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Ohio State Football Recruiting: The Buckeyes' Biggest Needs For 2026 · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes Tomorrow morning for Sunday, February ninth, I'm
0:03
Speaker 1: your host, tom Or. The Texas game is in two
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0:42
Speaker 1: Today we're gonna be talking recruiting. You're going to be
0:44
Speaker 1: hearing the Skull Session recruiting podcast. That's Mark Givler and
0:48
Speaker 1: Kevin Noon breaking down some of the biggest areas of
0:51
Speaker 1: need for Ohio States Class of twenty twenty six. Thought
0:54
Speaker 1: this was a good conversation, a lot of good information here.
0:56
Speaker 1: I thought you guys would enjoy that. If you do
0:59
Speaker 1: enjoy it, make sure you subscribe to the Skull Session
1:01
Speaker 1: Recruiting Podcast. It is just one of the other great
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Speaker 1: shows from us at Buckeye Huddle dot com. Make sure
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Speaker 1: you check us out at Buckeye Huddle dot com as well.
1:12
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, welcome to the Skull Session Recruiting Podcast, brought
1:16
Speaker 2: to you by Buckeye Huddle dot Com. I am Mark
1:18
Speaker 2: Givler Kevin Noon joining me as usual today we are
1:22
Speaker 2: going to talk about the twenty twenty six recruiting class today.
1:25
Speaker 2: Twenty twenty five officially in the books. It's been in
1:28
Speaker 2: the books for a while. For Ohio State, they did
1:30
Speaker 2: not have any late signing activity, but Wednesday was the
1:35
Speaker 2: official late signing period. Again, nothing new there for the Buckeyes,
1:40
Speaker 2: but it did close the books officially on the twenty
1:43
Speaker 2: twenty five cycle nationally, so naturally, all attention now is
1:47
Speaker 2: going to move to twenty twenty six. We did a
1:51
Speaker 2: little bit twenty twenty six stuff last week, kind of
1:55
Speaker 2: talking about coaching changes and things like that. I'm not
1:59
Speaker 2: going to get too much into the coaching changes yet,
2:03
Speaker 2: just because they actually haven't really been officially introduced and
2:09
Speaker 2: the communication with recruits is kind of kind of in
2:12
Speaker 2: limbo right now. So we will we will address maybe
2:17
Speaker 2: some you know, develop new developments from the new coaching
2:20
Speaker 2: changes here, probably in an upcoming episode here in the
2:23
Speaker 2: next few weeks. What we can talk about, though, are
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Speaker 2: the biggest needs for Ohio State in twenty twenty six. Obviously,
2:31
Speaker 2: you're going to hit every position in a recruiting cycle,
2:34
Speaker 2: you're going to bring in something generally, but you know,
2:38
Speaker 2: some positions are more important than others in a given
2:41
Speaker 2: recruiting class just based on you know, talent on the roster,
2:44
Speaker 2: numbers on the roster, et cetera. So we're going to
2:47
Speaker 2: talk about really three of the biggest needs for Ohio
2:50
Speaker 2: State here in the twenty twenty six recruiting class, and
2:53
Speaker 2: we might always rip the band aid off and start
2:55
Speaker 2: with the one that seems to give everyone the most tanks,
2:57
Speaker 2: and that's offensive line. Recruiting off of line is gonna
3:00
Speaker 2: be very important again. Tyler Bowen now in as offensive
3:04
Speaker 2: line coach, So first of all, we're gonna need to
3:08
Speaker 2: wait and see does he have any different evaluations. Are
3:11
Speaker 2: there guys he's there's probably gonna be some guys he
3:14
Speaker 2: brings to the table in terms of new offers or
3:19
Speaker 2: wanting the input of the coaching staff Ryan Day especially
3:22
Speaker 2: to sign off on. So there's gonna be probably some
3:24
Speaker 2: new names that he was looking at, But I wouldn't
3:29
Speaker 2: expect them to drop the in state guys, especially the
3:32
Speaker 2: Ohio guys they're recruiting. Those have been guys that Ryan
3:34
Speaker 2: Day has been establishing relationships with over the past year
3:38
Speaker 2: and are going to be a big part of this
3:40
Speaker 2: offensive line class for Ohio State. If the Buck guys
3:42
Speaker 2: want to sign a really good offensive line class, there's
3:45
Speaker 2: gonna have to be a few Ohio guys in it. So, Kevin,
3:48
Speaker 2: as you kind of look at things, you know, they
3:50
Speaker 2: haven't really hit their number very often over the last
3:52
Speaker 2: few years. They've had to go to the portal a lot,
3:55
Speaker 2: like how big.
3:56
Speaker 3: Of a need is this?
3:57
Speaker 2: You know in your mind? And do you have a
3:59
Speaker 2: number of mine of what you'd like to see them
4:01
Speaker 2: bring in?
4:04
Speaker 4: As for the number, you know, I I don't know.
4:07
Speaker 4: Because everything is so interconnected, we don't know are we
4:13
Speaker 4: playing with an eighty five number? We're playing with a
4:15
Speaker 4: one oh five number, so it's I mean it used
4:18
Speaker 4: to be Okay, well, we can kind of fit this,
4:19
Speaker 4: we can backwards engineer this, and we know they need this, this,
4:23
Speaker 4: this and this.
4:25
Speaker 3: And you can count it.
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Speaker 4: But let me start with the first half of the
4:28
Speaker 4: question because I don't know if I have an answer
4:29
Speaker 4: for the second half. I mean, it's very important. I
4:32
Speaker 4: think it's a huge need. I mean, we've we saw
4:35
Speaker 4: Ohio State, you know, elevate itself to the top, top
4:40
Speaker 4: level by finally having all of the pieces that were
4:44
Speaker 4: available on the offensive line work together when they did
4:49
Speaker 4: finally figure out, okay, this is how we're going to
4:53
Speaker 4: be the best, by moving Carson Hinsman back to center,
4:56
Speaker 4: by having their you know, their grouping of three guards
5:00
Speaker 4: to fill the two spots.
5:02
Speaker 3: And everything else.
5:04
Speaker 4: So you know, they go and they you know, they
5:06
Speaker 4: hit the they hit the portal for twenty five, which
5:09
Speaker 4: is going to be a nice little stop gap. But
5:11
Speaker 4: you know, I guess the rice player only has the
5:13
Speaker 4: one year. I think that the kid from you know,
5:16
Speaker 4: the kid from Wisconsin has a little bit more run there.
5:19
Speaker 3: But you've got to keep replenishing tackles.
5:24
Speaker 4: I mean, that is that is the biggest thing is
5:26
Speaker 4: that you know, there was a point of where Ohio
5:28
Speaker 4: State maybe was a little thick with tackles and a
5:30
Speaker 4: little thin on the interior, and then it kind of
5:32
Speaker 4: flips around. It's just how recruiting sometimes works. But you've
5:37
Speaker 4: got to have that depth. And I think that, you know,
5:39
Speaker 4: I'll be interested what Tyler Bowen's philosophy is. You know,
5:44
Speaker 4: our our tackles tackles and our guards guards and our
5:47
Speaker 4: center centers. I mean, or is there going to be
5:49
Speaker 4: you know, a continued thing of you know, we you know,
5:52
Speaker 4: we certainly you know, if we can identify somebody that
5:55
Speaker 4: can just play the one, you know, whether it's right
5:57
Speaker 4: or left versus you know, inside or outside, we're fine
6:00
Speaker 4: with that. But we want to have a lot of
6:01
Speaker 4: combo guys. You know that, you know, we'll we'll find
6:05
Speaker 4: out kind of what his strategy is. I mean, we
6:07
Speaker 4: know what Ryan day strategy is. I think he likes
6:09
Speaker 4: having a lot of flexibility with within the roster and
6:12
Speaker 4: that you know that worked out cart you know, Carson
6:14
Speaker 4: Hensman could play guard, he could play center. Uh, you know,
6:17
Speaker 4: learning the snap is no you know, no small endeavor
6:21
Speaker 4: if it's something you haven't done. Uh, you know, learning
6:24
Speaker 4: learning how to do it at a at a high level.
6:27
Speaker 3: Is uh is no easy tasks.
6:29
Speaker 4: So as for a number, I haven't even started really
6:34
Speaker 4: looking at what what you know, let alone what the
6:37
Speaker 4: twenty five roster is fully going to look like and
6:39
Speaker 4: figuring out what the twenty six roster is going to
6:41
Speaker 4: look like or what the needs are going to be there.
6:43
Speaker 4: I mean generally I want to sit there and get
6:45
Speaker 4: myself a couple of tackles, a couple of guards, and
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Speaker 4: maybe a swing, you know, I can can.
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Speaker 3: Is there is there room for you know, for for
6:54
Speaker 3: more than five?
6:55
Speaker 4: I mean you sit there and you look at you
6:57
Speaker 4: look at the uh, you look at the in states,
7:00
Speaker 4: and you want to be able to land all of them.
7:02
Speaker 4: I mean, do you sit there and do you have
7:04
Speaker 4: a class where you land you know three Ohio Wins,
7:07
Speaker 4: Champ Smith and Deron Parks. I mean, and then what
7:11
Speaker 4: and then you go big game hunting after that? So
7:12
Speaker 4: I mean this could be a pretty big number. I mean,
7:14
Speaker 4: it really could be a big number if things follow
7:17
Speaker 4: the right way. Just don't fall into the mistakes of
7:20
Speaker 4: your predecessors. Don't bring bodies in to bring bodies in.
7:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm looking at the numbers here, so they only
7:31
Speaker 2: brought in three in twenty twenty five, which is a
7:34
Speaker 2: low number for offensive line. Obviously, Carter Lowe a tremendous
7:39
Speaker 2: offensive tackle prospect from Toledo, Jay Cook looking like their
7:43
Speaker 2: future center out of Westerville, and then Javon McFadden from Maryland,
7:47
Speaker 2: who is considered kind of a swing guy. He's got
7:49
Speaker 2: more of a guard body, but he's got a pretty good,
7:52
Speaker 2: pretty long reach, so they're thinking he might be able
7:56
Speaker 2: to be a swing player. That's obviously not enough. Now,
8:00
Speaker 2: now the offensive line is going to be a position
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Speaker 2: where I think you do go to the portal most years.
8:07
Speaker 2: There's gonna be a lot of positions you don't really
8:09
Speaker 2: have to do the portal that often. I think offensive
8:11
Speaker 2: line is probably when you will state the obvious. There's
8:15
Speaker 2: five starters on the offensive line, so there's just more
8:18
Speaker 2: offensive line starting positions, and there are other position groups,
8:22
Speaker 2: so you're going to have more bodies in that room
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Speaker 2: than in other rooms. But you know, also it's for me,
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Speaker 2: I think for most people is it's the toughest position
8:32
Speaker 2: to evaluate from high school to college. Now, I think
8:35
Speaker 2: college to pro is probably a different story. It's probably quarterback, honestly,
8:38
Speaker 2: from college to pro, but from high school to college,
8:41
Speaker 2: I think just about everyone will tell you offensive line
8:43
Speaker 2: is probably the hardest to project. So you're gonna have
8:46
Speaker 2: a higher percentage of misses than you would running back
8:50
Speaker 2: or wide receiver or something like that. So you're going
8:53
Speaker 2: to probably have to go to the portal every year
8:55
Speaker 2: for at least like one guy you hope, but you
8:58
Speaker 2: hope you don't have to do it for like two
8:59
Speaker 2: starters like they had to kind of do this year,
9:02
Speaker 2: or two guys you project to be starters. So you
9:06
Speaker 2: really want to get into the habit of bringing in
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Speaker 2: bigger offensive line classes. So I think at least five here.
9:12
Speaker 2: I think you could push it to six quite easily.
9:14
Speaker 2: I mean, realistically, with the roster limits now, you can
9:17
Speaker 2: even push it to seven. I don't think they want
9:19
Speaker 2: to do that. I don't know that it helps your
9:21
Speaker 2: roster spacing to bring in seven in a single class
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Speaker 2: only to watch two or three of them leave after
9:26
Speaker 2: a year. Anyway, but I think five is probably a
9:29
Speaker 2: safe number, And again I would try, I would I
9:32
Speaker 2: would think about six, and like they've got the three
9:34
Speaker 2: offers out in Ohio, right now the three uncommitted players
9:38
Speaker 2: in Ohio, Sam Greer, Max Riley, Adam Guthrie. You've also
9:44
Speaker 2: got Ben Congen. They're looking at who's kind of blown
9:47
Speaker 2: up here as a tackle prospect, who's I think he's
9:50
Speaker 2: in the twenties now and offers. He's gotten some big offers.
9:53
Speaker 2: So you're gonna have to, you know, one of Tyler Bowen.
9:55
Speaker 2: I think first big things will be evaluating that. I
9:58
Speaker 2: think another thing we have to ask ourselves with Tyler Bowen,
10:02
Speaker 2: what's he gonna do about Will Conroy? You know, stay
10:05
Speaker 2: ignacious center transferred IMG uh committed elsewhere? Uh so, like
10:13
Speaker 2: where where do you go there?
10:16
Speaker 3: Like?
10:17
Speaker 2: Do you revisit that? Because I this is a kid
10:19
Speaker 2: who grew up an Ohio State fan. I felt he
10:26
Speaker 2: started the process wanting to be a Buck guy. I
10:29
Speaker 2: don't feel that for whatever reason, h him and Justin
10:34
Speaker 2: Fry really connected. Well, now does that mean Ohio State's
10:40
Speaker 2: just okay with that and just letting Will Conroy go
10:44
Speaker 2: somewhere else and and and not be in this class?
10:46
Speaker 2: And uh, you know he's committed to Oklahoma right now,
10:50
Speaker 2: and you know, do you just let that happen? Or
10:53
Speaker 2: or is this something that you try and revisit, and
10:56
Speaker 2: maybe a new offensive line coach gives you a fresh
10:58
Speaker 2: start with Will Conroy if that's someone you're you're truly
11:01
Speaker 2: interested in bringing to the class. So I think that
11:03
Speaker 2: those are two interesting instate items right away. The other
11:07
Speaker 2: thing we need to assume is that Tyler Bone is
11:10
Speaker 2: gonna be bringing some new names to the table for discussion.
11:14
Speaker 2: His targets are not going to be the exact same
11:17
Speaker 2: targets that Justin Fries were, and so he might have
11:19
Speaker 2: an inn on somebody else. He may have an evaluation
11:23
Speaker 2: on somebody else that's not maybe not even the highly
11:25
Speaker 2: rated guy, but he may be able to pound the
11:27
Speaker 2: table for one or two of his guys that he's
11:30
Speaker 2: been recruiting. Now they have offered. I'm looking at Virginia
11:35
Speaker 2: Tech's offer list right now. He has offered a ton
11:37
Speaker 2: of players like I'm going to probably Cony. He did
11:41
Speaker 2: offer Will Conroy, ironical.
11:42
Speaker 3: Yes, there's evaluation there, I mean.
11:45
Speaker 2: Right, He's also offered Max Riley. He's also offered Deron
11:50
Speaker 2: Parks Manny Ianacho maybe the number one tackle.
11:53
Speaker 4: Another name out there of Virginia kid Darius Gray, who
11:56
Speaker 4: a lot of people think they go to South Carolina.
11:58
Speaker 3: He's a top thirty five type of player.
12:01
Speaker 4: He's in Virginia Tech multiple times, so there's gonna be
12:04
Speaker 4: some slew thing going on to see who.
12:06
Speaker 3: You know, who was coveted.
12:08
Speaker 4: I mean, yes, there's the proximity thing to you know,
12:11
Speaker 4: to to Blacksburg and everything else.
12:13
Speaker 3: But still, yeah, I.
12:15
Speaker 2: Do think Darius Gray's an interesting one because that's a
12:17
Speaker 2: kid that will High State did recruit and just you know,
12:20
Speaker 2: didn't make the cut for so you wonder, okay, does
12:23
Speaker 2: that change? But yeah, so he's offered, but he's offered
12:26
Speaker 2: Sam Greer, he's offered Riley, so he's offered Adam Guthrie.
12:31
Speaker 2: So he offered a lot of these kids from Ohio
12:34
Speaker 2: while at Virginia Tech. So that'll be interesting to see
12:37
Speaker 2: again dron parks manny Ionacho does he does he does
12:41
Speaker 2: he give them either an in with either of those
12:44
Speaker 2: guys that would that would enhance their ability to get
12:47
Speaker 2: those guys or at least keep things status quo there.
12:52
Speaker 2: We'll see. But he offered a lot of players. Virgin's
12:56
Speaker 2: already offered a lot of players Virginia Tech, so that's
12:58
Speaker 2: gonna be kind of an interesting thing. Is which guys
13:00
Speaker 2: is he can pound the table for now that the
13:02
Speaker 2: competition is going up. You know, Virginia Tech's historically a
13:05
Speaker 2: very good program, been on kind of some tough times lately,
13:09
Speaker 2: not really landing the same caliber players Ohio State is
13:13
Speaker 2: in general. So you know, which of those guys kind
13:16
Speaker 2: of transcend the the difference in in in talent acquisition
13:22
Speaker 2: between those two programs and land on the Ohio State radar.
13:25
Speaker 2: We'll see, but that's gonna be an interesting thing to watch. Like,
13:31
Speaker 2: You've got a kid here from Leesburg, Virginia, Carter Scruggs,
13:35
Speaker 2: four star offensive tackle. Like, you know, is that someone
13:39
Speaker 2: that Bowen pounds the table for? You know, that's that's
13:45
Speaker 2: an interesting one. You know, Penn State and Clemson are
13:47
Speaker 2: two schools to watch there, but you know, is that
13:50
Speaker 2: someone that emerges now on the Ohio State radar? So
13:52
Speaker 2: that's something again to watch. But you know, long story short,
13:56
Speaker 2: they got to have in my opinion, five in this class.
13:58
Speaker 2: You got to start filling in your coffers with high
14:02
Speaker 2: school prospects. You can't just go to the portal every year.
14:07
Speaker 2: Eventually you're gonna miss on the portal. Like, eventually you're
14:10
Speaker 2: not the guy you get is not going to be
14:13
Speaker 2: the guy and then what so you're gonna have to
14:15
Speaker 2: have some depth options here moving forward. So that'll be
14:20
Speaker 2: a big thing obviously in this class. Really, and the
14:24
Speaker 2: other position that I think a lot of angst has
14:25
Speaker 2: been caused with the high defens as well is defensive line,
14:28
Speaker 2: and that's kind of another one we're talking about here.
14:31
Speaker 2: That's going to be another priority. They really like their
14:34
Speaker 2: young defensive tackle room. They were able to add a
14:37
Speaker 2: couple of those again in twenty twenty five. The defensive
14:42
Speaker 2: end a little light. They only brought in two they
14:44
Speaker 2: wanted to bring in three, So obviously they're gonna be
14:49
Speaker 2: looking for some edge rushers. They weren't able to bring
14:51
Speaker 2: in Damon Wilson via the portal they them in Missouri.
14:54
Speaker 2: Missouri wins that wins that one, So they haven't brought
14:58
Speaker 2: in an edge from the portal, like a pure edge.
15:01
Speaker 2: I know, the kid from Idaho State has a chance
15:03
Speaker 2: to kind of be a strong side and you know,
15:07
Speaker 2: probably even maybe an interior pass rusher at times, but
15:11
Speaker 2: I think they want some pure kind of speed off
15:14
Speaker 2: the edge. That's going to be important here. And also
15:16
Speaker 2: again this young defensive tackle room they're so happy about
15:19
Speaker 2: right now. Well, when twenty twenty six arrives, that young
15:21
Speaker 2: defensive tackle room is going to be a veteran defensive
15:23
Speaker 2: tackle room, So you're gonna have to start replenishing the
15:26
Speaker 2: ranks there, you know, Kevin, And so we don't know that.
15:31
Speaker 2: I guess we don't know for certain in terms of
15:33
Speaker 2: Larry Johnson hasn't announced he's coming back. What I'm hearing
15:37
Speaker 2: is he's back, but we'll see what plays out here.
15:41
Speaker 2: If you've been on the site, you know we're watching
15:44
Speaker 2: a defensive line coach that's coaching in the Super Bowl
15:48
Speaker 2: on Sunday. As a possible addition to a high seat staff,
15:50
Speaker 2: certainly a target of interest. You can get all that
15:52
Speaker 2: on Bucky Hubble dot com. On the message Bard, we'll
15:54
Speaker 2: talk about that a little more. But my instinct is
15:56
Speaker 2: that Larry Johnson is back. He does have a year
15:57
Speaker 2: left on his contract and we'll see if he signs
16:01
Speaker 2: a new one or not. But my instinct is that
16:03
Speaker 2: he'll be back coaching in twenty twenty five. But Kevin, again,
16:08
Speaker 2: number here, do you know, just your assessment of what
16:11
Speaker 2: they kind of need to be doing here on the
16:12
Speaker 2: defensive line in twenty twenty six.
16:15
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, obviously there's a lot going on there.
16:19
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, let's just move maybe more to
16:21
Speaker 4: traditional end. I mean, you've got the uh, you've got
16:24
Speaker 4: the twins out of the Harris twins, out of out
16:27
Speaker 4: of Matthews, Andrew and Aiden. But you know, specifically you're
16:31
Speaker 4: talking about you're talking about edge. You can stay in
16:33
Speaker 4: the state of North Carolina xaving Griffin Haynes being somebody
16:37
Speaker 4: who that they've you know, really you know, done well
16:40
Speaker 4: in terms of you know, piquing his interest or or whatever.
16:44
Speaker 4: And then you know, of course defensive tackle. I mean
16:46
Speaker 4: there're gonna be some really solid defensive tackle names. I
16:49
Speaker 4: think the one that you know, I like the most
16:52
Speaker 4: is is Duce Gerald's. I mean I think that he's
16:55
Speaker 4: you know, I think he's fantastic. I think Ohio State
16:57
Speaker 4: has a really good shot there with withduced gerlds.
17:00
Speaker 3: Uh.
17:01
Speaker 4: You know, going back in state, back on the line,
17:03
Speaker 4: Storm Miller, somebody, I think that you you know, you again,
17:09
Speaker 4: if if you're trying to hit a lot of years
17:13
Speaker 4: five guys, six guys or what have you between the
17:16
Speaker 4: three defensive line positions, your edge, your defensive end and
17:22
Speaker 4: your defensive tackles, and I mean you could split it
17:24
Speaker 4: up even more between three techs and one text. I mean,
17:27
Speaker 4: I'll be really interested to see if Ohio State. You know,
17:30
Speaker 4: I would assume it's still going to be kind of
17:32
Speaker 4: a four down front, you know, not really hearing anything
17:36
Speaker 4: that leads me to believe that they're going to be
17:37
Speaker 4: doing some significant structural change in the in the in
17:41
Speaker 4: the defense. But you know, you want to get If
17:43
Speaker 4: you wanted to get three edges last year, why would
17:45
Speaker 4: you not want to get three edges this year? If
17:47
Speaker 4: you can get that, and I mean, you're probably gonna
17:49
Speaker 4: want to get somebody at least, you know, if you
17:52
Speaker 4: can get the Harris Twins. I mean, you're already you're
17:54
Speaker 4: already looking at five and then you're sitting there and
17:56
Speaker 4: you're looking at you're looking at tackles and you all.
17:59
Speaker 4: I mean, just because you feel good about your tackle
18:01
Speaker 4: room this year doesn't mean you're gonna feel great about
18:02
Speaker 4: it next year, with you know, players moving on and
18:05
Speaker 4: everything else. I don't think any of us really had
18:08
Speaker 4: hero Canoe transferring to Texas on our Bingo card.
18:13
Speaker 3: Seven.
18:14
Speaker 4: I mean, I mean that just that feels really aggressive.
18:17
Speaker 4: It feels really aggressive back in you know, how many
18:19
Speaker 4: years did we sit there and'll be like, well, Ohio
18:22
Speaker 4: State probably can only sign about twenty one kids this year,
18:25
Speaker 4: and if they were well beyond those days, I mean,
18:28
Speaker 4: we're well beyond those days. But even if we said
18:29
Speaker 4: Ohio State's gonna sign twenty eight, we're saying twenty five
18:31
Speaker 4: percent of the class is going to be on the
18:32
Speaker 4: D line. Maybe, I mean for a class that habitually
18:37
Speaker 4: does not hit its number. I mean, this is not
18:39
Speaker 4: a one year you know, a one year exception. This
18:43
Speaker 4: has been This has been a habit. Set the number
18:46
Speaker 4: high and then just see if you can hit it.
18:48
Speaker 3: I guess.
18:52
Speaker 2: We'd be looking at like three three defensive ends, two
18:56
Speaker 2: defensive tackles. I could even see that going to three
18:59
Speaker 2: and three depending on what the what their ability is
19:05
Speaker 2: to to acquire these guys, Aidan Harris, big name, there's
19:09
Speaker 2: some interesting names at defensive end. Alexander Haskell is another
19:13
Speaker 2: one from Saint Jose Prep that they've offered. Does he
19:17
Speaker 2: work his way into a priority spot. Bryce Perry right
19:20
Speaker 2: out of Buford to me, may even be an interior
19:23
Speaker 2: guy that I mean, he's got a very similar body
19:26
Speaker 2: type to Deuce Gerald's. But you know, we'll see is
19:30
Speaker 2: he an inside guy, ise an outside guy. That's the
19:31
Speaker 2: guy they really like. But then you start to look
19:35
Speaker 2: at some of the really big names nationally, like the
19:37
Speaker 2: five star type of guys, and you know, Xavian Griffin
19:41
Speaker 2: Hayes is a big one out of North Carolina that
19:43
Speaker 2: you mentioned. They're certainly going to do everything they can
19:46
Speaker 2: to land him. The other guy they're going to go
19:49
Speaker 2: all out for and kind of see where the chips
19:52
Speaker 2: fall is. Zion Eally, who's committed to Maryland. I believe
19:56
Speaker 2: on three has him ranked as the number one player
19:57
Speaker 2: in the entire country. He's certainly a special talent. He
20:02
Speaker 2: committed early to Maryland. He camped with Ohio State last summer,
20:05
Speaker 2: and now he's visiting all over the place. He's taken
20:09
Speaker 2: all his visits. He's gonna take official visits. Ohio State
20:11
Speaker 2: is projected to get an official visit probably this summer
20:15
Speaker 2: from Zion Ely. So those like Zion Eely, Deuce Gerald's,
20:19
Speaker 2: Xavion Griffin Haynes, like those are guys at Ohio State
20:22
Speaker 2: is going to chase, chase, chase, and I think they've
20:24
Speaker 2: got a really good chance at Douce Gerald's do I
20:27
Speaker 2: can I sit here today and say they're definitely getting
20:29
Speaker 2: Zion eel Er, Zavian Griffin Haynes. No, those are going
20:31
Speaker 2: to be absolute wars. I think Ohio State if you
20:35
Speaker 2: said Ohio State, if you told Larry Johnson and Ryan Day,
20:38
Speaker 2: you're gonna get one of Zion Eely and Xavian Griffin Haines,
20:40
Speaker 2: I think they would sign up for that. So we'll
20:44
Speaker 2: see if they're able to do that. You know, they've
20:45
Speaker 2: thrown out some big offers Anthony Jones from Alabama. That
20:49
Speaker 2: feels like a long shot getting a kid from Mobile, Alabama.
20:53
Speaker 2: But you know, Zion Grady's up here now, so who knows,
20:56
Speaker 2: maybe he helps you there. You know, the Storm Miller
21:01
Speaker 2: thing is interesting. He's now ranked as an edge by
21:04
Speaker 2: some services. Was initially a linebacker, does have a big frame.
21:08
Speaker 2: What is Ohio State see there? Do they see a linebacker?
21:10
Speaker 2: Do they see an edge? Can they get him?
21:12
Speaker 3: Is?
21:12
Speaker 2: You know his brothers at Clemson? But Storm grew up
21:16
Speaker 2: in Ohio State fans, so like, there's a lot of
21:18
Speaker 2: things there to kind of sift through a Storm Miller.
21:22
Speaker 2: But you know, and I know, no one wants to
21:24
Speaker 2: hear this because you've kind of heard this the last
21:26
Speaker 2: few years. It's not like oh hasn't gotten good players
21:28
Speaker 2: like Edric Houston was a huge pickup. You know, they've
21:32
Speaker 2: been able to land some really big name guys, but
21:37
Speaker 2: they haven't landed them maybe in the quantity that Ohio
21:40
Speaker 2: fans have wanted. But so I'm not trying to like
21:43
Speaker 2: give anyone PTSD here, But once again, the list of
21:46
Speaker 2: potential targets looks very good as we sit here, you know,
21:51
Speaker 2: a month or so away from the dead perioding and
21:53
Speaker 2: getting in the spring football and visits and everything else.
21:57
Speaker 2: The target list is impressive. But they've got to find
22:01
Speaker 2: a way to close more of these more of these deals.
22:05
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
22:05
Speaker 4: I mean it's you can be on the list, you
22:08
Speaker 4: can be a finalist, but if you don't land the kid,
22:11
Speaker 4: I mean, it doesn't matter. Only one team is going
22:13
Speaker 4: to get these guys, and Ohio.
22:15
Speaker 2: State, you know, binary proposition.
22:21
Speaker 3: There's no dimmer switch when it comes to this. So
22:23
Speaker 3: it's yeah, they've just got to They've got to close better.
22:27
Speaker 4: It just feels like a lot of times that if
22:30
Speaker 4: Ohio State doesn't have you know, that defensive lineman, especially
22:33
Speaker 4: like an edge or an end committed by November first,
22:38
Speaker 4: it's just not going to happen. They're they're they're success
22:40
Speaker 4: rate after November first to whenever, you know, the early
22:43
Speaker 4: signing period is, you know, six weeks later, five weeks later,
22:47
Speaker 4: whatever it may be.
22:48
Speaker 3: Uh, seems to be a little lower than than what
22:51
Speaker 3: you would expect.
22:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, they went out run a few years ago where
22:55
Speaker 2: they got a bunch of guys late on the D line,
22:58
Speaker 2: and like ever since then, they've just not been able
23:01
Speaker 2: to get those late guys. They've even lost some guys late.
23:04
Speaker 2: It's kind of been whatever they get early is generally
23:06
Speaker 2: what they get. They did get Epi Satanale late this
23:11
Speaker 2: year off after losing a couple of guys, so you know,
23:15
Speaker 2: you lose London merit and to here mathis and so
23:17
Speaker 2: that that kind of brought that about. But yeah, I mean,
23:21
Speaker 2: I don't even want to say they have to get
23:22
Speaker 2: off a better start though, because I thought they got
23:24
Speaker 2: a great start last year and then they lose merit
23:28
Speaker 2: in mathis late. So they've got to figure out whether
23:31
Speaker 2: it's landing the late commitment or holding on to the
23:33
Speaker 2: commitment at the end of the process. They've got to
23:35
Speaker 2: figure out this October through December window. That's where they
23:39
Speaker 2: have historically struggled with defensive line recruiting in the last
23:43
Speaker 2: few years. So that's kind of the area, you know,
23:45
Speaker 2: maybe not get too high or too low and where
23:47
Speaker 2: they're at in March or April, because you know, look,
23:51
Speaker 2: we've seen so much shake up in the last couple
23:53
Speaker 2: months of the cycle that you got to see and
23:55
Speaker 2: that this is where the nil like quarterback, offensive defensive line,
24:01
Speaker 2: like that's where the nil dollars are gonna mostly go.
24:04
Speaker 2: I mean, yes, like a number one receiver or maybe
24:07
Speaker 2: a five star type of running back or a corner.
24:10
Speaker 2: But like, by and large, like the overpays are gonna
24:14
Speaker 2: come at like defensive line and offensive like people are
24:16
Speaker 2: going to overpay for quarterback, O line, D line. They
24:19
Speaker 2: just are. And so you've got to be kind of
24:21
Speaker 2: prepared to mitigate that somehow when it gets down to
24:25
Speaker 2: crunch time and schools are thrown out silly monopoly money offers.
24:29
Speaker 2: So we'll see if they're able to navigate that a
24:31
Speaker 2: little better this year. I like what they brought in
24:33
Speaker 2: last year. I just you know, again, one or two
24:35
Speaker 2: more bodies would have been nice but the quality seems
24:38
Speaker 2: to be there. Last thing, I think we were last
24:43
Speaker 2: position because like they're gonna get everything. So we just
24:46
Speaker 2: here and talk about every present. But like some again,
24:48
Speaker 2: some are more important than others. We've kind of identified
24:50
Speaker 2: the three we think are the most important, and number
24:53
Speaker 2: three is the cornerback position. They lose a couple guys
24:58
Speaker 2: last year. Lake would be a name offered. They bring
25:02
Speaker 2: in some late guys. Jordan Woods. Is he a corner?
25:06
Speaker 2: Is he a Nichols? He has safety? I think that's
25:08
Speaker 2: very much to be determined. I don't regardless of what
25:11
Speaker 2: was being said today. I think that's a kid you
25:14
Speaker 2: have to wait and see at almost six ' four,
25:17
Speaker 2: Like where is his body going to take him? So
25:21
Speaker 2: obviously Devin Sanchez is as good as it gets as
25:24
Speaker 2: a high school recruit. But if he's as good as
25:28
Speaker 2: we all think he is, that's a three and done.
25:31
Speaker 2: Like you know you've got Jermaine Matthews is actually draft
25:35
Speaker 2: eligible after this year. They get a nice little boost.
25:37
Speaker 2: David Sittingbnosen comes back, but he's gone after this coming year.
25:41
Speaker 2: So when these twenty six is get on campus, like
25:44
Speaker 2: it's it's time flies Like when these twenty six is
25:47
Speaker 2: get on campus, Aaron Scott and Bryce West will be
25:50
Speaker 2: going into draft eligible seasons. Put that into perspective for
25:54
Speaker 2: a minute. That's how fast this thing moves. So you
25:59
Speaker 2: got to replan the ranks here. So I think corner
26:02
Speaker 2: is a very important spot in this in this cycle.
26:05
Speaker 4: Kevin, Yeah, And you know, there was an interesting conundrum
26:10
Speaker 4: in the state of Ohio when you have guys like
26:13
Speaker 4: Elbert Hill and you have guys like you know, you
26:17
Speaker 4: have a you know, Vic Singleton who ended up going
26:21
Speaker 4: to UH Illinois at least that's where he's committed. At
26:24
Speaker 4: this point, Ohio State already has a commitment from Jacob Weatherspoon.
26:27
Speaker 4: How you know, you're generally playing two corners. I mean,
26:31
Speaker 4: Ohio State's safety driven system really has turned into a
26:35
Speaker 4: cornerback driven system, with the nickel being a corner. Now
26:39
Speaker 4: Jordan Hancock, you know most recently occupying that position. You
26:45
Speaker 4: want to sit there and you need to replenish a corner.
26:47
Speaker 4: But you got to find a way to be like, Okay,
26:49
Speaker 4: this is you know, You're not You're not looking at
26:52
Speaker 4: being in a room with like seven other dudes.
26:54
Speaker 3: You're this is your path.
26:55
Speaker 4: You You've got one guy that that's ahead of you
26:58
Speaker 4: right now, and he's two years ahead of you on
27:00
Speaker 4: the on the depth chart, so you're the depth chart
27:02
Speaker 4: isn't eating you up at this point. And you know,
27:07
Speaker 4: I'm not going to go against Tim Walton and his
27:10
Speaker 4: recruiting because I just kind of give him. You know,
27:13
Speaker 4: I should probably split the credit a little bit more
27:16
Speaker 4: in terms of secondary recruiting because there's more than just
27:19
Speaker 4: Tim Walton. But you know, Tim Walton's just seems to
27:22
Speaker 4: be the hot defensive name for Ohio State in terms
27:25
Speaker 4: of being the big recruiter, you know, no disrespect any
27:29
Speaker 4: other coach.
27:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, and like they've actually they've offered fewer than ten
27:34
Speaker 2: corners right right now. So now part of that, Look,
27:39
Speaker 2: this is a very good situation. They're in twenty six
27:41
Speaker 2: for corner because Albert Hills are top target, five star
27:46
Speaker 2: Akronhoman guy, that's their top priority. Maybe if you rank
27:50
Speaker 2: them all in twenty six, Albert Hill might be their
27:54
Speaker 2: very very top priority. You've got Jacob Wetherspoon, who reminds
27:58
Speaker 2: me a lot of Jordan Handcut. I think he can
28:01
Speaker 2: be the nickel. I think he can be the Swiss
28:02
Speaker 2: army knife that makes everything work here. As we talked
28:05
Speaker 2: about trying to sell everybody on what their roles might be.
28:08
Speaker 2: I think Jacob Weatherspoon helps you do that by being
28:10
Speaker 2: a Swiss army knife, being able to play a couple
28:12
Speaker 2: different spots. But again, I think he can settle in
28:15
Speaker 2: at that Nickel spot. If you can get Elbert Hill,
28:17
Speaker 2: who I believe they lead for, and I believe they
28:20
Speaker 2: will get, that's one corner on the outside, then you
28:23
Speaker 2: really only have to find one more because then you're
28:26
Speaker 2: kind of recruiting safeties after that. And I think it
28:29
Speaker 2: would be a fairly easy sell if you can go
28:31
Speaker 2: national and kind of zero in on four or five
28:35
Speaker 2: guys for the four or five of the very best
28:37
Speaker 2: corns in the country. Like, hey, you know, Jacob Weatherspoon's
28:41
Speaker 2: gonna be the Nickel. You've got a five star like
28:44
Speaker 2: Elbert Hill on the other side of you. We want
28:46
Speaker 2: you to kind of complete this puzzle. I think that's
28:48
Speaker 2: a fairly appealing sales pitch, So I like how that's
28:53
Speaker 2: set up. Obviously, they're on some big name safeties. Again,
28:55
Speaker 2: they had a bunch of safeties and last year's class
28:57
Speaker 2: great safety class. I think theahem Delane is gonna be
28:59
Speaker 2: a star. I think he's gonna be like early at
29:00
Speaker 2: Ohio State. But they've got some other guys there in
29:03
Speaker 2: the secondary as well, like safety recruiting wise, they've got
29:06
Speaker 2: three or four top targets emerging there already as well.
29:08
Speaker 2: But it's going to be interesting to see kind of
29:10
Speaker 2: what happens with the cornerback room. You know, do they
29:15
Speaker 2: trying get back in on like a Dorian Barney out
29:18
Speaker 2: of Carrollton, Georgia. I think he was he was committed
29:21
Speaker 2: to I believe it was to Alabama. He's opened his
29:24
Speaker 2: recruiting process up. You know, do you try and get
29:28
Speaker 2: back in there? Do you you know what does that
29:31
Speaker 2: look like? I don't get the sense they're in like
29:34
Speaker 2: a huge hurry on that right now. Like Tim Walton
29:36
Speaker 2: will have the spring evaluation period, you go out and
29:38
Speaker 2: evaluate guys because in the meantime, again you have Jacob
29:40
Speaker 2: Weathersmon committed. You know what you've got, you know what
29:43
Speaker 2: you're chasing with Albert Hill, like, you know that's one
29:46
Speaker 2: of your guys. So like I think you can be
29:48
Speaker 2: a little more methodical with like who do we kind
29:51
Speaker 2: of reach out to to complete this puzzle? But that'll
29:56
Speaker 2: be one interesting decision Tim Walton has to make is
29:59
Speaker 2: you know, where do I put my energy outside of
30:01
Speaker 2: the outside of the state of Ohio.
30:04
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a lot easier to be able to focus
30:06
Speaker 4: on one. And let's be honest, you're still having to
30:10
Speaker 4: recruit your guys. I mean, people are not going to
30:12
Speaker 4: be like, well, Albert Hills committed to Ohio State, that's over.
30:15
Speaker 4: Let's just throw away his phone number and never deal
30:17
Speaker 4: with that again. You got to keep re recruiting your guys.
30:19
Speaker 4: But yeah, whether or not it's a case of Adrian Barney,
30:23
Speaker 4: as you mentioned, you know, Samari Matthews out of North Carolina.
30:28
Speaker 4: There was one other guy, Jordan Thomas out of New Jersey.
30:31
Speaker 4: I think, you know, I think there's some names out
30:33
Speaker 4: there that you could really, you know, really try to
30:36
Speaker 4: load up on and see, you know, see what happens
30:38
Speaker 4: at that point. Because we we certainly saw a movement
30:41
Speaker 4: last year. I mean the naim offered situation, having to
30:44
Speaker 4: hold on until the bitter end only to have that
30:46
Speaker 4: one kind.
30:47
Speaker 3: Of get away from you. Yeah, you heard us.
30:50
Speaker 4: We said that it was going to be something that
30:52
Speaker 4: was going to go until the last minute, and you know,
30:54
Speaker 4: and and we were right. Don't always want to be
30:58
Speaker 4: proven right on those things, but you're proven right there,
31:01
Speaker 4: you know. I think safety recruiting is going to be
31:03
Speaker 4: really interesting. A kid that we had a chance to
31:06
Speaker 4: see on Southern Swing, the Seer McCoy really like him
31:11
Speaker 4: a lot, you know, a lot of Jet Washington out
31:15
Speaker 4: of out of Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas. I think
31:18
Speaker 4: that it's going to be you know, b I A
31:21
Speaker 4: is back. I think b I A proved that it's back,
31:24
Speaker 4: and we're seeing almost a complete turn We're seeing sixty
31:27
Speaker 4: percent turnover in the secondary this year. And when when
31:31
Speaker 4: you're a safety and you're watching and you're watching Caleb
31:34
Speaker 4: Downs doing doing what Caleb Downs does, You're going to
31:37
Speaker 4: be very excited about what Ohio state scheme is. And
31:40
Speaker 4: I think that if you're a corner and you saw
31:42
Speaker 4: what Denzel Burke and Jordan Hancock and what you know,
31:46
Speaker 4: IGB will be able to kind of pick up on
31:48
Speaker 4: this year. And then you throw in the mix of
31:51
Speaker 4: getting a Devin Sanchez and you mix him in with
31:54
Speaker 4: the Jermaine Matthews and everything else. Just a lot of
31:57
Speaker 4: opportunity there, especially after losing Calvin Simpson Hunt to Baylor
32:00
Speaker 4: in the transfer portal.
32:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's like it's a very talented room. It's
32:05
Speaker 2: not making our most important positions because there's been like
32:08
Speaker 2: this drop off in talent and they don't have anybody
32:11
Speaker 2: and they really desperately need players in that room. It's
32:14
Speaker 2: just it's very much quite the opposite. You've stockpiled a
32:18
Speaker 2: lot of talent. That talent's going to the NFL over
32:20
Speaker 2: the next two years, and so you've got to replenish
32:23
Speaker 2: that talent. And again, I'm actually glad you brought up
32:27
Speaker 2: Jaden Thomas from Bergen Catholic in New Jersey because he
32:31
Speaker 2: is the high school teammate of twenty twenty five wide
32:33
Speaker 2: receiver signee Quincy Porter. So that's another name to know
32:37
Speaker 2: in the corner search in twenty twenty six. So that'll
32:42
Speaker 2: be a guy they haven't in with. So we'll see
32:44
Speaker 2: what what happens. Again, we mentioned some of the big
32:48
Speaker 2: names right now, expect that list to evolve against I
32:52
Speaker 2: say this every year. Spring evaluation period very important, goes
32:56
Speaker 2: from about mid April through late May. Coaches are able
32:59
Speaker 2: to be on the road. They get to watch spring practices,
33:02
Speaker 2: they spring games, spring scrimmages, They get a lot of
33:04
Speaker 2: evaluation time, in person evaluation time with potential recruiting prospects,
33:11
Speaker 2: and so a lot of boards can change and move
33:14
Speaker 2: around based on what they see during that time. But
33:18
Speaker 2: this is kind of where things are set right now.
33:21
Speaker 2: I'm sure we'll do an episode in a couple months
33:23
Speaker 2: revisiting our three top priority positions for this class and
33:27
Speaker 2: kind of how they're doing, kind of a status update
33:30
Speaker 2: on that. But I thought again, with the dead period
33:32
Speaker 2: right now and twenty five officially having the books closed
33:36
Speaker 2: on it, I thought twenty it was a good time
33:38
Speaker 2: to kind of reset twenty twenty six and say, Okay, yes,
33:41
Speaker 2: every position is important, every position will be touched on
33:44
Speaker 2: by the OHIOT coaching staff. But here are three. These
33:47
Speaker 2: are the three I think that you know, they really
33:49
Speaker 2: really need to buckle down on and make sure they
33:51
Speaker 2: sign really good classes with Kevin. Any final thoughts on
33:56
Speaker 2: this or twenty six recruiting or anything else right now,
33:59
Speaker 2: as as we get ready to sign off here, I.
34:01
Speaker 4: Can't believe we're talking about the class of twenty twenty six.
34:05
Speaker 4: I started back in I started in this industry in
34:07
Speaker 4: the year of two thousand and four, So the class
34:10
Speaker 4: of two thousand and five, So twenty plus years. Twenty
34:14
Speaker 4: plus years are covering recruit seeing, you know, seeing fathers
34:18
Speaker 4: and sons and everything else. It's gonna be a it's
34:20
Speaker 4: gonna be a wild ride here over at Buckeye Huddle.
34:23
Speaker 4: Be sure to keep it locked in here for all
34:26
Speaker 4: of our great recruiting coverage along with team coverage with Tom,
34:28
Speaker 4: Tony and myself. Just because the trophy has been hoisted
34:33
Speaker 4: doesn't mean that we're slowing down.
34:35
Speaker 3: We're just shifting gears right now.
34:38
Speaker 2: Yep, four ninety nine for your first month is still active.
34:43
Speaker 2: I don't want to give a final shut off date
34:46
Speaker 2: because if the Eagles win the Super Bowl on Sunday,
34:48
Speaker 2: I might be feeling generous and might give everyone a
34:51
Speaker 2: few more days. But but my instinct is that like
34:53
Speaker 2: Monday or Tuesday is four ninety nine deals is probably
34:55
Speaker 2: gonna be shut off. So you can get four nine
34:56
Speaker 2: nine for your first month, give us a shot. A
34:58
Speaker 2: lot of people have done so have been happy with that,
35:01
Speaker 2: and I've got emails about upgrading an annual, and then
35:04
Speaker 2: a lot of people have just had their monthly is
35:06
Speaker 2: renewed at regular price. So we've had a good job,
35:10
Speaker 2: a good run with retaining guys. So I think if
35:12
Speaker 2: you give it a shot at four o nine, I
35:14
Speaker 2: think you'll feel it's worth it. So check that out.
35:17
Speaker 2: Last few days of that deal are are upon us,
35:21
Speaker 2: and we'll be back here, I'm sure early next week
35:24
Speaker 2: with another recruiting podcast. But appreciate everyone watching and listening,
35:27
Speaker 2: and we'll see you over on the site and talk
35:28
Speaker 2: to you soon