Latest / Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning / Ohio State Transfer Portal: Should Offensive Line Be A Priority?

Transcript

Ohio State Transfer Portal: Should Offensive Line Be A Priority? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buck Guys tomorrow morning for Sunday, January eleventh,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, tom or the ball State game in
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: two hundred and thirty seven days, the gimmick is mishkin
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: in three hundred and twenty one days. Our friends at
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Grateful Griddel Columbus of fifth Fait, Columbus's favorite food truck.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: They are now on Uber, each, grub Hub, and door Dash.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Just search for Grateful Griddle there or check out Grateful
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Griddle oh dot com to peruse the menu and find
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: out where you can find the truck or order on
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: your favorite app. All right, so on today's show, we're
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: sort of circling back on a show we did a
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: couple days ago where we looked at five positions where
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Ohio State really needed to add someone in the transfer
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: portal someone or someone's in the transfer portal, And there
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: was a lot of feedback on that show that was sirs, gracious, sirs,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: did you not see the Ohio State offensive line at
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: the end of last season? And Tony Gerdaman, always a
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: gracious sir, has agreed to join me to have a
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: conversation about why we did not include the offensive line
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: on that show. And what the Buckeye offensive line might
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: be in better shape for twenty twenty six. Then you
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: think Tony before we dive into this. I think this
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: is one where you know the coaching staff will always
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: tell you, hey, we're in great shape. We love these guys,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: it's fantastic. But you're not really seeing them chasing a
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: bunch of big names in the transfer portal in terms
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: of offensive line, which would lead me to think that
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: they really do feel like the answers for twenty twenty
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: six are possibly or potentially already on the roster.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And frankly, there is a lack of big names
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: in the portal regardless, So even the biggest names there
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: aren't necessarily an upgrade from what Ohio State has. And
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: I know Ohio State fans are upset about the lack
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: of a running game and all that. I'll just remind
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: them Carson Hinzman is now a three well essentially a
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: three year starter next year and is third team All
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: Big Ten. That's why he did this season. Luke Montgomery
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: left guard, returning presumably, and this is whenever we say
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: returning from now on, just presumably. And so you've got
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Luke Montgomery's second Team All Big Ten, Austin Seervel second
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Team All Big Ten, right tack of Philip Daniels third
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: Team All Big Ten. So like these guys, and even
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: Taker Shambola also third Team All Big Ten. So these
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: are experienced guys. And again, look at the playoffs, look
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: at who's around. It's experienced teams, experienced offensive lines, experienced
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: lines of scrimmage. And so if you're going to go
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: get somebody one, what position is it? You know, what
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: position do you feel like is the weak spot? And
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: if it's if it's right guard, well, again, the guy
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: that was viewed as the issue is now gone. And
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: so you've got some guys in house that you can
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: perhaps fix that with, whether it is moving Philip Daniels
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: over who you might consider the other issue. And then
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: you've got and more that can slide in there. You've
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: got Josh Padilla that can maybe be the right guard.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: You've got some options, and I think Ohio State just
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: feels more comfortable with their current options than what's out there.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: And again I don't think there's a lot out there.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, one of the names that we had sort of
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: on our list of well, we could do a show
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: on this guy maybe at some point, especially if he
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: gets linked to Ohio State at some point. Was Lance Hurd,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: the former Tennessee offensive tackle. He was a third team
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: All SEC player last season. Started his career at LSU,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: and then he committed to Kentucky on Saturday afternoon, And
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: there was not really any indication that Ohio State had
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: really been sniffing around there. And that was kind of
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: towards the top of the market. In terms of the
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: offensive linemen who are out there right now. There is
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: not a surefire top ten kind of prospect out there.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: There's not a Paris Johnson out there in the transfer
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: portal waiting to be brought in. I don't know that
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: there's a Jonah Jackson out there in the transfer portal
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: waiting to be brought in. And so this is sort
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: of where Ohio State is. And if you look across
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: the deck, we have not you know, Austin Seerveld has
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: not officially announced that he's coming back. Carson Heinzman after
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: the Cotton Bowl was talking in very definitive terms about
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: back for next year and what needs to improve. So
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: I would sort of have him in the expected to
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: return pile, and you know, everyone else there. There hasn't
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: been any indication that any of those guys are thinking
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: about leaving. So you know, I think you brought up
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: an interesting point where yet you've got your force for
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: returning starters, and Josh Padilla was probably, you know, probably
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: would have been someone who would have been more likely
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: to sub in for Taker Schabowl earlier had he not
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: had that injury towards the middle of the season and
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: missed a bunch of time. But Ian Moore is kind
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: of the wild card here because if you want to
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: have you know, you could potentially, you know, depending on
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: how high you are on and more if you if
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: you feel comfortable sliding him in at left tackle, then okay,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Austin Zerravell can move over to right tackle, and then
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Philip Daniels can move into right guard, and you know,
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: you're potentially improving yourself in three different spots there. And
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: you've got Carson Hinzman another year older and stronger, and
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: you've got Luke Montgomery another year older and strong. I mean,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: you've got then at that point you've got a really
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: veteran offensive line where you know, you look back at
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty five and you can say, well, yeah, they
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: had trouble, but yeah, look look at how young these
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: guys were. If you bring all those guys back and
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Ian Moore can solve those problems. And there's a couple
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: ifs there, but if you can do that, boy, that
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: feels like that could be a game changer for Ohio
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: State twenty twenty six.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think that's how Ohio State views this
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: that if you can, if you can keep bringing back
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: your offensive line, why not do it. And again, it's
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: not like the buck guys were four and eight this year,
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: they made the playoffs, they were number one throughout most
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: of the year, very good offensive line. They just met
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: up with I guess the two best defensive lines in
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: college football, and they did them in in Indiana and Miami.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: And so you don't throw it all out because of that.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: You certainly not. They're not going they're not going back
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: to the drawing board with the same offensive line. We
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: know Tiger so Bol has gone. Something is going to
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: have to change in there, But we've seen some possibilities
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: that what they've got is can be done and can
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: can fix it. And I think everybody wants to see
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: what Ian Moore can do. I think if Ian Moore
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: was in the portal right now, he probably has the
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: same kind of attentions as Chas Coleman in terms of boom.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: He already he shoots up as one of the top
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: potential guys in the portal in terms of young line
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: of scrimmage types of guys. And so you've got that
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: guy and maybe try to find the spot for him
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: in this lineup. And just the fact that we're talking
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: about well, you know they've got almost well can they
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: put this guy there? Yeah? But what about this guy?
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: It's like they've got more than the five guys that
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: they need, even losing a starter, which is again, why
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: doesn't they don't seem to be hunting in the portal
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: when they feel like they've got what they need, including
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: a couple of others.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and have we actually said gave Van Sigle's name
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: out loud on this show. I don't know if he
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: was in that group that you said earlier, but you
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: know he's someone who, again the Cotton Bowl did not
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: go great. Not going to sugarcoat that at all, but
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: that's someone who again was you know, sort of in
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: the mix for playing time, and that was as a
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: red shirt freshman offensive linemen, you generally figure they're about
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: a year behind in terms of the demand, the physical
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: demands and all of that. That it takes a little
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: while to get up to speed. So the expected development
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: track for an offensive lineman is generally about a year behind.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: So going from your second year to your third year,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: that's where you a lot of times see those guys
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: take a leap. So Gave Vans could be in that group.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: And then you've got some guys who they brought in
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: this true freshman this past season, Jake Cook, for example,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: a guard. I'm not expecting Jake Cook to fight for
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: a starting position this year, but again, if he's your
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: eighth best offensive lineman something like that, you're probably feeling
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: pretty okay about that. And the kind of most intriguing
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: piece of all of this to me is you've got
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: guys who two of them, Daniels and Cierveld, have spent
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: the past season as starting tackles, Ian Moore. Another guy
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: who's a potential starting tackle, Padilla and Hinsman, both guys
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: who played center. You got a bunch of guys who
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: could mix in at guard. We always talk about them
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: finding their best five. It really feels like almost no
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: matter what that combination of best five is, there's going
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: to be a logical lineup of a center and a
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: couple of guards and a couple tackles without having to
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: try and shove a square peg into a round hole.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: Yep, agree completely. They've got the pieces and they know
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: where they go and they're comfortable with them. Those players
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: are comfortable playing those roles. And we always talk about
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: the offensive line. Eachs to jail all the more jels.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: It's like, well, these guys have been together for a
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: long time. I think it's fine to bring in somebody
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: and maybe that guy works, but they've just it's not
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: been there in terms of, you know, the targets. We've
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: seen every other position targeted and linked and whatever. But
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: the simple fact that they don't seem to be going
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: after anybody in the portal should tell you all you
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: need to know. But how they feel about the guys
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: that they got back, now, does that give you confidence?
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: I can't speak to that right now. I don't know that. Well.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: I do know that there are a bunch of people
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: who are panicked and grief stricken and irate and outraged.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: But you know, if there's nobody out there that is
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: improving the product. Don't just go grab somebody. The money
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: is important, like you only have so much of it.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that lesson is something they learned last
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: year with Ethan Onionwa, who I think they had a
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: big expectations for and really didn't go to whole heck,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: a lot of out of on the offensive line, and
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: you know one of the other guys last year that
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: was sort of pointed to as like, oh man, why
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: didn't get Ohio State get that guy the tackle from
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: Nevada World as a World or whatever his name was.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: You know, he was someone who he straight up did
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: not have a good time against the Indiana Hoosiers. So
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: you know, it is not necessarily as easy as well.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: This guy was pretty good at a lower level. I'm
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: sure he'll be just fine when you move him up
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: like yeah, sometimes but not always. So there you go.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: There's the answer as to why we did not talk
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: about the offensive line on the five positions where Ohio
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: State needs to potentially bring someone in in the portal.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: Could that all change in fifteen minutes, Absolutely it could,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: But right now I think Ohio State feeling reasonably okay there.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Where are they not feeling okay? Where is there more drama?
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Where is there more stuff in flux? Well, we're talking
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: about that on all sorts of other podcasts. You can
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: find Tony and I about every fifteen minutes or so.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: We're basically running like a New York City Express train
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: on the on the MTAs sometimes we're on the local track.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: We've been on the express track all week this week
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: bringing you shows on guys, who Ohio State's looking at
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: guys who oll Hio State might want to consider, looking
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: at guys who are leaving Ohio State, positions of need.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: All of that and more. That is all on the
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: Buckey Weekly podcast feed at bucke huddle dot com and
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: of course at YouTube dot com slash Buckeye Huddle. We
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: hope to see you in all of those places. That'll
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: do it for today. Thank you guys all for joining us.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: Have a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.