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Buckeye Football Recruiting: What To Know About Ohio State's 5 Official Visitors · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Saturday, June twentieth, I'm
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  Speaker 1: your host, tom or the ball State game in seventy
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  Speaker 1: seven days, the game against Michigan at one hundred and
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  Speaker 1: sixty one days. We're sponsored today by Jeff Rubys of
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  Speaker 1: to check out the menu and make a reservation today.
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  Speaker 1: All right, On today's show, we are talking about the
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  Speaker 1: five players who are in town for official visits this
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  Speaker 1: weekend with the Ohio State Buckeyes. And this ranges from
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  Speaker 1: high profile player who is probably on a relatively low
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  Speaker 1: drama visit, to currently committed player who has some decisions
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  Speaker 1: to make following this weekend, and then three guys who
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  Speaker 1: are potentially still.
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  Speaker 2: Could be added to this class.
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  Speaker 1: And welcome in Tony Gerdaman of Buckeye Insiders dot com. Tony,
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  Speaker 1: let's start with a nice easy one. Jamior bat Brown,
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  Speaker 1: wide receiver now playing for Big Walnut High School just
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  Speaker 1: northeast of Columbus five star player. Seems like this is
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  Speaker 1: probably a relatively low drama visit.
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  Speaker 3: Boy, if it's not, you've got issues if this is.
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  Speaker 3: If this is the problem, visit now. Just watching him
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  Speaker 3: over the past week doing a little bit of seven
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  Speaker 3: on seven and then also being there at the final
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  Speaker 3: day of camp basically almost there to host Jet Harrison
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  Speaker 3: it seemed it sometimes and Christopher Vargus, the five Star quarterbacks,
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  Speaker 3: so he's already a part of the program. And I
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  Speaker 3: think this is just this is almost as well. You know,
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  Speaker 3: everybody else gets to do an official visit, so I
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  Speaker 3: want one two kind of thing where everything is confirmed
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  Speaker 3: and there's no drama because everything has already been worked out.
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  Speaker 3: He's been around forever, he's seen everything, and that none
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  Speaker 3: of this will be a surprise for him.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, local player has been around the program, as you said,
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  Speaker 1: a whole bunch over the last few years. And listen, man,
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  Speaker 1: everybody wants cookie cake. You got to get you get
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  Speaker 1: your cookie cake on your official visit unless the NCAA
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  Speaker 1: has changed the rules on that, which who knows. Maybe
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  Speaker 1: they have next one another guy who's committed, But some
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  Speaker 1: more questions on this one. And this is someone who
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  Speaker 1: we've also seeing a bunch this week talk to this week.
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  Speaker 2: That's quarterback Brady Edmonds.
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  Speaker 1: He currently committed twenty twenty seven quarterback for the Buckeyees class,
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  Speaker 1: but as he told us earlier in the week, there
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  Speaker 1: are some questions that he needs to get answers to
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  Speaker 1: this week and to figure out if that's going to stay.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and when we talked with him on Wednesday, that's
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  Speaker 3: what he said. He had some questions. He wants to
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  Speaker 3: be a buck Eye, and it just comes down to
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  Speaker 3: the answers that he gets determining whether Ohio State wants
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  Speaker 3: him to be a buck Eye, I guess, or wants
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  Speaker 3: him to be a buck Eye on his terms. And
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  Speaker 3: I don't know that his answers were any different on
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  Speaker 3: Thursday when he spoke again after the camp there, and
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  Speaker 3: it was just interesting to see he talked with a
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  Speaker 3: bunch of media a group of media on Wednesday, talked
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  Speaker 3: with another group on Thursday, and is just laying it
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  Speaker 3: out there a little bit in terms of I want
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  Speaker 3: to be a buck guy, but this is a business,
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  Speaker 3: so I also have to keep UCLA in mind. And
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  Speaker 3: UCLA is a very viable thing. It's an in State
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  Speaker 3: School for him from where he's from in Huntington Beach,
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  Speaker 3: and he really really likes Bob Jesney, the new head
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  Speaker 3: coach there, and there's a lot of buzz there. So
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  Speaker 3: there is a viable alternative. So if Ohio State wants
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  Speaker 3: to keep them, they need to I don't want to
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  Speaker 3: say they need to make them happy, but you kind
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  Speaker 3: of need to make all of your recruits happy, don't you.
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  Speaker 1: Well you have to talk, you know, relationships and comfort
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  Speaker 1: and relationships. We've used that phrase for a million years
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  Speaker 1: about recruiting, and yeah there's other stuff that goes into
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  Speaker 1: it now too, But you kind of have to be comfortable.
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  Speaker 1: Everyone sort of has to be comfortable with what's the situation,
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  Speaker 1: what is this class going to look like? Because he
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  Speaker 1: seemed like he was open to potentially having a second
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  Speaker 1: quarterback in the class, but you know, if he has
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  Speaker 1: other options, then you know, maybe you're going to explore
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  Speaker 1: other options at that point. So that's that is sort
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  Speaker 1: of the little bit of mystery gray area where you
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  Speaker 1: may have a little more clarity coming out of this
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  Speaker 1: weekend than you do right now. Next up, the biggest
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  Speaker 1: visitor this weekend, Carlos May the four star defensive time
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  Speaker 1: listed at three hundred and thirty pounds. I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: guess he is not going to be an edge player, Tony,
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  Speaker 1: and that's okay, guess Larry Johnson has several edge players
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  Speaker 1: already committed, still looking for another guy on the interior.
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  Speaker 1: This is one where this is a guy you're pulling,
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  Speaker 1: trying to get to pull out of Alabama, which they've
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  Speaker 1: done with more success recently than they have in previous decades.
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  Speaker 1: But certainly someone who they would love to add to
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  Speaker 1: the class, but not necessarily.
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  Speaker 2: Going to be easy to get him out of the South.
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  Speaker 3: No, and out of Birmingham. And yet you know his
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  Speaker 3: he recently came out said Georgia as is leader, followed
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  Speaker 3: by Ohio State. And so if you're number two going
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  Speaker 3: into your official visit, you've got an opportunity to make
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  Speaker 3: for High State has the opportunity to make themselves number
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  Speaker 3: one in this one. And this will be his last
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  Speaker 3: visit and then he'll decide next month or announce his
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  Speaker 3: decision next month. So there's a lot at stake here
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  Speaker 3: because he is one of the he's one of the
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  Speaker 3: top defensive tackles in the South time and as you know,
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  Speaker 3: if you can get one of the top defensive tackles
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  Speaker 3: in the South, you should probably do it. And he's big,
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  Speaker 3: and he moves well, and he's got all of the
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  Speaker 3: SEC schools after him. He's taken an official visit to
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  Speaker 3: Florida State. So this is a guy that every program
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  Speaker 3: would love to have, and Ohio State has a decent shot,
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  Speaker 3: but you know, it's it's always an uphill battle trying
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  Speaker 3: to bring in these major defensive tackles from the South.
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  Speaker 3: Sometimes Ohio State can do it like a Caiden McDonald,
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  Speaker 3: but many more misses than hits in this attempt.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it feels like you're kind of fighting uphill against
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  Speaker 1: the entire SEC. Where you look at the offer list,
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  Speaker 1: you look at the top whatever group it is with
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  Speaker 1: a lot of these kids, and it's four SEC schools
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  Speaker 1: and Ohio State or five SEC schools and Ohio State,
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  Speaker 1: and it's which one doesn't belong and why? And then
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  Speaker 1: you know, what is the stuff that makes Ohio State appealing?
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  Speaker 1: Is that enough to outweigh the geographic proximity and the
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  Speaker 1: fact that you probably grew up rooting for some of
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  Speaker 1: those teams. So that's certainly one that Ohio State would
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  Speaker 1: love to win. Not one that you'd necessarily put in
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  Speaker 1: the you know, very likely column, but certainly in the
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  Speaker 1: possibility column.
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  Speaker 2: As you said, number two going into your official visit.
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  Speaker 1: Still another six months or so till signing day, so
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  Speaker 1: the Yeah, definitely definitely one to watch there with Carlos May.
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  Speaker 1: Another one to watch is Blake Wong, four star wide receiver.
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  Speaker 1: He's someone who came We was at Ohio State somewhat
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  Speaker 1: recently and it seemed like things were maybe trending in
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  Speaker 1: a decent direction there. But he's gotten a lot of
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  Speaker 1: attention as well, and he's a West Coast kid, has
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  Speaker 1: gotten some attention from some of those West Coast schools.
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  Speaker 1: So it's another one where you're fighting geography a little bit.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, just coming off of his Oregon official visit, Ohio
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  Speaker 3: State will get in there and then he'll make his decision.
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  Speaker 3: I believe he announced this next next week on the
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  Speaker 3: twenty seventh, So I guess would that be a week
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  Speaker 3: from Toro from Saturday? And so you know, this is
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  Speaker 3: your opportunity if you want him to show your plans
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  Speaker 3: for him, how they would use him. You know, do
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  Speaker 3: they want him as his Z do they want him
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  Speaker 3: as a slot. And that's just a small part of it,
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  Speaker 3: because then all the official visit stuff and you're talking
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  Speaker 3: about networking and N I L and all, you know,
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  Speaker 3: only I don't know how much of the actual pie
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  Speaker 3: is football. I remember a few years back I asked
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  Speaker 3: one of the recruiting people during a press conference and
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  Speaker 3: this was like at the beginning of NIL and like
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  Speaker 3: when you're when you're putting these presentations together, if if
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  Speaker 3: this was a pie chart, how much of the pie
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  Speaker 3: is nil? And she told said at the time about
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  Speaker 3: a third. And now I'm wondering, like a third now
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  Speaker 3: maybe actual football stuff. For a lot of these official visits, the.
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  Speaker 2: Pie chart looks like pac Man and the yellow is
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  Speaker 2: an I L.
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  Speaker 1: I think that's that's probably the case with with certain guys,
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  Speaker 1: but that's not necessarily know. I think Ohio State has
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  Speaker 1: both said and sort of walked out in practice that
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  Speaker 1: people who are solely focused on NIL are probably not people.
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  Speaker 2: Who they are going to end up taking.
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  Speaker 1: And so that's uh, you know, we'll we'll see how
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  Speaker 1: that that pie chart plays out here. The last one,
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  Speaker 1: this is a really really fascinating case. Jordan Donaho. He's
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  Speaker 1: a wide receiver. He is currently unranked. Now that is
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  Speaker 1: something that boy I was trying to think back when
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  Speaker 1: was the last time Ohio State took an unranked wide receiver,
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  Speaker 1: Because this is one where you love the measurables, you
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  Speaker 1: love the possibility, but it is really all potential here.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, this is something we have seen them
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  Speaker 1: do at times in the past at wide receiver and elsewhere,
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  Speaker 1: but it is it is an unusual profile to be
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  Speaker 1: taking an official visit to Ohio State.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, out of Florida six four one eighty five, good
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  Speaker 3: size as offers from Minnesota, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Kansas State
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  Speaker 3: places at Ohio State should be able to win when
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  Speaker 3: they're competing against with these official visits, and so this
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  Speaker 3: is this is an indication of how things now are.
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  Speaker 3: I think in nianil Era, where you've got Jamiir Brown
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  Speaker 3: that is an elite nil prospect, You've got Blake Wong
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  Speaker 3: like if they were to sign him, he's a top
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  Speaker 3: two to fifty player, and then so you know, so
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  Speaker 3: there's the money would be a little bit different, maybe
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  Speaker 3: a lot different there. And then you've got somebody like
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  Speaker 3: Jordan Donaho, who is I think twenty four to seven
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  Speaker 3: has him the number one hundred and forty nine wide
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  Speaker 3: receiver in a nation, like number eleven eighty four overall.
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  Speaker 3: So you're talking below Pat Elfline in twenty twelve, below
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  Speaker 3: Dewan Jones, and you know when he when they were
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  Speaker 3: he was like a top nine hundred and ninety nine player.
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  Speaker 3: But those guys worked out different positions, you could argue,
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  Speaker 3: but yeah, it's just the tiers now with which you
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  Speaker 3: have to operate in the nil space makes it so
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  Speaker 3: you know you've got a guy, a project, if you will,
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  Speaker 3: a nice athletic profile. Bod Miller we talked about before
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  Speaker 3: the show in terms of just guys that could work out,
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  Speaker 3: and so you put some time in, but you're not
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  Speaker 3: necessarily going to put the money into. But all of
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  Speaker 3: this is money, like the invest the time investment is
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  Speaker 3: a money investment as well. So you don't want to
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  Speaker 3: just you know, just take that guy. It's like there's
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  Speaker 3: got to be certain things that that boxes have to
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  Speaker 3: be checked, and I guess he checks enough.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Well it's I think it's like Major League Baseball
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  Speaker 1: teams like the Guardians, for example, are really good at
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  Speaker 1: this and identifying guy pitchers with like one or two
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  Speaker 1: really intriguing traits and then hey, we have shown in
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  Speaker 1: the past that we can build on those trades and
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  Speaker 1: develop some of the other things. And sometimes those players
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  Speaker 1: turn into stars, but sometimes they don't. It's just kind
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  Speaker 1: of it's a little bit of a lottery ticket. So
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  Speaker 1: want to sort of keep an eye on there. That
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  Speaker 1: could be a little bit of an unusual addition to
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State's recruiting class if he doesn't end up committing.
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  Speaker 2: But there you go.
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  Speaker 1: Five players taking official visits this weekend with the Buckeyes.
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  Speaker 1: We will be back as soon as we have more information.
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  Speaker 1: Try and have Chuck on early next week to talk about, Okay,
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  Speaker 1: what happened on these official visits, where do things stand
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  Speaker 1: with all these guys and much more.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks again to our.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: Friends at Jeff Ruby's Columbus, the award winning upscale steakhouse
• 11:13
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  Speaker 1: a reservation today. That will do it for today. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you guys all for joining us. Have a great day.
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  Speaker 2: We'll talk to you tomorrow.