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Will Seth McLaughlin Be The Answer At Center For Ohio State In 2024? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to buck Eyes tomorrow morning from Monday, February fifth, I'm your host,
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  tom Or. The Akron game is in two hundred and eight days.
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  The game against Michigan in two hundred and ninety nine days. Yes, we
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  are under three hundred days until the game. I don't want to say it's
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  almost here, but it's we're making progress. It's we're getting a little closer
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  every day. So today we're going to be hearing from one of the newest
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  Ohio State Buckeyes, someone who has a little bit of a history with the
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  University of Michigan as well, Seth McLaughlan. He is the center who transferred
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  from Alabama to Ohio State after the Crimson Tide lost to the Wolverines in the
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  Rose Bowl. So, Seth McLachlan, what was it that made Ohio State
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  an appealing destination in the transfer portal? I thought, Ohio say, it's
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  the great one of the greatest programs in college football, and come from a
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  place like Alabama, I thought, I wanted to go to another similar place
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  that is always competing to win championships and has great coaching and great development.
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  The two other players Ohio State has landed from Alabama this transfer portal cycle,
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  quarterback Julian saying safety Caleb Downs, they had only really one choice, which
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  was go somewhere else to play your college football for the next couple of years
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  before you were eligible for the NFL draft. That was not the case for
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  McLaughlin, who could have chosen to go to the NFL instead. So what
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  made him decide to transfer somewhere else rather than declaring for the NFL draft.
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  I think, personally, I've always thrived off of change. You know,
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  I played for three different offensive coordinators. I played for three offensive line coaches,
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  two strength staffs, and I thought, at this point in my career,
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  I think Alabama had done a great job of developing from the two hundred
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  and sixty five pound kid into the three hundred pound center that I was.
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  But I thought for my fifth year, I could do something different and go
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  to a program, learn learn from new people, being a new strength staff,
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  and I really progressed my development that further. The Ohio State program.
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  Living in Ohio, that's all going to be new for Seth McLachlan, but
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  there is going to be at least a few familiar faces. We mentioned Downs,
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  we mentioned saying We also Bill O'Brien, the new offensive co ordinated for
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  the Ohio State team. Well, he used to be the offensive coordinator for
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  the Alabama Crimson Tide team. So what are Seth mclachlin's experiences with Bill O'Brien
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  His thoughts on Bill O'Brien. You're gonna hear two answers here, butted together
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  back to back. Yeah, it was cool. I was with coach O'Brien
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  for two years at Alabama and we had a great time together. We're very
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  familiar with each other and I loved having him as a coach, So I'm
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  excited for that opportunity again. He's a really good leader of men. He's
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  very knowledgeable in the game. He's coached some of the best players to ever
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  play the game, and when you walk into a place like this, he's
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  going to be having great players to coach, and I think we can have
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  a lot of success with him. The offensive coordinator may be familiar for Seth
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  McLaughlin. The offensive line coach will not be that offensive line coach of coach,
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  of course, is Justin Frye. He will be a new face for
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  McLachlin. So what were his initial impressions of Justin Frye during the transfer portal
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  process. I've really liked him. He's a very impressive coach. So kind
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  of on my recruiting visits, he sat me down and was very real about
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  how I was as a player. He's like, Okay, here's he showed
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  me a cut up, here's the good what I like, Here's what we
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  need to fix, and here's our plan to get better and kind of showed
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  me the drills that we were going to do to improve the weaknesses of my
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  game and kind of how I could fit in the system going forward. So
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  that was really impressive. McLaughlin was sort of at the center of one of
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  the big storylines of the Rose Bowl. Had a couple bad snaps against Michigan
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  in that Rose Bowl game, including that last play that decided the game in
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  overtime. So what has he identified as the causes and how do you fix
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  those kind of issues on snapping issues. Once again, this is going to
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  be two answers back to back. There's a lot that goes into it,
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  kind of just you know, once you have a bad one, you kind
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  of start thinking about, Okay, I got to get this right, and
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  I don't think I was really struggling from a mental standpoint. It was just
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  a matter of it would just happen. I can't really explain what was going
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  on, and you know, kind of what went into it, but in
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  the past, and I'm looking on moving forward from that, just getting back
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  into a rhythm. I've been doing it since I was seven years old.
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  I've been snapping a football since I was seven and I've never had issues with
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  it. And you know, my previously in my career in football and college,
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  I didn't really have an issue. So just you know, getting back
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  snapping at the quarterback's hands and just getting back into it. It's like shooting
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  a free throw. McLaughlin comes into Ohio State as a veteran of college football
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  obviously knew it Ohio State, but a veteran of the college football process on
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  the whole. So is he looking at taking on a leadership role in the
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  room as a veteran. I think the first thing about coming into a place
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  like this is there so many great players. Everybody was highly recruited. Everybody
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  is good at football, so it's kind of about earning the respective people.
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  You know, I am coming in as a fifth year, but you know,
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  in certain aspects like learning the program, learning how we work here.
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  I kind of feel like a freshman, so I kind of have to get
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  on task and figure out how things work here, and then once I earn
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  the respect of my tea teammates that I can continue on in the leadership role.
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  Going through the transfer portal process, it's going to be similar to recruiting.
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  You would think, maybe a little more compressed than the recruiting process.
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  But in Seth McLaughlin's bind, which one was better, recruiting out of high
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  school or the transfer portal neither. I hated the recruiting process kind of in
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  both sens. You know, the transfer portal period is so short. I
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  was home from the Rose Bowl on Wednesday, I think, and I was
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  up here Thursday, and then I came up here like on Saturday, so
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  as a as an enroll lead, So that was really quick. But yeah,
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  I've never really been a fan of all the hype and the hurah and
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  of the recruiting process. When you were a college football player, the team
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  you play for, that's a big part of your identity. You're wearing their
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  gear every day. You're identified as Teth McLaughlin Alabama Center and that's a huge
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  part of who you are and how people view you. So how do you
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  adjust from being an Alabama player for years to suddenly now you're Ohio State Center
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  Seth McLaughlin. You're gonna hear two answers once again here, but back to
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  back. I think I had the advantage of being there for four years.
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  You know, I I love Alabama. I have two degrees from Alabama.
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  That's always gonna be my alma mater. And I so appreciative for everything that
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  I've done there and everything that's been given to me there. But just as
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  a you know, we're playing the sport to be professionals, and I just
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  thought for my benefit that change would be good. But I am very thankful
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  for everything I received from Alabama. Their fans, I love them. But
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  it's just gonna be a fun new adventure. I think one of the craziest
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  things is, you know, playing in all those SEC stadiums and growing up
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  in the SEC. I really never I was never really a huge big ten
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  football watcher, so kind of getting to experience this type of culture and see
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  the love for the game up here, it's a it's been fun. We
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  heard earlier that Seth maclachlin was not really big fan of the recruiting process or
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  the transfer portal process. But how did these sales pitches from the different schools
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  that might have been approaching you to try and get you to come join their
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  team. How did those sales pitches differ from when you were in high school,
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  when you were in the portal. I think you have the experience of
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  you know what you've done, and you know kind of what works and what
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  coaching styles you you're more adapt to. So when you talk to the coaches,
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  it's really about how can you make me better? Not necessarily how can
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  you develop me into the player that I need to be? From where I
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  was? I was like six three, two hundred and sixty pounds coming out
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  of high school, so that was really more about what can the weight staff
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  do, what can the nutrition staff do to put the weight on me?
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  But now it's kind of just about developing as a football player. There's always
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  the question about how, whether recruiting momentum or momentum for a team overall is
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  a real thing in college football, does it really impact other guys decisions?
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  Well, how about let's frame this a little differently. What has stood out
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  to Seth McLaughlin about all of the guys that could have gone to the NFL
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  Draft from Ohio State choosing to come back to handle some unfinished business from last
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  season. I think it's impressive. I think it's a testament to the culture.
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  Here. In my two short weeks, I can tell how much guys
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  love about I love this program and care about this program and care about their
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  legacy. And you know, you had so many guys that could have been
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  drafted this year that came back, and you know, I don't want to
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  speak for him, but it sounds like it's because they think they have unfinished
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  business and they want to win all the games and they want to leave a
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  legacy here. McLaughlin left Alabama before Caleb Downs did and Julian Sayan did.
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  He also committed to Ohio State before Caleb Downs and Julian Saying did. He
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  didn't know Julian Saying all that well because Julian Saying really had not really spent
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  any time on the Alabama team. But what about Caleb Downs. What was
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  Seth McLoughlin's reaction to Caleb Downs committing to Ohio State. I was excited been
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  watching Caleb for a year now at Alabama, and he was he was very,
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  very impressive. He walked in and he acted like a third to your
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  starter. You know, he was a veteran and that's very rare from a
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  freshman. So he's one of the most impressive freshmens I've ever seen come through
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  Alabama. And finally, when Sep MacLaughlin went into the portal, did he
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  have anyone in mind? Was Ohio State sort of at the top of his
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  list when he first decided to put his name in the portal as a possible
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  destination. Yeah, I was, and that was kind of what attributed to
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  my first at being my first visit. They were very proactive about you know,
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  as soon as I earned the portal, they were one of the first
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  people to call me, and they were very proactive to getting me here and
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  getting me here first and then just knew the process of how important that was
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  due to our short time constraint. Well, that will do it for today.
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  We should have some more news, more interviews, more all sorts of
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  stuff coming up this week at bucke huddle dot com. This has turned into
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  an eventful time of year somehow. National Signing Day coming up buckuy is looking
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  to add at least one more player to the four recruiting class. Could have
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  some more news in the transfer portal. Could have more news in future recruiting
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  classes. There's a lot of stuff kind of out there right now, all
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  sort of swirling around and potentially happening soon. It's a great time to be
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  a member of buckeyehuddle dot com so you get the inside scoop on all of
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  it. You can join Kevin, Tony and I covering the team, Mark
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  covering recruiting, our whole team of x's and nose gurus. Also a really
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  fun active board, a huddle board presented by Jeff Ruby Steakhouse all at buckeyehuddle
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  dot com. That will do it for today. Thank you guys all for
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  joining us. Have a great day. We will talk to you tomorrow.