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Ohio State Recruiting Insider: Who Will Be The Buckeyes' 2026 Quarterback? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes Tomorrow morning for Thursday May fifteenth, I'm
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  Speaker 1: your host, Tom Or the Texas game in one hundred
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  Speaker 1: and seven days, the game against Michigan in one hundred
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  Speaker 1: and ninety eight days. If you're planning your next event,
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  Speaker 1: serving up Smashburger's gourmet sandwiches and good vibes. Book you're
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  Speaker 1: catering today at Grateful Griddle oh dot com can be
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  Speaker 1: talking about the Ohio state quarterback recruiting situation right now,
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  Speaker 1: and specifically the quarterback recruiting situation for twenty twenty six.
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  Speaker 1: How could one position occupy an entire show. Well, there's
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  Speaker 1: some drama there, there's some uncertainty there. We're gonna be
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  Speaker 1: breaking it all down with our buddy Andrew Ellis of
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  Speaker 1: Buckeheadle dot com. Andrew, there's no quarterback in the Ohio
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  Speaker 1: State twenty twenty six recruiting class. They have a very
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  Speaker 1: good one for twenty twenty five. That would be Tavi
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  Speaker 1: in St.
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  Speaker 3: Clair.
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  Speaker 1: They've got a very very good one lined up for
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty seven as well. And as I was kind
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  Speaker 1: of looking at this I thought, you know, I wonder
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  Speaker 1: if those two things might have a little bit to
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  Speaker 1: do with why bringing in a guy in twenty twenty
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  Speaker 1: six might be a little more challenging than you'd think.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, they're they're kind of looking for that sandwich guy,
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  Speaker 2: that guy that's going to come in between between tav
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  Speaker 2: and Saint Clair who's obviously on campus now, and then
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  Speaker 2: the Brady Edmonds from from California who's committed for twenty
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  Speaker 2: twenty seven. I think I think Rivals has him as
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  Speaker 2: the number twelve player in the country, regardless of position, so.
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  Speaker 3: That that can make things tricky.
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  Speaker 2: And I guess we should preface this conversation by saying,
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  Speaker 2: any concern about quarterback recruiting under Ryan Day is kind
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  Speaker 2: of a fool's errand at this point, right, But but
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  Speaker 2: it is a question mark, you know, this is it's
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  Speaker 2: it's a question mark because it's because it's a quarterback.
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  Speaker 2: It's the most important position on the field. But but yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I think just kind of finding that guy who's going
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  Speaker 2: to be sandwiched in between a pair of five stars
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  Speaker 2: is a pull task for anyone, whether it's Ryan Day
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  Speaker 2: or Lincoln Riley or Clime Center or any of those programs.
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  Speaker 2: I think I think that's probably the biggest thing they're
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  Speaker 2: dealing with right now. But it's also worth noting that
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  Speaker 2: this is seemingly a down year at the position. You know,
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  Speaker 2: you don't have that CJS Bryce Young at the top,
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  Speaker 2: or that Justin Fields and Trevor Lawrence.
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  Speaker 3: At the top. So if this is the year to
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  Speaker 3: struggle in finding your guy, I think it's an okay
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  Speaker 3: year to do that since there's just not a ton
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  Speaker 3: of a ton of like five star top end talent
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  Speaker 3: at the position group.
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  Speaker 1: And while we're trying to talk people off the ledge
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  Speaker 1: on this a little bit, another thing that is probably
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  Speaker 1: going to be a little reassuring is, I know, it
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  Speaker 1: feels like, boy, this is really late in the cycle
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  Speaker 1: to not have a quarterback locked in. This is really
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  Speaker 1: not that late in the cycle for Ryan Day at
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State to not have a quarterback locked in. It Sure,
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  Speaker 1: Hiviyan Saint Clair was committed for a long time before
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  Speaker 1: he signed, and you know they have Brady Edmonds that
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  Speaker 1: you had already locked in for twenty twenty seven. That
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  Speaker 1: seems like forever for you know, forever into the future.
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  Speaker 1: But if you go back just a few years. A
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  Speaker 1: number of the guys that they've brought in and guys
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  Speaker 1: who've ended up in some cases having pretty good careers,
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  Speaker 1: have been committed far later in the recruiting cycle than
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  Speaker 1: we are right now.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it is.
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  Speaker 2: The quarterback recruiting is just so weird because you know,
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  Speaker 2: you usually just take that one guy. You're not taking
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  Speaker 2: two running backs or three or four cornerbacks. It's it's
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  Speaker 2: that one guy. And there's always those dominoes. If Ohio
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  Speaker 2: State takes a guy, what does that mean for Clemson
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  Speaker 2: or Georgia. But you're right, I mean, I know Devin
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  Speaker 2: Brown obviously has left the program. But a guy like
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  Speaker 2: that who signed late with Ohio State, Lincoln Keenhold signed
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  Speaker 2: late with Ohio State, committed late to Ohio State.
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  Speaker 3: So this this is not out of the ordinary.
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  Speaker 2: I know there's those situations like Tavian Saint Clair, an
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  Speaker 2: in state guy who commits way early in the process,
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  Speaker 2: but you don't always know how that's gonna work out
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  Speaker 2: when guys commit terribly early. I mean, we can ask
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  Speaker 2: our friend Danny Clark about that who they took a
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  Speaker 2: commitment from when he was in like ninth grade or whatever.
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  Speaker 2: It was, But when you go back and you look
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  Speaker 2: at the timelines for the quarterback commitments over the last
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  Speaker 2: four or five years, it's really not all that. It's
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  Speaker 2: not all that out of the ordinary and weird things
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  Speaker 2: happen all the time. Nick Saban retires and a guy
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  Speaker 2: like Julian saying just kind of lands in your lap
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  Speaker 2: technically via the portal, but you know how that, how
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  Speaker 2: that went, So it's really not that.
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  Speaker 3: Big of a deal.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think I think it's going to be an
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  Speaker 2: interesting follow between now in December December. It's early signing period,
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  Speaker 2: but definitely not a panic and it's it's Ryan Day
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  Speaker 2: running the show and he knows what he's doing.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you ticked off a bunch of the names that
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  Speaker 1: I had sort of in my head as well. I
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  Speaker 1: think CJ. Stroud was a very late addition to that
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  Speaker 1: twenty because he was in the same class as Jack Miller,
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  Speaker 1: and Jack Miller was the first guy and c J.
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  Speaker 1: Stroud was a very late addition there as well. So Yeah, Stroud,
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  Speaker 1: Devin Brown, Lincoln Keenholds Julian saying, those are the names
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  Speaker 1: that I came up with off the top of my head.
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  Speaker 1: But yet it is not nearly as unusual as it feels.
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  Speaker 1: So okay, so now everyone can take a deep breath
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  Speaker 1: and relax a little bit.
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  Speaker 3: So let's talk about.
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  Speaker 1: Some of the names to know for twenty twenty six.
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  Speaker 1: There have been a couple guys who were ranked very
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  Speaker 1: highly that Ohio State has been linked to at various times,
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  Speaker 1: Jared Curtis Diabell.
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  Speaker 3: They are both kind.
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  Speaker 1: Of committed elsewhere right now, but it sounds like one
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  Speaker 1: of them is maybe a little more of an active
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  Speaker 1: target for Ohio State right now than the other.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so I think they'll hire a DBL from Florida.
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  Speaker 2: I think Ohio State was very much in on that
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  Speaker 2: one early and then and then he commits to Texas,
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  Speaker 2: but they're trying there. I don't think anybody should have
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  Speaker 2: him on like flip alert or anything like that. But
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  Speaker 2: I did see some of the Texas reporters talking about
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  Speaker 2: how Texas is now in contact with this Henderson kid
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  Speaker 2: that's committed to committed to Houston, and it sounds a
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  Speaker 2: little weird to have a you know, four or five
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  Speaker 2: star quarterback committed to Houston Houston, but I know he's
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  Speaker 2: from the area, so that just kind of got my
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  Speaker 2: wheel spinn in a little bit like maybe they're talking
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  Speaker 2: to him because maybe there's something going on with d Bell.
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  Speaker 2: But that'd be the dream scenario would be, would be
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  Speaker 2: for Ohio State to flip to flip Bell from Texas.
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  Speaker 2: But outside of him, I mean, you mentioned Jared Curtis,
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  Speaker 2: who's committed to Georgia for the second time now, he
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  Speaker 2: just committed last week.
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  Speaker 3: You don't see the recommitments happened all that often.
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  Speaker 2: But outside of Bell, I mean, if you're looking locally,
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  Speaker 2: that Matt Ponatowsky kid, I know, he's the reigning mister football,
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  Speaker 2: but you got this kid's lucky enough to be a
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  Speaker 2: lead at two sports, so he's probably going to go
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  Speaker 2: pro in baseball if you had to, if you had
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  Speaker 2: to guess that, that Nathan Bernard kid from Ashland, Ohio
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  Speaker 2: State was really like looking at him. I know, Burn
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  Speaker 2: got to go see him at a at a camp
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  Speaker 2: and that was kind of the make or break, Like
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  Speaker 2: Ryan Day was there because you know RJ was up
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  Speaker 2: there and if he's not going to get an offer
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  Speaker 2: coming out of that camp, he's probably going to commit
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  Speaker 2: to Michigan or somewhere like that. And then lo and
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  Speaker 2: behold he commssed Appalachian State, which is whole another story,
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  Speaker 2: a little bit weird, but but those would be the
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  Speaker 2: two guys I guess in state to maybe watch, uh,
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  Speaker 2: I know, when Burn went and saw it, when went
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  Speaker 2: and saw Bernard's throw. There was as There's a Michigan
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  Speaker 2: State quarterback commit named Kad Kaufman and he was actually
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  Speaker 2: texting me when he was at that event and said
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  Speaker 2: he was probably the best guy at the entire event.
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  Speaker 2: There's this kid named Jet Tamala who's committed to Iowa State.
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  Speaker 2: Again not to your traditional school where you see a
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  Speaker 2: power quarterback committed to, but he's from Nebraska. Ohio State
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  Speaker 2: just offered Jet Harrison, the wide receiver Marvin Harrison's brother,
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  Speaker 2: So maybe you could have a jet a Jet to
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  Speaker 2: Jet connection here in a couple of years. But those
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  Speaker 2: are kind of the names to watch right now. But
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  Speaker 2: if you're asking me personally, it kind of seems like
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  Speaker 2: a situation where they're just waiting until maybe even until
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  Speaker 2: the fall, or maybe they'll see some of these guys
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  Speaker 2: over the summer. I don't know, but it could be
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  Speaker 2: a name that we're not talking about at all right now,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, at this time in a couple of years back,
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  Speaker 2: Devin Brown wasn't an option. Coaching changes led to that
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  Speaker 2: nobody even knew the name Lincoln Keenholtz until about November,
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  Speaker 2: a month before he signed, so it could be a
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  Speaker 2: name we're not even talking about right now. And none
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  Speaker 2: of those names I mentioned outside of DBL have even
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  Speaker 2: been offered, so I think they're taking their time new code.
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  Speaker 2: Billy Fessler is obviously his first year really getting to
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  Speaker 2: pick his guy, and I think that along with the
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  Speaker 2: two other guys that they got committed in twenty first
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  Speaker 2: signed in twenty five and then Edmonds for twenty seven,
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  Speaker 2: just that sandwich factor and then the new you know,
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  Speaker 2: the new coaching regime with Fessler is kind of what's
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  Speaker 2: caused all of this, I think.
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  Speaker 3: But no panic, Yeah, definitely no panic.
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  Speaker 1: You look at Ryan Day quarterback recruiting and you just
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  Speaker 1: kind of follow it away with Brian hartline wide receiver
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  Speaker 1: recruiting and Tim Bolton cornerback recruiting, where it's just kind
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  Speaker 1: of like, I don't know who.
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  Speaker 3: It's gonna be, but it'll be fine.
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  Speaker 1: Like I wouldn't, I would not have any real concern there.
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  Speaker 1: And as we have seen also, you know they have
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  Speaker 1: pulled they last year, they pulled two very talented quarterbacks
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  Speaker 1: to the transfer portal, one who started last year, one
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  Speaker 1: who could be starting this year. So even once you're
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  Speaker 1: through the recruiting process, the fund has only begun in
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  Speaker 1: college football these days, so plenty to talk about there.
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  Speaker 1: We are doing all sorts of recruiting talk on the
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  Speaker 1: huddle board presented by Jeff Ruby's Columbus at bucke huddle
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  Speaker 1: dot com. That's where we've got our whole team of
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  Speaker 1: insiders breaking down the previewing the twenty twenty five O
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  Speaker 1: High state football season. Also previewing we're going to get
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: into the camp season as well. You're getting into commitment
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: and decommitment and flip season. Is there's a ton going
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  Speaker 1: on there, and we have our growing team at pucke
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  Speaker 1: huddle dot com there Andrew of course, one of our
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  Speaker 1: newer members newer staff members there, berm is there as well.
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  Speaker 3: Plus all of the names you've come to know.
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  Speaker 1: And love over the years. Mark and Kevin is still
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: on the road, wrapping up the third week of their
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: Southern Swing trip, talking to some real, really high profile
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  Speaker 1: players both commits and targets for the Buckeyes at a
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  Speaker 1: couple more really really interesting interviews posted earlier this week
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  Speaker 1: on our YouTube channel at YouTube dot com slash bucke Huddle,
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  Speaker 1: and lots to talk about there on our board as well.
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  Speaker 1: So wouldn't this be a great time for you to
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  Speaker 1: see you there. That'll do it for today. Thank you
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: guys all for joining us.
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  Speaker 3: Have a great day.
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  Speaker 1: We'll talk to you tomorrow.