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How Will Ohio State Replace Cody Simon? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to buck Eyes Tomorrow morning for Monday, February twenty fourth.
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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 eighty seven days, the IMMAs Michigan in two
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: hundred and seventy eight days. Planning your next event, well
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: how about you make it unforgettable with Grateful Griddle, Columbus's
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: favorite food truck serving up smash Burger's gourmet sandwiches and
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: good vibes. Book you're catering today at Grateful griddleoh dot com.
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  Speaker 1: Today we're taking a look at how the Buckeyes are
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  Speaker 1: going to be replacing departed linebacker Cody Simon. They have
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  Speaker 1: sunny styles back, They've got a whole bunch of other
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  Speaker 1: talented linebackers back, But how are they going to replace
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  Speaker 1: Cody Simon's production. He was a team leader, a Captain,
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  Speaker 1: BLOCKO Jersey recipient, one of the crucial players on that
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State defense that led them to a national championship.
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  Speaker 1: Now this year, Arvel Reese is probably the start of
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  Speaker 1: the answer. But here's Tony Gerderman taking a look at
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  Speaker 1: how the Buckeyes will replace Cody Simon.
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  Speaker 2: Hello, everybody, Tony Gerderman Here with another edition of how
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  Speaker 2: is Ohio State going to replace that guy? And if
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  Speaker 2: you have missed the first rendition of this, basically doing
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  Speaker 2: something new looking to talk about how Ohio State is
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  Speaker 2: going to replace all of their departed starters this season.
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  Speaker 2: And we've already done the first episode, which is me
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  Speaker 2: talking about how Ohio State is going to replace a
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  Speaker 2: Mecca Abuka at the slot receiver position. And if you
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  Speaker 2: haven't seen that one yet and you'd like to take
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  Speaker 2: a look at it, you can find it right here,
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  Speaker 2: provided I figure out how to put a link right there.
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  Speaker 2: If I can't figure that out, just go ahead and
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  Speaker 2: look at the channel and you'll find it. It says
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  Speaker 2: something to the effect of how was Ohio State can
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  Speaker 2: replace a Mecca Abuka? Or you know, can Brandon Innis
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  Speaker 2: replace a Mecca Abuka? And you'll find it there at
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  Speaker 2: the Buckeyehitdle YouTube channel. And if you're watching this for
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  Speaker 2: the first time, you don't know who I am. My
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  Speaker 2: name is Tony Gerdaman. I am I right for buckeyeheeddle
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  Speaker 2: dot com. I am also the co host of the
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  Speaker 2: Buckeye Weekly podcast talk about the Ohio State Buckeyes all
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  Speaker 2: the time, and generally I do it in written form,
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  Speaker 2: and so what I'm doing is taking something that I've
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  Speaker 2: been doing in written form putting it in video form.
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  Speaker 2: And today I want to talk about how Ohio State
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  Speaker 2: is going to replace Cody Simon, their middle linebacker, a
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  Speaker 2: five year letter winner at Ohio State, one of the
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  Speaker 2: rare five year letter winners. And you're not gonna, well,
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  Speaker 2: I was gonna say, you're not gonna see that much
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  Speaker 2: much longer, but pretty soon everybody's gonna have five years,
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  Speaker 2: so you might see it basically all the time moving forward.
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  Speaker 2: But Cody Simon is a guy who came into Ohio
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  Speaker 2: State the twenty twenty recruiting class the COVID class, played
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  Speaker 2: some games and then was actually the starting middle linebacker
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  Speaker 2: in twenty twenty one as a true sophomore, and eventually
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  Speaker 2: gave way to Tommy Eikenberg, who started in twenty twenty
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  Speaker 2: two and twenty twenty three. And so Cody Simon kind
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  Speaker 2: of went into the background a little bit, but not entirely,
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  Speaker 2: because he still played. He still was a key part
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  Speaker 2: of the twenty twenty two defense and the twenty twenty
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  Speaker 2: three defense, and then coming into this season for the
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  Speaker 2: Buckeyes this past season twenty twenty four. For the Buckeyes,
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  Speaker 2: there's really very little concern that he was going to
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  Speaker 2: be able to handle the responsibilities of being the team's
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  Speaker 2: middle linebacker. Not just the team's middle linebacker, but the
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  Speaker 2: middle linebacker at Ohio State, which means more than it does,
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  Speaker 2: I think in most places, and so Cody Simon picked
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  Speaker 2: it up. Was the leader of the defense, was the
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  Speaker 2: block o where of the defense of the entire team,
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  Speaker 2: which gives you an even greater understanding of not just
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  Speaker 2: what he brought to the defense, but what he brought
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  Speaker 2: to the team. He led the Buckeyes with one hundred
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  Speaker 2: and twelve tackles in fifteen games. Last year, he missed
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  Speaker 2: the season opener, and the season opener was actually started
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  Speaker 2: at middle linebacker by Sonny Styles in his first true
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  Speaker 2: game as a linebacker. But Courty Simon hundred and twelve
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  Speaker 2: tackles this year this past year twelve and a half
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  Speaker 2: tackles for loss, seven sacks. Was a sure tackler, was
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  Speaker 2: able to be used aggressively in the second half of
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  Speaker 2: the season when it came to blitzing, and he was
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  Speaker 2: an effective blitzer and got to the quarterback as you
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  Speaker 2: see with the seven sacks, and so this is a
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  Speaker 2: guy who was tremendous leader, fantastic tackler, a guy that
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  Speaker 2: everybody could rely on and ask like, Hey, what am
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  Speaker 2: I supposed to be doing?
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  Speaker 1: What was it called?
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  Speaker 2: All of those things, really good communicator, got everybody where
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  Speaker 2: they needed to be. So not only is Ohio State
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  Speaker 2: looking to replace you're starting middle linebacker, basically you're starting
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  Speaker 2: quarterback on defense. Leader, a guy that is reliable, gets
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  Speaker 2: everybody in the right position. These are all things. It's
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  Speaker 2: not just a guy has to play in the middle
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  Speaker 2: and make tackles. It's so much more than that. And
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  Speaker 2: it's a lot to replace. So who is Who are
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  Speaker 2: the candidates to do so? Well? Yed Marvel Reese who
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  Speaker 2: stepped up last year this past season twenty twenty four,
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  Speaker 2: I'll say last year, and I'm talking twenty twenty four
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  Speaker 2: as a true sophomore who was came to a high
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  Speaker 2: state as a linebacker, was almost immediately moved to defensive end,
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  Speaker 2: and then he got hurt and then really never heard
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  Speaker 2: from him. I don't think he played any snaps on
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  Speaker 2: defense as a true freshman. Then kind of emerged in
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  Speaker 2: camp and moved past Gabe of Powers, who was a
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  Speaker 2: junior this past season a Retchuers sophomore, and so rvel
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  Speaker 2: Res already moving past him. That's one of the reasons
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  Speaker 2: Gay Powers ended up going into the transfer portal and
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  Speaker 2: transferring out. But rvel Reese this past season forty three tackles,
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  Speaker 2: three and a half tackles for loss was an impact player,
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  Speaker 2: even at a spot starting there as well. Was the
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  Speaker 2: guy that they could turn to what they wanted to
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  Speaker 2: play three linebackers. He gave them that depth as that
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  Speaker 2: third linebacker, whether it was you know, at Mike or
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  Speaker 2: you know, other guys could move around and play Sam
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  Speaker 2: play well, that sort of thing. So he has that
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  Speaker 2: experience and he is kind of like the next guy up,
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  Speaker 2: not kind of, he is the next guy up at
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  Speaker 2: this moment. Sonny Styles has also played middle linebacker. He
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  Speaker 2: blossomed does the will this past season. I would expect
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  Speaker 2: him to stay at WILL, but he is also a possibility.
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  Speaker 2: Peyton Pierce last year was a true freshman last year
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  Speaker 2: played Will. Studied Will is probably headed towards Mike. That
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  Speaker 2: is his expectation, and wrote about him a little bit
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  Speaker 2: at bucket huddle dot Com last week or so, and
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  Speaker 2: you can find that there. But he is expecting to
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  Speaker 2: play more middle linebacker this year, and he could be
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  Speaker 2: the backup or r vel Reese this season. And the
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  Speaker 2: thing is, if you're the backup middle linebacker, as we
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  Speaker 2: saw last year, that means you're going to play a lot,
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  Speaker 2: and as we saw the year before that with Cody
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  Speaker 2: Simon backing up Tommy Eikenberg, like, these guys will play
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  Speaker 2: a lot, especially with the you know, fifteen sixteen seventeen
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  Speaker 2: game season, so there is the opportunity for the backup
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  Speaker 2: to put up numbers like Carvel Rees did last year
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  Speaker 2: four to three tackles linebackers. Coach James Loriniis brought in
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  Speaker 2: three linebackers in the twenty twenty five recruiting class in
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  Speaker 2: Ohio and Eli Lee, flor Ridyan tj Alford, and Texan
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  Speaker 2: Riley Petty John and really they're all active, physical guys
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  Speaker 2: who could end up at middle linebacker. Eli Lee is
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  Speaker 2: projected to be at that spot, but that doesn't preclude
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  Speaker 2: anybody else from being there because the mic and the
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  Speaker 2: will and the four two five defense are ideally interchangeable. Now,
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  Speaker 2: the question is, you know, we're talking about these players
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  Speaker 2: as if they're still playing in Jim Knowles's defensive system.
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  Speaker 2: But Jim noles defensive system is now off to Happy
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  Speaker 2: Valley at Penn State. So what does Matt Patricia's defensive
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  Speaker 2: system look like. Well, it's not gonna look that much
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  Speaker 2: different because you still have to work with the players
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  Speaker 2: that you have, and that's something that any good coach
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  Speaker 2: will tell you that you're not going to try to
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  Speaker 2: change everything based on one guy coming in and redoing everything.
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  Speaker 2: You've got to deal with with what you've got. And
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  Speaker 2: what they've got is, you know, a really good recruiting class,
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  Speaker 2: but then also you know, not a large number of linebackers.
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  Speaker 2: So you'll do what you have, do what you've got
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  Speaker 2: with those guys. And you know, there's talk about maybe
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  Speaker 2: more odd fronts, maybe more three linebacker sets. They want
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  Speaker 2: versatility with their linebackers, so they've got that. They've they've
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  Speaker 2: added that. But in terms of the middle linebacker replacing
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  Speaker 2: Cody Simon, you know, we will see this spring like
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  Speaker 2: everybody's going to get an opportunity. They'll rotate, they'll do
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  Speaker 2: some cross training. Matt Patrician's gonna want to see everything
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  Speaker 2: he can from these guys. And really Sunday Styles will
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  Speaker 2: get probably a pretty easy spring. Nobody else played enough
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  Speaker 2: that is returning at linebacker to give them the kind
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  Speaker 2: of break that Hey Sunny Styles would need. So harvel Reese,
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  Speaker 2: Peyton Pierce, Garrett Stover, Eli Lee, t j Alfred Ridley,
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  Speaker 2: Petty John, like all these guys will be out there.
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  Speaker 2: They'll be playing, they'll be moving around, they'll be playing
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  Speaker 2: will Mike Sam just getting a look because you can
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  Speaker 2: do that sort of thing in spring, but then after
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  Speaker 2: spring you get the summer and then fall camp. And
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  Speaker 2: if you're asking me right now who's going to be
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  Speaker 2: a higher state starting middle linebacker, I'm going to go
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  Speaker 2: with the heavy favorite, and that's Rvelle Reese. And he's
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  Speaker 2: big enough to handle it. He showed that he can
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  Speaker 2: run sideline to sideline. He's six four, two hundred and
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  Speaker 2: forty pounds. He looks like you'd like your middle linebacker
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  Speaker 2: to look and he can run. So he had a
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  Speaker 2: heck of a first year. I say first year first year,
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  Speaker 2: last year at linebacker behind Cody Simon, learning from Cody Simon,
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  Speaker 2: learning from James lord Nidis, and the fact that he
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  Speaker 2: was able to do what he did last year in
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  Speaker 2: his truly first full year at linebacker at Ohio State,
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  Speaker 2: gives you a pretty good indication like he could really blossom,
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  Speaker 2: he could really blow up. So I think that's your
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  Speaker 2: best bet for the starting middle linebacker at Ohio State
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  Speaker 2: this year. I'm not speaking out of turn on that, Like,
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  Speaker 2: I don't know that anybody's going to pick anybody else,
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  Speaker 2: but so there you go. I think that's that's how
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  Speaker 2: you're going to replace Cody Simon, at least on the field.
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  Speaker 2: How do you replace some off the field. You know,
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  Speaker 2: that's a that's a culture thing, and that's going to
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  Speaker 2: take the entire team and the entire network to do that.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, they've got some good pieces there, so
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  Speaker 2: I would expect them to be able to handle it.
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  Speaker 2: They will need to find a new block, oh guy,
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  Speaker 2: and they'll have no shortage of candidates. So there you go.
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  Speaker 2: That's there. There's my pick to to go ahead and
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  Speaker 2: replace Cody Simon take that spot as the Buckey's new
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  Speaker 2: middle linebacker. Rvel. You know, I do appreciate the feedback
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: on the first video. I'm reading it, I'm looking at it,
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  Speaker 2: I'm listening. Go ahead and throw in your your thoughts
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  Speaker 2: and your comments on this video as well. I'll see
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  Speaker 2: it and we can talk it out there and go ahead,
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  Speaker 2: and your your thoughts on on the the position, the
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  Speaker 2: position battle, what you want to see next, anything else
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  Speaker 2: that you want to see in videos like this, we'll
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  Speaker 2: take a look at it. So thank you all for
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  Speaker 2: tuning in and we'll talk to you guys later