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Ohio State Football: The Buckeyes' Five Biggest Impact Players For 2026 · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes Tomorrow morning for Sunday, July twenty sixth,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Th'm your host, Tom Moore. The ball state game in
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: forty one days, the game against Michigan.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Of one hundred and twenty five days.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: We're sponsored today by our friends at Jeffruby's Columbus probably
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: offering nationally acclaimed USDA Prime Stakes, seafoodland, sushi and peckable service,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: live entertainment, and an attention to detail that is simply unmatched.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Just go to Jeffrey dot com slash Columbus to check
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: out the menu and make a reservation today.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: All right, on.
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  Speaker 1: Today's show, we are counting down the five most impactful
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  Speaker 1: players on this year's Ohio State football team.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: I'm going to guess.
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  Speaker 1: These are all names that you are going to know,
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  Speaker 1: and these are probably several names that you could probably
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  Speaker 1: already guess even before we started this countdown. A name
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: that I'm sure you could already guess is the name
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  Speaker 1: of the person who's going to be guesting on today's show.
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  Speaker 1: That is Tony Gerderman of Buckeyeinsiders dot com. Tony, let's
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  Speaker 1: start that top five with the final offensive lineman we
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  Speaker 1: got to talk about and that is Austin Seerveld.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Tom, where's he at number five? Now? Position wise?
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  Speaker 3: Where's he playing?
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: On the countdown?
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  Speaker 3: Tony coming all the way to us from one of
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  Speaker 3: the Lakotas, I think if I recall correctly, but I
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  Speaker 3: don't want to say the wrong one because it'll make
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  Speaker 3: people angry. But Austin Sereveld, who is really one of
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  Speaker 3: the great stories I think in Ohio State football over
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  Speaker 3: the last say, you know, last decade, because he was
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  Speaker 3: not really expected to do much as a red shirt freshman,
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  Speaker 3: but they went through that illness in twenty twenty four
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  Speaker 3: and he was out there for doing basically doing double
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  Speaker 3: duty duty in fall camp and it worked for him
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  Speaker 3: and it got him ready to play in games, and
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  Speaker 3: then he became a very good starter at left tackle
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  Speaker 3: last year. We started hearing stuff, you know, I think
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  Speaker 3: even before spring, like in the winter, like, hey, Austin Sereveld,
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  Speaker 3: maybe the left tackle, It's like, but come on, that's
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  Speaker 3: ethan on Ianua. And then you know, you saw what
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  Speaker 3: he did last year as the second team all Big
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  Speaker 3: ten left tackle. Expectations this year should be all Big ten.
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  Speaker 3: But where you know, the assumption now is at right guard,
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  Speaker 3: and him and Philip Daniels together on that right side
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  Speaker 3: could be really fun and physical and formidable, and I
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  Speaker 3: think there's a lot to like about that pairing.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Philip Daniels is someone that from basically day one
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  Speaker 1: that he stepped on the Ohio State campus.
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  Speaker 2: He was another guy who last year we were looking
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  Speaker 2: at and.
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  Speaker 1: Going, well, you know, in a year, we'll be talking
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  Speaker 1: about him as a postential starter, and then he just
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  Speaker 1: went out and won that job. Both guys were tackles
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  Speaker 1: that were not necessarily the guys we expected to be
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  Speaker 1: playing those tackle positions when spring ball started, but they
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  Speaker 1: just straight up won those jobs.
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  Speaker 2: And those are both guys.
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  Speaker 1: You know. Austin Sireveld is someone who was an iron
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  Speaker 1: Buckeye last year, which is just you are big and
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  Speaker 1: strong and ready to mash people on the football field.
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  Speaker 1: And every time people talked about Philip Daniels, they talked
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  Speaker 1: about his mean streak. So I don't know that I
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: would want to be lining up over the right side
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  Speaker 1: of the Ohio State offensive line all that often. I
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: don't think that sounds like a lot of fun.
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  Speaker 2: This year.
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  Speaker 1: Austin Siriveld is a big part of the reason why
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  Speaker 1: that does not sound.
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  Speaker 2: Like a lot of fun.
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  Speaker 1: On number four on the list, we're gonna go to
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  Speaker 1: the safety position, Jalen McClain. He is finally out of
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  Speaker 1: Caleb Down's shadow. And I think this might be a
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  Speaker 1: year when people, after going the guy next to Caleb
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  Speaker 1: Downs seems like he's okay. This might be the year
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  Speaker 1: where everyone goes, oh, yeah, that's Jalen McLain and he's
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  Speaker 1: maybe a lot better than okay.
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  Speaker 3: This to me is going to be the scene from
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  Speaker 3: Field of Dreams where Timothy Bussfield can finally see the
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  Speaker 3: ghosts and he's like, when did these ghosts get here?
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  Speaker 3: It's gonna be like when did this Jalen McLain guy arrive?
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  Speaker 3: It's like, well, he's been here. He's a junior now
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  Speaker 3: and you may not have seen him last year because
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  Speaker 3: he was overshadowed by other players and he was doing
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  Speaker 3: what he was asked to do and being that last
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  Speaker 3: line of defense. And when you're the last line of
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  Speaker 3: last year's defense, the offense doesn't always get to you
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  Speaker 3: because everybody else is making plays. But man a coach's dream,
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  Speaker 3: the way that Matt Greary and Matt Patricia and Ryan
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  Speaker 3: day frankly talk about him and the way his teammates
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  Speaker 3: talk about hi, the way Caleb Downs talks about him,
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  Speaker 3: he is He is a Caleb Downs like in terms
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  Speaker 3: of being able to handle what you're asking. Now, Caleb
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  Speaker 3: Downs is special and unique and we know that. But
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  Speaker 3: Jalen McLain is just a football player, smart around the ball,
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  Speaker 3: and I think he's going to be used in a
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  Speaker 3: bunch of different ways this year as well, and he
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  Speaker 3: could be making some of those impact plays that we've
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  Speaker 3: talked about Earl Little making and I'm really looking forward
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  Speaker 3: to it. He's been fun to cover over the years
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  Speaker 3: and just been a really solid guy. Started a game
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  Speaker 3: or two as a true freshman, like he's been preparing
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  Speaker 3: for this. So let's see what it looks like.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, he is number four on this list, but he
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  Speaker 1: is one of three guys who are going to be
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  Speaker 1: representing Ohio State as players at Big ten media days
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  Speaker 1: as upcoming season. The other two guys are people you
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: have not heard on this countdown yet, but you will
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  Speaker 1: spoiler alert just in a few minutes. But yeah, that
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  Speaker 1: kind of tells you a lot about what this team
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  Speaker 1: thinks about Jalen McClain as a leader and as a
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  Speaker 1: representative of a team that has a lot of senior
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  Speaker 1: veteran leadership and a lot of returning starters this year.
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  Speaker 1: So one of the guys who is a returning starter
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  Speaker 1: this year, someone who's not going to be in Chicago.
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  Speaker 1: But I don't think that is to anything says anything
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  Speaker 1: about him other than he has a lot of very
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  Speaker 1: good teammates as well. Number three on our list, Kenyatta Jackson.
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  Speaker 1: He is someone who I think going into last year,
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  Speaker 1: we had expectations that Kenyata Jackson is going to have
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  Speaker 1: a very good year, and he lived up to those expectations.
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  Speaker 1: I have expectations this year that he is going to
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  Speaker 1: sort of continue to build on that because he is
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  Speaker 1: you know, we've sort of gotten little glimpses of him
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  Speaker 1: in some leaked photos and.
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  Speaker 2: Boy, he looks even bigger than he did last year.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and he looks like a creative player. He's he's
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  Speaker 3: six six, two sixty and is still lean and is
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  Speaker 3: a guy that you mentioned. Yeah, he's not going to
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  Speaker 3: be in Chicago, but he is a leader at the
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  Speaker 3: twenty twenty four After the twenty twenty four season, at
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  Speaker 3: the NFL Combine, talking with you, Jack Soy and J. T.
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  Speaker 3: Tumo all the while, and ty Hamilton and Tyler Williams,
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  Speaker 3: they were pointing at Kenyata Jackson as the next leader
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  Speaker 3: of that defensive line. And that was last year for
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  Speaker 3: last year, and now he's back, and I keep saying
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  Speaker 3: I expect him to be a first round pick just
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  Speaker 3: because of the potential, and he has produced. He did
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  Speaker 3: have a good year last year. I think he's gonna
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  Speaker 3: be He's gonna be asked to do more this year,
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  Speaker 3: and I think he's looking forward to that. I think
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  Speaker 3: he's very capable of that. And you know, I could
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  Speaker 3: see double digit sacks. I think that's I don't think
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  Speaker 3: that's too far. I don't think that's too much to ask.
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  Speaker 3: It really just comes down to how much freedom, not
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  Speaker 3: not even freedoms, how aggressive they are with him, or
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  Speaker 3: are they asking him to contain more than get upfield
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  Speaker 3: and get the quarterback.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it feels like whatever they ask him to do,
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  Speaker 1: he's going to be able to do it. And it's
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  Speaker 1: just a question of how much is that going to
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  Speaker 1: show up on the stat sheet this year. But that's
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  Speaker 1: you know, that's a spot where they could potentially take
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  Speaker 1: another step forward. The other the other defensive end position.
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  Speaker 1: I think that's a question mark where etchever side of
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  Speaker 1: the ball, wherever Kenyatta Jackson is this this season, that
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  Speaker 1: is going to be less of a question mark and
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: more probably of an exclamation point. So number two on
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  Speaker 1: our list quarterback Julian Saying, And you know, he's a
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  Speaker 1: Heisman finalist last year, so it takes a lot to
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  Speaker 1: be a higher on this list than a Heisman finalist
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  Speaker 1: from last year. I'm sure you can guess who number
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  Speaker 1: one is. But let's talk before about before you talk
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  Speaker 1: to the guy, talk about the guy who Julian San
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  Speaker 1: is going to be throwing the football too.
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  Speaker 2: Let's talk a little bit about Julian San.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Juliansen also famously has not won the Biletnikoff Award,
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  Speaker 3: but he is the I believe, the only returning Heisman
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  Speaker 3: finalist from last season and put up very good numbers
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  Speaker 3: last year. And what you want out of a quarterback
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  Speaker 3: going from his red year freshman year to his redsheer
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  Speaker 3: sophomore year is somebody who completely owns the team, the
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  Speaker 3: locker room, the playbook, all of it. Last year, He's
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  Speaker 3: a young quarterback, first time starting quarterback, Now he's a quarterback.
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  Speaker 3: He's a starting quarterback, he's your leader. You can't have
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  Speaker 3: any of those other qualifiers and excuses in terms of, well,
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  Speaker 3: it was the first time he's ever doing something, so
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  Speaker 3: of course it's gonna be like you can't go into
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  Speaker 3: a Texas game protecting him and not asking too much
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  Speaker 3: of him. Now he's to the point where you ask
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  Speaker 3: everything you can of him because this may be the
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  Speaker 3: last year he's at Awaio State, So you're not gonna
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  Speaker 3: be waiting, Well, next year, we'll get to it. There
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  Speaker 3: may not be in next year with him and with
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  Speaker 3: his accuracy and with everything that people have talked about,
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  Speaker 3: with his anticipation and all of these different things, the
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  Speaker 3: way he throws the ball. Don't hide any of it.
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  Speaker 3: Use it all and I don't think they plan on
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  Speaker 3: hiding any of it. And frankly, they can't afford to
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  Speaker 3: hide any of it because of this schedule and the
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  Speaker 3: fact that you can only you can only afford maybe
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  Speaker 3: two losses in the regular season and maybe not even
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: that many. So like, yeah, this is this is acceptable.
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  Speaker 3: Tom number two not a slight and we'll see who
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  Speaker 3: number one is. But as long as there's somebody who's
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  Speaker 3: better at number one? Then this is okay?
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  Speaker 2: All right?
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  Speaker 1: So I will you to take multiple choice. You can
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: decide who is number one on the list. Is it
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: punter Joe Maguire, Is it let's say, true freshman wide
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: receiver Brock Boyd, Or is it junior wide receiver Jeremiah Smith.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: You can choose whichever, whichever one you feel is the
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  Speaker 1: most defensible choice for number one on this list.
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: How about Australian Jeremiah Smith. That would be Broiki, that
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: would be now this, yeah, this is where this is. Tom. You,
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: when you're putting your list of forty players together, you
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: started with this one and then you built backwards with that.
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  Speaker 3: I understand you. You reverse engineered the entire list. I
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: get it, And for you know, everybody else would do
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: the same thing, Tom, So no shade to you. But
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: it's interesting where even as a freshman, some people are
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: calling him the best player in college football, and then
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: last year it was just a given he's the best
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: player in college football, and so this year is he
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: probably still the best player in college football? Who's better?
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: Tell me, Tom, you're making all of these lists, give
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: me forty players who are better than Jeremiah Smith. But
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: the production, the production also needs to equal the hype
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: and the expectations, and that comes down to more than
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: just him. It also comes down to his teammates helping
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: him and all of these other various things. But if
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: you're talking about if if all of these players, if
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: all of Ohio stage players were free to be drafted
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: from other college teams, I think you may have like
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: the top three might be exactly how that. I don't
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: know that the order would be the same, But when
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: you're looking at programs poaching Ohio State, Jeremiah is not
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: getting past two.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: No, no, definitely not.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: And he might not get past too in next year's
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: NFL draft either. It might be might be a couple
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: quarterbacks ahead of him, but I think there's a very
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: good chance he is the first non quarterback off the
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: board in next year's NFL draft, unless, of course, Tony
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: he chooses return for his fourth and perhaps even fifth season.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: Ohio State can't tell me it can't happen. You can
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: tell me it won't, but you can't tell me it
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: can't happen, So you never know. Twenty twenty seven oh
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, I wouldn't count on it,
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: which means you should probably enjoy twenty twenty six Ohio
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith while he is here. And
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: the best way to enjoy Jeremiah Smith is by joining
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: our site at Buckeye Insiders dot com, where we talk
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: about Jeremiah Smith and a whole bunch of other stuff
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: related to Ohio State football and Ohio State basketball and
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: Ohio State a whole lot of other stuff. Every day,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: we got our team of insiders covering the Buckeyes, covering recruiting,
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: covering x's and o's, covering basketball.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: We got a.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Little we got a little bit of something for everyone there,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: plus a very fun and active community on the inst
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: siders board presented by Jeff Rubies Columbus. Really really fun community,
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: really really enjoyable group of people who have spent you know,
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: seem to really enjoy spending time together, which is a
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: rare delight on these internets here in the year of
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: our Lord twenty twenty six. So we would love to
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: see there at Buckeyeinsiders dot com. We would also love
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: to see at Jeff Ruy Columbus, another place that is
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: delightful to be in twenty twenty six, proudly offering nationally
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  Speaker 1: acclaimed USDA Prime Stakes seafood and sushi, and peccable service,
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: live entertainment, and an attention to detail of it's simply unmatched.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Just go to Jeffrey dot com slash Columbus to check
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: out the menu and make a reservation today. That will
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: do it for today. Thank you guys all for joining us.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: Have a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.