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Has Ohio State Found A Winning Formula For Offensive Line Recruiting? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to Buckeyes Tomorrow morning for Thursday, January twenty fifth. I'm your host,
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  tom Or. The Akron game is in two hundred and nineteen days,
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  the game against Michigan in three hundred and ten days. A lot of things
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  are looking up around the Ohio State football program these days, a lot of
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  good news on a bunch of different fronts. But anytime we post anything about
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  hey they landed a new wide receiver, or hey they got another safety,
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  or hey they got another defensive lineman, everyone always says, yes, but
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  what about the offensive line? So today we're going to be talking about the
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  offensive line where things stand, not necessarily for this year, but sort of
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  for the longer term future of the Ohio State program. We're going to be
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  doing that with Mark Gifler, the recruiting guru at buckey Huddle dot com.
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  He just has been writing about the offensive line and a bunch of sort of
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  future recruiting classes on the huddle board presented by Jeff Ruby Steakhouse at bucke Huddle
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  dot com. He's had a lot of really good and interesting information on that
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  front, and it is obviously sort of top of mine for a lot of
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  Ohio State fans, So, Mark, I guess let's start with the most
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  imminent piece of news, which is the decision from Carter Lowe out of Toledo
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  Whitmer. He's supposed to be announcing his decision on Saturday. He is someone
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  that we have seen a lot of around Ohio State and Ohio State Ohio Stadium
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  on game days the last year or so. How are things looking for Ohio
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  State with Carter low looking very good? Carter announces at three pm on Saturday
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  afternoon. We will be there to cover his announcement. Would be very very
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  surprised if Ohio State is not the pick on Saturday. This is one that
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  has been kind of an Ohio State Michigan battle for the most part. Obviously,
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  Michigan's got some uncertainty there with their coaching situation, and Ohio State has
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  sort of steadily moved to the front of the pack here over the last several
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  months and got him back on campus this past weekend. So everything's trending in
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  the right direction for Carter Lowe, who is my number two player in Ohio
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  and I think a consensus top three player in Ohio. So just a really
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  really good officeive tackle prospect. Yeah, and you did say offensive tackle prospect
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  there, which I think everyone. I think everyone generally is sort of feeling
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  okay about the interior of the I S date offensive line at least sort of
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  any short to medium term. And then the question is always do they have
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  guys who are true tackles. Carter Low, to you, is a true
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  tackle? Correct, Yes, Yes, He'll be a left tackle in Columbus
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  in my opinion, I mean, and I think that's some other good ones
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  like Luke Montgomery is an outstanding player prospect. Well, I think is going
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  to make an impact for them this year. I think Carter's probably the best
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  pure tackle prospects since Paris Johnson in terms of the state of Ohio. You
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  know, Luke maybe end up on the interior. We just kind of don't
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  really know yet. We kind of know exactly what Carter Low is. All
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  right, Well, that's some potentially good news for Ohio State. We will
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  be keeping track of that. And then Saturday afternoon, I think we'll all
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  find out together if Ohio State does have potentially it's left tackle of the future
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  officially in the class. So again, Saturday three pm, you're going to
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  want to check that out at Buckeheadle dot com and YouTube dot com, slash
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  Buckeheadle, all of the usual places. So it has been you know,
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  Justin Fry since getting to Columbus has done a pretty good job of building some
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  solid, not necessarily incredible or spectacular classes, but some really solid offensive line
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  classes free four good prospects each year, and he's really done that building on
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  the foundation of Ohio prospects. Now. Butterlow would obviously be another Ohio prospect
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  to really build that offensive line class on. But the twenty twenty five offensive
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  line class in Ohio does not sound like it's quite as deep as some of
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  the other ones in recent years, and maybe another one in the sort of
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  immediate future. So are there any other names to know in Ohio for the
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  offensive line in twenty twenty five? Ers Justin Fry gonna have to head outside
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  the state's borders to really build this class. Yes to both. So it's
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  not as deep of an O line class as it was, say last year
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  in twenty twenty four, and it's not as deep because it's going to be
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  in twenty twenty six. But there is a player to keep an eye on.
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  He's going to visit on March seventh. His name's Nolan Davenport. He's
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  a six foot six, two hundred and sixty pound offensive tackle. Again,
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  he's definitely a tackle out of Maslin Masline, Washington. I just want to
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  state championship here back in December. He is a converted tight end, so
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  he was playing tight end early in his career. He's bulped up quite a
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  bit. I think he played as a sophomore. I think he was like
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  two thirty five to forty. Now he's up to about two sixty, so
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  he's really filled out. The The comparison I always make is if Reed Fragel
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  had realized early on, if he would maybe have listened to other people when
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  he was when he was a junior in high school and said, you know
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  what, I'm not going to try this tight end thing. I'm just going
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  to focus on being an offensive tackle. I think that's kind of what you
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  have here with Nolan Davenport. And they're very intrigue oor heist, he's very
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  intrigued by him, and they've been watching him, and I think on March
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  seventh, I think they're going to want to just get, you know,
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  get a look got him physically how is the weight gain coming. How does
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  that look on him? You know, you don't want guys, you know,
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  three hundred and thirty three hundred and forty pounds, but you also when
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  you're dealing with guys who are only like two fifty five to sixty, you
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  want to make sure that they can get to two ninety five three hundred in
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  a healthy way. So I think that's going to be a big thing for
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  them. They'll get to evaluate him in the spring, They'll get to go
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  up to Maslin and watch him work out and do pass protection drills and all
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  this other stuff that you can do in the spring, and then you know,
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  probably get him for a camp in the summer too. So I don't
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  know if they would offer him in the next month or two. It seems
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  maybe more of a late spring, early summer decision. But he's definitely a
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  guy that's on the radar and he's starting to get a lot of traction.
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  He's produced offered, He's getting some big ten offers here lately. I think
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  he's a guy with a lot of upside. And I had him I think
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  fourteen in Ohio. I've got him in the top fifteen in Ohio right now
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  Mark he was mentioning his rankings of Ohio prospects. You can find those at
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  Buckey huddle dot com. We have just really added a bunch of new content
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  to our recruiting section of the site. You can find that at the little
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  bar at the top. Just search on click on recruiting, and there's all
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  sorts of here the twenty twenty five offers that are out there, for the
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  twenty twenty six offers out there, some of the players to know, recruiting
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  rankings, new player profile pages, all sorts of fun stuff. So you're
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  going to want to check that out at buckeyheddle dot com. So that's a
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  couple names in state for twenty twenty five. The Buckeyes also made a trip
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  out of state this week to visit the top tackle prospect in the nation.
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  That is David Sanders, five star tackle prospect, top five player by any
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  recruiting service you want to look at overall nationally, out of Providence Day School
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  in Charlotte. That name sounds familiar. That's where Jacolby Collen, the former
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  offensive defensive lineman, came to Ohio State from. Is David Sanders a where
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  does he stand? On the realistic possibility or real long shot to be added
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  to Ohio State's twenty twenty five recruiting class, as you know, maybe the
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  big fish from out of eight. You're probably gonna hear a lot of positive
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  stuff for me today on the offensive line recruiting and on this episode, but
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  this is what I'm not buying at this point. Look, David is I
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  think if you ask anybody who the number one offensive tackle is in twenty twenty
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  five, I think it's it's pretty much unanimous. It's David Sanders. Me
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  personally, I've seen two guys in twenty twenty five from a from a national
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  perspective that I think are just completely special, like once every you know,
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  five or six years at their position types of guys, And one of them
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  is David Sanders and the other one's uh price under with the quarterbacks going LSU.
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  But so this is a unique uh prospect. He's he's very He's got
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  a lot of Paris Johnson in him, both in terms of his athleticism and
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  ability, but also in his demeanor. He's a he's a really good kid,
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  he's focused on his academics. He's uh just a really good person as
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  well as as an elite prospect, So it's understandable why Ryan Day is going
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  to continue to stop him. And when he's in Charlotte, you know,
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  there's a few other prospects that recruiting down there, and Providence Day is probably
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  the best program in North Carolina right now, So it makes all the sense
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  in the world for Ryan Day to go through there and to take his shots
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  at this, but that's gonna be an uphill battle. Georgia Clemson are kind
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  of the two I'm watching right now with David Sanders. I think Florida got
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  an early good start on him, but Florida's got their issues right now,
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  as we've probably seen over the past twelve months. So I don't know where
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  Florida stands with him at the moment, but it's gonna be hard to get
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  him out of South. We'll see again. It's one of those things where
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  you're already going down You're visiting four or five schools in Charlotte. It's a
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  great area for talent. Providence Day schools a powerhouse program. It makes all
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  the sense in the world to continue to kick tires here, but it's just
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  it's gonna be it's gonna be a major long shot. I would not be
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  banking on this one if I were in a wives state. All right,
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  there you go, there's your bad news. Now back to the good news,
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  Mark, Let's talk about twenty twenty six. A very talented group in
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  state for twenty twenty six for the offensive line class, Let's start with the
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  two guys who are tackles, both rated as four star prospects, Sam Greer
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  out of Akron Hopin and Maxwell Riley out of Avon Lake. Both guys,
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  again we have seen a bunch of during Ohio State football games, during the
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  big parative recruits an hour before the game. Those are both guys. I
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  think we probably have four or five different pictures of from various weeks that we've
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  seen them down there. That obviously is a decent indication of interest in you
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  know, on the player's part. In terms of the program, where do
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  you see those recruitments potentially potentially trending. I think Ohio State's in great shape
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  for both of those guys. I think Max has been down like ten times.
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  I mean it's like nine or ten visits now for Max from Avon Lake
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  down to Columbus. He's he's been a priority for they offered him his freshman
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  year and they just have relentlessly been on him and he is reciprocated that Sam
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  Greer. Very similar thing if you look at Sam. So they had their
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  big recruiting day and in July, over the summer they're kind of like their
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  barbecue hangout with football tournament thing. Sam was there. They have their big
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  junior day here last weekend. Sam was there. So when it's a big
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  weekend, Sam's always there showing up. I got a chance to watch Sam
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  in the state championship game. He was outstanding. He missed a little bit
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  of time early in a sophomore year, which I think hurts him a little
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  bit developmentally, So I was kind of concerned about, Okay, you know,
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  is he playing enough football because he's also a tremendous basketball player. And
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  I got to watch him the state championship. He was tremendous. He was
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  much more of a finisher and a physical run blocker than I was maybe expecting
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  from a kid who's kind of got the the reputation is like a really good
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  basketball player. So you know it was he tough enough to move guys off
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  the ball, And the answer to that is yes, so I they're in
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  great shape with both guys. I think both are appropriately ranked as top one
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  hundred players nationally, and I think again, i'd be surprised for five State
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  isn't able to land them. All Right, I'm gonna put you on the
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  spot here because I'm trying to do this by memory, and I can't remember
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  an Avon Lake player coming to Ohio State as a scholarship guy since Mike DeAndrea.
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  Am I forgetting someone? No, I don't believe. So I've covered
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  a few of their kids over the years. They've all I think they went
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  to I think they I think like one once Northwestern. They've had a couple
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  of kids go like low Big ten Or and some Mac kids as well.
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  But I'm pretty sure DeAndrea is the last Avon Lake guy to go to Ohio
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  State. So now there's about half of the audience is probably going, oh
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  yeah, and the other half is going who and He was a five star
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  linebacker prospect in the class of two thousand and two, which was the Justin
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  Zwick, Maurice Claret, Troy Smith, Just Bobby Carpenter, aj Hawk,
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  Nick Mangold class, just one of the great classes in Ohio State history.
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  He was a one of the crown jewels of that class and then just had
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  knee problems at Ohio State and never never ended up really panning out. But
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  yeah, one of the very very big names of Ohio State recruiting in the
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  early two thousands in the belly. I guess it technically now is like the
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  pre modern recruiting era, which makes me once again feel a thousand years old.
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  That's okay, speaking of things that make me feel a thousand years old.
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  Let's talk again about the class of twenty twenty six and Will Conroy.
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  He is an interior alignment. You have the previous guys to previous two guys
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  were tackles. He has had a saint ignacious and he just got some news
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  from Ohio State just in the last week or so. Yep, they offered
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  him on Saturday. All three of those guys we've talked about in twenty twenty
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  six were on campus on Saturday for the big Junior Day. Will got his
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  offer. Huge news for him. This is kind of the dream offer for
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  him, so to speak. He's he's been a big Ohio State fan growing
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  up and he's likely a center, which I think is perfect in terms of
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  roster spacing right now, I think they need a center in that class pretty
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  badly. I think he'll be a I think he's gonna be like an all
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  big ten center at Ohio State. I really like Will Conry. I think
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  the only thing, the only reason you would have Will behind the other two
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  guys we talked about in the rankings is position value. Obviously tackles a more
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  valuable position than any interior prospect. Will is a phenomenal player. Had a
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  great sophomore year for Saint Ignacius. Unbelievable work, ethic finisher, tough kid
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  wrestles. This was his only weekend available of the entire winter. He's got
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  wrestling like every weekend. But he was able to make it to a higher
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  state, which also helps them kind of keep him away from some of the
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  other regional powers he can't visit. He's got wrestling stuff. So but I
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  think this is a guy who love a great chance at landing as well,
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  and really one of my favorite players in the class. Just I love the
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  way he plays, I love the intensity and physicality plays with and so I'm
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  a big fan of Will con I had him ranked six in Ohio before they
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  offered him. So I've been kind of on the bandwagon there for a while
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  at the offers should come. And now that it has again great shape for
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  Ohio State and a guy who would compliment the other guys, well that's the
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  beauty of it. As all three of those guys can play together. You're
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  not really competing for positions with those three. Well, if I ever have
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  Will Conroy on the show, I will be able to have a long conversation
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  about him about being really busy every weekend with youth sports, that'll be it.
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  That'll be a fun show if we ever have him on. Just kind
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  of looking big picture, just sort of wrap this up, it feels like
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  Ohio State has done a pretty good job with the three in state offensive linemen
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  and building the class around that that sort of framework more or less, you
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  know, sometimes it's four, sometimes it's two, But it feels like that's
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  sort of become the framework for a lot of these offensive line classes. Is
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  that I mean, I'm not asking you to project out the class of twenty
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  twenty nine or anything here, but is that just sort of historically a viable
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  option for Ohio s date to just sort of plan on moving forward? Are
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  there typically three four ish in state guys, or you know, maybe in
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  state plus Indiana, like with a Ian Moore or something like that. Is
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  that a viable model for Ohio State to just sort of lean on and plan
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  on for the foreseeable future on the offensive line, Yeah, I think it
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  is, especially you look at twenty six. Like we just talked about the
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  three guys they've offered, there's three other guys they haven't offered that I think
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  have the long term upside to be in the offered discussion. So twenty twenty
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  six is like the best offensive line class I've seen in Ohio since at least,
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  like I have to go back to two thousand and nine before I even
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  thought about like, oh what what can match up? And that was the
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  class that had Jack Newhort, Marcus Hall, and Corey Linsley in it.
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  So I think this is the best Ohio offensive line class in fifteen plus years.
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  So that's going to be a year where I think you load up.
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  If you can get like six offensive linemen off to a high guys, we
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  can get like six offensive linemen in twenty twenty six, you do it.
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  I wouldn't even be opposed to seven. I'm not going a little crazy here,
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  but like if you can red shirt a couple of them, space them
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  out a little bit, like when you get a when you get a chance
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  to bring in this many guys in one class, this this talented of a
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  class. I think you do it, and you know it's it sounds simple,
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  but you know everyone's like, oh, you know, should Justin Fry
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  get credit for landing you know, Felands, Carter Low or if he gets
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  these Ohio guys in twenty six, Well, how much credit do we give
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  Justin Fry? Well, it's not that long ago that Ohio State couldn't get
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  you know, Nick Saymac and JD. Duplain to flip from Michigan State.
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  It's not that long ago that Blake Miller and Ze Carrell went to Clemson and
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  this this has not been like, these have not been layups for Ohio State
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  previously. So yes, this is important to get back to. That is
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  every class going to give you three studs? Probably not. There's probably gonn
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  be some years you get me take one or two and then you are gonna
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  have to find a kid in Indiana or Pennsylvania or Kentucky or wherever it might
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  be. But yeah, generally speaking, if you can land the two or
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  three offensive lineman in Ohio, you're you're going to have a really good offensive
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  line class. You just have to be able to do it. It's funny.
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  It's sort of the inverse of the people used to take meeting Michigan for
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  granted thing, and then three four years ago it was like, oh,
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  boy, you can't. You can't assume that they're going to get any in
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  state offensive lineman. And now it feels like they're getting kind of the guys
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  that they want, and now you're ready to take it for granted again.
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  So boy, the more things change, I guess it quite a testament to
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  testament to justin fry And and doing a pretty good job in keeping that room
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  full and bringing in some talent, and sounds like that maybe a viable,
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  viable path forward for the future as well, when you think about how long
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  the offensive linemen typically take to develop and get on the field. Might see
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  them out there for the Georgia series and twenty nine and twenty thirty or whatever
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  that is. It was, it was z Correll to Notre Dame. By
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  the way, it was Jackson Carmen and Blake Miller to clemb I misspoke on
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  that Correll to their name. It was Miller and Karmen to climb, So
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  I just want to clear that up my my old man brain. Sometimes when
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  you've got a roll of decks of like eighty thousand kids in your head,
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  you sometimes you miss a name or you miss a school. And I think
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  Zie Carell just went to North Carolina State. He just transferred somewhere. He
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  was in the portal this year. I think ended up at NC State.
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  But yes, punny, funny of names that we can talk about reminiscing.
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  You know, the old guys can just sit around and just name old football
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  players kind of tweet we could. We could do that for recruiting, I
• 18:33
  think, and guys can just sit around and talk about the future of Ohio
• 18:37
  State recruiting as well, and they can do that at Buckey Huddle dot Com
• 18:41
  is where we have our fantastic team of fanciers covering the team, cover and
• 18:44
  recruiting, covering x's and o's. A very active community. Lots to talk
• 18:48
  about right now about Ohio State, about Ohio State's rival up north, news
• 18:53
  going on up there as well. We're sort of standing by waiting for a
• 18:56
  final decision on that, but there's gonna be a lot of a lot of
• 19:00
  news coming, and a lot of news can impact the future of Ohio State
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  football. This would be a great time to become a member of Buckeyhuddle dot
• 19:06
  com. You can sign up there and also want to check us out on
• 19:08
  YouTube YouTube dot com slash Bucky Huddle. You'll have some news probably coming in
• 19:11
  the next few days. We'll be there. You can make sure you're subscribed
• 19:15
  on a YouTube channel at YouTube dot com slash Pucke Huddle, and also make
• 19:18
  sure you hit that bell that we get notified we'll drop a new episode because
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  I'm going to guess there's gonna be some breaking news in the coming days.
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  We will be there. We hope you're there with us. That will do
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  it for today. Thank you guys all for joining us. Have a great
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  day. We will talk to you tomorrow.