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Ohio State Spring Football: 7 Key Positional Battles To Watch · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Wednesday, February twenty eighth, I'm your host,
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  tom Or the Akron game in one hundred and eighty five days, the
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  game against Michigan in two hundred and seventy six days, the start of spring
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  practice in six days, and today we're gonna be talking about some of the
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  positional battles that are gonna be going on during the spring, and where we
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  think things might stand going into the spring, and where we think they might
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  stand coming out of the spring. Really, just here's some of the interesting
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  stuff to watch. And there are fewer really truly compelling positional battles this year
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  than maybe in a typical year, and that is a good thing because they
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  have a lot of returning starters this year. That also is a good thing.
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  But we're gonna talk about some of the places where there's a little more
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  uncertainty on that depth. Start. We're be doing it with Tony Garterman if
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  fuck ihable dot com. Tony. We're talking about seven positional battles, but
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  there's three of them that are kind of like a combination. But we're gonna
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  start with one that everyone always wants to start with, quarterback. There's only
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  gonna be one starting quarterback this year, and Ohio State has as deep and
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  talented a quarterback room as I can really remember them having in terms of number
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  of five Stars and number of veterans and really talented players and all that said,
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  I kind of feel like I have a decent sense where this one is
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  going. Yeah, when you're bringing in a guy who started at least three
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  games throughout his four years at Kansas State and Will Howard was the full time
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  starter last year, a lot of these guys, like when Ryan Day talks
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  about Kaylen Downs, KYLEM. Downs didn't come to Ohio State to sit the
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  bench. Will Howard didn't come to Ohio State to sit the bench. But
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  you still have to win the job. And this is going to be a
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  new offense. We've talked in the past about quarterbacks saying it takes a year
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  at least a year to learn Ryan Day's offense. That may be true,
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  but it's also dependent upon the competition. Is dependent upon who are you competing
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  against. Because Justin Fields won the job in the span of about well,
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  he was name starter sometime in August, but wink wink, nod, nod,
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  he was the starter before then. So you've got Devin Brown, who
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  has now been in this offense for a while. This is going to be
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  on his third spring games, so there's third spring camp. So he's been
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  here in it for over two years and that's quite a head start, and
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  so now it's up to Will Howard to catch up and see if he can.
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  But you know, there are different ways to catch up, and whether
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  it's in the weight room or the team leadership or understanding of the offense,
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  or it's simply just as we'll see in the spring, the execution of the
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  throws in the offense, because ultimately that's what's going to win it out is
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  who makes the first downs, who keeps the change moving, who doesn't turn
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  the ball over. It's nice to be face first in the playbook or everybody's
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  rooting you on in the weight room, but once you're out there on the
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  practice field because there are no games, so you've got to decide who's going
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  to start based on the practices and if you're whoever is most effective running the
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  offense will win the job. And so, yes, Devin Brown has a
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  huge head start, but really, how much experience has that has started given
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  him based on gameplay, and so Will Howard has played in many more games
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  than Devin Brown has, just been with a different program. So it will
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  be interesting to see because I think Devin Brown also has to catch up just
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  in the experience factor. So like they're all they're both racing the same race,
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  but maybe on different tracks. Yeah, it does feel like Devin Brown
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  has so much more practice experience, but just because of injuries and losing the
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  starting job to Call m accord last year, he just doesn't have a ton
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  of on field experience. So how much of a head start does he have
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  on Will Howard? Well that that sort of feels like. The answer is
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  it depends. And there's a similar dynamic going on at the center position,
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  where we're I'm kind of combining center and right guard in here, which is
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  weird because they only have technically one open spot. They have four turning starters
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  in the offensive line, but we're really talking about two offensive line positional battle
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  center and right guard. We're gonna kind of lump them together here. The
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  dynamic is a little bit the same at the center position as at the quarterback
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  position, because you have a guy Carson Hinzman who started all of last year
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  for Ohio State and but was younger and was not you know, had some
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  ups and down certainly. And then you bring in Seth McLaughlin, who,
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  much like Will Howard, is a multi year you know, multi year starter
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  long you know, lots and lots of snaps at a Power five program.
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  McLauchlan coming from Alabama instead of Kansas State. And then you have the open
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  right guard spot with Matthew Jones leaving, and so now you've got two open
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  ish positions unless Carson Hinzman wins back his starting job. But I think those
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  two positions are kind of linked in my mind because it feels like you could
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  end up solving the right guard position by moving one of the centers over there.
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  You could end up solving the right guard position by moving one of the
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  tackles over there. There's a lot of different ways. Or you could keep
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  everyone where they were and bring in someone else entirely. So it just feels
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  like there's a lot of different ways this could go. Yeah, you know
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  how I'll put on the message board a buckehead a message board my too deep
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  for positionally and initially my initial indititional two deep. Once all of the transfers
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  came in. I had at center Seth McLaughlan and Carson Hinsman as an or
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  basically one of these two guys. And Buddy ross Fulton was like, first
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  off, they brought in a center. They brought they went to the portal
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  and brought in a starting center. Second off, they didn't play Carson Hinsman
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  into ballgame. Do those two Add those two things up, and that should
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  tell you who's going to win the center job. And I was like,
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  well, you didn't have to do this to me in public. You could
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  have just texted me. You didn't have to put this on the message board.
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  So that's one thing. But it makes complete sense that they went out
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  and got a starting center, a center with starting So there are some concerns
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  there and the bowl game where Carson Hinsman started every single game as a red
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  shirt freshman last year in the regular season, and generally if you've got a
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  red shirt freshman starting at center, it's not ideal. But also if you've
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  got somebody that young is starting on the offensive line, that generally means good
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  things down the road. And so which leads me to wonder, I'm fascinated
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  to see when we get the spring practice on Tuesday, where exactly is Carson
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  Hinzman warming up, where is he lining up? And is he still like
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  the number one center so that he can just lead the way for now or
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  is he at right guard because he has that experience and we've seen it all
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  the time. Centers can move to guard, guards can move to center.
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  That interior stuff, there's a lot of malleyability there, so I'm really interested
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  to see what happens there. And then, of course the other thing that
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  gets thrown in here, Ryan Day talking about maybe Josh Friar starting right tackle
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  getting a look at right guard, So then Tom, what what happens at
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  right tack? That's maybe a topic for another day, but there are some
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  issues to be worked out. I'm gonna go ahead and I have removed the
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  ore from seth McLaughlin. I have him as the starting center. I'm I'm
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  wondering what happens with Carson Hintsman like everybody else, and that that also,
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  if you're looking for your top five guys, and Justin Fier will be looking
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  for his top five guys. If one of those five guys isn't a guy
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  who started twelve games last year, then that seems to be an improvement,
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  you know what I'm saying, Like, if Tager Shamola is one of their
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  top five guys or Luke Montgomery is one of their top five guys, that
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  would seem to indicate the floor is continued to be raised. Yeah, I
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  would agree with that, And you also assume all the guys who are coming
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  back are probably going to be at least a little bit better than they were
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  last year. So yeah, it does feel like there's you know, going
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  from two returning starters to four returning starters on the offensive line and also adding
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  someone like Seth McLaughlin and having a bunch of different pieces, whether it's Taker
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  Shapola you mentioned or movie Josh Fryer inside and putting Montyomery at the tackle position.
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  There's just there's a lot of different options there, Carson Hinzman, as
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  you mentioned, So yeah, there are a lot of different opportunities there for
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  them to find that best five. And that's that's what this is this time
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  of year is all about, is just taking a look at everyone. I'm
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  gonna guess we're going to see lots and lots of combinations of offensive line,
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  you know, first team offensive lines, during the course of the spring.
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  Sometimes you get kind of the same five all spring and it's like, oh,
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  that's an open battle. It's like, is it really? It feels
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  like this is probably a year when you're going to see four or five different
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  combinations at least on that offensive line with running with the ones for some you
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  know, significant number of reps. So we'll see how that all shakes out.
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  Wide receiver another spot where you know, normally you'd look at the wide
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  receiver spot and go, well, they lost Marvin Harrison, who's going to
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  be a top five NFL pick, they lost the former number one player in
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  the entire country, Julian Fleming transferred to Penn State, lost to Xavier Johnson,
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  who is a longtime Contrybut in that room, normally, I think you
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  would look at that and go, boy, real young wide receiver room.
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  Lots of questions there. Yeah, there's two wide receiver positions open. I
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  don't think anyone's particularly worried, though, So how do you think that you
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  know, I don't know that there's a guarantee that it's gonna like it's gonna
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  be these two guys and these are going to be your three starters all season
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  long. I don't think it's necessarily that, but it feels like there are
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  so many good possible answers there that no one's all that worried about what the
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  actual final answer is going to be. Yeah, I don't think anybody's going
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  to be crying for the Ohio state wide receiver situation, certainly not nationally and
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  probably not locally as a bunch of people just want to see the next young
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  five star guy. But because of a Mecca a Buka's injury last year,
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  he missed three games, so Wyo State did lose their top two players,
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  their top two guys with the most snaps among the receivers, and Harrison and
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  Fleming. And I'm still interested to see where a Mecca Abuca is lining up
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  because we know Brian Hartline. Everybody learns every position, and you'll move guys
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  around to find matchups that you like. In a game, they moved Marvin
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  Harrison into the slot. He's not your typical slot receiver, but we're seeing
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  that more and more in the NFL and in college. These standard typical outside
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  receivers are now being moved inside with to get them on safeties and find favorable
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  matchups. So it's almost getting difficult to say, Okay, you are the
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  starting slot receiver, you are the starting X, you are the starting Z.
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  Just looking at a Mecca Abuka snaps last year, over two thirds of
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  his snap still came out of the slot. I wonder if that would have
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  been closer to even if he had been playing, if he had played all
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  thirteen games, because Marvin Harrison did take some of those snaps in the slot.
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  So I think it's almost like you just throw out the labels. We
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  know Mecha Abuca is starting, I do leave Carnell Tate is starting. He
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  played the I think the fourth but he played more snaps than Xavier Johnson did
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  last year. So then to me, it just comes down to who is
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  that next guy. Is it is that Jaden Ballard, Is it Brandon Ennis.
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  I'll let somebody else talk about Jeremiah Smith, because that's gonna be a
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  legitimate question, and that's gonna be the one of the things that we were
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  we're gonna be talking about, we're gonna be writing about, we're gonna be
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  taking pictures, doing video. I do wonder if he is going to be
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  one of those guys like a not the clickbait stuff because I don't want to
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  cheapen it. But when you write about him, or you talk about him,
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  or you tweet about him, it gets a lot of attention. It's
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  either the Tate Martel thing or even the CJ. Hicks for a while where
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  people want to know more about it when they want to see him. And
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  I'll be fascinated to see if he makes plays like we've seen other true freshmen
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  do in the spring something We talked about it in the recent Morning Show about
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  Kean Gray's jojo Anschwi. Both of those guys are outside guys. Can they
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  get involved there? So I think it's kind of like the offensive line,
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  you choose your five best here, you choose your free best and then you
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  fit them they where they can go. I just I do wonder can Brandon
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  Innis. It seems silly to say, like can he be an outside receiver
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  when if I'm a Kabuka? Can those two guys be on the same on
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  the field together if Agbuka is the spot? And I think they can,
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  because again, Brandon Innis is an incredibly talented guy. He's not just You're
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  only this, And I don't think they can recruit guys that are only this
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  anymore because we've seen them tried over the years. You're only a slot receiver,
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  and I don't think you can do that at Ohio State, and Brian
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  Hartland doesn't want to do that. It hasn't worked. And even one of
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  those guys who are only this, Muki Cooper transferred to Missouri, played most
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  of his snaps last year outside because they moved Luther Burden inside to get those
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  matchups that I was talking about. Earl, I heard you. I We'll
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  say, Mookie Blaylock. That was good that you caught yourself just in time.
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  I could I could hear it. I almost said Pearl Jam but sorry,
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  there's three mookies in my mind. Only only nineties kids will understand.
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  Yeah, all right, So that that covers the wide receivers. And don't
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  worry. We're going to talk a little more about Jeremiah Smith a little letter
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  around the week. One of the shows we've got coming is Freshman to watch
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  this spring. Spoiler alert. He may be the first person we talk about
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  on that show, so you have that to look forward to. Yes,
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  there will be Jeremiah Smith content coming for you a little later on this week,
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  but first mentioned CJ. Hicks. He is one of the guys in
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  the battle for the two open starting linebacker positions. And this is an interesting
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  conversation for a number of reasons because it's the two asterisk open linebacker positions,
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  because theoretically it could be three. At times. They have Cody Simon coming
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  back, who's kind of like a starter, and then you also have got
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  Okay Powers and CJ. Hicks, and then also you sort of have Sunny
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  Styles sort of out there, sort of hovering and as he may be in
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  this mix as well. There's been lots of questions on that, there have
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  not been a lot of real firm answers on that. So Tony, go
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  ahead and make a very good, accurate, firm and final prediction. Who
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  are the two starting linebackers for Ohio State. No hedging please? Oh oh
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  no, no hedging. Okay, I was hoping for some hedging, but
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  no hedging. I think it's we can go ahead and put it in ink
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  that Cody Simon is your starting middle linebacker. He's been the starting middle linebacker
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  at Ohio State before kind of lost the job to Tommy Aikenberg due to injuries
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  and has been a valuable reserve and started a couple of games last year and
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  Tommy Eickenberg was injured, so I think he just steps in. That's why
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  he came back. He came back to be the starting middle linebacker. Probably
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  got some assurances that, yeah, you've got a pretty good shot of winning
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  the job. And again this is no jobs are just given. They're all
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  earned. But the understanding is that you know exactly how he's going to work
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  and how he's going to perform. So it's like, yeah, you got
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  a pretty good shot. And then we know the will into Mike. They
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  want him to be interchangeable. So even though Gabe Powers has played most of
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  his career at Mike, that doesn't mean he can't win a job at Will.
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  Again, it's your who are your two best linebackers and you go from
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  there. I we'll see. We've talked about it a bunch where will sunny
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  styles end up? And maybe maybe they'll take a spring of practice at safety
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  before he realizes or they come to an agreement that it's time to move to
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  linebacker. But you know, CJ. Hicks has been that backup at Will
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  for a couple of years now, so this is his time. And as
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  James lorne Eda said he just needs to cut it loose. We'll see if
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  that can happen this spring. I know there's nobody nobody wants him to play
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  more than himself. Obviously he's been as much as Ohio State fans are clamoring
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  for him. He wants to be out there even more. And so this's
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  go give me an opportunity for him to make mistakes, make plays, learn
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  from his mistakes, and build that confidence that he can just cut it loose.
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  Because you're gonna get a lot of experience this spring. You're going to
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  get the feel, a better feel. Because we've talked about this in the
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  past as well, Like he was never really an inside linebacker in high school.
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  First year he was like a corner, second year he was like a
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  safety, third year he was just a roaming death machine. And then like
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  a fourth year he's like a rush end. So like never really just got
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  to play linebackers. So this has been a learning process and a new defense.
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  So this should be the very best version that we see of CJ.
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  Hicks. But the question is isn't good enough? Tom? In order to
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  not edge Betts, I will say that they'll open up with the ones will
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  be I'll say, Cody Simon and c J. Hicks at the start of
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  spring practice. Yeah, I'm not talking about I'm not going beyond the first
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  very jogging rep. All right, Well, that first jogging rep will happen
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  next Tuesday. That is the first day of spring practice for Ohio State.
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  Buck guys will practice twice next week, then head off for a week of
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  spring break, and then come back at the week after, you know,
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  a week later and have you know springball really start for real? But yeah,
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  it really starts next Tuesday. We're getting pretty close. Lots of lots
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  of stuff obviously to watch for, lots of fascinating returning players, lots of
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  fascinating new players, and even we can talk this week a little bit about
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  some fascinating players who have left Ohio State and are headed off to the NFL.
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  Mark and Kevin are at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis this week, So
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  you're gonna find lots of great coverage of that at buckey Huddle dot com,
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  as well as all sorts of spring football preview content as well. You can
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  find that at bucke huddle dot com. You can find that at YouTube dot
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  com. Slash bucke Hudle should be lots of good stuff there, lots of
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  lots of talk from new buck Eyes, returning buck Eye is former buck Eyes.
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  All all good stuff. Very very busy week here at buckehuddle dot com.
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  We hope you will join us there. That will do it for today.
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  Thank you guys all for joining us. Have a great day. We'll
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  talk to you tomorrow.