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Which True Freshman Is Most Likely To Make A Major Impact In 2025? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes Tomorrow morning for Wednesday, February nineteenth, I'm
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Speaker 1: your host, tom Or. The Texas game is in one
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Speaker 1: hundred and ninety two days, the game against Michigan in
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Speaker 1: two hundred and eighty three days. If you're planning your
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Speaker 1: next event, make it unforgettable with Grateful Griddle, Columbus's favorite
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Speaker 2: Can be some good.
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Speaker 1: Vibes on today's show as well. Going to have a
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Speaker 1: great conversation about the true freshman that might make the
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Speaker 1: biggest impact on this year's Ohio state team. Last year's
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Speaker 1: true freshman obviously would have been Jeremiah Smith. That's going
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Speaker 1: to be a hard bar for any of this year's
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Speaker 1: true freshman to clear, but there are certainly several very
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Speaker 1: talented true freshmen headed to Columbus who could do something
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Speaker 1: pretty special this fall. This is a conversation with Tony
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Speaker 1: Gerderman and Mark Givler of Buckeheuddle dot com. This is
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Speaker 1: from the Skull Session recruiting podcast. Those guys do a
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Speaker 1: great job there kevinnuon on that show as well. That's
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Speaker 1: going to be a show you're going to want to
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Speaker 1: subscribe to if you do not already. But here it
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Speaker 1: is the conversation with Tony and Mark talking about the
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Speaker 1: true freshman that might make the biggest impact on this
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Speaker 1: falls Ohio State football team.
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Speaker 3: Hello, everyone, Welcome to the Skull Session Recruiting podcast, brought
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Speaker 3: to by Buckeyehuddle dot Com. I am Mark Givler, changing
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Speaker 3: up today a little bit. We got Tony Gerdervan here
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Speaker 3: bucke huddle dot Com Lead team writer. Tony. I won't
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Speaker 3: do the power pause, but I will ask you, how's
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Speaker 3: it going, Mark?
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Speaker 2: It's going well going. How are you doing?
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Speaker 3: Yes, I'm doing well. Are you enjoying your your off season?
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Speaker 2: Here?
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Speaker 3: Your prolonged off season with the with the late springball start.
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Speaker 2: You know, it's I'm looking at it and we are, like,
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Speaker 2: you know, just a four weeks away from spring spring practice,
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Speaker 2: after having about four weeks off from the neat Championship game,
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Speaker 2: so like I'm right in the sweet spot of it.
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Speaker 2: And but still, you know, there's there's always there's always
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Speaker 2: football to talk about. There's always the beast that needs
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Speaker 2: to be fed.
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Speaker 3: That's right. This is a recruiting show, and we are
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Speaker 3: talking about recruiting with Tony here, but I felt this
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Speaker 3: was a good time to bring Tony on because of
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Speaker 3: our topic today. We are going to look at the
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Speaker 3: five true freshmen that we expect to make the biggest
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Speaker 3: impact on the field this fall a twenty twenty five
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Speaker 3: season for the Buckeyes. This is not a best players
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Speaker 3: in the class, necessarily. It is not a projection of
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Speaker 3: what they will look like in three years. Necessarily. This
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Speaker 3: is a who will get out there early enough based
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Speaker 3: on their ability and opportunity available. We're going to go
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Speaker 3: from five to one. We have some similarities, but we
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Speaker 3: have some differences as well on our lists. So let's
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Speaker 3: get right into it. At number five, Tony, who's your
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Speaker 3: number five?
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Speaker 2: Yeah? I went with defensive end Zion Grady because one,
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Speaker 2: he's talented, as we know. Larry Johnson mentioned back in
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Speaker 2: one of the ball practices that they're the quote is
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Speaker 2: we're counting on him to get ready early. And then
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Speaker 2: when you look at the depth chart right now, you've
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Speaker 2: obviously lost Mitchell Melton, Jack Sawyer, j T. Twe Molowow,
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Speaker 2: So you've gotten very very young there. You've brought in
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Speaker 2: Zion Grady at the Citinelli and I'll get that wrong.
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Speaker 2: I think he's going to probably take some time. He's
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Speaker 2: a little thin right now in my opinion, so they're
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Speaker 2: gonna have to build him up. But Joshua Mickens did
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Speaker 2: not play much last year as a red shirt freshman.
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Speaker 2: Is he going to be able to hold off Zion?
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Speaker 2: And then they're bringing in Logan George from Idaho State,
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Speaker 2: who will see what happens with them? You know, Dominic
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Speaker 2: Kirks is there as well, what happens with c. J. Hicks?
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Speaker 2: Like there are a lot of questions here, but I
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Speaker 2: went ahead and went with this guy because it's not
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Speaker 2: it's not unusual to see a freshman defensive end come
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Speaker 2: in and make an impact. And when we say impact,
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Speaker 2: I think a lot of this is relative as well.
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Speaker 2: Like I just finished writing about talking about Edric Houston
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Speaker 2: for another video and like he ended up as the
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Speaker 2: number two three tech behind Tylly Williams, Like that that's
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Speaker 2: a big impact. He only had seven tackles, Well, that's
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Speaker 2: no impact. So these things are all kind of relative,
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Speaker 2: and I think he can have something similar. And you've
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Speaker 2: seen some very talented defensive ends Jack Sawyer, j T.
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Speaker 2: Twoey Molowaw as true freshman made an impact.
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Speaker 3: J T.
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Speaker 2: Twe Molohow started a couple of games as a true freshman.
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Speaker 2: Zach Harrison before that, started games as a true freshman.
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Speaker 2: And of course, you know, I'm not going to get
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Speaker 2: into the Chase Youngs and the Bosas, but there you go.
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Speaker 2: Defensive end freshman Zion Grady.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a good pick and I'll kind of get
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Speaker 3: into my thoughts on him later in the show. My
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Speaker 3: number five is the guy who I think is probably,
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Speaker 3: if not the most physically ready, one of the two
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Speaker 3: or three most physically ready. It's wide receiver Quincy Porter.
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Speaker 3: I you know, I went back and forth on this
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Speaker 3: because on one hand, I think people are gonna be
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Speaker 3: look at that and say, well, is a wide receiver.
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Speaker 3: Is a true freshman wide receiver really going to crack
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Speaker 3: this lineup? And no, he's not going to start. But
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Speaker 3: they do have some some numbers things at receiver right now,
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Speaker 3: like they are not like you know the days of
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Speaker 3: like Urban Meyer and you know, having like thirteen receivers
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Speaker 3: on the roster has not been Ohio State's thing. The
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Speaker 3: last few years. I think he's the most ready of
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Speaker 3: the true freshman receivers. I think he's you know, it's
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Speaker 3: six three, one ninety five ish, maybe even two hundred pounds.
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Speaker 3: I think he gives them a kind of a different
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Speaker 3: dynamic than a lot of the other receivers on this
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Speaker 3: roster not named Jeremiah Smith. And so I think it's
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Speaker 3: a natural fit. As I think everyone on this planet
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Speaker 3: knows that Jeremiah Smith is not going to be at a
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Speaker 3: highest state for four years. I think it's a natural
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Speaker 3: progression to sort of push him behind Jeremiah Smith early
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Speaker 3: and just soak it in, buddy, like he could learn
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Speaker 3: from Jeremiah Smith, learn that position and get ready to
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Speaker 3: go and maybe get ready to you know, with with
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Speaker 3: Jeremiah maybe being on a pitch count at certain games
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Speaker 3: this year, getting Quincy Porter into some games, get catching
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Speaker 3: some passes, and especially late in games when they're up,
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Speaker 3: and getting him into the fold. But I think this
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Speaker 3: guy's a legitimate five star talent. I think he's a stud.
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Speaker 3: I think he's our next great receiver after you know,
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Speaker 3: after they cycle through this other you know, Carnel Tate
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Speaker 3: and Jeremiah, and I think Milon Graham is going to
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Speaker 3: eventually ascend to that, but I think he's the next
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Speaker 3: guy in line, and so I think and I had
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Speaker 3: to put someone from all you know, I'm not gonna
6:47
Speaker 3: I won't give away the whole thing here, but like
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Speaker 3: it was hard on offense, it was much easier, I
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Speaker 3: think on defense to find opportunity. So this is where
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Speaker 3: I went with number five.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's that's my number four, Quincy Port. And
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Speaker 2: I'm with you when you're trying to find guys on offense.
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Speaker 2: I can see a world where everybody in offense red
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Speaker 2: shirts this year. That doesn't mean they won't play, but
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Speaker 2: you know they can get their four games and then
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Speaker 2: whatever happens in the playoffs, because we even saw true
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Speaker 2: freshman playing in the playoffs after not really playing in
7:15
Speaker 2: the regular season because of the blowouts. But yeah, I'm
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Speaker 2: with you. I like everything about Quincy Porter. And I
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Speaker 2: like the depth chart too, because I can see him
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Speaker 2: coming in and being Jeremiah Smith's backup at X and sure,
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Speaker 2: you know they play different positions, and you know Carnel
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Speaker 2: Tate will move around and soll Jeremiah Smith and but
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Speaker 2: Zion Grady here, I'm sorry, Quincy Porter as that prototypical
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Speaker 2: X who can just be behind Jeremiah Smith and learn
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Speaker 2: from him. And like you said, they're not going to
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Speaker 2: be playing He's not. He's not gonna be need needing
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Speaker 2: to be out there sixty sixty five snaps Jeremiah Smith.
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Speaker 2: So there's going to be an opportunity. And this is
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Speaker 2: a guy who's big, he can do stuff after the catch.
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Speaker 2: He's not just like a possession receiver. Like I've jokingly
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Speaker 2: said on the Buckeye Weekly podcas asked and Buckyist tomorrow morning,
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Speaker 2: like he's somewhere between Marvin Harrison and Jeremiah Smith. It's like,
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Speaker 2: that's that's totally unfair. But like this is the I
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Speaker 2: think the kind of player that we're talking about that,
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Speaker 2: as you said, is the next big time receiver once
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Speaker 2: it's his turn. And being here for spring practice is
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Speaker 2: huge because I think that's one of the things that
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Speaker 2: set Milon Graham back and had he been here in
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Speaker 2: the spring in the winter rather than June, probably would
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Speaker 2: have seen more from him last year. But this is
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Speaker 2: not a very deep room and so there's gonna be
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Speaker 2: an opportunity for a guy like Quincy Porter to make
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Speaker 2: some room.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, and I do kind of wonder like the next
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Speaker 3: evolution of Jeremiah Smith is in my opinion that they're
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Speaker 3: going to move him around, which will also create an
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Speaker 3: opportunity there maybe maybe able to get on the field
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Speaker 3: with Jeremiah Smith at some point. So we'll see. But
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Speaker 3: I think he's a guy who just jumps off the
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Speaker 3: page to me as someone who could play early. So
8:52
Speaker 3: that was your number four, Go with my number four.
8:55
Speaker 3: I've got Riley Petty John linebacker out of Texas. Just
9:02
Speaker 3: again I go with college ready bodies. He's fast, he's athletic.
9:07
Speaker 3: I think he's versatile. I think he's a guy that
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Speaker 3: you know, you're not gonna want to throw too much
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Speaker 3: at him right away. I'm sure they're just going to
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Speaker 3: kind of put him in one spot and let him
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Speaker 3: learn one spot before he learns two or three. But
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Speaker 3: just strikes me as someone with the athleticism and the
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Speaker 3: physical preparedness to get out there early. He's been with
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Speaker 3: the team since December, went through bullprep and things like
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Speaker 3: that with with the team, And again, I think he's
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Speaker 3: a boarder, if not a legitimate five star, certainly right
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Speaker 3: on the cusp of five star guy for me, He's
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Speaker 3: an easy top fifty type of prospect in the country.
9:40
Speaker 3: I know a lot of places did have him a
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Speaker 3: five star and so that was an easy one for
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Speaker 3: me to get him on this list somewhere, Tony, I
9:49
Speaker 3: think you're going you were number three for you. I
9:55
Speaker 3: think we were staying on that side of the ball though.
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Speaker 2: Right yeah, we are, And I will go with Jarq
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Speaker 2: west Carter defensive tackle. Who again, when we're talking about
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Speaker 2: depth right now, Tyler Williams is gone, I assume Jarke
10:10
Speaker 2: west Carter is going to be a three tech even
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Speaker 2: though Larry Johnson has compared him to Mike Hall. Who
10:14
Speaker 2: is this Like Larry Johnson's idea of what a nose
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Speaker 2: tackle is is so different than what a lot of
10:20
Speaker 2: people would have because Robert Landers was a nose tackle
10:24
Speaker 2: and Mike Hall was a nose tackle and that these
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Speaker 2: are these quick, three tech type of guys that can
10:29
Speaker 2: get upfield. And that's what Jarck west Carter is. The
10:32
Speaker 2: thing is like they need depth at defensive tackle, whichever spot,
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Speaker 2: whether it's nose tackle or a three tech. He's going
10:38
Speaker 2: to start out at free tech, That's what Larry Johnson
10:39
Speaker 2: has said. But then he's also compared him to Mike
10:42
Speaker 2: Mike Hall, which is, you know, interesting, But when you
10:46
Speaker 2: look at the depth chart at three Tech, you've got
10:48
Speaker 2: Edrick Houston who stepped in and moved moved from defensive
10:51
Speaker 2: end to defensive tackle mid season and then became the backup.
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Speaker 2: So that says a lot of good things about him,
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Speaker 2: But what does it say about the guys behind him?
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Speaker 2: And does that mean that Chuck west Carter is going
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Speaker 2: to have an opportunity to move up that depth chart
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Speaker 2: and do something? Can he be like an Edarck Houston?
11:09
Speaker 2: Can he be like a Tyler Quilliams as true freshman
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Speaker 2: where you know Tyley Quiams is a true freshman, was
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Speaker 2: a freshman All American. So I'm not expecting that, but
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Speaker 2: can you get some playing time? And the way Larry
11:19
Speaker 2: Johnson's talked about him and I think the need at
11:23
Speaker 2: the position, they're really going to try to get him
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Speaker 2: ready for that, so you know, we'll see he's really
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Speaker 2: really explosive. I mean, you've seen him quite a bit.
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Speaker 2: He's a fun guy to watch.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, he's got tremendous, tremendous first step, tremendous get off,
11:39
Speaker 3: which again you mentioned with Larry Johnson being a little
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Speaker 3: unconventional in terms of nose tackle. Like like I've said
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Speaker 3: for year about Larry Johnson, it's all about get off.
11:48
Speaker 3: It doesn't matter if you're a week's side end, a
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Speaker 3: strong side end, a three tech and nose. If you
11:53
Speaker 3: don't have get off, you don't want you. So it
11:56
Speaker 3: is all about it is all about that first step,
11:58
Speaker 3: that explosiveness, and he does have that, and so yeah,
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Speaker 3: that's a that's a that's a good pick there. There's
12:04
Speaker 3: certainly gonna be opportunity there along the defensive line, and
12:06
Speaker 3: someone's gonna play along that defensive line for sure. With
12:10
Speaker 3: with the young guys, you know, I do like what
12:12
Speaker 3: they have coming back. It's interesting, you know, not that
12:14
Speaker 3: it's necessarily not that Hero Canoe is gonna be blocking him,
12:17
Speaker 3: but it does thin out things across the way there
12:22
Speaker 3: where maybe someone else now has to move spots. I know,
12:25
Speaker 3: they they they've talked, they've talked well about Jason Moore.
12:30
Speaker 3: That didn't really manifest itself last year. So we'll see.
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Speaker 3: I think it's a big you know, if we were
12:35
Speaker 3: doing a you know, five players with the most to
12:39
Speaker 3: gain or lose this spring, maybe Jason Moore's on that list,
12:41
Speaker 3: but you know it'll be interesting to see. Yeah, what
12:45
Speaker 3: the what the roster looks like. Like I said, when
12:49
Speaker 3: they still had Hero Canoe, I would always say, like
12:53
Speaker 3: they like their young defensive tackles, and they still do.
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Speaker 3: They like all the you know, there's a lot of
12:58
Speaker 3: guys to like there, but it's one Lesky to like
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Speaker 3: now that he's he's moved on the Texas.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, and you're gonna have to find somebody to play.
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Speaker 2: And he brought in three defensive tackles. I will say,
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Speaker 2: not that he's on the list, but Larry Johnson did
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Speaker 2: talk about trading note and being more of like a
13:12
Speaker 2: developmental guy, So that might be a guy down the
13:15
Speaker 2: road to watch. But they need some of these guys
13:18
Speaker 2: to come in and at least pad the depth chart.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, and Odem is a big time upside guy. You know,
13:24
Speaker 3: he's like six ' five, like two seventy already, but
13:26
Speaker 3: he's gonna he's kind of like Jason Moore in terms
13:29
Speaker 3: of his build, in terms of how he played in
13:31
Speaker 3: high school and now what he's gonna have to be
13:33
Speaker 3: asked to do in college. So yeah, that'll be an
13:36
Speaker 3: interesting one. I think longer term along the defensive line,
13:41
Speaker 3: all right, So that was your number three. My number three.
13:43
Speaker 3: I am sticking at linebacker because I just couldn't like
13:46
Speaker 3: figure it out. So I'm going with TJ. Alford, who
13:50
Speaker 3: I believe is a five store linebacker. I've seen a
13:53
Speaker 3: lot of him in person. I've been incredibly impressed with him.
13:56
Speaker 3: I don't know how they keep him off the field
14:00
Speaker 3: getting in there early. Again, Like Riley pet John, I
14:02
Speaker 3: think you can play either linebacker spot for them as needed.
14:07
Speaker 3: I just think you're talking to guys who are basically
14:11
Speaker 3: five star out of state from you know, Florida and Texas,
14:14
Speaker 3: like the Big Two. Even if if all things are equal,
14:20
Speaker 3: you're gonna have to play them anyway because they're highly
14:23
Speaker 3: are five star guys from Florida and Texas, and you
14:25
Speaker 3: know they're gonna be getting all sorts of crazy people
14:28
Speaker 3: in their dms here in October if they haven't played yet,
14:32
Speaker 3: about how they could come and be a starter at
14:34
Speaker 3: every other school in the country. But more more than that,
14:38
Speaker 3: this is a guy who I think is ready. He's
14:40
Speaker 3: just so physical, he plays so fast, and I just
14:44
Speaker 3: think both of these linebackers are going to find their
14:46
Speaker 3: way onto the field.
14:47
Speaker 2: Well, and you did the brave thing by splitting them
14:51
Speaker 2: the part I did the cowardly thing by just making
14:54
Speaker 2: my number two a linebacker because I didn't want to
14:58
Speaker 2: differentiate between Riley Pete John or t J. Aliford. Though
15:01
Speaker 2: if you only mentioned those two to James Laurenidis, He's
15:03
Speaker 2: gonna say, what about Eli Lee? You know you better
15:06
Speaker 2: talk about Eli Lee. But I think both of those guys,
15:10
Speaker 2: both these guys t J. Alford and Riley Petty John,
15:13
Speaker 2: they are gonna be on special teams. That's you know,
15:15
Speaker 2: they're gonna want them out there as well. But again
15:18
Speaker 2: this is depth is an issue at linebacker as well,
15:21
Speaker 2: because when you're talking about well, you've got your starters
15:24
Speaker 2: in r Velle recent middle linebacker, Sonny Styles. At will,
15:27
Speaker 2: Peyton Pierce is probably the backup at middle linebacker, and
15:31
Speaker 2: then as CJ. Hickstial linebacker at this point. I don't
15:34
Speaker 2: know that we know that for sure, So that would
15:35
Speaker 2: put you know, like Garrett Stover as the backup at
15:40
Speaker 2: will at this point. So like there's there's an opportunity
15:43
Speaker 2: to to make some noise there for both of these guys.
15:47
Speaker 2: And you know, I actually wrote about Riley Petty John
15:50
Speaker 2: a couple days ago, and James Lordnidis was talking to
15:53
Speaker 2: the same thing you said, like, his athleticism is off
15:56
Speaker 2: the charge. You can see him run from sideline to
15:58
Speaker 2: sideline or from hash to sideline, whatever you need. And
16:02
Speaker 2: he talked about how you know the ability to see
16:04
Speaker 2: the game from the second level, because if you can't
16:06
Speaker 2: do that as a linebacker, you can't play linebacker, which
16:08
Speaker 2: we've kind of seen with some other guys. So that
16:12
Speaker 2: ability and when you watch it, it's he's a pretty
16:15
Speaker 2: patient guy as a linebacker and can get to the
16:17
Speaker 2: spots and get there well. And then T. J. Alfred
16:20
Speaker 2: is so physical and I remember watching him and James
16:24
Speaker 2: Laurnidis like attached to hip at one of these June
16:27
Speaker 2: camps and you're just doing everything. Laurna and is doing
16:30
Speaker 2: everything he could make sure that Alfred ends up a Buckeye.
16:33
Speaker 2: So those two are my collective number two. And they're
16:37
Speaker 2: going to be like I said, they'll I assume they'll
16:39
Speaker 2: be involved on special teams, but there's gonna be an
16:43
Speaker 2: opportunity to get involved in the second half of games
16:47
Speaker 2: and the fourth quarter of games. Because again, Ohio State
16:50
Speaker 2: loved what they did last year and how they pieced
16:53
Speaker 2: out all these snaps to everybody and got people opportunities
16:57
Speaker 2: to play. So they're gonna do the same thing. They're
16:59
Speaker 2: going to They're planning on playing sixteen games this year,
17:02
Speaker 2: and you're not just going to do that with the starter.
17:04
Speaker 2: So I'll be interested to see how James Loweranniti splits
17:06
Speaker 2: these guys up in terms of reps, but also who
17:09
Speaker 2: is where and you know, and how much Mark? How
17:13
Speaker 2: much is there going to be a Sam involved this
17:15
Speaker 2: year as well? Because that could change the numbers drastic dramatically.
17:20
Speaker 3: What the elephant in the room here is are is twofold?
17:24
Speaker 3: Is how much are we going to see a Sam?
17:27
Speaker 3: Are we going to see Sonny styles on the edge
17:31
Speaker 3: with Matt Patricia? I mean every time he lined up
17:35
Speaker 3: on the edge, he seemed to make something happen. Yeah,
17:38
Speaker 3: And I think when Matt Patricia goes back, I'm sure
17:40
Speaker 3: he's already done it. But like when Mattatricia goes and
17:42
Speaker 3: looks at like this past season's film, that's going to
17:45
Speaker 3: have to pop out to him like, Wow, this guy
17:47
Speaker 3: can whether it's blitzing or lining up on the edge,
17:49
Speaker 3: this guy can get after the quarterback, and when that happens,
17:52
Speaker 3: you're going to likely be able to bring in another linebacker. So, like,
17:56
Speaker 3: I have two questions there, Yes, how many times we're
18:00
Speaker 3: gonna seree linebackers on the field? And then how many
18:02
Speaker 3: times are we going to see someone like Sonny Styles
18:05
Speaker 3: kind of playing up in the front four front five
18:09
Speaker 3: to allow another linebacker to get back on the field.
18:12
Speaker 3: So that is kind of the wild card in all
18:16
Speaker 3: of this in terms of how much we see these
18:18
Speaker 3: young linebackers. But I do think we're going to see them,
18:23
Speaker 3: So we'll get to my number two guy. I just
18:28
Speaker 3: so much of this is just my my being impressed
18:32
Speaker 3: with his ability. I do think there's some opportunity for
18:35
Speaker 3: It's not like there's zero opportunity here. But I think
18:39
Speaker 3: he's gonna kick the door down. Like I don't think
18:41
Speaker 3: it's gonna be one of those things where it's like, oh,
18:43
Speaker 3: we need someone to do this. No, I just think
18:45
Speaker 3: he's gonna kick the door down, and that's that's faheem Delanne.
18:49
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna go crazy and throw things out like
18:52
Speaker 3: Caleb Down's comparisons or anything like that, but here's what
18:56
Speaker 3: I will say. I like him more coming out of
19:01
Speaker 3: high school than leyth And Ransom and Leithan. Ransom was
19:06
Speaker 3: by some service as a five star, was a top
19:09
Speaker 3: fifty prospect overall, and lived up to every bit of
19:13
Speaker 3: his high school billy very very, very like I would
19:18
Speaker 3: say a borderline great safety at Ohio State. I think
19:23
Speaker 3: Fahim Delayne is a better prospect than leath And Ransom
19:25
Speaker 3: coming out of high school. I think he has everything
19:27
Speaker 3: he would want in the modern safety. He can cover,
19:30
Speaker 3: he has instincts, he has ball skills, he's physical, he's
19:33
Speaker 3: got size, he's six' two. Like, there's not much on
19:37
Speaker 3: a football field this kid can't do. And while I
19:40
Speaker 3: don't expect him to start obviously, I do expect he's
19:43
Speaker 3: going to play. I think he's going to play more
19:45
Speaker 3: than people think.
19:47
Speaker 2: I if you go like not you but after people
19:51
Speaker 2: watch this and listen to this, go watch his senior
19:53
Speaker 2: huddle highlights, and the dude is incredible. He's I've not
19:58
Speaker 2: stood next to him. I assume he's a legiti sate
20:00
Speaker 2: and he's rangy, but like he can cover. He'll watching you.
20:05
Speaker 2: There's one highlight where he's covering somebody deep and then
20:08
Speaker 2: he flips his hip and turns and covers somebody else,
20:11
Speaker 2: like follows the next guy into the middle and is
20:15
Speaker 2: a playmaker. So I he is. He's probably one of
20:19
Speaker 2: my two or three favorite guys in this class. I'm
20:22
Speaker 2: just wondering, where's the opportunity. And I say that, and
20:25
Speaker 2: it's like, well, you've lost Lathan Ransom. The guy who
20:29
Speaker 2: is maybe starting is the backup Jalen McLain, who's a
20:32
Speaker 2: true sophomore. You got Malie Cartford backing up Caleb Downs.
20:36
Speaker 2: This is a prime opportunity for a true freshman to
20:39
Speaker 2: come in and make a statement and again being here
20:43
Speaker 2: for the winter, being here for the spring, all of
20:46
Speaker 2: these things that you need to do, like both McLean
20:49
Speaker 2: and Hartford did that allowed them to actually earn starts
20:52
Speaker 2: as true freshmen, mainly due to injury, but also because
20:55
Speaker 2: they were as equipped as possible. Like I think that's
20:59
Speaker 2: what he's going to be as well. And you know,
21:02
Speaker 2: in terms of like guys at Ohio State has signed
21:05
Speaker 2: at safety, who who matches like his potential and when
21:13
Speaker 2: especially like right out of the gate. But I mean
21:14
Speaker 2: you've been doing this a long time, Like where does
21:17
Speaker 2: he stack up in terms of if things go as
21:20
Speaker 2: playing like this guy is up there with anybody that
21:23
Speaker 2: Ohio State has signed at safety since Eugene Clifford. That's
21:28
Speaker 2: a good example and a bad example.
21:30
Speaker 3: But yeah, my, my kind of gold standard is probably
21:35
Speaker 3: Von Bell. Like there's a point where Jeff Okuda might
21:43
Speaker 3: have been a safety, but that never material Like he
21:46
Speaker 3: recruited him as a corner. He was ranked by some
21:48
Speaker 3: services of safety. But like, yeah, my, my my prototypes
21:53
Speaker 3: probably Von Bell. Does he run quite like Vaughn? I
22:01
Speaker 3: don't know, but he's bigger than Vaughn. Vaughn was skinny
22:04
Speaker 3: coming in and he played, but he was skinny and
22:07
Speaker 3: and he wasn't six two. And like the thing with
22:12
Speaker 3: Fahim is he's really intelligent, which means I think he's
22:14
Speaker 3: gonna be able to soak up both of those safety
22:16
Speaker 3: spots fairly quickly if they want him to. So.
22:22
Speaker 2: I think he played a lot of slot like Carry
22:26
Speaker 2: Combs called him the slot corner basically yea in the
22:29
Speaker 2: defense that they had and never I think we got
22:33
Speaker 2: to see some of his range, like as a true
22:34
Speaker 2: freshman against Clemson in the ballgame on Bell, but I
22:37
Speaker 2: think we we didn't get to see as much as
22:39
Speaker 2: maybe like the NFL has seen. I'm with you on
22:43
Speaker 2: theme delaying, like, I don't think there's anything he can't do,
22:46
Speaker 2: and he's got an opportunity to show that pretty early on.
22:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, all right, who's number one? We got the same
22:54
Speaker 3: number one.
22:55
Speaker 2: I'll just yeah, that was the easy one. Devin's Sanchez cornerback.
23:02
Speaker 2: Even though I do like Ohio State's corners and assuming
23:06
Speaker 2: Aaron Scott and Bryce West continue to develop, but there's
23:10
Speaker 2: certainly an opportunity to come in and compete with those
23:13
Speaker 2: guys because you're gonna be starting Davis Nigbuinos and Jermaine Matthews.
23:17
Speaker 2: But we've also seen last year was the first year
23:20
Speaker 2: we haven't seen a true freshman start at least one
23:23
Speaker 2: game at Ohio State in a few years because the
23:26
Speaker 2: guy stayed healthy and also you had Jermaine Matthews there
23:29
Speaker 2: to step in as a sophomore. But Devin Sanchez, I mean,
23:33
Speaker 2: you've been doing this for a long long time. I've
23:34
Speaker 2: only you know, been going to camps for a few years.
23:37
Speaker 2: But just watching him camp in June and the way
23:41
Speaker 2: he moved and like, if you're not looking at his feet,
23:44
Speaker 2: it just looks like he's floating. You have to like
23:45
Speaker 2: look at his feet to see that they're actually moving.
23:48
Speaker 2: And he's big, he's long, and that's funny. He's watching
23:53
Speaker 2: like Tim Walton talk to him. It's like you could
23:55
Speaker 2: just see like heart the heart emojis coming off of him,
23:58
Speaker 2: basically watching him as a prospect, and uh, there's again.
24:03
Speaker 2: You're you're you're going to be competing with two guys
24:07
Speaker 2: in Bryce West and Aaron Scott basically to be that
24:10
Speaker 2: third corner. Jermaine Matthews showed last year if if you
24:14
Speaker 2: play well enough you can get into the rotation. You're
24:16
Speaker 2: not going to be locked out by two starters, two
24:19
Speaker 2: multi year starters. They'll find a way for you to
24:21
Speaker 2: get on the field. And boy, he's Devin Chances to
24:26
Speaker 2: me is in a line along line, although it's gotten
24:28
Speaker 2: maybe shorter of guys who came in. You're like, this
24:31
Speaker 2: guy could play right away. And I mean he's number
24:33
Speaker 2: one on our list for a good reason.
24:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, just kind of built in a lab. Really, I
24:39
Speaker 3: mean he can he can really run. He's six two,
24:44
Speaker 3: he's physical, he's fast, he's long.
24:49
Speaker 2: He's.
24:51
Speaker 3: I think my favoriting amount is he's hyper competitive. I
24:55
Speaker 3: think that's my favorite thing about He's hyper competitive, so
24:57
Speaker 3: he like takes everything like he's got like you know,
25:00
Speaker 3: he got like Aaron Scott's length and Jermaine Matthews competitiveness
25:04
Speaker 3: and like Davis and Nigman Nosen's size and like it's
25:08
Speaker 3: just it's ridiculous. He's one of the best corner prospects
25:11
Speaker 3: I think I've seen. And you know, like if if
25:16
Speaker 3: iigma Nosen had decided to not come back, I think
25:19
Speaker 3: we're sitting here talking about, like is he the favorite
25:23
Speaker 3: to start opposite Jermaine Matthews, But he's gonna play What
25:29
Speaker 3: they do with West and Scott I think I think
25:31
Speaker 3: what they he with West is kind of the most interesting.
25:33
Speaker 3: I think we know Aaron Scott's probably an outside got
25:35
Speaker 3: it like like Bryce West could play and then could
25:37
Speaker 3: play the nickel. I mean they can some of these
25:39
Speaker 3: one of the one of these guys could move inside
25:41
Speaker 3: and play the nickel, which would open up even more
25:42
Speaker 3: opportunity on the outside for Sanchez, who's going to be
25:45
Speaker 3: like your pure big outside corner. He's gonna play special teams,
25:49
Speaker 3: I would I would imagine. And again, I think none
25:54
Speaker 3: of these guys are like like all these guys are
25:57
Speaker 3: kind of like alpha personalities. That's that's how they are
26:00
Speaker 3: able to do what they do at the level they
26:02
Speaker 3: do it. But there's a little extra there with Sanchez,
26:07
Speaker 3: like like it's very much like I'm coming in to start,
26:10
Speaker 3: like I'm coming into play. I'm not coming in to
26:12
Speaker 3: watch and learn. Like there's a very very like hyper
26:15
Speaker 3: competitive mindset that he has and that's probably going to
26:23
Speaker 3: get him into some fights in practice, and that's what
26:26
Speaker 3: we'd love to see, right, I Mean, the guy used
26:29
Speaker 3: to fight the most of practice, like Michael Thomas and
26:32
Speaker 3: Eli Apple used to like just viciously fight at practice
26:36
Speaker 3: and then go out to and get canes together afterwards.
26:39
Speaker 3: But like that's how I think that I think Devin
26:41
Speaker 3: Sanchez is going to bring some juice to to that situation.
26:44
Speaker 2: How would you compare that attitude towards the one that
26:46
Speaker 2: Jeremiah Smith came in with.
26:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's the thing. Jeremiah is much more like about
26:53
Speaker 3: his bit. Like Jeremiah's more of a quiet confidence. Like
26:57
Speaker 3: if you ask Jeremiah like privately, like hey, what do
27:00
Speaker 3: you think, Like, he'll let you know, Like he'll let
27:02
Speaker 3: you know like, yeah, I'm coming into but but he's
27:04
Speaker 3: not gonna like bring it up first, you know, like
27:08
Speaker 3: demas State's gonna walk out there like let everyone know,
27:10
Speaker 3: like right away, Like that's what corners have to do,
27:13
Speaker 3: right Like I'm here, I'm starting, you better protect your
27:16
Speaker 3: starting position, about to take it like I'm gonna shut
27:19
Speaker 3: you down. Jeremiah like he is going to arrive right
27:22
Speaker 3: away with with with with a bad, bad intentions.
27:28
Speaker 2: Well, and that's gonna be one of the things that
27:30
Speaker 2: everybody's gonna be watching in the spring, not just him,
27:33
Speaker 2: but him against Jeremiah. Because watching Jeremiah in the spring
27:36
Speaker 2: last year go against all of Ohio State's corners and
27:39
Speaker 2: making them look like he was so much better than
27:42
Speaker 2: everybody who had ever come before him, that's the that's
27:45
Speaker 2: the challenge all of those corners love. And I'm sure
27:47
Speaker 2: that's a challenge that Devin Sanchez is looking forward to.
27:50
Speaker 2: And yeah, he's he's what you designed. He's a creative
27:54
Speaker 2: player basically, and in Ohio State's got him and and
27:57
Speaker 2: he's got Ohio State because you know, he came to
28:00
Speaker 2: came to OSU for a reason and Tim Wald's not
28:03
Speaker 2: gonna hold him back, like go get it is basically
28:06
Speaker 2: going to be the message, and he want.
28:08
Speaker 3: To talk about drama free. When's the last time a
28:11
Speaker 3: five star out of Texas just no drama committed like
28:16
Speaker 3: super early. Everyone's like, oh, let's see if this sticks.
28:19
Speaker 3: He never even like there was like no talk ever
28:23
Speaker 3: of him wavering like just was was there big Ace
28:29
Speaker 3: recruiter just the family recruits for for Ohio State like
28:32
Speaker 3: it was. It was almost shocking, just because even though
28:36
Speaker 3: he said all the right things when he committed, but
28:38
Speaker 3: you're like, you're like, okay, like you know, you're like
28:40
Speaker 3: the number one corner in the country. Everyone wants you.
28:43
Speaker 3: The idea that this is going to be like a
28:45
Speaker 3: tame recruitment for the next twelve months is hilarious and
28:48
Speaker 3: it was and it was, and so now he gets
28:51
Speaker 3: to go out there. It'll be interesting to see if
28:53
Speaker 3: there's like a Denzel Burke moment and what that By that,
28:56
Speaker 3: I mean you can put a hilarious how it started
29:00
Speaker 3: and how it's going with Denzel Burke with his comments
29:03
Speaker 3: on Jeremiah Smith, where it started out like, yeah, well
29:08
Speaker 3: we'll see about that. He's a freshman and n by
29:11
Speaker 3: the middle of spring, I was like, oh, oops, yeah,
29:14
Speaker 3: I guess.
29:15
Speaker 2: I actually I did that on the book I had
29:17
Speaker 2: a Twitter account way back when, so it's like that's
29:18
Speaker 2: out there.
29:19
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, yes, you have to revive that. I'll maybe
29:22
Speaker 3: Lincoln in the description box something, but like, uh, yes, So,
29:25
Speaker 3: like I'm waiting to see, like if Cardell Tate or
29:29
Speaker 3: Brandon Innis or Jeremiah Smith, you know, have some maybe
29:32
Speaker 3: choice words if we meet with them in March and
29:35
Speaker 3: then maybe what they're saying, you know, at the end
29:37
Speaker 3: of April or whatever, you know, it'll be interesting to
29:39
Speaker 3: see if we see a path like that.
29:41
Speaker 2: The problem is every team, every position, should have somebody
29:44
Speaker 2: like Denzel Burke who tells you exactly how it is
29:47
Speaker 2: and does not hide anything. And that's why I've always
29:50
Speaker 2: said Denzel Burke is the arbiter of Buckeye truth. Whenever
29:52
Speaker 2: you want to know something, ask him. I don't know that.
29:56
Speaker 2: Everybody else is so undiplomatic, you know, like if you
30:00
Speaker 2: ask the receivers, they'll they'll say all kinds of nice things.
30:03
Speaker 2: But denzil Brick was always like, well, I need to
30:05
Speaker 2: see it, and then once he's seen, he's like, yeah,
30:07
Speaker 2: that guy's good. I don't know, I don't know who
30:09
Speaker 2: that would be. Like Brandon Innis is a good talker,
30:11
Speaker 2: and we'll tell you how things are going. I don't
30:14
Speaker 2: know how much he's gonna be matched up with with
30:15
Speaker 2: Devin Sanchez though being in the spot Carnel Tait's a
30:19
Speaker 2: pretty quiet guy. Jeremih Smith is going to start coming
30:21
Speaker 2: into his own being, like he's becoming more and more vocal,
30:24
Speaker 2: so maybe maybe he can become that guy.
30:27
Speaker 3: He does flip the switch. Like Jeremiah is a very quiet,
30:31
Speaker 3: like chill person off the field, but he does, like
30:35
Speaker 3: you see what he scores touch like you see when
30:37
Speaker 3: there is a switch that goes there. And so I
30:40
Speaker 3: wonder like if Devin's gonna be able to like bring
30:43
Speaker 3: that out of him, even like draw that out of him,
30:46
Speaker 3: because he won't back down from Jeremiah in practice, and
30:50
Speaker 3: he may have some words and that may you know,
30:53
Speaker 3: we may see a little extra from Jeremiah then we're
30:57
Speaker 3: used to seeing, you know, if those matchups.
30:59
Speaker 2: Happen well, and people keep talking about what is this
31:01
Speaker 2: spring showcase going to be? And one of my ideas
31:03
Speaker 2: just throw a bunch of one on ones with the
31:05
Speaker 2: receivers in the corners and let it cause that's what
31:08
Speaker 2: that's what Friday nights like that was the best part
31:10
Speaker 2: of Friday Night Lights was with the one on ones
31:12
Speaker 2: where it's like you're just waiting for this this camp
31:15
Speaker 2: to just get to the one on one. So some
31:17
Speaker 2: things like that where you can have some matchups that
31:20
Speaker 2: people want to see and you can have like you know,
31:22
Speaker 2: even around a day, like calling them out one by one,
31:24
Speaker 2: like all right, let's do this, let's do this. It's
31:26
Speaker 2: better than the circle drill where somebody might get hurt.
31:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. So a couple of things here as we
31:32
Speaker 3: wrap up, because we've done our top fives, we both
31:35
Speaker 3: had one offensive player, Quincy Porter. For me, I almost
31:40
Speaker 3: felt obligated to put an offensive guy on here. I
31:43
Speaker 3: almost like Zion Grady was like five B for me,
31:47
Speaker 3: if Quincy Porter was five A. Like. I went back
31:50
Speaker 3: and forth, and really the tiebreaker for me was simply,
31:53
Speaker 3: can I really put a top five out there without
31:54
Speaker 3: a single offensive player? That just is not the greatest
31:58
Speaker 3: thing for purposes of DISCUSSI So they were kind of
32:02
Speaker 3: a tie for me at five. But like like Tony said,
32:05
Speaker 3: like the opportunity on defense is just so so much
32:09
Speaker 3: greater this year. I mean, first of all, with offense,
32:11
Speaker 3: like offensive line is like the last position you pencil
32:15
Speaker 3: guys in at, even like a Paris Johnson Saul. I
32:20
Speaker 3: mean he played as a freshman, but like he's like
32:22
Speaker 3: the freak of all freaks, and he wasn't like an
32:24
Speaker 3: instant impact guy, So like you kind of crossed out
32:28
Speaker 3: the offensive line right away. And then it's like, well,
32:32
Speaker 3: you know, it's not gonna be quarterback because they've got
32:35
Speaker 3: their two guys in their battle and you know, and
32:37
Speaker 3: we'll get to that in a second. But like so
32:39
Speaker 3: it's like, okay, where you know the Snyery tight end.
32:42
Speaker 3: They brought in Max Claire like Johnny Thurman's bat, Like
32:46
Speaker 3: where are we going here? And so I couldn't decide
32:49
Speaker 3: on our running back, Like clearly none of the freshmen
32:53
Speaker 3: running backs are going to be in the top two.
32:56
Speaker 3: And with sam Williams Dixon coming back, that kind of
33:00
Speaker 3: cemented it for me. Like before if Samuel who's Dixon
33:02
Speaker 3: hadn't come back, maybe I just like got into my head,
33:05
Speaker 3: let me throw one of these out there like a
33:07
Speaker 3: turbo Rogers because he's a little bit different than the
33:09
Speaker 3: other running backs and could maybe get in on some
33:11
Speaker 3: gadget plays. But it was just really hard to find
33:14
Speaker 3: offensive players.
33:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, and what you're talking about is something that is
33:19
Speaker 2: what I mentioned earlier in the show, a relative impact
33:23
Speaker 2: like Bo Jackson. Could he do what James Peoples did
33:26
Speaker 2: last year and be that number three running back? But
33:28
Speaker 2: you carry the ball like forty times? Is that? And
33:32
Speaker 2: really none of those carries come and moments when the
33:34
Speaker 2: game is on the line. So what kind of impact
33:37
Speaker 2: is that? It's like, you, sure, you're still doing all
33:40
Speaker 2: of the things in practice, giving the defense good looks,
33:42
Speaker 2: but we're talking a relative impact here. And you know,
33:46
Speaker 2: even like Carter Lowe could move his way into like
33:51
Speaker 2: the too deep, like Ian Moore moved his way into
33:53
Speaker 2: the two deep right tackle as a true freshman. But
33:57
Speaker 2: is that the kind of impact that we're talking about
34:00
Speaker 2: If we're doing a top five offensive list, like, maybe
34:03
Speaker 2: these guys make it, but you have to understand that
34:06
Speaker 2: it's a relative impact and Ian Moore, anytime you can
34:10
Speaker 2: get a true freshman offensive lineman to work his way
34:12
Speaker 2: into the too deep, you'll take that. Now, it doesn't
34:15
Speaker 2: mean you want them playing, but if they're good enough
34:16
Speaker 2: to be in the too deep, that's great. Ideally they're
34:18
Speaker 2: gonna red shirt, which he did and develop and then
34:22
Speaker 2: year two, year three, something like that. But if they're
34:24
Speaker 2: good enough to work into the too deep, that's great.
34:27
Speaker 2: I think some of that was also injury related with
34:30
Speaker 2: the losing so many tackles, but the offensive line, like, yeah,
34:35
Speaker 2: that's what you went to the portal for. In terms
34:37
Speaker 2: of getting an impact out of the any of the sinees.
34:40
Speaker 2: And I'm with you on the running backs at Bo Jackson,
34:42
Speaker 2: Isaiah West, they're kind of maybe more similar than Turbo
34:46
Speaker 2: Rodgers is. And I know Carlos Sloughlin loves Turbo Rodgers
34:49
Speaker 2: and what he can do. But I even had, like
34:53
Speaker 2: I put a list of five guys together. I had
34:54
Speaker 2: Nate Roberts last in terms of like, well, they played
34:57
Speaker 2: like five tight ends this year this past year. Could
35:01
Speaker 2: he be the fifth guy? And if so, like that's
35:04
Speaker 2: about as big of an impact as I can find
35:06
Speaker 2: from from the rest of the list, because I don't
35:08
Speaker 2: know that many of these guys are going to play
35:10
Speaker 2: that much. And Tavian Saint Clair to get to him like.
35:14
Speaker 3: In the room that we didn't have him on our
35:16
Speaker 3: top fives.
35:17
Speaker 2: Right, And the thing is, like I Julian stayin red shirted.
35:22
Speaker 2: Nobody expects him to like be here for five years.
35:24
Speaker 2: Tavian Saint Clair will probably red shirt. Nobody expects him
35:27
Speaker 2: to be here for five years, but it's like, when
35:29
Speaker 2: do you find got find time to play these guys.
35:32
Speaker 2: The funny thing is like he could play four regular
35:34
Speaker 2: season games and start in four playoff games and still
35:37
Speaker 2: red shirt because the playoff games and postseason games don't count.
35:41
Speaker 2: But if he is, if he is impacting this team,
35:47
Speaker 2: that's that's either a very bad thing or a very
35:50
Speaker 2: good thing, and maybe not a very bad thing. It's
35:52
Speaker 2: just like, could you could all three of these guys
35:55
Speaker 2: could probably lead a highest state to the playoffs, you know,
35:59
Speaker 2: depending but it's not something you're expecting from him. Not
36:03
Speaker 2: that it won't eventually happen, but it's not something you're
36:06
Speaker 2: expecting this year, at least I'm not and you're not.
36:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like just to reiterate what he's at the top,
36:12
Speaker 3: it's isn't our five best players in the class. If
36:14
Speaker 3: we were ranking the five best players in the class,
36:16
Speaker 3: I would have Tavi in Saint Clair in the top
36:18
Speaker 3: two or three, with Devin Sanchez and probably Fakeen Delaine.
36:24
Speaker 3: But I just they're they're gonna give Like he's gonna
36:30
Speaker 3: get his reps because he's kind of the de facto
36:32
Speaker 3: three right now unless they and they're not gonna, I mean,
36:35
Speaker 3: it doesn't look like anyone's coming in before spring ball,
36:38
Speaker 3: so it's like, you know, he's going to be the
36:41
Speaker 3: de facto three until at least they break out a
36:42
Speaker 3: spring it sounds like, and then they'll decide, I guess
36:46
Speaker 3: if they want to bring in a chug five point
36:49
Speaker 3: zero or whatever we're on now. But they're going to
36:55
Speaker 3: give so many reps to saying in Keenholtz like those
36:59
Speaker 3: are guys. They'll say the right things about Saint Clair
37:03
Speaker 3: and press conferences about like, oh, he's gonna be in there,
37:05
Speaker 3: he's gonna get a look too. But they're really giving
37:08
Speaker 3: Keenholton saying the spotlight here, and you're gonna give those
37:12
Speaker 3: guys just tons and tons and tons of reps. And again,
37:17
Speaker 3: if you get down to your third string true freshman quarterback,
37:19
Speaker 3: that's usually not a great It's usually not because the
37:24
Speaker 3: true freshman quarterback kicked the door down. It's usually because
37:28
Speaker 3: injuries happen or some type of horrible like inconsistency from
37:34
Speaker 3: your veterans, your veterans with Julian saying, but like I
37:38
Speaker 3: just I don't see the path to like meaningful snaps
37:42
Speaker 3: this year. I see a path to a lot of
37:45
Speaker 3: cleanup in the fourth quarter possibly, But even then, like
37:49
Speaker 3: let's say, who I mean, it doesn't to me, It
37:52
Speaker 3: doesn't matter whoever wins the competition. I expect it's gonna
37:54
Speaker 3: be saying, but it may not be. Aren't you as
37:59
Speaker 3: long as you're team is as long as like this
38:01
Speaker 3: team's in the playoff hunt, aren't the garbage reps gonna
38:05
Speaker 3: go to the backup to keep him sharp? Like I
38:08
Speaker 3: just don't know how, Like I'm sure he'll get an
38:10
Speaker 3: end of game series here and there. But like let's
38:13
Speaker 3: say you pull your starters in the middle of the
38:15
Speaker 3: third quarter, and Julian saying, as your starter, I tend
38:18
Speaker 3: to think Lincoln Keenholds is going in the game to
38:20
Speaker 3: keep him sharp.
38:22
Speaker 2: Yep. And that's that's kind of what happened last year.
38:24
Speaker 2: Even Julian's saying, through twelve passes last year as the
38:28
Speaker 2: number three quarterback, and you know Devin Brown only through twenty,
38:31
Speaker 2: but that's you're not coming in to throw the ball
38:33
Speaker 2: at the end. He came in to just manage the
38:36
Speaker 2: game and get the game over with. So, like, I
38:40
Speaker 2: think it's interesting when you have these two guys competing
38:43
Speaker 2: and Lincoln Keenholks I just wrote about him on Tuesday
38:48
Speaker 2: at buckeheadle dot com about how he is the oldest
38:51
Speaker 2: guy in the room as a red shirt sophomore, and yeah,
38:54
Speaker 2: he didn't throw pass last year and he hasn't thrown
38:56
Speaker 2: a pass since the Cotton Bowl game where he was
38:58
Speaker 2: I think six of seventeen with the reshuffled offensive line
39:02
Speaker 2: and no Marvin Harrison, so it was not a fair opportunity,
39:05
Speaker 2: you know, for him. But Julian Saying came in last
39:08
Speaker 2: year and beat him out. And you know that last
39:10
Speaker 2: year was Lincoln Keenold's first spring. This will be his
39:13
Speaker 2: second spring. I do think it's interesting, Like when we
39:17
Speaker 2: talk about quarterbacks, we don't ever like to throw people
39:20
Speaker 2: into the transfer portal, but it's the way of the
39:22
Speaker 2: world with the quarterback position. And since Ryan Day came
39:26
Speaker 2: to Ohio State in twenty seventeen, and and not that
39:29
Speaker 2: Tate Martel was his, but he has signed I believe
39:34
Speaker 2: nine quarterbacks since he's been offensive coordinator, and the two
39:38
Speaker 2: of those nine that have not transferred or did not
39:42
Speaker 2: transfer c J. Stroud and Lincoln Keyholes and c J.
39:46
Speaker 2: Stroud left after three years. So like, no, no, I
39:49
Speaker 2: think Kyle McCord, No, nobody has actually been here stayed
39:53
Speaker 2: for four years. Devin Brown almost did it, but like
39:58
Speaker 2: the three years, it's like three years and gone. And
40:00
Speaker 2: this is Lincoln Keenold's third year. And so if you
40:04
Speaker 2: don't win it, eventually you've got to decide, am I
40:07
Speaker 2: gonna stick around for a fourth year and try it?
40:11
Speaker 2: But like if you get beat out by somebody who's
40:13
Speaker 2: younger than you, especially a quarterback, the thing that happens
40:16
Speaker 2: is that guy leaves, and so we'll see. But also
40:20
Speaker 2: it's a sixteen game season. If things go well, the
40:24
Speaker 2: idea like what are the percentages that the starting quarterback
40:27
Speaker 2: plays all sixteen of those games? O Highest State got
40:30
Speaker 2: very lucky last year. Georgia did not.
40:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, no question, And like you know, I bring it
40:39
Speaker 3: back to you said twelve passes for saying last year,
40:42
Speaker 3: Like I really think again, you're gonna want to get
40:45
Speaker 3: because they're so young, You're gonna want to get the
40:49
Speaker 3: top two, Like like you're gonna want to keep throwing
40:52
Speaker 3: the ball. You're gonna want to keep getting these guys reps.
40:55
Speaker 3: You don't have Will Howard and his you know, however
40:58
Speaker 3: many games of experience under his belt that you had
41:01
Speaker 3: last year. So you have two guys who do need reps,
41:07
Speaker 3: and I tend to think again that they're going to
41:10
Speaker 3: stick with those two for all meaningful reps. And then
41:14
Speaker 3: maybe Saint Clair gets like the like you know again,
41:16
Speaker 3: whoever's the backup comes in whenever they pull the starters,
41:19
Speaker 3: and then you get them all the way down to
41:21
Speaker 3: maybe the three to five minute mark of the fourth quarter,
41:23
Speaker 3: and then maybe Saint Clair gets a series. But like,
41:25
Speaker 3: let's play this game. You said, say and had twelve
41:28
Speaker 3: pass attempts over under twelve pass attempts for Tavi and
41:31
Speaker 3: Saint Clair.
41:33
Speaker 2: I will go over. I'll go over. And part of
41:39
Speaker 2: me thinks, like, well, maybe it's because he is the
41:42
Speaker 2: backup quarterback because of the transfer portal, and the thing
41:48
Speaker 2: is like, and again, I hate putting people into the portal.
41:51
Speaker 2: But Lincoln Kenolt said, I'll have to see how Spring goes,
41:53
Speaker 2: and then we'll see what happens after that. There's not
41:55
Speaker 2: going to be a starting quarterback named after Spring. I
41:58
Speaker 2: hate to spoil things. So whatever they tell Lincoln Keynolds,
42:03
Speaker 2: it's the same thing that Urban Meyer told told Joe Burrow,
42:07
Speaker 2: like we don't have we can't name you the starter,
42:09
Speaker 2: but you're still gonna have an opportunity. And it's whether
42:11
Speaker 2: or not Joe Lincoln Keynolds is okay with that answer
42:14
Speaker 2: or not. And so that decision has to be made.
42:19
Speaker 2: But if if they go into if they finish spring
42:23
Speaker 2: and they end spring and there's only two quarterbacks on
42:25
Speaker 2: the roster, you've got to bring somebody else in clearly,
42:28
Speaker 2: and so maybe there's that guy would then be the backup.
42:31
Speaker 2: But I think I think I'll go over twelve. But
42:37
Speaker 2: I don't feel great about just because it's not it's
42:40
Speaker 2: not typical. And Lincoln Keyenols is the third quarterback in
42:43
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three, only got over twelve because he threw
42:46
Speaker 2: seventeen and then the bowl game.
42:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll cheat a little bit, like if Lincoln Keenolts
42:52
Speaker 3: is still on the roster in the fall, I'll say
42:54
Speaker 3: under under twelve. But yeah, he may not be. And
43:00
Speaker 3: in that case, Saint Clairmity to the backup, which that's
43:02
Speaker 3: a whole other show on what you do there, Like
43:06
Speaker 3: how do you weigh Okay, Julian saying is a red
43:10
Speaker 3: shirt freshman as our veteran, So how do you weigh
43:13
Speaker 3: like getting him as many snaps as possible deep into
43:17
Speaker 3: games versus, oh, we can't get this guy injured.
43:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, because you can't follow the same blueprint that you
43:24
Speaker 2: did with C. J. Stroud because it's a different game now, Yeah,
43:27
Speaker 2: you know.
43:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, And so that'll be that'll be very interesting. It'll
43:30
Speaker 3: be no matter what the look of the room is,
43:32
Speaker 3: it'll be interesting to see what they do with the quarterbacks.
43:34
Speaker 3: I personally think they need to bring in a veteran
43:36
Speaker 3: quarterback no.
43:36
Speaker 2: Matter what I agree.
43:37
Speaker 3: But it's hard to find Gunner Hoax. Like everyone's like
43:40
Speaker 3: laughing about probably laughing about that, but it is actually
43:43
Speaker 3: hard to find someone who's going to transfer in your program,
43:46
Speaker 3: who is somewhat capable of a football player, but is
43:50
Speaker 3: also perfectly understanding that they're not going to be the
43:53
Speaker 3: starter and that they're kind of just there to babysit
43:56
Speaker 3: the younger players and provide some veteran presence and you
44:00
Speaker 3: never even getting a game. So those guys are hard
44:04
Speaker 3: to find because most guys in the portal are looking
44:06
Speaker 3: for a place to start or play, so it's not
44:09
Speaker 3: always easy to find those guys. I think they should
44:11
Speaker 3: bring one in any way. I just kind of insulate things,
44:13
Speaker 3: but we'll see what they do. So that's our explanation,
44:16
Speaker 3: our long winded explanation for why tav Saint Clair was
44:19
Speaker 3: not in our top five. Again, we both feel I
44:22
Speaker 3: think very highly of him and his future to higher State,
44:26
Speaker 3: but just in terms of impact in twenty twenty five,
44:28
Speaker 3: I think there's some other names to watch first. So
44:33
Speaker 3: any final thoughts, Tony.
44:37
Speaker 2: You know, again, I think the good news is that
44:40
Speaker 2: you don't need a lot of these guys to have
44:43
Speaker 2: an impact, So any kind of impact that they do
44:46
Speaker 2: have is a bonus. And you know that's because of
44:48
Speaker 2: the depth that they have and the fact that you
44:50
Speaker 2: can bring guys in through the portal, the transfer portal
44:52
Speaker 2: to bolster some of those areas that you don't need
44:55
Speaker 2: to rely on freshmen for. But that doesn't mean seem
44:58
Speaker 2: some of these freshmen can't step up, and I think
45:00
Speaker 2: we've seen guys do that in the past, even if
45:02
Speaker 2: they could get something like a Jermaine Matthews, you know,
45:05
Speaker 2: out of Devon Sanchez or something like that, where he
45:08
Speaker 2: was he was a very good third and fourth quarter,
45:10
Speaker 2: and what is able to come in and start, And
45:13
Speaker 2: because the more they play this year, obviously it's going
45:15
Speaker 2: to help next year when so many of these guys
45:17
Speaker 2: are going to be called on to be starters.
45:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, my big takeaway from doing this list was that
45:22
Speaker 3: it was very difficult to come up with offensive players,
45:28
Speaker 3: and it was very difficult to rank the defensive guys
45:33
Speaker 3: because there were seven, eight, nine defensive guys I could
45:37
Speaker 3: have put on this list because there's one. There's way
45:41
Speaker 3: more opportunity on defense this year, given what they've lost
45:45
Speaker 3: and what to bring back on offense. But you know, look,
45:48
Speaker 3: this is the first time that I can say in
45:50
Speaker 3: a long time, I don't want to I'm not going
45:54
Speaker 3: to throw it a year because I don't want to
45:55
Speaker 3: go back into the count now I was, But like,
45:58
Speaker 3: this is the first time in at least a few years,
46:00
Speaker 3: maybe even longer, that I look at this recruiting class
46:03
Speaker 3: and I say they did much better on defense than offense.
46:06
Speaker 3: And that's not that they didn't do well on offense,
46:09
Speaker 3: but historically they've just their all their classes have looked
46:12
Speaker 3: better on offense. Indeed, this year was the opposite this,
46:14
Speaker 3: this is a this is a ridiculously good defensive class,
46:18
Speaker 3: and so that just those were my takeaways as we
46:21
Speaker 3: went through this. But yeah, I think we've I think
46:24
Speaker 3: we've made our point forty five minutes. Hopefully everyone enjoys discussion.
46:29
Speaker 3: Let us know in the comments actually where we were wrong,
46:33
Speaker 3: where we were right. Let us know who your impact
46:35
Speaker 3: freshmen are in the comments, and we'll be sure to
46:38
Speaker 3: double back and chime in, maybe have some discussion there.
46:42
Speaker 3: But yeah, let us know who you expect to make
46:44
Speaker 3: an impact as true freshmen as fall in the field,
46:46
Speaker 3: and check us out at buckey Huddle dot com. Check
46:49
Speaker 3: Tony out on the Buckeye Weekly podcast. You just dropped one.
46:56
Speaker 2: We dropped one on Monday talking about the possible College
47:00
Speaker 2: Football PLAYFF expansion to sixteen teams and the Big Ten
47:03
Speaker 2: and SEC demanding for automatic qualifiers because how else are
47:06
Speaker 2: they going to survive without their automatic qualifiers.
47:09
Speaker 3: Yes, possibly ruining this great thing, and possibly we have
47:13
Speaker 3: to quickly ruin it. But yes, check that out, check
47:16
Speaker 3: that out. It's a good discussion there from Tony and
47:18
Speaker 3: Tom Moore. And again bucke Huddle dot com for all
47:21
Speaker 3: of your pre spring information, recruiting coverage, everything else you
47:25
Speaker 3: need right there. Thanks everyone again for watching and listening,
47:29
Speaker 3: and we'll talk to you again soon