Latest / Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning / Ohio State Football: How Will The Buckeyes Replace Both Of Their Tackles?

Transcript

Ohio State Football: How Will The Buckeyes Replace Both Of Their Tackles? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to buck Eyes tomorrow morning for Tuesday, February eighteenth.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, tom Or the Texas game in one
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: hundred and ninety three days the game against Michigan in
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: two hundred and eighty four days. If you're planning your
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: next event, you should make it unforgettable with Grateful Griddle,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: well Miss's favorite food truck serving up smashburgers, gourmet sandwiches,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: and good vibes. Book your catering today at Grateful Griddle,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: oh dot com. They were talking about the Ohio State
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: tackles on the offensive side of the ball. We'll get
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: at the defensive tackles on a little bit, but we're
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: going to be continuing our series looking at a little
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: bit of a spring positional preview with our buddy, Tony
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Gerdamant of Buckeyeaddle dot com. And Tony I started writing
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: down like, oh, make sure I'm not forgetting anyone in
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: terms of like who they're losing from the tackle position.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: You only play two tackles at a time. I will
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: remind you, Tony, the Buckeye is losing at five tackles
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: off of their team on the offensive tackles depth chart.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Josh Simmons, Donovan Jackson, Josh fryar Zen Mahalski, and George
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick all leaving this year's team, and yet somehow it
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: feels like they're not bad shape there.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Well, and did you mention Miles Walker?
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Oh? I didn't mention Miles Walker? Six? Sorry? Yes, yes, sorry? Six?
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, It's it's a lot. And granted only a few
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: of them played, but still the guys that everybody that
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: you lose you have to replace because you need that
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: depth and they need to be ready and you need
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: to start that development process. So losing those, losing all
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: of those starting left tackles among that group, like the
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: experience that you lost, the versatility that you lost, and
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: now you need to find somebody who is either as
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: good as Josh Simmons or as good as Donovan Jackson.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Is is that a tall task? I'm not sure.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: I mean, the way Josh Simmons and Donovan Jackson played
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: this year, Yeah, it's going to be a little bit
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: of a tall task. But I think they may have
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: done it. They went in the transfer portal and pulled
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: out Ethan Onemwa. He was considered the top tackle in
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: the portal by a lot of sources comes over from Rice.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: I saw over the weekend you were doing some deep
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: dives on his his game film over the last couple
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: of years. What is Ohio State getting in ethan On.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: Well right now? They've got a big left tackle six
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: six pre forty five, so I wonder if he might
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: they might cut that back a little. Remember how they
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: did the same thing with Will Howard, different position, but
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: they're like, hey, well can you lose like fifteen pounds?
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: And maybe they'll do something like that with ethan On
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Aonwell who last year was his first year starting at
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: left tackle and it went pretty well. He was a
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: right tackle the two years prior to that, starting for Rice,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: and you know he's, uh, he's played against big time programs.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Against Texas in twenty twenty three, did pretty well. And
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: you know he's he's a powerful run blocker. Again, he's
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: he's a big guy, so just getting around him is tough.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: And he's he's got all the experience that you could want,
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: even at a lower level, like it's still more experience
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: than anybody else has on the team. So yeah, it
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: feels like he is going to be the left tackle
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: even though he's got more experience at right tackle, but
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: his most experience was left tackle. And you know, remember
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: when they brought in Josh Simmons. He started for a
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: year at right tackle, and they came in and right away,
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: really they're like, you're our left tackle, and so we
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: kind of had to learn on the job at least
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: with oneonwa he's not learning on the job, but he is.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: It is a rise in the level of play that
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: will be needed in the competition as well.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: And I kind of have these guys split into three
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: different tiers, and it's the two transfer guys, and it's
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: the two guys who are returning as second year players,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: and then it's the two guys that have been sort
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: of discussed as first year guys. So you're not going
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: to hear the names Luke Montgomery or Tager Shabola on
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: this show, and we're going to lump them in with
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: the interior guys. Just sort of know that. But also
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: those guys might end up in this picture as well.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Is just sort of the unsaid portion of this show.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: But now I've said it, so now it's just part
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: of the show. So there you go. Now let's move
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: on to Philip Daniels, who is probably the lead candidate
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: to be the starting right tackle this year. He's another
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: transfer coming over from Minnesota.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think he started the last four or five
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: games for the Gophers last year as a red shirt freshman,
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: and I think twenty four to seven even had him
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: as like the number five offensive tackle in the portal
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: and that's pretty high praise for such a young guy.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: But that's a guy that has more experience than anybody
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: else that Ohio State has on the existing roster other
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: than Ethan one on one now, So yeah, I think
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: he is the well, I don't know, you can call
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: him the leader in the clubhouse, even though the clubhouse
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: just opened up and the golf hasn't even started yet.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: So I think he If not that you'd bet on
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: these things, but like he is, I think most people
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: would expect him to be the starting right tackle. However,
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: I would also say that he's still a young guy
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: and there are some other possibilities for Ohio State that
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: we can get into. But I don't think he's as
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: sure a thing as Ethan on Iona. But also like
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: he's more experienced than like, he's got more experienced than
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: any anybody else that he's going to be competing with,
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: so that is gonna merit some some attention as well.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: And we just watched Ohio State go through an entire
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: college football playoff run rotating three guards like it was
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: a basketball team. So you know, what's your level of
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: confidence that they're not going to just rotate three tackles
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: at some point this season? Like, I don't know that
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: I can say, like, no, why would you think they
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: would do that. They've shown that they can do it,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: they will do it, they can make it work. So
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: you know, you want to tell me that they're going
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: to rotate the three tackle the three guards that they
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: did this year, and then sometimes the one who's not
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: playing is going to kick out and be the right tackle,
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Like yeah, sure, man, whatever I will. We'll see. This
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: is all the fun stuff we get to figure out
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: during spring ball and then possibly after that. But one
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: of the things I'm really interested in looking at during
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: springball is the two second year tackles. Deontay Armstrong. Just
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: to be clear, Deontay is the tackle, DeVante is the guard.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: But Deontay Armstrong and Ian Moore and more was someone
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: who came on, really he came on like a freight train.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: At the end of the year where I think one
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: of the reasons George Fitzpatrick hit the portal was Ian
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Moore was behind George Fitzpatrick and then all of a
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: sudden anymore was not behind George Fitzpatrick. And to be
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: playing right tackle even in garbage time in the College
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Football Playoff, which he did during that Tennessee game, that's
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: like a okay, like that, that's a real marker for
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: this is this is a watch this space. This guy
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: might be a this guy might be a dude in
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: the near future.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And you know, losing two tackles during the season
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: like they did with Josh Simmons and Zen Mahalski kind
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: of just moved everybody up. So it got him more
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: reps and which not a surprise, but everybody who got
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: more reps last year on the offensive line got better
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: for it. For whatever reason those reps got there, whether
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: it was illness or injuries, they made the most of them.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: And he's another guy to be able to work his
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: way up into the number two right tackle. So yeah,
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: if you're the number two right tackle as a true freshman,
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: whether that is it's not just happenstance, it's not just
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: by default they could have put somebody else there, and
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: he was able to get that job by the end
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: of the season. So he comes in with some really
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: good experience. And the thing that people need to remember
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: is the second team offensive line goes against the first
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: team defensive line a lot, and so he was going
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: against some really talented defensive ends, as you might imagine.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: So he was, you know, the whole drinking through a
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: fire hose last year like that's that was kind of
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: what he was doing. And now he's better for it.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: And I really think he's going to be able to
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: compete for a starting job. Now that might be similar
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: to past competitions like we've seen before where it's like
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: maybe in another year, like maybe in a different year,
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: this would be you, but because the competition was just
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: a little bit higher than it's this guy. But I
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: really think he's going to be able to compete. Now,
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: can he win it? You know that's I'll have thirty
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: forty out practices between now in the first game to
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: get that figured out. But I don't think he's going
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: to go quietly in this competition.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: No. And this is one where the law you know
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: that if there's a legitimate competition going all the way
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: through spring and fall, and it's because Ian Moore is
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: really pushing for playing time. That's a good thing. You
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: we just saw how many tackles you might need in
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: a season. So having another guy who is getting reps
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: with the ones potentially or certainly, as you mentioned, even
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: just getting reps against the ones, that's going to really
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: be a beneficial thing for this for this program long term.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: The two guys who are the true freshman this is
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: a really interesting, really interesting case study in you can
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: look at the positions that they have on the recruiting
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: profiles and it doesn't necessarily mean that that's where they're
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: going to play in the college level. Because Carder Low
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: was listed as a tackle, Jayvon McFadden was listed as
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: an interior offensive line and then when Ryan Day shared
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: his thoughts on you know, some of the true freshmen
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: coming in, that's not necessarily where they're going to be
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: lining up when they start their careers.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah. In first, I just want to mention Deontay Armstrong.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: We were just talking about who as Saint AD's was
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: really just a run heavy offense. So there's some time
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: it takes to to become a college offensive tackle after
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: being a run heavy off high school offensive tackle. The whole,
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: the whole pass blocking thing takes some time, but he's
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: got all kinds of athleticism, and I know they're still
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: pretty still very high on him. In terms of McFadden
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: and Carter Low, yeah, Ryan Day when he was running
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: through the class back on the December on the signing day,
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: said well, Javon McFadden's he's a tackle starting to tackle.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: Carter Low could play tackle or guard. And really, if
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: you're a guy that can play tackle or guard, you're
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: going to find out if they can play tackle first,
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: and then it's just you move. You keep starting them
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: outside and you keep moving them inside and until they
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: find a home. But yeah, Carter Low one of the
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: top tackles in the nation. McFadden is really really athletic.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: So those two guys are a nice base. And if
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: you can get a starting, starting tackle at one of
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: those guys, fantastic. If you can get a starting tackle
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: out of both of those guys, you hit the jackpot.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: Because maybe this is an off season exercise in terms
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: of how many years in the recruiting class does Ohio
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: state Land two starting tackles or two starting you know,
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: offensive linemen, and if in a small class like this,
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: have they done it, that would be a pretty good
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: hit rate with just three guys in the class. Now
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: that's always going to be uh. With the transfer portal
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: now you know they can make up for but yeah,
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: they've they've got tons of ability, so they'll they're both
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: here on campus and I believe they are and getting
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: ready to go, So we'll see what kind of move
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: they can make. Because it's a pretty young group overall,
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: so there's gonna be some opportunities.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: It's a young group. It's also just a we just
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: named what six guys here, and none of them had
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: been on campus before about twelve months ago. Like, those
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: are the guys who the two guys who we just
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: talked about as being true freshman this past season, those
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: are the old heads in the tackle group, at least
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: of the six names we just discussed. And again, there's
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: lots of possibilities in terms of you know, how you
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: kick a Luke Montgomery out to tackle, or you move
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: a Taker Chipola out to tackle, or what you know,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: Austin's year veld as someone else who they've you know,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: sort of kicked the tires on out there at various times,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: so we'll see how that all shakes up, but it
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: is going to be that is going to be one
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: of the really really interesting spring position battles to watch
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: in terms of what did Ohio State Land you know,
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: really get in the transfer portal and how are those
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: guys holding up against what should be a pretty good
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: defensive line. But then also are those younger guys developing
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: How far away are the true freshman guys. That's always
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: just go ahead and pencil in. The true freshman guys
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: are probably not going to play a lot this year.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: That's okay, that's normal. That's that is not at all
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: a bad marker for an offensive lineman in terms of
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: long term projection not playing as a true freshman. If
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: they do, that's generally a huge thumbs up, like in
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: the case of Van More as we mentioned earlier. But
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: yet a true freshman playing on the offensive line is
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: absolutely the exception and not so that will be one
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: of the things we're watching this spring as we cover
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: Ohio State spring football and whatever the end of the
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: spring football thing looks like they're still sort of figuring
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: that stuff out. It's going to be an eventful spring
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: at Ohio State and with the Ohio State football program,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: and it will be an eventful spring for all of us.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: At Buckeye Huddle dot com. That's where Tony, Kevin and
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: I cover the team, Mark covers recruiting. We got our
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: whole team of ex's and those gurus there as well
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: to make you a smarter football fan all at Buckeyehuddle
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: dot com. We hope to see you there. That'll do
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: it for today. Thank you guys all for joining us.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: Have a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.