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Two More Ohio State Stars Announce They Will Return For 2024 · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Saturday, January sixth, I'm your host,
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  Tom Or. The Akron game is in two hundred and thirty eight days,
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  the game against Michigan in three hundred and twenty nine days. When that Acron
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  game happens, When that Michigan game happens, a couple more Buckeyes I have
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  now said they will be there. That's where it's the topic of today's show.
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  A couple big, big returns on the Ohio State defense, which is
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  starting to sort of look like it might be pretty darn good in twenty twenty
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  four as well. Speaking of returns, our good buddy Tony Gerderman back from
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  his long assignment in I believe it was darkest Brew. I'm not sure.
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  Maybe he just got his hand stuck in a marmalade jar. I don't know.
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  Tony. First of all, welcome back, so good to see you
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  once again. Thank you Tom. I was not a marble a jar.
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  It was a soda machine. And turns out all I had to do is
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  let go of the kyn and then I was freed. Well, what a
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  miraculous escape to start twenty twenty four. So glad you could make it and
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  are no longer stuck with something some kind of something sugary attached to you.
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  Let's let's talk Buckye. The Buckeye fans probably also happy to see some other
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  folks coming back in twenty twenty four as well. Let's start two big announcements
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  on Friday afternoon. Let's start with the first one. Safety Lathan Ransom.
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  The last time we saw him was at Wisconsin on the field of Wisconsin on
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  Halloween weekend, injureder's foot, missed the rest of the season. He was
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  someone who I don't know if he was quite as appreciated as he should have
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  been by Ohio State fans at the time he left within you know, with
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  that injury, with that foot injury at the Wisconsin game. But I think
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  by the time he got to the Michigan game and then the Missouri game,
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  I think people maybe sort of got a better appreciation for just how important Lathan
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  Ransom was to that Ohio State defense this year. Yeah, missing the last
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  five games there and there are two losses in those five games, and was
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  solid against the rud solid again it's the pass as the boundary safety as the
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  bandit in there, and was also just a calming influence for the secondary as
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  a whole. And when you look at the the games that he missed.
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  For instance, the first game he missed was Rutgers and Ohio State gave up
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  two hundred thirty yards rushing in that game, and one hundred and fifty six
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  against Michigan two hundred and three against Missouri, Like those are three of the
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  four biggest numbers of the year. And it's not a coincidence that Lathan Ransom
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  wasn't there. Very solid run defender and we've seen obviously what he can do
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  all over the secondary. So a huge miss for the final month plus of
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  the season, but also a huge bonus to get back for next season.
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  It creates some depth and creates some questions about what's going to happen with sunny
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  styles and how that's all going to progress, but certainly creates more good problems
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  and bad problems. I know the staff is thrilled to have him back.
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  Gymnal bright a day have always just been glowingly talking about Leith and rantsom whatever
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  they get an opportunity. Yeah, it's like the old thing that the you
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  know, the Chinese character for crisis is the same as they won for opportunity.
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  This is maybe the character for excitement is the same as the character for
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  opportunity, because yeah, I'm sure they're very excited. But also yes,
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  he fills that bandit position at boundary safety spot, and that's where he was
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  all year and played very very well all year. It also frees up,
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  as you said, Sunny Styles, who was playing i think a little bit
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  out of position towards the end of the year, and now you can move
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  him back to maybe a little closer to the line of scrimmage where he probably
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  should be playing next year, probably will be playing next year, whether that's
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  at linebacker. We' even seen some suggestion maybe you rush him off the edge
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  at times. Whatever it is, this is one of these things where getting
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  Leith and Ransom back for twenty twenty four very well might make the Buckeyes better,
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  not just one position, but at two. Yeah, and it gets
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  everybody more towards maybe their natural their final destination of NFL positions as well.
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  As you mentioned Sonny Styles playing linebacker, you know, losing Steel Chambers,
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  losing Timmy Eikenberg. I'm not expecting Sonny Styles to be the middle linebacker,
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  but at this point there's nothing that I've seen that says he couldn't be the
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  will linebacker in this defense. Got to be somewhere in there, closer to
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  the line. I think Jordan Hancock has shown that he doesn't need to be
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  moving from his nickel spott. He's really really good there unless they see something
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  there where they still do need to replace Josh Proctor. So what happens there
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  and shoot, does Lathan Ransom become the free safety? So it creates some
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  questions, but at least they have some answers for what those questions are,
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  and they've got plenty of time to figure all of this out. Lathan Ransom
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  has played free safety, he's played strolling safety, He's played nickel in his
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  time in Ohio State in his previous four years. So wherever he is asked
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  to play, he should hold up just fined. But he really found a
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  home at that band spot this year. And there are several moving pieces in
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  that puzzle that we still have not heard from Denzel Burke, Jordan Hancock.
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  Those guys have not officially announced their returns for twenty twenty four. They could
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  theoretically declare for the draft. Talking to Burke at the Cotton Bowl, it
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  felt like he was sort of leaning towards returning do to get the same sensor
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  on Hancock right now, But that's all still officially to be determined, so
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  that I'm sure will be a future show in the next few days. One
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  guy whose fate has been decided as Jack Sawyer, he is also coming back.
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  He's someone Tony who I think there was someone on the sideline who was
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  talking to who said the Cotton Bowl was basically the worst case scenario for Ohio
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  State where they lost. But also all these guys on defense, no one
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  more than Jack Sawyer looked just fantastic. Really looked like, oh boy,
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  they may be moving up draft boards with this performance. And Jackson layer three
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  sacks. I think it was an OSU Bowl record three sacks in a single
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  game. And you know, I think everyone sort of assumed before the game
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  he was he was coming back, had that great game. He certainly gave
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  the sort of unfinished business speech during the postgame, so that sort of legit
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  belief this was going to happen as well. But unquestionably this is a very
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  very big piece back on that defensive front for Gymnals. Yeah, talking with
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  Jack Sawyer before the game, and even in the weeks leading up to the
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  game, it sure sounded like he was coming back. He obviously hadn't made
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  a decision or announced a decision. I think I remember tweeting after about sack
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  number two that Ohio State better benchim, we're al still going to lose him
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  to the NFL because he was playing that well. But yeah, three sacks
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  and then were the three tackles for lost? Four total tackles over in the
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  last three games of the regular or over his last three games this season,
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  seven and a half tackles for loss? Like what six sacks or five sacks
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  in there? So had a sack in his last three or four games.
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  Was just realive And you know, I wonder was that more of just finally
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  letting him loose or was this matchup situation where he just had some natural matchups
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  that suited him well. But getting him back seeing what he could finally do
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  when he's essentially at least this is obviously a significant return for Ohio State's defense
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  and for continuing to build that pass rush and marrying the defensive line with the
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  rest of the defense and just creating the havoc that the back end of the
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  defense loves to capitalize it. Well, we ran through some of the guys
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  in the back end of the defense whose status was still up in the air
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  and who was going to come you back. This is now two of the
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  four members of the twenty twenty one Ohio State defensive line recruiting class, one
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  of the best position group recruiting classes in history. Two of them have already
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  said they're back. Tyler Williams yesterday or the day before said he was coming
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  back. Now, Jack Sawyer, Mike Hall is gone. He is headed
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  off to the NFL. But man, if they can end up bringing back
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  J. T. Two Moloo as well, and you have three, you
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  get three of those defensive linemen together. Yeah, you got to replace a
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  couple of linebackers, but if they could get those two back, you get
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  the other two corners back that we talked about earlier in Denzel Burke and Jordan
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  Hancock. Boy, oh boy. As good as the Ohio State defense was
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  in twenty twenty three, it might be better in twenty twenty four. Yeah.
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  The good news is they have pieces in place for the guys that they're
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  leaving that they would be losing. Even my call they have Ty Hamilton there,
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  They've got a bunch of young defensive tackles that they can plug in there.
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  Getting Telly Quilliams back obviously solidifies that group as well. And even keeping
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  their quarters, they still have more quarters waiting in the wings. So it'll
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  be interesting to see what they do to get all of those guys involved.
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  Is there any movement there? And you know Willie Cartford at safety is now
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  his time, his time to become that free safety to take over for Josh
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  Proctor. So yeah, there's a lot of interesting stuff in there. And
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  also at this point, as we're talking, not losing any more guys from
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  the defensive line into the portal I think is significant, Nana Jackson, Kyton
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  Curry. Not that you know, we're pushing anybody out. By this day
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  and age, you can lose anybody at any time, and if they are
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  able to get through this window, and there may still be some stragglers.
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  As the paperwork takes a little bit longer, we should know probably by certainly
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  by Monday. I mean I assume at this point everything seems closed, but
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  sometimes they could take a couple of days for things to process. But if
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  they don't lose anybody else and they're able to bring guys in. I think
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  you look at this defense next year as one of the best in the country.
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  Yeah, it certainly seems like it's treading that way. And speaking of
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  trends, for the third straight year, this is I mean, there's a
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  lot of weird records being set right now, but this is maybe the weirdest
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  one so far. For the third straight year, Ohio State has lost a
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  cornerback in the transfer portal to LSU. First it was seven Banks in twenty
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  twenty one, then it was JK. Johnson after twenty twenty two. Then
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  now Jay R. Brown, who was an Ohio native who went down to
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  play high school in Louisiana, then came back up to play high school in
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  Cincinnati. He started his college career at Ohio State. Now he's going back
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  to LSU. The It's like Ohio State's TRIPAA team or something. It's very,
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  very weird that the same position group keeps ending up at LSU. So
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  one little note there. And finally, we were talking right before we started
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  recording. I don't know if this is technically news, but Matt Jones is
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  not going to be back. I don't think Matt Jones could have come back,
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  but he came back for this twenty twenty three season, which was his
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  sixth season in college. He has declared for the NFL Draft, So I
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  guess Tony now. Really the drama on the offensive line, there's kind of
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  two ways. And number one, what's Donovan Jackson going to do? That's
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  sort of the open question right now. And then they've brought in a couple
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  guys potential transfers on the offensive line, so just you know, it seems
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  like an area where there's probably going to be some movement, but we don't
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  know exactly what that movement's going to be and how many people are going to
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  be going in each direction yet. But it feels like that of all of
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  the units on Ohio State's team, that might be the most active in the
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  portal, you know, one way or the other this offseason. Yeah,
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  And in terms of saying goodbye to you, Matt Jones, we all know
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  he's a car buff, he's a mechanic, and you never want to say
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  goodbye to those guys. You want to keep those guys along around as long
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  as you can. Everybody, it's the most valuable friends you can have.
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  Is somebody who knows about cars, and so obviously they're going to be sad
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  to see him go. But waiting for Donovan Jackson to make his announcement,
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  I would expect him back. I don't think anybody has played so well that
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  they could use more time at Ohio State. And also, nobody played so
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  well that you don't need to bring in some competition from the portal. And
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  they've recruited well, they've got some good guys coming in. But the more
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  guys you can bring in to elevate the rest of the room. Always go
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  back to Jonah Jackson as being the epitome of that where they felt like they
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  had a good group coming in and then you bring him in and I think
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  what may or June and he elevated everybody. Same with Josh Simmons last year.
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  Vic Cutler did work out. But depth helps, and so if you
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  can bring it in whoever you you know, maybe maybe Carson h has been
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  played better because Victor Cutler was around that sort of thing where everybody's going to
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  help raise the floor of this offensive line. So I know people will be
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  looking like, oh, I don't want that guy. You know, he
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  couldn't snap at Alabama. Why do you want it? Why do you want
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  to be Like at this point, you bring in as many guys as you
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  can to make your room have a better Uh, you have a better opportunity
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  to find your best five and find a better five than you had this past
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  season. Stack those chips up and see, you know, let it sort
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  of self out during the course of the spring in the summer. That feels
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  like what Ohio State might be thinking here because they're gonna I don't think anyone's
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  coming in with a guarantee of the starting job, but you gi have a
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  chance to come in and compete for a starting job. Feels like that's sort
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  of where things are with the quarterback room. As we talked about on the
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  Will Howard Commitment Show, It's gonna be a lot of a lot of interesting
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  position races this spring and this summer as the Buckeyes try and sort out a
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  new new season, new year, new year, new Buckeye football program.
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  As the Buckeys try and get back get back to the hitting their annual goals,
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  beating Michigan, winning the Big Ten, maybe even winning a national championship.
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  Tony, we'll see if they could do all of that gonna be a
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  plenty. Plenty of drama between here and the start of the season, plenty
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  of drama here in the end of the season, and the best place to
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  follow all of it isn't Buckeye Huddle dot com. Fantastic team of insiders covering
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  the team, covering recruiting, covering x's and o's. You can find us
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  also at YouTube dot com slash Buckeye Huddle. Lots of coverage from the All
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  American Game this week. Mark and Kevin down there turning some great interviews,
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  great insight, great analysis. Five star cornerback Devin Sanchez announcing his decision on
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  Saturday. Those guys talked to him earlier in the week. There's gonna be
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  a lot of interesting stuff coming out of San Antonio. There plenty of buck
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  eyes playing in that game as well, bringing at Mark on either Sunday show
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  or early next week to talk about the game and all the stuff that he
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  saw. There. So plenty of interesting stuff coming up this week at Buckey
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  Huddle and at YouTube dot com slash Buckeye Huddle. That will do it for
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  today. Thank you guys all for joining us. I'm a great day.
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  We will talk to tomorrow,