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How Will The Buckeyes Replace Lathan Ransom? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Saturday, February twenty second.
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  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Tom or the Texas game in one
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  Speaker 1: hundred and eighty nine days, the game against Michigan in
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  Speaker 1: two hundred and eighty days. If you're planning your next event,
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  Speaker 1: Today we're going to be taking a look at the
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  Speaker 1: safety position for Ohio State and how the Buckeyes are
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  Speaker 1: going to go about replacing Laithan Ransom. This is one
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  Speaker 1: of those shows. We've done a couple of these already,
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  Speaker 1: but Tony Gardaman is doing a series of these on
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  Speaker 1: YouTube and it is just it's a great look, kind
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  Speaker 1: of an in depth look, position by position at how
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  Speaker 1: the Buckeyes are going to go about replacing all of
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  Speaker 1: the talented players who departed. So here's Tony taking a
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  Speaker 1: look at how the Buckeyes will replace Leithan Ransom.
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  Speaker 2: Hello, everybody, Tony Gerdaman here from Buckehuddle dot com and
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  Speaker 2: the Buckeye Weekly podcast back with another edition of how
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  Speaker 2: in the heck is Ohio State can replace this guy?
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  Speaker 2: And doing a series discussing how Ohio State is going
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  Speaker 2: to replace their departed starters, of which there are eight
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  Speaker 2: each on each side of the ball, eight on offense,
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  Speaker 2: eight on defense. I won't be doing a series on
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  Speaker 2: every single one of those guys. I'll be packaging JT. Twey,
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  Speaker 2: Molowa and Jack Sawyer together, Josh Simmons and Josh Fryar together,
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  Speaker 2: that sort of thing, so the ends in the tackles
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  Speaker 2: they will be together. I will be talking today about
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  Speaker 2: Leith and Ransom, Ohio State strong safety. Laith and Ransom
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  Speaker 2: one of just five Ohio State Buck guys in school
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  Speaker 2: history who are five year letter winners thanks to COVID
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  Speaker 2: and things of that nature, and also the ability to
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  Speaker 2: play a few games and still maintain the year red shirt.
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  Speaker 2: But Laith and Ransom, three year started for the Buck guys,
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  Speaker 2: was a contributor all five years. Was a guy that
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  Speaker 2: came in in the twenty twenty year his freshman year,
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  Speaker 2: and Ryo Day could not say enough good things about
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  Speaker 2: this guy. High level understanding of football made plays was
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  Speaker 2: around the ball, just the exactly the kind of player
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  Speaker 2: coach loves to have and just an advanced player. And
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  Speaker 2: you saw that a little bit as a true freshman,
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  Speaker 2: and then his sophomore year he started four games and
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  Speaker 2: was part of the rotation and was a guy that
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  Speaker 2: you could see was going to be something pretty good.
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  Speaker 2: And he's had his ups and downs. He's battled for jobs,
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  Speaker 2: he's dealt with injuries that's for sure, broken leg in
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  Speaker 2: the Rose Bowl and still managed to get back in
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  Speaker 2: time for the season opener that the next year. So
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  Speaker 2: a guy that has won a fast healer, but also
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  Speaker 2: really really driven and really just wants to be part
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  Speaker 2: of the defense and help everybody out and do his
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  Speaker 2: job and play the game. And he played it at
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  Speaker 2: a high level. He was honorable mention All Big Ten
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  Speaker 2: selection in twenty two and twenty three as a starter,
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  Speaker 2: and then this past season is fifth at Ohio State,
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  Speaker 2: finished fourth on the team with seventy six tackles. He
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  Speaker 2: was fifth in tackles for loss. He had nine tackles
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  Speaker 2: for loss, which is the most four an Ohio State
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  Speaker 2: defensive back since two thousand and six, when cornerback Antonio
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  Speaker 2: Smith had ten, So that gives you an idea of
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  Speaker 2: where a lot of his plays were made. And he
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  Speaker 2: also tied for first on the team with three forced
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  Speaker 2: fumbles and maybe tied for first or led the way
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  Speaker 2: with just impact plays in the playoffs in terms of
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  Speaker 2: actual impact and collision force, that sort of thing, like
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  Speaker 2: the physics aspect of it. He was pretty big with
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  Speaker 2: And so you know that's their strong safety. And now
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  Speaker 2: you know he's going away and he's off to the NFL.
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  Speaker 2: So who's going to replace him? And when you look
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  Speaker 2: at the candidates, one of the candidates is Caleb Downs,
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  Speaker 2: who played free safety but also was around the ball
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  Speaker 2: and played closer to the line of scrimmage like a
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  Speaker 2: typical strong safety does. So how are they going to
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  Speaker 2: use Caleb Downs? And you know they'll start to figure
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  Speaker 2: that out, and they can they do the same thing
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  Speaker 2: they did last year when the nickelback is going to
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  Speaker 2: be different. We'll talk about the nickel back in another
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  Speaker 2: show because that's going to be a significant situation. And
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  Speaker 2: then whoever replaces Lathan Ransom, can they do what lath
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  Speaker 2: and Ransom did that allowed Caleb Downs to play more
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  Speaker 2: almost like a linebacker at times, or just like in
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  Speaker 2: terms of a free safety. He was, you know, really free,
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  Speaker 2: almost too free, and go do what you want type
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  Speaker 2: of thing. Go get the football. So can the next
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  Speaker 2: guy do that? And when you're looking if we're gonna
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  Speaker 2: keep Caleb Downs doing what he did last year, you're
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  Speaker 2: looking at Jalen McLain, who actually won the job as
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  Speaker 2: Lathan Ransom's backup last year as a true freshman. So
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  Speaker 2: he's coming into this season. He actually started a game
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  Speaker 2: last year for Ransom when Ransom was out with an injury.
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  Speaker 2: So this is a guy who's a true freshman last year,
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  Speaker 2: a sophomore this year. He's he's one of the guys.
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  Speaker 2: Milie Carford is going to be a junior this year.
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  Speaker 2: He came in and started a couple of games as
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  Speaker 2: a true freshman at safety and he was Downs. Came Downs,
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  Speaker 2: his backup at free safety last year. Is a bigger kid,
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  Speaker 2: six ' three, like you know, two hundred pounds, can
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  Speaker 2: play either safety spot. So that's a guy to keep
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  Speaker 2: an eye on. Keenan Nelson who transferred in last year
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  Speaker 2: from South Carolina and he's got to played a lot
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  Speaker 2: of defense. His first two years of South Carolina did
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  Speaker 2: not play any defense. Last year for Ohio State. He
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  Speaker 2: was special teams only, So that's that's an interesting situation
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  Speaker 2: where it's like, if he couldn't get on the field
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  Speaker 2: last year, what kind of expectation should he have for
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  Speaker 2: winning a job this year and being able to replace
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  Speaker 2: Lathan Ransom. So that's certainly got to keep in mind.
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  Speaker 2: But the playing time aspect is, you know, questionable at
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  Speaker 2: this point. Lee Roy Roker was a true freshman last year.
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  Speaker 2: He only played in a couple of games and both
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  Speaker 2: of those games were just special teams so he's still growing.
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  Speaker 2: He was a June d rollie, which put him behind
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  Speaker 2: everybody basically. And then you got three true freshmen into
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  Speaker 2: this coming into this recruiting class, Fahim Delaye, Cody Hidad,
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  Speaker 2: and Deshaun Stewart, And they're all different players, but if
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  Speaker 2: you're looking for one of them to kind of blossom,
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  Speaker 2: maybe keep an eye on Fahim Delaying. So that's what
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  Speaker 2: you're dealing with in terms of candidates, and this spring,
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  Speaker 2: everybody's going to be involved. They're all going to be
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  Speaker 2: out there. What will be interesting is Caleb Downs probably
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  Speaker 2: won't be out there much because there's no reason for
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  Speaker 2: him to be out there. He you know, not that
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  Speaker 2: he needs to go on vacation or anything, but they're
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  Speaker 2: going to want to get everybody else some reps. And
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  Speaker 2: you could probably expect to see Malie Cartford and Jalen
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  Speaker 2: McLain through most of the spring handling those two safety positions,
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  Speaker 2: which kind of takes Mille Carford out of the running
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  Speaker 2: I would assume as the strong safety. But again these
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  Speaker 2: say these safety positions have to be somewhat interchangeable because
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  Speaker 2: they do have to shift when receivers shift at times.
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  Speaker 2: So that's something that if you could play one, you
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  Speaker 2: kind of have to play the other as well at times.
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  Speaker 2: And and so those two guys will be competing or
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  Speaker 2: playing next to each other. Jalen McLain will be that
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  Speaker 2: guy that's leading the pack in the spring. Can almost
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  Speaker 2: guarantee that. And in fact, he's he's your best bet
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  Speaker 2: right now to be replacing Lathan Ransom. And when I've
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  Speaker 2: talked to talk to Jalen McLain and and now the
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  Speaker 2: lead up to one of the Bowl games, and you
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  Speaker 2: know he was couldn't I say enough about the opportunity
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  Speaker 2: to learn from Lathan Ransom and Caleb Downs, Like this
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  Speaker 2: is a freshman's dream to come in and learn from
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  Speaker 2: what I would consider the best safety duo in Ohio
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  Speaker 2: state football history. That's a pretty good gig for a
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  Speaker 2: true freshman. But not just any true freshman. A true
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  Speaker 2: freshman who's going to sit down and take it all
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  Speaker 2: very seriously and take it in and then be able
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  Speaker 2: to put it back out on the field. So this
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  Speaker 2: was a huge opportunity for him to learn from two
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  Speaker 2: of the best, and I would expect that he's going
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  Speaker 2: to put it to good use. And talking with Matt
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  Speaker 2: Gary's safeties coach about him recently, he totally talked about
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  Speaker 2: just how serious that Jalen McLean is. Now. Seriously, he
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  Speaker 2: takes stuff and you know, he needed to get bigger
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  Speaker 2: as a true freshman, and so one of the things
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  Speaker 2: they did was have him consuming enough calories and they
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  Speaker 2: would start with breakfast and Gary said, like, Jaleen McLain's
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  Speaker 2: not a guy who likes breakfast food, but he would
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  Speaker 2: be in Greary's office every every day at six in
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  Speaker 2: the morning, you know, like two chicken breasts and some
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  Speaker 2: rice for breakfast because he doesn't like breakfast food, but
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  Speaker 2: he's serious about putting on the weight. And so that's
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  Speaker 2: that was his breakfast, at least his first breakfast. Who
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  Speaker 2: knows what the second breakfast was. But that's the kind
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  Speaker 2: of guy that we're talking about, somebody that takes it
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  Speaker 2: very seriously. And and you know he's he's a guy
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  Speaker 2: as a freshman everybody talked about how well he would
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  Speaker 2: find the ball in practice. He just whether it was
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  Speaker 2: a loose ball or tackling the ball, like, he'd be
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  Speaker 2: around it for whatever reason. And he's just got a
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  Speaker 2: little bit of an innate sense about him, I think
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  Speaker 2: is maybe a good way to put it, and would
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  Speaker 2: just be around the football and he'd find it. So
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  Speaker 2: like he is probably the leader in the clubhouse to
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  Speaker 2: replace Lathan Ransom. He's not going to be the only
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  Speaker 2: guy that's not going to be all put on him.
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  Speaker 2: But he's a guy that has played quite a bit
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  Speaker 2: for a true freshman as much as you can expect
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  Speaker 2: a true freshman to play, and produced as well as
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  Speaker 2: you would expect a true freshman to play. It's not
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  Speaker 2: like he's putting up huge numbers. He doesn't have, you know,
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  Speaker 2: all of the opportunity to do so. Fifteen tackles last year,
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  Speaker 2: and you know, his opportunities tackle for loss and in
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  Speaker 2: a pass broken up. But you know, a guy that
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  Speaker 2: just finds the ball and as a strong safety, that's
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  Speaker 2: kind of what you're looking for. So there you go.
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  Speaker 2: That's that's that's how Ohio State is going to replace
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  Speaker 2: Lathan Ransom. You can't really just replace lath and Ransom.
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  Speaker 2: This is how Ohio State's gonna fill the void at
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  Speaker 2: strong safety. I think is a better way to play
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  Speaker 2: that because Leith and Ransom is just gonna is one
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  Speaker 2: of the most underrated safeties in Ohio State history, I
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  Speaker 2: would saying, and not an easy guy to replace. But
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  Speaker 2: Jalen McLain as a sophomore this year looking like somebody
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  Speaker 2: that is somebody to know for sure in this Ohio
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  Speaker 2: State defense because I do expect him to have a
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  Speaker 2: very big role. One last thing, I'll just say, keep
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  Speaker 2: an eye out for Fahim Delaye, the true freshman big
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  Speaker 2: kids six ' two sixty three, really smooth, can play
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  Speaker 2: either safety position and could be a guy that is
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  Speaker 2: maybe this year's version of Jalen McLain who is a
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  Speaker 2: backup to somebody but can also step in as a
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  Speaker 2: spot starter and a guy that you start to hear about,
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  Speaker 2: but we'll go with Jalen McLain right now to replace
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  Speaker 2: Lathan Ransom. So there you go. Uh, always welcome your
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  Speaker 2: feedback on these videos. How do you see this going?
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  Speaker 2: How do you see lath and Ransom being replaced? And
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  Speaker 2: what kind of void do you think this leaves in
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  Speaker 2: the Ohio State defense? And you know how much you
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  Speaker 2: know how well can Jalen McLain or anybody on this
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  Speaker 2: Ohio State Defense fill that void? And you know, let
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  Speaker 2: me know in the comments go ahead, and if you
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  Speaker 2: would go ahead, its thumbs up. We would appreciate that
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  Speaker 2: if you're watching YouTube, And of course you can find
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  Speaker 2: all of these that I've already written out if you
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  Speaker 2: prefer to read I've I've written out all of these
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  Speaker 2: at buckeyehuddle dot com on how Ohio State's going to
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  Speaker 2: replace their startup, So you can find those things there
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  Speaker 2: and of course continue to find me and Tom Orr
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  Speaker 2: at the Buckeye Weekly podcast. So thank you all for
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  Speaker 2: tuning in and we'll talk to you guys later