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Where Does Ohio State Still Need To Add To Its Top-Ranked 2025 Recruiting Class? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Tuesday, July second. I'm your host,
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  Tom Moore. The Acrin game in sixty days, the game against Michigan in
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  one hundred and fifty one days. This is the first day I am back
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  from a trip to weekend trip to Philadelphia. So you got a Ryan Day
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  interview show yesterday and today we're going to take a look back at some of
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  the news that has happened while I was gone. We're doing that with my
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  buddy Markivler Buckehuddle dot com. Mark, first of all, let me just
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  say as a Mets fan, it brings me no joy to say this,
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  but Citizens Bank Ballpark in your native town of Philadelphia, that is quite a
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  nice ballpark. Good place to see a game, it is. It's a
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  really nice park. It's got great concessions, it's got good viewpoints. I've
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  always enjoyed going there. And you know, you came in there and Bryce
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  Harper and Kyle Schwarber were injured and haven't been seen since. So I don't
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  know if you went Tanya Harding or something. I know how you like to
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  sneak around in the back alleys of stadium, so I don't know if that's
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  up you're doing or not, but not happy about it. Yeah, brought
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  my Mets luck to Philadelphia and left it there. I did briefly look at
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  going to the Mets game on Sunday. We couldn't make the schedule workout to
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  get up there to New York from Philly. But just by looking at it,
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  I caused them to take a six to one lead and blow it and
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  lose to the Astros. So, yes, my powers, My powers are
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  great and vast. Be careful, Be careful lest I curse your team by
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  stepping foot on in their stadium or even thinking about going to a game in
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  their stadium. All right, So enough baseball talk, and we may have
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  a little hockey talk at the end, if we have time to do a
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  little Jackets chat at the end. This has been an eventful week for the
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  Blue Jackets as well. But let's talk a little ol'l higher state football recruiting.
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  It has been a very, very busy month of June for the Buckeyes.
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  They started June with twelve commitments, which is, you know, that's
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  a decent sized class. They brought in nine commitments in the month of June,
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  ending the month of June with twenty one commitments. That's like the full
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  size class in some years of the Buckeyes. The work is not done this
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  year. But here are the nine guys in no particular order, that they
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  got commitment from in June. Zion Grady, Trade, ja Otum, Brody
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  Lennon, Bob Bin Miller, Jake Cook, Isaiah West, Quincy Porter,
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  Bo Jackson for him de Lane Mark. I know we were anticipating, you
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  know, June a lot of visits. You typically get a number of commitments.
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  Nine commitments in a month that is one of the biggest months I can
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  remember a team having. Yeah, I mean I think we thought this would
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  maybe spread out over July as well. I know Zion Grady initially was going
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  to announce on July fourth and told me he just couldn't even wait that long.
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  He couldn't wait another week. He just had to wanted to get it
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  over with, wanted to do it. So I had some guys maybe pop
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  a week or two earlier than maybe we thought. But yeah, I think
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  we expected a very busy summer on the recruiting trail for Ohio State, and
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  that's exactly what we're getting. It was not all good news for the Buckeyes.
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  The Oregon Ducks got a couple guys who the Buckeyes had been looking at
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  pretty seriously, and at least one who they thought at what various times was
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  maybe basically in the class already. Dorian Brew, the four to five star
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  quarter depending on who you want to ask, out of Texas by a northmontt
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  High School in Ohio, and Jordan Davison, the running back out of Modern
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  Day, both committed to Oregon. You know, neither of those are guys
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  who are at positions of dire need by any means. Spot guys have several
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  players already at both of their positions to cycle those still, was one of
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  those maybe more surprising to you than the other. Yeah, I think Dorian
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  Brue was more surprising. I think when and I thought for a while they
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  were going to get Jordan Davison, But I think when they took Isaiah West
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  and took the second running back, I think everyone had to realize that that
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  may not ultimately sit well with Jordan Davidson, and he may decide to go
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  elsewhere and not be part of a three back class. With Brew, the
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  Red Sea had kind of parted for him. There, you know, Blake
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  would be decommitted. They really kind of put the full court press on him
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  on his official visit last week, and things were sounding very good coming out
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  of that. And to go even further, I don't think Oregon was the
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  school they were worried about. I think it was Texas. So it kind
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  of one eight eight on him there with Brew I think Jordan Davison again was
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  kind of a product of well, when they took Isaiah West and made it
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  a two back class, you had to be at least understand this was a
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  possibility. So that was kind of the news over the weekend, the news
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  earlier in the month in some of those cases. So that sort of is
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  where things stand now. Now here's what's coming up next. Defensive edline,
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  edge prospect, maybe outside linebacker, depending on how you want to categorize him.
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  Jack Justin Hill. He is set to commit on the third. It
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  feels like, I mean, this is already mark a very deep defensive line
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  class for Ohio State compared to some of the ones they've gotten in recent years.
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  Adding Justin Hill would just make it even better. Is this, you
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  know, is this a function of Ohio State maybe shifting its you know approach
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  in defensive line recruiting after a couple of years where they missed on some guys.
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  Is this just you know, that the having something to point to,
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  like what what what are they selling this year that is working so well?
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  And you know, do you feel like Justin Hill maybe is going to you
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  know, become a part of this class as well? Well? First of
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  all, yes, I do expect. I do expect Ohio State to land
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  Justin on Wednesday. I think They've been in the lead for for a long
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  time now, you know, going back into the winter, so I'm expecting
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  Ohio State to get good news there. You know. As for why so
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  much success there right now, I think it's twofold. I do think Larry
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  Johnson got off to a faster start with guys in this class. I do
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  think he sped things up a little bit. Now, he did have some
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  established relationships as well. He was in very early on London Merit, he
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  was in very early on Zahar Mathis. Obviously, Ohio State was in very
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  early on Justin Hill, assuming they get him on Wednesday. And you know,
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  so Zion Grady was kind of the one guy that was kind of a
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  whoa you know moment there the last couple of months, Wow, they can
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  actually maybe get this guy despite maybe not being super early on him. But
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  so I think that's part of it. They got the ball rolling a little
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  bit earlier. But again, when you have all these guys returning for their
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  senior years that you didn't expect to maybe that you maybe thought you were going
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  to lose two or three of these guys, they all come back, that
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  means they have to get out of here after this year. And they only
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  really signed Edric Houston last year as an edge guy. So you're looking at
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  a situation now where if I'm a five star or a top fifty type of
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  defensive end, I'm thinking I can play right away and maybe play quite a
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  bit as a true freshman. And you know, that's obviously a huge,
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  huge selling point that they're able to put out there right now. So I
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  mentioned earlier, they've got twenty one commits already number one class and the two
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  four to seven composite just a hair behind LSU. In terms of average ranking
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  per player, average star ranking per player. They are right at the top
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  of the board by virtually any measure you'd want to use. But there is
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  still work to do in the class of twenty twenty five. You know,
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  this is potentially with all those guys leaving with you never know who's heading into
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  the transfer portal. It feels like this could be a class that ends up
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  much bigger than a typical Ohio State class. So you might end up in
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  the upper twenties, you know, whether that's twenty eight, twenty nine,
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  whatever the number is. Where is there still work to do in the twenty
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  twenty five cycle for the Buckeyes. I mean, they've got a very very
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  solid class already. Where do they still need to add to really get it
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  to where they need it to be? Well, I do think this is
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  going to be a really big class. And at the risk of having said
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  that a couple of times in the past ten years and it not coming to
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  fruition and them not really utilizing the full eighty five necessarily, I think,
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  you know, the Lockness Monster is going to appear, or the Tasmanian Tiger
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  or whatever, you know, whatever mythical creature that we've predicted that we would
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  eventually see out of Ohio State in terms of like a twenty eight man class
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  is going to come to fruition. The work right now is primarily on the
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  offensive line. There's also work at wide receiver to be done. And yes,
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  they're gonna want to They're gonna want a third corner, whether that's continuing
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  to chip away at Dorian brew even though he's committed, or whether you know,
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  kind of opening up some new targets, whatever that may be. They're
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  going to continue to search for a third corner. They would like to take
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  a third linebacker. But I think again, I think the big emphasis right
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  now is finishing out the offensive line and the defensive tackle position, which may
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  not take that much longer. You know. Uh, Trajan Odum was a
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  huge get. I wasn't sure they would get him. He's from California,
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  he lives in North Carolina. They had a lot of things working against him
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  there. USC's class kind of fell apart on them, which I wasn't sure
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  if that would be good or bad with Otum. It was probably, in
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  hindsight, a good thing in terms of high shake getting Odum when he looked
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  around and saw all these other big time defensive lineman he was supposed to be
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  playing with, maybe they're heading elsewhere. So they got they got a little
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  bit. They were on the right side of things with that, and so
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  they've got one. I think they only need to I think they would take
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  three if it was the right three. And I think they're in a good
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  position with Maxwell Roy. I believe they've made the push for him. Now.
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  We talked about this a couple of weeks ago on the show about you
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  know, getting the defensive tackle board settled and who they're going to push for
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  and who they kind of figure they're not going to get, and this,
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  that and the other, and so I think they've got a really good chance
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  of getting Maxwell Roy here, So that could actually finish that off. So
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  that brings you to the offensive line, where they're still chasing, you know,
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  Javin McFadden and of course David Sanders junior is the big fish and he'll
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  probably commit somewhere in August. So that's going to be a huge thing for
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  them as we kind of go to the dead period here, is just making
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  sure they're basically all in on David Sanders junior and doing everything they can to
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  get that commitment in August. So we will continue talking Buckeye recruiting throughout the
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  month of July should be a very busy month. He typically do see more
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  commitments during the month of July, and then, as you said, there's
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  other guys who have said they're gonna commit before the season. So the season
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  starts relatively soon, especially on the high school side of things, so it
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  could be much more action there. All right, we do Before I let
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  you go, we spend a lot of time talking Blue Jackets on the huddle
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  board presented by Jeff Ruby Steakhouse at bucket huddle dot com. So I do
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  want to get your thoughts on the Blue Jackets draft. There was some talk
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  they might trade down, they did not trade down, ended up picking at
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  number four. Your your thoughts on the draft on the whole. I saw
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  there was someone who had said to the new the New GM that it looked
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  like they were drafting a basketball team because they kept going with size size,
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  size, size size. Any any thoughts on this year's draft. Yeah,
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  so, I guess their choice was kind of Caden Lindstrom or Ivan Demidov,
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  the Russian winger, and they have so many wings right now. I know
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  there's a lot of people who maybe wanted them to take Demodov instead of Caden
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  Lindstrom, but look, this is a franchise. It hasn't had quality depth
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  at center and its entire existence, and they've kind of fished with dynamite here
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  the last couple of years. They draft Fantilly that looks like a hit.
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  They draft Cylinder, which at minimum looks like a bottom six center, and
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  then Lindstrom's got a high upside to be a one or two center. And
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  then they signed Sean Monahan in a free first day of free agency of Johnny
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  Gadreau's old teammates. So, you know, bottom line, I think they've
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  done a pretty good job here filling the gaps and and kind of building out
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  that center death. And they took a lot of big defensemen, which I
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  think they sorely lack, you know, some some muscle on the back end
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  there. So that's not going to help them probably for a couple of years.
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  But I like where their thought process was at there. And we'll see,
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  you know, Monahan's not a guy you sign if you're you know,
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  still in a rebuild mode. So it sounds like they're going to try and
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  be competitive this year. And gosh, don't they have to get Johnny gudrou
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  going. And if they're going to, wouldn't the only way to wouldn't the
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  best way to do that to be to bring in his old center from Calgary.
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  And and because if you don't get Johnny Gudroau going, this franchise isn't
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  going anywhere. Yeah, that's that's definitely one one piece that they're missing.
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  You know, the idea of the centers. You go back over the years
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  and yeah, they have. It just feels like they have never been able
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  to get centers consistently. And you know, this is a year, this
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  is a league where good centers just don't move. It's just not that easy.
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  You get, it's not that easy to just throw a trade together for
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  a center. So they have maybe found, you know, the one weird
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  trick to load your roster with good young centers. They don't move in,
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  they move out because they've they've won the you know, they never they have
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  terrible draft lottery luck, but in terms of the luck involved in acquiring malcontent
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  centers, they sure have that market cornered. Yeah, well, we'll see.
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  This is this is maybe something a little different trying. If at first
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  you don't succeed, if the first twenty something years don't go well, well,
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  probably something a little different. I'm filled with something I don't. It's
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  an unfamiliar feeling. Mark. It's it's like pessimism, but the opposite.
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  It's so unfamiliar, I don't even know what the word is. We'll see,
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  we will see how things go for the Blue Jackets. We'll be talking
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  about that. I'm the Huddleboard presented by Jeffruby, Steak House at Buckhot at
• 13:05
  Puckeye Huddle dot com. And of course we'll be talking buck Eyes there as
• 13:09
  well. Lots to talk about there. Your baseball fan, Hey, there
• 13:13
  is a team up in Cleveland that's having a pretty good season. We're talking
• 13:16
  about them, the Reds. Well, they're also playing you know, I'm
• 13:18
  a Mets fan. I can't really talk too much. Took too much back
• 13:22
  about the Reds this year. But yeah, we were talking about all that
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  stuff football, NFL season coming. We're talking football there. And of course
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  we were talking Ohio State, recruiting, Ohio State see, you know,
• 13:31
  the season, all that stuff, new college football playoff, new college football
• 13:35
  video game. There is a ton to talk about this month, all at
• 13:37
  bucke huddle dot com. That's where Tony Kevin and I cover the team.
• 13:41
  Mark covers recruiting. We're at our whole team of exus and ohs Guruz making
• 13:45
  you a murder football fan all at Buckey Huddle dot com. We hope to
• 13:48
  see you there. The Big Ten Media Days just three weeks away. Can't
• 13:52
  belive it. Three weeks from now we will be in Indianapolis talking to Big
• 13:56
  Ten players and coaches. Season almost here. We hope to see you at
• 14:00
  Buckeyehuddle dot com to enjoy it all with us. That'll do it for today.
• 14:03
  Thank you guys all for joining us. Have a great day. We'll
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  talk to you tomorrow.