Latest / Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning / BONUS: Ohio State Lands Commitment From 4-Star Offensive Lineman
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Welcome to a very special bonus episode. Game week is
- 0:05Speaker 1: finally here. Buckeye's counting down the days to the Akron game,
- 0:09Speaker 1: and they also got some very good news this weekend
- 0:11Speaker 1: on the recruiting front. That's what today's bonus show is about,
- 0:15Speaker 1: getting a commitment from Javon McFadden, a four star interior
- 0:18Speaker 1: offensive lineman from Maryland. He's the third offensive lineman in
- 0:21Speaker 1: the Buckeyees class of twenty twenty five and a very
- 0:23Speaker 1: big and very needed addition to that class. In this episode,
- 0:27Speaker 1: you're going to hear Mark Givler and Kevin Noon of
- 0:29Speaker 1: the Skull Session Recruiting Podcast breaking down the impact of
- 0:32Speaker 1: that commitment and what it means for the Buckeyes.
- 0:37Speaker 2: Hello everyone, Welcome to the Skull Session Recruiting Podcast, brought
- 0:40Speaker 2: to by bucke Huddle dot Com. I'm Mark Givler, got
- 0:42Speaker 2: Kevin Noon with me back in here today. It's a
- 0:46Speaker 2: commitment edition of the podcast. Ohio State's landed four star
- 0:50Speaker 2: offensive lineman Javon McFadden, Riverdale Baptist High School in Maryland,
- 0:56Speaker 2: longtime target. First of all, Kevin, how bad did they
- 1:02Speaker 2: need this?
- 1:03Speaker 3: Given kind of the way.
- 1:06Speaker 2: Everyone around you know, the fan base and just the
- 1:09Speaker 2: heat they've kind of taken on offensive line recruiting the
- 1:11Speaker 2: last month or two.
- 1:12Speaker 4: Yeah, but there's still going to be the fans are
- 1:14Speaker 4: going to be like, but he's not a tackle, he's
- 1:16Speaker 4: a guard. I mean, he's an interior lineman six four,
- 1:19Speaker 4: two ninety I believe. But this was much needed. I
- 1:22Speaker 4: don't think it's going to have fans forgetting about missing
- 1:25Speaker 4: out on David Sanders. Obviously he landed to Tennessee, not
- 1:29Speaker 4: Ohio State, but I still think this is a big pickup,
- 1:33Speaker 4: even though people are not necessarily going to be looking
- 1:35Speaker 4: at him and it's like, oh, well, he's a four star,
- 1:37Speaker 4: he's this, He's not David Sanders. This is the problem,
- 1:39Speaker 4: and that's just not the right way to look at things.
- 1:42Speaker 4: But you know, I also understand the psychology of it
- 1:45Speaker 4: all in Ohio State could probably land three or four
- 1:47Speaker 4: more four stars the next couple of weeks and people
- 1:49Speaker 4: still would be chopped about David Sanders. And you know,
- 1:53Speaker 4: I'm not necessarily putting those people as villains because they
- 1:56Speaker 4: do need tackles, But you know, I think that McFadden
- 1:59Speaker 4: gives them a value, a weapon at guard and just
- 2:02Speaker 4: once again keeps to Ohio State really relevant in the
- 2:05Speaker 4: DMV area.
- 2:08Speaker 2: Yeah, they needed this one for a lot of reasons.
- 2:11Speaker 2: You know, as we mentioned the other day, they were
- 2:13Speaker 2: oer for twenty eight this cycle on out of state
- 2:15Speaker 2: offensive line targets that they'd offered. So now they're one
- 2:18Speaker 2: for twenty eight because they had offered McFadden at that point.
- 2:21Speaker 2: So we're kind of counting him in there because we said,
- 2:23Speaker 2: you know, they hadn't landed any of their offered guys yet,
- 2:26Speaker 2: and so they kind of needed this one. McFadden is
- 2:29Speaker 2: a really good prospect, a guy they've been recruiting for
- 2:32Speaker 2: a long time. This is not a Plan B or
- 2:34Speaker 2: a Plan CE guy. This is a guy who had
- 2:35Speaker 2: a spot. No matter what David Sanders decided to do,
- 2:39Speaker 2: they were going to have a spot for Javon McFadden.
- 2:42Speaker 2: So this is a this is a Plan A guy.
- 2:44Speaker 2: So it's a really good pick up. Now they've been
- 2:48Speaker 2: recruiting him, I think, mostly as a guard the entire way.
- 2:51Speaker 2: Now it gets a little interesting, though, as soon as
- 2:54Speaker 2: David Sanders commits elsewhere.
- 2:55Speaker 3: There's a bit a bit of a rumbling of well,
- 2:58Speaker 3: maybe we.
- 2:59Speaker 2: Can make him a swing prospect and maybe either he's
- 3:01Speaker 2: gonna get a shot at guard or at tackle before guard,
- 3:05Speaker 2: and so we will see how that comes together. My
- 3:10Speaker 2: instinct is that he's going to be a guard. Generally,
- 3:13Speaker 2: when I hear swing tackle in Ohio State, they end
- 3:16Speaker 2: up at guard.
- 3:18Speaker 3: There have been exceptions.
- 3:19Speaker 2: I think think Josh Friar's probably one of those guys.
- 3:23Speaker 2: But you know, generally, the you know, like gay Van
- 3:26Speaker 2: Sickle has been starting at guard or starting out at guard.
- 3:30Speaker 2: Not starting at guard, that'd be that'd be upbreaking news,
- 3:32Speaker 2: but uh, starting out at guard during his his first
- 3:36Speaker 2: fall camp in Columbus and he was kind of their
- 3:38Speaker 2: swing prospect last year. So we will see kind of
- 3:43Speaker 2: what they want to do with McFadden. But yeah, I
- 3:47Speaker 2: mean everyone's kind of pegged him a guard up until
- 3:49Speaker 2: maybe maybe the David Sanders news and now maybe they're gonna,
- 3:53Speaker 2: you know, maybe.
- 3:54Speaker 3: See if he can do some right tackle. But we'll see.
- 3:57Speaker 2: We'll see where he starts off once he gets to
- 3:58Speaker 2: Ohio State. But either way, an important pickup. They needed
- 4:02Speaker 2: more offensive.
- 4:03Speaker 3: Linemen in this class.
- 4:05Speaker 2: You know, you can talk about we can rehash the
- 4:07Speaker 2: offers discussion if you know, if you guys really want to.
- 4:10Speaker 2: But I think at the end of the day, like
- 4:12Speaker 2: everyone can agree that it's good that they got a
- 4:15Speaker 2: guy they had already offered. This is not a plan B.
- 4:17Speaker 2: It's not a planned ce guy. It's not a guy
- 4:19Speaker 2: that they went back and had to review. And I'm like, oh, yeah,
- 4:22Speaker 2: I mean, I guess we'll offer this guy. So I'm
- 4:24Speaker 2: getting a plan A guy is always good.
- 4:26Speaker 3: On the offensive line.
- 4:27Speaker 2: And yeah, it's not going to get everybody off off
- 4:31Speaker 2: the offensive line, uh stuff and off Justin fries back
- 4:36Speaker 2: for sure, especially before the season starts, until we see
- 4:38Speaker 2: what the offensive line looks like this year. But it's
- 4:41Speaker 2: it's definitely good timing for the Buckeyes. Here.
- 4:45Speaker 3: Yeah, let's get into some of his tape. H.
- 4:49Speaker 2: Here, we've got we've got some highlights here and apologies it's.
- 4:53Speaker 3: A little bit zoomed out. We get what we get people. Sorry.
- 4:57Speaker 2: Yeah, obviously, like like think many many prospects coming out
- 5:03Speaker 2: of high school, even if they're not considered tackle prospects.
- 5:09Speaker 2: McFadden does play quite a bit of tackle obviously at
- 5:12Speaker 2: the high school level, and usually at the high school level,
- 5:14Speaker 2: you're putting your best offensive lineman at left tackle. It's
- 5:18Speaker 2: just kind of what you do. But he's a guy
- 5:21Speaker 2: and get out to the second level. He's a big,
- 5:23Speaker 2: powerful kid, very strong upper body. Again, the you like
- 5:30Speaker 2: to see his flexibility in past pro is there.
- 5:35Speaker 3: I like his punch. Just a powerful, powerful.
- 5:38Speaker 2: Kid, can play again we've talked about, can play inside,
- 5:42Speaker 2: can play outside, especially at the high school level, and
- 5:45Speaker 2: just a guy who I think can really move people
- 5:48Speaker 2: off the football and will be I think a nice compliment,
- 5:51Speaker 2: whether that's playing next to him or playing kind of
- 5:54Speaker 2: opposite of him.
- 5:55Speaker 3: Of Carter Lowe, who's who's very much.
- 5:57Speaker 2: A technical, you know, agile kind of you know, classic
- 6:03Speaker 2: pass pro guy, and you get a guy.
- 6:05Speaker 3: Like McFadden who I think is a little bit more
- 6:07Speaker 3: of a maller.
- 6:09Speaker 2: So you've got just a big physical presence up front,
- 6:13Speaker 2: and again someone who I think will give them some
- 6:16Speaker 2: positional versatility. Again, Carter is going to be your tackle,
- 6:19Speaker 2: probably left tackle now without Sanders in the class, maybe
- 6:23Speaker 2: Carter plays right tackle, but it looks like Carter's probably
- 6:25Speaker 2: gonna be left tackle.
- 6:26Speaker 3: At the high state. Jake Cook is being.
- 6:29Speaker 2: Recruited to play center. So you need a guy who
- 6:32Speaker 2: can kind of give you something a little different than
- 6:34Speaker 2: what you've got already in this class, and I think
- 6:35Speaker 2: McFadden certainly fits that bill in Like we mentioned earlier,
- 6:39Speaker 2: I think coming at a great time play again big physically,
- 6:44Speaker 2: it plays with the mean streak, which we'd like to see.
- 6:47Speaker 2: And as I said, plan plan a guy. So you know, Kevin,
- 6:54Speaker 2: where do you see things going from here? I mean,
- 6:57Speaker 2: they can't stop here. They've got to take at least
- 6:59Speaker 2: one more off the line. But like, how do.
- 7:00Speaker 3: You do you think you think it's one more? Do
- 7:03Speaker 3: you think it's one in a portal? Do you think
- 7:06Speaker 3: it's two more in a portal? Two high school guys
- 7:09Speaker 3: and no portal?
- 7:10Speaker 2: I mean, kind of how do you think this is
- 7:12Speaker 2: going to shake out over the next four months?
- 7:14Speaker 4: That's a great question. I don't know if any of
- 7:17Speaker 4: us really know the answer there, but I'll say that,
- 7:20Speaker 4: you know, I think you look at your board and
- 7:22Speaker 4: you see what you have on there, and I haven't
- 7:24Speaker 4: looked at their tackle board in a minute. But I
- 7:27Speaker 4: think they're going to have to hit the portal. I
- 7:28Speaker 4: think they're going to hit the portal pretty well. Well, yeah,
- 7:31Speaker 4: I think they're going to have to go and get
- 7:32Speaker 4: a couple out of the portal that are going to
- 7:35Speaker 4: be right there in the mix or whatever. I mean,
- 7:37Speaker 4: we've been hearing some encouraging things about some of the
- 7:39Speaker 4: younger guys. You know, you've got, you know, the Armstrong
- 7:42Speaker 4: twins who are in their first their first year of
- 7:45Speaker 4: Ohio State. I mean, you're starting to see more out
- 7:47Speaker 4: of the Luke Montgomery class starting to come together. But
- 7:51Speaker 4: we know depth is so important, and we're we're we
- 7:54Speaker 4: probably don't even know what we don't know at this
- 7:56Speaker 4: point because of you know, what could be a seventeen
- 7:58Speaker 4: game season and everything else depending on how all that
- 8:01Speaker 4: works out. Uh, and just the portability, just so much
- 8:05Speaker 4: of people jumping in and out of the portal and
- 8:07Speaker 4: everything else. You don't know what you have. I mean,
- 8:09Speaker 4: there are gonna be times that you think, oh, we're
- 8:11Speaker 4: good and then all of a sudden, I Noah Rogers
- 8:13Speaker 4: situation hits where you thought you were everything was copastic
- 8:17Speaker 4: and he's like, no, I'm out of here. So you
- 8:18Speaker 4: need to make sure you've got that. So I'm gonna
- 8:20Speaker 4: say one more high school if it's the right guy,
- 8:23Speaker 4: and maybe two in the portal.
- 8:27Speaker 2: Yeah, they're gonna they're gonna have to go to the portal,
- 8:30Speaker 2: and that you know, maybe maybe there's a microscope on
- 8:35Speaker 2: that now just with the David Sanders news and some
- 8:38Speaker 2: of the guys they haven't been able to get this summer.
- 8:40Speaker 2: But that was my you know, you can find clips
- 8:44Speaker 2: of me saying this. You can find written stuff on
- 8:46Speaker 2: our site of me saying this like a year ago,
- 8:47Speaker 2: that they're gonna have to go portal in.
- 8:49Speaker 3: The cycle.
- 8:52Speaker 2: Just because they're gonna need a plug and play guy
- 8:54Speaker 2: for next year. None of these guys are really expected
- 8:58Speaker 2: to help you as true freshmen, and even David Sanders,
- 9:02Speaker 2: who's extremely special, you can't just pencil him in at
- 9:06Speaker 2: left tackle as a true freshman. Paris Johnson didn't, you know.
- 9:09Speaker 2: It just it takes some time. So I think they're
- 9:12Speaker 2: gonna have to go plug and play. And now, whether
- 9:15Speaker 2: that's a tackle, whether that's a guard that that's what
- 9:18Speaker 2: kind of.
- 9:18Speaker 3: Remains to be seen.
- 9:19Speaker 2: Because here's here's something that I don't think maybe people
- 9:21Speaker 2: thought about this time last.
- 9:23Speaker 3: Year, and for good reason that early wasn't a reason
- 9:24Speaker 3: to think about this this time last year.
- 9:26Speaker 2: Josh Simmons could absolutely go pro after this year and
- 9:31Speaker 2: leave a year of eligibility on the table, and I
- 9:33Speaker 2: don't think that was something people were really focused on
- 9:37Speaker 2: last year, certainly not after the first couple of games.
- 9:39Speaker 2: He was kind of the whipping boy of the fan
- 9:41Speaker 2: base a little bit there the first couple of games
- 9:42Speaker 2: last year, had a really strong finish to the season,
- 9:45Speaker 2: played very well down the stretch. You know, a lot
- 9:49Speaker 2: of talk about him being a projected second round pick
- 9:51Speaker 2: right now plays a premium position, but can also flip and.
- 9:56Speaker 3: Play left right side as well.
- 9:57Speaker 2: So that's that's something you have to consider with the
- 10:00Speaker 2: portal is are you losing Josh Simmons a year early?
- 10:04Speaker 2: So yeah, I agree, I think they needed they have
- 10:06Speaker 2: to think another high school player.
- 10:07Speaker 3: I think the number here was always four. Now, how
- 10:10Speaker 3: they get.
- 10:11Speaker 2: To four versus how they were hoping to get the
- 10:13Speaker 2: four previously is probably not going to look exactly the same.
- 10:16Speaker 2: But I think the number here was always four in
- 10:18Speaker 2: a portal guy, And you know, would they sneak in
- 10:21Speaker 2: another guy at like a fifth just with the scholarship
- 10:26Speaker 2: situation being what it is now, With the one oh
- 10:29Speaker 2: five situation which you can read on our site, I
- 10:32Speaker 2: went into that a little bit. One oh five might
- 10:34Speaker 2: be a little misleading, but that's like another episode.
- 10:40Speaker 3: We may save that we're gonna do it.
- 10:41Speaker 2: I think we're gonna trying to a Monday live show
- 10:42Speaker 2: or something, so we may save the discussion for that
- 10:45Speaker 2: for a later date. But yeah, I mean, I think
- 10:48Speaker 2: I think you're looking at two more bodies for sure. Again,
- 10:51Speaker 2: whether that's one high school, one portal, whether that's they're
- 10:54Speaker 2: not able to find a high school guy and they
- 10:56Speaker 2: go to portal and kind of kick things down to
- 10:58Speaker 2: twenty six, or whether they are actually able to get
- 11:01Speaker 2: to high school guys. You know, I was asked this
- 11:04Speaker 2: this past Monday when we did our live show about
- 11:06Speaker 2: Micaeh Debo's I did talk to Tavian Saint Clair last night.
- 11:12Speaker 2: I was at Tavan Saint Clair's season opener, and I
- 11:14Speaker 2: did ask him a little bit about his recruiting efforts
- 11:17Speaker 2: right now, and Mica and Debo's obviously McFadden came up,
- 11:20Speaker 2: and I think everyone, you know, everyone knows that verdict now,
- 11:23Speaker 2: But Saint Clair did talk about how he's recruiting. Michael
- 11:27Speaker 2: Debo's extremely hard and kind of trying to talk to
- 11:29Speaker 2: him almost every day.
- 11:30Speaker 3: And am am I optimistic about that? Not? Really is
- 11:35Speaker 3: Tavi optimistic about it? Yeah, Tavian's actually.
- 11:37Speaker 2: Pretty optimistic about it, but we'll see that something to
- 11:41Speaker 2: watch down the stretch. I'm not going to sit here
- 11:45Speaker 2: anyone's hopes up yet. I'm not to the point where
- 11:47Speaker 2: I think that's going to happen. But they're certainly trying.
- 11:51Speaker 2: And who knows, maybe maybe with Sanders out of the picture.
- 11:55Speaker 2: Does that make things easier? Does that make things easier
- 11:57Speaker 2: for Micha at Debo's. Does it make things easier for
- 12:01Speaker 2: Ohio State? From an Anil perspective, that's another thing to
- 12:04Speaker 2: kind of consider, you know, Well, so we'll we'll follow it,
- 12:08Speaker 2: we'll see, we'll see who else they kind of kick
- 12:10Speaker 2: the tires on and keep keep at it with. But
- 12:13Speaker 2: you know, again, Kevin, I think, uh, I'm not ready
- 12:18Speaker 2: to just like oh all as well, Like I'm not,
- 12:21Speaker 2: I'm not there yet, but.
- 12:25Speaker 3: God, they needed something like this.
- 12:28Speaker 4: Yeah, this was a very important get for not only
- 12:32Speaker 4: just personnel reasons, but I think for narrative reasons. Why
- 12:35Speaker 4: can't Ohio State recruit offensive lineman? What is you know?
- 12:38Speaker 4: What is the disconnect? I mean, is it? You know?
- 12:40Speaker 2: Is it?
- 12:41Speaker 4: Is it just and Fry? Is it?
- 12:42Speaker 2: You know?
- 12:42Speaker 4: What? What what exactly is causing this? Because we saw
- 12:46Speaker 4: Ohio State kind of go through something similar yet different
- 12:50Speaker 4: when Jim Knowles took over in defensive recruiting, and there
- 12:54Speaker 4: were just a lot of well, we'll believe it when
- 12:57Speaker 4: we see it. Well they've seen it, and now they
- 12:59Speaker 4: believe it. In Ohio State's defensive recruiting has been fantastic.
- 13:03Speaker 4: I think we're still kind of sitting in a little
- 13:05Speaker 4: bit of a weird bubble when it comes to Ohio
- 13:07Speaker 4: State offensive line recruiting. And not to steal the narrative
- 13:11Speaker 4: from Mark, but you know, twenty six is going to
- 13:13Speaker 4: be pretty special because so much of it is in state,
- 13:16Speaker 4: and then you also have Deron Parks, who's just really
- 13:19Speaker 4: just across the state line. So you could put together
- 13:23Speaker 4: between the Ohio Kids, Parks and Champ Smith, you could
- 13:27Speaker 4: put together quite the offensive line grouping. But yeah, I'm
- 13:32Speaker 4: just not going to really believe anything in terms of
- 13:34Speaker 4: where this offensive line recruiting is for twenty five until
- 13:38Speaker 4: I see it play out a little bit more, I guess.
- 13:40Speaker 4: But the thing too, you bring up innil budgets and
- 13:43Speaker 4: everything else. If this is the type of season that
- 13:46Speaker 4: we're both kind of expecting for Ohio State, there's going
- 13:48Speaker 4: to be a mass exodus. I mean, you're already going
- 13:50Speaker 4: to have a ton of guys who are out of eligibility,
- 13:53Speaker 4: but then you're gonna have guys that are gonna have
- 13:55Speaker 4: a year left or whatever. And this is different than
- 13:57Speaker 4: the twenty fourteen title where they were all sophomores had
- 14:00Speaker 4: to come back, So this is going to be different.
- 14:02Speaker 4: So this could free up you know, this could free
- 14:04Speaker 4: up some salary caps, so to speak.
- 14:07Speaker 2: Yeah, it's funny we're having these discussions now about the
- 14:10Speaker 2: college game versus the pro game. But yeah, I mean
- 14:13Speaker 2: you're if you you know, I can only imagine what
- 14:17Speaker 2: was budgeted for David Sanders. So I'm sure if they
- 14:21Speaker 2: can find the right culture fit, the right system schematic fit,
- 14:26Speaker 2: kind of a high level guy who's committed elsewhere, whether
- 14:29Speaker 2: that's Michael Debo's, well it's somebody else, I would have
- 14:32Speaker 2: to imagine they're going to be able to be competitive
- 14:34Speaker 2: in the NIL space.
- 14:35Speaker 3: Now. I would certainly have to imagine they're going to
- 14:38Speaker 3: be be.
- 14:39Speaker 2: Able to sell a competitive depth chart situation right now,
- 14:43Speaker 2: especially at tackle where even the guy who I think
- 14:47Speaker 2: is the kind of the third tackle in George Fitzpatrick,
- 14:50Speaker 2: this is his third year in the program. I mean,
- 14:53Speaker 2: so by the time the twenty five's arrive, George Fitzpatrick
- 14:59Speaker 2: will be in his four fear at Ohio State. So
- 15:02Speaker 2: there is not a ton in the lower level classes
- 15:06Speaker 2: right now blocking you if you're an incoming lineman, if
- 15:10Speaker 2: you're incoming offensive tackle. So they have a good product
- 15:13Speaker 2: to sell. And I've said this a while for a
- 15:15Speaker 2: while now, but you got to sell it.
- 15:17Speaker 3: So they've done it.
- 15:19Speaker 2: They've done it here with McFadden. I think some people
- 15:22Speaker 2: kind of scoffed at his finalists. I didn't because are
- 15:27Speaker 2: were they all like blue Blood's No. But South Carolina
- 15:30Speaker 2: has won how many big DMV battles the last couple
- 15:33Speaker 2: of cycles. They beat out everybody for Nicholas Harbor, They
- 15:37Speaker 2: beat out everybody for Dylan Stewart, including Ohio State. You know,
- 15:40Speaker 2: they've got this kind of grip in there right now
- 15:42Speaker 2: where they're landing kids out of there. We've seen Maryland
- 15:45Speaker 2: over the years be kind of a pain to recruit
- 15:48Speaker 2: in state against when when there's some stability there, They've
- 15:51Speaker 2: been able to keep some guys home over the years.
- 15:53Speaker 2: And then we've seen Colorado, you know, go go in
- 15:56Speaker 2: and get Jordan Seaton, and you know that was obviously
- 15:59Speaker 2: a part of the pitch there to McFadden was was
- 16:01Speaker 2: playing with Jordan Seaton and and you know another DMV guy.
- 16:05Speaker 2: So you know, this was a job well done here.
- 16:08Speaker 2: You know, we're hard on them when when we think
- 16:11Speaker 2: they aren't doing well, and now we have to tip
- 16:14Speaker 2: the cap and say good job on Javin McFadden. Who's
- 16:17Speaker 2: who's again been one of their top targets the whole way.
- 16:20Speaker 2: So good news for Ohio State at a really good
- 16:23Speaker 2: time again. Live show on Monday. We'll get you some times,
- 16:27Speaker 2: we'll get you some details, but we're looking at a
- 16:29Speaker 2: live recruiting show Monday. We'll have some of the guys on.
- 16:31Speaker 2: We'll talk about the games we were at this weekend,
- 16:34Speaker 2: the high school games. High school season kicked off in Ohio.
- 16:36Speaker 3: We were at.
- 16:37Speaker 2: We had three people at different games throughout state of Ohio.
- 16:40Speaker 2: So we'll kind of talk about that. We'll do questions
- 16:42Speaker 2: and whatever you guys want to talk about. But appreciate
- 16:45Speaker 2: everyone watching and listening this one, and we will talk
- 16:47Speaker 2: to you again very soon.