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Ross Fulton Analysis: 3 Things To Watch, 3 Concerns For Ohio State's Offense · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Friday, September 4th. I'm
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  Speaker 1: your host, Tom Moore. The Ball State game in one day.
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  Speaker 1: The game against Michigan in 85 days. Today's episode presented
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  Speaker 1: menu and make a reservation today. All right, on today's show,
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  Speaker 1: we're going to be welcoming in Ross Fulton, one of
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  Speaker 1: our scheme gurus from BuckeyeInsiders.com. If you guys enjoy these
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  Speaker 1: It is apparently a thing that helps a lot. So
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  Speaker 1: please do that if you are enjoying these shows. So
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to welcome in Ross. He wrote something this
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  Speaker 1: week at BuckeyeInsiders.com about three things he's expecting or looking
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  Speaker 1: for this year on both the offensive and defensive sides
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  Speaker 1: of the ball. On today's show, we're going to be
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  Speaker 1: focusing on the offensive side of the ball, give you
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  Speaker 1: three things he's looking for this year or expecting this year,
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  Speaker 1: and one thing maybe he's a little bit concerned about.
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  Speaker 1: So Ross, I think the first thing is, we've heard
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  Speaker 1: players and coaches talk a little bit about with Arthur Smith.
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  Speaker 1: He has a way of making things look very similar,
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  Speaker 1: which can be very confusing for the opposing defense.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think if anything, you'll probably see fewer concepts
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  Speaker 2: used in the run game. I think they're going to
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  Speaker 2: lean more heavily into stretch or outside zone along with
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  Speaker 2: duo and inside zone. But I think part of that
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  Speaker 2: is because Arthur Smith You know, people who are really
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  Speaker 2: big proponents of stretch want to put a lot of
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  Speaker 2: effort into that play because it takes a lot of reps.
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  Speaker 2: But also part of it is because he wants to
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  Speaker 2: build off of his base run plays and make things
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  Speaker 2: look alike by, you know, so from both pre-snap formation,
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  Speaker 2: the defense doesn't know what's coming. And then based on
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  Speaker 2: that initial action, the defense doesn't know what's coming. So
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  Speaker 2: I expect a lot more heavier percentage of past concepts
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  Speaker 2: be off of play action. You know, I think we'll
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  Speaker 2: see both drop back play action concepts off those run looks,
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  Speaker 2: but a lot of bootleg and half rolls as well.
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  Speaker 2: You know, we've seen a lot of that from Arthur
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  Speaker 2: Smith in the NFL. And, you know, as I discussed
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  Speaker 2: in the article, Julian's saying isn't a guy you're going
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  Speaker 2: to rely on to, you know, run on design quarterback
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  Speaker 2: runs frequently, but he does have the mobility to be
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  Speaker 2: effective on bootlegs and rollouts. And, you know, that's the way.
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  Speaker 2: that you create explosive pass plays too. That's obviously been
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  Speaker 2: a big focus for Ryan Day that he's talked about
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  Speaker 2: repeatedly in the offseason. And using heavy play action, you
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  Speaker 2: get more of those one high looks. You make it
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  Speaker 2: harder for teams to keep a safety over the top
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  Speaker 2: of Jeremiah Smith. And so that opens the possibility of
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  Speaker 2: more explosiveness out of the offense.
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  Speaker 1: Now, a lot of the stuff you talked about there,
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  Speaker 1: heavy play action, bootlegs, all that kind of stuff, you
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  Speaker 1: can do some of that stuff out of the shotgun,
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  Speaker 1: but it feels like you typically see that more out
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  Speaker 1: from under center. And that's something that you were also
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  Speaker 1: expecting more under center. And one thing that makes me
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  Speaker 1: think you were definitely onto the right track here is
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  Speaker 1: Arthur Smith was asked about this at some point in
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  Speaker 1: August and was like, I don't know why you think
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  Speaker 1: we're being, we're going to be under center more. And
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  Speaker 1: it was like, I mean, we saw you under center
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  Speaker 1: a bunch and your film from the NFL is out there.
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  Speaker 1: And it feels like that, that leads me to believe that, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: they're probably going to be under center more this year.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and in some ways it's a continuation because I
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  Speaker 2: do think we've seen a little bit more of it each,
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  Speaker 2: you know, starting even with Chip Kelly in 24, a
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  Speaker 2: little bit more last year. But I think you'll see
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  Speaker 2: it be a more regular feature this year. You know,
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  Speaker 2: I caution, like, they're still going to be used a shotgun.
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  Speaker 2: They're certainly going to be used the pistol. You know,
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  Speaker 2: each of those looks bring some different aspects to it.
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  Speaker 2: And as I talk about in the article, one of
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  Speaker 2: the benefits of under center is that you know, you get,
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  Speaker 2: it gives you in a lot of ways, a better
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  Speaker 2: play action look to the defense because the quarterback's turn
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  Speaker 2: is back.
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  Speaker 3: You have like a longer mesh point.
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  Speaker 2: You know, it's not as quick when you sort of,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I've seen Ohio State over the years, you
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  Speaker 2: kind of give like the shotgun play action fake.
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  Speaker 3: It's real quick. It doesn't really quite sell the play
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  Speaker 3: in the same way.
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  Speaker 2: And so I think again, like, you know, you get
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  Speaker 2: in those under center looks, teams kind of associate that
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  Speaker 2: with running the football and that gives you the opportunity
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  Speaker 2: to hit pass plays again, down the field, get, get
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  Speaker 2: advantageous looks. And so I think we'll see more under
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  Speaker 2: center runs. It also works, especially for both duo and
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  Speaker 2: outside zone. And also like the timing of both plays
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  Speaker 2: works well from under center in terms of the run game.
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  Speaker 2: So I think all those things, and you know, the
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  Speaker 2: last thing I'd say about it is again, back to
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  Speaker 2: the Julian saying as a runner, you know, one of
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  Speaker 2: the benefits of shotgun and why it really kind of
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  Speaker 2: took over, you know, 20, 25 years ago was, quarterback
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  Speaker 2: run threat right you can read someone you can run
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  Speaker 2: quarterback run reads you can do rpo run pass options
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  Speaker 2: obviously again i don't think they want to lean into
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  Speaker 2: saying as a runner they certainly didn't last year on
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  Speaker 2: run reads but so if you're not going to have
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  Speaker 2: your quarterback as a run threat then the shotgun can
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  Speaker 2: become somewhat constraining in the sense of like you know
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  Speaker 2: the runs can only go certain directions it's easier to
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  Speaker 2: come off the backside edge so like all those things
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  Speaker 2: lead me to believe that similar to what he's done
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  Speaker 2: the nfl you'll see more under center. Again, I don't
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  Speaker 2: think it's going to be everything. I think they, they still,
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  Speaker 2: you know, Julian saying is very effective on run pass options.
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  Speaker 2: I still think that'll be a chunk of the offense.
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  Speaker 2: Although I will say that Arthur Smith did some under
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  Speaker 2: center RPO stuff last year with the sealers.
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  Speaker 3: So again, I think it'll be a bigger chunk of
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  Speaker 3: the offense.
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  Speaker 1: And then one of the things we've heard a lot
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  Speaker 1: about this offseason is they want to get more big plays.
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  Speaker 1: They want to get more yards after catch, especially in
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  Speaker 1: the passing game. And one way to do that is
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  Speaker 1: with the quick game. And that's something else you're expecting
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  Speaker 1: them to maybe utilize this year.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think that, again, is like sort
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  Speaker 2: of the flip side, right, of a lot of under
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  Speaker 2: center heavy play action, pushing the ball down the field.
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  Speaker 2: I do think you'll see, and partly this is just like,
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  Speaker 2: you know, maximizing your players, right? You know, Julian Sane's
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  Speaker 2: really accurate. in that first 10 to 15 yards. And
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  Speaker 2: I think last year they got to rely on, as
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  Speaker 2: I've talked about on like sort of drop back, uh,
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  Speaker 2: you know, underneath concepts like hook curl in that area.
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  Speaker 2: But I think what they can do more of this
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  Speaker 2: year is sort of, you know, quick slants, quick outs,
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  Speaker 2: quick hitches, not just off of run pass options. Um,
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  Speaker 2: because you know, not only does that fit saying it
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  Speaker 2: also think gives different ways to get Jeremiah Smith, the ball. And,
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  Speaker 2: you know, as well as Devin McEwen, who I think
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  Speaker 2: is much more sort of in line with that, what
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  Speaker 2: day had in mind about sort of a catch, you know,
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  Speaker 2: being able to catch it and make something happen after the,
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  Speaker 2: after the catch day had extremely high praise for McEwen
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  Speaker 2: and his press conference this week saying he's as good
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  Speaker 2: as any, you know, the top receivers he's had at
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  Speaker 2: Ohio state, which is, you know, really saying something. So
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  Speaker 2: I think all those things kind of fit together. And again,
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  Speaker 2: sort of, again, NFL concepts, right? You're going to see
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  Speaker 2: more and more of like, you know, both you get
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  Speaker 2: the under center, but you also get the ball out quickly,
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  Speaker 2: sort of the lineage of the West Coast offense coming through.
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  Speaker 1: So all of that sounds very encouraging, but, you know,
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  Speaker 1: I think there's still some uncertainty going into this year.
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  Speaker 1: So if you had to look at the offense and say,
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  Speaker 1: like point to one thing and say, this is something
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  Speaker 1: that's at least worth keeping an eye on, if not
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  Speaker 1: outright concerning going into the season, what, what would be
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  Speaker 1: an area that you would be kind of keeping an
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  Speaker 1: eye on? Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I guess the biggest one that sort of
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  Speaker 2: jumps out to me is tight end play. I, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I just think there's some uncertainty there. It sounds like
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  Speaker 2: they sort of have a top three. I expect to see,
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  Speaker 2: you know, to my under center point quite a bit of, of,
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  Speaker 2: you know, 12 and even some 13 personnel looks again,
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  Speaker 2: but it's again, it's like sort of, what are you
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  Speaker 2: getting from those guys? There's either a combination of, you know,
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  Speaker 2: Mason Williams played out. Oh, you know, Nate Roberts barely
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  Speaker 2: played last year. I don't think my questions marks really
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  Speaker 2: isn't so much in the passing game to our discussion.
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  Speaker 2: I think they've got plenty that they can get out
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  Speaker 2: of the wide receivers and running back position as well.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's just the blocking, especially if you want
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  Speaker 2: to be a stretch and do a heavy team. You
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  Speaker 2: need to be able to win on the edges. I
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  Speaker 2: think that's probably my biggest question mark. I'll throw in
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  Speaker 2: two more for good measure. I, this isn't as much
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  Speaker 2: a question mark. I, we do want to see the
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  Speaker 2: explicitness out of the run game. Day has talked a
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  Speaker 2: lot about that. Obviously been a big point of emphasis.
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  Speaker 2: You want to see it in the game. And then,
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  Speaker 2: you know, obviously I think there's a lot of excitement
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  Speaker 2: from day and the staff's part about like the, now the,
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  Speaker 2: the interior three of Austin, Sarahville and Hinsman and Luke Montgomery.
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  Speaker 2: But then obviously we have to see how, how he
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  Speaker 2: and more plays a left tackle. Cause that's, you know,
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  Speaker 2: a big decision to move your returning left tackle to
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  Speaker 2: right guard.
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  Speaker 1: All right. So then three storylines to watch and three concerns.
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  Speaker 1: You got three for the price of one there on
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  Speaker 1: the concerns. It's time of year when everyone's always a
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  Speaker 1: little bit concerned, but also very excited for the start
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• 10:47
  Speaker 1: guys all for joining us. Have a great day.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: We'll talk to you tomorrow.