yeah, you have to go out there and
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  you have to put the guys, the right guys out there at the right
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  time. So you have to put guys in positions to where they can have
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  success. I mean, there's a lot to it. You just can't wake
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  up and roll yourself out there and here we are and it's going to work
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  of the time. But I do think that Ohio State, while it may
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  not necessarily have somebody who was at the stadium today for ray Kwon McMillan on
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  the roster, in terms of just his visibility and everything else, I think
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  minebacker is going and I come out of this spring practice period and I'm going
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  to go back and I'm gonna watch a spring game. Just because I was
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  working on other things as well, working on recruiting news and things of that
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  nature. I'm sure if those of you are watching now, know that Ohio
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  State picked up two commits during the course of the spring game, getting Nate
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  Roberts the tight end out of Oklahoma and then getting Putty a dad out of
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  saying nacious list as an athlete safety. So I'll be curious to see some
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  things, but i think I'm in a spot of where I'm I'm ready to
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  write stories and go on interviews and say Ohio State defense is going to be
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  just fine. Yeah, Ohio State's defense is going to be very good this
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  year. The offense should be good, could be great. We'll see the
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  you know. The last thing, one young guy who kind of jumped out
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  at me on the defensive side of the ball was defensive end Edward Houston,
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  five star defensive end at of Buford, Georgia. He had a couple plays
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  where he I think he was only credited with one sack, but got in
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  there. Was was very impactful. You saw. You know, he's again
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  he's someone who's you know, if everything goes right, he might be able
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  to move up to fifth on the defensive end rotation by the end of the
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  year. You know, realistically, probably fifth, sixth, something like that.
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  But he's you know, that's just one of those Okay, by all
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  this one away. This is this is not exactly you know, a diamond
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  in the rough here, this is this is a five star prospect. But
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  you saw some early stuff out of him. Any other guys who jumped out
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  at you, you know, other than you know, other than the obvious,
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  like hey, Travian Henderson looks good, or Mecca Abuka is good at
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  football, or beyond that, anyone else that kind of jumped out or not
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  really you see, I certainly would have said Edward Houston. And there's no
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  reason to red shirt somebody like him, because even if he doesn't necessarily get
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  it all put together this year, he's not going to be here three more
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  years beyond his freshman year. He's kind of on that free and done path,
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  and off of a very small sample size. I mean, for somebody
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  who didn't see any run last year. You know, I'm kind of coupling
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  this with what I saw on Friday's practice. It all runs together. I
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  think Bryson Rodgers, the wide receiver, has done some things to really show
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  why he needs to be in that rotation. Cause you've gotten in a portal
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  things didn't he didn't necessarily find a situation of something that may have been a
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  better path for him, and Ohio State didn't have to bring him back,
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  but Io State certain saw what was there. I certainly seen Bryson participate in
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  high school football. I've always felt that he is really good, And you
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  know, I guess I'll stay on offense because it's just I think it's easiest
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  to run with offense because a lot of their results are very tangible. But
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  I think that I think I'm even more impressed with James People's now than I
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  was was was beforehand, and I was already very high on his stock.
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  He is not you know, he's not the tallest back in the world,
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  but no, we're not talking about a Nick McCarty six seven eighty type of
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  running back. But you know, James People's I think is going to be
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  a very nice complimentary piece to Trevion Benham. So we have plenty more coverage
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  of recruiting fallout from this weekend. It was a very busy recruiting weekend.
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  Two commitments already, as Kevin said, would be more on the way in
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  the coming days and weeks. We'll be following all that for you at Bucky
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  Huddle dot Com. We'll also be following all the developments for the team,
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  undoubtedly transfer portal in and out at some point for someone in the coming days
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  and weeks. Will be following all of that, plus much more with the
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  breaking down what we learned during the spring game, what we've learned during spring
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  practice. Who may have changed their spot on the too deep more than anyone
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  else. We'll be talking about all that stuff at bucke Huddle dot com,
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  at YouTube dot com splash Buckeye Huddle. We hope to see both of those
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  places make curis you or yours? Make sure you are subscribed in both of
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  those places as well that bell on YouTube so you get notified when we go
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  live post new content. Find all that stuff and more Buckey Huddle dot com
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  and YouTube dot com slashukuy Huddle. That'll do it for today. Thank you
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  guys all for joining us. Have a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.