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Southern Swing Scouts Top Talent In Virginia · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes Tomorrow morning for Thursday May First, I'm
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: your host, Tom Moore. The Texas game in one hundred
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: and twenty one days, the game against Michigan in two
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: hundred and twelve days. If you're planning your next event,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: make it unforgettable with Grateful Griddle, Columbus's favorite fruit truck
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  Speaker 1: serving up smashburgers, gourmet sandwiches, and good vibes. Book your
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: catering today at Grateful Griddle oh dot com. Today show
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: going to be focused on recruiting. You're going to be
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: focused on the Southern Swing trip. We talked about that
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: with Kevin Noon on a show earlier this week. Kevin
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: and Mark have officially started their trip there. On their
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: road day one in the books down in Virginia, they
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: talk to a bunch of really talented top players in
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: high school football, of whom may end up as Buckeyes.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: So this is an episode of the Skull Session recruiting
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: podcast where they are breaking down all the stuff that
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: they learned on day one of their trip. If you
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: want to stay up with their whole trip, you can
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: do that at Buckeye Huddle dot com.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: We talk about that all the time.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: That's where Tony, Kevin and I cover the team, Mark
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Hovers recruit. We got our whole team in Vess's and
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: those gurus there as well, all to make you as
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: smarter football fan. This would be a great time to
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: join the site because there's gonna be a ton of
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: content there over the next month. That first month just
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: five dollars, so you can sign up today at Buckeye
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Huddle dot com. All right on with this episode of
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: the Skull Session Recruiting Podcast.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: Hello everyone, welcome to the Skull Session Recruiting Podcast, brought
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: to you by Buckeye Huddle dot com. I'm Mark Gibler,
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: joined here by Kevin Noon. Our Southern Swing is underway.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: If you're not familiar, every spring for oh I don't
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: know a dozen years now at least, we come down
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  Speaker 3: through the South, take different routes different years, but we
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: hit the top prospects in the southeast part of the country,
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: in Texas, places like that that Ohio State's recruiting and
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: we try and get again a read for you guys,
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: an insight, you know, we'll look inside things for you guys,
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: you know, get to know the kids that'll Hio States
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: recruiting get some insight into kind maybe where Ohio State stands.
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  Speaker 3: And so that kicked off today here on Tuesday as
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: we record this, and we started here.
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: In Richmond, Virginia, and we.
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  Speaker 3: Were able to get a trio of Ohio State targets,
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  Speaker 3: one in twenty six, one in twenty twenty seven, and
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  Speaker 3: one twenty twenty eight, so we get we got our
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: bases covered.
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: Kevin Takeaways day one.
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  Speaker 2: I think that Ohio State is recruiting some of the
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: best ones out there. I think all three interviews went
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: really well. We'll go into some specifics. Of course, you
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: can check out all of those interviews not only on
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  Speaker 2: our audio platforms through Speaker, but as well on YouTube
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: dot com, slash Buckeye Huddle. You know, just three great
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  Speaker 2: young men, and it just really makes me feel so old,
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: you know, twenty twenty six, twenty twenty seven, twenty twenty eight.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: But all three had very positive things to say about
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  Speaker 2: Ohio State. Okay, I understand generally we're not going to
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: travel eight, nine, ten or more hours away to get
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: somebody's like, yeah, they're all right, So I mean they
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: know we're coming and everything good there. But I really
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: do think Ohio State is a team to watch for
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: all three of these players at various points of their recruitments.
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so we started a little bit south of Richmond
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  Speaker 3: at Lloyd C. Bird High School a pair of brothers
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  Speaker 3: twenty twenty seven defensive end Chris Whitehead twenty twenty eight
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: offensive lineman Isaiah Whitehead, and those guys.
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: Were up in the spring.
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  Speaker 3: Chris has an offer, Isaiah, I assume we'll have one
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: at some point, still very early for his recruiting process
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: of twenty twenty eight, but they both seem to really
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: gush about Ohio State. They went on a Midwest tour
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  Speaker 3: Ohio or Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, and I know
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: Notre Dame made a good impression as well, but it
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: just felt like talking to them talking to people around
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  Speaker 3: the school today that Ohio State was kind of the
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  Speaker 3: takeaway for them from that little Midwest trip. They both
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  Speaker 3: like to get back for the Texas game in August,
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: and with Chris specifically as he's a little further along
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  Speaker 3: me in twenty twenty seven. He's a five star rated
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  Speaker 3: defensive end. He's one of the top ten players in
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  Speaker 3: the country right now. In that twenty twenty seven class.
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  Speaker 4: Boy it feels like Ohio State could maybe have the
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  Speaker 4: inside track.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and wouldn't that be something. I know a lot
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: of people talk about the state of Ohio State's d
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: line recruiting, even though it's still pretty good. I mean,
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: I know that as we record this, there's still the
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: search for defensive tackle maybe to come through the portal.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: But you know, in twenty twenty seven, already with a
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: defensive end who's a top ten player in the nation.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: All the things we heard were very positive. He walked
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: in the room, I'm like, oh, yeah, that fits the bill.
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  Speaker 2: We are in the general vicinity of Chase hung where
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: he's from, not exactly there, but that was a player
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: he mentioned watching as he was growing up. Nick Bosa
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: was another player. Maybe Joey was just a little too
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: far out the age range at that point, but yeah,
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: everything sounds really positive. You know, a lot of excitement.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: You know.
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  Speaker 2: He talked about one of the biggest takeaways he had
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: from Ohio State's practice. He had a chance to watch
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: Ohio States practice and that was some of the physicality
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: where maybe you normally wouldn't see it.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, he was he was impressed, slash stunned that Ohio
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: State had their quarterbacks as live, meaning meaning no black jersey,
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  Speaker 3: you could hit them, tackle them whatever. They had all
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: their quarterbacks live at the practice he was at, so
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  Speaker 3: he was impressed by that.
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  Speaker 4: There were some skirmishes which he loved.
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: Just the high competitive level that was that was there
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: coming off a national championship, I think really jumped out
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: to those those two and and again, another another topic
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: that continuously came up with that at Lloyd Sebirt High
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: School this morning was Ohio State's focus on life outside
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: of football, life after football, and developing players but also
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: developing people and successful adults. And I think those are
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: things that are going to resonate with this family as
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: we talk about Chris and Isaiah Whitehead. And you know,
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: it's going to be interesting. It's going to be interesting.
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: You have a five star defensive end from a region
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  Speaker 3: that most programs recruit, so those.
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: Are always going to be competitive battles.
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  Speaker 3: But again, I just I think they're off to a
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: really good start here and this is what we're just
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: gona have to watch and see. But this is this
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: is not what I left saying, Ah, I don't think
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  Speaker 3: so this is what I left thinking.
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  Speaker 4: Now they got a real chance.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: Well, you look at where we are, and UVA has
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: been dormant for a long time. Virginia Tech has its moments.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: I mean, people will be well remembered. Fourteen Virginia Tech
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: beat Ohio State's what's a double eagle front. I mean,
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: but there is a little bit of a vacuum here.
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  Speaker 2: Teams always recruit this area. Penn State's big in this area.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: I mean the ACC in general, Clemson seems to come
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: up here and do very well. But you know, Ohio
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  Speaker 2: State has really been able to expand its map, though
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: Virginia has always been in the map. I mean, we
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: could go through and listen to a lot of players, most
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: recently Trevon Henderson coming through a different part of the state. So, yeah,
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: this is not lip service. There are a lot of times
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: it's like yeah, yeah, yeah, you like all of these
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: guys that you see. But I mean everything sounded very positive. Now,
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: that doesn't mean I'm expecting a commitment in a week
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  Speaker 2: or two weeks. He's a twenty seven. It's best to
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: pursue than to be hunted. At this point, let this
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: one drag on for a while. Don't be pushing for
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: a commitment to happen tomorrow, even though he doesn't strike
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  Speaker 2: me as a flighty kid who's going to be all
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: over the board. It's best to play offense than defense.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think.
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  Speaker 3: I think the next few months will be interesting. I'm
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: not sure that they'll get up for camp in June.
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  Speaker 3: That doesn't seem like it's a likely thing necessarily at
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: this point. But it seems very likely that they'll be
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: up for that Texas game. And I think, again, you
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: get them up in the spring, you get him around
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  Speaker 3: the program, get him, they get a lot of behind
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  Speaker 3: the scenes looks, and then they had to come up
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  Speaker 3: for that big exciting game against Texas, assuming they're able
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  Speaker 3: to make that, And I think that's a really good
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: foundation for both of those.
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  Speaker 4: With Isaiah being being so young, he seemed to gush.
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  Speaker 3: Even more like he seemed almost like it was almost
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  Speaker 3: like if they offered that it was going to be
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: very tough for him to say no. And so that
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  Speaker 3: was interesting to me, was how into it Isaiah was
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: as a younger guy go.
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  Speaker 2: To be a Bosa situation. Nick Bosa was much more
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: a fan of the Buckeyes than Joey was.
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: Right exactly, and and and Joey's experience at Ohio State
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: really kind of cemented it for Nick. So you do wonder, like,
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: you know, if if they get the ball rolling with
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: christ does that snowball into getting a two for one
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: at some point? But maybe three for one? Yep, that's right.
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: They have eleven year old. Youngest they're the youngest is
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: eleven years old.
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  Speaker 4: He's coming.
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  Speaker 3: He's already like five fifty something like that.
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  Speaker 4: That's a lineman. So they're they're already talking to him out.
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  Speaker 4: That's funny.
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  Speaker 2: But his poor parents, I mean, that food bill has
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: got to be insane.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, So you know, we'll see what happens there.
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  Speaker 3: Isaiah was just so physically imposing, just a you know,
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  Speaker 3: almost six five about three twenty right now.
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  Speaker 4: Just huge.
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  Speaker 3: I mean just you know, Champ Smith in twenty six
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  Speaker 3: is a guy kind of reminded me of from just
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  Speaker 3: a physical just a physically imposing standpoint, that really good
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: feed as coach could raved about his feet, his ability
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  Speaker 3: to pass protect already started as a freshman.
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: They both did.
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: They started both started their freshman years in varsity. So
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: these are these are two guys that are you know,
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: extremely talented and high on the Buckeyes early, so that
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: those were some That's a big takeaway I think from
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: today is you know, we we were aware of them.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: We knew they were big time players. You know that
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: they had visited in the spring, but to really kind
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: of sit down with them, talk to people at the school,
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: it it really left us with an impression.
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: I think that this is a this is for real
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: there with Ohio.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: State, and we talked so much about culture and locker
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: room and these are guys that seem like they would
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: fit the culture at Ohio State. And I know that
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: gets thrown around a lot, but I mean there is
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: some truth to it. They did not really seem to
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: be huge me first guys or anything like that, or
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: people that were going to be all about the nil.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: I mean, nil is part of the equation. Let's not
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: sit there and it's like, well, they're not concerned, they
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: don't want to die. I never said that, but I'm
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: just saying that they really seem to be you know,
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: they both have their heads on straight, and oh they
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: happen to be really good at football too.
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I think there's two kinds of recruits in today's landscape.
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: I think there's the type that is going to.
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: Line up all the nil offers and just take the
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: biggest number and that's that.
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: And they're just going to take the biggest NIL number.
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: And then I think there's guys who are going to
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: factor in other things, you know, relationships, development and those
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: things are going to take priority. And then oh yeah,
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: by the way, like the nil needs to be competitive.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: It doesn't need to be the highest offer.
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: It doesn't need to necessarily be the biggest best offer,
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: but you know, something competitive And and they strike me
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: as the as the latter, and they really do.
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: And we even talked to their coach about a lot
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: of thing from from their head coach over there, about
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: that coach Bland and and he mentioned that too. He's like,
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: you know, everyone's kind of chasing the IL right now.
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: He's like, they're obviously going to command nil dollars from
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: a school, but that's not going to be what makes
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: their decision for them. So I think that's given Ryan
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: Day's comments that we saw this afternoon about you know,
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: if you're all all you're doing is looking at the
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: nil dollars, this might not be a place for you.
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: That seems very ironic that we were interviewing them basically
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: at the.
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  Speaker 4: Same time Day was making those comments.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: Maybe twenty minutes before it was it was right almost
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: it's almost syncd up. It was almost a Dark Side
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: of the Moon and Wizard of Oz or whatever.
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so it was that was a that was a
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: really cool interview today with an interview to Day with
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: those guys. And then right here we interviewed Darius Gray,
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: arguably the top offensive interior offensive line prospect and the
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: country five star player. Great interview, A tremendous kid here,
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: he's working out, he's got his his he's getting his
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: post school lift in here at the gym behind us
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: or in front of us that we're looking at here,
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: and you know it, it feels like it's trending in
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: a pretty good direction right now.
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: I mean, we'll see what that means.
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: He's got like eight official visits coming up, so there's
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: gonna be a lot of information he's gonna have to process.
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: It's gonna be very competitive. But we even asked him
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: point blank, please check out the interview. He said, you know,
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: Ohio State now compared to six months ago, better, worse, the.
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: Same, and he just snapped way better. So they are
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: trending up.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: I mean, let's not forget that. You know, their new
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: offensive line coach is from I mean he was he
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: was coaching at Virginia Tech. So there was obviously some
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: excitement with the familiarity and everything else that was there.
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: You know, it shows the soap opera nature that recruitments
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: can go. And it's not necessarily drama that is brought
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: on by the recruit itself. It's just all the other noise.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: And you know, is Ohio State in it? Is Ohio
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: State leading? I mean somewhere in between. You know, I'm
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: not going to say Ohio State leads, but you know,
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: Ohio State certainly is doing well. Here a lot of
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: official visits that are going to come up. We're in
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: a we're in a brave new world. Only within the
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: last couple of years you could take more than five.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: The thought of eight, I mean, yeah, that's a lot
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: of steak dinners and you know, a lot of a
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: lot of excitement and a lot of T shirts and
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: everything else. But we always talk about wanting to be last,
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: the last visit or the first visit, and sometimes when
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: you're in the middle. But I wonder with eight visits,
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: we don't really have enough data to do a study
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: on this. Do you have a fatigue? Do you have
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: a fatigue at the end of the process. So you know,
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: we'll see, but I mean, really really impressive guy. Uh
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: you know, you sit there and you look at offensive linemen.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: Sometimes it's like, Okay, it's going to take a year
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: or two in the lab to rebuild him and everything else. Well,
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: as Mark said, we're standing in front of the gym.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: You know, this just isn't some big kid who just
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: gets in front of you. He's he's he looks powerful
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: just walking around.
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think again, I think we're seeing the
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: Tyler Bell in effect here.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: Darius mentioned that the reason he didn't initially have a
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: highest STADWNS official visit list is when he scheduled all
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: his visits well highst he didn't have an offensive line
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: coach yet, Like the Justin Fry thing was kind of
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: going on, and so he was just didn't really know
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: what to do about that. And he was incredibly enthusiastic
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: when he learned that Tyler Bowen got the job because
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: he did have a prior relationship with Bowen from his
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: days of Virginia Tech. So this is definitely a Bowen
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: impact type of thing. We'll see where it goes. Like
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: I said, I was writing him off a few months ago,
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: I'm not writing him off anymore. I slowly, but surely,
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: once he made the spring visit, I said, okay, he
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: schedules the official And so I'm slowly coming around that
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: they're going to be a player here.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: Ohio State already has the nice framework of a class.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: And then you sit there and you look at Champ Smith,
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: and you look at Drew Evers, and now you look here.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: I mean, it makes you wonder just how deep they're
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: going to go because a lot of these guys that
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: are looking at are not guys that you're gonna say no, sorry,
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: we're full.
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah exactly. And so my.
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: Take from kind of talking to people and reading the
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: room too as well as kind of reading.
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: What they're doing is they're going to take six for sure.
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: And then it's a matter of can we get you know,
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: as they sit there, you know, in their coaches meeting,
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: you know, can we get a seventh guy who makes sense?
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: And can we convince one of these guys to be
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: the seventh guy? Maybe the harder sell, but I think
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: six is probably a minimum number.
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: Right now.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: Well, and just because you're the seventh guy in the
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: class doesn't mean you're number seven in the pecking order
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: as well. So you know, sometimes there's adjustments and everything else.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: But you know, I think that there has been so
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: much concern, so much handwringing over Ohio State's offensive line,
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: recruiting fans got the change that they finally wanted. Maybe
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: not the players they kind of they were pretty you know,
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: they they adored justin Fry. But you know, now we're
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: seeing somebody who was a former recruiting coordinator during this
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: during his career. We're seeing a different approach maybe in
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: terms of how recruiting is falling. And yeah, I think
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: that there are a lot of Ohio State fans that
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: are saying, sign me up for many more years of this.
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah, he's off to a good start.
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: Now, the first time he misses on a five star
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: recruit from outside the state of Ohio, it's gonna be
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: it's gonna be fun to read the posts on social media.
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: But yeah, he's definitely made a good impression. My final
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: takeaway from Richmond, and this isn't just Richmond, this is
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: this goes back into my conversations with recruits over the
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: last month or so. This goes back to my time
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: at the Ohio under Armoor camp on Sunday. Is Matt
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: Patricia is way more involved in recruiting than I thought
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: he would be. Chris White had pointed that out that
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: he sat down with Matt Patricia.
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: We've talked.
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: I've talked to Sincere Johnson at the Ohio under Armor
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: camp about sitting down with Mett. Like every priority defensive
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: target I've talked to, I've asked him about like their
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: position coach, and they, without even me really going into it,
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: they also say, oh, but also, Matt Patricia, did you
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: know laid.
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: Out this, this is, and this for me?
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: So I thought maybe this would be Chip Kelly of
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: the defense of where dude just coordinate the defense, make
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: the defense good.
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: And left the rest of us do the recruiting, you know,
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: mister NFL guy.
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: But he has really seemed to take a hands on
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: approach to this. He seems very involved.
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: We don't know what the on field product is going
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: to look like yet, and we won't know until the
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: Texas game. But yeah, there was a lot of concern
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: that they were going to have another DC and they're
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: kind of like Jim Knowles, who wasn't much of a recruiter.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: We're just going to leave you back and you're going
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: to work on fixing the defense. Well, the defense has
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: been fixed now, it's a matter of being able to
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: carry that over and advance further. But it's yeah, I
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: think that that is just such a big point. And
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: people saw Matt Patricia when he was with the Detroit
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: Lions and losing sucks, and if he looked like a
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: curmudgeon and everything else, it's because losing sucks. And he's
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: part of a team now that won the national championship,
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: high expectations, and he's going out there and he's you know,
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: he's getting it done. I mean, show me five, six,
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: seven recruits that commit because of him, and then we
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: can really say he's getting it done. But this is
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: a very different setup than what we saw previously.
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just it's a little unexpected for me. It's
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: a little bit of a pleasant surprise for me. Again,
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: I just so much background in the NFL. A lot
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: of those guys don't recruit some of them. You know,
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: Tim Walton's maybe an exception, but Tim Walton had college
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: experience as well, So it's it's just been a bit
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: of a revelation for me to hear how often defensive
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: recruits are making sure they point out Matt Patricia's impact
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: on their visit, Matt Patricia's impact on their interest in
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: Ohio States. It's been an unexpected thing. It's been again,
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: it's been a bit of a revelation for me.
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess I'm trying to think of what my
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: final thought is because that was a really good one.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: And I'm not just saying it because he's standing here
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: next to me, but that I think that's a big takeaway.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: I just think, once again, I am always wowed by
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: the caliber of kids at Ohio State is recruiting, and
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: oftentimes I hear questions about why are they not recruiting
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: this guy or that guy? And you know, I'm very
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: pro player, I'm not especially the kids. And people are like, well,
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: they're getting paid now, so are they really kids? Yes,
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: they're still kids, and they're gonna be guys. It's not
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: going to recruit. But you know, Ohio State is three
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: for three in terms of guys that I felt were
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: just you know, really you know, good guys. I mean
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: there's still kids. I mean especially a class of twenty
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: twenty eight. But you know they were they were all great,
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: and I know that as the trip goes on, we're
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: going to see more and more of that. And that's
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: why you don't have as many locker room issues. It's
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: why you don't have a case. Ohio State lost zero players,
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: zero scholarship players to the transfer portal coming out of
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: the season, and sometimes it's unavoidable. Sometimes a kid is
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: just brick walled in. But with Ohio State having fourteen
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: players going in the draft and a couple three undrafted
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: free agents as well, I mean, there's a huge turnover,
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: so you probably weren't going to have as much turnover
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: that way. So another testament to the locker room culture
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: and to things that were started, you know, years ago
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: and even up to this year. And I guess I
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: do kind of want to throw in something else that
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: was very important in our last interview of the day,
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: and that was the whole faith component. And yeah, we
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: don't want and I don't want to spoil everything in
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: the interview and give you no reason to watch it.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: Please watch the interviews.
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah, And like I.
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: Told Darius during the interview when we were talking about this.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: There are certain questions I have to ask. I have
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: to ask their thoughts on Ohio State. I have to
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: ask who they're considering when they're visiting, you know, all that.
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: All that stuff.
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: But when I can, I like the players to direct
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: kind of the direction of the interview. It makes for
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: a better interview. They open up more, they talk more,
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: you get more out of it as a viewer. And
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: he was really impressed with the whole you know, the
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: faith based kind of brotherhood that they formed this year
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: and and uh, you know getting you know, I know,
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: the players were able to get the cross on their
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: championship rings, and he pointed that out as a cool
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: thing for them.
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: To do to as he said, to thank.
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: God for you know, the opportunities that they've had this
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: year and everything else. So that was I thought that
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: was interesting as we talk about, you know, where Darius
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: Gray may be leaning. I thought that was an interesting
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: feather in their cap in this race.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: Exactly. I mean, and yeah, and Trevion Henderson from the
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: State of Virginia, somebody that was one of you know,
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: one of the leaders of this you know revival and
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: he's like, oh yeah, oh yeah, trust me, I know.
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: So I think that that you know, certainly doesn't hurt
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: Ohio State. I mean, again, there are going to be
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: a multitude of reasons that any player is going to
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: decide upon a school. But when you can check off
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: multiple boxes, because going back to you know, talking to
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: to our first two interviews of the day again, you know,
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: the forty year decision versus the four year decision all.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: I mean, yes, it's almost become a cliche at this point,
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: but it's easy for us to call it a cliche.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: We're not being recruited. I never was being recruited. But
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: you know these guys, I mean, they have so much
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: thrown at him by so many different schools, and the
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: fact that we hear the same thing universally really means
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: because I don't think Ohio State is putting them up
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: for it. And if you ever do any interviews, be
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: sure to mention this. I mean, it is it's it's
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: a comment that is coming holistically.
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, no question, And clearly Ohio State is attracting
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: a certain caliber of human being like they just are
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: at this point.
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: When you when you look at a.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: Caleb Downs, a Jack Sawyer, a Jeremiah Smith, they're not
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: just great football players. They really have been good people
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: in their communities. They've helped children in the Columbus, They've
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: they've been model citizens off the field. You know, this
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: used to be police blotterer season. We used to worry,
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: you know, every day, be like, oh, I want to
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: get it right. And there's been such I say this
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: not that Georgia. I say it's not to jinks them,
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: but it's they've had a lot of quiet off seasons
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: on that front lately, and I do think there's something to.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: That been coming call from Ryana and three to two
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: and one you jinxed us. But yeah, I I agree.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: I mean again, it is just a different caliber of
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: kids at Ohio State's recruiting. I mean it's not a
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: case of that there aren't other schools recruiting these guys,
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: but Ohio State just you know, hit after hit after
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: hit after hit. And now that's that's hard to do
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: because there's a lot of unpredictability with with h with
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: teenage males.
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: Especially now with the money involved in money changes people.
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: I mean, it just does.
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: So Yeah, they've done a great job of keeping that
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: locker room tight in an environment that's never been more
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: difficult to do that.
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: So, yeah, those are those are all that's interesting point there, Kevin.
• 24:34
  Speaker 4: And so I think we're about to wrap it up.
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: We have to get I can tell you guys where
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: we go. We're going.
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: We're going south, Southern Swing is going south. We're heading
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: into North Carolina tonight to get in position for tomorrow.
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: So look for some stuff out of North Carolina here
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: the next couple of days and then we will continue on.
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: But we'll try and keep you guys as updated as
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: we can. We'll do these what we learned type things
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: we at least a couple of times two to three
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: times weak minimum as we wrap up certain areas of
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: our trip and kind of do our takeaways, and so
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: we'll keep you guys informed of that. Please do watch
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: the interviews, helps us out, helps you learn about more
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: about the kids Ohio States recruiting and kind of helping
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: them get exposure as well. So appreciate everyone's support, Appreciate
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: everyone watching and listening, and make sure you're on bucke
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: huddle dot com here the next next week. It's gonna
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: be fun