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What Will Jeremiah Smith Do Next As Ohio State Spring Practice Opens? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to buck Eyes tomorrow morning for Wednesday, March twelfth,
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  Speaker 1: I'm your host, tom Or the Texas game in one
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  Speaker 1: hundred and seventy one days, the game against Michigan in
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  Speaker 1: two hundred and sixty two days. If you're planning your
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  Speaker 1: next event, make it unforgettable with Grateful Griddle, Columbus's favorite
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  Speaker 1: Book your catering today at Grateful Griddle oh dot com.
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  Speaker 1: On Today Show, You're going to get to hear from
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  Speaker 1: new Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline. He's you know,
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  Speaker 1: this is not his first time as Ohio State's offensive coordinator,
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  Speaker 1: but it is his first time where he's going to
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  Speaker 1: really get a chance to call the plays. So how
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  Speaker 1: much is having a little bit of experience as the
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  Speaker 1: offensive coordinator in the past helping with taking over as
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  Speaker 1: the actual play caller this year?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it helped a lot. That perspective that you think,
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  Speaker 2: you know, you don't know until you're in those in
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  Speaker 2: those spots, you know. It's yeah, I mean I think
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  Speaker 2: that whether you want to be a coach and then
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  Speaker 2: you become a coach and when you're an assistant, but
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  Speaker 2: then you want to be the you know, head position
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  Speaker 2: coach and so on and so forth. Having that perspective
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  Speaker 2: being in that spot is definitely different, and so the
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  Speaker 2: amount of growth that you can have individually in that
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  Speaker 2: opportunity is, you know, as much as you're willing to
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  Speaker 2: make it. You know, I think if you have that mindset,
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  Speaker 2: you can grow a lot. If you have a sheltered
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  Speaker 2: off mindset, like, oh, I know everything already, then you
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  Speaker 2: probably won't grow as much. But that opportunity then was awesome.
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  Speaker 2: This opportunity is great and it feels even better currently.
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  Speaker 1: Brian Hartline, of course not just the offensive coordinator. He's
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  Speaker 1: also still in charge of the wide receivers. So of
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  Speaker 1: course what was a hot topic with him, Well, you
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  Speaker 1: will be shocked to learn that it was. Jeremiah Smith,
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  Speaker 1: the freshman sensation from twenty twenty five at twenty twenty four,
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  Speaker 1: is now a stoon to be a software sensation in
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, looking back at his freshman season just
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  Speaker 1: all around, not just on the field, just everywhere.
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  Speaker 3: How did Jeremiah Smith's freshman season go?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think Jeremiah's freshman year was it was excellent.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I think that there was never really an
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  Speaker 2: expectation leading into it. The expectation was to attack every
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  Speaker 2: day and try to maximize oneself and make sure nothing
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  Speaker 2: is given, everything would be earned, and that continues to
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  Speaker 2: this day. So I think the way he went about it,
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  Speaker 2: way everyone went about it allowed for the growth. I
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  Speaker 2: think it was very evident where and how he felt
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  Speaker 2: game one, practice one, meeting one to where he ended
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  Speaker 2: up at the end of the year. So to have
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  Speaker 2: that kind of growth and body that up and then
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  Speaker 2: have that growth again is what we're chasing. So I
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  Speaker 2: know that's what he's chasing and making sure we understand.
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  Speaker 2: You know, that mindset that allowed you to do what
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  Speaker 2: you did your freshman year, that really can't change. We
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  Speaker 2: got to find ways to have at least that enhance
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  Speaker 2: it from there to continue our growth, to continue his growth,
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  Speaker 2: and uh, and I think he's doing a great job
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  Speaker 2: with it.
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  Speaker 1: When you have a new coordinator taking over, everyone wants
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  Speaker 1: to know, Okay, where is he gonna be on game days.
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  Speaker 3: It's going to be on the sidelines, it's going to
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  Speaker 3: be up in the box. What's the latest on that
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  Speaker 3: brand herdline?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I gave a lot of thought to it. I
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  Speaker 2: really haven't made ay final decisions of it, but we'll
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  Speaker 2: make that decision when we kind of get there. Obviously,
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  Speaker 2: Coach Day's input will be huge, you know, getting around
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  Speaker 2: the staff and continue to see how we build and
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  Speaker 2: and and where we're, where we excel and where we lack.
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  Speaker 2: I think is really important. But I'll get a lot
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  Speaker 2: of thought to it. No decisions yet.
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  Speaker 1: Now back to Jeremiah Smith and what his plans are
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  Speaker 1: for this spring. He of course played a much longer
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  Speaker 1: season than he ever had before, not just the high
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  Speaker 1: school to college jump as a freshman, but the high
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  Speaker 1: school to longest season in Ohio state history jump as
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  Speaker 1: a freshman. So how is that going to impact the
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  Speaker 1: plan for him this spring?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think everyone played a lot longer than they
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  Speaker 2: ever have, so, you know, I think, you know, heading
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  Speaker 2: into the spring, it's just the teardown of the former
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  Speaker 2: foundation and the rebuild of a whole new team. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: you have to have to have that mindset. You have
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  Speaker 2: to have a mind a day one mindset in order
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  Speaker 2: to progress. You can't rely on previously built culture or
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  Speaker 2: schematic understanding. There's no assumption, so you have to rebuild
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  Speaker 2: from scratch. We're in the process of that. We will
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  Speaker 2: treat day one like Day one that clu and includes
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  Speaker 2: Jeremiah Smith, and so great opportunity to you know, evaluate
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  Speaker 2: and grow a new group of guys. I think in spring,
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  Speaker 2: I think our opinion is, you know, by fall, it's
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  Speaker 2: everything the team, the team, the team, that's what it's
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  Speaker 2: all about. But in order to add to a team,
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  Speaker 2: in order to add to a collective, you got to
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  Speaker 2: focus on the individual. The individual must improve so the
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  Speaker 2: collective can improve. And so building the base I think
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  Speaker 2: schematically and fundamentally and culturally is what we're attacking as
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  Speaker 2: we head in the spring.
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  Speaker 1: Another young wide receiver who's going to have a big
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  Speaker 1: spring in front of him is Brandon Innis. With a
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  Speaker 1: Mecca Abuka off to the NFL, there's a lot of
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  Speaker 1: opportunity for Brandon Innis this spring. What is Brian Hartline
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  Speaker 1: seen from Innis in terms of trying to actually get
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  Speaker 1: a chance to seize that role.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think when you come out of a season,
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  Speaker 2: you get out of January and kind of take a breath,
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  Speaker 2: and then when you get back in the winter, it's
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  Speaker 2: the first opportunity to re establish the new role that
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  Speaker 2: I want to have, right, I mean across the board, Uh,
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  Speaker 2: there's not one guy that doesn't want an improved role,
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  Speaker 2: So I think they're all attacking it that way. I
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  Speaker 2: think Brandon's one of them, but he's one of fifty.
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  Speaker 2: And I think that it's our job to provide opportunities
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  Speaker 2: to grow, to separate themselves, to see peer to peer evals,
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  Speaker 2: to allow these guys to check, you know, a chase
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  Speaker 2: a role at least through through winter they've gotten that,
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  Speaker 2: started to continue that through spring, and I think Brandon's
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  Speaker 2: you know, fits in line with that. I think brand
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  Speaker 2: did a great job looking back of finding his role
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  Speaker 2: last year and excelling at it. We know, we talk
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  Speaker 2: a lot about if you want to be a starter,
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  Speaker 2: you have to be a starter before you're the starter,
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  Speaker 2: and if you're not, they're never going to be the starter.
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  Speaker 2: So I think he embodied that. You know, he gave
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  Speaker 2: himself an opportunity to get into sprint and get into
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  Speaker 2: excuse me, in the winter, continue who he is, continue
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  Speaker 2: to build you know, his base, build his leadership, and
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  Speaker 2: then now he's got to take that in the spring.
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  Speaker 2: So all the great things you do prior doesn't mean
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  Speaker 2: anything if you don't have to go out there and
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  Speaker 2: do it in the spring. So you know, that's that's
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  Speaker 2: the harsh reality of the sport. You know, what have
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  Speaker 2: you done lately? And I think all these guys are
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  Speaker 2: are tuning at the bit to uh get back on
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  Speaker 2: the field.
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  Speaker 1: I thought this was an interesting question, a little bit
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  Speaker 1: of a different role for Brian Hartline. Now He's obviously
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  Speaker 1: has a background as a player and a coach in
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  Speaker 1: the wide receiver room, but now is a play caller.
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  Speaker 1: He's got to understand sort of the whole the offense
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  Speaker 1: in a holistic way. He's got to understand the offensive line.
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  Speaker 1: He's got to understand the quarterbacks what they're doing in
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  Speaker 1: all these different plays.
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  Speaker 3: So is it is it.
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  Speaker 1: Different now as a play caller having to understand all
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  Speaker 1: that other stuff at a higher level?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think you're always growing. I think
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  Speaker 2: that you know you still have a special or you
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  Speaker 2: still have an expertise in one area. To assume you
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  Speaker 2: have an expertise in all of it, that's just not true,
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  Speaker 2: uh In in my opinion, I've seen multiple coordinators and
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  Speaker 2: I know that as a fact. So you know, for me,
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  Speaker 2: I think it's just you have an opportunity to be
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  Speaker 2: with the best staff in America every single day, with
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  Speaker 2: the best coach and coach in America. To just stay
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  Speaker 2: off your phone and pay attention and take notes and
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  Speaker 2: actually maximize your time. It's amazing the amount of people
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  Speaker 2: that don't do that. So every time I'm in a meeting,
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  Speaker 2: I just try to make sure I'm I'm getting a
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  Speaker 2: nugget or I'm getting information, or when things are said,
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  Speaker 2: do I truly understand it? And I really. Guys will
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  Speaker 2: tell you I don't care. I'll ask the question and
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  Speaker 2: then I think, I'm I look dumb, but I don't
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  Speaker 2: care because I want to know the information. So I
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  Speaker 2: think that approach. I think a lot of guys have
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  Speaker 2: that approach. That approach allows you to just build, you know,
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  Speaker 2: over time, and then that will continue to build from
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  Speaker 2: now to Game one, and then I'll build through the season.
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  Speaker 2: So the opportunity to grow is literally daily. So I
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  Speaker 2: just try to make sure I'm finding those opportunities. Aren't
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  Speaker 2: aware of those opportunities when they're right in my face.
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  Speaker 1: Heartline is not the only former Ohio State wide receiver
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  Speaker 1: coaching in the Ohio State wide receiver room. Devin Jordan
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  Speaker 1: has been an assistant wide receiver coach for a number
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  Speaker 1: of years now, and he could have an even bigger
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  Speaker 1: role now that Heartline is also going to be the
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  Speaker 1: main play caller.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Coach Jordan's always been a huge part of the
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  Speaker 2: receiver room. I think that, Yeah, he's just understanding that,
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  Speaker 2: you know, my pool away is real, that can happen.
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  Speaker 2: So he's got to be on his toes and being
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  Speaker 2: ready that you know, we're ready to not skip a beat, right,
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  Speaker 2: So information wise, communication wise, he's got to be locked
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  Speaker 2: in on that and just not assume that, you know,
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  Speaker 2: Coach Hart's got it. He never really has. I expect
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  Speaker 2: him to continue to do that, and you know, he's
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  Speaker 2: been a big part of everything we've done.
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  Speaker 1: Do you want to make sure you know everyone just
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  Speaker 1: everyone settled down bright. Heartline did say later on that
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  Speaker 1: nothing was going to change with his involvement in the
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  Speaker 1: wide receiver room, So he's not passing the torch there
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  Speaker 1: or anything like that. He's still going to be just
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  Speaker 1: as involved with the wide receiver room. So that was
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  Speaker 1: that was a point that he clarified later. So I
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  Speaker 1: wanted to share that as well. One of the guys
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  Speaker 1: he's gonna be working with this spring is Milon Graham.
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  Speaker 1: Now this is Graham's first spring. He came in last summer.
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  Speaker 1: So how much did missing last spring impact his ability
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  Speaker 1: to get on the field last fall.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, mylon is, Uh, he's done. He's doing
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  Speaker 2: a great job. He's growing at an exponential rate. He's
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  Speaker 2: getting stronger, he's getting bigger, he's got weight at it,
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  Speaker 2: you know. And I'll tell you, like, you know, I
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  Speaker 2: always explained to him, like you don't realize how much
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  Speaker 2: you've missed when you when you come in June versus
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  Speaker 2: a midyear, Like it's massively different. Not saying you can't
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  Speaker 2: overcome it. Some do at the end of the season.
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  Speaker 2: You know, some have, but you know, I think that's
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  Speaker 2: probably reliant on the room, you know. I know Chris
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  Speaker 2: had an opportunity late olave, you know, in the season
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  Speaker 2: to kind of make an impact, but it's very very rare.
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  Speaker 2: So and now you know, he's going through the winter workout,
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  Speaker 2: his growth, his everything, he's done. He's like, hey, coach Hart,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I know what you're talking about now when
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  Speaker 2: you miss that that section of winter workout, So that
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  Speaker 2: being said, it makes you laugh. But he's doing a
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  Speaker 2: great job. I expect. I have expectations for him through spring,
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  Speaker 2: and I don't see that changing.
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  Speaker 1: Next up is Bryson Rogers, and you get you hear
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  Speaker 1: a bunch about him from time to time. You'll hear
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  Speaker 1: about what an impact he's making on the practice field
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  Speaker 1: or how he's really flashing at times, and then it
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  Speaker 1: hasn't necessarily translated into a ton of time on the
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  Speaker 1: field yet during this season. He had a bigger role
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  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four than he did in twenty three,
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  Speaker 1: but now still trying to earn a bigger role now
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  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty five. So what does he need to
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  Speaker 1: do to turn those positive practice reports into more playing time?
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  Speaker 2: Take the next step and be everything he's capable of being. Right,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I think the guys that you know are
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  Speaker 2: out there are very consistent in all job phases. You know.
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  Speaker 2: Like again, I think he wants to be a full
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  Speaker 2: rounded receiver. He knows that. I think he loves playing
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  Speaker 2: in the slot. Did a great job there. I asked
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  Speaker 2: him to come out to outside a little bit, did
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  Speaker 2: a good job out there. I think it's natural positions
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  Speaker 2: is in the slot, doing a great job there, but
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  Speaker 2: it's just another opportunity to establish himself based on his peers, right.
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  Speaker 2: I mean it's kind of like the draft to try
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  Speaker 2: to explain, sometimes these guys like you come to Ohio States,
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  Speaker 2: compete with the best, that'd be alongside the best. It's
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  Speaker 2: always peer to peer evws, like that's how it works.
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  Speaker 2: Like the draft embodies that, Like if if it's easier
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  Speaker 2: to go play somewhere else, then that's fine. If that's
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  Speaker 2: what we're kind of looking for, per se. I'm not
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  Speaker 2: saying that's pricing. I'm just saying it's a very competitive room,
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  Speaker 2: and you chose that because of this room. Now you've
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  Speaker 2: got to beat your peer to play more, play more
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  Speaker 2: and do more and all that stuff. So you know,
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  Speaker 2: I think that, uh, he's got to continue to build
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  Speaker 2: where he's at. And the guys that seem to be,
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  Speaker 2: you know, starters in our room. You know really, I
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  Speaker 2: think over the last eight years have been NFL quality guys.
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  Speaker 2: So if you're an end up becoming a starter at
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  Speaker 2: Ohio States, it's a good chance you're probably an NFL
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  Speaker 2: caliber receiver. I mean again, I'm just going off the numbers.
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  Speaker 2: So you're chasing that can't get discover on maybe not
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  Speaker 2: being you know, not doing what you think you should
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  Speaker 2: have done, and that goes for everybody. It's not just Bryson,
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  Speaker 2: but all these guys are chasing that. As I ramble
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  Speaker 2: about Bryson, but you know, I think that it's not
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  Speaker 2: just him, it's a b I, it's Carnell. Everybody wants
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  Speaker 2: it's chasing a higher level of play and the Spring
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  Speaker 2: is another step forward to do that.
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  Speaker 1: And finally, it is still very early practice. Spring practice
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  Speaker 1: does not start until next Monday. But what is Brian
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  Speaker 1: Hartline scene? It's very early, But what is Brian Hartline scene?
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  Speaker 1: From those four through freshman wide receivers.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, all four freshmen, I'm like very uh encouraged, impressed
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  Speaker 2: with They carry themselves the right way like we have hoped. Uh,
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  Speaker 2: they work their tails off. They have all improved. I
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  Speaker 2: would say that, Uh, they're the right mold, they're the
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  Speaker 2: right fit, they belong in the room. And now they
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  Speaker 2: have just improved. Now they're competing both you know, first
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  Speaker 2: individually between each other, and then you know, as getting
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  Speaker 2: the sprain and they'll start competing against each other with
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  Speaker 2: the rest of the guys. I'm that, but as a group,
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  Speaker 2: the freshman group very impressed and they're off to the
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  Speaker 2: right start.
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  Speaker 1: So that'll do it for today's show. Hope you enjoyed
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  Speaker 1: hearing from Brian Hartline. We'll get to a Matt Patricia
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  Speaker 1: show probably tomorrow or the day after that.
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  Speaker 2: I was trying to.
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  Speaker 3: Space that out because I just talked to Ross Fulton
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  Speaker 3: about Patricia.
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  Speaker 1: I know everyone's interested to hear from Patricia, so I'm
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  Speaker 1: trying to strike a little bit of a balance for you.
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  Speaker 1: We're gonna have much more from all those assistant coaches
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  Speaker 1: coming up in the next few days as we count
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  Speaker 1: down to the start of spring ball next Monday, Monday
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  Speaker 1: March seventeenth, inside the Woody Hayes f leg Center.
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  Speaker 3: We will be there. It'd be a lot of fun stuff.
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  Speaker 2: Man.
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  Speaker 1: There's a lot of interesting storylines this spring. We're gonna
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  Speaker 1: be there to talk about all of them. At Buckeye
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  Speaker 1: Huddle dot com. That's where Tony Kevin and I cover
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: the team, Mark covers recruiting. We got our whole team
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: effects and those gurus there as well to make you
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  Speaker 1: a smarter football fan. All at Buckeye Huddle dot Com.
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  Speaker 1: We hope to see you there. That'll do it for today.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you guys all for joining us, have a great day.
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  Speaker 1: We'll talk to tomorrow.