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Ohio State Recruiting: 2025 ATH Bodpegn Miller Commits To Buckeyes · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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Hello, and welcome to a very special live episode of Buckeyes tomorrow morning for
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Saturday, June twenty second. I'm your host, Tom Moore. The Akron
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game in seventy days, the game against Michigan in one hundred and sixty one
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days. We do not normally do Saturday episodes this time of year. We
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definitely do don't normally do live episodes of this show this time of year.
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But when there's news, there's news, and friends, there is news today.
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Athlete Bob pin Miller, in the class of twenty twenty five, three
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star athlete out of Mansfield, Ohio, places football at Ontario High School.
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He has committed to Ohio State just days after receiving an offer from the Buckeyes
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at Camp Tony Gerdaman of Puckeheadle dot Com joins me, Tony, let's talk
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a little bit first of all about how you say his first name. Go
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ahead, let people know. Well, I've heard it told to him as
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Bob Penn Miller and he did not correct them. So if this is wrong,
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that's on him. But to my best knowledge, it is Bob been
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Miller spelled Bo d peg n Bob Penn and a very under the radar kind
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of guy, but looked good at camp this week and convinced Brian Hartline and
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Devin Jordan that he should be a Buckeyes. So they offered him and three
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days later he accepted. And when you look at the rankings, this is
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not the kind of player just based purely off the recruiting rankings that you really
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see Ohio State going after. This is someone that we have seen. You
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know, he's been in Ohio State's orbit for a while. We saw him
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at at least one game visiting last fall, maybe more. But you know,
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the two four to seven recruiting rankings have him as the number fifty player
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in the state of Ohio. That is not typically a neighborhood of rankings where
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they are they are usually shopping. You know, the guy's ranked right around
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him in the state right now, two spots ahead him him committed to Iowa
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State and Cincinnati, two spots behind Indiana, Minnesota. Lots of Cincinnati and
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Marshall and Toledo in that area. So this is not a not an area
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where Ohio State is normally looking in terms of recruiting rankings. However, this
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is also someone they've seen now in person, and you know, Brian Heartline,
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this is not you know, the high state wide receiver room is definitely
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not an area where it's like, well, well they just need someone they
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have you know, the classes there have been significant, they have been loaded
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with talent in the past. And with Brian Hartline's reputation at this point for
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identifying talent and you know, getting in on guys early who turn out to
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be pretty big prospects, this is one where you kind of go, you
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know, I think I put my by trust in Brian Hartline ahead of the
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recruiting rankings right now. Well, and it's funny because he does not have
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a composite ranking and that reason is twenty four to seven is the only recruiting
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service that actually has him ranked. He has a profile of him. So
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he's not among the free top three hundred of rivals, top what at three
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hundred or whatever, five hundred or anywhere. He's not ranked by any of
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those. And yet, as you said, Brian Hartline doesn't care. He's
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going to offer who he wants to offer. And this is bodpen Is six
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' four, probably one ninety place quarterback at Ontario High School, ran a
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four to four to four at camp for the buck Eyes, and as he's
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a track guy, has been a track guy. Has really only started playing
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receiver in the last four months, so like since since last year. But
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he's going to continue to play quarterback for Ontario. But is a really really
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unique athlete who when you watch him, watch his quarterback highlights he he has
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He's your long striding guy, but also as able to quickly make moves and
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cut and he's not one of these long striders that also takes a long time
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to cut. And I always use like Benjamin Victor as the example of the
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tall receivers who was a long striter, but it's a little bit tough for
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them to be quick. This guy makes some incredible moves in the backfield and
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evading the rush and you know in the second level. So really, like
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I said, interesting athlete who also had offers from the IVY schools to give
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you an idea of the kind of kid they're dealing with. And an interesting
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story in a dispatch on Friday talking about bod Been Miller's upbringing. He's originally
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from Ethiopia. Family went over and adopted him and brought him over when he
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was like five years old. And he's been in Mansfield ever since I grew
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up a Buckeye fan. You know, memories of the Curtis Samuel game against
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Michigan. You know, like he's this was something he was really really waiting
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on and didn't, like I said, didn't take him long after he got
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the offer on the I think the eight teenth to offer up a commitment,
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and they saw him a few days before that at a workout, and then
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that he was there again for the seven on seven. So I'm very under
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the radar, except by you, because when I went to write a story
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about this, you did have a photo in the gallery of him and he
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was on a visit dressed in some warm clothes. But there you had it.
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You were not under tom Orr's radar. Yeah, well there's the radar
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on recruiting visits is pretty widely spread. Get a lot of those, a
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lot of those guys coming down the tunnel, and you never know who's going
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to turn into something and who's gonna not be a factor for Ohio State moving
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Warbotinoller obviously very much a factor moving forward for Ohio State. I think the
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most I mean, that's that is a fascinating backstory going back to being adopted
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from Ethiopia to you know, up to the fact that he has only been
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playing recruit a receiver for four months and is not going to be playing receiver
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this fall for Ontario High School. So this feels like something where, you
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know, we have seen receivers make an immediate impact as a true freshman.
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He's a twenty twenty five. He's not playing receiver this fall. He's barely
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played receiver already, I assume based on the fact that he got an offer.
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Brian Hartline feels like he's coachable, he's gonna learn, he's gonna be
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able to adapt and translate some of those you know, those physical tools into
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on field results. But this also feels like one where probably not going to
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be a first year guy at least in terms of receiver. Maybe, you
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know, maybe this is someone who turns into a special teams dynamo or something
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early on in his career, But this feels like this is probably more of
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a little bit of a developmental offer and commitment than immediate impact. Yeah,
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I would agree with that. And you know, on the Buckhead a message
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board, there's been a conversation going on about him about is this is this
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the kind of project that Ohio State should be undertaking at receiver when Brian Hartline
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can go and do pretty well in receiver recruiting, but the fact that he
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has gone and seen Bob ben Miller as a viable future Buckeye tells you that
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this isn't necessarily a project or a reach, but there are some project aspects
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to it, and that yeah, he needs to play the position more to
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then be able to contribute at the position more, and so I think that
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is understood. I also don't think that's a bad thing. When you look
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at some of the receivers that Brian Hartline is recruiting, you're hoping you can
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get three years out of them, you know, because anymore, if somebody
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is good enough to leave after three, they're good enough to be poached after
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two with the nil. So there's a lot of that going on. So
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if you can get a guy that you think is probably at the very least
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a four year guy, and that's not a guarantee because he could red shirt
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as a true freshman and then play a little bit sparingly as a red shirt
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freshman, and then completely blow up as a red shirt sophomore. Everybody has
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their own path, but I think it's okay to spread some of these things
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out and be able to build some consistency and build a foundation as opposed to
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constant changeover and things like that with the roster of these days. And this
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is a class where they're probably going to take more receivers than they have in
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some recent years because they only took what two last year, right, they
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got just just unless we're counting to Mario and Witten. Oh yeah, you
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got to kind of want to Mario Whitten in there's he was listed as a
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tight end. He's going to start as a receiver. But still even three
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is a relatively small receiver class for Ohio State at this point. So you've
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got now the opportunity to you know this, we've talked about this being potentially
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a much bigger class than they have taken in recent years. If you're taking
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twenty eight maybe twenty nine kind of guys after years and years of twenty two's,
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you're going to probably take an extra guy at a number of different positions.
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We've looked at three running backs, We've talked about you know, four
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maybe wide receivers in this class. Maybe you're loading up a defensive line.
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I mean, there's a lot of possibilities. Obviously very deep secondary class.
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They are already and this is not you know, this is the end of
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the class. This is you know, they have three now commitments of wide
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receivers if we're considering Miller a wide receiver commit the other they're still in on
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guys like Philip Bell. They've got d Z Jones already, They've got just
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sort of scrolling through the list here, They've got Quincy Porter already committed.
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They've got Vernell Brown who is very much interested this, Ji Len and Jamie
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French. You're still learning a Decrean Moore. I mean, you're not getting
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all of those guys, but you know, the you know, this is
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still Brian Hartline looking in the you know, being in on a number of
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the top receivers in the class. And this is this is just a complimentary
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piece where to your point, this is potentially a little bit of a longer
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term play where if you're bringing in a bunch of guys, who are you
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know, I don't want to go out on a limb here. I'm not
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expecting Jeremiah Smith to be a five year player at Ohio State. Sorry,
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sorry, if you were banking on seeing Jeremiah Smith on the field in twenty
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twenty eight, probably not going to happen, at least at Ohio State.
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You do need guys who are potentially a little longer term, and also just
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guys who he can potentially Bob and Miller can potentially do things that a lot
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of other guys in this class can't. You just got to see how he
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develops. It's this is almost tony, like a little bit of an offensive
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line recruitment and development potentially as opposed to a wide receiver sort of typical development
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path. Yeah, that's interesting where you're just you're not necessarily And we'll see
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if he enrolls early. I'm sure he has the academics for it based on
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the IVYC. I assume he would get in early unless he wants to delay
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that, which if you do delay it, then you're delaying everything else at
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that point. And again, maybe that's not a terrible thing from Ohio stage
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fantash point if they're already viewing this as maybe a slowed down process. But
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I'm going to be fascinated to see how quickly he develops when he is doing
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this full time. And and that's that's right, that's right. Now he's
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doing it full time and workouts and things like that, but also after college
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or after high school and then he whenever he's enrolling, he's going to be
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is he one of those guys that the more you give him, the better
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he gets. And you just see this trajectory growing because he's capable of it
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and he's got the athleticism for it and doesn't necessarily necessarily have any bad habits
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that he needs to be broken out of. And so that's kind of one
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of these things where you've got this complete block that you can form into in
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shape into exactly what you want because he doesn't know enough to know bad And
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so I think that's really intriguing for Brian Hartline and Devin Jordan. Yeah,
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not having to break any bad habits, because Brian Hartline and Devin Jordan,
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I mean, they are very very meticulous about you have to do this this
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way, you have you know, there is a very hey, you got
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to have your hand here, not here, even just in terms of running
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and in terms of you know, where's the weight on the ball of your
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what and just you listen to these guys talk to the receivers during practices,
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and it's like you can't believe the minutia of the stuff they're focusing on.
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This is true of Larry Johnson and Justin Frye and a bunch of other guys
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as well. But you know, yeah, not coming in with any bad
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habits is a really interesting, uh, really interesting point there. And you
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know there was Tyler Shores says am I a sicko for already imagining a trick
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play gadget guy early on. I doubt many people will be aware of his
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QB history now. I mean, there are a lot of guys on the
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Ohio State team who played at least some quarterback in high school. Because you
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know, this is this is a guy. If you were an Ohio State
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football player, you were almost certainly unless you were on an enormous national power
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program, you know, unless if you're on IMG. Okay, maybe not,
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but if you were on a typical high school football team and you were
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playing at Ohio State, you have been the best player on every team you've
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played on for a number of years, maybe going back to being you know,
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a little flag football in third grade or something like that, you were
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always this standout there Jack Miller or just sorry, Jack Mall. Jack Miller
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did play quarterback in high school. I guess that's Drue. Jack Sawyer also
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played quarterback in high school and he was at you know, he's a Pickerington
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North guy, I believe, and you know that's a big time program.
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But hey, they needed a guy who could throw the football, and Jack
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Sawyer can throw the football. And you know, you go back over the
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years and what Jalen Marshall was a high school quarterback? Was Evan Spencer or
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high school quarterback? I know he throws like a quarterback, but I don't
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know if he was. I know Brandon in has played some quarterback, like
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his senior year because of injuries. Yes. Yeah, if you are in
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that Ohio State you know, Ohio State caliber athlete group, you are probably
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the best athlete on your team. And sometimes they're going to just ask you
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to do stuff because you run the Hey, you run around and do something
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cool play and if you can do the things that you can do, that
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sometimes can work. So you know, we'll see maybe that is something that
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works in at some point. I would guess if he's not a regular on
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the field year one or year two, then you bring him out there,
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it's kind of like, Okay, what's that guy doing out there? But
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you know we have seen you know, Ohio State got burned by a kal
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El Mullings pass a couple of years ago coming out of the backfield, so
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you know that that stuff does. That stuff does work a lot. Tom.
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I do think it's gonna be less as less of a surprise if you
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try to trout somebody out there with b Miller on the back of his jersey
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throwing the ball like a little too on the nose there. Yeah, yeah,
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yeah, well watch watch out for the spin move as well. Braxton
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Miller recently named to the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame along with who else
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they got went in this year and someone else another football player and Greg Odin
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I think probably go in next year. Then yeah, yeah, that's a
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Sometimes there's a class where it's like, yeah, I know a couple of
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these names. This year was boy there there's a lot of a lot of
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talent going on going into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame there. Ohio
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bookseller says the elephant room is Tony, saying he forty, Chris be Cream
15:00
donuts and not feel bad. I mean the number was twelve. Well,
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listen, they're both numbers. I don't know why you're trying to trying to
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draw such a fine line here, and I don't and I don't know that
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it was. I wouldn't feel bad. I could do it, but you
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know why, I can almost assure you you almost certainly would feel bad.
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He get the get the sugar sweats. No, thank you, hard hard
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pass. Matt se says Brian. Brian matt See says Brian Hartline is a
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honey badger of recruiters. He don't give a Well, if you've been on
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the internet for a while, you know what the honey badger does not give.
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And this is one of these things where you look at Brian Hartline's track
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record in recruiting and you go back through Milon Graham ended up a five star.
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Of course, you know, all Brian Heartline does is recruit five stars.
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Well, Mylon Graham was not a five star when Brian Heartline offered him
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and got a commitment from him, and Malon Graham had offers from what couple
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other schools maybe none? None? Okay, so he was the first YAO,
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it was the first one to offer him Jackson Smith and jigby. I
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always remember Jackson's beIN the jig beIN ever goes. Why is Brian Hartline offering
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this guy from Texas who's ranked in the four hundreds and no one knows who
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he is and then Jackson Smith and the jig but turned into Jackson Smith a
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jig But it feels like you kind of have to give Brian Hartline the benefit
16:22
of the doubt on this stuff until you see, you know, you see
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stuff not working out. He just offered what a twenty twenty eight receiver,
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Anthony m Anthony McFarland. No, Eric McFarland, Eric McFarland, Yes,
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Eric McFarland, twenty twenty eight wide receiver. You know, get he getting
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in early on these guys, and you know, for someone like Bob pan
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Miller, this is someone who he has been very aware of for quite a
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while, and you know, with someone who is relatively new to it,
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you're probably looking at trajectory and you know, can you get better at this?
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And you know the fact that he's been playing receiver for four months I'm
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going to guess was probably part of a conversation with Brian Hartline a while ago
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about hey got to you know, you gotta start working at this, You
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got to start putting, and then you sort of see, okay, after
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four months, where is he and then working with him during these camps,
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how much you know? Does he take instruction well? Does he adjust to
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things well? Does he learn quickly? That's all the stuff they're looking for,
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because if the physical talent is there, it's really all about how much
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can you get the skilled development piece in That all factors into that. Just
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another point on how under the radar he is. If you go to his
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twenty four to seven page, the first college offer listed is Ashland. So
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this is a guy that has certainly been on the come up and doesn't seem
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to be stopping anytime soon. Jeff Johnson wants to know does this mean bad
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news coming with bigger name receivers that Ohio State is recruiting. I don't think
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it's good news in terms of how things are going, But I also don't
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think there's been necessarily. I don't see Decoryan Moore ending up at Ohio State,
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as I said after his Ohio State official visit, like if he's if
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I State is still even with Texas at that point before the Texas official visit,
18:04
then you're not really even and so he sent out this Texas official visit.
18:11
You know, Jamie French will see. I think Vernell Brown has been
18:15
trending towards Florida. Philip Bell might end up being a Buckeye. But I
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think these are all kinds of some different prospects as well, because Boden Miller
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is a big X receiver, which is you know, Quincy Porter is a
18:33
six three six y four guy as well, So it's interesting how they're going
18:37
to try to bring in some of these bigger receivers. And of course twenty
18:40
twenty six Chris Henry Junr is is ridiculous in his own right. But yeah,
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I think I do wonder how much room would there be for Bob Miller
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if to Corey and Moore and Jamie French and Vernell Brown were all like certainly
18:57
trending in Ohio states direct, right. I mean, there is a maximum
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number of receivers they can take in this class, no matter how big the
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class is. They can't take eight receivers this year. So you know,
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this is now one of the spots that's taken They've got three receiver commits already.
19:14
If you get one more of those big national guys, that's a pretty
19:15
solid class because you got to remember, you know, who is the receiver
19:19
out of Coco, Florida who decommitted Ja Boggs, Yeah, Javon Boggs who
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said go where you needed, not where you're wanted. I think with the
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class of twenty twenty five, everyone has seen Chris Henry junior. Chris Henry
19:34
Junior committed for twenty twenty six already. Everyone has seen or at least heard
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the legends of Jeremiah Smith. Everyone has seen or heard the legends of Mile
19:42
and Graham. There are easier pass to the playing field that wide receiver in
19:47
a number of other places that also have a lot of money to throw around
19:51
that you know, if you can go to Texas and get on the field
19:55
day one, that might be an easier sell than come to Ohio State and
19:59
be part of rotation, even though you have the Brian Hartline track record of
20:03
development. That's you know, Ohio State is selling one thing. Other schools
20:07
can be selling other things, and the same thing is not going to appeal
20:11
to everyone, and they're you know, it's sort of the same issue that
20:14
they may run into in quarterback recruiting in twenty twenty six, where you've got
20:21
Julian Saying in in the class of twenty twenty four, you got tav and
20:23
Saint Clair in in the closet twenty twenty five. Well, guess what.
20:26
The path of the playing field for a twenty twenty six quarterback is not going
20:30
to be that easy at Ohio State. Well, you know, there's a
20:33
long way to go between now and signing day, but you're going to That
20:36
is something that I think they're going to run into at times in different positions
20:42
because you can sell this year, they can sell running backs. You can
20:45
bring in three running backs because you can sell them. Hey, clear path
20:48
of the playing field. You're probably losing Quinn Judkins. You're probably losing to
20:52
Trevion Henderson after the season. There's positions where you can't sell that, and
20:56
other teams are going to be selling that against you. One from Jeff Johnson
21:02
Love Miller just wish he wasn't playing quarterback again this season. I mean,
21:04
Tony, that feels like the realities of you know, Ontario. I don't
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know if you've been to Ontario, Ohio. It hosts a number of summer
21:10
softball tournaments. So I've spent many a day in Ontario, Ohio over the
21:14
years. But you know that that is not a that is not an enormouschool.
21:18
This is not Massiline, Washington. If you're the biggest, you know,
21:21
the best athlete on your team, they're gonna want to put you in
21:22
a spot where the balls in your hand as much as it can be.
21:26
Yeah, and if you he is the best opportunity, the best gives him
21:30
the best chance to win, He's going to do that for his team.
21:32
And that's what he said. He he will, you know, maybe line
21:36
up wide here and there, maybe perhaps in like the red zone type of
21:38
stuff. But he's already a zone red zone weapon at quarterback, so I
21:44
don't know why you would move him from that. But yeah, he's gonna
21:47
do this for his team. And and I think that's also a quality but
21:52
certainly sets him back. But he is going to be progressing towards being a
21:57
college receiver throughout all of this, And yeah, it would be great if
22:03
he could do that next year. But if, honestly, Tom, if
22:06
you don't have a quarterback that can throw him the ball you're kind of wasting
22:08
your time anyway as a receiver. I remember watching I think maybe Jaden Ballard
22:14
his senior year, and they didn't have the same kind of quarterback play they
22:18
did the year before, and it was just it was almost pointless watching him
22:22
run a route and have no passes thrown his way. At least here he's
22:27
touching the ball all the time, dealing with defenders all the time, dealing
22:32
with the pressure of leading his team constantly, and knowing that any play could
22:36
be the one that steals the deal. So I think there are qualities there
22:40
that work out just fine. It is interesting to kind of we haven't seen
22:45
Brian Hartline do this in a while or maybe ever. This is something that
22:49
Owhio State always used to do in terms of you go get the option quarterback
22:55
and you turn them into something. And Cameron Martinez was an option quarterback.
23:00
That will he be a slot receiver? Will he be on defense? Ended
23:03
up on defense. But this is something that has been done forever, and
23:10
you know, does it work out sometimes? Sure, it works out a
23:12
lot. Does it sometimes not work out? Yeah, but so do guys
23:15
who have played wide receivers since they were six years old like, nothing is
23:18
guaranteed here, but you look for measurables, you look for attitude, you
23:22
look for fit, and when they look at Bob ben Miller, they see
23:26
all of those things that they like. And you know, this is something
23:30
that you have seen in other positions at Ohio State over the years. Darren
23:33
Lee was a high school quarterback in New Albany, came to camp at Ohio
23:37
State time after time after time, and it took forever and Luke Fickle banging
23:41
on the table for him. And how many times did he camp at Ohio
23:45
State? Three four? I mean it was a bunch and then he ended
23:48
up getting an offer from Ohio State and turns into his start the starting will
23:52
linebacker on the National championship team and first round draft pick and all that kind
23:55
of stuff. So you know that's kind of the best case scenario outcome kind
23:59
of here. But you have seen the broad spectrum of sometimes it just doesn't
24:03
translate. But this is this is absolutely something they feel is worth doing.
24:10
Yeah, Bill Evans says, hit the like button strong Agree, Bill Evans,
24:15
that is a nice thing you can do to help us out football the
24:18
football extraordinary. Do we know if will Howard is the starter, Tony,
24:23
do we know if Will Howard else. We did talk to Ryan Day this
24:27
past week and he was asked about the quarterbacks and said nothing nothing new there.
24:33
Samon as was in the spring, as starter will be determined in fall
24:37
camp. The overwhelming favorite is that it will be Will Howard because of his
24:41
experience and maybe more so Devin Brown's lack of experience. So I think everybody
24:48
expects it to be Will Howard. But I also don't think we've seen Will
24:52
Howard play well enough to where you can say he's definitely gonna be the guy.
24:57
We haven't seen that from because there there have been some ups and downs,
25:02
some good games, some bad games, certainly not enough great games to
25:06
where you're thinking, like he is, he can't possibly lose the job.
25:10
I don't think anybody's necessarily saying that. I do expect him to win the
25:14
job. Tom you Yeah, I'm with you. I'm just thinking back through
25:18
previous quarterback competitions where it, you know, sometimes it went into the fall,
25:23
and you know, I don't I don't want to spoil anything, but
25:26
Justin Fields was never going to lose the twenty nineteen o High State starting quarterback
25:30
battle. You know, no disrespect to anyone else on that roster, but
25:33
that was justin Field's job from the moment he stepped on campus. And I
25:37
think we probably looked at the c J. Stroud Jack Miller battle in twenty
25:41
twenty one as, yeah, this is c J. Stroud's job to lose,
25:45
basically, And I think, you know, I don't know that this
25:48
is quite as last year was a little bit more open where there was there
25:52
were times during the fall that you thought, well, it could be you
25:55
know, it might not be calm accorded, it could be Devin Brown.
25:59
It felt like the whole time like Kyle McCord was more or less on,
26:02
you know, more or less consistently in front. But it was a little
26:04
bit more of an open competition. This year, it feels like it's at
26:08
least like that where Will Howard has been. You know, you didn't bring
26:12
Will Howard into sit on the bench, and Will Howard with everything else that
26:18
they have on this team right now, depth at running back, talented,
26:22
just incredible talent, wide receiver, pretty solid offensive line defense that should be
26:27
really lights out. I think you're looking for the high floor quarterback, and
26:34
you know, the ceiling is above. You know, the ceiling is higher
26:37
than the floor with all of the guys on this roster, but you're looking
26:40
for the high floor quarterback because you don't need This is not twenty twenty one
26:42
where they need c J. Stroud to just light the world on fire because
26:45
the defense is terrible. You don't need that. You need the guy who's
26:49
going to be the steady veteran who's gonna be able to run the ball,
26:52
pick up the tough first down, sometimes make the throws, you know,
26:56
make the reasonably consistent throws. You don't need to be absolutely perfect. You're
26:59
not going to There is not a c J. Stroud on this year's roster,
27:02
and that's okay for Ohio State. It just feels like Will Howard ticks
27:06
kind of all of the boxes that they need this year. And you're looking
27:11
at the quarterback being a factor in the run game. Well, guess what
27:12
happens when the quarterback is a factor in the run game. Sometimes you use
27:15
your backup quarterback more than you were planning on. So I would expect that
27:18
we're gonna see some Devin Brown this year as well, regardless of who the
27:22
starter is, and you might see even quarterbacks three or four, depending on
27:26
how things go and how you know you're gonna have. You're gonna have some
27:29
second halves of games where the game is no longer a doubt. So you're
27:30
gonna see a bunch of those guys there as well. So you know,
27:33
I right now I would be I don't know, I would characterize myself Tony
27:38
as fairly surprised if Will Howard was not the you know, was healthy and
27:42
not the starter for snap number one against Akron Is are you fairly surprised?
27:48
Would you be very surprised? Would you be utterly shocked or would it be
27:52
kind of like, yeah, I don't know, I could see it going
27:52
either way. Well, right now, I'd be pretty surprised if he's not
27:56
the starter. It will be interesting to see what we hear during camp because
28:03
I think last year at this time, where would we have been on Kyle
28:06
McCord. Probably, you know, decently surprised if he didn't win it,
28:10
pretty surprised. But then also also you're hearing through camp like Devin Brown is
28:14
up this week and so that can change. So right now, I'd be
28:18
pretty surprised if it's not Will Howard, But there's twenty some practices in camp
28:23
too, and now they'll have to they'll have to find the starter before,
28:26
you know, and under those twenty practices that they're confident in. But yeah,
28:33
right now, I'm expecting it to be Will Howard. And like you
28:36
said, he does a lot of different different things, and as I keep
28:38
saying, if he can just throw the ball in terms of statistically the way
28:42
we'll Will Kyle McCord did last year, I think that's good enough. And
28:47
then you have the rush, the running aspect of it that will make things
28:52
even make the offense even better, because that's really where the big struggles were
28:55
last year, running the ball. I'm not expecting those struggles this year,
29:00
all right. Jeff Johnson says, this expanding to a regular show. Yeah,
29:03
you know, get when we do these live shows, you guys are
29:06
answering, asking good questions. We have stuff to talk about, We're happy
29:08
to talk about it with you. We're not no one's racing out to get
29:11
out the door. Tony and I actually recorded a whole separate episode of Buckeye
29:15
Weekly this morning talking about this weekend's recruiting visits and all that kind of stuff.
29:18
So you have that to look forward to in your podcast feeds today as
29:22
well. Going to run back. Just through a couple more questions, Football
29:27
Extraordinary says hot Take, we should start Judkins over Henderson. I don't know
29:33
that the starting running back is going to be a particularly meaningful distinction this year.
29:37
I would expect both of those guys, you know, if they're both
29:41
healthy, do they both get one hundred and seventy five two hundred carries this
29:45
year? I mean it just it feels like whoever the starter is is going
29:49
to be almost a meaningless distinction because I think you're probably going to see about
29:52
equal distribution to carries. What do you think? I completely agree, and
29:56
I will remind people Trevian Henderson has started every game at Ohio State when he's
30:00
been healthy, safe for his first two So even when him, him and
30:03
mind Williams were like one A, one and B, he was still he
30:07
was still the starter. But there were games where mine Williams had more carries.
30:11
So I think I can I expect Trivia and Intererson to continue to start.
30:15
But it's a meaningless thing. It's like the example they always uses the
30:19
twenty sixteen defensive ends, when you had Jalen Holmes and Sam Hubbard and Nick
30:22
Bose and Taekwan Lewis, who are your starters. They all played, and
30:26
they all rotated, and they played about the same amount of snaps. These
30:30
two guys will do the same thing. I wonder though, Tom, You're
30:33
not gonna have either of those guys in the fourth quarter of blowouts, are
30:34
you? So then you know you're gonna have James People, Sam Williams,
30:38
Dixon TC caffe which is kind of a different thing because normally that's where you
30:44
could put your backup. You could just have him run out the fourth Yeah,
30:48
I think, yeah, I think there's a real possibility you get more
30:52
snaps for James Peoples than a typical third string back in those kind of late
30:59
games because you're gonna you're gonna want to keep those guys healthy, especially,
31:03
and this has just sort of been the constant. You know, make a
31:06
wish, put a dollar in the jar, or whatever you want to say.
31:07
We're going to talk about the length of the season this year being different
31:10
and how that's going to impact playing time distribution. Sixteen seventeen game season.
31:15
You're gonna want to keep those guys fresh. You got to keep those guys
31:17
healthy. You don't you know, there is a real physical toll that it
31:21
takes on running backs throughout the course of the season. You want to get
31:23
those guys out, limit that physical toll as much as you can keep them
31:27
healthy. Trying it to get guys nicked up with you know, hey you
31:30
get an ankle, Hey you got a hand, you got a whatever that
31:34
you know, just bruises, whatever it is. They want to keep those
31:37
guys as healthy as they can, so they're going to get them in get
31:40
them out as quickly as they can this year. Here's a question from Tyler
31:45
Shores, what are the chances we see a lot of Jelawni Thrman this year?
31:48
Really would be a shame to see him not on the field as much
31:51
considering who's ahead of him on the depth chart. This is an interesting one,
31:55
Tony, because it feels like you got ge Scott and I think they're
32:00
reasonably comfortable g Scott and everyone else behind g Scott I think has some questions.
32:05
I think you've got well kas Merrick they brought in and he you know,
32:07
I think the idea is you bring him in. He's going to be
32:09
a really good, solid second blocker. Is he there yet? We don't
32:15
know. It's a possibility. I don't think. I don't think he walked
32:17
out of spring as a clear cut number two guy. But I don't think
32:21
you saw enough from Jolannie Thurman to feel like he was the clear cut number
32:24
two guy. And you've got you know, Bennett Christian. What's he going
32:27
to be this year after missing all of last year? There's there's a lot
32:30
of question. You got Patrick gurd there, who is you know, feels
32:34
like he's not going to be first team All America this year, but could
32:37
absolutely be a significant role player for them. And with tight end being a
32:40
question, how much twelve personnel are you playing anyway? Because you've got so
32:45
many talented wide receivers do you really want to take you know, if you're
32:49
going to play twelve personnel, you're taking one wide receiver or one running back
32:53
off the field to make that happen. Do you want to take Trevan Henderson
32:57
quin Shawn Judkins off the field or do you want to take Airmia Smith or
33:00
Carnel Taate or Mecha Abuka off the field to put on the second tight end?
33:05
I just I know they like they have situations where they like twelve personnel.
33:08
I just I don't know how much sense that's going to make this year
33:12
to have that be a really regular piece of the offense. Yeah. I
33:15
got a couple of thoughts. One with the twelve personnel obviously helps the running
33:19
game some, but also when they're now that they're going to use the read
33:22
option, that's going to help the running game and eliminate a defender as well,
33:27
So you're kind of you're using the quarterback to be his own blocker and
33:30
almost negating the need for a second tight end at times for some of those
33:35
plays. In terms of what we see in this year, it's if he
33:39
was going to do it and there's still time. He's a red shirt freshman,
33:45
for crying out loud, and it's rare for redshirt freshman to be starting,
33:49
or in terms of the Ohio State tight ends to even be necessarily the
33:52
backup as well. We've seen it before where they're like the third blocking tight
33:57
end, but the the depth chart ahead of him or around him isn't such
34:04
that he shouldn't be able to climb it if he was ready, And so
34:07
I think I don't think he's ready. I think they're you know they're they're
34:12
trying to bring him along. It's maybe uh keenan Keenan Bailey bristoled this spring
34:16
when somebody asked, you know, gosh, what's been the roadblock? Because
34:20
remember Jelanie Firman lost his black stripe and spring of his freshman year, he
34:23
was one of the first men in that class to lose his black stripe,
34:27
and you're like, oh boy, all bets are off of this guy.
34:30
This guy is going to be, you know, elite, He's going to
34:31
be one of the greats. And in terms of the position at Ohio State,
34:35
he's got all of the physical abilities, which he does, but it
34:37
takes more than that. So that's that's what they're working on right now.
34:42
Just the discipline and things like that, and the consistency mainly is one of
34:45
the issues. And if you want to be part of the running game,
34:49
part of the passing game, and be part of the plans, you need
34:52
that consistency. And if if they can't find a second tight end to do
34:57
that, then they won't play as many. But I also wouldn't be shocked
35:00
to see Patrick gurd getting a lot of time this year as that second and
35:05
that third guy. The only good gird associated with Ohio State football in any
35:09
way. Strong agree. Jordan Kapler says, can't believe I heard Tom Moore
35:13
advocating for Caleb Downs the RB one. I don't remember saying those exact words
35:16
in that exact order. I was genuinely shocked when Ryan Day said that.
35:22
But here, here we are not that he was gonna be RB one,
35:24
but just that he was going to be in the mix to potentially maybe get
35:29
a look there at some point this year. There was not There was not
35:32
anything real specific there. It was just kind of like, well, we're
35:35
taking a look at it. We'll see. I did see someone online and
35:38
it was I think a national national writer talking about the fact that you know,
35:44
if you bring in you know, if you have if you have Caleb
35:47
Downs, you know, score on offense this year or you know, run
35:52
back a punt this year or something like that, that sets you up to
35:53
maybe be a first defensive only player to win the Heisman next year, Like
35:58
truly defensive only where you're in the mix to be, you know, just
36:01
shaping the narrative around around the candidacy. You know, I don't think that's
36:06
certainly the top priority there, but it's you know, it's a possibility that
36:09
that's how that could play out. Well, you remember Mike Doss wanted to
36:13
play some offense in two thousand and two, and he returned some punts,
36:19
and then I think he played offense in the spring a little bit never materialized.
36:22
Maurice Corett said he wanted to play linebacker at that point. Everybody is
36:28
going crazy about the Chris Campbell stuff. Tom, I'm wondering if if we
36:31
just Buckeye fans only, what what the EA College Football twenty five football game?
36:38
What is the average number of rushing yards for Caleb Downs this year for
36:43
those people playing as the Ohio State Buckeyes Somewhere, I'll I'll set the number
36:47
at like, uh, let's say two thirty five and a half. I
36:52
think I need to know more about the new physical wear on his feature that
37:00
they have in the game before I can give you a good answer on that,
37:02
because if that does really, if you do really get worn down and
37:07
you get tired, I think people are going to learn the hard way that,
37:09
yeah, you need him more as a safety than you do as a
37:13
running back. And while it would be fun too, I'm sure just put
37:15
him in as a single wing quarterback or something like that. There are probably
37:19
places where he has needed more than others. Speaking of things being needed more
37:23
in some places than others, James Alten says OSU has deep nil but not
37:28
unlimited, and they allocate it how they feel. Pushing hard for David Sanders
37:32
Junior, the number one offensive tackle in the class. He's on campus this
37:35
weekend as an official visit, pushing hard for Riley Petty John defensive back.
37:38
Class is great today, but holding on to the offered, you know,
37:42
those are those are all priorities that you know with a limited a set number
37:47
amount of nil budget, it is not an unlimited budget. So yeah,
37:52
sure they would love to bring in all of the five star receivers, but
37:54
you know this is again go back and going back to the go where you're
37:57
needed, not where you're wanted. Conversation. If Oregon or Texas or someone
38:00
like that feels like the only thing standing between them and whatever the next level
38:06
is is a five star receiver. Ohio State has five for star receivers.
38:08
They don't you know, one more five star receiver makes a bigger difference for
38:12
a Texas or an Oregon than that's for an Ohio State, Ohio State.
38:15
You know, if I think if you really asked Ohio State coaches with some
38:20
truths, heerum, what is the one guy you absolutely have to land right
38:23
now that would make the biggest difference. I think you would probably hear David
38:27
Sanders from a number of them, so that you know that might be with
38:30
a limited, you know, nil budget, If that's going to be a
38:35
deciding factor, that's where you're going to prioritize stuff. And the wide receiver
38:39
class is going to be absolutely fine with or without any of those individual guys
38:44
that we talked about earlier. The twenty twenty four wide receiver class was elite,
38:47
the twenty twenty six wide receiver classes shaping up to be elite. It
38:51
does not seem like that's a real, big, immediate pressing concern. Here's
38:55
when Tony the Football Extraordinary says, going to be running a running heavy offense
39:00
like Michigan would be my guess about fifteen passing attempts a game that I do
39:05
think they're going to run the ball more than they have in the past,
39:07
certainly, but I think fifteen passing attempts of game seems way low, doesn't
39:13
it yeah, yeah, no, that that's that's way low. And we
39:15
can go to the twenty nineteen season when Ohio State ran the ball like crazy
39:22
and led to big ten and rushing and they had JK. Dobbins rushing for
39:28
two thousand yards, Master Tigue rushing for seven hundred and eighty nine yards.
39:31
They ran the ball six hundred and sixty three times in fourteen games. Tom,
39:36
So tell me exactly how many rushes per game? That is? You
39:40
give me the numbers again, four hundred, Tom, Come on, you
39:44
gotta be are you not listening? Six hundred and sixty three, six sixty
39:47
three, okay, divided by fourteen mm hmm. That's how many? Forty
39:58
seven point three five okay? And they threw it four hundred and six times
40:04
that year in fourteen games time. How many is that? Twenty nine?
40:07
So I'm guessing double that fifteen number. Yeah, and that's probably yeah,
40:13
that's probably not a bad guess. And you know, this is an interesting
40:15
kind of related question from Jeff Johnson. Do we see a return to the
40:19
urban Meyer two fifty two to fifty offensive philosophy? Tony, No one would
40:22
be happier with that than me. I would settle for two twenty to twenty
40:24
most games, as we have established on those Bold Prediction shows every week,
40:30
I think you are probably seeing a return to that. I think the you
40:34
know, the addition of Chip Kelly to the staff kind of tells me that
40:37
they recognize that balance on offense is going to be important, and you know,
40:42
you're going to have to be able to run the ball, and I
40:44
think the right the offensive line is going to be good enough, and the
40:46
running back talent is certainly good enough. And the addition of you know,
40:50
you have five quarterbacks on the roster and they can all run to some degree
40:53
or another, I think all of that points to me to an increase in
40:58
the amount of running you're going to see, and you're probably getting more into
41:00
that two fifty two to fifty kind of mindset. Yeah, I'm just looking
41:04
to see Urban Myers. Last year they did it twice two fifty two fifty,
41:09
and I think one of those was the one was a big ten game,
41:15
the Maryland game, And so it's something that they always talk about and
41:20
I don't think you know, shoot, Jim Tressel would talk about what two
41:23
hundred, two hundred, two hundred two and fifty something like that. It
41:27
was always it's a nice target. But then they also tell you, well,
41:30
it's not necessarily the being even, but it's it's the the ability.
41:37
Yeah where Yeah, it's not mathematically, it's just opportunistically you can do what
41:43
you need to do. I do think they got away from the running game
41:46
las Ye because they couldn't run the balls. And so generally Ryan Day's teams
41:52
will run the ball. I mean, he's he led the twenty nineteen twenty
41:55
twenty, they led the Big Ten in rushing by a vast margin, and
42:00
twenty twenty two they were first or second yards per carry. So if they've
42:05
got the ability, they will run it and they won't apologize for it.
42:08
And if they've got a running quarterback, they will really run it as they
42:12
did with Justin Fields. Yeah, no question. And they're going to have
42:15
whoever that quarterback is this year, it is going to be a running quarterback.
42:19
Is going to be much more of a running quarterback than they've had in
42:21
any year since Justin Field's left, So that I think is going to be
42:24
definitely, definitely something's going to sort of change the paradigm there. If you
42:29
have not hit the thumb up button. Already, please do that. We're
42:30
going to hit a couple more questions before we wrap things up. Jeff Johnson,
42:35
not a question. There's a lot in developing the tight end position.
42:37
That's something we hear about all the time when we talk to the tight end
42:39
coaches. Is it is not just you have to be able to catch the
42:45
ball like a Big ten wide receiver, but you also have to be able
42:49
to block Big ten defensive ends. That is a you know, the ven
42:52
diagram of people with those two skills is a very very small one, and
42:57
you know there's always nitpicking. People didn't like Cad Stover is blocking, but
43:00
Kate Stover is one of the best wide receivers. They are best receiving tight
43:04
ends they've had in decades. It feels like that is just it is not
43:07
an easy position to play. It is very much a developmental position because you
43:13
come in you can be as freaky an athlete as you want to be,
43:15
you got to be able to block, and blocking a Big ten defensive end
43:20
involves spending some time in the weight room when you get to Ohio State or
43:22
anywhere else in the Big ten. So yeah, that that is definitely a
43:25
position where it's going to take a little bit of time to get guys on
43:30
the field, and not just not just take time, but you spend that
43:34
time three or four years, and then they transfer Joe Roy or Sam Hart.
43:38
Let you invest all of this time because it is a developmental position,
43:40
but if they don't play, they eventually transfer, which makes it even more
43:45
difficult to field that position. Yep, there's an interestant conversation going on in
43:50
the comments about, you know, Jeremiah Smith and is Jeremiah Smith going to
43:53
be you know, is he the best receiver on the team now? Is
43:55
he going to be the best receiver on the team by the end of the
43:58
year. Lord Vader Crush says jj is by far the most talented, but
44:02
he still met as polished as a Mecca and Carnell. But by the end
44:05
of the season, he could easily be the best in college football. Easily
44:08
the best in college football is probably a little strong. You know. I
44:15
think we spent the whole season trying to you know, drive drive down the
44:19
steep grade with the parking break on in terms of the hype around Jeremiah Smith,
44:22
and then you kept going to practice and going, well, never seen
44:25
that before, so you know, We'll see how the development goes. We'll
44:30
see how the offense goes. You know, if they're running the ball a
44:32
ton, that's not gonna be huge numbers for him. But yeah, I
44:36
mean freshman All American is certainly well within the realm of possibility I think for
44:42
Jeremiah Smith. But you know, I'm Mecha Abuca, Carnell Taate got to
44:46
and you've got other talented guys in that wide receiver room as well. Brandon
44:50
it was a five star guy. Jayden Beller has been around forever. You've
44:52
got I mean, you have talent in that room, bryceon Rodgers, So
44:55
there are guys who you know he's gonna be fighting for playing time with.
45:00
But I'm also expecting a you know, I'm not expecting best wide receiver in
45:07
college football this year. But you know, you've laid out the numbers on
45:10
true freshman or high state wide receivers in the past, and they don't sound
45:15
that impressive. But it's like no one since Chris Carter has done this.
45:17
And Chris Carter played a long time ago, And you know, I think
45:22
some of those numbers are within reach. I don't I don't think you know,
45:25
freshman year Bolittnikov is realistic, but could be around Chris Carter's numbers as
45:30
a true freshman or maybe exceed them. That I think that's I think that's
45:34
reasonable, and I think you may be seeing that, especially with a longer
45:37
season this year. I think it's it's telling enough that you read this and
45:43
you say these are your words when you're like, easily be the best in
45:45
college football. Probably a little strong, but you know you didn't say it's
45:52
not going to happen. You know, you're like, yeah, yeah,
45:54
I'm not comfortable with that. But also after watching him, what would you
46:00
be shocked? No, do you expect it to happen? No, But
46:02
if you're as you watch and you're like, I don't there's I'm not convinced
46:07
he can't do anything. You know, you watch him long enough and it's
46:09
like, what, of course he can climb up walls. I saw him.
46:14
I saw him a practice. This is not a surprise. All right,
46:17
We're gonna wrap this up where we started with this thing with the commitment
46:22
of Bob pin Miller, the three star wide receiver slash athlete out of Ontario,
46:27
Ohio for twenty twenty five or as has I played with Bodpinn for my
46:30
school. He was quarterback for our team, and he torched everybody and practice,
46:34
our second fastest guy couldn't even get close to keeping up with Bodpinn.
46:37
We've talked about this before. You will hear us talk about this on the
46:40
Buckeye Weekly episode that is dropping later today. It is impossible for me to
46:45
explain to you how different Ohio State caliber athletes are from everyone else you see
46:50
on the field. Like you, you can usually show up to a high
46:52
school game and it's just you don't need to have a scorecard, you don't
46:55
need to have a program. You can just oh, yeah, I bet
46:59
it's that guy who's ahead taller than everyone else. Oh I bet it's that
47:00
guy who's running four steps ahead of everyone else as they're jogging on, jogging
47:06
on, you know, in the intro during the pregame warm ups. You
47:09
can always tell it is remarkable, how you know what absolute outliers these guys
47:15
are. And yeah, not a surprise at all that, you know,
47:20
for someone like Bob pin Miller, who is you know, relying on that
47:23
freaky athleticism to get that offer and for them to take his commitment as they
47:28
have. Boy that is, you know that is maybe even an outlier among
47:32
outliers. Yeah, it's fantastic story to watch develop. And a guy,
47:37
as you said, grew up, grew up a Buckeye fan from from Ohio
47:42
and wanted this got it. Didn't waste any time, and I don't expect
47:45
him to waste time now either, Like he will continue to progress and take
47:52
instruction and be ready for whatever awaits in ment Ohio State when he does finally
47:58
get there. All right, and we're gonna wrap it up with this one
48:00
from Odysseus. Tom really loves the Rose Bowl. Yes, you know you
48:02
can see there's the Rose Bowl poster from a couple of years ago, the
48:07
Utah Ohio State Rose Bowl. My Rose Bowl had on today, Tony,
48:12
you and I might get to go back to the Rose Bowl later this year.
48:15
Buck guys, if they make the college football playoff, and I think
48:16
we are both certainly anticipating that they might the quarterfinals, one of the games
48:21
is in the Rose Bowl, and Ohio State could very well be headed out
48:23
there. It should be a really fun season. It's always a good season.
48:27
If the buck Eyes get to play in the Rose Bowl, could be
48:29
a even better season. Because they rarely get to play in the Rose Bowl
48:31
and win a national championship in the same year. That is on the table
48:35
this year with the new college football playoff format, Tony, Kevin and I
48:38
will be at all those games this year cover them for buckeheadle dot com.
48:42
We get Mark on recruiting. There at buckey huddle dot com, got our
48:45
whole team of x's nose Guruz making you a smarter football fan, plus a
48:47
really fun and active board, a huddleboard presented by Jeff Ruby Steakhouse. If
48:51
you want to support Tony and Kevin and I and Mark and the work that
48:53
we do, great way to do it is become a member at buckey huddle
48:57
dot com. That also gets you access to our full time team of insider
49:00
content and much much more. It's all at buckeyehuddle dot com. Thank you
49:04
guys all for joining us. Have a great day. We'll talk to you.
49:07
I don't know whenever there's another commitment