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New Faces, New Focus For Ohio State Football Special Teams · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to buck Eyes tomorrow morning for Saturday, February twenty.
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  Speaker 1: First time your host Tom or the ball State game
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  Speaker 1: in one hundred and ninety six days, the game against
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  Speaker 1: Michigan in two hundred and eighty days. Our friends in
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  Speaker 1: Grateful Griddle, Columbus's favorite food truck. They are now on
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  Speaker 1: uper each, scrub Hub and or Dash Guess hearts with
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  Speaker 1: Grateful Griddle there or check out Grateful Griddle oh dot
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  Speaker 1: com for more. All right, on today's show, we are
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  Speaker 1: wrapping up our look around the Ohio State Too Deep
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  Speaker 1: as we head into spring practice that is now just
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  Speaker 1: over just over a couple of weeks away. Goodness, we
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  Speaker 1: are getting there. Welcoming back, Buddy, Tony Gerdiman at Buckeheadle
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  Speaker 1: dot com. Tony, We're gonna be looking at the special
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  Speaker 1: teams and this is one area where other than Joe McGuire,
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  Speaker 1: this is a true you need to buy a program
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  Speaker 1: to know to know who the players are kind of
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  Speaker 1: season on the special teams, it actually starts with the
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  Speaker 1: coaching staff. They have a new special teams coordinator. Before
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  Speaker 1: we get into the two deep, I guess we can
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  Speaker 1: do with the coaching too deep. New face at the
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  Speaker 1: head of the Ohio State Special teams unit. This year.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, they went and Ryan Day went and hired Robbie Disher,
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  Speaker 2: who was the special teams coordinator and tight ends coach
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  Speaker 2: at Illinois, to be the Buckeyes new special teams coordinator.
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  Speaker 2: And it's it's a far cry from back in the
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  Speaker 2: day when Ohio State had a special teams coordinator and
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  Speaker 2: fans were outraged on one hand because of the poor
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  Speaker 2: performance of the special teams, but on the other hand
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  Speaker 2: because that was one of your alloted recruiters. This is
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  Speaker 2: not going to be that. This is this is basically
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  Speaker 2: you're paying money for an extra coach and this should
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  Speaker 2: make everybody happy. And after the still lackluster special teams
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  Speaker 2: the last couple of years, the we've we've talked on
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  Speaker 2: many shows about how it's one of the areas that
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  Speaker 2: is not a weapon for Ohio State and it could
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  Speaker 2: be a weapon. It should be a weapon if you've
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  Speaker 2: got if you've got the means to make it a weapon,
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  Speaker 2: you should do that. And so now it feels like
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  Speaker 2: this is the next step in making that happened and
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  Speaker 2: having somebody to coordinate Tom said special teams.
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  Speaker 1: And there are going to be some new faces on
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  Speaker 1: those special teams this year, including a new kicker. And
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  Speaker 1: they actually have brought in three new kickers this offseason
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  Speaker 1: in case you missed. One of them was a transfer
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  Speaker 1: from Notre Dame that came in just what like a
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  Speaker 1: week ago pretty recently. Probably flew under the radar for
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people. One that did not fly under
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  Speaker 1: the radar for a lot of people, Conter Hawkins, the
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  Speaker 1: transfer from Baylor. He has the kind of leg and
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  Speaker 1: the kind of track record that makes you think that
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State may have a little bit of a different
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  Speaker 1: approach in the kicking game this year.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, last year finished eighteen or twenty two on his
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  Speaker 2: field goals, same number of misses as Jaden Fielding. However,
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  Speaker 2: you had a Hawkins with three or four from fifty plus.
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  Speaker 2: He was ten of ten from inside forty and so
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  Speaker 2: he's hit a couple of game winners. Big leg, as
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  Speaker 2: you know, like I said, made some big kicks, is
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  Speaker 2: is consistent where you need your kickers to be consistent,
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  Speaker 2: and then has the leg that you can maybe gamble
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  Speaker 2: a little bit down the road. And the point that
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  Speaker 2: I always go to is that twenty twenty four Oregon
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  Speaker 2: game where Ohio State knew that they needed they wanted,
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  Speaker 2: They were comfortable with maybe like forty five yards an inn,
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  Speaker 2: which forced Will Howard to scramble more than he should have.
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  Speaker 2: But if they would have been comfortable from fifty five
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  Speaker 2: yards and in, you don't need all of that time.
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  Speaker 2: And so this guy, Connor Hawkins gives them somebody that
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  Speaker 2: they can take some basically some deep shots with in
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  Speaker 2: the kicking game.
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  Speaker 1: And they brought in a true freshman kicker as well,
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  Speaker 1: I assuming he's going to be in for the spring,
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  Speaker 1: as we had only heard about one name that was
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  Speaker 1: not going to be in for the spring. And then
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  Speaker 1: again they did bring in another transfer from Notre Dame
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  Speaker 1: as well, so you got you can have potentially a
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  Speaker 1: little bit of an interesting kicking battle and theoretic, you know,
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  Speaker 1: theoretically it does not have to be Connor Hawkins' job.
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  Speaker 1: But then onto the punting game, and that is one
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  Speaker 1: spot where Nick McLarty, who everyone was all excited about
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  Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, he ended up transferring out
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  Speaker 1: to Arizona State. Joe McGuire, he's back, you do. They
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  Speaker 1: did bring in another transfer through the portal in terms
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  Speaker 1: of a punter. So I guess we could theoretically see
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  Speaker 1: a battle at the punting position as well, but I'm
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  Speaker 1: certainly assuming Joe McGuire entering the Yes Spring as the starter.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I'll assume as well. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: when people talk about the Ohio state punting situation and
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  Speaker 2: we're waiting for Nick McCarty and Joe McGuire just has
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  Speaker 2: the job by default, this is a competition constantly, and
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  Speaker 2: so you've got a punter at least in the Ohio
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  Speaker 2: State and Joe McGuire who has competed for the job
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  Speaker 2: two years in a row and won it. I think
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  Speaker 2: you've got to give players credit for that. They've been
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  Speaker 2: tested and they've come through. And the reason that we
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  Speaker 2: always talk about why he wins things and why he's
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  Speaker 2: the punter is because he's just consistent and he does
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  Speaker 2: what he's asked to do. Doesn't do much more than that,
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  Speaker 2: keeps the ball out of the end zone, keeps the
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  Speaker 2: ball out of dynamic returners doing dynamic returns because coverage
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  Speaker 2: gets down there. So just they're very There are no
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  Speaker 2: unknowns really with Joe McGuire, and I think that's that's
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  Speaker 2: a positive. And so This will be another competition that
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  Speaker 2: I do expect him to win, and if he doesn't,
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  Speaker 2: then maybe you've got something in the new guys. But yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I'm fully expecting this to be Jim McGuire and to
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  Speaker 2: be just as you've seen the last couple of years.
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  Speaker 2: Is it spectacular?
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  Speaker 1: No?
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  Speaker 2: Does it need to be? Not? Really? Could it be better? Sure?
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  Speaker 2: And maybe that's where you've you can get that extra
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  Speaker 2: extra bit out of your players. Ride Day is always
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  Speaker 2: talking about you always have to be upgrading, and so
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  Speaker 2: now this will be what Joe McGuire three point zero
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  Speaker 2: is what they're looking for.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you mentioned dynamic players making dynamic returns, So let's
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  Speaker 1: move to that return game, and boy, the kickoff return
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  Speaker 1: this is one area where we're going to see about
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  Speaker 1: eight different guys lining up for kick returns and eight
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  Speaker 1: different guys lining up for punt returns on day one
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  Speaker 1: of springball. This feels almost like a shrug and throw
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  Speaker 1: a dart kind of thing. But are there particular names
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  Speaker 1: that you're sort of intrigued by at one or both
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  Speaker 1: of those spots.
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  Speaker 2: Well, and the thing is like we almost never get
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  Speaker 2: to see any type of kick return stuff anyway. We
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  Speaker 2: just get to see a bunch of punt return guys,
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  Speaker 2: and last year the kickoff return the three guys that
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  Speaker 2: return kicks all eight of them. Mind you, Lorenzo Styles
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  Speaker 2: had two, one of which is a trick play, Brandon
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  Speaker 2: Endis had five, and James Peeple's had one. So that's
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  Speaker 2: maybe that's why you don't even practice the kickoff returns
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  Speaker 2: because it's just you know, it's your free touch back.
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  Speaker 2: But with the punt returns, you're going to see You're
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  Speaker 2: going to see Jared Smith back there, you probably see
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  Speaker 2: Jamaine Matthews back there, Brandon Innis. Of course, you'll see
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  Speaker 2: all of these names that will get a look in
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  Speaker 2: practice that will never return one in a game. And
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  Speaker 2: again last year, Brandon Innis at seventeen on returns. The
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  Speaker 2: other the other three tome Lorenzo Styles Junior, Jeremiah Smith,
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  Speaker 2: and Cayden Curry. Now that third one different reason. But
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  Speaker 2: you get the idea of Brandon Innis, Why wouldn't he
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  Speaker 2: be the guy again? You just want to secure it
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  Speaker 2: unless unless they're trying to make something more of the
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  Speaker 2: return game and we want somebody more dynamic. Though he
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  Speaker 2: did average ten point seven yards a return last year,
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  Speaker 2: not terrible, not necessarily the guy that can scare a
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  Speaker 2: coverage unit into thinking he can go the distance. So
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  Speaker 2: I do wonder if maybe they want to put some
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  Speaker 2: more fear into opponents in the special teams this year.
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  Speaker 1: I am excited to title the show how will Ohio
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  Speaker 1: State replaced Cayden Curry at punt returner? That's going to
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  Speaker 1: be a lot of fun. If you don't remember what
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  Speaker 1: happened there. That was I think that was the UCLA
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  Speaker 1: game and Curry came in and the UCLA punter just
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  Speaker 1: completely shanked one off the side of his foot or
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  Speaker 1: just missed. They almost missed the ball, and Caden Curry
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  Speaker 1: scooped it up and it functionally looked like a blocked punt,
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  Speaker 1: but I don't think it actually technically counted as a
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  Speaker 1: block punt. It was just a really, really weird play.
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  Speaker 1: I think again, during that UCLA game, A couple names
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  Speaker 1: I do want to throw out there, just as ones
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  Speaker 1: that I don't know if these are names that are
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  Speaker 1: going to get a real serious look. But Turbo Rodgers
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  Speaker 1: is someone that I think we had been talking about
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  Speaker 1: this time last year as a hey, maybe he's someone
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  Speaker 1: who gets a look there and then he was banged
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  Speaker 1: up all of last year. Legend Bay is another person
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  Speaker 1: where you watch his high school film and he's really elusive,
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  Speaker 1: and you know, if they can trust him to catch
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  Speaker 1: the ball, and if they you know, there's a lot
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  Speaker 1: of ifs here. If they can trust him to catch
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  Speaker 1: the ball, if he's they feel he's physically ready, because
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  Speaker 1: he's not the biggest guy, but he seems like someone
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  Speaker 1: or Turbo Rogers. They seem like guys who are at
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  Speaker 1: least worth a look back there, see what you got
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  Speaker 1: and you know, maybe you can turn this into a
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  Speaker 1: little bit of a web.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, those are two of the guys that want When
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  Speaker 2: the video game comes out, everybody that plays them, the
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  Speaker 2: Ohio State fans that play them, will go ahead and
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  Speaker 2: just put those two guys in the return units and
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  Speaker 2: try to do stuff with them. But yeah, when you
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  Speaker 2: when you see those two guys, or you see them
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  Speaker 2: their high school highlights, it's very easy to just be like, say, well,
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  Speaker 2: why don't you just give them give them an opportunity.
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  Speaker 2: And what we don't know as well, how secure is
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  Speaker 2: the ball? How many times has the ball come out?
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  Speaker 2: Are they you know, how are they even carrying it?
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  Speaker 2: Because if they if they don't even like the way
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  Speaker 2: they're carrying it, you forget about it. So there's obviously
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  Speaker 2: a lot that goes into other than the fact that
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  Speaker 2: these guys can make people miss. Yeah, just it is interesting.
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  Speaker 2: It'll be interesting to see if kickoff return becomes something
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  Speaker 2: that Ohio State wants to do, because it hasn't been
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  Speaker 2: since basically the rules were put in place to have
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  Speaker 2: the free touchbacks.
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  Speaker 1: So there you go. There's your look at the Ohios dates.
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  Speaker 1: Special teams worth a little bit of a second look
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  Speaker 1: this year, so that'll be one of the many things
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  Speaker 1: we're watching when spring practice opens in just a couple
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  Speaker 1: of weeks. That makes this a great time to join
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  Speaker 1: us at buckey Huddle dot com. We're gonna have a
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  Speaker 1: whole lot to talk about as we go through all
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  Speaker 1: of springball, through all of March and into April, as
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  Speaker 1: we have the it's not the most wonderful time of
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  Speaker 1: the year, but it's like the second most wonderful time
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  Speaker 1: of the year. It's not football, but it's pretty close
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  Speaker 1: to football. So we'll be covering all of that for
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  Speaker 1: you at bucke Huddle dot com and of course at
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  Speaker 1: YouTube dot com. Slash Buckeye huddle. That'll do it for today.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you guys all for joining us. Have a great day.
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  Speaker 1: We'll talk to you tomorrow.