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Ohio State Freshman WR Jeremiah Smith Making A Big Early Impression · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Tuesday, March twelfth. I'm your host,
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  Tom Moore. The Akron game in one hundred and seventy two days, the
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  game against Michigan in two hundred and sixty three days. All right, today
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  you're going to be hearing from Denzel Burke. You've probably heard Tony and I
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  talk about how much we like talking to Denzel Burke. Probably my favorite interview
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  among all of the current Ohio State football players, just because he will shoot
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  you straight. If there is someone who is, you know, not necessarily
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  playing to the level that is sort of the level of expectation, at least
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  in Denzel Burke's mind, well he's not going to tell you that everything is
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  all sunshine and roses. He's going to shoot it straight. So that also
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  means when he says, yeah, this guy is legit, this guy is
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  the real deal, that means something too. So all right, let's hear
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  from Denzel Burke. He had had the option, the opportunity to leave for
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  the NFL draft, is probably gonna be a first or second round pick last
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  year, and he chose to come back. So, all right, Denzel
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  Burke, why did you decide to come back. This is going to be
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  two answers, butted together. Just make more money. You know, I
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  had a first second round grade by the end of the day, you know
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  I had you know, I had no gold pants, no Big ten,
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  no Natty. So just be just being able to come back with my brothers,
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  you know, doing it for the state of Ohio and you know,
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  trying to finish the job this year. Man, that's the plan. It
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  was definitely difficult, but you know I just prayed on it, you know,
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  uh, you know, relied on my faith, and I feel like
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  this is the best dison for me continue to develop into an elite corner and
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  you know, there's really no rest for me to go to the league.
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  You know, we got nil now, so you know we could, uh
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  not worry, you know, a lot of not You're not worry about too
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  many things. Next up, Denzel Burke sharing his thoughts on Caleb Downs.
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  And you know, the hype around Caleb Downs has been pretty unceasing. And
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  if you watch Caleb Downs at all last year at Alabama, you probably understand
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  why. And as I said earlier, it is not always just going to
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  be unending praise and admiration from Denzel Burke for everyone and everything. So again,
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  when he says something, it means something. So here you go,
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  Denzel Burke on Caleb downs furs Day in in the building. I mean,
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  he already speaks for himself. His film speaks for himself. He already knows
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  the whole defense. You know, he's already out there with the ones with
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  us. So like you know, he's he's that guy and he's gonna do
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  a lot of big things for us. Every player at the Ohio State has
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  goals for the season for themself team. But this is another area where a
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  lot of guys will just say, yeah, I don't want to I don't
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  want to talk about it. I'm just kind of keep that to myself.
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  Denzel Burke, he doesn't care, call my honey badgery, he doesn't care.
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  He's gonna put it out there. So, Denzel Burke, what are
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  your goals for the season? Okay? Individual goals for me at least,
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  you know, I want to be able to be, you know, recognized
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  as the number one corner in the country. No number one corner taken off,
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  you know, in the twenty twenty five draft, and you know Jim
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  Thorpe, you know, I have a lot of big personal goals I want
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  this year, and I'm I'm striving daily to reach that and get one percent
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  better every day, you know, team goals, and I want to be
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  able to continue to bring my leadership skills to the team, continue to push
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  guys, Push the young guys, because the young guys, you know,
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  they're always one injury away. And you know, just continue to bring everything,
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  bring the commarity together, continue to you know, work hard, and
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  you know, win it all. All right. So where what are some
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  areas where Denzel Burke is looking to get better this year? A lot of
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  areas. You know, continue to be a consistent tackler, continue to be
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  better than the run support, continue to just you know, up my press,
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  game, off game. There's always areas I can get better at,
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  and I'm just driving to do that. You heard Burke earlier talking about the
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  different reasons that he decided to come back. What kind of impact did the
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  presence of Ohio State cornerbacks coach Tim Walton have on that decision. Walton,
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  of course, was a longtime NFL assistant, very very highly respected both in
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  the college and pro ranks. So what about Tim Walton? How did he
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  play into Denzel Burke's decision to come back again. This is gonna be two
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  answers, but back to back. Yeah, it was easy. You know
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  a lot of talks of coach well, especially the end of the year,
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  you know, just you know, having a big picture, and you know,
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  he's really helped me. He's really transformed my game on and off the
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  field. And you know, I'm really happy to have him. Know,
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  I love him, you know, me and how a great relationship and you
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  know, we have a lifelong relationship. I have a mentor. I guess
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  you could say he could play. He kind of plays both those roles,
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  you know, mentor and coach off the field, and you know, it's
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  just it's a blessing to be able to have him in my life, to
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  be able to we could relate, uh tea, teach me the game,
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  teach me more than I already know. And you know, he's a big
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  part of the reason why you know we're b I all right, here's another
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  one where I'm gonna remind you you get you get the real, unvarnished truth
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  from Denzel Burke. So when he says something, it means something. He
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  was asked about Jermaine Matthews. Matthews stepped up last year as a true freshman,
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  vaulted up the depth start, pasted a number of veterans on that depth
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  chart, maybe chased a couple of folks into the transfer portal in the process.
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  So this is going to be two answers from Denzel Burke. The second
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  question one is just sort of his thoughts on Jermaine Matthews, and the second
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  one is whether Matthews reminds him of perhaps a young Denzel Berg. Y'all watch
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  out, he's a hey, he's a dog. He's the next one up
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  for sure, no doubt. And you know, I'm really proud of him
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  from the steps he's took, you know, uh, you know he from
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  Cincinnati. You know he's gonna claim that, but you know, I love
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  him, man, He's my boy, and I always nothing but the best
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  for him, and he's gonna continue to get better every day. I don't
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  like to, you know, put myself in other people's shoes or you know,
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  have them be in my shoes or I really don't see anybody like me
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  ever, And I don't think I would ever, I would ever ever go
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  through my mind. But I see what you're saying, you know, he's
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  Jermaine Matthews, and he's gonna be Jermaine Matthews. You know, when Ohio
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  State fans right now are looking at the defense and the number of plate people
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  they got back from last year, the number of guys they added, what
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  is that confidence level like in the defensive mediums right now? To add on
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  to that, like, yeah, I don't want to put too much out
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  there, but we're going to be having a lot of different looks this year,
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  a lot of different positions, guys everywhere, and we're gonna try to
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  you know, you know, we're gonna dictate what the offense can do this
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  year, and you know that's our goal. And you know, I feel
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  a lot comfortable with the guys I'm on the fieldway. You know, you
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  could take away a lot of things. Knowing that you're gonna you got you
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  got help inside or you gotta help over the top, and just knowing those
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  guys are always gonna be in the spot makes the game a lot more faster.
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  The Buckey's got a lot of players back from last year, which means
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  there's gonna be a lot of familiar faces in some familiar places. But there
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  are gonna be some familiar faces in new places. One of them is Sunny
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  Styles. He moved from the safeties to the linebackers. What does Denzel Burke
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  think of that move. I feel like that was a great move for him
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  to be in the box. Him running sideline and sideline, you know,
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  thing gaps. I feel like it's gonna be it's gonna be scary for offenses,
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  especially for his size. He's about like two thirty probably run four three
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  four four. And yeah, it's it's gonna be fun with all of the
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  talent, with all the returning players, with all the new transfers. Is
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  this a no excuses year on the defense? And then also does that mean
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  there's a lot of pressure this once again it's gonna be two answers back to
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  back. Yeah, it's definitely. Uh, not your bus man, that's
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  our mentality. You know, no excuses. Now. We can got to
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  win it all. We got to win it all. And that's what we've
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  been trying to We've been trying to preach that every single day. And you
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  know, our goal is to go out there every Saturday, hold each other
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  accountable, play hard, and make plays and turn the ball over you know,
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  Diamond's a built under pressure, and you know, we're not worried about
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  a thing. You know, we trust on our technique, We're trust on
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  our sales. Were trusting the team, we trust on our coaches, and
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  we just look to have fun going this year, man, and just taking
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  care of the no talent issues. Quite possibly the two most talented units on
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  this Ohio State football team are the wide receivers and the corners. That's certainly
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  the two areas where they've racked up the most five star recruits over the years.
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  So what has the battle been like between the wide receivers and the corners
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  so far through two spring practices. I guess you could say it's it's kind
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  of still there. I feel like the receivers, you know, they had
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  a good day one and you know we came back second day. You know,
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  we had to put that down a little bit. But they're doing their
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  thing. You know, they got Cardinal, they got Meg, they got
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  jb JJ, Jeremiah Smith, watch out for him. And I got no
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  worries, man. You know, this does his own six and they're going
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  to do what they gotta do. Here's a chance to hear some of that
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  trademark Denzel Burke honesty. Let's get his thoughts on the freshman cornerbacks Aaron Scott,
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  Miles Lockhart and Bryce West. Freshman corners a lot of work to do,
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  you know. I've been trying. My heart is to continue to teach
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  them and lead them and making sure they have like the right bido lingers when
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  they go on the field, making sure they're doing the job, running hard,
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  playing hard. You know, they got a lot of ways to go,
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  and they ain't they haven't bought in yet. Well, we were down
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  at the Cotton Bowl at the end of last season, Burke was asked about
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  his thoughts about true freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith. He was ranked as a
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  five star number one player in the class of twenty twenty four, so the
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  hype was certainly there, and at the time, Burke said, Yeah,
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  I kind of want to see him in person. I want to go against
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  him in person before I really kind of buy into all of that. Two
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  practices into the spring, here's his updated assessment. This might be a big
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  statement, but just the way he handles himself and the way he moves and
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  what he had the potential he has, I feel like he might be the
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  next best receiver to come through here and I'm really excited to see what he
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  can do and Skoy's limb for him. You hear players talk about leaving a
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  legacy, and sometimes that can mean winning a championship or beating Michigan, but
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  it can also mean leaving the position group room that you play in in a
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  better place than it was when you got there. So does Denzel Burke fielder
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  responsibility to leave that cornerback room in a good place after this season when he
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  heads off to the NFL. Oh yeah, because you know, once you
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  b aa U b I a forever and once you not once you're an alumni.
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  The guys that are here that are representing BIA, you know it's a
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  big deal and I'm trying to prepare them for that moment. And because you
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  know this is Ohio State, you know the media is crazy and you know
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  they love you one day, they're doing the next day. By the end
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  of the day that you guys are still doing your job. But you know
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  it all comes with being out Ohio State. Burke announced on his social media
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  accounts that he would be part of the new EA Sports College Football video game.
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  So how excited is he for that? And what is he expecting his
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  rating to be? Once again, this is going to be two answers back
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  to back. Oh yeah, I was really excided. I was the first
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  one in the whole country. I thing to do it. But yeah,
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  I was quick to do it. You know, it's crazy to have opportunity
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  to be in NCAA. The last one was in fourteen, So just be
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  able to be here and be in that situation is awesome. I feel like
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  this. She gave me a ninety five, which out the ninety five.
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  The Ohio State defense looked fantastic for most of last year and then things kind
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  of tailed off a little bit towards the end of the year, not badly,
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  but just enough that they didn't beat Michigan and didn't beat Missouri, so
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  they when they did those things had sort of tailed off a little bit.
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  That sort of corresponded with the loss of Leith and Ransom at that bandit safety
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  position. So how much does it mean to this defense to get Leathan Ransom
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  back. He's a big piece in our uh in our defense that you know,
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  me have a great relationship and we have a great relationship on the field.
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  You know, we kind of already know what we're thinking before it even
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  play happens, So just have him out there, just having him knowing he's
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  going to be in the right position always, you know, is awesome.
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  Denzel Burke is going to be at one of those outside corner positions this fall,
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  and it sounds like Davison Nignoson will be back at the other outside corner
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  position this fall. So what is Burke see when he looks across the field
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  and sees David Sigmundosen Davison, you know, he's that guy. He actually
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  got iron buck guy this year. He's really bringing He's really been bringing the
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  intensity every day, and you know, he's probably one of the probably the
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  physical corner, the most physical corner we have right now, and he's continuing
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  to get better and all aspect of his game, press off and everything.
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  So I'm really excited for him what he got to offering year three. And
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  finally, it's always interesting to ask players on one side of the ball about
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  the guys they're going up against on the other side of the ball. You
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  heard his thoughts on some of the wide receivers earlier. Here's a question about
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  new transfer quarterback Will Howard transfer from Kansas State. Again, we're only two
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  practices in, but here's some more of that Denzel Burke trademark honesty. I
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  don't know. I guess you know, we've still only been two days of
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  practice, so I guess you know we said a lot of more days to
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  go. But you know me, I'm gonna just keep it real. I
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  still, you know, I want to see more, continue to I know
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  he has a high potential and I'm excited for him and uh thirty more and
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  more practices, so we'll see. Well, hope you guys enjoyed listening to
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  Denzel Berg talk about football, the Buck guys, his game, all that
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  kind of stuff. I always really love talking to Denzel Burg because again,
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  you know what you're what you're seeing, what you're getting that is going to
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  be what he really genuinely thinks great. Always a great conversation. Pretty good
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  football player too. So we'll have more conversations more O High state players coming
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  up a little later on this week. I have a few other shows coming
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  for you as well as the Buck guyes take this week off for spring break
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  before they come back for practice three starting next week, so we will have
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  coverage of all of that for you at Buckeye huddle dot com. Kevin,
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  Tony and I covering the team, Mark covering, recruiting our whole team of
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  Ex's nose Guruz, making you a smarter football fan all at Buckeye huddle dot
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  com. That'll do it for today. Thank you guys all for joining us.
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  Have a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.