Latest / Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning / One Ohio State Star Headed To The NFL, Another Will Return For 2024

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One Ohio State Star Headed To The NFL, Another Will Return For 2024 · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to buck Eyes tomorrow morning for Friday, January twelfth, th im your
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  host Tom Moore. The Akron game is in two hundred and thirty two days.
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  The game against Michigan in three hundred and twenty three days. There is
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  more news on the NFL draft declaration front than the Buckeyes. Got some good
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  news and some bad news on Thursday. Let's start with the bad news.
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  Prepare your fainting couches. Marvin Harrison Junior is declaring for the NFL Draft.
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  I know I'm as shocked as you were. I'm sure we all saw the
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  reports at Ohio State was preparing one point three trillion dollars in nil to win
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  woo him back. Sadly that has not happened. Ar Goub believe was never
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  happening. Anyway, That's not what we're here to talk about. We're here
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  to talk about Marvin Harrison heading to the NFL. We're also here to talk
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  about Amcca Abuka not heading to the NFL. Some very very good news on
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  the whole. That's probably a win for Ohio State because Marvin Harrison was pretty
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  much never coming back. I'm enjoyed by Kevin new newbuckehuddle dot Com and Kevin.
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  Before we talk about Marvin Harrison the on field player, I think we
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  have to just take a second just to talk about Marvin Harrison off the field
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  and sort of the stuff that we got to see inside the woody. We
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  talk all the time about, Oh look, he's on the Monarch machine.
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  He's constantly working. He's constantly you know, always putting in the work,
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  putting in the extra time. He also was one of the most friendly,
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  outgoing, unassuming players I have covered over the years at Ohio State. And
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  you know, when you were the son of a for you know, an
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  NFL Hall of Famer and one of the best wide receivers in the country in
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  probably the last decade, you don't have to be that way. But Marvin
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  Harrison was just his whole time in Columbus just a class actor and beginning to
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  end, Yeah, he really was. I mean he would not be hesitant
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  to come over and say hello. I mean, if you went up and
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  talked to him, he would always talk to you. Ohio State doesn't normally
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  have a lot of guys that I can remember through the years that are just
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  downright, you know, avoiding the media, don't want any part of it.
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  I can remember maybe a couple of coaches, but maybe not players as
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  much. And you know, he was he was a treat to cover.
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  I mean, he was a hard worker. I think he's really kind of
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  set the work ethic at Ohio State for years to come. But you know,
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  just a just a super kid. And yeah, we had we did
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  a live show on Wednesday night where somebody's like, I promise you, Marvin
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  Harrison Junior is coming back. And I wasn't quite sure how I could bet
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  all of the super chats we've ever received on that against against that happening,
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  but I sure wanted to because there was no chance that he was going to
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  come back. He is going to probably go no lower than number four to
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  Arizona, barring some sort of you know, the draft order changing with trades
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  and things of that nature. But this one was about as expected as as
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  as they came. We had a story ready, probably more than a month
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  ago, I would I would imagine basically the only thing he had to put
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  in was the day of the week that he decided that this was going to
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  happen. This was a foregone conclusion, and so you just touched on what
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  his future may be. Top five NFL draft pick almost for sure, maybe
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  top three, top two, and you know, if wide receiver was valued,
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  maybe more than you know, as much or more than the quarterback position,
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  maybe number one A. You know, him joining up with Marvin with
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  Justin Fields in Chicago, that if the Bears can work some kind of a
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  trade down there, that might not be a bad pairing. But wherever he
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  is, he feels like one of the most sure bets of any Ohio State
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  player, just in terms of ability, athleticism, work, ethic, the
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  whole package. Just it feels like he's going to be successful wherever he goes.
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  Now, looking back at his Ohio State career, it took him.
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  You know now, I think everyone remembers the three touchdowns in the Rose Bowl
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  and thinks, soh, he must have had like seventeen touchdowns his freshman year.
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  He entered that Rose Bowl game with I think six catches and had I
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  believe five catches when including the three touchdowns in that Rose Bowl game in twenty
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  twenty two, twenty twenty one, and then Boom went off in twenty twenty
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  two, twenty twenty three. Just always just such a consistent big time performer,
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  incredible catches, just one of those guys who just on the field did
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  everything right. And I would have loved to see Marvin Harrison in twenty twenty
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  three with c J. Stroud speaking of NFL draft decisions that were not going
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  to happen. C J. Drud was not going to come back for twenty
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  twenty three, but if he had, oh Man, that another year of
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  c J. Stroud and Marvin Harrison would have been remarkable this year, it
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  really would have. And the thing that you have to remember, and it's
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  just it's a result of how the room is. When you had Garrett Wilson
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  and Chris o'lave and Jackson Smith and jig but ahead of you. And while
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  JSN and Marvin Harrison Junior played different roles in the offense, you still had
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  guys ahead of you and that and that's and that's the issue. I think
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  we're going to sit there and look back here in a couple of years with
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  guys like Carnell Tait and Brandon Ennison. Out of these guys not manage to
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  get you know, any any real run their first year, and we're going
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  to be like, well, because Ohio State had Marvin Harrison Junior in the
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  Mecca Buca and we'll get to him in a minute. So once Marvin finally
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  was able to break through, there was no turning back. And I think
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  one of the great tragedies, other than the fact that Marvin Harrison Junior was
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  not part of a team that was able to beat the team up north,
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  was that we did not get to see a twenty twenty three where Ohio State's
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  passing game was completely right and people can sit there and try and put it
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  on one guy or another. And I think that there was plenty of blame
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  to go around as to why the passing game wasn't right, but we could
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  have really seen, I think a special season, as you mentioned, if
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  c J. Stroud's eligibility would have lined up in a way of where he
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  had to come back for one more year. C J. Stroud made the
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  right decision and going pro as he's getting ready to take on the Cleveland Browns
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  in the first round of the AFC playoffs, and Marvin Harrison Junior's decision was
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  a no brainer as well. Is going to prove to be right as he
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  will be a top five pick when the NFL Draft descends upon Detroit, Michigan
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  here in I believe April. So you mentioned earlier sort of the culture in
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  the room and got the younger guys watching Marvin Harrison his work ethic, you
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  know what, he died to get ready for every single practice, every single
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  game. It feels like we've had just over the years that culture has sort
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  of been passed down and you know, it was Terry McLaurin and Paris Campbell
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  and Johnny Dixon, and then it was you know, uh, you know,
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  uh now now I'm trying to remember which which guys came with with which
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  one Austin Mack and uh Ben Victor, and then it was uh, you
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  know, Jackson Smith and Jigba and Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave and then now
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  you've got Marvin Harrison and a Mecca Buca and then though they're going to be
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  passing it down to that that next group below, it does feel like that
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  culture in that room sort of the consistent excellence you've seen out of that room
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  over the years. It feels like that's you know, you hear about,
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  you know, these these societies with the the storytelling traditions and being passed down
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  from generation to generation. It feels like it's sort of the same thing in
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  that wide receiver room where you've had these guys sort of demonstrate like, hey,
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  this is what it takes to get to where you want to be,
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  over and over and over and just passing down, passing down, passing down.
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  And now a Mecca Buka is going to be back for another year to
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  help, you know, continue that tradition, but also passing it down to
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  Arnell Tait, Brandan Innos as you meant, Jeremiah Smith coming in this year,
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  Milon Graham come in in later this year. It just feels like that
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  torch is just sort of getting passed now from Marvin Harrison and a Mecca Abuca
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  to a Mecca Aboka and some of those younger guys in that roop. Right,
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  So you can sit there and you can look to what's happening on the
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  field of the Woody really on any given day, and then you can also
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  look at what's happening those eighteen Sundays during football season during the NFL and see
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  the results that are being put up. I mean, we saw Terry McLaurin.
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  It took until the last minutes of the Commander's season for him to hit
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  one thousand yards to be the first player for the Commanders I think to have
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  four one thousand yard receiving seasons. We saw Chris o'lave and Garrett Wilson,
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  I mean, the heck, with all of the issues that the Jets had,
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  Garrett Wilson still getting to one thousand yards, Jackson Smith and Jigba Seattle
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  finally figures out what to do with him. I mean, he's I mean,
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  he's blowing up right now at this point. I mean, all of
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  these guys have taken the torch from from Michael Thomas, who may be on
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  the you know, the decline of his career. I mean he's been out
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  for a while. And then you sit there and you see a mecha Buka
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  being out there, and I mean, I think we'll probably see Rehees Stocksdale
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  out there for every day forever. I mean I don't. I mean,
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  he was always the guy that was out there with Marvin Harrison Junior. We'll
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  see who it is that a Mecca is going to be able to bring out,
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  and you're going to have guys that are going to take to that culture,
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  that are going to have all of that free time out there working on
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  their craft. And you mentioned Jeremiah Smith, and nobody takes their game quite
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  as seriously as Jeremiah Smith that I've seen coming directly out of high school.
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  I got to cover Jeremiah a lot closer than I got to cover Marvin Harrison
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  Junior, just based on where my recruiting travels take me. I have no
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  doubt that Jeremiah Smith is probably going to break another Monarch machine and they're going
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  to have to get Monarch three point zero because of just overuse. And it's
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  it, and it's going to be something that just goes on and on and
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  on and on and you I mean, and that's how you end up becoming
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  blank position you by having that type of culture, that type of lead by
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  example and passing it on and a Mecca Abuka will be there this year to
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  pass it on. It looked for a while he had that injury, that
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  ankle injury last year, missed a bunch of times, just didn't seem like
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  he was ever one hundred percent again at the end of the year, and
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  there was a time when I thought it's really too bad. In twenty twenty
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  two, you had Jackson Smith, a Jigma have that injury and just kind
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  of never end up getting back on the field and being one hundred percent,
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  And just what a missed opportunity that was to see Jackson spith a Jigma and
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  Marvin Harrison and Mecca Obuka together and then Ameica Oboka misses I mean functionally what
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  almost half of the season in terms of either being hurt or not being one
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  hundred percent. And it was like, man, another year where you had
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  the what if at wide receiver for Ohio State. Well, now Amecica book
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  is coming back. You know, the wide receiver room is a position where
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  you never really worry about Ohio State being shorthand or not having enough talent.
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  If you look at the numbers, though there's not as many bodies in there
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  as there typically are now. The guys that are in there are top,
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  top, top drawer guys. But you don't have ten twelve ready to go
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  wide receivers in that room right now because you've had a lot of guys transfer
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  out. So it feels like getting a Mecca at Buka back might be kind
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  of a sneaky big deal for the twenty twenty four buck guys. You're right,
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  I think if you look at the amount of production that has left.
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  I mean, obviously, with Marvin Harrison Junior being the guy, the reigning
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  Bolitnikoff winner for the nation's top wide receiver, it's it's a big hit.
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  And then in terms of bodies, when you lose Julian Fleming, you lose
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  Rogers and Rogers to the transfer portal, Brandon and Noah no relation. You
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  know you're losing a lot at that point. And I mean you mean even
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  the production of Cade Stover going out the going out the door as well.
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  So being able to bring a guy like a Mecca is a big get for
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  Ohio State as they are breaking in a new old quarterback in Will Howard,
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  somebody who has a lot of experience playing college football is not played a single
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  down in the Scarlett and Gray for Ohio State. But that is a tremendous
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  safety net to have as you still be able to bring out guys like Tate
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  and Ennis and Jeremiah Smith and Milon Graham and what have you. There,
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  but the rotation certainly is much more thin. And dare I say, if
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  Ohio State lost at Mecca Buca, could you imagine Ohio State actually having to
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  go to the portal to bring in maybe a little bit of veteran leadership for
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  the room. That would have been a very real possibility, just because that
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  room gets really young in you know immediately, yeah, it is, it
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  is. The talent has never questioned. The depth is you know, couldn't
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  have been a question. It seems like that's probably not as much of an
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  issue now with Abuka back. I just sort of this as we're recording shows,
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  I'm just sort of reflexively checking Twitter every thirty seconds or so just to
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  make sure we haven't had any other NFL draft declarations. So far, so
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  good. Still waiting on running back Trevian Henderson, Still waiting on defensive end
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  JT. Twoey Moloow. That kind of the last two big pieces to the
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  puzzle for Ohio State for twenty twenty four. Will they be back? Will
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  they head off the NFL? We'll be back, I'm I'm sure not very
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  long from now, five minutes from now, twenty four hours from now,
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  who knows. Whenever it happens, we'll be here to tell you all about
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  it. And boy it is this is a quite a team taking shape for
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  the Buckeyes in twenty twenty four, with a whole lot of juniors coming back
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  so far, only Marvin Harrison junior and Mike Hall declaring for the NFL.
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  That's it. That's all the all from the underclassmen declaring for the NFL.
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  So a lot of talent potentially coming back for the Buckeyes and it could be
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  a very very special, very exciting twenty twenty four season. We would love
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  to share that season with you at buckeyehuddle dot com. That's where Kevin,
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  an Toni and I covered the team. Mark covering recruiting has been a very
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  busy recruiting week. Some potential decisions from some very very highly ranked targets coming
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  soon for the Buckeyes that could be in the coming days and weeks. You're
• 14:13
  gonna want to make sure you were up to speed on all that stuff.
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  Mark has been working overtime this week, cranking out a ton of content with
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  a lot of insight and analysis on some of those decisions that could be coming
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  and it would be a pretty good month for the Ohio State recruiting team.
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  And then of course Ross and Devin and Mickey and justin all making you a
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  smarter football fan, covering you with the x's and o's all at bucke huddle
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  dot com. Of course, make sure you check us out also at YouTube
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  dot com slash bucke Huddle. I'm just gonna pretty much guarantee you we will
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  have some sort of a breaking news show at some point in the next day
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  or two as more NFL draft decisions come out. You're gonna want to make
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  sure you were subscribed there at YouTube dot com slash bucke Huddle, and you've
• 14:50
  also hit the bell there to get notified when we go live, because sometimes
• 14:54
  this news breaks and we just sort of hop on and don't have a lot
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  of lead time, So make sure you were subscribed to hit that bell.
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  All that good stuff at you two dot com slash Buckeye Huddle. That will
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  do it for today. Thank you guys all for joining us. Have a
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  great day. We will talk to you tomorrow.