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Ross Fulton Analysis: 4 Early Takeaways From Ohio State Spring Football · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to buck Eyes tomorrow morning for Thursday, March twenty
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  Speaker 1: sixth time your host Tom or the ball State game
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  Speaker 1: in one hundred and sixty three days the game against
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  Speaker 1: Michigan in two hundred and forty seven days. On today's show,
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  Speaker 1: we're joined by our ex's and o's guru, Ross Fulton
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  Speaker 1: and when Ross's on the show were sponsored by Jeff
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  Speaker 1: Rubies of Columbus, probably offering nationally acclaimed USDA prime stake steaks,
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  Speaker 1: seafood and sushi, and peckable service, live entertainment, and an
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  Speaker 1: attention to detail that is simply unmatched. Just go to
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  Speaker 1: Jeffruby dot com slash Columbus to check out the menu
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  Speaker 1: and make a reservation. Today, all right, we're bringing Ross
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  Speaker 1: and to talk about some early takeaways from a spring
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  Speaker 1: ball maybe some stuff about players, some stuff about what
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  Speaker 1: that might possibly mean about some scheme changes or some
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  Speaker 1: scheme similarities from last season to this season. We're going
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  Speaker 1: to start on the defensive side of the ball. Ross.
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  Speaker 1: I know we were only three practices into to spring
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  Speaker 1: ball right now, and they've only had one in pads,
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  Speaker 1: so everything here is a little bit subject to change,
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  Speaker 1: But it feels like what we have seen in some
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  Speaker 1: of the stuff that we've maybe heard a little bit
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  Speaker 1: behind the scenes. It feels like you maybe have a
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  Speaker 1: sense for what we might be looking at in terms
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  Speaker 1: of the defensive line this fall, in terms of players,
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  Speaker 1: and also maybe some some scheme in personnel groupings.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I kind of thought coming in, just based on you know,
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  Speaker 3: how well I say it approached the transfer portal, that
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  Speaker 3: we'd see even more of a focus on the penny front,
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  Speaker 3: you know, the odd five to one or you know
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  Speaker 3: three two one front that we saw, uh, you know,
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  Speaker 3: about a third of the time last year, and that
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  Speaker 3: seems to be the case early. You know, I think
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  Speaker 3: that they have a situation where last year they had
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  Speaker 3: to basically take a four down front and it sort
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  Speaker 3: of fitted into that. Right, So like a lot of
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  Speaker 3: times you'd see Kenyatta Jackson as the four I like
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  Speaker 3: kind of like one of the defensive.
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  Speaker 2: Tackles, if you will.
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  Speaker 3: And this year, like they obviously will be missing Kad
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  Speaker 3: McDonald as that like head up over the center's year. Nos,
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  Speaker 3: but they have like two guys and Edric Houston and
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  Speaker 3: Smith who can like be the sort of four eye
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  Speaker 3: defensive tackles that allows you to then like you bump
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  Speaker 3: Jackson out and he can be one of the stand up,
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  Speaker 3: you know, outside linebacker defensive ends.
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  Speaker 2: And then you know it.
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  Speaker 3: Brought in Christian Aliegro, who sort of fits that hybrid
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  Speaker 3: you know, off ball linebacker as well as like edge defender,
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  Speaker 3: and so.
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  Speaker 2: That sort of seems to fit their personnel more.
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  Speaker 3: And it sort of sounds like, you know, from the
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  Speaker 3: first couple of practices of the spring, already seen a
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  Speaker 3: lot of Aliegro filling that role in particular.
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  Speaker 1: And I know there's been a lot of positive buzz
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  Speaker 1: around James Smith, the transfer who you just mentioned from Alabama.
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  Speaker 1: Just to sort of be clear for folks, are you
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  Speaker 1: thinking that you may see Smith and Edarck Houston maybe
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  Speaker 1: playing together at the same time, because we typically talk
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  Speaker 1: about them in terms of, hey, these are guys who
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  Speaker 1: maybe one is going to play or the other one's
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  Speaker 1: going to play. Are you thinking we're going to maybe
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  Speaker 1: see both of those guys on the field at the
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  Speaker 1: same time.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think in certain situations for sure. I mean
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  Speaker 3: I think you could play. You know, you have your
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  Speaker 3: your nose and Smith or Walker and then you have
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  Speaker 3: James Smith and Houston you can play. That's obviously a
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  Speaker 3: bigger front, but then you have kind of have the
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  Speaker 3: two stand up guys and so you know, one thing
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  Speaker 3: I think they gave themselves with the transfer portal, excuse me,
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  Speaker 3: is flexibility. So you could also bump Jackson back inside right,
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  Speaker 3: if you want to be like a little lighter, then
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  Speaker 3: you play uh, you know, Zion Grady or Russol outside
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  Speaker 3: in that Penny front, and you know they'll still have
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  Speaker 3: the ability to play a four down.
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  Speaker 2: Look.
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  Speaker 3: Obviously it's where you probably only have one a Smith
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  Speaker 3: or Houston on the field at a time. But I
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  Speaker 3: do think with this Penny front it really fits it
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  Speaker 3: best to have sort of like those two four you know,
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  Speaker 3: three technique four eye you know, kind of the guys
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  Speaker 3: that line up in between the guards and the tackle.
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  Speaker 3: And so I certainly think you'll see, particularly like on
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  Speaker 3: s downs or you know, run first downs, those guys
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  Speaker 3: together on the field.
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  Speaker 2: At the same time, you've.
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  Speaker 1: Mentioned a couple names of guys who are transfers, who
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  Speaker 1: may be people who are coming kind of off the
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  Speaker 1: edge but maybe have the ability to do some different stuff.
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  Speaker 1: One is Kway Roussau, who was a transfer from Alabama
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  Speaker 1: and he's been working mostly repping with the defensive lineman.
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  Speaker 1: Although when they were doing get off drills, he was
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  Speaker 1: the only guy in a two point stance. Everyone else
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  Speaker 1: was in a three point stance. So that feels like
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  Speaker 1: that maybe a little bit of a tip off that
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  Speaker 1: he's not exactly, you know, exactly fully a defensive lineman
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  Speaker 1: in some ways. But then also Christian Allegro, who you mentioned,
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  Speaker 1: it feels like those are guys who we talk all
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  Speaker 1: the time about being able to diskuis, coverages, just guys
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  Speaker 1: what you want to do. It feels like those guys
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  Speaker 1: are maybe in some ways, based on what you're saying,
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  Speaker 1: maybe a little bit of an in between where they
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  Speaker 1: can do a little bit of linebacker stuff if needed,
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  Speaker 1: They can do the pass rush stuff off the edge
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  Speaker 1: kind of stuff if needed, which maybe allows you to
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  Speaker 1: disguise what you're trying to do.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely so, and we saw quite a bit of
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  Speaker 3: that last year. They use sim pressures, right, and they
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  Speaker 3: drop one of the defensive ends out, and so you're
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  Speaker 3: still running your cover three where you have three deep
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  Speaker 3: and four under, but now you're bringing a linebacker or
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  Speaker 3: someone from the field and dropping the weak side defensive
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  Speaker 3: end into that curl flat zone. And so you know,
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  Speaker 3: Russol I think is going to be like a defensive end.
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  Speaker 3: Like I don't think there's gonna be like him playing
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  Speaker 3: off ball linebacker. But he obviously is a smaller guy
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  Speaker 3: who gives you that ability to drop in a coverage
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  Speaker 3: and has some experience with that.
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  Speaker 2: And as I said, like, I think, you know, they
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  Speaker 2: may not have some.
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  Speaker 3: Of like the high end guys, although you know, remains
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  Speaker 3: to be seen. We maybe would have said that last
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  Speaker 3: year too, but I think they give they've given themselves
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  Speaker 3: a lot of flexibility by having some of these guys
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  Speaker 3: who can do different things.
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  Speaker 1: You know.
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  Speaker 3: So you have Aliegro, who's kind of like a inside
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  Speaker 3: linebacker outside linebacker. Russol is kind of like outside linebacker,
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  Speaker 3: defensive end. You have some guys inside who can like
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  Speaker 3: bump down the nose, can play more as like defensive tackles.
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  Speaker 3: You have Kenyanta Jackson who can play four technique or
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  Speaker 3: like bump outside, and so it just gives Matt Patrician
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  Speaker 3: more options and more ways, you know, things to throw
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  Speaker 3: at an offense.
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  Speaker 1: All Right, so we talked a little bit about Christian Allegro. There,
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  Speaker 1: let's move to the rest of the linebackers. Now we
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  Speaker 1: know Riley Petty John is a name that everyone's excited about,
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  Speaker 1: but he's going to be somewhat limited this spring. But
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  Speaker 1: where what are you hearing about the rest of the
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  Speaker 1: linebacker group and what that might look like?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I sort of start with the premise
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  Speaker 3: again that like most of the time, they'll just have
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  Speaker 3: two linebackers on the field, right Like, whether you're in
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  Speaker 3: the penny, which is a five to one, or a
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  Speaker 3: four down front which is a four to two. Either way,
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  Speaker 3: you've got sort of you know, you have five de
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  Speaker 3: defensive acts or three safeties and two corners on the field.
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  Speaker 3: You have the one off ball linebacker that's basically what
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  Speaker 3: Sonny Styles was last year, and then you have the
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  Speaker 3: one that's sort of you know in a four to
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  Speaker 3: two is going to play off the ball in a
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  Speaker 3: penny come up and that that was what Arvel Reese was,
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  Speaker 3: and you know that's the ladder first. That's where I
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  Speaker 3: see Aliegro. I tend to think the off ball linebacker
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  Speaker 3: is going to be paid peers. I mean that's when
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  Speaker 3: he came in last year and three linebacker sets that's
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  Speaker 3: what where he played, and if passed his prologue. You know,
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  Speaker 3: the last few years, every time like someone was the
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  Speaker 3: third linebacker, you know, like Arvel Reese for example, like
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  Speaker 3: the following year, they they have been up pretty firmly
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  Speaker 3: locked in as a starter. I do agree that missing
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  Speaker 3: the spring is probably not super helpful for Riley Pettijohn
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  Speaker 3: in terms of like just for him personally in terms
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  Speaker 3: of trying to start. You know, I mean, everything I
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  Speaker 3: hear has been positive on peers. Obviously they liked him
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  Speaker 3: last year. But I do think there'll be plenty of
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  Speaker 3: opportunities this year again to play three linebackers. They've shown,
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  Speaker 3: you know, willingness to do that, just like a Puerce
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  Speaker 3: snap counts last year, and so that's tends to be
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  Speaker 3: where I'd see Pettijohn.
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  Speaker 2: And then how they use him, you know, maybe.
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  Speaker 3: Slightly different, just based on his skill set, and you know,
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  Speaker 3: maybe they use him on some dime looks as well
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  Speaker 3: as a pass rusher. They should a little bit of
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  Speaker 3: that last year, but I do think they'll be room
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  Speaker 3: for a third line backer to play.
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  Speaker 1: And then the last thing I wanted to ask you
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  Speaker 1: about was the safety position, where they've brought in a
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  Speaker 1: couple obviously, transfers and ear a little and Terry Moore.
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  Speaker 1: There's also been some very very positive feedback so far
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  Speaker 1: early on Jail and McLain coming back after last season
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  Speaker 1: where he was kind of the guy next to Caleb
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  Speaker 1: Downs and that was sort of have everyone thought about him.
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  Speaker 1: But he sounds like he's having already off to a
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  Speaker 1: pretty good start this spring. What are you hearing about
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  Speaker 1: the safeties on the whole, how those pieces may end
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  Speaker 1: up fitting together, and maybe how does Lee Roy Roker
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  Speaker 1: fit into all of this too.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean my rule of thumb generally is like
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  Speaker 3: it's very rare, at least in this sort of Ryan
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  Speaker 3: Derek day modern transfer era, Like when they bring in
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  Speaker 3: a transfer like usually on the first day, first week
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  Speaker 3: or two of sprang, like that person is not going
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  Speaker 3: to be with the ones, even if that's a person
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  Speaker 3: who like will end up starting and everyone sort of
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  Speaker 3: expects to start. You know, they they sell to get
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  Speaker 3: their black strength, remove go through that whole process they
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  Speaker 3: have to, you know, Ohio State wants them to earn
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  Speaker 3: their way, and so all that's to say that, like,
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  Speaker 3: I don't think just because Terry Moore is like not
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  Speaker 3: with the first team, I don't think that that is
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  Speaker 3: like indicative that he's not going to start. But as
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  Speaker 3: you said, like I think le Roker is obviously doing
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  Speaker 3: you know, everything that they want him to do, and
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  Speaker 3: I think that's gonna be a competition and I expect
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  Speaker 3: both to play. Conversely, you do see her a little
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  Speaker 3: with the ones because they're just they have no one
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  Speaker 3: at Nickel really, right, it's obvious like when they brought
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  Speaker 3: in her a little like it's really he wants us.
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  Speaker 2: By he, I mean.
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  Speaker 3: Matt Patricia wants a safety there because he wants just
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  Speaker 3: a versatility and coverage. Right, So like that allows you
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  Speaker 3: you can you know, with motion or you can rotate
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  Speaker 3: your Cover three either direction, right like little can drop back.
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  Speaker 3: Then the boundary safety comes down, like we saw a
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  Speaker 3: lot of that with Lorenzo Styles last year.
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  Speaker 2: You know, Caleb downs to come to the box.
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  Speaker 3: The styles or play is a you know, deep court half,
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  Speaker 3: you know when they played cover two, and so by
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  Speaker 3: having three safety is like you're allowing yourself, particularly when
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  Speaker 3: you're principally a zone team, like I would say it is,
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  Speaker 3: you give yourself a lot of flexibility and how you
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  Speaker 3: deploy the zone. And just because you're running you know,
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  Speaker 3: cover three quote unquote, like there's lots of different ways
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  Speaker 3: to do it, you know, and how you rotate who's
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  Speaker 3: who's playing at the different spots, and we saw a
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  Speaker 3: lot of that with Patricia last year.
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  Speaker 2: So again I think this is sort of you know.
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  Speaker 3: He put the the pieces in place last year and
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  Speaker 3: you know, made the pieces work with it, and now
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  Speaker 3: they really I think went out and made sure like
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  Speaker 3: they had guys that fit it well. But you know,
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  Speaker 3: I certainly think that Roker has a chance to make
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  Speaker 3: an impact. You know, they were in quite a bit
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  Speaker 3: of dime last year. You know, whether they bring in
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  Speaker 3: another corner for that or another safety, you know, we'll
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  Speaker 3: have to see. But I think that that is I
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  Speaker 3: certainly think that he's going to find his way on
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  Speaker 3: the field in some capacity.
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  Speaker 1: All Right. So there you go a very early, but
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  Speaker 1: you know, kind of insightful look at maybe early key
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  Speaker 1: takeaways from the first three practices of the spring. Of course,
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  Speaker 1: there are still twelve more to go. There will be
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  Speaker 1: plenty more to take away from this spring, and we'll
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  Speaker 1: talk about the offense as well. Then we'll have Ross
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  Speaker 1: back on the show soon to flip the other side.
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  Speaker 1: Of the ball and when we have Ross back on
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  Speaker 1: the show. We will once again be sponsored by Jeff
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: Ruby Steakhouse, the award winning upscale steakhouse in downtown Columbus,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: name one of the top fifty steakhouses in America by
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: Food Network. Just go to Jeffruby dot com slash Columbus
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: to check out the menu and make a preservation today.
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  Speaker 1: That'll do it for today. Thank you guys all for
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  Speaker 1: joining us. Have a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.