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Ohio State Football: True Freshmen Who Could Be Major Impact Players · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyees tomorrow morning for Saturday, July eighteenth. I'm
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  Speaker 1: your host, tom Or the ball State game in forty
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  Speaker 1: nine days. I'll do the math for you. That is
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  Speaker 1: seven weeks from today. The game it's Michigan in one
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  Speaker 1: hundred and thirty three days. Our friends at Jeffruby's Columbus
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  Speaker 1: dot com, slash Columbus or scan that convenient QR code
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  Speaker 1: on your screen, check out the menu, and make a
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  Speaker 1: reservation today. All right, On today's show, breaking down the
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  Speaker 1: thirtieth through twenty sixth most impactful potentially at least players
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  Speaker 1: on this year's Ohio State football team, a deeply, deeply
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  Speaker 1: scientific exercise that will be undergoing with our buddy Tony
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  Speaker 1: Gerdaman of Buckeye Insiders dot com. Tony, on the last show,
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  Speaker 1: I was in the middle of changing things in the
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  Speaker 1: middle of the show. So far, haven't changed anything since then,
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  Speaker 1: but you know there's still there's still certainly time to
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  Speaker 1: do that. So let's go start with number thirty. And
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  Speaker 1: this is someone who is not going to be a
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  Speaker 1: starter at least as of now this year, but someone
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  Speaker 1: who could end up playing a much bigger role by
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  Speaker 1: the time the season is over, and that is transfer
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  Speaker 1: corner Dominic Kelly.
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  Speaker 2: You know, you see him at thirty here and you're like, boy,
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  Speaker 2: thirty is a big number. There's got to be he's
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  Speaker 2: got to be higher than this, And then you start
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  Speaker 2: to think, well, there's only so many, so many places
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  Speaker 2: you could be. And like we said on the the
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  Speaker 2: last show, if you're kind of splitting this evenly between
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  Speaker 2: offense and defense, you've got him in the top fifteen.
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  Speaker 2: And we know he right now he's maybe that he's
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  Speaker 2: probably the third corner. So that tells me he's a
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  Speaker 2: very important part of the defense. And so unfortunately I
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  Speaker 2: can't really critique this one. You know, I guess it'd
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  Speaker 2: be interesting to go back and do this when carry
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  Speaker 2: Cohomes had his three man rotation with you know, with
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  Speaker 2: like three legitimate rotating corners, and where would they rank,
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  Speaker 2: because I'm sure they are all above thirty, But also
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  Speaker 2: back then they were kind of co starters. So I'm
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  Speaker 2: okay with this right now.
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  Speaker 1: All right, we'll see if you're okay with the next one,
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  Speaker 1: and that is number twenty nine. And this is the
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  Speaker 1: first true freshman we're gonna be talking about on today's show.
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  Speaker 1: There will be another one coming up in just a minute.
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  Speaker 1: We're gonna put Legend Bay here, and man, this is
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  Speaker 1: one where I feel like this is kind of the
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  Speaker 1: floor where if he's healthy, he's not going lower than this.
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  Speaker 1: But we have seen true freshmen really impact big play
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  Speaker 1: making true freshmen play much much bigger roles than this.
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  Speaker 1: I can't put him ahead of the other two running
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  Speaker 1: backs that we're still going to be talking about later
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  Speaker 1: on in the list, but man, I kind of want
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  Speaker 1: to put him a lot higher than this, but I
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  Speaker 1: just it just feels like he might not be higher
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  Speaker 1: than this, but he'll probably be higher than well.
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  Speaker 2: I'm glad that you're a little bit like because you're
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  Speaker 2: right like, he's a true freshman running back transitioning from quarterback,
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  Speaker 2: so there's gonna be some growing pains and you wouldn't
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  Speaker 2: necessarily expect somebody to come in and you'll be a
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  Speaker 2: huge impact. Be up be in the top twenty or
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  Speaker 2: something like that. And so you've got him here and
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  Speaker 2: this feels safe, which is also that's a statement about
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  Speaker 2: Legend Bay and what we expect, because as you said,
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  Speaker 2: you don't expect it to be any lower than this.
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  Speaker 2: I do wonder, you know, what do we consider impactful
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  Speaker 2: because Dendre Wilson as a true freshman had just about
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  Speaker 2: one thousand all purpose yards you know, rushing, receiving, and
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  Speaker 2: kickoff returns. And he gets criticized because he didn't live
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  Speaker 2: up to the hype, but he almost had a thousand,
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  Speaker 2: nine hundred and eighty or ninety yards of all purpose
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  Speaker 2: like he contributed. He was a big time contributor to
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  Speaker 2: that team overall. And I'm wondering, now, you know, would
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  Speaker 2: he be, say, the the number twenty nine guy on
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  Speaker 2: that twenty thirteen team. You know, maybe I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: I have to go back and look, but there's a
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  Speaker 2: real possibility that, boy, what is the ceiling? Because I
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  Speaker 2: was gonna say there's a real possibility that Legend bes
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  Speaker 2: on top twenty, But then that feels too high because again,
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  Speaker 2: when we've talked to people, they're talking about six seven,
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  Speaker 2: eight touches, So that automatically limits him. What limits him?
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  Speaker 2: Like Carnel, say, had six seven eight touchdowns a game,
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  Speaker 2: would you put him at twenty nine?
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  Speaker 1: Tom Well, if he had six seven eight touchdowns a game,
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  Speaker 1: he'd probably number one on the list. But six seven
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  Speaker 1: eight touches, Yeah, it's probably a little I think Bay
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  Speaker 1: could be as high as ten on this list, top
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  Speaker 1: between five and ten. Now, that would require he has
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  Speaker 1: like the ted ginn special teams season, which I'm not
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  Speaker 1: projecting that. We're putting him where he is on this
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  Speaker 1: list because you're not projecting that for any true freshman,
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  Speaker 1: because true freshmen haven't done that since ted Gin, and
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  Speaker 1: true freshman didn't really do that before ted Gin. That
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  Speaker 1: was really kind of a bespoke ted Gin thing. Is
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  Speaker 1: he the next ted Gin? That is certainly not anything
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to put on him right now. We'll see
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  Speaker 1: what it looks like on the field. But he's gonna
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  Speaker 1: have a role. He's not going to be one of
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  Speaker 1: the top two running backs in terms of carries. He's
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  Speaker 1: not gonna be one of the top three wide receivers
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  Speaker 1: in terms of catches. I expect more on special teams
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  Speaker 1: than they've done in recent years, But I'm a little
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  Speaker 1: reticent to put you know, well, he'll have at least
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  Speaker 1: two touchdowns on special teams maybe, but I don't think
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  Speaker 1: you can expect that. So we're going to put him
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  Speaker 1: here with an up arrow and the just sort of
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  Speaker 1: acknowledgment that, yeah, could be a lot higher. NEXTEP number
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  Speaker 1: twenty eight, I've got Connor Hawkins transfer kicker out of Baylor,
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  Speaker 1: and this is one where he's another guy who, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: he's gonna be in the like low twenties probably unless
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  Speaker 1: he needs to have a game winning kick against Michigan
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  Speaker 1: or in the Big Ten championship game at the College
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  Speaker 1: Football playoff, and then all of a sudden, he's like
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  Speaker 1: a top fifteen. So I do think there is going
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  Speaker 1: to be a point during the season where he is
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  Speaker 1: lining up to make a kick to either tie or
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  Speaker 1: win a game late against a good opponent. If he
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  Speaker 1: does that two times three times this year, well then
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  Speaker 1: he's probably a lot higher on this list.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And really even just moving from seven to ten
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  Speaker 2: points on a lead of a big time opponent where
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  Speaker 2: that is the insurance points still count. But I can
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  Speaker 2: also see if he finishes like twenty or twenty two,
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  Speaker 2: and there are a bunch of blowouts, and he basically
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  Speaker 2: he's the the a Rod hitting a solo shot in
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  Speaker 2: the World Series down nine to one, something like that,
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  Speaker 2: where maybe he doesn't have any big plays, but he's
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  Speaker 2: still really good. But does that mean he's impactful. No,
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  Speaker 2: but I do expect him to be impactful because of
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  Speaker 2: the schedule, and you know, I've already boldly somewhat predicted
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  Speaker 2: that he will win a game this season for the Buckeyes.
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  Speaker 2: But I also just think the insurance points that can
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  Speaker 2: come those those still matter. And especially when we know
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  Speaker 2: Ryan Day doesn't necessarily like to pull his put his
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  Speaker 2: bench on the field and doesn't want to pull the starters.
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  Speaker 2: Any opportunity to get some points on the board and
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  Speaker 2: maybe get some other guys out there, I think is
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  Speaker 2: a good thing.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I keep I just have Chris Paul hits a
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  Speaker 1: huge three to cut the deficit to forty two. In
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  Speaker 1: my head right now, one of the great moments in
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  Speaker 1: Internet history. I don't think Ohio's probably going to be
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  Speaker 1: down forty two at any point this year, but if
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  Speaker 1: they're down forty five and he hits a big three,
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  Speaker 1: you can do the math from there. Next step number
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  Speaker 1: twenty seven. We had two other tight ends who narrowly
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  Speaker 1: missed the list. This is the guy the tight end
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  Speaker 1: I'm expected to play the biggest role this year. That
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  Speaker 1: would be Nate Roberts.
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  Speaker 2: Tom It's like you're not actually buying into the fact
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  Speaker 2: that this is the year of the tight end, because
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  Speaker 2: Nate Roberts as the starting tight end. As low as
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  Speaker 2: you have him ranked, what was it, twenty seven, twenty seven. Yes,
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  Speaker 2: I could accept two or seven, but when you put
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  Speaker 2: him at twenty seven, that's that's a bridge too far.
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  Speaker 2: But I do think he will. I think there's a
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  Speaker 2: pretty good chance that he's higher but also being a
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  Speaker 2: tight end. If he's not getting the ball, nobody's going
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  Speaker 2: to hold you, you know, to account for this. Nobody's
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  Speaker 2: going to recognize that he should actually be a top
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  Speaker 2: ten kind of guy or top fifteen. So I think
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  Speaker 2: you're going to get away with it like you do
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  Speaker 2: with most of your crimes. But I also think there's
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  Speaker 2: a chance that he's I think he could be a
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  Speaker 2: fan favorite this year.
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  Speaker 1: I think he could. I think he's definitely gonna be
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  Speaker 1: one of those people who is perceived a lot differently
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  Speaker 1: this year than he was last year were last year
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  Speaker 1: he was the full back, and everyone kind of went,
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  Speaker 1: he's on the field instead of one of the wide
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  Speaker 1: receivers I'd rather see on the field. So, through no
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  Speaker 1: fault of his own, he was kind of a little
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  Speaker 1: bit of a player who people groaned a little bit
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  Speaker 1: when he went out there. I have him a little
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  Speaker 1: lower than you might choose to, mainly because I think
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  Speaker 1: a couple of the tight ends whose names we mentioned
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  Speaker 1: on the last show, they could be people who they
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  Speaker 1: split the receptions, they split the touchdowns, they split the
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  Speaker 1: yardage a little bit evenly between them. I just I
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  Speaker 1: don't think this is I don't think Nate Roberts is
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  Speaker 1: going to be a six hundred and fifty yard receiving
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  Speaker 1: guy at tight end. If he's a three hundred and
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  Speaker 1: fifty yards receiving and five tight at touchdowns, like okay,
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  Speaker 1: does that? You know? Is that higher than this? Is
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  Speaker 1: that lower than this? It just kind of that's Scott Yeah, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: if he's in that range. Because Hunter Wilson and Mason
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  Speaker 1: Williams are also getting a couple of touchdowns and one
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  Speaker 1: hundred and eighty yards or two hundred yards or something
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  Speaker 1: like that, it just it feels like that the receptions
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  Speaker 1: in the stats could get split up a little bit
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  Speaker 1: between those guys, and of course Tony, you have the
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  Speaker 1: wide receivers who are going to be taking a bunch
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  Speaker 1: one of the guys who again, this is someone who
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  Speaker 1: I could be real, real low here, I could end
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  Speaker 1: up being a little high here. I just kind of
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  Speaker 1: tried to split the difference here. Number twenty six, true
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  Speaker 1: freshman wide receiver, Chris Henry Jr.
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  Speaker 2: I'm a with this. I continue to start, I'm starting
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  Speaker 2: to feel like we're gonna see maybe a Garrett Wilson
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  Speaker 2: type of trajectory for him, where he's playing, you know,
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  Speaker 2: throughout the whole season, but then as the season goes on,
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  Speaker 2: he's like, oh no, no, he's he's playing. He is
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  Speaker 2: he is essentially like Garrett Wilson was essentially a co
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  Speaker 2: starter with Benjamin Victor by the end of you know, November,
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  Speaker 2: by the start of November. And that's kind of what
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  Speaker 2: I could envision here for Chris Henry. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: that spring game, it caught a lot of people's attention
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  Speaker 2: and that was the best that we saw him in
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  Speaker 2: the spring. But there were flashes. There were never any
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  Speaker 2: consistent times you're like, oh wow, like we've talked about
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  Speaker 2: many times with the true freshman wide receivers, but then
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  Speaker 2: everybody gets to see what the potential is on the
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  Speaker 2: field in the spring game. Now can he do that?
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  Speaker 2: I'm sure there will be games where he does something similar.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know if he's ever going to have a
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  Speaker 2: one hundred yard game, but I feel like this could
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  Speaker 2: be one where he's more valuable. He's higher ranked in
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  Speaker 2: November than he is in August, that sort of thing,
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  Speaker 2: and then if you average it out maybe as twenty
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  Speaker 2: five or twenty six.
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  Speaker 1: I think that's exactly right where he's not someone who
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  Speaker 1: I'm expecting to start day one, And I think Jeremiah
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  Speaker 1: Smith has sort of broken the curve for what a
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  Speaker 1: true freshman season, a really good true freshman season looks
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  Speaker 1: like for a wide receiver at Ohio State. If he
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  Speaker 1: ends up with four hundred and fifty yards and a
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  Speaker 1: handful of touchdowns, I think right now there are a
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  Speaker 1: lot of people that would go. But I saw him
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  Speaker 1: have one hundred and something yards in the spring game,
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  Speaker 1: so he should have way more than that. And again
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  Speaker 1: that's kind of that That game was probably the the
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  Speaker 1: spring game was probably the best we saw him all spring,
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  Speaker 1: which is good because that's sort of that's progress, that's
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  Speaker 1: an upward trajectory. But it's also not Jeremiah Smith, where
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  Speaker 1: you just saw the wow plays all the way through spring.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, I think he's someone who Garrett Wilson is
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  Speaker 1: a good comp I was thinking Chris a Lave, But
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  Speaker 1: Chris A Lave. He's probably playing more than Chris A
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  Speaker 1: Lave would did early in his true freshman season, but
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  Speaker 1: by the time you get to the end of the season,
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  Speaker 1: he could be an impact player the way Chris a
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  Speaker 1: Lave was. So there you go thirty through twenty six
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  Speaker 1: on our countdown list. You can go ahead and leave
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  Speaker 1: we'd love to include you in those as well, so
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  Speaker 1: you can see us there at Buckeyeinsiders dot com. And
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  Speaker 1: for TIS today. Thank you guys all for joining us.
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  Speaker 1: Have a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.