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Buckeye Banter With Curtis Grant · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning from Monday, March thirty. First,
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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 fifty two days, the game against Michigan in
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  Speaker 1: two hundred and forty three days. If you're planning your
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  Speaker 1: next event, make it unforgettable with Grateful Griddle, Columbus's favorite
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  Speaker 1: food truck serving up smash burgers, gourmet sandwiches, and good vibes.
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  Speaker 1: Book you're catering today at Grateful griddleoh dot com. Today
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  Speaker 1: you're going to get an episode of Buckeye Banter, hosted
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  Speaker 1: by Seth Schener. I keep talking about this, but you
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  Speaker 1: guys absolutely should be subscribing to that show. It is
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  Speaker 1: a fantastic conversation every time with Seth. This time it's
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  Speaker 1: with Curtis Grant, former Ohio state linebacker. He's someone who's
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  Speaker 1: just thinking about a little bit recently because it feels
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  Speaker 1: like there's some parallels between his story and the story
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  Speaker 1: of CJ. Hicks that may be playing out this spring.
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  Speaker 1: Both guys former five star linebacker recruits who took a
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  Speaker 1: couple of years to find the field, but in Curtis
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  Speaker 1: Grant's case, really turned into a really important player on
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  Speaker 1: a national championship team and tackles in that Sugar Bowl
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  Speaker 1: against Alabama, six tackles in the National Championship game against Oregon.
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  Speaker 1: Really really important player. Took a little while to find
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  Speaker 1: his spot on the field, but when he did, he
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  Speaker 1: made the most of it.
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  Speaker 2: He's looked.
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  Speaker 1: There may be some parallels to CJ. Hicks there, But
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  Speaker 1: here's the conversation between Cess Chainer and Curtis Grant. If
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  Speaker 1: you enjoy this one, make sure you subscribe to the
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  Speaker 1: Buckeye Banter podcast wherever you get Buckeyes tomorrow morning.
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  Speaker 3: Hello and welcome to another edition of Buckeye Banter. We're
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  Speaker 3: telling the stories of people who played for or worked
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  Speaker 3: around Ohio State Athletics, and today I'm really thrilled to
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  Speaker 3: bring in he's a national champion former linebacker at Ohio State,
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  Speaker 3: Curtis Grant.
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  Speaker 4: Thanks Curtis for stopping.
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  Speaker 2: By Hieth, Thanks for having me me.
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  Speaker 3: Bet Well, Hey, I want to get into what pure
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  Speaker 3: Green is down there on High Street. We'll talk about
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  Speaker 3: that here in a little bit, but uh, first off,
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  Speaker 3: I want to just tell your story a little bit.
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  Speaker 3: You were a parade All American USA today, All USA.
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  Speaker 3: You played in the US Army All American Bowl. And
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  Speaker 3: you're from the Richmond, Virginia area. How you end up
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  Speaker 3: at o higher state?
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  Speaker 2: Uh, Well, a little bit of a short story, not
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  Speaker 2: long story. Well, originally I was going to Florida Gators.
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  Speaker 2: I wanted to commit to UH to be a Gator.
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  Speaker 2: And then Urban had resigned and I'll never forget today.
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  Speaker 2: My mom she called me while I was in class.
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  Speaker 2: My mom never calls me, and she says Urban is leaving.
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  Speaker 2: I said, well, that's not true. She's like, look, it's
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  Speaker 2: breaking news. I get online and see that coach Meyer
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  Speaker 2: is leaving Florida, and then that opened up my recruitment.
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  Speaker 2: I probably was going to commit to Florida probably a
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  Speaker 2: little week later. I was gonna probably be earlier commiting
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  Speaker 2: the signing day. So that opened up my career. When
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  Speaker 2: my recruitment again, and then I started looking at other
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  Speaker 2: schools because I saw what coach Myra was doing at
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  Speaker 2: Florida and I had wanted to be a part of it.
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  Speaker 2: I wanted to be a part of my dominant program,
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  Speaker 2: and I wanted to compete at a high level. And
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  Speaker 2: so after that, coach trest Uh, I ended up meeting
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  Speaker 2: coach Trust and Coach Fickle, and it was kind of
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  Speaker 2: it was history after that, you know, I had to
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  Speaker 2: tell my guy it recruited. My guy was DJ Dirkin,
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  Speaker 2: and it hurt me to this day. I was in
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  Speaker 2: front of the I'll never forget. I was in front
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  Speaker 2: of the Golds gym and I had to call coach
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  Speaker 2: and say, hey, man, I think I'm gonna go another
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  Speaker 2: another way. Man, I don't think Florida is the right
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  Speaker 2: place for me anymore. And you know, then I started
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  Speaker 2: talking to coach Trust because Trust actually came to my
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  Speaker 2: house for a home visit. And after that the rust
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  Speaker 2: was history.
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  Speaker 3: So obviously Coach Fickle, he was really good at, you know,
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  Speaker 3: being representing Ohio State. He played for the school he
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  Speaker 3: was positioning coach there, and then coach Tressell.
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  Speaker 2: Uh.
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  Speaker 3: Certainly it speaks for himself. He had a great career
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  Speaker 3: as well. Was there a specific thing that impressed you
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  Speaker 3: the most about the recruitment as far as like either
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  Speaker 3: your Trustle or Fickle.
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  Speaker 2: I think the whole thing, man, is the Trust effect,
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  Speaker 2: you know. I mean, it's just just how who Trust is.
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  Speaker 2: He's just a laid back guy. I hadn't obviously, I
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  Speaker 2: didn't get a chance to, you know, get coach Bond,
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  Speaker 2: but just his presence of being around you could just
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  Speaker 2: feel I'm an energy person. Man Trust always had great energy.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, if you even look at what he's doing now,
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  Speaker 2: I mean look at all the players who went back.
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  Speaker 2: I think, uh, he's a what is he now? He
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  Speaker 2: got lieutenant governor the government? Yeah, okay, I thought that's
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  Speaker 2: what it was. But I didn't want to speak speak
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  Speaker 2: on something I really didn't know about. The clips and
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  Speaker 2: you just see how many players that along the way
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  Speaker 2: that he's coached to go up there and just show
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  Speaker 2: up with Coach Trust. So that's a big testament for
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  Speaker 2: him for who he is and the character and how
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  Speaker 2: he carries himself as a man.
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  Speaker 3: Well, but you you put yourself in a tough position then,
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  Speaker 3: because coach Meyer was the guy you wanted to commit
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  Speaker 3: to and he's he resigned, and then coach Trestle is
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  Speaker 3: the guy you did commit to and now he's not
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  Speaker 3: going to be there.
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  Speaker 4: How difficult was that?
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  Speaker 3: And I guess where were you in the process, because
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  Speaker 3: twenty eleven would have been your freshman year and he
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  Speaker 3: was he was let go around Memorial Day that that
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  Speaker 3: end of maybe gaining of June. Were you already on campus.
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  Speaker 3: What was your situation like then?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I mean I had already committed, and back then,
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  Speaker 2: you know, you can't you can just transfer or sit
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  Speaker 2: out or do what you wanted to do to you know,
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  Speaker 2: us as athletes, we were kind of stuck, you know.
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  Speaker 2: I mean we already knew once coach trust had gotten fired.
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  Speaker 2: We and after the season of uh we went six
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  Speaker 2: and seven, we already knew who the next guy was
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  Speaker 2: going to be. It was there was no other top
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  Speaker 2: candidates out there that I don't even think, Oh State
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  Speaker 2: we even put their name, uh to even build a
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  Speaker 2: relationship with other than Urban because you just look at
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  Speaker 2: his track record. And I remember sitting there talking to Duran.
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  Speaker 2: It was like Urban's coming here. You know, we just knew,
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  Speaker 2: you know.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, that felt fairly obvious, even as early as like
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  Speaker 4: probably late October, early November.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that that was kind of going. I even remember
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  Speaker 3: he was working for ESPN. Yeah, I remember Braxton Miller
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  Speaker 3: was a freshman, right, and he's up there, you know,
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  Speaker 3: I don't I don't say this completely serious, but he's
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  Speaker 3: up there almost drooling over Braxton Miller and coach him,
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  Speaker 3: and and that idea was definitely there with the thing
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  Speaker 3: about you though you're from Hermitage High School, you're the
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  Speaker 3: number two overall recruit in the whole country. Yeah, and
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  Speaker 3: you're behind a guy that we all know, Jadavian Clowney.
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  Speaker 3: What kind of pressures there on a guy like yourself
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  Speaker 3: to have that rating? Did you Did you feel pressure
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  Speaker 3: or what was it like to be in that position.
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  Speaker 2: It was awesome to be in that position just because
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  Speaker 2: of the doors that open up for me. But I
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  Speaker 2: think at the same time, I never felt any pressure
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  Speaker 2: about being highly recruited. I loved the game of football,
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  Speaker 2: so I just thought it was just something that come
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  Speaker 2: with it. You know, you do well, you earn well,
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  Speaker 2: you earn the accolades, and I mean, you're just going
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  Speaker 2: to be become a top performer. And that's you know,
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  Speaker 2: just from playing football out in the yard with my father,
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  Speaker 2: throughout my little league in middle school, high school days.
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  Speaker 2: I think I never really looked at college football or
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  Speaker 2: the rankers, just just being like, you know, big man
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  Speaker 2: on campus or whatever. I just looked at it as
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  Speaker 2: you were cards you get to reward. I just remember
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  Speaker 2: just watching some of the top players in my area,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the Army game that was the big thing
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  Speaker 2: before the under Army Game came out, and I told
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  Speaker 2: my mom, I'll never forget just standing in front of
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  Speaker 2: the TV, like, hey, mom, that's gonna be me one day.
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  Speaker 2: And I just never stopped working. I've always been an
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  Speaker 2: overtiever in my life, just for myself, never really for
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  Speaker 2: anybody else to give me the know variety, never really
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  Speaker 2: cared about that. I always wanted to see who who
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  Speaker 2: who I could become by by prushing myself to the max.
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  Speaker 4: Right right?
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  Speaker 3: Okay, So well, first things first, how different was it
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  Speaker 3: from twenty eleven to twenty twelve. Luke Fickle stays, so
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  Speaker 3: he's there a defensive coordinator and I believe linebackers coach
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  Speaker 3: as well, So he's you got some familiarity there, and
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  Speaker 3: you already knew Urban. But tell me the difference between
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  Speaker 3: kind of the chaos of twenty eleven and then Urban
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  Speaker 3: coming through that door to start basically January twenty twelve.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I think Fick was put in the hot
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  Speaker 2: seat early, and I don't think he just he just
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  Speaker 2: didn't have the experience of probably leading that you know,
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  Speaker 2: leading that many men at one time. You know, he
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  Speaker 2: was a defensive coordinator, and you know, having your your
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  Speaker 2: your your job is just doing the defense. But when
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  Speaker 2: you're the head coach at this point now you have
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  Speaker 2: way more responsibility, you know. So I just didn't think that,
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  Speaker 2: you know, he did the best that he could at
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  Speaker 2: the time. But then you bring someone like Urban that
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  Speaker 2: everywhere he went, everywhere he has been, he's had he's
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  Speaker 2: had a winning track record. So it's kind of hard
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  Speaker 2: to compete with, you know, compete with the person with
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  Speaker 2: that many accolades coming into the Ohio State University. When
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  Speaker 2: you're looking at what he's done everywhere he went, he's
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  Speaker 2: been a winner. That's because the way he demands stuff,
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  Speaker 2: you know, Uh, he demands that we be great. And
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  Speaker 2: I'm not saying that Vick didn't do that. It's just
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  Speaker 2: it's just a difference. I just don't think, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I just don't think at that time he was just
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  Speaker 2: ready to be ahead. Man.
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  Speaker 3: Well, there's a lot of other things against it. Again,
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  Speaker 3: he didn't get the job officially till like June. Now
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  Speaker 3: he's the head coach, but also the coaching staff was
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  Speaker 3: basically in place. I think the only guy he brought
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  Speaker 3: in as a position coach or as one of the
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  Speaker 3: main assistants was Mike Brabele.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, and so you talk about like if if.
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  Speaker 3: If Luke Fickele was given the reins to coach his
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  Speaker 3: own team, you know, even at that early age, he
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  Speaker 3: would have been a to hire his own staff, he
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  Speaker 3: would have been able to have a ramp up of
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  Speaker 3: spring practice where he was the head coach.
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  Speaker 2: Uh.
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  Speaker 4: He he didn't.
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  Speaker 3: It was a tough deal for him completely. But certainly
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  Speaker 3: you go to Urban what about like the stories that
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  Speaker 3: came out right when he took over about like winter
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  Speaker 3: drills and things like that, and how like everybody was
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  Speaker 3: more held accountable and things like that.
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  Speaker 4: Was that was that a real thing? And and was
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  Speaker 4: it an eye opening thing for you?
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  Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah, that was real. That was definitely real. Like
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  Speaker 2: Urban Uh, he was a drill sergeant man. He just didn't,
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  Speaker 2: like I said, he demanded greatness. And at the time,
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  Speaker 2: like I tell what I would tell anybody, we we
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  Speaker 2: didn't understand what he was trying to accomplish. So since
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  Speaker 2: we didn't understand, you either had to get with it
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  Speaker 2: or get lost. And when he came in, I remember,
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  Speaker 2: you know, uh, there was a lot of stuff going
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  Speaker 2: on in the locker room that Urban was not happy with,
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  Speaker 2: and he gave us, he warned us. He tried to
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  Speaker 2: be nice about it, but then he had.
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  Speaker 3: We lost Curtis all right, yeah, we lost it for
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  Speaker 3: a sacon. But you were talking about how Urban you know,
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  Speaker 3: he kind of tried to play it nice a little bit.
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  Speaker 2: At first, expect you to come in, and he tried
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  Speaker 2: to came in like, hey, guys, I'm just letting you
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  Speaker 2: guys know, this is what I expect. He tried a
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  Speaker 2: nice approach, and then after that he had got some
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: news that he wasn't too happy about. And uh, I
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  Speaker 2: remember he stripped us, He kicked us out the locker room.
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  Speaker 2: We had to wear our own clothes, we had to
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  Speaker 2: eat our own food. He was he wanted to make
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  Speaker 2: he wanted to let everyone know that he was in
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: control of the ship. And we had four thirty in
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: the morning workouts. No way to just push ups, lunges,
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  Speaker 2: air squats one hundred yards. Yeah, and you don't think
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  Speaker 2: just using your own body weight, that's all we were doing.
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  Speaker 2: It was on Coach mixed West. It was the seniors, juniors, sophomores,
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  Speaker 2: and freshmans. Whoever messed up, we had to start over.
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  Speaker 2: So what he was doing was he was trying to
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  Speaker 2: get us to build and build accountability between one another
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  Speaker 2: as a team. So when it came down time to it,
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  Speaker 2: all they had to do was coach and when other
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  Speaker 2: players didn't do what they were acts to, the leadership
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  Speaker 2: on the team would take care of the take care
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  Speaker 2: of the problem before it gets to the coaching stack,
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: get back to the coaches. So it didn't take long.
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  Speaker 3: Well, and a lot of times he's very calculating what
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  Speaker 3: he did, I know, and you know sometimes if there's
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  Speaker 3: a coach and the way his methods are, he doesn't
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: really let the outside world know about it. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: he was very intentional on letting people know different position groups,
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  Speaker 3: even the offensive lineman, the receivers, like I'm gonna I'm
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  Speaker 3: gonna let people know when you guys aren't doing what
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  Speaker 3: you're supposed to do, because that's going to motivate you
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  Speaker 3: even more because I'm sure you didn't want to be
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  Speaker 3: talked about that way, right even as a lineman.
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  Speaker 2: No, never, never, So what he would call it, does
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  Speaker 2: everybody do their one to eleven. So if everybody can
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  Speaker 2: in their group can maximize, they're maximize their potential in
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  Speaker 2: their group. When we come together as one, we would
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  Speaker 2: be dominant.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and listen, I guess focusing on you specifically, Like
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  Speaker 3: I've got a buddy of mine and we will talk
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: and we're huge, you know, fans of the team and
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: the sport of football, and I know, even like those
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: games like against mac teams and things like that, we
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: always wanted to see, like the freshmen get a chance
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: to play, and we'd love to see like guys like
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: yourself when you were much younger, like get that opportunity
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: and then kind of thing, oh, he could.
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  Speaker 4: Do something for us. You know.
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  Speaker 3: It was until though twenty thirteen, as a junior you
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: started twelve games. What was it like for you kind
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  Speaker 3: of ramping into that position though? As a five star,
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: number two recruit in the country. Was it difficult to
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  Speaker 3: kind of wait your turn?
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  Speaker 2: It was difficult, But at the time, I just I
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  Speaker 2: couldn't really, I really wasn't bought in. Like, to be
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: honest with you, I hated playing football at Ohio State
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  Speaker 2: for like the first three years just because I didn't understand.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: I didn't understand what was trying to be accomplished. You know,
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  Speaker 2: I kind of got lost in my fresh year. I
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: came in overweight, I wasn't as strong. I was strong,
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: but I wasn't as fast. I kept losing all the time,
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: and I wasn't used to that. So my biggest thing
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: was a confidence issue. I never really had a problem
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: with learning or being a leader. I just didn't understand
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: what what schemes we were running while we were running it.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: I just didn't, you know. And it wasn't until later on,
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  Speaker 2: when I was given a little bit more responsibility of leading,
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: that a lot of stuff started to click for me.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: So I didn't really have fun with it until I
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: was scene, to be honest with you, until I was
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: a senior in college, where you know, I had just
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: wanted to compete, and I started getting my confidence back.
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  Speaker 2: I started winning a lot more. Stuff started to become
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: more a lot more simple simple for me, and I
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: just felt like the schemes and stuff that we were
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: running started to make way more sense than what we
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  Speaker 2: had before. But that's pretty much how I feel of
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  Speaker 2: my career.
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  Speaker 3: Well, and I think that's that's a good reminder for
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: those of us out here who look at the star
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  Speaker 3: ratings or think of the recruiting classes and things like that.
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  Speaker 3: And it's almost like some people were like they look
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  Speaker 3: at guys like you as robots, almost like well, he's this,
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  Speaker 3: he's gonna come in and do this, this and this,
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  Speaker 3: and he's going to go off the NFL after three years.
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  Speaker 3: It's like, I guess, you know, a good reminder that
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  Speaker 3: a you're human and be even the best athletes sometimes
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  Speaker 3: it requires maybe a little extra effort or a little
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: extra focus and things like that.
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  Speaker 2: But you also got to understand too, when you're a
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: five star, coaches aren't really looking to really develop you
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  Speaker 2: when you get here. They expect you to be ready
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  Speaker 2: to go. Yeah, and that's I think that's what's the disconnect.
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  Speaker 2: So well, I didn't understand this until I became an
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  Speaker 2: adult and started watching football. It's like, well, this room
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  Speaker 2: is full of five stars, Like I'm gonna play the
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: best five star because you know, it's just a business thing,
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  Speaker 2: Like I don't have time to work with you twenty
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  Speaker 2: four to seven because I'm on the road. I'm thinking
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: of new schemes. I got to watch fan like, I
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: need you to take some accountability and be able to
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: work on your own skills and do some stuff like
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  Speaker 2: that because I mean, some coaches do have the time
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  Speaker 2: to develop guys. But let's be honest. You're recruiting three
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: sixty five, that's right, and you're watching film. You got
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: to figure out how to get better. You got to
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: figure out what what hurt you last year. You got
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: to figure out with schemes are going to run this
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: year with the package because just because you had three
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: two or three three hundred and thirty pounders in this year,
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: you might have you might not have recruited another three
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: hundred and thirty pound guys. These guys might be smaller guys.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: Now we might have to go back to solo gap defense.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: You know, they might not be able to take it
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: three and take up three three three three gaps at
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: one point. So yeah, that's the stuff that I didn't understand.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: But when coach asked, came in his simple he had
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: to skem. We started running a lot more stuff than
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: what the players wanted to run instead of what the
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: coaches thought, and we became a lot better than what
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: we would have been of coaches throwing stuff at the
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: board and hoping it sticks.
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: So this year, this past year at High State obviously
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: won the national title and it was. I think between
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: the semi final the championship game that Ryan Das said
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: something and honestly, it reminded me of you, and I'm
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: so excited to talk to you about this. He said
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: that the story gets to be told if and when
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: we win this last game. And there's so many stories
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: about that twenty fourteen season and team. Obviously with the
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: quarterback situation, with the injuries coach to Carra George, certainly,
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: sadly there's a story there. But for you, again, Hey,
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: this is gonna be your year. You're gonna be unleashed.
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: But all of a sudden, there's this other five star
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: named ray Kwon McMillan, And I think one of the
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: best stories told about that season was the way you
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: took him under your wing, even though maybe he ate
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: into your reps.
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: A little bit.
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: Tell me a little bit about that and kind of
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: what you saw and when you saw it out of him.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: Well, I just know how I felt as a freshman
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: coming in. I really didn't have a lot of people
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: that depended on you know. I was, like I said,
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: I was really by myself a lot. You know, I
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: kind of felt like I didn't belong when I got here.
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: So with him being an out of state kid, he
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: was never a copying person. You know. He was real
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: down to earth guy, which you know, drew me to him.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: So I didn't know what was gonna come out of it,
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: but I knew what I had wanted when I got here.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: I wish somebody would have taught me, took me on
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: the wing, and not been so you know, feeling like
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: I was just a guy, you know what I'm saying.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: So me doing that actually made me a better player
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: because I had to study more. I had to make
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: sure he knew what he was doing. I knew they
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: wanted to bring him in to take my spot. But
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: at the same time, I'm not gonna lay down and
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: let nobody take my spot. So I'm I'm a level
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: of the playing field. It's just because that's the type
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: of guy that I am. I don't want to beat
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: nobody when they week. I want to see if I
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: can win when you're at your strongest. Sure, because me
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: winning that's like me, you know, being in high school
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: going to compete at the Junior Olympics with you know,
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: teenagers and I'm seventeen, eighteen years old. These guys are
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: twelve and thirteen, of course I should win, you know,
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: so I wanted it to be an equal playing feeling.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: Only way I could get that was to create an
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: environment for myself where it's a competitive where it's a
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: competitive and I can honestly feel good about myself. What
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: going to compete, because I'm not gonna lay down and
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: hand you anything, but if I can at least get
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: you up to somewhat of my mentality and somewhat of
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: my smarts of the game. Now when we go practice
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: in springball as a level playing field, that's yeah.
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: And in fact, as early as September of that year,
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: so the season is just getting started. There was a
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: Tim May article in the Dispatch and it talks about
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: how you did that for Ray Kon.
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: You're one quote in the story.
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: You said, you can either not help somebody and make
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: the team worse, or help somebody and take make the
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: team better. And even Joshua Perry, your teammate there in
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: the linebacker Corps, uh, he said, you were excited about
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: ray Kon. You're excited when he was successful on the
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: field that can practice or in games, he said, the
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: law that was due to the struggle you had had.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: But then, like you said, you shared kind of Hey,
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: it's a roadmap of maybe you what you didn't get
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: when you came in.
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: That's that's pretty awesome. That was a cool deal.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt, man, I just said I didn't. I'm
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: a guy. Man. If we're gonna win and let's do
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: this thing, let's do it. You know, at the end
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: of the day, I went about ego. For me, it
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: was about winning. So let the best man win. And
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: if coach thought he was better than me, that's cool.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: It is what it is. I still made it. That's
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: why I looked at it. I still went to the league.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: I still played three years. I ended up starting towards
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: the end of my career. So at that time, that
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: was my time to just build my confidence and build
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: me better for something bigger later on in the year
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: that I didn't later on in my life that I
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: didn't get a chance to see because I was just
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: stuck right here. Like I wasn't playing it. Like I said,
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: I wasn't really having the fun that I thought I
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: was gonna have in college football. But I also didn't
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: understand the business of college football. Now. My father tried
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: to tell me that, but at that time, you know,
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: number to the place, number two player in the country.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: I'm not trying to hear that I'm going to start,
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: because I've always been the starter. But hey, I had
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: to go through some obstacles to become who I needed
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: to become. And on the good side, when it was
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: my time, I stepped up and did what I had
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: to do well.
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: And again the story of that season, which I'd like
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: to go through this season a little bit here with you. Now,
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: the story of that season has to be told as
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: part of what you did and what Rayque did together.
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: As his keys.
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: Now, if we look at twenty fourteen, obviously the end
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: of twenty thirteen, Braxy Miller got really banged up in
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: the bowl game against Clemson, and now just days before
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: the season is about to start, he goes down and practice.
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: Do you remember kind of that happening and where were
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: you when when he got injured?
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: Yes, I do remember what I was. We were Actually
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: we were actually on the sideline. I think the first
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: team defense has really just got off got off of
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: the field, and so I'm just transitioning because customers are
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: coming in. I was really supposed to be working, but hey,
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: what it is and he threw he threw a deep ball,
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: and when he threw a deep ball, we thought somebody
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: that ran into him and hit his arm. So, you know,
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: as seniors, we're looking like who did it? Who did it?
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: Who did it? And it's like, well, it was just
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: like now, he just threw a ball and his body
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: wasn't fully recovered as they might have thought it was,
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: and that's what happened with that, and he just wasn't ready.
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah, what was the vibe?
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: I mean, immediately, I'm sure there's a lot of sadness
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: and you're there for him and that sort of thing.
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: But you were one of the leaders, so like as
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: you had to pick pick up things and move on,
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: what was that vibe like, especially as a leader.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: There, Oh, that's when you know, actually it wasn't just me.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: It was the defense got together, Mike Bennett, Daryan Grant,
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: all of us was like, hey man, that's on us. Now.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: We got to make sure that we put the team
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: in the best in the best situation possible. And all
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: the way we're gonna be able to do that is
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: playing lights out and giving it, you know, giving a
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: young quarterback like j T a shorter feel to be
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: able to accomplish, you know, be able to move the
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: ball down the field for us to be able to
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: you know, accomplish the common goal of winning. You know,
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: long drives were putting your quarterback at a young age
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: and long drive and hoping that they get the ball
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: eighty nine yards and just not. That's just not sustainable,
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: you know when especially when you're trying to get when
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: he's trying to build his confidence and keep his courage high.
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: So we knew that we had to take a take more,
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: take more, put more weight on our shoulders to be
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: uh to win.
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: When you talk about leadership too, J T.
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: Barrett seemingly possessed that trait right almost immediately. And you know,
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: I guess you wanted against Navy and Baltimore picked up
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: to win in the first game, but then right away
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: Virginia Tech came calling and that was just a rough
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: night all around.
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: How difficult was that game?
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: And then also, you know this past year's team overcame
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: lost that team up North the way they did your
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: hit up came a lot earlier, didn't as far as yeah,
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: and it was a lot of different time. There's the
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: first year of a fourteen playoff. A lot of people
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: said you were done right then?
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah? Uh, I mean that's because Blood Foster came in
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: here and schemed up our offense. You know, because at
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: that time we was a run ball heavy. We run it.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: We were a real run heavy team, and he didn't
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: believe our receivers were let me tell you what it is.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: He didn't believe our receivers were as good as they were,
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: and he didn't think our offensive line could block. So
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: he came in around the scheme that our defense our
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: office had never seen before, so they didn't get a
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: chance to prepare for it. I mean, he pulled out
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: the magic one. Yeah and whoopee. Do you know? But
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: that prepared us for all the other teams throughout the
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: rest of the season. I thought they were going to
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: come in and do the same thing. So they gave
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: us the ability to see where our weaknesses was early
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: in the season instead of being exposed later in the season.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: Becausef we would have lost in Big Ten play, we
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: wouldn't have been national champions. So I'm glad that we
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: did lose earlier, so we got a chance to see
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: what we were going to need to work on to
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: be able to become successful later on.
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, now you bounce back really well. You won four
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: straight games, and then you went to Penn State. That's
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: I mean, that game is an all time classic. You
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: go to double overtime. I mean the sac that Joey
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: Bosa had and Joshua Perry had eighteen tackles in that game.
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: I mean, tell me a little bit about that night.
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: That had to be electric.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: Oh man. I was probably one of the best games
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: you were ever playing as a Buck Eye. In an
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: all white game at Penn State. Both teams are always
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: really good. Either it's either one lost team or you know,
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: or both teams are undefeated at the time. Man, I mean,
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: it was so loud in that stadium you couldn't even
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: hear yourself think. I mean, it's to the point where
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: we always we were. We were we were using hands
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: signals just to just just to communicate because you couldn't
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: hear anything. I mean, even if I was standing next
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: to you yelling in your ear, you would not be
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: You were actually what forty before you you understand what
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: I was getting at. Man, it was oh man, you're
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: talking about electri Fine, it's one of the best games
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: you ever plays.
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: About guy, Well, it was, and I tell you what
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: the crazy thing is so urban In twenty twelve and thirteen,
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: his first twenty four games, you guys were undefeated and
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: you lost the game to Michigan State. In the title game,
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: you lost to Clemson. And now two games later at
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: the beginning of fourteen, you lose to Virginia Tech. But
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: my goodness, after that you're humming, and you did have
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: that double overtime game, but you're not tested again really
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: until that team up north game calling.
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: Right, it's a close game. I think you it felt
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: like you were going to win it.
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: And then honestly, as you look back on it, because
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: of what happened, you're like, oh, I wish, I wish
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: JT would have pitched that ball. He gets out and
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: he just he breaks his ankle, breaks his leg. It
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: wasn't until after Cardele came in that you go ahead
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: and take the lead on that long z C run.
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: But again, you guys had to deal was something huge.
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: You already had Braxton. Now you've got JT. Tell me
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: about that, and especially in the moment, Uh.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: Well, well, we all knew what we had in Dale,
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: but we just didn't know if Dale was gonna be it.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: We all knew that Dale could throw the ball sixty
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: five seventy yards without dropping back. We knew he had
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: a cannon. We knew he was a six five six
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: six big body quarterback. But he hadn't had reps. You know,
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: he had been playing scout team this whole time at
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: Ohio State. He never got reps. But I didn't know
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: Dale was. I knew he was good, but I didn't
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: know he was gonna come in and do that. I
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: just didn't because he never really got a chance to
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: show us talents. You know, you only go for what
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: you see as an athlete.
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: Sure, you know, famous thing was the tweet, right Yet
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: all he'd never had really at Hi State was the
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: tweet that everybody knew Hi about. He didn't have to
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: do a whole lot there in that game to close
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: out the regular season. But you go over in Annapolis
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: and it's basically what take me through this?
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: Because did Urban did? Ever?
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: Did all the coaches did? They basically tell you you
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: have to destroy this Wisconsin team if you want to
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: make the playoff. Was that ever talked about?
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: No, we just knew we was gonna beat the hell
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: out of Wisconsin. It was just something. It was one
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: of those nights where when you look at everybody, you
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: knew something was gonna happen. Like it was just one
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: of those nights. It was just like everybody looking around
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: the locker room at each other, and it was like,
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: we're about to make an example out of you. Now,
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: I didn't know offense was gonna come out and do that. Yeah,
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: I knew Melvine bood. Look, I only can tell you
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: about the defense side. I ain't no coach Tom Herman
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: was gonna dolland up the way he was dolling it up.
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: But I knew for a fact that we wanted to
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: go let Melvin Gordon run the ball, and we knew
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: West Cootin they didn't. They didn't. All they had was
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: Melvin Gorton. Sure, they're getting those big sets, twenty two personnel,
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: twenty three personnel, and they just want to run inside,
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: you know, lead zone and power plays and counters. And
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: that was like it, y'all gonna have to come a
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: lot harder than that. If y'all think y'all gonna get
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: Nilvin over one hundred yards and by stopping him, they
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: just gave gave the offense. You know, the the uh
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: the field position that they needed. And then you think,
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: like I told you, it doesn't take Partell much to
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: throw the ball sixty five yards. And then you got
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: a receiver that runs four four and jumps out of
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: the gym and Devin Smith, I mean, well you, I mean,
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: what can you say at that point? Then no runner
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: back that gets in the game. That's always man Zeke
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: has always had that. I mean we used to he
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: used to be on scout team and we used to
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: hate practice against it because he always was practice everything
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: he did. He want to hunting and ten.
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: Right when even the stories came out that Urban had
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: told Cardell never to throw in the middle of the
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: field there it was almost like a conservative yet like
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: risk taking playing because he was throwing it down the
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: field like crazy and it was working, but he was like,
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: don't throw.
• 30:01
  Speaker 4: It in the middle field.
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: And I remember the story about one of the plays
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: he did it and he ran straight to Urban. It
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: was like, I'm sorry, coach, I'm sorry, I mean just
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: and in the game. I mean, certainly you had defensive
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: plays as well, but fifty nine to nothing like it was.
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: It was everything this team needed to say, How dare
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: you not even think about putting us in the playoffs.
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: We're in for sure, for sure, Just like I said
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: Dale and Dell Dale. If you know dal Dale won't
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: do what he want to do and he's confident in
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: his own you know, it's just Dale's He's very smart,
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: very intelligent guy man, very smart and very intelligent. So
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: you know, knowing Dale, he just apologized just to say it.
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: But you know, Dyl do what he wanted to do.
• 30:46
  Speaker 4: No, he had confidence in where he was trying to throw.
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: Well, it carries over to the semi final against number
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: one seed Alabama because even though they had that tape.
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: I wonder if Nick Saban didn't think that o'hire State
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: would venture away from like the urban Meyer offense, the option,
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: the the way jt ran it, the way Braxton had
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: run it, and yet they were able to get the
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: ball down the field. But also then Cardelle did truck
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: a few guys you know while running the ball as well.
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: In that Alabamic they definitely did. I mean he made
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: a statement. I think that Alabama thought they was gonna
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: come in and man handle us because they were a
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: lot bigger than us, but at the same time we
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: were smaller but we packed the punch too though. That's
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: the thing we had. We had just as much speed
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: or more speed than what they had, for sure. And
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: our guys the program that Mick ran, our guys are
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: super super strong. We're a lot more leaner, a lot
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: more we have a lot more doability. And and it showed,
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: you know, it showed. I mean because just because they
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: were bigger, that didn't mean anything. We were showing up
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: making good plays, making well, not good plays, great plays,
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: oh yeah. And you know we we were stopping and
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: run very well. We had a couple of misfits. But
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: I think we could have saw that earlier on if
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: I had the lenses that I had now when I
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: were when I was playing in the league, I don't
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: I don't think der Henry would have had the rushing
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: yards or if we would have had the eyes the
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: eyes that we have now later on, I don't think
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: he would have had as much rushing yards as he
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: had back when we played in the Sugar Bowl.
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: I wanted to ask you about him because he was
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: younger at that point. Yelden was was the older more
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: the starter, I guess kind of, And and I always
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: thought that Lane Kiffin was their offensive coordinator at the time.
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: I always thought he kind of didn't lean on Derrick
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: Henry enough, like like he's Jared me as a fan,
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: I don't so I want to hear it from you
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: the linebacker, like what was it like trying to tackle
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: that guy? But also like did you think that they
• 32:53
  Speaker 3: kind of went away from a little too early?
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: I think they put the Blake the ball on Blake
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: Sam's hands too early. I mean, he wasn't he wasn't
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: a strong point of the of their offense. It was
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: that run game. Now he was a shifty guy. Now
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: that Blake Blake was shifting, you know, but I don't
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: think he was the best at you know, getting the
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: ball out to the receivers. But what Lane Kiffin did,
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: he tried to find our bubble in the defense. That's
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: the one in the five side, that bag outside, which
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: is a let me find a nice word to say,
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: uh yeah, which is yeah, yeah, yeah, which is which
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: was tough to defend. H But when they kept finding
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: when they when they found the bubble man and they
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: could run the ball on that back side, they were
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: they were really dominant. I don't know why they got
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: away from it, but That's where a lot of the
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: ball were shooting out the backside, a lot not really
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: to the front side. They were trying to run away
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: from Joey's side, but you know, they ran to the
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: side where they had more numbers. They could get more
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: numbers on them, you know.
• 33:57
  Speaker 3: So so you in that game, and I'll never forget. Like,
• 34:02
  Speaker 3: first of all, turn it. Tuning into Paul Finebaum that
• 34:05
  Speaker 3: next week was really fun. But also a lot of
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: his callers, a lot of folks out there from the
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: South were in denial. They were like, oh, no, Oregon's
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: gonna blow these guys out. It doesn't matter. Even Alabama
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: fans are saying it, which didn't make sense to me
• 34:19
  Speaker 3: at all. But you go play Oregon and you just
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: I mean, we're talking about Marcus Marioti just won the Heisman,
• 34:26
  Speaker 3: and actually you think about I think about it too.
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: I go back to Tressel in the Rose Bowl against Oregon.
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: I go to that Oregon game, and I go to
• 34:34
  Speaker 3: the Rose Bowl this year against Oregon, Ohio State just
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: kind of outsmarted, you know, some of the best coaches
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: and better players in the country in these Oregon games,
• 34:45
  Speaker 3: and you.
• 34:45
  Speaker 4: Held them down pretty well.
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: What was it like going into that game and how
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: confident were you guys after beating Alabama?
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: Oh, we knew we were gonna blow them out. Maybe
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: I just didn't have it. I say it like that,
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: but after playing Alabama playing that physical game, there's no
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: Oregon hadn't played nobody as physical as us. And then
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: you got really to the National Championship was really us
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: versus BEMA. I'm just I'm gonna say it in a
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: very cocky way, that's just what it was. We whoever
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: won that game that Sugar Bowl, we knew was going
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: to win the National Championship because of the physicality that
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: we had. I mean, you go back and watch that game.
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: On offense and defense, we were trying to hurt them.
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: We were trying to hurt them. I mean we got
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: pictures of Marcus Marrio to getting hit by five and
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: six people at one time like that's and you said
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: we met and top out in the third quarter, got
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: a lot of slam from Jordy Bosa.
• 35:39
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I was going to bring that one up.
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: I was, you know, if I'm not on a highest
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: state fan, I kind of might, you know, cross my
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: eyes a little bit at that say, now was that necessary.
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: But that's just you guys didn't really have a switch
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: to turn off.
• 35:51
  Speaker 4: Did you. You were you were like, what was Lawrence
• 35:55
  Speaker 4: Taylor always said, like a crazy dog.
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what you guys. We saw blood in the
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: water or shock infestive water, I'll say we saw blood
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: in the water. We took advantage of it.
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: So when you and your teammates get together, and I
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: know we did the ten year celebration and a lot
• 36:12
  Speaker 3: of you guys were even there at the day of
• 36:15
  Speaker 3: the game against the team up North with Urban on
• 36:18
  Speaker 3: the set and things like that. But when you guys
• 36:20
  Speaker 3: get together, what what memories do you bring up about
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: twenty fourteen?
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: It's the journey man, the whole season man. You never
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: really you never you have one specific moment. But then
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: you talk about you talk about the times not where
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: you were winning, but the times where it was really difficult,
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: you know, and what made us into the team that
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: that that that propelled us to win the national championship.
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: And you know, we talk about them crazy workouts. We
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: talk about the main thing was the crazy workouts to
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: help us be able to build our confidence as a team.
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: Because if you don't have a strong strength coach. Uh,
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: that's pretty much. People don't understand that the strength coach
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: really drives the team, you know. So we had an
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: awesome weight staff because our coaches are only around for
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: three to six months and they're gone. So we're with
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: the waight. We're with the weight staff majority of the time.
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: And so when Nick building that that that the team
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: chemistry and helping us compete at a at a top level,
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: and then him handing the team over the urban now
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: we got to go learn the classroom stuff. We're not
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: running around you know, cones and stuff anymore. Those off
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: seasons helped build your confidence for the end season because
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: now that's where you're working on your speed, your agility,
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: your body and your body transformation. You're you're going, you're
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: being pushed to. You're finding a new threshold to be
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: pushed to. So now when you get into those difficult
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: times during the season, you have something to go back to, like, hey, man,
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: this ain't hard. We just have to come together. We'd
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: done stuff ten times harder than this. Yeah, So when
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: we've been putting those positions to think about think about
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: those good times. Man, it's just it's unmatched.
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: So my son's an eighth grade soccer player. So I'll
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: never compare that to what you guys went through with
• 38:16
  Speaker 3: coach Mick. But they've been going to wait training a
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: couple of times a week and it's been hard because
• 38:22
  Speaker 3: they've never done this before.
• 38:23
  Speaker 4: Right, they're eighth graders.
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: And my son kind of said one day, I don't
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: really want to go, and I said, no, you have
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: to go, because all your guys that are your age
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: you're going through this at the same time together. And
• 38:38
  Speaker 3: if you're going to be successful, even when you become
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: juniors and seniors and become the leaders of the program,
• 38:42
  Speaker 3: you'll be looking back at those days when like literally
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: there's like ten of them, twelve of them, where it's
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: like you're looking back saying this all started then, right,
• 38:52
  Speaker 3: And you know, I just I think that's so important.
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: And good teams aren't built because of all the five
• 38:58
  Speaker 3: stars you threw in a room, right, And that's that's
• 39:01
  Speaker 3: kind of what you took a little while maybe to learn, right,
• 39:03
  Speaker 3: But it did happen for you.
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it happens too. Like I think I
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: read a quote the other day that says you're not
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: a good coach because you have talent you're a good
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: coach because you developed the talent. And I say all
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: that to say, once we got into those situations in
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: spring ball and the seniors started to help develop the talent,
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: that's when we became better, you know. So that's what
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: helped the team growing to become into the team that
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: they were when we won, and to the team that
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: were after we left the seniors. It kept growing, it
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: kept getting better, and then you you think about, now
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: they're getting better, they're doing something in the off season
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: together to get better. And if you don't go through
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: those adversity situations, you're not gonna we're not gonna be
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: stretched the world, you know.
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: So after that season you had the big celebration and
• 40:11
  Speaker 3: then a lot of guys that year went pro. And
• 40:14
  Speaker 3: then even the next year with all those younger guys,
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: you ended up in the NFL over basically four seasons.
• 40:21
  Speaker 3: I believe, what what was your journey there like? And
• 40:24
  Speaker 3: I know you saw some time with the Giants, But
• 40:26
  Speaker 3: tell me a little bit about that that period of
• 40:28
  Speaker 3: your life.
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: That period of my life, the first first year and
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: a half, I still didn't have my confidence, man, I
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: didn't felt you know, I just I just kept competing,
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: but I just didn't you know, after I lost my
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: father in college, football had became hard for me because
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: that's the person that I would look up to in
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: the stands and he wasn't there, you know, So it
• 40:50
  Speaker 2: took me a while to really figure out about ball.
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: So I remember going to the four and nine ers
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: and coach Joe b you know. Uh, that's when my
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: confidence started to come back. I would practice hard, I
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: would get my reps in. I was just learning different
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: things from him. I was in the room with with Bowman, uh,
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: which was Labar Bowman. He was a great he was
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: a great player. So just learning from him and all
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: the other guys in the room at the time. But
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: it wasn't until no, no before that. Before I got
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: to the forty nine ers, I had ended up going
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: to play for Dick Lebout, and ever since I was
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: a kid, I've always wanted to play for Libo and Lebaul.
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: Before I had a chance to go with Lebault, I
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: was training with Duran in the mornings and at night,
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: like two days a full time student, and that's what
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: really started to help me get my confidence back. My footwork.
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: I was striking things I was being able to come
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: of ill, come out of my cuts really well, and
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: and Duran was like, bro, you ready, and so I'll
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: never forget. Joe Hill called me and told me that
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: the Tennessee tightens it. They were coming in town. I
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: called my agent to see if I can hop in
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: a workout. I made the team, ended up leaving school
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: early to go played for the Titans and just playing
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: particular boat. He had a simple system, and the guys
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: in the room started to take me underneath their wing
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: and teach me to playbook with Sean Spence, Justin Staples,
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: Westerley Woodyard, Brian or Rappo Avery. I forgot Avery's last night,
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: but those guys, that's where it started. And just being
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: in that environment gave me my confidence just to play
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: really well. Then I ended up being the leading tackle
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: of their team. Then I ended up getting cut. I didn't,
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: I couldn't, I didn't know why. And then I went
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: to the forty nine ers and that stuff. I went
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: to the Oakland first and got cut and then went
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: back to the forty nine ers. I was with Oakland
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: for a week and I went to the forty nine
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: ers then, but it kept growing, like my confidence just
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: kept growing. And then after the forty nine er season,
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: I was like, I'm done with football playing and then
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: my phone rang I had a call would go to
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: Kansas City or to the Giants, and I wanted my
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: family to be able to come to my game. So
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: I ended up going to the Giants, and I was overweight.
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: I didn't care if I made a team or not.
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: I just went out there and just had fun. They
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: signed me the same day, and then after that, what
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: really took my confidence to the text level was Antonio Pears.
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: He would coach me up on the small things on
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: a daily basis. Now you know, we're talking about a
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: two time Pro bowler, I mean a two time super bowler.
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: I don't know how many times you went to the
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: Pro Bowl ten or twelve year vet and that really
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: took my game to the next level because now I
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: had a mentor and I felt like somebody else believed
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: in me after not having the confidence for so many years.
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: And then man, I just I took off with it
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: and then I ended up getting hurt, and you know,
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: my football career was over. But now you know, I'm
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: really thankful for those moments because it has helped me
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: become who I am today as being a better father,
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: of being a better husband and a better a better
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: business owner as well.
• 44:05
  Speaker 4: But Dick Lebo another former Buck guy too.
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: So that's great man, great, great man. Great. I love
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: the Globo man.
• 44:13
  Speaker 3: You talk about you more time with them. Yeah, you
• 44:16
  Speaker 3: talk about business. Pure Green High Street. I've seen your Instagram.
• 44:20
  Speaker 3: I've seen some of the post. Tell me and the
• 44:23
  Speaker 3: people out there what it is and where they can
• 44:25
  Speaker 3: find it, and and I'd love to let people come
• 44:28
  Speaker 3: in and see you and come to pure Green.
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So pure Green. We're not a weed dispensary. Okay,
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: I have to tell everybody that. Everybody's like, oh you
• 44:36
  Speaker 2: guys have dispersed you on campus. No, not a weed dispenser.
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: We're a smoothy I saw you, uh toast and super
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: food opening a bowl. So what we do is we
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: we're we're promote good, good health by putting healthy foods
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: into your body. So we we promote superfood. Everything we
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: have here is all natural, vegan. Uh, we don't have
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: any dairy. What's the other way I'm looking for. I
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: can't think of it. Yeah, pretty much everything here is
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: all natural. Everything here is all natural regluting free so
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: we can Uh yeah, man, it's I get so excited
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: talking about our little thoughts because I get to do
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: with my wife. When now we're really excited about the
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: business because we get to do the things that we
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: love and it's help help people and promote another way
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: of eating and to bring a healthier lifestyle for longer
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: life jevity. So everything we do here is to increase
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: blood flow and to promote great gut health because without
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: without your you know, you don't want toxes and stuff
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: into your bloodstreaming into your gut because that causes diseases,
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: heart attacks and sluggish You don't want to be sluggish.
• 45:58
  Speaker 2: You always want to be able to have a clear mind,
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: be able to do that and promoting great good good
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: health and you know, getting them periodies out of your body.
• 46:05
  Speaker 4: We're on High Street, are you looking.
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: We're located at fourteen seventy five North High Street in Columbus,
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: Ohio for three two zero old one.
• 46:14
  Speaker 3: All right, well, hey Curtis, just sharing this stuff with you.
• 46:17
  Speaker 3: It's just been so fun and you know, again spent
• 46:21
  Speaker 3: my I went to school at High State, but I've
• 46:23
  Speaker 3: been a fan. I've worked in the media and things
• 46:25
  Speaker 3: like that. But but just that was a special year,
• 46:27
  Speaker 3: certainly a special era of Ohio State football, and you
• 46:31
  Speaker 3: were you were there to help get things started when
• 46:33
  Speaker 3: Urban came to town. So thanks so much for your
• 46:35
  Speaker 3: time and thanks for sharing all these stories.
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks, thanks for having me, all.
• 46:40
  Speaker 3: Right, Hey, continue to subscribe to Buckeye Huddle on YouTube,
• 46:43
  Speaker 3: and you can find the Buckeye Banter podcast wherever you
• 46:47
  Speaker 3: find audio podcasts. If you're on Apple Podcasts, please rate
• 46:51
  Speaker 3: and review it, give us five stars. Thanks a lot
• 46:53
  Speaker 3: for tuning in, everybody, and have a great day.