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Are Buckeyes Trending For Trio Of 5-Stars Following First Official Visit Weekend? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

0:01
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to buck Eye tomorrow morning for Tuesday,
0:04
Speaker 1: June third. I'm your host, Tony Gerdaman. There are eighty
0:07
Speaker 1: eight days until the Texas game one and seventy nine
0:10
Speaker 1: days until the Michigan game. And when I say I'm
0:13
Speaker 1: your host, I should say I'm your host temporary host
0:17
Speaker 1: as tom or is out on vacation. If you're planning
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Speaker 1: your next event, make it unforgettable. The Grateful Griddle clumbs
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Speaker 1: his favorite food truck is serving him smash burgers, gourmet sandwiches,
0:27
Speaker 1: and good vibes. Book you're catering today at Grateful Griddle. Today,
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Speaker 1: we've got on Mark Givler from Buckehaddle dot com. As
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Speaker 1: you all know, we are here. It is a recovering
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Speaker 1: from a big weekend of official visits for the buck Eyes.
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Speaker 1: And there are three guys that I wanted to touch on,
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Speaker 1: those being the three five star prospects according to the
0:50
Speaker 1: rankings that they they were. Their five star offensive tackle
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Speaker 1: Felix Ojo, five star running back Saveon Hyder, and five
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Speaker 1: star linebacker Exavir Griffin. But Mark, first, I wanted to
1:02
Speaker 1: start with Felix Ojoe.
1:06
Speaker 2: First.
1:07
Speaker 1: Give us what you can, what you want on on
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Speaker 1: how things went for him and the Buckeyes.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, they look the o'heis does a great job on
1:15
Speaker 2: these official visits. They've got a long track record of
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Speaker 2: nailing these things. They they they're very thorough. They they
1:22
Speaker 2: customize these for each kid, what their interests are, what
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Speaker 2: you know, what they can do for each kid developmentally,
1:30
Speaker 2: you know, and Felix and his family have been very
1:32
Speaker 2: impressed with Ohio State throughout the process, even you know,
1:34
Speaker 2: during the transition from Justin Fry to Tyler Bowen. We
1:37
Speaker 2: actually met with Felix at his school a few weeks ago,
1:40
Speaker 2: so he's kind of we're kind of fresh off that
1:42
Speaker 2: interview still with him. So everything went very well this weekend.
1:48
Speaker 2: It just it's going to be can they slay the
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Speaker 2: Texas dragon here? That that's that's the question. Can they
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Speaker 2: slay Texas for an in state five star offensive tackle?
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Speaker 2: And I know everyone's going to talk about you know,
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Speaker 2: nil and this, that and the other. Ohio State, as
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Speaker 2: I wrote in the skull Session the other day, is
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Speaker 2: gonna be very competitive in the NIL space on this recruitment.
2:12
Speaker 2: But when push comes to shove, are they going to
2:15
Speaker 2: be able to convince him to head North. I had
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Speaker 2: multiple people down in Texas, down close to Felix kind
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Speaker 2: of tell me like, look, you know, it probably is
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Speaker 2: the team to beat Texas, but they think Ohio State
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Speaker 2: is probably the best competition there. So if anyone can
2:34
Speaker 2: do it, it's Ohio State. But this is gonna be
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Speaker 2: just unbelievably competitive here these next two months. As he
2:42
Speaker 2: goes into decision mode once inside in July.
2:46
Speaker 1: It seems like Ohio State is being pretty forthcoming in
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Speaker 1: the whole nil sphere in terms of like they're gonna go.
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Speaker 1: They're gonna swing for the fence there, and whether that's
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Speaker 1: good enough or not is we'll see. But will it
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Speaker 1: take an Ohio kid, Like, will it take a five
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Speaker 1: star number one offensive tackle from Ohio for Ohio State
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Speaker 1: to finally win one of these national battles, whether it's
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Speaker 1: for the for the best left tackle in the country,
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Speaker 1: Will it require it to be an Ohio kid for
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Speaker 1: them to win one of these.
3:22
Speaker 2: No? I think they can. I think they can be
3:25
Speaker 2: competitive in these battles. It's just there are so few
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Speaker 2: of these guys, and you know, there's there's one hundred
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Speaker 2: running backs out there. You could trip over a running
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Speaker 2: back on every you know, every block of every major
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Speaker 2: metro area, you can find a good running back. But
3:45
Speaker 2: there are so few of these guys and it's such
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Speaker 2: a valuable position, and the bidding wars are there. It's ferocious.
3:54
Speaker 2: It's just it's ferocious. And so you're you're going to
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Speaker 2: get into these situations where we're talking seven figures are
4:02
Speaker 2: getting thrown around and these are you know, seventeen year
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Speaker 2: old kids, and there's a lot to consider on both
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Speaker 2: sides of this. The kids have a lot to weigh
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Speaker 2: and the schools have to decide, okay, are we gonna
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Speaker 2: play this game? And the one thing I do credit
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Speaker 2: toll Higher State for is they generally are doing like
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Speaker 2: kind of best and final type of stuff. They're not
4:27
Speaker 2: gonna get into the oh here's your offer. Oh wait,
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Speaker 2: you know school X offered this much. Now we're okay,
4:33
Speaker 2: we can go. We can go up here and then
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Speaker 2: you know, play this, you know, constant climbing the ladder game.
4:37
Speaker 2: They don't do that. They come out with with, you know,
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Speaker 2: they show some data on what their guys have been
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Speaker 2: able to make and they have kind of some modest
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Speaker 2: discussions about that. But no, I think even if there's
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Speaker 2: a kid wake. Let's say there's another Paris Johnson that
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Speaker 2: comes along at some point. Although I would argue Sam
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Speaker 2: Greer is very good, but let's say there's another Paris
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Speaker 2: Johnson that comes along at some point, you know, a
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Speaker 2: top ten ranked player in the country. That's gonna be
5:03
Speaker 2: I think a harder thing for Ohio State to win
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Speaker 2: than it was five years ago, because five years ago
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Speaker 2: wasn't going to be as easy for other schools. For
5:14
Speaker 2: you know, because if it's now Texas is coming in,
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Speaker 2: and Clemson's coming in, and USC and Florida and Oregon
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Speaker 2: are coming in and they're able to offer two three
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Speaker 2: million dollars, still a kid in your backyard, and you're like,
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Speaker 2: oh my goodness. So I don't I don't know that
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Speaker 2: it's so much geographical. I think Tyler Bowen is recruiting
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Speaker 2: really hard. I think that's a big part of it.
5:39
Speaker 2: I don't know that they've had guys who have attacked
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Speaker 2: recruiting the way Bowen has at that position. I think
5:44
Speaker 2: that's a big part of it. A little bit of
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Speaker 2: proof of concept I think has been helpful. They're starting
5:51
Speaker 2: to get there again. You know, Paris Johnson now in
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Speaker 2: a good NFL career. Donovan Jackson goes in the first
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Speaker 2: round this year. They kind of had a draft of
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Speaker 2: these big time of first round pick types. They're starting
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Speaker 2: to get back to that. They win a national championship again,
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Speaker 2: so the again, the proof of concept here is really
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Speaker 2: good now. And they also have like four offensive line
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Speaker 2: coaches now, they've got like three former O line coaches
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Speaker 2: helping Tyler Bowen. Every kid that visited in the spring
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Speaker 2: for practice mentioned that to me as a plus.
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Speaker 1: Well, And that's why I want to touch on really
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Speaker 1: quickly because the players love it. The Ohio State players,
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Speaker 1: the offensive lineman love that they've got basically three veteran
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Speaker 1: offensive line coaches and then a GA that they can
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Speaker 1: relate to as well. But you've got all of these guys.
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Speaker 1: Whenever there's a planet practice, everybody gets coached up right then,
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Speaker 1: and so it's fascinating to watch and you can tell
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Speaker 1: the players themselves love And I was just wondering, how
6:50
Speaker 1: how long before that becomes a recruiting tool, and it
6:52
Speaker 1: sounds like it already has been.
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Speaker 2: And how long before someone steals that? How long until ten?
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Speaker 2: And USC and Oregon are doing the same thing because every.
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Speaker 1: Kid that came through.
7:03
Speaker 2: Because it's great for the current players, of course, but
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Speaker 2: as a recruit, you're looking at it like, you want
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Speaker 2: to play. You want to play early if you can.
7:12
Speaker 2: You don't want to be sitting around and you don't
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Speaker 2: want to be standing around to practice watching the ones
7:16
Speaker 2: and twos. Just go at it and you're there, you know,
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Speaker 2: just watching. You're so for these young guys who are
7:22
Speaker 2: you know, seniors going to be seniors in high school,
7:24
Speaker 2: they're looking at this and saying, well, I'm getting the
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Speaker 2: same attention in the same amount of reps as the
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Speaker 2: starting left tackle, so in the same coaching and everything else.
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Speaker 2: Like they're not hiding me, you know, on the other
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Speaker 2: side of the field from the one.
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Speaker 1: You know.
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Speaker 2: It's just it's very inclusive of all the players on
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Speaker 2: the roster at a position group, and that gives a
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Speaker 2: lot of opportunities for young guys.
7:46
Speaker 1: Nick Saban would probably have six offensive line coaches by
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Speaker 1: now based on what has been able to do.
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Speaker 2: Nick Saban would read or have someone read to him
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Speaker 2: the quotes of these kids. It would immediately be like
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Speaker 2: sprinting down to the indoor like I want six line
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Speaker 2: coaches by Monday or you're all fired and it just
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Speaker 2: got of all like, I want everyone's resumes. I want
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Speaker 2: to get I want every contact you have for those
8:11
Speaker 2: offensive line coach experience. I want those resumes on my
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Speaker 2: desk by the end of the day.
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Speaker 1: And four of them need to come from the from
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Speaker 1: the SEC, like legit offensive line coaches from the SEC
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Speaker 1: and the best recruiters. You mentioned there's one hundred thousand,
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Speaker 1: you know, a million running backs out there. One of
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Speaker 1: those running backs, save On Hyder, the number one running
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Speaker 1: back in a nation, from the state of Virginia. Ohio
8:34
Speaker 1: State has done pretty well in the past when recruiting
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Speaker 1: the number one running back from the state of Virginia,
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Speaker 1: Trevon Henderson. Of course Derek Green did not go so well,
8:43
Speaker 1: but that was a higher state's choice way back when.
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Speaker 1: But how are things shaking out here?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I've been pretty forthcoming on this. My vibe
8:54
Speaker 2: has been that he is going to be difficult to
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Speaker 2: pull from Tennessee. Tennessee's got a lot working for it
9:03
Speaker 2: here in terms of a fairly thin depth chart, m
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Speaker 2: a geographical advantage, not not a bad drive to Knoxville
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Speaker 2: from where he's at, and you know, nil dollars. Again,
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Speaker 2: I've said Ohio State is going to be competitive with Ojoe,
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Speaker 2: and they are. How competitive is Ohio State going to
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Speaker 2: be for any running back after taking three last year?
9:30
Speaker 2: You know, Tennessee's up there with with some of their
9:34
Speaker 2: with some of their deals they're making right now, So
9:37
Speaker 2: that's going to be interesting. I think there's I think
9:38
Speaker 2: the combination of all of those things are going to
9:41
Speaker 2: end up being tough for Ohio State to overcome. That
9:44
Speaker 2: being said, I'll fully admit Ohio State feels better. Ohio
9:48
Speaker 2: States sources feel better about higher than I do. So
9:51
Speaker 2: there's like an insistence there that like they are very
9:54
Speaker 2: much in this. He does have a great relationship with
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Speaker 2: Carlos Laughlin, so I'm giving him a puncher's chin ants.
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Speaker 2: I just I wouldn't I wouldn't predict him in the
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Speaker 2: class of this point, but we'll see how it goes.
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Speaker 1: And there's been a moving on I guess from Carson Baker,
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Speaker 1: another running back who is going to be like canceled
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Speaker 1: his official visit and so now is it just down
10:16
Speaker 1: to Derek Cooper who's going to be here later in
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Speaker 1: the month, and then also a favor A key is
10:22
Speaker 1: that correct, we'll be here this speaking. Is that basically
10:26
Speaker 1: where they are now, and if it's just one, they're
10:28
Speaker 1: okay with that. In terms of landing one guy.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's that's the sense I get right now,
10:34
Speaker 2: Like you know, Favor's visit is this coming weekend. That's
10:40
Speaker 2: gonna be kind of a milestone I think moment for
10:43
Speaker 2: them and for Favor in terms of like, okay, like
10:45
Speaker 2: are we doing this or not kind of thing. And
10:49
Speaker 2: so I think we could probably hear. I think we'll
10:51
Speaker 2: know good, bad or whatever. We're gonna know. I think
10:55
Speaker 2: fairly quickly coming out of that visit where things are
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Speaker 2: at with Favor a Key, and then I think from
11:00
Speaker 2: there it's like, okay, if they can land Favor a key,
11:04
Speaker 2: now it's let's Chase Hyder and Derrek Cooper make you know,
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Speaker 2: and you know if that if it just ends up
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Speaker 2: being Favorite key after taking three running backs last year,
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Speaker 2: they're okay with that. But they'll make room for a
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Speaker 2: second running back if it's someone they feel is elite,
11:19
Speaker 2: and Hyder and Cooper are like top of the board
11:23
Speaker 2: type players.
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Speaker 1: So and I think even if they just signed one
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Speaker 1: running back this year, they will have more than one
11:31
Speaker 1: running back freshman eligible running back next year. Because I
11:34
Speaker 1: don't see all three of the guys here. I'll fear
11:38
Speaker 1: the true freshman in twenty twenty five burning their red shirts,
11:40
Speaker 1: so they'll still have plenty of youth moving forward. The
11:44
Speaker 1: last guy I want to talk about is five star
11:47
Speaker 1: linebacker Xavier Griffin from Georgia. You guys talked to him
11:51
Speaker 1: on the on the Seventh Swing, did you not?
11:54
Speaker 2: No? We? But I talked to him Sunday, Okay, after
11:59
Speaker 2: his so I I connected with him Sunday. It was
12:02
Speaker 2: kind of an interesting thing. I kind of shares real quick.
12:05
Speaker 2: So at that point when we were on the trip,
12:11
Speaker 2: we knew Ohio State was kind of lurking, but he
12:14
Speaker 2: hadn't decommitted from USC yet and it was going to
12:18
Speaker 2: be uncomfortable for him to do an interview about Ohio
12:22
Speaker 2: State when he committed to USC, and just the visit
12:24
Speaker 2: hadn't been made public yet and everything else. So it
12:27
Speaker 2: was just kind of a didn't want to put him
12:29
Speaker 2: in a bad, tough situation type of thing. And then
12:33
Speaker 2: as soon as we got back he opened it up.
12:36
Speaker 2: But I, yeah, I call up with him after the.
12:38
Speaker 1: Visit and so how did things go then this weekend.
12:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was very impressed. This is second time in Columbus.
12:46
Speaker 2: He did make an early unofficial visit early in the
12:48
Speaker 2: process before he committed to USC. You know, again, the
12:54
Speaker 2: one two punch here, what they're really trying to sell
12:56
Speaker 2: is the one two punch of Matt Patricia and James
12:59
Speaker 2: lorniis So what you have there is you have a
13:02
Speaker 2: position coach who you know, won the Buckets Award and
13:06
Speaker 2: played and played at a very high level in the NFL.
13:08
Speaker 2: Was not just an NFL player, it was a very
13:10
Speaker 2: good NFL player. And then you have an NFL coach,
13:14
Speaker 2: And so they're trying to sell him on that one
13:16
Speaker 2: to two developmental punch of like, hey, like, between the
13:19
Speaker 2: two of us, there's nothing we haven't seen. Like, there's
13:22
Speaker 2: no scenario we have not seen. We've won super Bowls,
13:25
Speaker 2: we've won Buckets Awards, We've been drafted you know in
13:27
Speaker 2: the first round. We've done that. There's literally nothing on
13:31
Speaker 2: a football field that between the two of us, you know,
13:34
Speaker 2: we haven't experienced. So that is what they're right, that's
13:37
Speaker 2: what they're trying to sell him on. And I think
13:39
Speaker 2: he's listening. And I didn't give them much of a
13:41
Speaker 2: shot coming into the weekend. I think they helped themselves
13:43
Speaker 2: quite a bit. Alabama's the school that everyone's linking him to,
13:48
Speaker 2: and they're gonna have to slay that dragon a little
13:50
Speaker 2: bit too, because there is gonna be They're gonna have
13:53
Speaker 2: to battle a perception here, do you. Whether you agree
13:55
Speaker 2: with it or not is kind of irrelevant. It is
13:57
Speaker 2: just because perception is reality and recruiting the peron sception
14:00
Speaker 2: is that Alabama is just kind of the place to
14:02
Speaker 2: go for linebackers that can also rush the passer. That's
14:07
Speaker 2: kind of like the perception. But you know, Nick Saban's
14:10
Speaker 2: not there anymore. So like Ohio State's trying to like
14:14
Speaker 2: break through that and be like, hey, you know, Sunny
14:18
Speaker 2: style is pretty good. You know, our our pedigree, you
14:22
Speaker 2: know between the two of us pretty good. Why don't
14:24
Speaker 2: you Why don't you give us a shot? And so
14:28
Speaker 2: that's I think that's a big battle there. I mean,
14:29
Speaker 2: geography is what it is, but I think that's kind
14:32
Speaker 2: of the battle right now in Alabama having that long
14:34
Speaker 2: standing kind of tradition there more recent history.
14:39
Speaker 1: So is he considered he sees himself as a pass
14:43
Speaker 1: rusher rather than an inside guy.
14:45
Speaker 2: Like yeah, like an outside Yeah, he would be like
14:48
Speaker 2: a versatile like outside linebacker, but can also rush the passer,
14:52
Speaker 2: can kind of you can walk him up to the
14:55
Speaker 2: line of scrimmage. You can do a lot of things
14:57
Speaker 2: with him now. But yeah, he's not he's not considered
14:59
Speaker 2: a MIC.
15:00
Speaker 1: I'm just fascinated to see what Ohio State does defensively
15:04
Speaker 1: this year to intrigue more of these defensive recruits and
15:09
Speaker 1: what they do and how Matt Patricia showcases this and
15:14
Speaker 1: showcases that and what that means for their recruiting. Can
15:17
Speaker 1: they start getting in on these guys that see themselves
15:20
Speaker 1: as a pass rushing outside linebacker, which Ohio State doesn't
15:24
Speaker 1: really have. They just have defensive ends. And so it's
15:28
Speaker 1: gonna be interesting to see. And I'm sure this is
15:30
Speaker 1: a talking point for the buck Eyes themselves as they
15:32
Speaker 1: move forward to the recruiting process.
15:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, no question, And I'm with you. I'm curious to see.
15:39
Speaker 2: I mean, Patricia sits these guys down and kind of
15:42
Speaker 2: talks about how he thinks he can, you know, bring
15:45
Speaker 2: the best out of them or put them in the
15:46
Speaker 2: best positions. But you know, we've we heard rumors of
15:50
Speaker 2: the we heard tall tales of the jack position for
15:54
Speaker 2: so many years under Knowles, you know, you go back
15:56
Speaker 2: even a little further, they had a bunch of feel
16:00
Speaker 2: like almost made up positions that we never really saw
16:04
Speaker 2: utilized fully. So I am curious, like, and let's face it,
16:10
Speaker 2: as I've kind of pound the table for over the years,
16:13
Speaker 2: Sunny Styles would be a great player to experiment with
16:17
Speaker 2: on some of this stuff. And so I'm I'm curious,
16:22
Speaker 2: you know, if they're able to regardless of whether these
16:24
Speaker 2: guys commit in the summer or not, because what we know,
16:27
Speaker 2: commitments don't always meet a whole lot. Regardless of whether
16:31
Speaker 2: a Griffin or a Tyler Atkinson would commit in the
16:34
Speaker 2: summer versus you know, the winter doesn't really matter if
16:37
Speaker 2: if they can come out, you know, in October and
16:40
Speaker 2: show five six games worth of Hey, this is what
16:43
Speaker 2: we're doing with someone like Sonny. We're moving them around.
16:47
Speaker 2: You know, you know what we told you back in
16:49
Speaker 2: the spring. You know, here's here it is on the field,
16:52
Speaker 2: what we showed you on paper. So I think that's
16:55
Speaker 2: gonna be an interesting component to all of this as well,
16:59
Speaker 2: just because again the more like proof of concept you
17:02
Speaker 2: can have, the better and if again, if Sonny has
17:05
Speaker 2: a big year, I think it's going to attract a
17:06
Speaker 2: lot of these types of linebackers.
17:09
Speaker 1: I completely agree my suggestion. Let him rush the passer
17:12
Speaker 1: on every snap against Grambling State. Let them put it
17:15
Speaker 1: all on video there, get up a bunch of stats,
17:18
Speaker 1: and they can be like, here's our proof of concept.
17:20
Speaker 1: Never mind the opponent, this is what we're gonna do
17:22
Speaker 1: with our linebackers. But behind it, like I I'm fine
17:27
Speaker 1: letting Sunny Styles get after the passer now and again
17:29
Speaker 1: because you've got if you've got Arval Reese and Peyton
17:32
Speaker 1: Pierce behind him, I think those two guys are gonna
17:34
Speaker 1: be just fine doing what they do if they do
17:36
Speaker 1: some three three five or three three stuff and let
17:40
Speaker 1: Sonny go a little bit, have some fun and get
17:43
Speaker 1: after it. But thank you Mark for jumping on giving
17:45
Speaker 1: us an update on the official visit weekend this past
17:48
Speaker 1: weekend on three of the nation's best players at Ohio
17:51
Speaker 1: State is certainly in on and of course you and
17:56
Speaker 1: Burm we're talking about this on the bucket. I had
17:58
Speaker 1: a message board presented by Jeffrey Columbus, and there's a
18:01
Speaker 1: lot more there, not just Easter guys. There are about
18:04
Speaker 1: a dozen guys on official visits this past weekend. I
18:07
Speaker 1: think we've got updates on just about everybody, so you
18:09
Speaker 1: can find that at Buckey huddle dot com. Got some
18:11
Speaker 1: ride ups, and as I said, we're always there talking
18:14
Speaker 1: about it on the message board, so it's a great
18:16
Speaker 1: resource for you if you're into this. And we've got
18:18
Speaker 1: more visits the rest of the month, camps coming up
18:22
Speaker 1: this month as well, so we're gonna be talking about
18:24
Speaker 1: it all there at the Buckeyheadle dot com. So thank
18:27
Speaker 1: you all for tuning in and we'll talk to you
18:29
Speaker 1: guys later.