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Ross Fulton Analysis: What Is The Biggest Concern For Ohio State's 2024 Offense? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Friday May tenth, I'm your host, Tom
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  or the Akron game in one hundred and thirteen days, the game against Michigan
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  in two hundred and four days. When the Buckeyes take the field against Akron
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  in one hundred and thirteen days, they are going to have a new first
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  game starter. Could be a guy who started the Cotton Bowl and briefly played
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  in the Cotton Bowl for them. Otherwise it's going to be someone who is
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  brand new to starting at quarterback for Ohio State. So who is that going
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  to be? And what are some of the questions we need to get answered
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  by our smart football friend Ross Fulton. Well we're going to get them all
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  answered today on Today's show with Ross Fulton, our ex's and nos guru at
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  pucke huddle dot com and of course when we have Ross on the show.
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  We're proudly sponsored by Jeff Ruby Steakhouse probably offering nationally acclaimed USDA Prime steaks,
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  seafood and sushi, im pickuple service, live entertainment, and an attention to
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  detail, but it is simply unmatched. Just go to Jeff Ruby dot com
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  slash Columbus for more information, to check out the menu and make a reservation
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  today. All right, Ross is my guest today. It feels like everyone
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  sort of has their own view of who's going to be the starting quarterback for
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  All High. They've got five guys on the roster with the transfer portal window
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  now closed, so they should be entering the season with five guys. I
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  feel like I think I know who the starter is going to be. But
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  on our board, our huddleboard presented by Jeff Ruby, Steahouse, anytime anyone
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  asked Ross, who's the starting quarterback going to be? Ross, you always
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  have a very definitive answer. So let people know who it's going to be.
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  And why you were so confident that you're right about that famous last words.
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  I mean, I am pretty confident that it's going to be Will Howard.
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  I guess for a multitude of reasons. I mean, you know,
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  people are sort of under selling the experience difference, Like we're talking about someone
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  who has started a big twelve championship game. You started, you know,
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  had double digit starts, versus people who have barely played at all. I
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  also just I thought that the spring game reiterated for me the reasons that I
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  thought Will Howard would be the starter. I mean, he's a big,
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  stan fast kid. I thought he made pretty decisive decisions in the pocket,
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  got the ball out. I think he is the best runner of the group.
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  And so to the extent that it seems like Ryan Day keeps hammering the
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  point that they want to reintroduce, shall we say, the quarterback run threat
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  as a part of the running offense, I think he most fits that bill.
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  You know, I just I guess I've you can use. You can
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  go both ways with Devin Brown's lack of experience and say, well, maybe
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  we haven't seen something yet, but like I mean, you know, not
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  to be harsh. The limited things I have seen, I have not been
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  very comfortable with. You know, in the regular season, when he got
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  the chances, I thought he's pretty inaccurate. I did not think he had
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  the mobility that the coaching staffs seemed to sell him as. During the con
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  Bowl before he got hurt, he made a variety of four reds, and
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  then I thought during the spring game he just he was again pretty indecisive,
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  Like there was multiple times he scrambled when there were opportunities there to throw the
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  football after you're holding it a long time, which I think would have perhaps
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  been sacks in a real game. So I just think, I mean,
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  that's I guess my partially my thought is like some like what an obvious level,
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  right, It's like they brought in a guy who had started multiple seasons,
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  who had one year left, who could have gone in the NFL.
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  I guess, you know, opinions made vary. You know, he said
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  what his grade was. You know, maybe that's true, maybe that's not.
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  Versus guys you just haven't had any experience. So all that added up
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  for me, and and they continue the way they continue to talk about the
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  offense. It's what he does well. So that's just why that's sort of
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  That's what some of circumstantial evidence I think is makes me pretty confident that it's
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  Will Howard so well, whether or not Will Howard is to starter this fall,
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  I think the quarterback who got talked about this spring the most, with
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  Julian saying true freshman who was at Alabama for about the time it takes to
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  eat maybe a leisurely brunch and then hopped back in the portal and headed to
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  Ohio State. He certainly showed flashes this spring. I think, to me,
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  with as much talent and veteran you know, veteran depth as they have
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  all around the roster, this is probably not the year you're going to start
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  a true freshman almost regardless. Is there a scenario though, in your mind
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  where maybe Julian Saying ends up in the too deep this season or is that
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  just a year too early to be having that conversation. Yeah, I think
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  if Devin Brown had transferred, I could see the argument for that. I
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  think if Bush comes to shop again, just based on what I've seen very
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  limited amouth, I think if they had to choose between playing Julian Sayan and
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  Lincoln Keenholtz right now, I think they might go with Julian Saying. But
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  I just think with Devin Brown there, like all I just said about his
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  lack of experience, he has a lot more experience and reps than other people
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  have had. So again, I guess you know, there's always one of
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  those things like are you talking about short term fix if you had to versus
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  a longer term issue. So I do think it's premature. I mean,
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  in my opinion, I think he's has the pole position to start in twenty
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  twenty five, but I think, you know, for reasons both involving just
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  true freshmen otherwise on an otherwise experienced team, as well as roster management.
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  I think you know, you make Julian saying, if you announced he was
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  the second string, you're potentially maybe not for this fall, but for the
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  winner, could be losing several quarterbacks. So I just I don't think they'll
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  they would come out and say that, But I do agree with the assessment
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  that he really positioned himself well for the future. So when you look at
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  this year's Ohio State team, I think you look around the roster, around
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  the different position groups, and there's an awful lot to be encouraged about,
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  an awful lot for Ohio State fans to be excited about. That's the easy
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  part of this conversation. And we can, you know, kind of go
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  around and go we look at the running back, so boy, look at
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  the wide receivers. Let's take the opposite approach. I don't know that theres
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  are massive concerns on this team the way there may be were a year ago.
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  But what are the areas of concern for you on the offense? I
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  mean, quarterback is I guess not entirely settled. You'd love to have another
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  year of CJ. Stroud somehow, but they don't. Other than that offensive
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  line. Is that last sort of unsettled spot on the offensive line a real
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  concern to what are the concerns right now for the offense for the Buckeyes this
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  year? Yeah, I wouldn't say massive, but I have a dantel concern
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  about the tight end position. I don't think it's been very well. I
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  shouldn't say that it has. The blocking has left something to be desired from
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  the position for a while now. And you know, I again, you
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  know, they've said the right things about G. Scott's development and play this
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  spring. Maybe he gets there. I mean, I've not seen anything the
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  past from him that would indicate that he could that he's going to improve the
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  blocking. You know, Willcasmerica came in, it does not seem like I
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  mean, on the one hand, there's been some positive rumblings about his blocking,
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  but it didn't seem like he'd like jumped to the front of the line
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  either. So tight end is definitely and like Jolnnie Thurman when he got opportunities
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  in the Cod Bowl again through freshmen, so uh, you know, he
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  did not seem to know his assignments, and so that that pretty quickly ended
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  that opportunity at least in that game, and so obviously could have been proved
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  still not like seeing him at the front of the line. So that would
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  definitely be my biggest concern. I could personally care less of the tight end
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  caught a single ball this year if they could just get competent run blocking from
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  the position. They have plenty of other people that are you know, more
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  effective with the ball in their hands once they catch it, So that would
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  be my number one. Number two is right guard. I know there's like
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  a lot of chatter this offseason wanting to be able to bump Josh Friar to
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  right guard. I mean I thought like they, I don't think, just
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  having listened to like Ryan Day and others the spring, I don't think they
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  really felt that way. Like maybe if someone like jumped out at them,
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  you know, they'd be fine with that because they see Josh Frier's one of
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  their best five starters. But like you know, I thought he was pretty
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  good overall last year for being a first time starter. I know people have
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  like bad visions of the Cotton Bowl in their brains, but like that whole
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  offensive line situation was such a mess with like having a news center not doing
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  line calls. Uh so people were not you know, it was just kind
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  of a mess of from the get go less on like your ability and so
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  to me, like Josh Bryer, I thought, for the most part last
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  season outplayed for instance, like Michigan's offensive tackles, and they obviously were just
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  fine with those guys. So I think he's fine at right tackle. I
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  do think right guards are concern obviously, like they their hope seemed like was
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  that Luke Montgomery could grab that spot and came out of spring scene very much
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  like that's not the case. I'm sort of in the boat at this point
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  that I think Carson Hinsman's probably the best option there. I mean that if
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  you play Hintsman at guard, you know a lot of starts among that offensive
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  line, but that is changing positions, so you know, but I so
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  I think that is those are like the two big unknowns to me. I
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  know we're focused on offense right now, but I would probably put Will linebacker
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  number three, and then I agree there's a pretty significant drop off for a
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  concern from there. Oh subtle don suttle. I'll look at the defense in
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  the show next week. Let's not rush ourselves. I did want to ask
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  you coming out of the spring I think it felt like, compared to a
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  year ago, where there was not exactly outright panic about the offensive line,
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  but about as vocal a level of concern as you ever hear from Ohio States
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  coaches about the offensive line coming out of spring ball twenty twenty three. This
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  year, it feels like they're light years ahead of that. And now that
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  being said, it did feel like maybe they were kind of leaving the door
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  open to if there's the right fit in the portal, maybe you bring someone
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  in. It feels like there is not the right fit in the portal,
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  at least on the offensive line. So that's probably not going to be not
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  going to be a solution. So is the offensive line as presently comprised.
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  So let's let's say it's McLaughlin at center and Insman at right guard and right
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  then you've got Simmons and of course Donovan Jackson on the left side. Is
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  that five that five guys or whoever else ends up getting swapped in for one
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  of those guys. Is that a good enough group to win a national championship
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  this year, because that feels like that's sort of where the bar is set
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  in Columbus right now. I think it is. I mean, as I
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  said, like, I need to see a little bit more how things gel
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  at right guard, but I think that they're the offensive line. First of
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  all, I thought actually took more black than deserved at times last season.
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  I thought that they were pretty good in pass protection. I think the run
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  game issues, as we've discussed, stem from much more systemic or structural problems
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  than just simply like the left guard missed his block kind of things. So
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  I think that the offensive line is going to be significantly helped this year by
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  the as we said, reintroduction of the quarterback run threat, which accounts for
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  numbers, counts for makes the defense less sure where the ball is going based
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  on alignment, as we discussed with Chip Kelly, like I think in his
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  UCLA iteration did a really good job of threatening the both sides of the center
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  despite being in the gun, and so by that I mean like equally willing
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  to run the football to the side that the half back is lined up on
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  as opposite it. I think that's been a problem in the path for Ohio
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  State, like especially without a quarterback run threat, because like at least with
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  the read element, you can ball can come out either way. But if
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  you're running like even in the in the spring game, we saw zone,
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  same side zone, so again like running zone play to the side of the
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  halfbacks on we saw same side down g which is just a very the guard
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  to that play side is pulling and kicking out. So that's kind of a
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  quicker hitting power. And so again I think, you know, and like
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  a UCLA he would run a lot of like same side bucks suite the same
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  side outside zone. Say's that power. So all that's to say, like
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  I think the offensive line is going to be helped by those elements in addition
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  to adding quinch on Juckkins too, it really like adds like a very hard
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  nos running element and we'll get you you know, turn three into five and
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  five into seven, et cetera. So that you know, keeps just staying
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  ahead of schedule makes a big difference in helping out All Right, there you
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  go. You heard it here first, Ohio State football possibly kind of good
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  this fall. Ross, Thank you for joining us and laying some of the
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  stuff out on the offense, good bad, and you know a little bit
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  little bit of stuff that's still up in the air. Definitely going to be
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  an interesting summer and fall heading into the season. Cannot wait. There's boys,
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  there are lots of stuff to talk about around this team, with the
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  team, with recruiting, with the ex's and knows all that good stuff.
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  And a great place to talk about all of that is it bucke huddle dot
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  com. That's where Ross and our whole team of X's nose Guruz are on
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  our board all the time, making you a smarter football fan. We got
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  Mark coverin recruiting, Mark and Kevin still in the middle of their big Southern
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  swing trip, and Kevin, Tony and I of course covering the team.
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  That is all at bucke huddle dot com. And of course thanks again.
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  It's to our friends at Jeff Ruby Steakhouse, the award winning upscale steakhouse in
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  downtown Columbus, named one of the top fifty steakhouses in America by Food Network.
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  Just go to Jeffruby dot com slash Columbus, check out the menu and
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  make a reservation today. That'll do it for today. Thank you guys all
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  for joining us. Have a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.