Latest / Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning / 4 Milestones Ohio State Football Could Break In 2024

Transcript

4 Milestones Ohio State Football Could Break In 2024 · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

• 0:00
  Welcome to buck Eyes tomorrow morning for Friday, June twenty eighth. I'm your
• 0:02
  host, tom Or The Akron game in sixty four days, the games against
• 0:06
  Michigan in one hundred and fifty five days, Big ten Media Days in Oh
• 0:11
  geez, I should have done the math before this. I don't know,
• 0:13
  twenty six days or so. We're counting down the days to Big ten Media
• 0:17
  Days with the fifty four to fifty series at Buckeye Huddle dot Com, Tony
• 0:21
  Gerdaman writing that every day counting down from fifty days to the start of Big
• 0:26
  ten Media Days, and each day has all sorts of different insight and analysis
• 0:31
  in terms of individual matchups to watch this year, predictions feral highest state predictions
• 0:35
  for college football nationally, and much more. Tony is my guest. Today
• 0:38
  We're going to be talking about four of those predictions that I thought were particularly
• 0:42
  interesting recently that I wanted to talk about Tony. The first one, the
• 0:46
  Buckeyes will rush for three hundred yards in a Big Ten game. That doesn't
• 0:51
  seem like that high in number, but when I saw it, I thought,
• 0:54
  I bet this probably has not happened nearly as often as people think.
• 0:58
  Yeah, that has not happened as often as it used to either. I
• 1:02
  think the last time was in twenty twenty two, and I don't believe they
• 1:06
  did it in twenty twenty one, didn't do it last year, so they've
• 1:10
  done it once in their last twenty seven Big Ten games. So, Tom,
• 1:14
  I don't know where you're from, but where I'm from, that's pretty
• 1:15
  bold as a pretty bold prediction. But it hasn't happened, you know,
• 1:21
  and really happening against Indiana doesn't really count for our purposes. It does,
• 1:26
  but I think it's going to happen again this year, and not unrelatedly because
• 1:30
  of the quarterback running, the running backs running chip Kelly involved, an offensive
• 1:38
  line and its second year essentially together, and so I think I feel pretty
• 1:42
  good about this one. Yeah, this seems like enough stuff has changed.
• 1:49
  Last year was not a good rushing attack at all for Ohio State. But
• 1:52
  all the stuff that you mentioned. Offensive line should be better. Edition of
• 1:55
  the quarterback run as a consistent threat in every play that should help running backs
• 2:00
  should be better than they were last year. Addition of chip Kelly potentially makes
• 2:04
  it a little bit more of a dynamic and unpredictable running game. I mean,
• 2:07
  all of that stuff feels like it adds up to it should be a
• 2:10
  substantially improved Ohio State ground game this year. So yeah, I will co
• 2:15
  sign this one. I think they get there. But you know that is
• 2:19
  I'm sure if you went back to the nineteen seventies and said Ohio State's going
• 2:23
  to run for three hundred yards in a game against a Big ten opponent one
• 2:27
  time in three seasons, people would have probably needed you to fetch their fainting
• 2:30
  couches. That was probably without going back and looking, I'm going to guess
• 2:34
  that was probably something that happened more often than not in the nineteen seventies.
• 2:38
  But yeah, it's a little bit of a different game now than it was
• 2:42
  back then. All Right, So here's another thing that's probably a little different
• 2:44
  now than it was back then. Tony predicts a defensive player for the Buckeyes
• 2:47
  to score multiple touchdowns this season. I'm just sort of thinking back. I
• 2:52
  know Pascal Garrett had multiple touchdowns. I don't know if they were in the
• 2:55
  same season. I think Draymond Jones might have had multiple touchdowns those were in
• 3:00
  the same season. Do you have to go back to do you have to
• 3:05
  go all the way back to Malik Hooker. To have someone who did this
• 3:07
  real high state or am I forgetting someone? No, you had the name
• 3:12
  Draymond Jones had two and twenty eighteen and so this year. It's been a
• 3:16
  while, but it's not unheard of. I think the fact that I was
• 3:21
  a defensive tackle doing it in twenty eighteen is pretty impressive. Normally you would
• 3:24
  just assume it's a couple of pick sixes something like that, or you know,
• 3:29
  a seven Banks scored once on a pump block return and maybe you go
• 3:32
  ahead and get a pick six later on. But I think this is the
• 3:35
  year Tom we're going to see a more aggressive defense. You can gamble a
• 3:38
  little bit more, you can jump some routes. I know Denzel Berg,
• 3:42
  Davis nig Binos, and Jordan Hancock are looking forward to that. Jordan Hancock
• 3:46
  once more interceptions than he had last year, he said talking him after the
• 3:51
  spring game. I think he was. He said, for about five straight
• 3:53
  weeks he had an interception nearly every week, and then then I went back
• 3:57
  and I think it was only like one interception in that timeframe, but he
• 4:00
  had his hands on them, and we know we had a pick six in
• 4:02
  there, but a guy that you know, all of these guys are going
• 4:05
  to be more aggressive because they have Caleb Downs behind them, and yet don't
• 4:11
  forget about the defensive tackles, and don't forget about JT. Twoey molowhile was
• 4:15
  scoring at defensive end, Like, there are a number of different number of
• 4:18
  different guys that can do this. I think it's time. I'm is this.
• 4:26
  I kind of feel like maybe this is a secondary scoring, a cornerback
• 4:30
  jumping some routes, something like that, or maybe you know, Jermaine Matthews
• 4:33
  returns both of his touchdowns this year instead of just his only one like last
• 4:38
  year. I think it's going to happen. I'm not going to put a
• 4:42
  name to it. Tom, It's not that kind of bold prediction. Yeah,
• 4:46
  this is just a prediction, not a bold prediction. It is a
• 4:48
  little bit of an outlier. It just feels like for years we have been
• 4:53
  talking about the fact that, you know, the Ohistate defense has been pretty
• 4:55
  good, but they just haven't forced as many turnovers as you is, you
• 4:59
  would sort of expect them to. They have never had the you know,
• 5:02
  crazy plus twenty turnover kind of season or you know whatever, the the statistical
• 5:08
  outlier kind of number would be there. That was something you actually asked Ryan
• 5:12
  Day about about a week ago, was the level of aggression they're going to
• 5:16
  bring because you could just stay back and trust your veteran players, or the
• 5:21
  fact that you have veteran players, the fact that you have a Caleb Downs
• 5:25
  behind you might allow you to be more aggressive. And you know, he
• 5:29
  didn't have a real you know, he didn't say and this is exactly what
• 5:31
  we're going to do this year, but you know, I mean that's obviously
• 5:34
  something that based on his answer, that they have been thinking about and that
• 5:39
  you know, if they're thinking about it and they're potentially going to be more
• 5:41
  aggressive, I think that only makes it more likely you're going to see,
• 5:45
  you know, you force some big mistakes from the opponent. Yeah, the
• 5:47
  opportunities are going to be there, but you've just got to capitalize on them.
• 5:53
  And how many how many times have we seen a cornerback the ball goes
• 5:56
  through his hands and you see the anguish on their face, or defensive tackle
• 6:03
  when the ball goes gets popped up and they're catching it, there's sixteen guys
• 6:06
  around them to tackle him. Or blog for him, and there's nowhere to
• 6:10
  go. But hey, sixteen games, make something happen. Don't be a
• 6:14
  baby, all right, Speaking of making things happen and not being a baby,
• 6:18
  this is one I do know the last time Ohio State accomplished it,
• 6:21
  and this is very bold. The Buckeyes will return a kickoff for a touchdown.
• 6:27
  Last time that happened in a game was Jordan Hall against Michigan in twenty
• 6:30
  ten. It has been a minute, and every year it feels like,
• 6:33
  well, Ohio State has such great skill talent, of course someone's gonna b
• 6:38
  you know, someone's gonna bust one. They haven't even really been particularly close
• 6:42
  very often. I think, you know, Paris Campbell had a couple where
• 6:45
  I remember him getting kind of inside the ten maybe something like that, and
• 6:48
  they've had some a Mecca Buka had a cup one or two a couple of
• 6:51
  years ago where he got across the fifty. Maybe Xavier Johnson had one or
• 6:55
  two. But this is one where it feels like they haven't even really been
• 6:59
  all that close in recent years. So all right, other than you needed
• 7:03
  to fill a spot in this prediction thing, what's the thinking here? Why
• 7:08
  is this the magic year when Ohio State is going to return to kickoff for
• 7:10
  a touchdown. You just answered it, Tom, I needed to fill a
• 7:14
  spot. No, I will say, there's a change with the special teams.
• 7:18
  You move on from Parker Fleming, the special teams coordinator, so maybe
• 7:23
  there's something there. I also think they I wonder if they realized that they
• 7:27
  weren't aggressive enough last year and that hindered the offense. As we've talked about
• 7:31
  in the past, when you have CJ. Stroud, you have justin fields,
• 7:35
  you have Dwayne Haskins, you don't need to try to get thirty yards
• 7:39
  on the kickoff return because there's really no difference between seventy five yards and sixty
• 7:44
  five yards With that kind of offense. There might be a difference this year,
• 7:46
  there would have been there was a difference last year. So do you
• 7:50
  get more aggressive and try to return some more kickoffs? I will say,
• 7:55
  though, Tom, the numbers are pretty concerned in terms of they received forty
• 8:01
  kickoffs last year, they returned only thirteen of them, and not all of
• 8:07
  those are returnable. But to think like, if they're only going to get
• 8:11
  return thirteen kicks this year, I'm asking you to hit on one of thirteen.
• 8:15
  That's not very easy. However, they are due. Tom the Ohio
• 8:20
  State Buckeys are so due. I went through they have the opponent is kicked
• 8:24
  off seven hundred and seven times since the last Ohio State kickoff return for a
• 8:31
  touchdown seven hundred and seven. It does sound like they're due. Ohio State
• 8:39
  has also not lost to an in state opponent in over one hundred years.
• 8:43
  Tony the akron Zips. Are they due? Maybe? Maybe? Who's to
• 8:48
  say? We will all find out together in sixty four days on the answer
• 8:52
  to that. I have a feeling I know the answer on that one and
• 8:56
  one other thing that I think is working against you here in addition to the
• 9:00
  you know call of fair catch, take it at the twenty five thing.
• 9:03
  If this defense is as good as it could be, you're gonna have fewer
• 9:07
  kickoff opportunities, you know, if we're talking about safeties and counting free kicks
• 9:13
  here, and you weren't clear on that. You didn't spell that out.
• 9:15
  So maybe that works for you a little bit. But I think the Jim
• 9:18
  Noles defense may be working against you a little bit on your quest for the
• 9:22
  first first kickoff return for a touchdown since twenty ten, last one two true
• 9:28
  freshmen will score multiple touchdowns this season? All right, Tony, it's Jeremiah
• 9:33
  Smith and who James Peeples? Yeah, I think that's what I have in
• 9:37
  my mind. And that seems like, well, that's pretty simple. That's
• 9:41
  kutt and dry. That's go ahead and sign me up because that's going to
• 9:45
  happen. But the reason Tom, this is such a fantastically bold prediction.
• 9:50
  Do you know the last time you had two true freshmen score multiple touchdowns for
• 9:56
  the buck guys in a season? Thank you for asking, I do not.
• 10:01
  I'm going to guess it was two thousand and eighteen. Did you get
• 10:11
  Did you get Chris Olave and someone that year? I don't know who that
• 10:16
  someone would have been, But the answer I have is twenty thirteen with Ezekiel
• 10:20
  Elliott and Dantre Wilson. Wow, both scored three that year. So,
• 10:24
  and Dontre Wilson was part of the offense. Ezekiel Elliott was the guy that
• 10:28
  carried the ball in the fourth quarter to run out the clock when the game
• 10:31
  was over. So I would think they're as well equipped to do it this
• 10:37
  year as they've been at any time in the past. Depth chart will help
• 10:41
  them in this one. But I think, yeah, those are the two
• 10:45
  guys that I'm banking on doing it, and you know, would I'd be
• 10:48
  more surprised if Mylon Graham was the second guy in there. I think we
• 10:52
  just go ahead and the free space is Jeremiah Smith and somebody else is gonna
• 10:56
  step in there and get a couple of touchdowns. All right, Well,
• 11:01
  there are four predictions from Tony. Will they come Will ay all come true?
• 11:05
  Based on history? Absolutely not? But you know, hey, you
• 11:07
  never know. Maybe this is the year he gets lucky. Finally, a
• 11:09
  reason to be excited for the twenty twenty four Ohio State football season. You
• 11:13
  get to find out if Tony's right about something that is I personally cannot wait.
• 11:18
  Going to be a fun season for And yeah, I guess several other
• 11:20
  reasons as well, such as some of the biggest games in the college football
• 11:24
  calendar, all involving Ohio State going to Oregon, go into Penn State,
• 11:28
  Michigan come into town. There are some big ones on the schedule and could
• 11:33
  be several big ones after that Michigan game as well. We will be there
• 11:37
  for all of them. Tony, Kevin and I covering the team for buckeyehuddle
• 11:39
  dot com, Got Mark covering recruit and get our whole team with ex's and
• 11:43
  nose guruz making you a smarter football fan. We will be covering all of
• 11:46
  the stuff leading up to that busy, busy time in recruiting coming up in
• 11:50
  the next few days. Some big announcements coming in terms of top Ohio state
• 11:54
  targets announcing their commitments. We'll be covering all of those for it buckey huddle
• 11:58
  dot Com. Just over three weeks away from the start of Big Ten Media
• 12:03
  Days, always something we look forward to every year. A ton of great
• 12:05
  content, a ton of great stuff, opportunities to talk to people from all
• 12:09
  around the league, TV executives, officiating executive officiating managers, lots of good
• 12:15
  stuff. Plus you know, hey, we'll get to talk to Sharon Moore
• 12:18
  and some Michigan players, but to talk to Ryan Day and some Buckeyes,
• 12:20
  James Franklin and some Henstate Nitney Lions, Dan Lanning and some Oregon or Oregon
• 12:24
  Oregon Ducks. The Beavers not invited this year, Washington. I mean,
• 12:30
  this is this is gonna be a big exciting event, big exciting year of
• 12:35
  college football. We will be there for all of it. We hope you
• 12:37
  can join us at buckeyehuddle dot com for all of it as well. That'll
• 12:39
  do it for today. Thank you guys all for joining us. Have a
• 12:41
  great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow