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Which Incoming Cornerback Will Make The Biggest Impact For 2026? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to buck Eyes tomorrow morning from Monday, February ninth,
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  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Tom Or the ball state game in
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  Speaker 1: two hundred and eight days, the game against Michigan in
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  Speaker 1: two hundred and ninety two days. Our friends at Grateful Griddle,
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  Speaker 1: Columbus's favorite food truck. They are now on Uber eats,
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  Speaker 1: grub Hub, and door Dash. Just search for Grateful Griddle
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  Speaker 1: there or check out grateful Griddle oh dot com to
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  Speaker 1: peruse the menu and maybe make your selections for Uber Eats,
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  Speaker 1: grub Hub, and door Dash. All right, on today's show,
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  Speaker 1: we're talking about the Ohio State Secondary and specifically the
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State cornerback room, because the Buckeyes brought in some
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  Speaker 1: very very talented corners both through the transfer portal and
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  Speaker 1: in high school recruiting this year. And we're gonna put
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  Speaker 1: Tony Girderman of bucket Huddle dot com on the spot.
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  Speaker 1: But which one is going to be the most impactful
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  Speaker 1: addition for twenty twenty six? Tony, We've got four choices here.
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  Speaker 1: We're including Jay Timmins here, we're listing the guys who
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  Speaker 1: they brought in as true corners out of the high
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  Speaker 1: school ranks as well. As in the transfer portal, Timmins
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  Speaker 1: feels like he's a little bit of a cheat here
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  Speaker 1: because he may not be an outside corner. The you
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  Speaker 1: guys are probably outside corners. But we'll go through. I'll
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  Speaker 1: let you take the first pick. We'll do this as
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  Speaker 1: a draft. Will be competitive, probably not, but we'll do
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  Speaker 1: this as a draft. Who would you say? Who are
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  Speaker 1: you going to pick as the most impactful incoming new
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  Speaker 1: cornerback for Ohio State?
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  Speaker 2: M Boy impactful new cornerback for Ohio State? Tom. I
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  Speaker 2: like how you led me with the high school guys,
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  Speaker 2: but I'm I'm gonna go with Dominic Kelly, the sophomore
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  Speaker 2: transfer played as a freshman this past year at Georgia.
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  Speaker 2: Just listening to Ryan Day talk about him on his
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  Speaker 2: radio show, saying that Dominic Kelly is somebody who when
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  Speaker 2: you watch his film, really excited about about him. He
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  Speaker 2: can cover the highlight level. He's very intelligent, and he's
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  Speaker 2: got three years left, which is certainly a benefit. So
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  Speaker 2: when you're asking me among that group, and I believe
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  Speaker 2: that was the question, I'm gonna go down at Kelly one.
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  Speaker 2: He's played right, He's played a little bit. And the
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  Speaker 2: thing that we keep talking about him. For the reason
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  Speaker 2: we keep talking about him is because Ohio State went
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  Speaker 2: and got a bunch of veterans out of the portal
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  Speaker 2: and then this guy and it's like, what about why
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  Speaker 2: why this guy? Because that's it makes you you have
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  Speaker 2: to look at him and be like there's something there.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, this is This goes back to we talk all
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  Speaker 1: the time about you know, the coach will say whatever
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  Speaker 1: they're gonna say, and then you watch what they do,
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  Speaker 1: and what they did was bring in all sorts of
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  Speaker 1: veteran guys and then this one guy and it's like,
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  Speaker 1: what's different about him? And we will certainly start finding
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  Speaker 1: that out as spring ball starts, But yeah, I would
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  Speaker 1: I would have him as my first pick here as well,
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  Speaker 1: where he has the advantage of a one year head
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  Speaker 1: start in college where you've got you know, both the
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  Speaker 1: corners at Ohiostate brought end this year. I am very
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  Speaker 1: very high on both of those guys, and I think
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  Speaker 1: they're both going to be very very good players at
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  Speaker 1: the college level. But Kelly also came in with a year.
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  Speaker 1: A one year head start just has you know that
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  Speaker 1: one year in a college strength program as the one
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  Speaker 1: year of game film and practice film and going up
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  Speaker 1: against some very very good receivers and playing in a
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  Speaker 1: very very talented defensive coaches scheme. So I think he's
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  Speaker 1: got a I think he's an excellent choice here. And
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  Speaker 1: I think if anyone is going to be a rotation,
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  Speaker 1: get into a rotation with Devin Sanchez and Jermaine Matthews outside,
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  Speaker 1: I think he's going to be the most likely guy
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  Speaker 1: to be that guy. But I think the number two
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  Speaker 1: pick for me is another guy who could potentially get
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  Speaker 1: in some kind of a rotation there in the secondary
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  Speaker 1: this year, and as a true freshman that would be
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  Speaker 1: pretty remarkable. I'm going to go with Jay Timmins out
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  Speaker 1: of Western Pennsylvania. He had been committed to pet to
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  Speaker 1: Florida State. Ohistate flipped him relatively late in the cycle.
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  Speaker 1: He ended up as a top as a top what twelve,
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  Speaker 1: top fifteen player nationally in the Rivals Rankings five star recruit.
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  Speaker 1: We have talked about him, but probably a half dozen
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  Speaker 1: times in the context of I don't think Ohio State
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  Speaker 1: fans really understand how big a deal it is that
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  Speaker 1: they got this guy in this class. But it is
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  Speaker 1: a big deal that they got this guy in this class.
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  Speaker 1: The question for Timmins is inside or outside. Is he
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  Speaker 1: going to be someone who plays in the slot. Is
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  Speaker 1: he going to be, you know, sort of on that
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  Speaker 1: Jordan Hancock career trajectory, or is he going to be
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  Speaker 1: someone that plays outside. If he's outside, obviously, you know,
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  Speaker 1: Kelly could theoretically play inside, but you know, if he's inside,
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  Speaker 1: that's probably a little bit of a cleaner path to
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  Speaker 1: the too deep Because you lost Lorenzo Styles last year.
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  Speaker 1: They brought in Earl Little, another Florida state guy. A
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  Speaker 1: lot of Florida State connections here on this show, but
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  Speaker 1: they bring in our a little and we're sort of
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  Speaker 1: assuming he's going to be the nickel on this team.
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  Speaker 1: But it feels like there's probably a path if Jay
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  Speaker 1: Timmins is going to be that, you know, one of
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  Speaker 1: those guys who's in there at nickel, there's sort of
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  Speaker 1: a path for him to you know, maybe get some
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  Speaker 1: playing time this year as well, and if you get
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  Speaker 1: some playing time early, you can earn a bigger role
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  Speaker 1: as the season goes along.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And one of the reasons we talked about Jay
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  Speaker 2: Timmins as a nickel is because that's a lot of
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  Speaker 2: what he's done in high school, and so he's played
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  Speaker 2: on the inside and he's very very good at that.
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  Speaker 2: And it's just interesting to me that for playing so
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  Speaker 2: much on the inside, he still ends up as the
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  Speaker 2: number one cornerback and a lot of these rankings or
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  Speaker 2: at least in Rivals rankings and as a top fifty
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  Speaker 2: guy by ESPN and twenty four to seven as well. Generally,
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  Speaker 2: you talk about you all, you give him your first
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  Speaker 2: shout outside, but also it depends on what's available and
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  Speaker 2: what is what we are your needs right and what
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  Speaker 2: do you have to fill those needs? And I think
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  Speaker 2: he's a guy that is very very athletic, very physical,
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  Speaker 2: not unlike in terms of his quickness and ability like
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  Speaker 2: Jermaine Matthews who excels right as an outside corner, but
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  Speaker 2: any snap can go and play inside. And was a
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  Speaker 2: guy that we talked about will he be the nickel
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  Speaker 2: until they went and got her all little. So I
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  Speaker 2: think the versatility there is on one hand, it's great.
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  Speaker 2: On the other hand, does that eliminate him from some
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  Speaker 2: things like if you can do too many different things,
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  Speaker 2: are you not good enough to do this one specific
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  Speaker 2: thing or are you going to be busy trying to
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  Speaker 2: multitask and then get passed by by saying the third
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  Speaker 2: pick in the draft that we'll have here. But yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I really really like him. I like everything that he does.
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  Speaker 2: In today's game, Nickel is I think some people's scoff
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  Speaker 2: at it, but man, you shouldn't. It's it's really important
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  Speaker 2: in defense today and can be a game changer, can
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  Speaker 2: be the thing that sets your defense apart from everybody else.
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  Speaker 2: And we keep talking like, look at Miami with what
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  Speaker 2: they did, and Indiana was able to do theirs with
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  Speaker 2: almost no nickel, Like you know, they played nickel when
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  Speaker 2: they had to. But so that's the exception to the
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  Speaker 2: real time. I promise you Indiana, the exception to the
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  Speaker 2: rule on that.
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  Speaker 1: It's funny you were talking about Miami there, and right
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  Speaker 1: as you were saying that, I was thinking, I'll have
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  Speaker 1: to mention you know, hey, the Nichol is the guy
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  Speaker 1: who's going to cover melochay TONI and boy, that's an
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  Speaker 1: important role. But then you were bringing up Miami in
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  Speaker 1: the context of Keante Scott, who is the nickel for Miami,
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  Speaker 1: and that was a pretty impactful. You may remember Keante
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  Speaker 1: Scott from plays such as the pick six and the
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  Speaker 1: Cotton Bowl. So that is a very impactful role on
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  Speaker 1: both sides of the ball when you're playing Miami, and
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  Speaker 1: that's been a that that has been an important, uh
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  Speaker 1: an important matchup for the last time Ohire State was
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  Speaker 1: on the field. I do, Tony, before we move on,
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  Speaker 1: I do want to mention I don't think I said
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  Speaker 1: Kamari in the open of the show. I did didn't
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  Speaker 1: forget him, I just didn't say his name. So you
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  Speaker 1: do have to do you want to include him in
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  Speaker 1: this in this whole thing as well.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's the other thing. You don't necessarily know
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  Speaker 2: exactly who is going to be a corner who is
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  Speaker 2: actually gonna be safety for a while. I always talk
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  Speaker 2: about Christian Bryant was a corner for like a practice
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  Speaker 2: and Jordan Fuller was a corner for like a practice
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  Speaker 2: before both of those guys moved to safety. So we'll
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  Speaker 2: see how things shake out there with Kamari and who
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  Speaker 2: everybody else. Frankly, for my third pick, Tom, I'm gonna
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  Speaker 2: go ahead and go with Jordan Thomas, who, again decent size,
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  Speaker 2: physical guy, has played good high school football and somebody
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  Speaker 2: that Ohio State really really likes. So when when Ohio
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  Speaker 2: State really likes a corner. That makes me think that
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  Speaker 2: certainly is like okay, and you saw some other big
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  Speaker 2: time schools get after him as well, So I'm gonna
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  Speaker 2: know there over cam Calhoun. But this may be more
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  Speaker 2: of a November, December, January thing than in August, September,
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  Speaker 2: October thing.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Thomas is someone I talked to Tim Walton about
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  Speaker 1: him at the Cotton Bouldering Media Days. He's he is
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  Speaker 1: very high on on Jordan Thomas thinks he's he could
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  Speaker 1: be really really impactful player for Ohio State. Comes from
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  Speaker 1: a relatively big program. If you were not familiar with
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  Speaker 1: the New Jersey high school scene. He played for Bergen Catholic,
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  Speaker 1: which is one of those you know, national powerhouse kind
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  Speaker 1: of private schools in New Jersey. New Jersey high school
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  Speaker 1: football is better than you would think based on New
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  Speaker 1: Jersey college football. But that is he is definitely one
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  Speaker 1: of those one of those guys that you have I
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  Speaker 1: think is is going to be an impactful player. I
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  Speaker 1: you know, this is a talented enough him that not
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  Speaker 1: all the true freshmen are going to be out there
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  Speaker 1: and playing a ton of snaps. I think it's reasonable
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  Speaker 1: to have him, you know, one one spot behind j
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  Speaker 1: Timmins here and you know, bing to your point, we'll
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  Speaker 1: see does he end up in safety? He's end up
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  Speaker 1: the corner. Where does he end up? You're not They're
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  Speaker 1: not going to be able to play three true freshmen
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  Speaker 1: and also play the talented transfer they got. You know,
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  Speaker 1: this is this is just a number of snaps available
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  Speaker 1: on the field. You'll see these guys. I'm sure you'll
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  Speaker 1: see all these guys. You just won't see all these
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  Speaker 1: guys playing enough to not red shirt this year. I
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  Speaker 1: do think we should mention cam Calhoun just because there's
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  Speaker 1: a reason they brought in Cam Calhoun. This was not well,
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  Speaker 1: he's just sort of tagging along as a package deal.
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  Speaker 1: This is someone who they brought in. He is someone
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  Speaker 1: they're familiar with, is an Ohio player, someone they recruited
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  Speaker 1: out of high school. He's been around enough that he's
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  Speaker 1: he's coming in with some experience. He's going to be
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  Speaker 1: able to provide some veteran presence in that room. He
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  Speaker 1: may be someone that they lean on early in the year,
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  Speaker 1: and if you see some of these young guys maybe
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  Speaker 1: getting more snaps as the season goes along, that may
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  Speaker 1: be one of those things comes at the expense of
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  Speaker 1: Cam Calhoun. He may, you know, he could potentially get
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  Speaker 1: jumped by some of those young guys, but you could
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  Speaker 1: see him out there early in the season just you know,
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  Speaker 1: playing a role that we have talked about this before,
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  Speaker 1: but they do not have a lot of margin for error.
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  Speaker 1: You're going down to Austin, Texas in what week two
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  Speaker 1: of the season that is not you got to how
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  Speaker 1: trial by fire do you want to get with your
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  Speaker 1: true freshman corners on the road at Texas. So if
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  Speaker 1: there is a spot where they need someone, you might
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  Speaker 1: defer to or default to the veteran guy at least
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  Speaker 1: early in the season. And so you know, I think
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  Speaker 1: I would definitely not write him off in terms of
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  Speaker 1: the potential impact he could have this fault.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you're going to see right away it's
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  Speaker 2: probably him and Dominic Kelly battling it out for that
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  Speaker 2: third corner at least in spring, and then you'll see
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  Speaker 2: how the young guys emerge. But he has that experience.
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  Speaker 2: I would probably say if camp Calhoun was on this
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  Speaker 2: team in twenty twenty or twenty one, pretty good chance
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  Speaker 2: he starting some games for stay at corner. With that secondary,
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  Speaker 2: So that gives you an idea of how State has
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  Speaker 2: risen in the secondary since those days. But also certainly
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  Speaker 2: a guy that has played and can play and this
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  Speaker 2: will be the you would assume, the best version of
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  Speaker 2: him in college football.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think Tim Walton I mentioned him earlier. Tim
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  Speaker 1: Walton deserves a lot of credit for what is a
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  Speaker 1: consistently rising standard in that corner room where they you
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  Speaker 1: know what what how many guys that are that we
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  Speaker 1: just talked about would have started in twenty twenty one.
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  Speaker 1: I think probably, you know, among the guys, Jermaine Matthews obviously, yes,
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  Speaker 1: Stefan Sanchez obviously, yes, Dominic Kelly, I would say almost certainly, yes,
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  Speaker 1: I you know, I think you'd have Jay Timmins is
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  Speaker 1: probably in that conversation. You've got you know, four, maybe
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  Speaker 1: five guys in there that you probably would have started
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  Speaker 1: in some of the recent years. So yeah, this is
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  Speaker 1: definitely definitely a very strong, very deep, very intriguing cornerback
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  Speaker 1: room for Ohio State. So that's why the that's why
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  Speaker 1: the young guys we don't know, you know, I don't
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  Speaker 1: know if you're going to have any starts, how many
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  Speaker 1: starts you're going to get out of those guys, but
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  Speaker 1: you're going to get something out of those guys and
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  Speaker 1: probably ever increasing roles there. So it's going to be
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  Speaker 1: an interesting fall to watch. That can be an interesting
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  Speaker 1: spring to watch that, and we're going to be an
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  Speaker 1: interesting spring to watch a whole lot of other positions
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  Speaker 1: as well. We'll probably do a couple more of these
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  Speaker 1: shows because there's some very intriguing newcomers on this Ohio
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: State team, and then we're going to get a chance
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  Speaker 1: to watch them in just over a month. One month
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  Speaker 1: and one day from now, Bluck guys will open spring
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  Speaker 1: camp on March tenth. Will be there for that, We
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  Speaker 1: will be there for whatever other practices we're invited for
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  Speaker 1: over that next month or so, and then ending with
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: the spring game on April eighteenth. Will definitely be there
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  Speaker 1: for that one as well. You can find us for
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: all of those and all your other Ohio State football
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: needs at bucke huddle dot com and at YouTube dot
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: com slash bucke Huddle. If you're watching on YouTube, give
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: us a thumbs up. If you have questions that maybe
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: were raised by this or unrelated questions, throw them in
• 14:03
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• 14:05
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• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Thank you guys all for joining us. Have a great day.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: We'll talk to you tomorrow