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How Will The New-Look Ohio State Offense Do Against Mizzou In The Cotton Bowl? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to buck Eyes Tomorrow morning for Thursday, December twenty eighth. I'm your
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  host, Tom Moore. The Cotton Bowl game against Missouri is tomorrow. The
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  game against Michigan in three hundred and thirty eight days. With that Cotton Bowl
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  game right on deck, suddenly, all of a sudden, I don't feels
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  like we just got here and that leaking here tomorrow. This is a weird
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  one of those weird short bowl weeks. Kevin Noon. We got to talk
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  on Wednesday to the Ohio State offense offensive coordinator Brian hartline, quarterback Devin Brown,
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  running back Trevan Henderson, wide receiver at Mecca Abuka, and Xavier Johnson,
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  tight end Katee Stover. So you talk just mere talking about the Buckeye
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  offense today and there's some interesting stuff going on at a whole lot of those
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  different position groups for this Cotton Ball game. Let's start at quarterback. That's
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  kind of where we're sort of contractedly obligated to start this whole thing. We
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  got an extended chance to just talk to Devin Brown. This is he is
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  in a very different position now than the last time we talked to him.
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  What did you learn talking to Devin Brown. Yeah, he's really excited about
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  the game, but he told us that he's not nervous whatsoever. I mean,
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  even his family's like, how can you not be nervous? So,
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  you know, thanks for the support parents, But he's you know, been
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  pretty pretty calm and collective about this, but understands that it's a big opportunity.
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  Everybody's shown him a lot of support. Feels that the team is really
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  rallied around him and this opportunity, and you know, he knows that there's
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  gonna be a lot of eyes on him. But he's been playing tackle football,
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  as he said, since he was like seven years old, and this
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  is you know, it's still the same game, but it's going to be
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  in a bigger stadium in front of a larger crowd. And you know,
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  I think that's the right message. And I'm sure they're going to be some
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  detractors out there that are going to be like, well, you need to
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  understand just how important this is, because you know, Buckeye fans live and
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  die with this. I mean, he understands all of that, but he's
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  also showing that he's not letting the enormity of the situation just completely consume him
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  well. And this is a little bit different than someone like, for example,
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  Brooklyn from Florida State having to go in and play in the ACC championship
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  game. Devin Brown's first, of all, got a whole extra year in
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  the system, so he's not brand new. He's also been one play away
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  from, you know, from starting most of the year when he was healthy
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  and was in a quarterback battle year. So this is not going from zero
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  to sixty for him, No, not at all. I mean, he
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  attempted twenty two passes this season, played in five games. He was the
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  guy that they were using as the short yardage goal line guy, So I
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  mean he was coming in in meaningful moments. But it's it's different from being
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  a spot guy and being the guy. And you know, he knows that
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  Lincoln Keynolds is there pushing him, but he also knows that this is you
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  know, this is his his opportunity to really show what he's capable of.
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  Go out and make a mistake, and you don't want to make any mistakes,
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  but you go out and make a mistake, you're not going to get
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  pulls, not going to have a short hook. I'm sure he certainly would
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  like to have the the security blanket of having Marvin Harrison Junior, who has
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  shown in postseason games that he can be quite the weapon. That does not
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  appear to be the case that he will be playing in this game, but
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  a mecha Buca Carnel Tait. There going to be a lot of guys that
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  are going to be able to be around him, and you know, I
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  think that it's going to be I think it's going to be a good showing
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  from him. Now, anybody who's expecting him to go out there and be
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  like twenty you know, twenty three or twenty five, I think you're probably
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  setting too high of a bar. But you know, I think that Ohio
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  State is going to have a game plan in place that is going to be
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  able to show off what he can do. And of course we're going to
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  have the revisionists. We're going to say, you know, if he comes
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  out and does well, we could have had this whole season. And you
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  know, I don't I think this is you know, whether this is incredible
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  or whether this isa ble around, This is somewhere in the middle. I
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  think you got to this has to sort of stand on its own. Ryande
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  is not starting someone who is clearly inferior to someone else, So you know
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  he's not he's not going to sacrifice the season just to prove a point or
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  whatever. But yeah, I think, I think, you know, he
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  Devin Brown is in a position where he's set up. He's got the experience,
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  he's been in the system for a couple of years. He's got a
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  lot of skill talent around him. Like you said, no Marvin Harrison,
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  but he's gonna have a Mecca Abuka. He's gonna have Carnel Tate. He's
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  gonna have Brandon Innis and Jaden Ballard and whoever else in that wide receiver room
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  and Xavier Johnson. That's a deep and talented wide receiver room. So you've
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  got some talent there, and you've got also Trevian Henderson. You know,
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  the best you know, the best security for a quarterback is a good running
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  game, and you know you should have Trevian Henderson. He's planning, He's
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  said he's planning to play this. You know, his status for twenty twenty
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  four still up in the air, but he's definitely going to be playing in
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  this game, and you would expect him to get fifteen carries, eighteen care
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  or something like that. And he's been he's shown himself to be a real
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  difference maker for this team. So there's no reason to think he wouldn't be
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  a difference maker for this team again on Friday. And that's the thing.
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  A running game is the best friend of a new quarterback. You can really
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  take a lot of pressure off there. Do we see Ohio State with a
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  more mobile quarterback in Devin Brown? Do we see some zone read and things
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  of that nature. Maybe, probably likely, But Ohio State's run game was
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  kind of hit and miss this year at times. And you know, whether
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  or not it was they weren't going to it enough, or the run blocking
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  wasn't there or whatever. We certainly saw a stretch with Trevion Henderson where he
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  really started to turn it on and regained a lot of the form that he
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  had as a true freshman. But it was a different style of running.
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  He was more physical, he was a little bit more decisive. It not
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  as much dancing around trying to make every play perfect. You know, I'm
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  gonna sit there and I'm gonna wait another half beat to see if this is
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  there. Oh it's not, you know, no gain he you know,
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  he was doing things that we've not seen him do in his career, and
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  hopefully he's going to be able to kind of pick up off of that and
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  be able to showcase that against Missouri. And someone else who may have an
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  opportunity to showcase both and he can do against Missouri is Dalan Hayden. He
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  has been sort of perpetually on the cusp of being the next guy, and
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  now by virtue of the attrition in the running back room, he pretty much
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  has to be the next guy because the scholarship running backs on the roster for
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  this cotton BOWLF Ohio State are Trevon Henderson, Dalan Hayden. End a list
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  and you figure you'll get a few carries for Xavier Johnson, maybe a few
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  carries for a Mecca Abuka, you got walk on TC Caffey, But it
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  feels like, boy, if Dlan Hayden doesn't get carries in this game,
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  I don't know when Dalan Hayden's gonna get carries. This is a real opportunity
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  for him as well to show that with all these other guys going and James
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  Peoples, the very talented running back on the way in, and Sam Williams,
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  Dexon on the way in and you know, did they look in the
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  portal for someone or whatever. This is an opportunity for Dalan Hayden to potentially
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  make his mark again and sort of show what he can do heading into twenty
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  twenty four, right exactly, And you hit the nail on the head where
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  if Dalan Hayden can't find carries in this game, you just kind of have
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  to wonder what is up. So I expect there to be opportunity. I
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  think that you know, Xavier Johnson in his final game, they are going
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  to find ways to put the ball in his hands one way or the other,
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  whether it's via you know, the run or via the catch. But
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  Dalan Hayden is going to need to be there because Trevion Henderson is not a
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  thirty five carry type of back. There are not many of those backs now
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  on the flip side. If you look at Missouri, It's back can be
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  a guy that runs in the thirties. He had a couple of games where
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  he had thirty plus carries, but Trevion Henderson is probably at his best in
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  the low twenties. In my opinion. We're going to see I'm sure we're
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  going to see some Devin Brown run, whether it's a design quarterback run,
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  whether it's part of the option that he has out there, run pass,
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  or just maybe protection breaking down and having to scramble. So, just based
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  on the amount of carries that you expect Ohio State's going to need to have
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  in this game to be successful, they're not all going to come from Trevion
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  Henderson. So that means that by process of elimination, Dallan Hayden has to
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  be involved. Yeah, and I think you're gonna get to see it more
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  of him than you have in the last few weeks for sure. And just
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  in case you're wondering this game would not count, I think he's only played
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  in three games, but even if he's at four, the bowl game does
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  not count in terms of a red shirt, So you can take this as
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  a red shirt, you're regardless, So he maintains that year of eligibility moving
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  forward. So I know that was something We've gotten questions about it various times.
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  That's just regular season games for the four game maximum for the red shirt.
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  So you know, we've talked a little bit about the wide receivers already,
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  but no Marvin Harrison unless Marvin Harrison has not said that directly, but
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  everything else and everyone else has basically said that, no Marvin Harrison, So
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  we're gonna just say nover Marvin Harrison. But you do have a Mecca a
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  Buka, so that's a big deal. You've got Xavier Johnson, so that's
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  a big deal. But you got no Marvin Harrison, you get no Julian
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  Fleming, who of course is transferred to Nebraska. That means you may get
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  the end of Marvis and Harrison's Ohio State career may look a lot like the
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  first year of Marvis and Harrison's career for Carnal Tate because remember remember the Rose
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  Bowl end of the twenty twenty one season. No Chris Lave, no Garrett
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  Wilson. That meant things opened up for a Mecca a Buka and Marvin Harrison
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  to really get a chance to make their mark in the Rose Bowl game,
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  and Marvin Harrison caught three touchdowns and the rest was history. This week,
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  for sure, Carnel Tate is gonna be one of those guys who gets an
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  opportunity. You know who else gets an opportunity, it's brand and him's getting
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  more run. Maybe he he's you know, sort of the next guy in
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  that list, but for sure Carnal Tate, this feels like a real opportunity,
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  you know, in the same way that we've talked about some other guys
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  potentially, you know, for Devin Brown, for for Dlan Hayden sort of
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  kickstarting things for the twenty twenty four season a little early. This feels like
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  a real opportunity for Carnal Tait to kind of people know, those people that
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  you know, even the people just sort of like thumbing through magazines, you
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  know, the college football magazines over the summer are looking for like, oh
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  yeah, Carnel Tit. I remember him. He had that big game in
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  the Cotton Bow. I bet he's going to be really good this year.
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  And that's a thing going against this Missouri defense because they're down a corner there.
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  They're number one corner is still there and he's fantastic, four interceptions,
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  just you know, a real solid player, all SEC level type of player.
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  But they're down their other corner who played nine games this season. So
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  this isn't a new phenomenon, but Ohio State is going to have to have
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  more options out there than just a mecca because we've seen it before, when
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  you are short on options, you bracket the number one and then you know,
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  or let everybody else go out there and just kind of do their thing
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  and hope to profit from that. So if Carnell Tate is able to step
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  into that role, or you know, maybe even Brandon Nis who's had a
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  month to work with the to work with the offense more specifically than just being
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  you know, a true freshman who came in over the summer, I think
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  that's going to be very important. But trends say that this could really be
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  a Carnell Tait kind of game, and I'm not one to bet against Trent's.
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  Yeah, I think I think this is You talk to enough guys around
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  the program about him and just even going back to when he was in high
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  school that he came in as part of very talented wide receiver class Bryson Rodgers,
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  Noah Rodgers, Brennan Innis and Cardinal Tate, and even when he was
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  in high school, you kind of had people whispering to you like, yeah,
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  Cardinal tit is like the real deal. Even among this class a very
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  talented players, Cardinalsate is the real deal. That's certainly what it has looked
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  like throughout the year, heading into this year and heading into this Cotton Bowl,
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  we'll see if you can take that next step on Friday night. Someone
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  else taking the last step of their college career on Friday night will be Cad
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  Stover. He is definitely turning pro after this year. There was some possibility
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  he might not he the way he talked on Thursday or Wednesday sor he was
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  he you know, this is very much a final chapter for him. And
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  with it being a final chapter, man oh man, is he going to
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  do his very best to play. He is not one hundred percent, He's
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  nowhere near one hundred percent, but he is going to do everything he possibly
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  can, just as you would sort of expect from Cad Stover to play in
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  this cotton ball game on Friday for however long he can, right. And
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  that's the thing. I mean, obviously, you don't want to set yourself
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  back in the future by injuring yourself in this game. But I mean,
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  if there's a guy that you would sit there and say, you know,
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  this guy would give his left foot to get this last win, I mean,
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  I think Kate Stover is kind of one of those guys. So we
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  don't know how much of an impact he's going to be able to have.
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  I mean, is he out there for the coin toss and a series,
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  is he out there for a quarter? Is he out there for the entire
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  game? I think, you know, we're just going to have to kind
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  of wing it and see where that goes. But what does that mean in
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  terms of other other players? Could this be the Jelannie Thurman breakout game we
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  talked about Carnell Tait. Could this open up an opportunity for Jolannie Thurman,
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  especially in the pass catching situations. Because it's all well and good to sit
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  there and have Patrick Gourd as kind of your your full back, the only
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  gird that I like, you know, to to as your fullback, but
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  you need to have I think kind of quote unquote a skill tight end out
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  there that's really going to be kind of your pass catcher as well in Thurman.
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  But you know, not to get away from the Stover point. I
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  think Stover is going to try and leave it all on the field and and
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  just know that if he gets taken out of the game at any point,
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  it's probably going to be against his will. Yeah, And when whenever he
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  does come out of the game, because he said he's gonna he recognizes he's
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  not gonna be able to play the full game, So you know, the
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  question is just sort of where does he fall between out there for the coin
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  toss and playing seventy snaps on offense when he does come out. This is
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  obviously an opportunity for g Scott to take that next step in his whole progression,
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  because he seems like he is likely to me likely to be the next
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  guy up and certainly would be tight end number one at least at the moment,
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  if you know, whenever Stover's out able to be out there, this
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  is also a real opportunity. You've got guys like Patrick hr to walk on.
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  This is also a real opportunity, you know. I don't know.
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  Johnnie Thurman is another one of those guys where you keep hearing like, oh,
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  yeah, he is that dude in the same way that you're sort of
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  hearing that about Carnell Taite. I don't know if he's quite there yet to
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  be ready to take on the full responsibilities, but this might be an opportunity
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  to to sort of get you saw what two catches at the end of the
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  Michigan State game, and maybe one at the end of the Minnesota game or
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  something like that, you might have an opportunity to see him, just even
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  just get a couple, you know, get a little bit of action,
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  maybe get a catcher to and sort of take the next step. But whether
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  it's him, whether it's g Scott, or whether it's someone else in that
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  tight end room, this is another real opportunity for them too. With Joe
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  Royer now gone, you know, they're a little thin tight end room as
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  well. Bennett Christian not eligible this year, So you're starting that link is
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  that list is sort of starting to shrink a little bit. There's some real
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  opportunities for some of those guys as well, right, And that's what this
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  is really about, because it's an interesting intersection of a meaningless exhibition, wanting
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  to win the game, getting ready for the next season. You know,
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  we know that there is not a game on the back end of this for
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  Ohio State. Win the game and you don't suddenly come up through the losers
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  bracket to be able to play your way into the College Football playoff. But
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  it's very important to win this game. It's very important to end the season
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  on a wind, be able to beat a top ten opponent in the national
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  rankings, an SEC opponent, even if it's still kind of weird to say
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  that Missouri is an SEC team. So you know, I'm a strong believer
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  of getting some opportunities out there for the young guys if you can do it
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  within the framework of going out and winning the game. Because if not,
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  why not just call this a spring practice and get on with it. Other
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  than the fact it's not spring, Yeah, it's definitely definitely not spring.
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  Feels a little like spring outside right now, at least in Dallas. I
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  did look, and of course, as we are contractually obligated to have,
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  is the case every year, it is warmer in Columbus than it is in
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  our bold destination. Somehow, this happens every year, no matter where we
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  go, no matter how much further south we are, it always seems to
• 16:26
  be warmer in Columbus this week than it is wherever we are. But that's
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  okay. We will be We are already, boy, already almost the end
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  of bowlwek even though it feels like we just got here. The game,
• 16:34
  the game against not the game, but a game, the Cotton Bowl game
• 16:40
  against Missouri, is tomorrow. We will be there covering that whole thing for
• 16:44
  you. We will have our usual all sorts of live coverage. We'll have
• 16:48
  all sorts of tape shows. We've got our live postgame show. We may
• 16:52
  try and do something live from the stadium. We're sort of still trying to
• 16:53
  figure out some logistics on that. We're going to do everything we can to
• 16:56
  bring you as much coverage as we can, of course at ki huddle dot
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  com and YouTube dot com slash Bucket HUDDLESO make sure you're subscribed to both of
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• 17:14
  Fantastic, fantastic smart football friends who make you a smarter football fan.
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  so you get notified whenever you do anything live, post, any new interviews,
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  any new any of that kind of stuff. We'll be talking to Ryan
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  Day and Eli Drinkwitz on Thursday, a little later on today, and then
• 17:33
  of course game coverage on Friday. So lots of exciting stuff ahead, all
• 17:37
  at bucke huddle dot com and of course at YouTube dot com slash Bucky Huddle.
• 17:41
  That will do it for today. Thank you guys all for joining us.
• 17:42
  Have a great day. We will talk to you tomorrow.