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How Will Top Transfer Tight End Max Klare Change Ohio State's Offense? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyees tomorrow morning for Saturday, March twenty ninth.
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  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Tom Moore. The Texas game in one
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  Speaker 1: hundred and fifty four days. The game he gets to
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  Speaker 1: Michigan in two hundred and forty five days. If you're
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  Speaker 1: planning your next event, make it unforgettable with Grateful Griddle,
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  Speaker 1: Columbus's favorite food truck serving up Smashberger's gourmet sandwiches and
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  Speaker 1: Today's show, you're going to get to hear a bunch
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  Speaker 1: from Keenan Bailey. OH haves to its tight ends coach.
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  Speaker 1: We had a chance to talk to him late in
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  Speaker 1: the week. He had some really, really really interesting stuff
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  Speaker 1: to talk about. One of those things was Max Claire.
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  Speaker 1: You're going to hear a little bit from Max Clayer
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  Speaker 1: a little bit later on in the show as well.
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  Speaker 1: Tight Ends. This is probably the deepest and best tight
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  Speaker 1: end room Ohio State has ever had, so we're going
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  Speaker 1: to be talking all about those tight ends on today's show.
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  Speaker 1: Let's start with Max Clair, who's the number one tight
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  Speaker 1: end prospect in the transfer portal this offseason and the
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  Speaker 1: Buckeyes got him. So but other than just hey, he's
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  Speaker 1: a good football player, what specifically made Max Clair an
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  Speaker 1: attractive target in the portal in Keenan Bailey's eyes.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, he was. He was complimentary to the guys
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  Speaker 2: that I kind of assumed we're coming back, if that
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  Speaker 2: makes sense. He's a different kind of tight end than
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  Speaker 2: you know, the veterans in the room, like you know,
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  Speaker 2: Will and Bennett and Jelany and those guys coming back.
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  Speaker 2: I thought his skill set, you know, he's you know,
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  Speaker 2: how they use them at Perdue. He showed some things
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  Speaker 2: on film that might compliment what we already have in
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  Speaker 2: the room and really make us a you know, a
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  Speaker 2: pretty whole unit.
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  Speaker 1: You look at Max Claire's stats, fifty one catches last year,
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  Speaker 1: more than six hundred yards, Like, all right, yeah, so
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  Speaker 1: he's good. He's good at playing football, fantastic. But let's
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  Speaker 1: take a little bit of a deeper dive, like, what
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  Speaker 1: specifically on field skill sets does Max Claire bring to
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  Speaker 1: the Buckeyes.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, route running was certainly one of them. And I think,
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  Speaker 2: you know, he's got a lot of skills in a
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  Speaker 2: perimeter blocking and you know, in line he's pretty good.
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  Speaker 2: But yeah, definitely as a receiver, he's a he's pretty polished.
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  Speaker 1: Mentioned that Max Claire had fifty one catches from with
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  Speaker 1: Perdue last year. That is something that Ohio State tight
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  Speaker 1: ends do not really generally do really maybe have not
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  Speaker 1: ever done fifty one catches. That's a lot. So is
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  Speaker 1: it tough to sell a guy on coming to Ohio
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  Speaker 1: State after he had more than fifty catches as a
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  Speaker 1: tight end with you know, the knowledge that hey didn't
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  Speaker 1: have Jeremiah Smith at Purdue, you didn't have Carnells hate
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  Speaker 1: it Purdue, like the ball's gonna go to the wide
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  Speaker 1: receivers a bunch more at Ohio State. Is it hard
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  Speaker 1: to sell a guy on coming to Ohio State when
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  Speaker 1: he knows he may not see that many passes this year?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I think I think I think it makes
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  Speaker 2: it easier, right, you know, I show these recruits all
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  Speaker 2: the time because everyone says Ohio State's just a receiver school.
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  Speaker 2: It's like Marvin Harrison was the best receiver in the country,
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  Speaker 2: you know, and you know who number two is in
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  Speaker 2: targets and receptions and receiving ours. It was Kate Because
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  Speaker 2: you know, you could go to the other schools and
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  Speaker 2: they don't have the receivers we do, and you're gonna
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  Speaker 2: get doubled every game, like good luck. I don't I
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  Speaker 2: don't know many you know, great plays if you're gonna
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  Speaker 2: get bracketed, but no, you have the receivers that coach Hartline,
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  Speaker 2: you know, keep springing in here. We're gonna have single coverage.
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  Speaker 2: And if my tight ends can't beat signal coverage and
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  Speaker 2: you know, we're gonna have issues, I'll get another tight
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  Speaker 2: end who can. Like We've got a lot of tight
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  Speaker 2: ends who are pretty good receivers. And excited to see.
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  Speaker 1: Him at the NFL Combine, Lathan Ransom said he was
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  Speaker 1: the one who told Keen and Bailey that hey, look,
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  Speaker 1: hey there's this tight end on Perdue that we've been playing,
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  Speaker 1: we've been looking at and I you know, you should
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  Speaker 1: maybe take a look at him if he goes in
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  Speaker 1: the transfer portal. Was that true?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, Lathan Lathan Lathan's trying to take all the credit.
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  Speaker 2: Caleb Downs was also, you know, kind of chirping me.
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  Speaker 2: I always have dinner with those two guys. A DB's
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  Speaker 2: really the safeties on Friday nights, and I always every
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  Speaker 2: week just asking him about the opposing tight ends and
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  Speaker 2: they were super high on a Max perdue week. So
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  Speaker 2: when he went to the portal, uh, Leathan and Caleb
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  Speaker 2: were like, see, oh that's a guy. So I was like,
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  Speaker 2: I'll watch him.
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  Speaker 1: How much does that resonate with Keenan Bailey when you
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  Speaker 1: hear something like that, an endorsement like that from guys
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  Speaker 1: that he trusts.
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  Speaker 2: No, hugely, hugely, and like that's back to back years
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  Speaker 2: really because you had I mean I would have watched
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  Speaker 2: Max anyway. I'm not even Lathen too much credit over here,
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  Speaker 2: but like like the year before it was Sam Willis
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  Speaker 2: told me about Will cast Merrick. So no, if a
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  Speaker 2: guy knows our culture and says coach Key, he fits
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  Speaker 2: your room, Like, I gotta give Sam all the credit
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  Speaker 2: for finding cast.
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  Speaker 1: Bailey has talked about this being the deepest tight end
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  Speaker 1: room they've had, So what are the other guys on
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  Speaker 1: that depth start need to do to earn more playing time?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah?
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  Speaker 2: I think everyone's different, right Ben, It's different than Jelani,
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  Speaker 2: but those guys in me consistently. I said it, you
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  Speaker 2: know last week, like Coach Hart's gonna put the best
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  Speaker 2: eleven on the field. It doesn't matter if they're all
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  Speaker 2: running backs or receivers or tight ends. So like every
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  Speaker 2: day I tell them every day, you're competing against the
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  Speaker 2: other tight ends in the room, but we're competing against
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  Speaker 2: the receivers and the running backs. To when we put
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  Speaker 2: two or three or four tight ends on the field,
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  Speaker 2: if that package is better than none, we're going to
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  Speaker 2: live in that. So every day's a challenge.
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  Speaker 1: This year, Max Claire is the transfer tight end that's
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  Speaker 1: brought in that everyone's excited about. Last year, that was
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  Speaker 1: Will kas Merik. Now, he had a really, really good season,
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  Speaker 1: was very effective when he was there, but he also
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  Speaker 1: missed a bunch of time last year with a broken arm.
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  Speaker 1: So how big would it be to have him healthy
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  Speaker 1: for the full season this year?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, a lot, a lot.
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  Speaker 2: I was Obviously, all injuries are unfortunate, but he put
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  Speaker 2: in so much work. I was excited to see him
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  Speaker 2: have a full season. So that was cut short. But
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  Speaker 2: on the flip side, it challenged him to be more
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  Speaker 2: of a leader and to learn the offense, maybe you know,
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  Speaker 2: taking a step back and help mentor a guy like
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  Speaker 2: Jelani and I think there was a huge opportunity for
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  Speaker 2: a guy like Bennett and Jelynnie, Like we watched it
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  Speaker 2: this morning in my meeting. When Will went down, we
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  Speaker 2: went tempo on the next play, g block the Sea gap,
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  Speaker 2: then we hit Quinnchhawn. Then the next play we were
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  Speaker 2: like fourteen personnel or thirteen and it was three tight
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  Speaker 2: ends who had never done that. And we're on the
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  Speaker 2: road at Oregon and like we punched it in and scored.
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  Speaker 2: It's just just a great story to tell the guys.
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  Speaker 2: Like when Cade went down against Georgia, we played the
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  Speaker 2: game with Miss ROSSI.
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  Speaker 1: It's like all the guys got to be ready.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know when your numbers got to be called,
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  Speaker 2: So I know it was unfortunate, but such a good
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  Speaker 2: learning opportunity.
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  Speaker 1: One of the other guys in that room that people
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  Speaker 1: love to ask about is Jeelanni Thurman. People have been
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  Speaker 1: waiting and waiting for him, that the promise has been
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  Speaker 1: there for years and it just has not completely materialized
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  Speaker 1: into a full time role in the field. Well, sounds
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  Speaker 1: like Jolannie Thurman has made some huge leaps this spring.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean he's off the charge night and day more.
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  Speaker 2: Mature been really impressed with just his work at f
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  Speaker 2: He's in here every night getting extra work in. I'm
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  Speaker 2: challenging him to learn every position on offense, don't just
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  Speaker 2: be a y be an y be an, h know
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  Speaker 2: what disease got, and then also be a leader. He's
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  Speaker 2: not a young guy anymore, so like he's he's coaching
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  Speaker 2: Nathan LeBlanc and those guys in Max you know, even harder.
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  Speaker 2: He was yelling at Max Claire, you know, ta not
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  Speaker 2: yelling at He was encouraging him to finish, Like, hey,
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  Speaker 2: you're you're I say, tight end, like we're gonna be
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  Speaker 2: going harder than everyone on the field. And I was like,
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  Speaker 2: he gets it. That's awesome. He's being a leader. So
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  Speaker 2: super impressed with him.
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  Speaker 1: When Kenyan Bailey took over the tight end room just
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  Speaker 1: a few years ago, it was kind of a little
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  Speaker 1: bit of a question mark in some way. It's kind
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  Speaker 1: of overlooked in some ways. Now that room is so deep.
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  Speaker 1: They just added the top transfer portal tight end and
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  Speaker 1: the nation does that change now? How you approach these
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  Speaker 1: guys with the message.
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  Speaker 2: We're not changing our DNA, like you cut open Ohio
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  Speaker 2: State tight end. Easy to be a bad dude who
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  Speaker 2: goes really freaking hard and it's just gritty as all
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  Speaker 2: get out. But I'm not saying that that we're gonna
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  Speaker 2: be overlooked this year at all. It's a one eighty.
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  Speaker 2: I told the guys we should set the tone for
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  Speaker 2: the offense for the team, you know, nationally like with
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  Speaker 2: toughness and effort and all that, but production, and we
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  Speaker 2: should be a driving force. Like someone I challenge him
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  Speaker 2: all the time someone comes to practice. You want to
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  Speaker 2: see what the Ohio State Buckeye fight culture is the
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  Speaker 2: brotherhood Just just go watch the tight ends. Don't watch
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  Speaker 2: it like that's who the Buckeyes are. So I've challenged them,
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  Speaker 2: you know, lead from the front. Now. We don't need
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  Speaker 2: to be you know, the least kind of the sleeper unit. Ah, No,
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  Speaker 2: like set the tone.
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  Speaker 1: They want to let you hear just a little bit
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  Speaker 1: from Max Claire going to be someone you probably hear
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  Speaker 1: a bunch about on the field this fall. Want to
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  Speaker 1: let you get a chance to know him a little bit.
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  Speaker 1: So what what does mac Clayer think makes him a
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  Speaker 1: good route runner?
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  Speaker 2: Right?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah? I think I just you know, I have a
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  Speaker 3: good feel for the game when I'm running routes and uh,
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  Speaker 3: you know, try to try to understand the whole play
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  Speaker 3: the whole concept from a very deep level and try
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  Speaker 3: to try to find those holes in the defense as
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  Speaker 3: well and be on the same page with the quarterback that.
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  Speaker 1: This is a good story. He's asked, has he always
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  Speaker 1: been a tight end?
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  Speaker 3: No? No, So I actually played quarterback growing up until
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  Speaker 3: my junior year of high school. So that's kind of
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  Speaker 3: when I made the trans the tight end. There's just
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  Speaker 3: some things as a tight quarterback battle, and the coach
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  Speaker 3: knew I could play tight end, so you know, he
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  Speaker 3: kind of I kind of wanted to do it too.
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  Speaker 3: There was something that I was interested in, so that's
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  Speaker 3: kind of how that came about.
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  Speaker 1: No Claire is an Ohio native but did not grow
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  Speaker 1: up a Buckeye fan. His dad played at Boston College,
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  Speaker 1: so that was his favorite team growing up. So you're
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  Speaker 1: the top tight end of the portal. You didn't necessarily
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  Speaker 1: grow up being an Ohio State fan. So what made
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State the place that he chose to come? When
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  Speaker 1: you know it's not a spot where you're not in
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  Speaker 1: you know you're necessarily going to catch fifty passes like
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  Speaker 1: you did last year. This is two answers kind of
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  Speaker 1: butted together. Last year. Max Claire was on a Purdue
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  Speaker 1: team that went one and eleven, with the only win
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  Speaker 1: being over an FCS team. So what was it like
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  Speaker 1: to then end that season getting to be with the
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  Speaker 1: team with the Buckeyes during the run to the national championship.
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  Speaker 3: Right, Yeah. And I think coach Key, I mean he
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  Speaker 3: hit on all the things I wanted to hear and
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  Speaker 3: some things I didn't want to, you know what I mean.
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  Speaker 3: And that's and that's real as a coach, and you
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  Speaker 3: want to be in an environment that's gonna push you
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  Speaker 3: in all aspects of the game. And being a tight end,
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  Speaker 3: it's not just about pass catching. You know, you got
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  Speaker 3: to block, and you know, I think that's something that
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  Speaker 3: I want to keep developing. And you know, going against
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  Speaker 3: these guys every day, I mean running routes and blocking
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  Speaker 3: these guys every day, I mean, it's gonna make you better.
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  Speaker 3: So I think I have a you know, a vision
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  Speaker 3: of where I want to be as a tight end,
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  Speaker 3: and I think this place gives me the best opportunity
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  Speaker 3: to do that. I mean I liked everything, but like
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  Speaker 3: you know, you know, coaches like they sometimes just tell
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  Speaker 3: you what you want to hear. You know, you don't
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  Speaker 3: you don't always want that. You want someone that's real,
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  Speaker 3: and he kept it real with me, and you know,
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  Speaker 3: he showed some things that like I need to improve on,
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  Speaker 3: which I like to hear, but not everyone wants to hear,
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  Speaker 3: you know what I mean, So stuff like that. Right, Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: it was great. I mean just seeing the culture they
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  Speaker 3: have here and how they run things. You know, they
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  Speaker 3: had they had that group of guys that really you know,
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  Speaker 3: led the way and showed showed me what it looks
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  Speaker 3: like to win here. So it was awesome.
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  Speaker 1: So many intriguing players in that tight end room, so
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  Speaker 1: many intriguing storylines in that tight end room, and that's
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  Speaker 1: just one of the many many areas on this Ohio
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: State team where there's so much interesting stuff to talk about.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: We're gonna be talking about all of that as we
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: count down the days through the Spring Showcase, which sounds
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: like it's probably going to be really basically a spring
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: game that's on Saturday, April twelfth. We'll be there to
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: cover that. Guy's headed to the White House a couple
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: days after that, So it's gonna be a lot to
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: talk about over the next few weeks, and then as
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: we head into the summer and all the recruiting and
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: all the camps and all that fun stuff. There's gonna
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: be a ton to talk about at bucke huddle dot com.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: We hope to see you there. That's where Tony Kevin
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: and I cover the team, Mark Carvers recruiting. We get
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: our whole team of EXUS and OS crews there as well,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: all to make you a smarter football fan, all at
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: bucke huddle dot com. That'll do it for today. Thank
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: you guys all for joining us. Have a great day.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: We'll talk to you tomorrow.