Latest / Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning / Ross Fulton Analysis: 3 Things To Watch, 3 Concerns For Ohio State's Defense

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Ross Fulton Analysis: 3 Things To Watch, 3 Concerns For Ohio State's Defense · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Saturday, September 5th. I'm
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  Speaker 1: your host, Tom, or the Ball State game is today.
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  Speaker 1: The game against Michigan in 84 days. Today's episode presented
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  Speaker 1: by our friends at Jeff Ruby's of Columbus, proudly offering
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  Speaker 1: nationally acclaimed USDA prime steaks, seafood and sushi, impeccable service,
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  Speaker 1: live entertainment, and an attention to detail that is simply unmatched.
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  Speaker 1: Just go to jeffruby.com slash Columbus to check out the
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  Speaker 1: menu and make a reservation today. Jeff Ruby, a place
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  Speaker 1: to celebrate life's big events, and one of the big
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  Speaker 1: events in life right now, the start of the 2026 Olympics.
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State football season that is happening on Saturday in Columbus.
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  Speaker 1: Lots to celebrate there. Something else to celebrate, we're going
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  Speaker 1: to welcome in Ross Fulton, one of the scheme insiders
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  Speaker 1: at BuckeyeInsiders.com. We're going to be talking about three things
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  Speaker 1: he's going to be expecting to see out of the
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State defense this year, and also a few maybe
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  Speaker 1: areas of potential concern there as well. So I know
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  Speaker 1: everyone wants to be excited, but everyone also wants to
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  Speaker 1: have something to complain about. Sounds like we're going to
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  Speaker 1: have a little bit of something for everyone here. And
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  Speaker 1: one thing that there may be a little bit of
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  Speaker 1: something for everyone is there may be more guys playing
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  Speaker 1: on defense this year because you're expecting Matt Patricia to
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  Speaker 1: maybe use more situational packages this year than he did
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  Speaker 1: last year.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, as I discussed, like, I don't think
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  Speaker 2: they're going to just rotate. Like, I don't expect Jalen
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  Speaker 2: McClain or a little to rotate just to rotate.
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  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 2: But I do think there'll be more packages. As I discussed,
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  Speaker 2: you know, basically last year against 11 personnel, one tight end,
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  Speaker 2: they play nickel, 12 personnel, two tight ends. you know,
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  Speaker 2: they bring in a third linebacker instead. And then they,
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  Speaker 2: they had a dime package look that they'd use on
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  Speaker 2: some third logs. I think there'll be a couple more
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  Speaker 2: things this year. In addition, I mean, I think those
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  Speaker 2: three things will be staples, but you know, one, I
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  Speaker 2: do think that they'll have maybe like a big nickel package,
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  Speaker 2: like sort of in between, like, you know, someone like
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  Speaker 2: a Simeon Caldwell who comes in, you know, if Jake
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  Speaker 2: Timmons were assuming is the base nickel defender, maybe they
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  Speaker 2: want someone who's more of like a, safety linebacker hybrid type. Um, and,
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  Speaker 2: and so to sort of, you know, have an in-between
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  Speaker 2: between a three linebacker look and the nickel. Um, another
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  Speaker 2: one is I could, uh, you know, expect like a three,
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  Speaker 2: three look where one of the linebackers, you know, uh,
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  Speaker 2: Christian Allegro or Riley Pettijohn, um, is much, is more
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  Speaker 2: sort of like a standup, um, you know, rush end
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  Speaker 2: type where it's, it's kind of a pass, uh, pass
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  Speaker 2: rush look. so to speak, because I do think, you know,
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  Speaker 2: get to one of the concerns, like, obviously I think
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  Speaker 2: it's a question mark opposite Kenyatta Jackson and particularly like,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I think biggest issue is stopping the run.
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  Speaker 2: But I think after that, you know, obviously they're going
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  Speaker 2: to need to generate some pressure. And so might use
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  Speaker 2: one of those guys. So I think you'll have some,
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  Speaker 2: some sub packages that you'll see a little bit more of.
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  Speaker 1: And another way they could potentially generate some more pass
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  Speaker 1: rush and more pressure on that opposing quarterback is with
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  Speaker 1: creepers and SIM pressures. This is something that Michael Pettit,
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  Speaker 1: our other scheme insider, did a whole show about earlier
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  Speaker 1: in the summer. You can find that if you want
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  Speaker 1: to search, well, I'd be careful searching creepers on the internet,
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  Speaker 1: but if you search creepers and sim pressures, Buckeye insiders
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  Speaker 1: on YouTube, you should get the right thing. But Ross,
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  Speaker 1: why are you expecting that?
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  Speaker 2: Again, I think they're going to need to generate the
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  Speaker 2: rush that I don't think, you know, a pass rush
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  Speaker 2: and use confusion. I don't think that they can play
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  Speaker 2: as much in base as they did last year. You know,
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  Speaker 2: they're missing obviously multiple high end first round guys that
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  Speaker 2: were on that defense. And so I just think they're
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  Speaker 2: going to have to rely more on scheme and confusion
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  Speaker 2: by confusion. I mean, trying to confuse the offense. And so,
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  Speaker 2: you know, things like, as I said, like I highly
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  Speaker 2: recommend that show, you know, those four down rush packages
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  Speaker 2: where you're bringing up back seven defender, but then dropping
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  Speaker 2: a defensive lineman into coverage, you know, Quay Russo gives
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  Speaker 2: them as one of their defensive ends, a lot of,
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  Speaker 2: Flexibility to sort of play as a zone defender. Maybe
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  Speaker 2: some more twists and suns up front as well on rundowns. Again,
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  Speaker 2: I just think they're going to have to use scheme
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  Speaker 2: to make up somewhat for the loss of downs and
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  Speaker 2: styles and Reese from last year and Cade McDonald.
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  Speaker 1: And another place that a guy like Quay Russo or
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  Speaker 1: Christian Allegro, who you mentioned earlier, and then as well
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  Speaker 1: as a whole bunch of other guys that we've talked
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  Speaker 1: about already, they could all fit in is in the
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  Speaker 1: penny front. And I know that's something that we talked
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  Speaker 1: about a bunch during the season last year is something
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  Speaker 1: that Matt Patricia was sort of bringing to Ohio state in,
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  Speaker 1: in a way that they really hadn't used it that
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  Speaker 1: much before. It seems like that might be an even
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  Speaker 1: bigger potential role this season.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. I think even in like week zero, for instance,
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  Speaker 2: we saw more and more odd penny front across college football.
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  Speaker 2: So again, I think it's, you know, a good response
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  Speaker 2: to teams that want to zone run teams, right. Cause it's,
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  Speaker 2: as we talked about last year, reduces double teams. Patricia
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  Speaker 2: has always been an odd front guy. You know, the
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  Speaker 2: penny is, a 5-1, hence the penny. So it's a
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  Speaker 2: nickel package, right? Unlike your traditional, like, 3-4, where you
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  Speaker 2: have two inside linebackers here, you just have one. And,
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  Speaker 2: you know, last year, they walked Arville Reese up, and
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  Speaker 2: so you bump over your four defensive linemen and have Reese.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I think Allegro can do that this year,
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  Speaker 2: and that Reese role will come down and play to
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  Speaker 2: set the edge. But I do think that the penny
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  Speaker 2: front also, just personnel-wise, gives them a lot of flexibility.
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  Speaker 2: You know, as I talk about in the article, like,
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  Speaker 2: They have two, three techniques, an Edric Houston and James Smith.
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  Speaker 2: So they could play both of them, you know, on
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  Speaker 2: either side of the nose. Like Kenyatta Jackson, be the
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  Speaker 2: stand-up edge opposite Allegro. And so you have a really
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  Speaker 2: heavy run first look. They could go lighter, you know,
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  Speaker 2: like last year, Jackson would bump inside and be one
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  Speaker 2: of those defensive tackles of the penny. They could do
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  Speaker 2: that with him. They could bring in Roussel outside of him,
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  Speaker 2: you know, and so you have a much lighter, more
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  Speaker 2: pass forward. focused Penny look. So I do think their
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  Speaker 2: personnel lends itself to that front.
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  Speaker 1: So you mentioned earlier the concern about the edge spot
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  Speaker 1: opposite Kenyatta Jackson. And I think that's a perfectly legitimate
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  Speaker 1: question mark to have right now. Sometimes that works out
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  Speaker 1: fine and everyone's worried about Caden Curry and then Caden
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  Speaker 1: Curry turns out to be an All-American, but not always.
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  Speaker 1: So that's definitely one area to be concerned. It feels
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  Speaker 1: like the defensive side of the ball, though, there are
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  Speaker 1: more real question marks than there were on the offensive
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  Speaker 1: side of the ball. So what are some other things
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  Speaker 1: that are maybe a little bit of a question mark
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  Speaker 1: in your mind right now?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would just throw more generally, like including with
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  Speaker 2: that defensive end, like how the defensive line plays against
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  Speaker 2: the run. I mean, the Ohio State defensive line last
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  Speaker 2: year was great at block destruction and keeping the linebackers clean.
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  Speaker 2: You know, Ryan Day's been asked about the defensive tackles
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  Speaker 2: a couple times this month in August. And, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I think he, I, I, it didn't seem like high,
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  Speaker 2: you know, there's, they're talking about the depth, which always
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  Speaker 2: to me is like on the one hand depth is great.
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  Speaker 2: On the other hand, like you can only play, you know,
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  Speaker 2: when the game's on the line, like do you have
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  Speaker 2: guys that can, can make the plays? And so, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I do think they have, they have some talent there
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  Speaker 2: and just, we're going to have to see how that
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  Speaker 2: front handles the run, particularly including from that defensive end spot.
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  Speaker 2: The other one I'd add is sort of the corners.
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  Speaker 2: And I guess you, you throw the nickel in there
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  Speaker 2: just because, I mean, the praise for Jay Timmons is
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  Speaker 2: very high, but obviously true freshmen, like we have to
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  Speaker 2: see how he handles, you know, the in-game situations in
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  Speaker 2: terms of like assignment football, right? Like you don't want
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  Speaker 2: a bus to lead to a 75 yard touchdown play. So,
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  Speaker 2: but I'd also add the corners. Like I think IGB
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  Speaker 2: was pretty underrated in his time. I think last year,
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  Speaker 2: Jermaine Matthews certainly had some ups and downs, particularly towards
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  Speaker 2: the end of the year. And I think, Devin Sanchez
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  Speaker 2: in that dime roll or third corner roll last year
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  Speaker 2: also had some ups and downs and got picked on
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  Speaker 2: at times as we talked about. So, you know, I
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  Speaker 2: do think they're going to be a zone heavy team.
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  Speaker 2: I think even probably more so than last year, lots
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  Speaker 2: of cover three, cover two, other kinds of, you know,
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  Speaker 2: split safety zone coverages. But I just still think like
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  Speaker 2: we have to kind of see how all these parts
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  Speaker 2: work together, right? They're replacing eight starters, um, SP Plus
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  Speaker 2: has them as the number one preseason defense, but I
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  Speaker 2: think there's certainly question marks out there to see how
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  Speaker 2: it all fits together.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we will start getting some answers to those questions
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  Speaker 1: Saturday at 1230 inside Ohio Stadium. Tony Juck and I
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  Speaker 1: will be there for all of your pregame coverage, your
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  Speaker 1: we'll be talking about, I don't know, whatever that game
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  Speaker 1: is after the Ball State game. The Ball State game
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  Speaker 1: is all anyone can think about or talk about right now.
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  Speaker 1: But whatever happens after Ball State, I'm sure we'll talk
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  Speaker 1: about that this weekend as well. And we'll be doing
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  Speaker 1: that at BuckeyeInsiders.com as well as at YouTube.com slash at
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  Speaker 1: there as well. Thanks again to our friends at Jeff
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  Speaker 1: out the menu and make a reservation today. That will
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: do it for today. Thank you guys all for joining us.
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  Speaker 1: Have a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.