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Ohio State Transfer Portal News: Buckeyes Add Another Tight End · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to buck Eyes tomorrow morning for Tuesday, January thirteenth.
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  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Tom Or the ball State game in
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  Speaker 1: two hundred and thirty five days, the game against Michigan
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: in three hundred and nineteen days. Our friends are Grateful
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  Speaker 1: Grittel Club is his favorite food truck. Well, they are
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  Speaker 1: an appetite, figure out what you want to order on
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  Speaker 1: your app of choice. All right, on today's show, we're
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  Speaker 1: going to be talking about tight ends. We've sort of
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  Speaker 1: had a running bit that every year is the year
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  Speaker 1: of the tight end at Ohio State, and it never
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  Speaker 1: actually happens, except for last year twenty twenty five, when
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  Speaker 1: it kind of did. And now in the transfer portal,
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  Speaker 1: it's starting to look it might be the year of
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  Speaker 1: the tight end at Ohio State. Yet again, it is
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  Speaker 1: always the year of Tony Gerderman. Here on the Buckeye
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  Speaker 1: Huddle podcast network, Tony Buckeyes add the second transfer tight
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  Speaker 1: end of this transfer portal cycle. Hunter Welsing from Northwestern
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  Speaker 1: What a Buckeye fans need to know about him.
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  Speaker 2: Well, He's been around for a while but has only
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  Speaker 2: produced recently, dealt with injuries and things of that nature.
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  Speaker 2: Is a leave a going to be a seventh year
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  Speaker 2: senior in twenty twenty six, So a very veteran guy.
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  Speaker 2: This past season for Northwestern twenty eight catches, two hundred
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  Speaker 2: and ninety six yards, two touchdowns. Honorable mention all big
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  Speaker 2: ten six three, two fifty perhaps more of the full
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  Speaker 2: back type, but certainly has been catching the ball well
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  Speaker 2: for Northwestern and Tom even in twenty twenty four average
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  Speaker 2: twenty yards a catch for Northwestern. Now was it just
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  Speaker 2: one catch, yes, but it was still twenty yards. But
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  Speaker 2: overall for Northwestern this past year was a very reliable weapon.
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  Speaker 2: As I said, two touchdowns and certainly as the veteran
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  Speaker 2: nature that you would like at the position. And I
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  Speaker 2: think it's interesting that they went and got a second
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  Speaker 2: and tight end certainly in the transfer portal.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and they have. Veteran has sort of been the
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  Speaker 1: theme for them this month, and I think if you
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  Speaker 1: look at some of the teams that are currently playing
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  Speaker 1: for the National championship Indiana and Miami, veteran has sort
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  Speaker 1: of been the theme for those two teams as well.
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  Speaker 1: And the buck Eyes have brought in a couple of safeties.
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  Speaker 1: And if you want to hear about all these guys,
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  Speaker 1: we have done Buckeye Weekly podcasts on literally all of them.
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  Speaker 1: But they brought in safety Earl Little from Florida State.
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  Speaker 1: They brought in safety Terry Moore on Monday out of Duke.
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  Speaker 1: A couple veteran guys there. Devin McEwan the wide receiver
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  Speaker 1: from UTSA veteran, Christian Lego, a linebacker from Wisconsin, veteran,
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  Speaker 1: John Walker defensive tackle from UCF veteran. I mean, these
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  Speaker 1: are all kind of older guys. There's not a lot of, oh,
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  Speaker 1: you know, promising freshmen, and you're going to bring in
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  Speaker 1: a guy who still has three years of eligibility left.
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  Speaker 1: It's mostly been you know, fourth and fifth or you know, seventh.
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  Speaker 1: In this case, you're guys which you know. At some
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  Speaker 1: point to me, he feels like maybe it's not a coincidence,
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  Speaker 1: that maybe this is kind of a little bit the
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  Speaker 1: plan here.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, even like looking back at last year's transfer portal hall,
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  Speaker 2: while you brought in a couple of young guys like
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  Speaker 2: Logan George or Justin Terry to develop, and of course,
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  Speaker 2: now both of those guys are gone. I don't know
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  Speaker 2: that you can do the developmental thing anymore. The development
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  Speaker 2: developmental guys. Maybe it's recruiting, maybe it's the three star
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  Speaker 2: high school kids, and all of those guys that you're
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  Speaker 2: getting from the portal need to play. And that's really
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  Speaker 2: what the initial plan was for Ohio State back when
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  Speaker 2: they started getting into the portal, When the portal first started,
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  Speaker 2: they wanted to get starters and that's generally what they
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  Speaker 2: shot for. Didn't always work that way, but now again,
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  Speaker 2: you know, you're trying to get starters out of the portal,
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  Speaker 2: or guys who are going to contribute and be essentially
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  Speaker 2: co starters. I don't you know. Ohio State they have
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  Speaker 2: two starting tight ends basically, and last year it was
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  Speaker 2: Wilchas American Max Claire. And you can just assume your
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  Speaker 2: top two stop top two tight ends are both just
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  Speaker 2: co starters. Just figure that into the whole thing. But yeah,
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  Speaker 2: veteran starters, rotational guys that actually play and have been
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  Speaker 2: developed by other programs, and that portion of the job
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  Speaker 2: has been done for you.
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  Speaker 1: You mentioned last year's starters. The twenty twenty five starters
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  Speaker 1: Claire and Kasmeric. We know they have their Kasmeric replacement
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  Speaker 1: because he's out of eligibility, and they replaced the sort
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  Speaker 1: of blocking first tight end transfer from Ohio University with
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  Speaker 1: Mason Williams, who is a blocking first tight end transfer
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  Speaker 1: from Ohio University. So then the question is, okay, is
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  Speaker 1: Hunter Welson? Is he the Max Clair replacement here? Because
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  Speaker 1: we don't officially know what's going on with Max Claire yet,
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  Speaker 1: he is not. As of you know, this is is
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  Speaker 1: our standard caveat on all of these shows. As of
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  Speaker 1: time of recording, which is Monday afternoon, a little before
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  Speaker 1: four pm, we have not heard anything one way or
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  Speaker 1: the other on Max Claire, which a lot of guys
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  Speaker 1: have sort of made, you know, the NFL the obvious
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  Speaker 1: NFL draft declarations. Most of those guys have made their declarations.
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  Speaker 1: We haven't heard anything about guys coming back. I don't
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  Speaker 1: you know. I'm not trying to push Max Claire out
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  Speaker 1: the door by any means. I think another year at
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State ankle, you'd probably be happy to have him
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  Speaker 1: back for another year. Does them bringing in two veteran
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  Speaker 1: tight ends when they've already got a couple other guys
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  Speaker 1: who played a decent amount this year. Does that suggest
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  Speaker 1: to you that Max Claire has made a decision and
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  Speaker 1: it's not to come back or is that reading too
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  Speaker 1: much into it?
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  Speaker 2: Well, Tom, I think the good news here is it
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  Speaker 2: means there's a lot more thirteen and fourteen personnel that
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  Speaker 2: Ohio State can play. If Max Claire comes back, then
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  Speaker 2: you'll have all of the options. You kind of have
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  Speaker 2: Claire as the pass catcher and then don't forget Nate
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  Speaker 2: Roberts at the full back position. You can play a
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  Speaker 2: lot of fourteen personnel in there and really get the
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  Speaker 2: ball moving three to four yards at a time. And hey,
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  Speaker 2: it's working for Miami. That's what they do. They move
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  Speaker 2: the ball four yards at a time and they're playing
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  Speaker 2: for a national title. So I know a lot of
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  Speaker 2: people are scoffing out there, But now, to me, that's
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  Speaker 2: what this means is that Max Clayer is going to
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  Speaker 2: be moving on one way or the other, whether it's
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  Speaker 2: to the NFL or the portal. And maybe we're wrong
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  Speaker 2: on that, but that's what this feels like because you know,
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  Speaker 2: they still have been at Christian, they still have Nate
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  Speaker 2: Roberts who have played, so you figure those guys are
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  Speaker 2: going to play more, and how many tight ends do
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  Speaker 2: you need? Because now at this point there will be
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  Speaker 2: five tight ends with plenty of experience playing, which means
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  Speaker 2: they're five tight ends with plans on playing. You know,
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  Speaker 2: it's like, well, I played last year, why wouldn't I
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  Speaker 2: play this year? And it feels like too many to have,
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  Speaker 2: not just roster wise money and I'm not I'm not
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  Speaker 2: expecting Hunter Welsinger or Mason Williams are commanding you know,
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  Speaker 2: bookoo dollars, but Max Claire probably is. And is that
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  Speaker 2: money that now you've decided to spend elsewhere or you know,
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  Speaker 2: it's just you know, he's moving on, and so you've
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  Speaker 2: you've build the the the roster spots.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I mean just the roster spots, even setting
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  Speaker 1: Claire aside. You mentioned it's Welsing, it's Williams, the two
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  Speaker 1: transfers who came in, Bennett Christian who played a bunch
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  Speaker 1: last year, Nate Roberts who played a bunch last year.
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  Speaker 1: And then you have Max LeBlanc who is just finished
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  Speaker 1: his second year and has not really played a lot.
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  Speaker 1: Brody Lennon, who was a true freshman last year, has
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  Speaker 1: not really played a lot. Plus they're bringing in a
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  Speaker 1: true freshman, so that right there is seven guys, and
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  Speaker 1: you know that Claire would be an eighth tight end.
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  Speaker 1: That would be that would be a lot of tight ends,
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  Speaker 1: even you know, even in the era of one hundred
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  Speaker 1: and five scholarship players, that would be a lot of
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  Speaker 1: tight end. So yeah, that's I don't want to you know,
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  Speaker 1: we're not trying to push anyone out the door, but
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  Speaker 1: sort of reading the tea leaves here, bringing in a
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  Speaker 1: couple tight end transfers sort of suggestive that they're looking
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  Speaker 1: to replace some of the returning production. And Johnnie Thurman
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  Speaker 1: of course is transferred out as America of course out
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  Speaker 1: of eligibilities. But we'll see, we will see what the
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  Speaker 1: official verdict is on Max Claire at some point in
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  Speaker 1: the next few days. He has another couple of days
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  Speaker 1: to make an NFL draft decision if he's doing that,
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  Speaker 1: or a transfer portal decision. That window it glows until
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  Speaker 1: the sixteenth, So still a couple more days to find
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  Speaker 1: out on all that stuff. We're still waiting to hear
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  Speaker 1: officially as of right now on in Yatta Jackson and
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  Speaker 1: Austin Siraveld and some other guys who are you know,
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  Speaker 1: presumably Slash possibly returning to Ohio State. But until there
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  Speaker 1: is a until there is a graphic end or a
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  Speaker 1: notes app, nothing is official. So we'll continue to follow
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  Speaker 1: all of those stories, as well as all of the
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  Speaker 1: transfer portal drama and coming and goings at bucke Huddle
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  Speaker 1: dot com and of course on our YouTube channel at
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  Speaker 1: YouTube dot com slash bucke Huddle. Make sure if you
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: were not already subscribed, make sure you're subscribed to the
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Buckeye Weekly podcast as well as this one, because we've
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  Speaker 1: been dropping a ton of shows, doing a lot of
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: sort of portal sort of player capsules and previews and
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  Speaker 1: guys who are visiting and letting you know some of
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: the you know, some of the stuff you need to
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  Speaker 1: know on all these guys. We did a show on
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Hunter Welson over the weekend and he committed. We did
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  Speaker 1: a show. We've done a couple of shows now on
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  Speaker 1: Safeties and dropped those about forty five minutes before those
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  Speaker 1: guys have committed. So it's a good way to stay
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: a little bit ahead of the news cycle. On the
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: Buckeye Weekly podcast feed and at YouTube dot com Slash
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  Speaker 1: Buckeye huddle. That'll do it for today. Thank you guys
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  Speaker 1: all for joining us. Have a great day. We'll talk
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  Speaker 1: to you tomorrow.