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Are The Buckeyes About To Flip A Top SEC Defensive Line Commit? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Tuesday, October three. I'm your host,
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  tom Or. The Maryland game is in four days, the game against Michigan
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  in fifty three days. We've been talking a ton about the current Ohio State
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  buck Eyes. Today we're gonna take a little bit of a look into the
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  future. I'm gonna talk a little recruiting. We're gonna doing it with our
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  buddy Alex Kleitman, a Buckeyehead dot com. He has been very busy covering
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  the commitment. There is a possible flip coming potentially. Maybe we'll talk about
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  that from an SEC team. Got to talk about what's coming for the rest
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  of the twenty twenty four class. Maybe you've been some visitors coming this weekend
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  for the Buckeyes home gaming it's Maryland. We're gonna talking about all of that
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  with Alex. Alex, I guess let's start with the news that happened over
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  the weekend, the d commitment of in state. I'll have offensive line prospect
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  Mark Knave at a Toledo What do you what's the situation there? Do you
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  having it? You know, can let people know a little bit? What
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  about what may happen, Maybe happen. Yeah. Look, just like a
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  commitment is a verbal commitment, and a kid isn't officially part of a class
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  until he signs a lettermanten e. They're in December February of their senior year.
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  A offer, even if it's made quote unquote official on September first,
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  isn't a binding agreement until a letter of intent is given to the player and
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  the player signed said letter of intent. So with any kid that Ohio State
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  offers and excepts or doesn't, you know, it doesn't matter if they're committed
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  or not. Let's just say they commit. Even after that commitment, that's
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  that's not the end of that. Like, Ohio States still still has to
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  recruit them to ensure that they signed that lettermantent if they want them, But
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  they're also still evaluating them. They're evaluating their film they're watching their films closely.
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  So obviously Ohio States saw something in Mark Knave that they really liked when
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  they offered him last year. He committed pretty quickly after they had him in
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  camp a bunch of the summer. But I think he was always someone Obviously
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  he was a lower rank guy in the class that doesn't always matter, but
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  I think he was always someone where they saw something in him where they thought
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  that they would just see growth from the point where he was at to now,
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  from when they offer to now, and I think, you know,
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  just evaluating his senior film, going to see him play things like that,
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  I'm not sure that they saw the growth that they hoped and expected for throughout
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  the off season and into the season. So I feel like at the end
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  of the day, like clearly you know Mark Knaves the one who announced he
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  decommitted from Ohio State, I will say that I think the two sides agreed
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  to part ways. Let's just say it like that. I think that this
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  you can you can say that this was definitely Ohio State driven. And you
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  know, they're not going to sign kids just to sign kids, even if
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  they're from Ohio. They they want to sign kids who they think can play
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  at Ohio State. And if they don't think the kid is going to have
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  a really good opportunity to get on the field of Ohio State and they're honest
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  with him and he can make his decision from there, I think that's probably
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  what you're looking at at this point. So I wish Mark the best of
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  luck. I think he can still be a really good player. I just
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  you know, it's not gonna be at Ohio States. It's gonna be somewhere
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  else in now. Ohio State's gotta gotta go. And they got three kids
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  in their own line class committed. I think. I think depending on what's
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  what's what it's looking like as far as people coming back next year and what
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  might be in the transfer portal, you're you're still going to look at a
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  four potentially five man class. So they gotta go out and they got to
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  get someone at least one more guy in the high school ranks before signing day
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  in December. All right, and we're gonna be taking a little bit more
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  of a look at the what's left in the twenty twenty four class and who
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  they might be pursuing in just a minute. But I did also want to
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  mention another name that popped up on Monday. It is a Mars Williams.
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  He was a defensive lineman committed to the University of Florida. However, however,
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  Alex, so you're retweeting the announcement that Ohio State hit offered to Mars
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  Williams, and that feels like one of those things where you're not growing out
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  an offer to a committed guy if it's you know, there's just there's no
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  chance there. So how much do you read into Ohio State putting out an
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  offer to someone certainly committed to Florida And how likely is that to be something
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  that, you know, we're talking about more than just this one time.
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  Yeah, I mean, I think I had heard that they had been looking
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  at him as a target and had been talking to him and communicating with him.
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  And I think to your point, Tom, like, you're not offering.
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  You're not offering someone at this point in the process if you don't think
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  that there's a realistic chance that you could get them. So I think that
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  the feedback they've gotten from Amrs Williams and his camp is that he's receptive to
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  exploring the opportunity at Ohio State and seeing if that's a better fit for him
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  than Florida. That means the doors open for the flip. That doesn't mean
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  the flip is going to happen. I think the next step is getting him
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  on campus for an official visit. I would guess that they have to talk
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  to the kid. I haven't had a chance to do this, and I
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  haven't looked into it his schedule or anything like that. I guess if he's
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  free, getting him in for the Penn State game would probably be a good
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  game to do that. If not, a Michigan State game is a night
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  game in November, so that could be a good one as well. And
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  I know they're going to have Jordan Seaton in that weekend too, so that
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  that could be a big weekend. But yeah, Penn State, it's gonna
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  be huge weekend, potentially a night game that would be an electric atmosphere,
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  top ten game, you know. I think that that's probably the next step.
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  And if that visit goes well, which I think it would, and
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  this is going to be kind of a two way interview. We want to
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  see how the kid fits in with the culture and the players and how he
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  acts on his visit. So Ohio State will be learning just as much about
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  a Mars as he'll be learning about them. But I think this is heading
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  in a direction where I think a flip could happen, and probably if I
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  had like gun to my head, i'd probably say they end up getting this
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  done. But I want to see that visit be scheduled happened first and then
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  go from there. But I would bet on, I would bet on Ohio
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  State just knowing the way they operate with extending these offers. At this point,
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  I think that they feel that they've got a shot, and if they
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  get them on that visit, I feel pretty good about their chances, all
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  right. So that is one potential addition to the twenty twenty four class.
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  Alex last week in his eight at column, which is an exclusive feature for
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  Buckeye Huddle members on the Huddle Board member there are members only board, wrote
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  a bunch about other names kind of to know that might kind of help round
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  out this Ohio State class. Buckeye is obviously looking to take a relatively big
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  class by their standards this year. Still a few holes to Philly mentioned earlier,
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  a couple offensive linemen, you know, one to two more offensive lineman
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  they might want to add. Who else, Alex, are names to know
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  that you think are maybe the most likely folks to join the twenty twenty four
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  Ohio State class before it all said and done, Yeah, I think you
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  know they don't need one necessarily, but at wide receiver, I think you've
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  got to look at at chance Robinson Miami commit from Saint Thomas Aquinas at Fort
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  Lauderdale, Florida school, very familiar to Ohio State. He came in for
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  a visit a few weeks back. I think it was the Youngstown State game
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  or Western Kentucky. I can't remember now. I think it was Youngstown State,
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  but either way, I think they're trying to get him back for an
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  official visit for the Penn State game. He would He's definitely someone to watch,
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  obviously, a Mars Williams we just talked about on the defensive line.
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  I think you know, they'd love to add a true edge because Williams is
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  more of an inside guy, so I think they'd love to add a true
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  edge. Markue's lightfoot, a guy who they almost had the first time around,
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  committed to Miami. There's been talks about a visit for the Penn State
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  game, so he's up there. I mentioned Jordan's Seaton offensive lineman. I
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  wouldn't be shocked if they start looking at some other alignment as well, especially
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  with Nave out of the class. Some new names might pop up, but
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  I think Jordan's Seaton visiting for the Michigan State game is kind of I don't
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  want to say they're putting all their chips in that basket. But I think
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  that they're starting to feel more optimistic about their chances there. So he's won
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  to watch. Nick Rodriguez, another Saint, Thomas aquinas star. He took
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  an official visit or sorry, he took an official visit over the summer.
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  They weren't ready to take him. He committed to Missouri. He took an
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  unofficial visit for the Youngstown State game, and that was really interesting. They've
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  been pushing for a commitment there. They were able to flip Eric Menza,
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  who took an official visit that weekend. He was a Virginia Tech committ at
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  the time. Rodriguez was the other flip candidate there. He visited Missouri the
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  next week for that epic game winning field goal win, which had to make
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  them feel good about, you know, just the Tigers and being on campus
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  that weekend. It's been pretty quiet on that front, so I'm starting to
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  feel less optimistic about their chances there. But he's definitely want to watch.
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  And then I would say a defensive back. They love to add another safety
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  to Ryan Nichols, an in state guy is someone who they quote unquote offered.
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  He didn't have a committable offer pledge to Kentucky. There has been I've
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  talked to Nichols this past week. There has been communication there. I he's
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  not sure if there's gonna be a visit yet. But I think Ohio State,
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  if they watch the film, they like what they see. They think
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  he could be kind of a deep safety. Maybe maybe I could play corner
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  or play safety, playing the slot a little bit like Jordan Hancock's doing this
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  year. He's a guy who they might bring in for a visit and try
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  to push for Reggie Powers to just decommit from Michigan State. He was in
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  the same boat, had a quote unquote offer from Ohio State. But he's
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  more of a little bit of a like a hybrid linebacker, like like a
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  Sunny Styles. Definitely not as good as Sunny Styles, but that type of
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  like in the box safety for Ohio State. And I'm not sure that they
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  need that with what they have already. So you know, those two guys
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  in state, I think they'll keep a close eye on and continue to evaluate,
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  and then you know, look, if you could get kJ Bolden who's
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  committed to Florida State, or you could get Sekwan Patterson, who's committed to
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  Miami on campus for a visit this fall. You take your swing at those
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  types of guys. But it's weird because with the transfer portal, you don't
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  need to get high school guys anymore. So we're sitting here like they've only
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  got one safety and a three safety defense, Like, what are they gonna
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  do? Well? They brought in three guys last year. They brought it
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  like Jahad Carter has another is in another year after this year, Layton Ransom
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  could come back for another year. I mean, like these guys with the
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  twenty twenty years especially have extra eligibility. Not to mention that, you know,
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  you could go into the portal and you could get you could get guys
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  if you miss in high school. So I think Ohio State now a couple
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  of years into NIL, a couple of years into like the new portal and
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  transfer rules, they I think they've gotten their footing underneath them a little bit
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  better than maybe they should have a couple of years back, and I think,
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  you know, you miss on a high school kid, you know you
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  could, you know, like linebacker, They went and got Nigel Glover out
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  of nowhere, right, and I'll build our depth at the linebacker portion.
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  So there's gotta be opportunities out there, whether it's high school the rest of
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  the way or going to the portal to go out and get some difference makers
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  for this team. All right, Well, then that's that's a little bit
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  of a look of a look at some of the stuff Alex wrote about last
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  week in his adet column, again exclusive to members of buckeyehell dot com.
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  This week, he's gonna be taking a look at some of the guys who
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  might be coming in this weekend as the Buckeyes start hosting on campus visitors for
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  a game for the first time in three weeks. After the Notre Dame game
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  on the road and the week off last weekend, they'll have a tunnel full
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  of visitors coming into Ohio Stadium again on Saturday. So you can find out
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  a lot more about all those guys on Alex's ADET column at buckeyehetllle dot com.
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  This week, we'll have plenty of coverage that Maryland game. Undefeated Turps,
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  big noon kickoff coming into Columbus. Boy didn't expect this to be a
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  national show coming in kind of game before the season started. But Maryland keeps
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  winning and Ohio State keeps winning, and here we are Battle of the Undefeated
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  in Ohio st Adm this weekend kickoff at noon. Love those noon kickoffs.
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  I know not everyone does, but no complaints, No complaints for me.
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  So I hope you guys enjoy all of the all of the coverage we're providing
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  you at Puckeye Huddle dot com. Kevin and Tony and I on the team
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  recruiting coverage. You've got the exes and those coverage covering all your bases.
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  Also really fun and active board. You can join our sheep league which it's
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  too long to explain, but there's a lot of a lot of fun on
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  that board. So you can find that all at Buckeye Huddle dot com.
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  That will look for today. Thank you guys all for joining us. Up
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  a great day, talk get tomorrow.