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BONUS: Are Ohio State's Running Backs Running Angry Enough? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: All right, it is time for a bonus episode. And
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: we've got three bonus episodes coming out of the press
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: conference with Ryan Day earlier in the week. He had
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  Speaker 1: a lot of interesting things to say. And man, a
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  Speaker 1: lot of times there are questions that people are asking
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  Speaker 1: on social media or on our board, and they don't
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  Speaker 1: always get answered in the press conference. Feels like we
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  Speaker 1: got a lot of real honest to goodness answers at
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  Speaker 1: that Tuesday press conference. And sometimes you got to read
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  Speaker 1: between the lines a little bit on some of them,
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  Speaker 1: but it feels like the truth is out there. to
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  Speaker 1: quote a 1990s TV show. So we're going to start
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  Speaker 1: on the offensive side of the ball, and we're going
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  Speaker 1: to start with one of the questions that lots of
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  Speaker 1: people have been asking us, and that is, okay, what's
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  Speaker 1: the deal with Legend Bay? Legend Bay looked phenomenal in
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  Speaker 1: that first game of the season against Ball State, played
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  Speaker 1: one snap against Texas for zero yards, played one snap
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  Speaker 1: against Kent State for zero yards, and then was healthy.
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  Speaker 1: He was supposedly left at Kent State game with an injury.
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  Speaker 1: And then, so then he was, he was healthy. He
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  Speaker 1: would did, was not on the availability report at all
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  Speaker 1: for the game last week against Illinois. And everyone thought, aha, okay,
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  Speaker 1: you're going to see a bunch of legend Bay. And
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  Speaker 1: then he didn't play at all. So, okay. What was
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  Speaker 1: the deal there? Why did he not play last week?
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  Speaker 1: And is Ryan day expecting legend Bay to play this week?
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  Speaker 2: Well, um, it'll kind of be based on how, how
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  Speaker 2: the practice goes this week, uh, how he does. Um,
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  Speaker 2: you know, we all know, um, his ability level, um,
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  Speaker 2: just got to continue to work, to build trust. Um,
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  Speaker 2: but we definitely would like to see him on the field.
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  Speaker 1: One of the things that Ryan Day has really been
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  Speaker 1: pushing from the running backs is more big plays, more
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  Speaker 1: explosive plays, but last week he just talked about, he
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  Speaker 1: just wanted to see him run angry. He wanted to
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  Speaker 1: see them really on the high end of the angry
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  Speaker 1: scale last week. So, okay, how did the running backs
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  Speaker 1: grade out there?
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  Speaker 2: I haven't thought about the scale, but there were some
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  Speaker 2: definitely better runs, but we're going to have to run
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  Speaker 2: downhill and run angry during this game, that's for sure. So, Um,
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  Speaker 2: I think, you know, there was time when, you know,
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  Speaker 2: you bring the iPad over and you see more, but then,
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  Speaker 2: you know, late in the game, there was a couple
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  Speaker 2: of times where contacts made it three and we're finishing
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  Speaker 2: at eight and nine. That's what we're looking for. Um,
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  Speaker 2: didn't really break a big one like we want to, um,
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  Speaker 2: but you know, we're going to have to do that
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  Speaker 2: this week. And I think there was a step in
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  Speaker 2: the right direction for sure, but especially from the week previous, um,
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  Speaker 2: but it's got to continue to get better.
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  Speaker 1: One of the young Buckeyes who seems like he is
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  Speaker 1: really taking on a bigger role right now is tight
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  Speaker 1: end Nate Roberts. He's just a sophomore. Last year, he
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  Speaker 1: played a bunch as a true freshman, but he really
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  Speaker 1: mostly played as a fullback this year. Really more of
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  Speaker 1: a traditional tight end role and really getting involved in
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  Speaker 1: the passing attack on the whole. So what did the
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  Speaker 1: Buckeyes need to do to get the tight ends more
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  Speaker 1: involved moving forward?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think anytime you're doing it for the first time,
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  Speaker 2: losing Will and losing Max last year, these guys are um,
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  Speaker 2: you know, stepping into some, some big shoes. Those guys
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  Speaker 2: carried a lot of weight for us and to see,
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  Speaker 2: you know, um, you know, Nate make that catch on
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  Speaker 2: fourth down and grade out the way he did that. That's,
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  Speaker 2: you know, a huge step in the right direction at
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  Speaker 2: a conference game. But now we've got to consistently do
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  Speaker 2: it over time. Um, but you know, those guys have
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  Speaker 2: to be, you know, Swiss army knives for us. They
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  Speaker 2: gotta be able to do a lot of things, you know,
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  Speaker 2: line up, run routes, block, protect, um, and be able
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  Speaker 2: to handle it all mentally as well. So there's a
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  Speaker 2: lot that comes with it. And so between he Mason, um,
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  Speaker 2: In that group right there, there's going to be a
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  Speaker 2: lot of opportunity. We're going to need it. We like
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  Speaker 2: to play with at least one tight end in the game,
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  Speaker 2: but sometimes two and situationally three. But the better they play,
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  Speaker 2: the more they're doing their job, the more opportunity they're
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  Speaker 2: going to have, just like everybody else.
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  Speaker 1: Jeremiah Smith is at the point where now he is
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  Speaker 1: going to start breaking Ohio State records or Big Ten
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  Speaker 1: records or maybe NCAA records most weeks moving forward. More
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  Speaker 1: often than not, he's probably going to be challenging or
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  Speaker 1: breaking some kind of a record this season. What is
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  Speaker 1: it that sets him so far ahead of everyone else
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  Speaker 1: who has been through this program as a wide receiver?
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  Speaker 2: I think a lot of people like to play the
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  Speaker 2: comparison game and try to compare, you know, one player
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  Speaker 2: to another. You know, and I think the question comes
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  Speaker 2: up a lot, you know, what makes Jeremiah so special?
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  Speaker 2: What separates him from everybody else? And I think you've
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  Speaker 2: heard me say it before is his mindset. That being said,
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  Speaker 2: it's hard to, you know, discredit the fact that, you know,
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  Speaker 2: He's really big and really strong and really fast and
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  Speaker 2: powerful and has really good hand-eye coordination. And, you know,
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  Speaker 2: he's won the genetic lottery. We know that. But there's
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  Speaker 2: a lot of players that have in the past. But
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  Speaker 2: what separates them is the mindset, the discipline, and then
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  Speaker 2: the skill set. So we talk about it all the time. Like,
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  Speaker 2: you can't control how much talent you have. You can
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  Speaker 2: only control your discipline and skill. And discipline is all
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  Speaker 2: the things that God didn't give you. And so it's
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  Speaker 2: your attitude. It's your work ethic. It's your belief. It's
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  Speaker 2: The decisions you make on a daily basis on what
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  Speaker 2: you eat, what time you go home, where you go
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  Speaker 2: at night, how much film you watch, all of those things.
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  Speaker 2: And then the skill. And I think when you see Jeremiah,
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  Speaker 2: you see the skill set has improved over the years.
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  Speaker 2: I was watching him as a freshman, and obviously you
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  Speaker 2: could see the talent, but the precision and the route
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  Speaker 2: running has really improved. He's really refined that part of
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  Speaker 2: it because he knows that's important, especially when as he's
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  Speaker 2: continued to build his route tree. So the easy thing
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  Speaker 2: to do a lot of times when you're talented is
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  Speaker 2: be undisciplined and unskilled and trust, you know, and just
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  Speaker 2: kind of lean on your talent. Jeremiah has not done that.
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  Speaker 2: And I'd love to say that, you know, he came
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  Speaker 2: in and we sort of developed that part of him,
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  Speaker 2: but he had that mindset when he walked in. I
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  Speaker 2: think we've surrounded him with really good people to help
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  Speaker 2: him maximize himself, but his mindset is elite.
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  Speaker 1: Ryan Day saw a lot of success last year bringing
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  Speaker 1: in an NFL defensive coordinator and Matt Patricia. This year,
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  Speaker 1: he brought in an NFL offensive coordinator in Arthur Smith. Now,
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  Speaker 1: Arthur Smith has a lot of experience, was a head
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  Speaker 1: coach in the NFL, just like Patricia was, was a
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  Speaker 1: coordinator on some very talented teams, just like Patricia was.
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  Speaker 1: But did Arthur Smith's background working with really elite talent,
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  Speaker 1: guys like running back Derrick Henry with the Titans, for example,
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  Speaker 1: did knowing that Arthur Smith sort of understood not only
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  Speaker 1: the importance of putting the ball in your elite players'
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  Speaker 1: hands as often as possible, but how to do that.
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  Speaker 1: Was that sort of a deciding factor in Arthur Smith
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  Speaker 1: becoming the new offensive coordinator.
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  Speaker 2: At Ohio State? Yeah, no, that's definitely part of it
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  Speaker 2: for a lot of reasons. One, like you're saying, that
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  Speaker 2: part of it, but also just with credibility with the players,
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  Speaker 2: you know, knowing that this guy has a resume, that
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  Speaker 2: he's coached really good players and really good offenses. It
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  Speaker 2: helps with the staff, it helps recruiting, you know, everything. So,
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  Speaker 2: And definitely his past and who he's worked with had
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  Speaker 2: a play in that.
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State has brought in a lot of very high
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  Speaker 1: profile transfers over the years. But one of the guys
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  Speaker 1: who is maybe a little under the radar this year
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  Speaker 1: is running back Jacoby Jackson. He played for Florida last year.
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  Speaker 1: He's played six years of college football already, starting at JUCO.
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  Speaker 1: but has never really been a full-time guy, was certainly
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  Speaker 1: not a high-profile guy for them to bring in. So
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  Speaker 1: what did they see from Jacoby Jackson that made them
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  Speaker 1: want to bring him in, and what kind of role
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  Speaker 1: can he play for them this season?
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  Speaker 2: Well, he was backing up an excellent back last year,
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  Speaker 2: and then he had a little bit of a stinger
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  Speaker 2: and didn't get a chance to play as much as
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  Speaker 2: he would have liked to last year. But Anytime someone's
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  Speaker 2: in a portal, you've got to do your research and
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  Speaker 2: find out people who have been around them before. We
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  Speaker 2: got a lot of positive feedback. And then you just
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  Speaker 2: watch his instincts on film through the evaluation process. We
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  Speaker 2: saw somebody who just we felt like had a really
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  Speaker 2: good feel for it. And if he was in a
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  Speaker 2: different situation where he wasn't going through that injury and
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  Speaker 2: maybe wasn't playing behind a really good back, you would
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  Speaker 2: have seen more production out of him. So we thought
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  Speaker 2: it was a great opportunity to have him. Last year,
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  Speaker 2: we had C.J. Donaldson sort of in that role as
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  Speaker 2: the elder statesman in the room. to bring some experience
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  Speaker 2: and maturity to it. We felt he could do that
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  Speaker 2: for us, but I'd say that he's even been more
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  Speaker 2: of an upgrade than we expected just in terms of
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  Speaker 2: what we saw on film. He's really done a good job,
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  Speaker 2: but same thing. Like, okay, we're in conference play now.
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  Speaker 2: We've got to be at our best, and we're going
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  Speaker 2: to need Jacoby. He's also helped us on special teams, too,
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  Speaker 2: in terms of the punt return unit. He's a team guy.
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  Speaker 2: He's got a great attitude, and his teammates have a
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  Speaker 2: lot of respect for him.
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  Speaker 1: Ryan Day has talked about challenging various position groups over
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  Speaker 1: the last few weeks and over the course of the summer.
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  Speaker 1: One of the units that's going to face a big
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  Speaker 1: challenge this week is the offensive line. Iowa's going to
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  Speaker 1: have a really stout and pretty well-schemed-up defense under Norm Parker.
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  Speaker 1: What kind of a challenge is ahead for the offensive
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  Speaker 1: line this weekend?
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  Speaker 2: Right now, we're going to go against a team that
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  Speaker 2: historically does, does not let you run the ball. So, well,
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  Speaker 2: what a, what a huge challenge for offensive line to
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  Speaker 2: run the ball on the road, um, in, in a
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  Speaker 2: huge environment for four quarters. And like you said, you know,
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  Speaker 2: when we need to run in the fourth quarter, like that's,
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  Speaker 2: that's what it's going to come down to. Same thing
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  Speaker 2: on defense. So, um, yeah, this is a huge challenge
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  Speaker 2: for these guys. And so they, they need to be
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  Speaker 2: on their game, but it's everybody and the physicality and
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  Speaker 2: the focus and the execution that comes with it. Um, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: they've been doing this for a long time, but I,
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  Speaker 2: with coach friends and coach Parker. So, um, You don't
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  Speaker 2: really need to challenge them much other than that. You
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  Speaker 2: need to be able to run the ball against an
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  Speaker 2: Iowa defense. That in and of itself is a major challenge.
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  Speaker 1: The availability report will come out on Wednesday night at
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  Speaker 1: 8 o'clock, the first edition of that. But when it does,
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  Speaker 1: one of the names we're going to be looking for
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  Speaker 1: right away is right tackle Phillip Daniels. He did not
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  Speaker 1: end up playing last week, sat out that Illinois game.
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  Speaker 1: But if he's ready to go this week and if
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  Speaker 1: he's back, Where do things stand there? They've kind of
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  Speaker 1: had two different offensive lines this year. One with Gabe
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  Speaker 1: Van Sickle at right guard and Austin Cervell at right tackle.
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  Speaker 1: And then when Daniels was healthy, you saw a lot
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  Speaker 1: of Austin Cervell at right guard and Philip Daniels at
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  Speaker 1: right tackle. So if Philip Daniels is back and this
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  Speaker 1: is a real debate, where do things stand? Who's going to,
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  Speaker 1: who's going to be starting there?
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  Speaker 2: We'll see how Phillip does this week, see how he
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  Speaker 2: looks and then make the decision on what we're going
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  Speaker 2: to do from there. But I will say that Phil
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  Speaker 2: did some good things when, you know, before his injury.
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  Speaker 2: But I also think Gabe has, you know, really, you know, been,
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  Speaker 2: been a bright spot for us in a lot of areas.
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  Speaker 2: It's not been perfect, but he's getting better with every rep.
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  Speaker 2: So he's making it hard, which is a good problem
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  Speaker 2: to have. But I don't think right now he's done
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  Speaker 2: anything to say he doesn't deserve to play. So it's
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  Speaker 2: their job to make sure that they're pushing everything they
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: can to do their part in practice, to build the
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  Speaker 2: trust and And then as coaches, we just have to
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: make a final decision on how we want to play
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  Speaker 2: this game based on how Phil does this week.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: All right, there you go. We're going to be having
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: bonus shows for you all week long. I'm going to
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: let you hear from Ryan Day. We're going to let
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: you try and hear from Kirk Ferentz, Iowa's head coach,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: from his press conference on Tuesday. We have Ohio State
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: Basketball Media Day on Wednesday. We'll try and let you
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: hear a little bit from Jake Diebler as well about
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: the Ohio State men's basketball team. Don't worry, we have
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: not forgotten about the Ohio State men's basketball team. They
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: open their season next Wednesday in an exhibition game. I'll
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: try and be there to cover that one for you
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: as well. But we got to really talk about this
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: week's Ohio State-Iowa game. Top 15 showdown in Kinnick Stadium.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Number five Buckeyes. Number 14 Iowa Hawkeyes. Should be a
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: great one. We're going to have lots of coverage all
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: week long. We would love to see you at BuckeyeInsiders.com
• 11:32
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• 11:34
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• 11:37
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• 11:39
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• 11:42
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• 12:04
  Speaker 1: Thank you guys all for joining us. We'll be back
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: with another bonus episode soon.