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What's Happening With The Buckeyes' Defensive Line Recruiting? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes Tomorrow Morning for Thursday, July third. I'm
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  Speaker 1: your host, Tom Moore. The Texas game in fifty eight days,
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  Speaker 1: the game against Michigan in one hundred and forty nine days.
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  Speaker 1: Going to be a recruiting day here on the Buckeye
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  Speaker 1: Tomorrow Morning Podcast third also poticularly going to be a
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  Speaker 1: recruiting day for the Ohio State Buckeyes. Quarterback Luke Fahee,
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  Speaker 1: their top target in twenty twenty six, is going to
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  Speaker 1: be announcing his college decision. If he picks the Buckeyes.
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  Speaker 1: We will have a breaking news edition of the Buckeye
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  Speaker 1: Weekly podcast immediately following that news. You can keep an
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  Speaker 1: eye on your feeds for that and or on our
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  Speaker 1: YouTube channel as well. But on this show, we're talking
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  Speaker 1: about a different position group, and that is defensive line
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  Speaker 1: recruiting defensive line. The depth there is definitely one of
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  Speaker 1: the question marks heading into this year's Ohio State team,
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  Speaker 1: and it's certainly one of the question marks for the
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  Speaker 1: program moving forward as well. And it's been an a
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  Speaker 1: spot where there's been some consternation on our message board
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  Speaker 1: and elsewhere in Ohio State fandoms. We've been talking about,
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  Speaker 1: you know, what's going on there, what's the issues, what
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  Speaker 1: do we need to know whether Buddy Andrew ellisapuckehuddle dot
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  Speaker 1: com Andrew, I guess let's start with the good news.
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State seems like they're in pretty decent shape with
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  Speaker 1: the defensive tackles in the closet twenty twenty six, and
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  Speaker 1: they could be in line to potentially pick up another
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  Speaker 1: commitment soon. Nish.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been kind of a busy week with both
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  Speaker 2: good news and some negative news, but on the interior
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  Speaker 2: part of the defensive line, it's mostly been good news
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  Speaker 2: of late last I want to say Friday, they landed
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  Speaker 2: tomar Simeon, interior defensive linemen from New Jersey, one of
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  Speaker 2: the top guys being recruited at defensive tackle, so that
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  Speaker 2: was a big win over Penn State. Michigan was after him,
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  Speaker 2: Texas was after him, and then they landed Cambrickle, another
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  Speaker 2: defensive tackle who's from the Pennsylvania but plays down at
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  Speaker 2: IMG Academy. Now, so you've got two guys in the
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  Speaker 2: fold there. They're in a good place there. We've talked
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  Speaker 2: a lot about jimior Perez, who is kind of still
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  Speaker 2: committed to Florida. I don't even think the Florida staff
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  Speaker 2: considers him to be a commitment right now. He has
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  Speaker 2: teased some news coming up on Friday. My hunch is
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  Speaker 2: that he is going to just come out and flip
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  Speaker 2: to Ohio State. Either way, if you want to say
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  Speaker 2: they have three defensive tackles committed right now, I think
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  Speaker 2: that's fair and I think it's a really good group.
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  Speaker 2: So on the interior part of the defensive line, Larry
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  Speaker 2: Johnson's getting it done this cycle. Some of those guys
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  Speaker 2: have three stars next to their names instead of four
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  Speaker 2: or five. But these have been priority guys.
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  Speaker 1: So that's the good news.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that. Yeah, defensive end is kind of a
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  Speaker 2: different story here, So I guess if you start with
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  Speaker 2: there is some good news with defensive end as well.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, Carry Wilder, the kid from California. They landed
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  Speaker 2: a few weeks back, and I think you guys have
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  Speaker 2: talked about him a bit too, not a kid who's
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  Speaker 2: been in the spotlight as far as the camp circuit.
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  Speaker 2: And then when he finally does step into the camp
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  Speaker 2: circuit at the recent five Star Challenge, he comes out
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  Speaker 2: of the event as one of the biggest winners from
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  Speaker 2: the camp and one of the guys whose stock is
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  Speaker 2: on the rise. So you know, maybe you see him
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  Speaker 2: as a high four star, maybe even a five star
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  Speaker 2: by the time it's all said and done. So that's
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  Speaker 2: that's the good news. That's big to have him in
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  Speaker 2: the fold. On the downside' they've missed out on just
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  Speaker 2: about everybody else that they're recruiting right now. I would
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  Speaker 2: say the biggest bit of bad news, well, the biggest
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  Speaker 2: bit of bad news came a few weeks ago when
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  Speaker 2: when Luke wayfol committed to USC and that was a
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  Speaker 2: recruitment that there was some back and forth nil and
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  Speaker 2: Ryan Day was personally involved in that one. So I know,
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  Speaker 2: Larry Johnson gets a lot of people want to talk
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  Speaker 2: a lot about Larry Johnson, myself included, and he needs
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  Speaker 2: to he needs to do more things as far as
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  Speaker 2: defensive end goes. But I think that one might have
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  Speaker 2: been out of his control. The way for recruitment and
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  Speaker 2: if you're winning, one thing to happen with defensive between
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  Speaker 2: now and December, it's Ohio State get Luke wayfel Onto
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  Speaker 2: campus for the Texas game or one of those games,
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  Speaker 2: and convinced the family that being closer to home is
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  Speaker 2: better than However, much more USC is giving him than
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  Speaker 2: what Ohio State would And then I think the toughest
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  Speaker 2: pill to swallow. Although he was probably not quite as
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  Speaker 2: high on the boards as Wayeful, Carter Meadows, the DC
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  Speaker 2: defensive end, commits to Michigan over the weekend. Maybe it
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  Speaker 2: was earlier this week. Either way, he's after Wayfe's off
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  Speaker 2: the Board's that's kind of the guy that you must
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  Speaker 2: go out and get, so losing him to Bama or
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  Speaker 2: Georgia or Florida would have been bad enough. And now
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  Speaker 2: he's committed to Michigan a different player from wayfefull. I
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  Speaker 2: think Ohio State viewed him as kind of that guy
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  Speaker 2: in three years who could be six six and two
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  Speaker 2: point fifty and just you know, a freak, whereas Wayeful
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  Speaker 2: is probably more game ready now. But still losing both
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  Speaker 2: of those guys in a matter of a couple of
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  Speaker 2: weeks tough look. And as you've said, that's been the
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  Speaker 2: hot button item on the on the Ohio State Bloggi
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  Speaker 2: sphere message board, world all that over the last few weeks.
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  Speaker 2: So that's kind of just a quick recap of what's
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  Speaker 2: happened over the last couple of weeks. So in a
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  Speaker 2: good place with defensive interior recruiting, got one good, really
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  Speaker 2: good player in the fold at edge, but they need
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  Speaker 2: I mean, they need probably two more.
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  Speaker 1: So as they try to chase those two more. You
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  Speaker 1: sort of talked a little bit there about Larry Johnson,
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  Speaker 1: and everyone has been a little bit on Larry Johnson
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  Speaker 1: for a few years about are you know, are they
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  Speaker 1: prioritizing the right guys? Are they taking the right approach?
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  Speaker 1: Is there enough follow through with all this stuff? And
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  Speaker 1: then that has certainly been a topic around defensive line
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  Speaker 1: recruiting for a couple of years because they've probably had
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  Speaker 1: a couple classes in a row where they were maybe
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  Speaker 1: a guy or even two guys short from where they
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  Speaker 1: probably needed to be. So that's kind of one piece
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  Speaker 1: of the why behind the defensive end recruiting. But there's
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  Speaker 1: also sort of the elephant in the room, and this
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  Speaker 1: is a this has been a very hot button topic
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  Speaker 1: on our board, and it's something that Tony Gerdaman and
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  Speaker 1: I I've talked about a little bit in the past
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  Speaker 1: on the Buckeye Weekly podcast. But it's sort of the
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  Speaker 1: new world of post house settlement nil approach and you know,
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  Speaker 1: paying the players approach, which is now a legal thing
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  Speaker 1: to do in the post house world. That settlement got
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  Speaker 1: approved on June sixth, and then officially went into effect
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  Speaker 1: on July first, and there was sort of this race
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  Speaker 1: to frontload a lot of those payments to guys, And
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  Speaker 1: there's a lot of discrepancy maybe between how Ohio State
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  Speaker 1: is approaching something seemingly right now in this world and
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  Speaker 1: how some other folks are approaching it. Because yes, the
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  Speaker 1: new rules are in effect, but there's certainly some questions
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  Speaker 1: about how long, how strictly they're going to be enforced,
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  Speaker 1: and how long will they be in effect, Will they
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  Speaker 1: all go away soon? Will it kind of be wide
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  Speaker 1: open after that? And you know, I think there are
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  Speaker 1: certainly Andrew a lot of people who disagree, at least
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  Speaker 1: on our board, with how Ohio State's approaching it. My
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  Speaker 1: sense and all of this has sort of been well,
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  Speaker 1: they figured it out with the nil when people were
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  Speaker 1: freaking out in twenty twenty two, and they won the
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  Speaker 1: national championship three years later. So it's all worked out okay,
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  Speaker 1: and the people in charge didn't get any dumber. But
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  Speaker 1: that has not necessarily limited the or reduced the level
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  Speaker 1: of concern on among the fan base about where things
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  Speaker 1: stand and the approach with some of this stuff. Right now.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, shots are being fired at Larry
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  Speaker 2: Johnson and this week ross By Orke was on the
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  Speaker 2: receiving end of some of those shots too. I think,
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  Speaker 2: you know, it's just so easy for people like myself
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  Speaker 2: the fan to sit here and say, you know, write
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  Speaker 2: a check for two point five million for this seventeen
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  Speaker 2: year old defensive end. And then you know, if you
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  Speaker 2: do that, what's that going to do to a guy
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  Speaker 2: like Kenyatta Jackson or in the future, a guy like
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  Speaker 2: Zion Grady who's already on campus, And what are they
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  Speaker 2: going to be making compared to what the new true
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  Speaker 2: freshman is making. So it's really hard to say that,
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  Speaker 2: and I hate to be the guy, and I won't
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  Speaker 2: be the guy who every time Ohio State loses a
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  Speaker 2: player you say, oh, well, every other school is offering
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  Speaker 2: three times as much as Ohio State.
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  Speaker 1: That's just.
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  Speaker 2: Other fan bases do that about Ohio State too. When
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  Speaker 2: Ohio State get when Ohio State gets Caleb Downs, Georgia
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  Speaker 2: and Michigan are saying, well, what are they paying in?
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  Speaker 2: So it's just kind of a vicious cycle with all
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  Speaker 2: of this. But I mean, there are programs out there
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  Speaker 2: that are doing it to a kind of an extreme degree.
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  Speaker 2: Miami Oregon obviously, USC is the big one this cycle.
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  Speaker 2: I agree with you. I'm confident that whatever. I'm confident
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  Speaker 2: Ohio State has a plan in place, it'll fix itself eventually.
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  Speaker 2: If that means that there's one class where you're maybe
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  Speaker 2: short a guy at defensive end. Granted it wouldn't be
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  Speaker 2: the first time this has happened, unfortunately, but if that's
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  Speaker 2: going to be what happens. But in three years, four years,
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  Speaker 2: whatever Ohio State wins another national championship, is anybody going
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  Speaker 2: to look back on it and really really care one
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  Speaker 2: way or another, you know what I mean. So that's
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  Speaker 2: kind of my thought on it. And I mean, relationships
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  Speaker 2: are still a part of recruiting. You know. I didn't
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  Speaker 2: even mention land In Barnes earlier. A kid from Texas
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  Speaker 2: who committed to Old Miss I believe on Monday of
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  Speaker 2: this week. You know, that was a situation where I
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  Speaker 2: don't think Ohio State really tried until they till the
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  Speaker 2: wayful committed to USC and until they probably caught win
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  Speaker 2: that that Meadows was going to end up at Michigan.
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  Speaker 2: So there is still a relationship component to it. His
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  Speaker 2: teammate kJ four down in Duncanville. Maybe they can get him,
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  Speaker 2: but what are they what are they going to offer?
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  Speaker 2: What is Florida who's going to offer? What is Texas
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  Speaker 2: A and A and M going to offer? Are they
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  Speaker 2: going to frontload more than Ohio State's going to frontload?
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  Speaker 2: There's there's all these questions that no one knows the
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  Speaker 2: answer to right now. And I'm not going to pretend
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  Speaker 2: to be the expert. But it's again, it's easy for
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  Speaker 2: a fan to sit here and say, oh, well ride
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  Speaker 2: them amount for this check, and then you're the you
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  Speaker 2: want to ask the fans, well, hey, what are you
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  Speaker 2: donating to the foundation? I know I'm I'm not in
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  Speaker 2: any position to give give a million dollars to the
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  Speaker 2: to the donation for a seventeen eighteen year old defensive end.
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  Speaker 2: I wish I was, But there's just so many factors
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  Speaker 2: at play here and it's complicated, and I think it's
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  Speaker 2: going to work itself out for Ohio State because it
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  Speaker 2: always does, even if there are some months of frustration,
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  Speaker 2: which we're going through right now at certain positions.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, if you're going to look at the long term
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  Speaker 1: term historical trend, you know, the investment of people who
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  Speaker 1: basically say, there's no ten year period in which you
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  Speaker 1: would have invested in the stock market and lost money.
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  Speaker 1: That's kind of Ohio State football. There is basically no
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  Speaker 1: ten year period where Ohio State football has been consistently
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  Speaker 1: bad or even consistently average. They've just consistently been above average.
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  Speaker 1: There's a lot of geographical and systemic and you know
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  Speaker 1: historical advantages that the program has that it's just it's
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  Speaker 1: not going to fall completely down a well, it'll you know,
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  Speaker 1: they have had years where they have had recruiting classes dip,
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  Speaker 1: they've had years where they've missed on guys they have
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  Speaker 1: not had, you know, and then the program prater for
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  Speaker 1: ten years. So you know, it's probably probably not a
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  Speaker 1: bad time for everyone to sort of take a deep
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  Speaker 1: breath and let some things play out because as much
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  Speaker 1: as everyone wants to tell you they know exactly what's
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  Speaker 1: going to happen, there's a lot of uncertainty in a
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  Speaker 1: lot of different areas in college athletics on the whole,
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  Speaker 1: even in the post house world. We'll see how all
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  Speaker 1: this stuff sort of gets sorted out. But in the meantime,
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  Speaker 1: there's plenty of time to holler and hoot and yell
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: at each other on the huddle board presented by Jeff
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  Speaker 1: Ruby's Columbus at bucke huddle dot com. We've been talking
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  Speaker 1: about this for weeks now, been some really interesting reporting
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: from our insiders, but also some really interesting conversations among
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: our members as well. We do our best to answer
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: our answer those questions for you on that huddle board
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  Speaker 1: presented by Jeff Ruby's Columbus. So if you want to
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  Speaker 1: sign up, this would be a great time to do it.
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  Speaker 1: We are less than three weeks away from Big Ten
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  Speaker 1: Media Days in Las Vegas, and then another less than
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  Speaker 1: a month away from the start of fall camp, and
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  Speaker 1: less than two months away from the start of the season.
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  Speaker 1: So college football right around the corner, whether it feels
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  Speaker 1: like it or not. So we hope you see you there.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: You will probably not see us tomorrow, and you'll have
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: a You're not going to get a Friday morning show
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: because it is the fourth of July, but you may
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: potentially get a breaking news quarterback commitment show. We'll see
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: how that one goes for Ohio State and keep an
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: eye out for that in the Buckeye Weekly podcast BEAD.
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  Speaker 1: But we will have a busy weekend for you and
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: then a busy rest of July for you at buckeyehuddle
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  Speaker 1: dot com. That'll do it for today. Thank you guys
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  Speaker 1: all for joining us. Have a great day. We'll talk
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  Speaker 1: to you tomorrow.