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4 Things We Learned About Ohio State's Top-Rated Players In EA Sports College Football · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Friday, July twelfth, them your host Tom
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  Moore, The Akron game in fifty days. Yes, that means tomorrow it
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  will be seven weeks till the Akron game, the game against Michigan in one
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  hundred and forty days. Yes, that means tomorrow it will be twenty weeks
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  until the Michigan game. It's getting here. Season's getting here. One thing
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  that will help you spend the time between now and the kickoff off the a
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  Akron game is the release of the new EA Sports College Football game. The
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  official release date July nineteenth, which is, yes, one day, one
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  week from today. However, Matt Brown of the Extra Points newsletter, who
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  has been really really plugged in on this stuff, reported last week or early
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  this week that the early access period of the game for the people that pay
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  a little bit extra for the bulked up package, that is, as he
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  understands it, going to be July fifteenth at four o'clock PM Eastern. So
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  that's getting right around the corner. Just get through the weekend and the game
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  will be here. So today we're gonna be talking a little bit about what
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  we've learned about the game and what we've learned about some of the ratings for
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  the Ohio State players. The highest ranked Ohio State players in the game.
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  They released the top one hundred players rated in the game, and eight of
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  them are Buckeyes. From you're talking about that as well as a few players
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  on the other side of the Greatest Rivalry and old sports. We're you doing
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  that with Tony Gerdaman Buckeyehuddle dot com. Tony, the first thing I saw
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  when I looked at the list of Ohio State players was the top two rated
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  players who were Buckeyes. Neither of them was on the team last year.
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  Neither of them is Jeremiah Smith. That for a team that has as much
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  talent returning as they do, is really pretty intriguing to me and also tells
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  me just how successful they were in the transfer portal this last offseason. Yeah,
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  not that we needed a video game to make that known to us,
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  but yeah, two guys that weren't on a team, two guys that at
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  this time last year weren't really in the mind frame of any Ohio State person.
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  And you know, maybe some were still suffering the burns from losing Caleb
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  Downs and recruiting but yeah, I mean, we've seen so many people touting
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  a lot of other teams for the amount of work that they've done in the
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  portal. I think again Ohio State's effectiveness. We'll see it more on the
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  field, obviously, but this is another reminder that they went and found guys
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  that they felt could help, and the video game people agree. Yeah,
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  Caleb Downs rated a ninety five gwin Shawn Judkins rated a ninety five. So
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  those are two very big additions to this year's Ohio State team, both when
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  you are playing on your Xbox or PS five and also when Ryan Day is
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  playing on the field at Ohio Stadium a little later on this fall. So
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  those are your two highest rated buck guys. Next two guys both rated a
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  ninety three a Mecca Abuka and Trevion Henderson. And it's interesting because this is
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  one of these things where I feel like Trivian Henderson is almost a little bit
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  forgotten in some ways by Buckeye fans or a little bit overlooked or underrated in
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  some way, and Meca book At probably kind of the same where they've both
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  had you know, they were both were banged up at times last year,
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  didn't have the full season. Now you have the new shiny thing coming in
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  in terms of quin Shawn Judkins as a running back, you get Jeremiah Smith
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  as a wide receiver, got karonel Tate. There's a bunch of talent in
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  that wide receiver room, and it feels like those are two guys who are
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  maybe just a little bit overlooked or underrated by, you know, at least
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  the segment of the Ohio State fan base, but getting the recognition via EA
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  here. Yeah, the not familiarity breeds contempt, but familiarity breeds you know,
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  complacency, boredom, complacency as very very good. And you look at
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  Travon Henderson. Just scanning through the ratings right now, I believe they have
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  him as the fastest running back among at least the top one hundred, because
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  all we know are the top one hundred, so you know, they have
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  him listed as the ninety four speed time, which as we know, is
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  pretty pretty fast, and it equates to about a ten to six to one
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  hundre meters virtually, Just so you know, I've done that math in my
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  head. I think it's interesting. In Mecca Abuka, they have n't listed
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  as a ninety eight awareness. I don't know what you got to do for
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  ninety nine. At some point, is this like the no first ballot Hall
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  of Famers in baseball, where we're not giving anybody a ninety nine on nothing,
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  but clearly two guys that are in line for big seasons for Ohio State.
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  Two guys who are honestly two of the most unselfish offensive stars we've seen
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  come through Ohio State in a while. Travion Henderson signed in a class with
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  another running back, has been more than willing to share carries with Miyan Williams
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  or Dylan Hayden or whoever else. A Mecca Abuka. I remember talking to
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  him last year about missing time and I asked him, are you focused on
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  like catching up making up for lost time? He's like, no, I
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  just want to win. And this is a guy that was looking at being
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  a first round draft pick back in April and that didn't happen because of injuries.
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  But he has stayed the course and too just really really unselfish guys will
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  do whatever it takes to win. And I think that's why I has some
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  very good qualities throughout all of their ranking, their ratings, and coaches kind
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  of the coach's dream aspect of players right there. Both of those guys were
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  either five stars or very very high four stars depending on who you asked in
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  the rate in the recruiting world when they came out of high school. Now
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  both going into their final season as buck Eyes. That is also true of
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  Jack Sawyer and Donovan Jackson, the next two guys on the list. Sawyer
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  rated in ninety two, Donovan Jackson a ninety one. Those you know,
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  Jack Sawyer is kind of in that same boat with a lot of the stuff
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  you just said about AMCA BOOKA. He was kind of viewed as one of
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  the ring leaders in terms of making the decision to come back and then you
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  know, making sure a lot of other guys joined him in that decision to
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  come back. And Donovan Jackson, just Donovan Jackson feels like another guy who's
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  had you know, the really steady, not you know, not a huge
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  spotlight guy, but just a really steady, solid career as a buck Eye.
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  It's you know, it's nice to see him get some recognition here.
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  And you know, the way Jack Sawyer came on at the end of last
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  season, it feels like maybe if they were making these ratings in October of
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  last year. Maybe Jack Sawyer is not on this list, and if Jack
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  Sawyer continues playing the way he did towards the end of last season, Jack
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  Sawyer might be how you know, severally spots higher on this list if he
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  can continue that this fall. Well. I think it's also interesting that he
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  is listed here and J. T. Twey Mulloile is not. And when
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  we're talking about the top one hundred players, he didn't have him in that
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  top one hundred, and he has gotten much more attention than Jack Sawyer over
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  the years. But I think the way Jack Sawyer closed it out has been
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  instrumental in the hype and the attention, which is also the case for one
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  of the players on the cover, which we could talk about in a little
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  bit. But again another another one in awareness of ninety seven, and I
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  wouldn't disagree with that. He's been asked to do many different things at Ohio
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  State has been solid every year. Donovan Jackson one of those guys where may
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  not be a superstar, but he's all big ten and on the offensive line,
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  you're not gonna be necessarily You're not always going to get a Paris Johnson
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  or certainly not at a pace. But if you can just get a guy
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  who's not a problem and as good, I think you take those guys all
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  the time as well. Yeah, no, no, no question. It's
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  you know, mid interior offensive linemen a lot of times are a little bit
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  like long snappers to me, where if you don't notice them, they're probably
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  doing a really good job. And it feels like there have been long stretches
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  where you've not necessarily noticed Donovan Jackson, which means he's probably doing his job
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  pretty darn well on the interior that offensive line. One guy who we definitely
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  always notice and who we were delighted to notice on the in interviews over the
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  over the course of years is our favorite interview subject, Denzel Burke. Interview
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  quality is not one of the ratings that THEA Sports lists, however, he
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  is always always a great interview but also really really elite corner. Someone who
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  jumped out to a very fast start to his career. He was just an
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  immediate impact guy as a true freshman that was a little bit of a surprise.
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  Has continued to improve over the course of his career. Heilick Williams another
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  guy who flashed early and has now really come on really strong at the end
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  of his career. You know, you look at this list and Caleb Downs,
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  Jack Sawyer at Denzel Burke, Tyler Williams. That is the core of
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  a very very good defense. Whether you're playing a video game or you're playing
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  in real life. You got a pretty good defensive line. You got a
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  pretty good secondary that is going to go a long way this fall, you'd
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  think, whether you know, for players at home and players on the field
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  at Ohio Stateium, Yeah, and for players of the video game. I'm
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  looking at Tyler Williams with the speed of seventy six, acceleration of eighty eight,
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  strength from ninety four, I am thinking short, short yardage package,
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  give him the ball. See if you can't maybe move the lineup around,
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  get him involved. You don't necessarily have to get him outside, although you
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  know seventy six he'll be able to get the corner on some teams. I
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  think that's interesting. And you know, we've said it all about Denzel Bergs.
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  I don't know, I don't necessarily need to say anymore. But he's
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  just been a very complete player for a long time, has recognized when he's
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  had struggles and has talked about it, but also recognizes when he's doing very
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  well and has talked about it, And so that covers the Ohio state side
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  of things. Did want to touch on a couple names from Michigan that we're
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  rather noteworthy. One of them is the top overall rated player in the game.
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  That is corner Will Johnston Johnson. He is one of three players rated
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  at a ninety six but considered the number one overall player in the game.
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  And before we get to the cover boy next, I just want to say,
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  yeah, I have no problem with Bill Johnson making the top overall player
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  in the game that you know, I mean that that seems like one that's
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  like, you know, you kind of go, yeah, sure, that
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  that seems about right. Yeah, I mean it's got to be somebody.
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  But when it's I saw that, and it's like, yeah, I'm not
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  gonna complain about it, because if you get if you're get to complain about
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  it, then you're gonna say, well, who should it be? It's
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  like, well, I mean watch Bill Johnson and tell me how many better
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  players there are than him in big games, in regular games. When was
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  the last time you saw him have a bad moment. He's he's very very
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  good. He's very very consistent. And you know, these are all projections,
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  So I'm not gonna get upset about somebody projecting Will Johnson to be really
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  really, really really good, because he's He's at least three of those realies
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  and perhaps the fourth Mason Graham the second highest rated Michigan player at a ninety
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  five, Colston Loveland at a ninety two, and then Tony at a ninety
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  one. Cow's the cover boy Donovan Edwards. When they announced him on the
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  as the cover boy for and you know, one of three players on the
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  cover of the game, along with Travis Hunter and Quinn Ewers, I think
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  there was a broad reaction of huh, why why, why would why would
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  you pick him? Why? You know, he doesn't seem like he's the
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  best player on his team, doesn't seem like he's the best running back in
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  the even in his conference, and it was you thought, Okay, well,
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  what are the ratings going to be? Are they really going to juice
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  his ratings because he's on the cover and he's in ninety one. So on
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  a team with one returning starter, he is the on offense, he is
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  the second highest rated player on his offense, he would be the third highest
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  rated running back in the Ohio on the Ohio State team. I looked at
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  those ratings and well, yeah, okay, that's that's probably about where I
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  would have had him. I'm still a little confused on why he's on the
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  cover, but you know, maybe maybe Will Johnson said, no, I
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  don't know that that feels that still feels a little weird to me. But
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  uh, you know, I this this feels about like where I would probably
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  have guessed he would be. Yeah, I think he's listed as the number
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  forty nine overall player, and I think quhen Yours is like twenty seven,
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  which is surprising because of the attention that he receives. But yeah, I
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  mean when you when you look at his numbers last year and he carried them
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  all fourteen times in the in the postseason, and it's like, boy,
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  that's that's not a lot for a cover guy. Now he's gonna carry it
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  a bunch more this year. But I think that you've got a national championship
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  player, So that alone is something worth noting. Like you're gonna have to
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  have somebody they wanted somebody from Michigan who do you get. You can't go
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  to the quarterback. You could you probably go to the running back over Will
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  Johnson because people know offense more than they know defense, and so you know,
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  it makes sense in that way. It's a I think it's still a
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  little bit of an odd choice, but again one that is as much about
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  projection as anything. Even though always in the past you couldn't have current players,
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  it was old players, so it was what they've done. But now
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  also there's the tradition of having Michigan football players on the cover. I think
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  Desmond's done it. Dinard Robinson was the last cover boy, and so maybe
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  there's a little homage to that there as well. Well. That new game
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  again, according to Matt Brown of the Extra Points News later the early access
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  period starting July fifteenth at four o'clock PM Eastern times, So you can look
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  forward to that early next week, you can look forward to the full release
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  at the end of that next week, and then after that you can look
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  forward to start a Big ten Media Days and the unofficial start of the college
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  football calendar that season. Right around the corner, Tony Kevin and I will
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  be in Indianapolis four Big Ten Media Days We'll have plenty of stuff to talk
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  about, including I'm sure plenty about the EA Sports game and of course the
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  actual games on the field as well. Those are pretty fun. We like
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  those. We will be there to talk about all that stuff. At puckehaddle
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  dot com. That's where Tony Vin and I cover the team, Mark covers
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  recruiting. We had our whole team of x's and o'sgurus making you a smarter
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  football fan. We're gonna have some ex's and ose shows coming up here very
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  soon next week and look forward to that. That is all at buckehuddle dot
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  com. We hope to see you there. That'll do it for today.
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  Thank you guys all for joining us. Have a great day, have a
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  great weekend. We'll talk John Monday.