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BONUS: Whats Wrong With Ohio State's Special Teams? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, we got one more bonus show for you
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: based on the interview we did with Ryan Day, the
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: press conference on Tuesday. And this is one, this is
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  Speaker 1: an area where we don't normally have enough to give
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: you a whole separate show. And that area is special teams.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: And yeah, I get it. You kind of winced a
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  Speaker 1: little bit. And yeah, I totally understand. Buckeyes right now
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  Speaker 1: in SP +, they are number two in the nation
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  Speaker 1: in offense, number three in the nation in defense, and
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  Speaker 1: number 100 out of 138 in special teams. So yes,
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  Speaker 1: plenty of room for improvement there for the Buckeyes kickers, punters,
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  Speaker 1: and other assorted entities in that area. One area where
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  Speaker 1: they have gotten a really good performance this year is
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  Speaker 1: in kickoffs. And Marcello Di Amede, he is the transfer
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  Speaker 1: kicker from Notre Dame. He came over really to just
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  Speaker 1: be the long field goal guy, hasn't been asked to
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  Speaker 1: do anything in that area, and to handle the kickoffs.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: He's got 30 touchbacks there already. uh as a kickoff
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  Speaker 1: specialist so was that sort of the vision when ryan
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  Speaker 1: day brought him in.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah yeah we saw the potential on film and then
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  Speaker 2: got a chance to meet him and his makeup and
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  Speaker 2: and so yeah consistency is the key there you see
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  Speaker 2: the power and um and that can really just eliminate
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  Speaker 2: one part of special teams and so that that's good
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  Speaker 2: when it's time to cover we i think we've covered
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  Speaker 2: three or four this year. Um, you know, it's been
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  Speaker 2: deep enough with enough hang time that we don't have
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  Speaker 2: to get down the field. So this is a group
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  Speaker 2: that pop one out and historically have done a good
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  Speaker 2: job on returns. So, um, but last week in particular,
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  Speaker 2: you know, obviously we know what I would did the
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  Speaker 2: week before. So to sort of eliminate that part of
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  Speaker 2: the game was important. And, um, and that that's, that's a, um,
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  Speaker 2: you know, job that Marcello seems to be really embracing
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  Speaker 2: and getting more and more confidence as the games go
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  Speaker 2: along here. So, um, As the weather changes, the wind changes,
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  Speaker 2: all those things, that'll be the next challenge for him.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: But his consistency has been solid so far, and it's
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  Speaker 2: an important part of our team.
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  Speaker 1: Marcello Di Amede was not the only guy that they
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  Speaker 1: brought in this offseason. They also brought in Robbie Disher.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: He was the special teams coordinator at Illinois a year ago,
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  Speaker 1: now the special teams coordinator at Ohio State. So, okay,
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  Speaker 1: so Ohio State's taking special teams a lot more seriously now.
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  Speaker 1: They've got a special teams coordinator. So how have the
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  Speaker 1: special teams improved? since the addition of Robbie Disher this offseason?
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't think I can sit here and say
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  Speaker 2: that we've improved in special teams right now. We need
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  Speaker 2: to play better, and that's everybody included. It's not just Rob.
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  Speaker 2: You know, Rob is, you know, the coordinator, so he's
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  Speaker 2: in charge, but, you know, I'm in every meeting, the
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: coaches are in every meeting, and we need to make
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  Speaker 2: sure that we're getting better production out of the special teams.
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  Speaker 2: You know, when we play against, you know, certain teams,
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  Speaker 2: you know, Teams will, you know, look to try to
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  Speaker 2: steal a possession. And so there's times where we have
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  Speaker 2: to make sure that we're covering our bases. But just overall,
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  Speaker 2: when we look at the consistency of kicking field goals,
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  Speaker 2: you know, not good enough. When we look at our
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  Speaker 2: return yards, we need to be better just across the board.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: And we have an opportunity to pooch the ball inside
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  Speaker 2: the 10-yard line. That has to get done. So it's
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  Speaker 2: a challenge to everybody in the program. We've got to
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  Speaker 2: get better in all four phases of special teams.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: It is not hard to find Ohio State fans who
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: are absolutely convinced that they are cursed. Their team is
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: cursed when it comes to kickers and big field goals.
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  Speaker 1: And the kicking issues, they have definitely happened not only
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  Speaker 1: across multiple seasons, but across multiple kickers as well. So
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  Speaker 1: has the coaching staff maybe looked into some other factors?
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  Speaker 1: You know, is that what the coaches are doing or
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  Speaker 1: what the coaches are saying or? the approach they're taking
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  Speaker 1: in some way or how they're practicing or something else
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  Speaker 1: just to see if they can identify some kind of
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  Speaker 1: a root cause? Yes.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I think we, we got to look into
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  Speaker 2: everything and, you know, try to figure out different ways
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  Speaker 2: in practice to apply more pressure. I think we've done that.
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  Speaker 2: We've looked into it. We've, we've made changes. I think that,
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  Speaker 2: you know, everybody has to feel pressure. There's no question.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: So to your, To your question, what we've done hasn't worked,
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  Speaker 2: so we've got to continue to figure out ways to
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  Speaker 2: get it better. I do think we have guys that
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  Speaker 2: can kick field goals, and they've shown that they can
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  Speaker 2: do that, but to your point, it's got to be
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  Speaker 2: consistent and it's got to be in big spots. So
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  Speaker 2: you ultimately fall to the level of your training, but
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  Speaker 2: we have to keep looking and uncover all stones to
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  Speaker 2: get this thing addressed because we know it's going to
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  Speaker 2: come down to one of these kicks again that we've
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: got to make.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: All right, there you go. Another bonus episode for you.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: I hope you guys enjoyed that. We will have much
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: more coverage all week long. We've got some more bonus
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: shows coming up for you. We're going to have a
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: bunch of live stuff coming up for you this week
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: as well. We'll have Ohio State player interviews on Wednesday evening.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: You'll have another chance to talk to Ryan Day as well.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: We've got Friday, we've got Saturday, Buckeyes taking on Maryland 4.15 p.m.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: at the Horseshoe. A little bit of a later kickoff.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Kind of looking forward to that one as the Buckeyes
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: will take on the Terrapins. We'll have your usual pregame show.
• 5:00
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• 5:02
  Speaker 1: you at youtube.com slash at Buckeye Insiders. And man, oh man,
• 5:06
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• 5:09
  Speaker 1: this week. Depending on when you're listening to this, some
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: of it is going to be out publicly probably at
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: this point. But we have a lot that is still
• 5:17
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• 5:20
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• 5:23
  Speaker 1: we keep getting told we want more of this. Well, okay.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: You want more?
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: We will give you more. We've got Ross Fulton. We've
• 5:29
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• 5:34
  Speaker 1: specialize in different areas of the game. Justin, really big
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: on the offensive line. Michael, a defensive guy. Ross, he's
• 5:41
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• 5:44
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• 5:47
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• 5:50
  Speaker 1: and why sometimes the conventional wisdom around what you think
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: is happening with Ohio State and why something is or
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: isn't working, well, it's not always right. So if you
• 5:59
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• 6:01
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• 6:04
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