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Is Ohio State About To Land The Greatest Defensive Back Class Ever? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to buck Eyes tomorrow morning for Friday, February second. I'm your host,
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  Tom Moore. The Akron game in two hundred and eleven days, the
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  game against Michigan in three hundred and two days. There's been a lot of
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  good news for Ohio State over the last month or so, especially on the
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  recruiting front, and there could potentially be more coming for the Buckeyes at some
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  point. Steve Wolpong, the well known two four to seven national recruiting analysts,
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  put in a crystal ball for the Buckeyes to land. Naim offered,
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  he is the number one cornerback in the twenty twenty five class in the two
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  four to seven deposit, and he would be if he did join the Ohio
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  State class, just the latest in what could be one of, if not
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  the greatest defensive back classes in the history of college football. There I said
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  it out loud. Now I'm gonna let Mark Givler of buckehetdle dot com tell
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  me if I'm completely nuts, Mark, I guess. First of all,
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  they've currently got Devin Sanchez, who's the number two cornerback in the class committed.
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  They have Blake would be who's currently the number ten cornerback in the las
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  US committed. They have Dorian Brew, who's the number four cornerback in the
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  class, at least strongly interested in them. Now you're talking about name offered,
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  who's the number one cornerback in the class. We're not even We'll set
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  the safeties aside for a minute. First of all, is it even realistic
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  to take four corners that highly rated? Could you? Could you convince four
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  guys that highly rated to sign up for the same class all at the same
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  time. Yeah, I mean I think you could, because I think Dorian
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  Brew is probably the most likely of the four you've mentioned to end up at
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  safety, and I think there's kind of been some talk with him about being
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  kind of that flex guy, that Jordan Hancock type of role. So I
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  think you could make it work. Certainly, Ohio State would make it work,
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  you know. The question, Yeah, The question I think would then
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  be how does everybody kind of react to that once all of the pieces are
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  in place, do they eventually, you know, six months from now,
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  maybe lose somebody. Maybe a better situation comes up for somebody and they kind
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  of realize, Hey, maybe I don't want to be want part of this
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  like six seven defensive that class. Maybe I'll go be the number one guy
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  at some other top ten programs. So I mean, I think that would
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  be a concern, but ultimately Ohio State would make it work. And ultimately
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  I think they could, you know, kind of configure the pieces together because
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  I do think Dorian Brew is likely to move to safety in college. All
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  four of these guys are from outside of Ohio. Dorian Brew obviously has strong
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  family ties to Ohio, lifting Ohio recently he's down in Texas now, so
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  it's Devin Sanchez offerds down in Alabama like would be is in Maryland. So
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  this is not last year where you had Bryce West and Aaron Scott to in
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  state guys and you could feel pretty good about you know, hey they're in.
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  Once they're in, you feel pretty good about the fact they're going to
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  stay in. You know, this is we are, as you said,
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  I mean, eight months at this point, no, ten months, goodness,
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  ten months away from early signing day, so you know, there is
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  a long way to go, and only two of these guys are even currently
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  committed. But this is this is I always met the twenty what is it
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  seventeen? The class with Sean Wade and Jeff o'cudah as the best corner class
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  in Ohio state history. It feels like you could get three of these four
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  guys and be in that conversation. Yeah, I mean I would. I
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  would say if they do get three of those four guys, I would probably
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  rank it ahead of that twenty seventeen class, even if it's not offered,
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  even if it's you know, just Dorian Brew and the two they've got already,
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  I think you could certainly make a case there. I think Devin Sanchez
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  is right there as a Jeff Okudah type of caliber prospect. I think,
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  you know, a top ten player in the country type of prospect. And
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  I think you know Blake would be is a better prospect coming out than than
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  Marcus Williamson was in that class. And Dorian Brew, I think is at
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  least in the In the discussion with Sean Wade, I think that's an interesting
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  kind of comparison there. I think actually they compare quite closely in terms of
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  their games and everything else. And we know On obviously ended up playing safety
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  by the time it was all said and done with his football career, So
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  yeah, I think that's a. It's certainly a possibility. It's it's it's
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  it's a good possibility right now actually, and it's it's exciting if you're if
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  you're an Ohio State fan to kind of watch the progression of this secondary under
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  Tim Walton and I mentioned Steve Wilfong off the top of the show because he's
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  someone who just is sort of known nationally as when he puts some puts in
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  a prediction on someone, it's something that moves the needle with other people.
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  And it also is you know, hey, we're not just making this up
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  just to give you a big, splashy headline. We're really legitimately asking this
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  question. What are you hearing on the name offered front? Is that you
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  know? Is that an imminent thing? Is that a keep an eye on
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  a thing? What are you hearing about the potential for that recruitment? Yeah,
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  So he's expected back on campus this weekend, will be a second trip
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  in the last like month and a half. I think so that's eye opening.
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  It's certainly interesting. That doesn't happen very often for a lot of kids
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  from the South, especially kid from Alabama. I think I'm kind of preaching
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  cautious optimism here right now, because there's a lot that can change over the
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  course of this recruiting process. But I think right now there are some conditions
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  in place that would make this go from like a pipe dream to an actual
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  possibility. Obviously, the two biggest things right now Auburn's kind of in a
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  weird place right now, new defensive coordinator, like and it was kind of
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  a controversial hire with Dj Diurkin. They're not winning a lot right now.
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  Alabama just loses Nick Saban. That's a huge thing. I think that's honestly,
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  I think that's the thing that has maybe opened this up to being a
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  possibility for Ohio State. So there are the conditions there, and of course
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  Ohio State what they're doing on the field, what Tim Walt was doing with
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  the corners, So the conditions are right for an unusual situation to go in
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  Ohio State's favor here. They just don't get kids out of Alabama. They
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  just flat out do not out of high school. They just don't. So
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  everything's kind of fallen a certain way for Ohio State to make this like,
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  Hey, this could happen. I still have people kind of tell me like
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  I don't know, like we'll see and not not just like we'll see what
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  he does in the short term, but like, hey, even if something
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  happens for Ohio State here in the next couple of weeks, like hey,
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  don't don't put this one in maybe the same ink you would put this like
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  Batavian Saint Clair commitment, and let's let's like that's like an early like hey,
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  they lead now type of situation. So I'm a little more cautious on
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  this one. I think that maybe than maybe some people are right now,
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  but it's definitely in the realm of possibility and something you would have laughed at
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  I think six months ago. Well, we've talked in the past about how
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  Ohio State can sort of situationally take advantage of certain regional things. So when
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  Texas has sort of fallen apart, they went down to Texas and they got
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  me. We mentioned Jeff o'cuda earlier, but they got JK. Dobbins out
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  of there, they got Garret Wilson out of there, they got Jackson's been
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  a jigba out of there. There was in the sort of Mark ricked era.
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  They did the same thing in Georgia and Ray Kwan McMillan and Von Bell
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  and all sorts of guys like that. This is a you know, Alabama
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  has been all caps Alabama since about two thousand and eight. Now for the
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  first time, you've got a little bit of uncertainty. They've obviously taken advantage
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  of that in the portal with Julian's saying and Caleb downs. You know,
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  this is a rather unique opportunity and the window may be somewhat small, but
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  they may have the opportunity to do something like like the Texas thing, like
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  the Georgia thing. They may have an opportunity to do something like that here.
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  Yeah, that's certainly what their hope is. I mean, you've got
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  you've got offered, You've got Micah Debo's down there and Mobile who is an
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  Ohio native but has kind of becom ingrained in the Deep South since he's moved
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  since he's been down there. So you're hoping you can kind of play that
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  one thing. We just don't know yet, and this, you know,
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  this doesn't necessarily impact what happens in the next few weeks, but it impacts
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  what happens, you know, in December, which is what is Alabama going
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  to look like this fall? Because Obviously, like if Kalin Debor loses,
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  even if he loses like three games, he doesn't have to go like seven
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  and five or something like that. But if he loses like three games in
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  the fall, I think there's gonna be a lot of people who take a
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  step back, recruits and such that say, look, this is not the
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  same Alabama, and so that may help you hold on to guy. If
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  you do get someone like the heam offered, that may help you hold on
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  to a guy like that. On the other hand, if he kind of
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  keeps things rolling and they he can go to a recruit and say, look,
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  you know we lost these guys at the portal, but look we still
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  went a left than one, and now we've got all this playing time that
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  could draw kids who kind of rode Alabama off, could draw them back in.
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  So I think a lot will depend. I think a huge domino in
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  this entire national landscape this year will be how Kalen Divor's first year goes at
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  Alabama. I really think that so in Ohio state will be affected by that
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  just because of it, not just recruiting Alabama, but recruiting kids from Atlanta
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  and so in Florida. Like this will This will affect Ohio State in a
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  number of states, will affect a number of top programs. But yes,
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  the conditions are such right now that there is a slim, kind of small
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  window of opportunity here that Ohio State is going to try and cash in on.
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  Cornerback is not the only place that they have some pretty significant irons in
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  the fire here. We got to move back to the safety spot. And
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  you know, we'll see if Dorian brew and if he commits and if he
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  ends up there. But they're in a couple other really really highly ranked safeties
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  as well. For him to laying the number one safety in the nation out
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  of Maryland, Trey McNutt the number four safety in the nation, son of
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  legendary McNutt for Heisman Richard McNutt, who boy in the era of NFL and
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  NIL would have done quite well for himself and now his son could be in
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  that legacy as well. So where where do you think Ohio State stands with
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  one or both of those I mean, what are the odds that land over
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  under give me over under one and a half of those guys end up in
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  the class here today? I would probably say over I think they're getting Tray
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  mc nutt. But that that's one I'm I'm pretty confident they're getting Tray McNutt
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  right now. I'm in the top two with Delayanne. It's Ohio Stton Oregon
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  right now. Is that going to be the end of it and that's it
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  and it's just a hive state and organ No, I don't think so.
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  I think that's that kid is a he is a special safety. I think
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  a lot of teams are going to make their pitches to him over the next
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  six to eight months. But they, you know, the Perioliano departure kind
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  of like I think caught them off guard. But they have immediately cleaned that
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  up. Been just aggressive, constant communication with Fahim since kind of the staff
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  shakeup. I think they're doing a great job there. He's close with Blake
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  would be I know, Devin Sanchez is starting to work that thing, and
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  so they're starting to all kind of talk, hey, let's build the secondary
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  together. And so I would give a Hio State the slight edge over Oregon
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  right now. So I would give it, you know, if it's if
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  it's you know, they're gonna get McNutt, and then it's maybe greater than
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  fifty percent they're going to get Delane right now, so that that would be
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  my take on this, So I would I would lean toward the over knowing
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  that Delane is not going to just be a quiet thing here. No matter
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  what happens in the next couple of months, that's gonna be one you've got
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  to protect all the way. Finally, I just wanted to kind of hit
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  on this a little bit because they've had a ton of success in recruiting in
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  the secondary, and you know, everyone in Michigan wants to say, well,
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  they're just buying the players, and I think the folks in Columbus want
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  to tell you that Tim Walton is doing an incredible job. But you're also
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  you, I think now have success to point to which with you know,
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  the secondary last year was pretty darn good. You got just about everyone back.
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  You add Caleb Downs to that mix, this should be a pretty darn
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  good secondary again. Denzel Burke is probably in a pretty good spot NFL wise.
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  A year from now, we'll see, you know, Jordan Hancock could
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  be in a pretty good spot. Minosen. You know, Caleb Downs could
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  be two years away from being in a pretty good spot. I mean,
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  you've got a lot of guys who could be, you know, standing up
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  there shaking Roger Goodell's hand relatively early in the draft process. So how much
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  of the success right now and the general positive trend in the secondary is nil
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  versus Tim Walton versus on field success versus development success? Like, how do
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  you stack all those things together? Yeah? I think the number one thing
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  is the on field success. I think the number two is Tim Walton.
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  I think number three's nil. I think certainly Ohio State has made efforts to
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  better streamline the NF the NIL process. The collectives have done a good job
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  with that. I think, you know, look, I I downplayed that
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  OHISTI was losing every every kid they lost was nil for a year and a
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  half, and it got it got very annoying. And now it's kind of
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  swung into another equally annoying direction, which is, oh, they're just buying
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  everybody. Well, neither of those things was ever true. So what happened?
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  What has happened on the field with the secondary the last year or two
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  under Tim Walton has been the biggest thing. In fact, like if Caleb
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  Downs was coming out of high school in twenty four or twenty five, he
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  would go to Ohio State. That's where he wanted to go the first time,
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  but he could. There was no he was He was deciding between the
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  absolute train wreck of a secondary Ohio State to put on the field the previous
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  two years and Nick Saban and that was just that was just too much for
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  Ohio State to overcome. At the end of the day, if Downs had
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  two years of the data we have now on Tim Walton and what they've done
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  with the secondary, he would have committed to Ohio State in high school.
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  So that's why it's the biggest thing. That for me is why the biggest
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  thing is what they've done on the field. That's what Devin Sanchez saw.
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  And then again the second thing is Tim Walton is doing a great job of
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  developing building relationships. But he did a great job of that the first time
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  around with Downs and didn't get him until he was able to show him on
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  the field what they're doing well. The twenty twenty three Ohio State secondary was
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  pretty darn good. Twenty twenty four seems like it's trending towards to be better,
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  and boy twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six, this could be a
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  pretty interesting pretty interesting Ohio State secondary moving forward as well, and they're pretty
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  darn good at some other spots as well. So, boy, is this
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  shaping up to be an interesting year in Ohio State football, Ohio State recruiting,
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  Ohio State transfer portaling Ohio State everything else and a great place to join
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  us to talk about all of that stuffs at bucke Huddle dot com. Tony,
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  Kevin and I covering the team, Mark covering recruiting, a our full
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  team of exes, and those gurus making you a smarter football fan. Lively
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