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Who Are Ohio State's Top Quarterback Targets In The Transfer Portal? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to Buckeyes Tomorrow morning for Thursday, December seventh, time, your host
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  Tom Moore. The Cotton Bowl game against Missouri in twenty two days, the
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  game against Michigan in three hundred and fifty nine days, possibly before the Cotton
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  Bowl game against Missouri, maybe after the Cotton Bowl game against Missouri, definitely
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  before the game against Michigan next year. My house, State's got to get
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  his quarterback situation for twenty twenty four figured out. We're going to be talking
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  about the departed Kyle McCord, the two remaining quarterbacks on the roster, Devin
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  Brown and Lincoln Keenholes, and the potential who could come through the transfer portal
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  conversation as well, and try and get some sort of high level views on
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  this. We're not going to be breaking down individual transfer portal candidates necessarily,
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  but want to take a look at the quarterback position on the whole, what
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  might fit best with Ryan Days the offense. And we're gonna be doing that
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  with our buddy Ross Fulton the Buckeyehuddle dot Com And as always when Ross is
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  on the show, we are sponsored by Jeff Ruby Steakhouse in downtown Columbus.
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  You can go to Jeff Ruby dot com slash columbus to learn more, check
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  out the menu, and make a reservation today. So Ross, let's first
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  start by talking about the guy who's not going to be Ohio State's quarterback in
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  twenty twenty four, and that is calm accord hit the transfer portal earlier in
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  the week. Was that a surprise. How big of a difference does that
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  make in terms of what the ceiling for the twenty twenty four Ohio State football
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  team could be? In your eyes? It was a surprise to me,
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  for sure. I don't know how much it changes the ceiling. I guess
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  it depends on the you know, what happens exactly, But I think that
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  it could cut both ways, right, So I think that it definitely increases
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  the variance involved. As we've discussed throughout this past year. I mean,
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  I think I was pretty supportive of McCord overall. I mean, I think
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  he had certainly plenty of nice moments. I think that you know, they
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  were good enough to beat Michigan with accord, But for you know, particularly
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  the first interception that we talked about last week, I think on the flip
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  side, I think it would be difficult to make an affirmative case for what
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  McCord's plus traits are at this point, Like you don't see it seems to
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  me at least like NFL scouts banging down the door about like his potential,
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  even if it's not this year, like the following year, you don't It
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  seems like, at least based on the various rumors you see around about his
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  potential landing spots as a transfer, it's not like the top tier of college
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  football teams banging down his door. So I think I understand why Ryan Day
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  was not automatically ready to commit to him for a second season, because I
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  just I do wonder again if you're rolling the dice somewhat, But I think
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  there's a potential for more upside with someone who can make more plays both in
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  and out of the pocket. And we talked about that. You know,
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  McCord is like he's can get the ball out like he didn't you know,
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  hold the ball too long and take a bunch of sacks or first the ball
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  into double coverage a bunch. But at the same time, it wasn't like
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  he was generating offense either through you know, pushing the ball downfield into tight
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  windows, making plays outside of structure and like, so when you look at
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  the you know, the Ryan Day offense, and then I know that that's
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  a little bit of a moving target. But when you're looking at what Ryan
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  Day likes to do wants to do on offense, who is the platonic ideal
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  of a Ryan Day quarterback? Is it Justin Fields? Is it c J.
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  Stroud? Is it someone who has played for another team and has not
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  been a Ryan Day quarterback? And in your mind, is Devin Brown or
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  Lincoln Keenholes If those are the two main contenders are twenty twenty four, which
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  of those guys is potentially a better fit for what Ryan Day likes to do
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  and wants to do on offense. Yeah, so I think that it's hard
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  to mean choosing between Justin Field and CJ. Shroud. Obviously they have their
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  their pluses. I think I'm at a point where I would say that the
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  run game would be helped by someone who could make plays with their legs.
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  I do think that obviously Justin Fields could do that. I think there's other
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  things that they can do to help the run game. Like we've discussed this
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  year in terms of the diversity of it and not being so reliant on a
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  couple of concepts. But I do think even if just the threat is there
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  and it's not used a ton that would certainly help, you know, I
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  think that you'd want probably somewhere in between, like each player is unique and
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  they each have their own strengths and weaknesses, and certainly again like being able
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  to I think there's for sure a minimum level of competence as a passer that
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  Ryan Day needs and requires. Right So we're not talking about going back to
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  a Braxton Miller style offense, but I think that once you get past that
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  point, I think someone both who can make some plays running, makes them
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  play scrambling, makes some plays outside of structure, which Stroud could do as
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  well as obviously throwing the football downfield and showing it on a weekly basis in
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  the NFL. I think that is where Day would like to go. I
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  think it's noticeable when you talk about Brown versus Keenholds, and you know,
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  I can't even necessarily say, I mean, I think I've seen enough of
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  Brown to have more of an opinion than I have of Keenholds. I think
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  it's noticeable that post Kyle McCord the three quarterbacks that Day has recruited, all
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  I think add something as an athlete in terms of both just being able to
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  run the football, being able to make plays again outside of structure. But
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  again I think, you know, part of the reason Devin Brown did not
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  play this year, and obviously Ryan Day remained intrigued with his ability as a
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  runner. You know, from the from the get go, as soon as
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  they put him in a game, they wanted to use Q read and Q
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  run plays. And so I would always push back on those people that say,
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  like Ryan Day doesn't never want to run the quarterback. You know,
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  that's proven, Like he wanted to do it with Devin Brown this year,
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  Like he did it with Justin Fields at least until it got to a point
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  where Justin Fields got banged up, and I probably didn't want to, you
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  know, heading in the NFL be running it. But you know, they
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  used to run a lot of bash plays with Justin Fields. So I do
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  think that that is an element that I think probably Ryan Day would like to
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  go back to having. I think both those guys bring in. So then
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  the question is, you know, but at the flip side, like Devin
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  Brown just wasn't quite accurate enough this year in the plays that we saw him.
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  So again we go back to that you have to have a certain threshold,
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  and so you know, I'm I'm not convinced personally that the answer is
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  either of those guys next year, mostly because of, I guess, partially
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  what I saw from Devin Brown this year, partially because I just don't know
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  if Keenholtz is like physically going to be ready. So I certainly think that
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  the transfer portal probably remains a viable option for our stay. All right,
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  So let's talk about the transfer portal, and of course the grass always being
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  greener on the other side of the fence, everyone in there obviously a better
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  option than the two guys on the current roster that goes without. However,
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  I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Who in the portal, though,
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  is intriguing to you as someone who really could be a you know,
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  a material improvement in the twenty twenty fourteen Yeah, I mean, I think
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  someone like a cam Or Riley Leonard. I mean, I think again that
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  you're trying to thread the needle between someone who has plus arm talent, can
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  make throws down field, but also brings again a little bit more of a
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  playmaking element to it. I think the benefit of both of those guys or
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  someone of that ilk as opposed to someone who's younger, like a Dante Moore
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  for instance, is that to me if you bring in I mean, just
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  this is the reality of it. Like let's say you bring in a Cam
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  war like I would assume that Devin Brown would transfer and that would be my
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  advice to him at that point. But you don't lose Keyholtz, you don't
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  lose Aaron Nola, and you don't, like Bird says, if you bring
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  in a more Dante Moore, you probably pretty much blow up your quarterback room,
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  which is, you know, essentially what happened when they brought in Justin
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  Fields. However, I think the situations are different. A. I think
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  that Justin Fields was pretty much can't miss at that point and be they did
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  not have the level of talent in the quarterback room in twenty nineteen that they
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  have now. So I think you have to weigh that, and like in
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  the repercussions too, in terms of, you know, in the future and
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  the impact if you know, if you become too reliant on the transfer portal
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  that can burn you, So I think that, but if you have a
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  senior or a one year gude, then that that sort of can limit that
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  concern a little bit. So, you know, we're talking there about how
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  much time the guy has left in the system. How much of an improvement
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  do you need? If you are viewing this as you bring someone in,
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  you're almost certainly going to lose Devin Brown. You know, how much of
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  improvement do you need to have from you know, Devin Brown slash Lincoln key
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  Holes to whoever you bring in, because I mean, you know, this
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  guy's one and a half percent better might not be worth the risk of losing
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  Brown and you know, potentially keen Holes. And how much you know,
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  how much does having a two year head start for someone like Devin Brown?
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  How much does that matter? You know, if a guy's five percent more
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  talented than Devin Brown, but Devin Brown's been in the system for a couple
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  of years, how much you know? How do you how do you balance
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  out? How do you how do you sort of make a decision how much
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  of an improvement do you have to have before it's worth it to bring in
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  someone else and risk losing your you know, one or more of your current
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  guys. Yeah, I mean I think at a baseline, High State's quarterback
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  next year better be better than Kylein McCord was, or obviously the decision did
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  not pay off. So the one thing you can say about Devin Brown is
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  he did not beat out Kylin McCord this year, and so you have to
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  obviously Ryan Day and his staff are gonna have a much better feel just having
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  seen Devin Brown in practice. Anyone else can whether they think that with another
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  year of development he can be better than McCord was this year versus bringing someone
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  else in. So I agree with your general premise, Like you're bringing someone
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  else in, you have to think that, like they're a definitive upgrade over
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  both Brown and McCord, you know, being in the system. I think
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  it depends partially like who you're getting, you know, whether I mean I
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  think cam Ward would at Washington State for instance, Like you know, he
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  ran a lot of similar concepts in the past game for instance, So I
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  think that creates some familiarity. And we obviously saw Justin Fields quickly get into
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  what Ohio Saint Ryan Day was doing. So again, I don't think any
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  of these are end all be Alls. But I do agree with your premise
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  that it takes some deep searching on Ryan Day's part about trying to evaluate someone
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  they know very well versus someone that they're essentially going to be watching on film,
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  and probably getting input from other coaches on how much of an improvement you're
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  going to make, and then also weighing again, like, you know,
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  is this a one year essentially? To me, it's a lower bar for
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  a one year trade of are we going to trade Devin Brown essentially for whoever
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  that portal quarterback is versus like and then you know how you feel about Lincoln
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  Keenholtz and air Nolan after that, versus like a bigger, long term commitment
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  that could change the entire room. So I think it's really to them like
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  getting down to brass tacks like, hey, do we think cam Ward's better
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  than Devin Brown's going to be? For instance? All right, Well we
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  will find out what they think. We will find out how that all shakes
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  out in the transfer portal. Ohio State, of course, would not be
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  the only school going after cam Award almost called the Ingham Brown there. That's
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  a whole different, a whole different Ohio State football player. Yeah, so
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  Cam Woard, Devin Brown, Lincoln Keenholes. We'll see how the Cotton Bowl
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  shakes out. We'll see what happens after that, but gonna be certainly an
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  interesting, interesting bunch of storylines to follow in the coming weeks at Buckeye Huddle
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  dot com as we watch that Buckeyes go into the transfer portal, try and
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  wrap some things up in the recruiting realm before early signing day in the twentieth
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  and of course get ready for that cotton ball game. Can be a lot
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  of younger guys probably getting a chance to play in that one, and get
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  the chance to see some of the Buckeyes of the future playing right now and
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  get a good good sense for what the twenty twenty four team might look like.
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  So a lot of interesting stuff happening there at bucke huddle dot com and
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  of course at YouTube dot com slash Buckey Huddle. And finally, thanks again
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  to our friends at Jeff Ruby Steakhouse, the award winning upscale steakhouse in downtown
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  Columbus NAVE one of the top fifty steakhouses in America by Food Network. You
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  can get a table, check out the menu, and much more at Jeff
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  Ruby dot com slash Columbus. That will do it for today. Thank you,
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  guys all for joining us every great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.