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Ohio State Football News: Are Changes Coming To The Offensive Line? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes Tomorrow morning for Thursday, November thirteenth, I'm
0:03
Speaker 1: your host, tom Or. The UCLA game is in two days.
0:06
Speaker 1: The game against Michigan in sixteen days. If you're planning
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Speaker 1: your next event, make it unforgettable with Grateful Griddle, Columbus's
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Speaker 1: favorite food truck serving up smashburger'scourmet sandwiches and good vibes.
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Speaker 1: Book your catering today at gratefulgriddleh dot com. On today's show,
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Speaker 1: you're going to get to hear a little bit from
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Speaker 1: Ohio State head coach Ryan Day. We had a nice
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Speaker 1: long press conference with him earlier in the week. Not
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Speaker 1: to hear a lot about some interesting stuff, a little
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Speaker 1: more recruiting talk than you'd expect this time of year.
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Speaker 1: Of course, there's been plenty of recruiting news to talk
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Speaker 1: about this time of year, so we talked a little
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Speaker 1: bit about that. Also, get to hear a little bit
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Speaker 1: about updates on some injuries with some of the players,
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Speaker 1: what's going on with the offensive line, the growth of
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Speaker 1: running backs, and much much more. We're going to start though,
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Speaker 1: with a player who's going to be on the other
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Speaker 1: sideline this weekend at Ohio Stadium, and that is UCLA
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Speaker 1: quarterback Nico I Amaldiava. You may remember him from last
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Speaker 1: December's playoff game when he was with the Tennessee Volunteers
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Speaker 1: and came into Ohio Stadium. Is there anything you can
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Speaker 1: take from having played Nico before to sort of inform
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Speaker 1: what you're going to do this Saturday when he's on
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Speaker 1: a different team.
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Speaker 2: Well, we evaluate everything, but I can tell you that
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Speaker 2: he's a tough player. He played tough in the playoff
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Speaker 2: game here and you know, I'm watching him play the
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Speaker 2: last few weeks and man, he's physical.
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Speaker 3: He runs hard.
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Speaker 2: I mean, he takes some shots and he keeps coming back,
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Speaker 2: and he's a competitor. Man, I got a lot of
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Speaker 2: respect for him as a player. We throw he's got
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Speaker 2: a strong arm, and you know he's he's been doing
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Speaker 2: a lot for his team and you watch him on
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Speaker 2: the field, he's a warrior. So you know, we'll take
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Speaker 2: all that into consideration, just you know, and look at everything.
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Speaker 3: But but we know this is.
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Speaker 2: A great challenge for our team, and you know it
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Speaker 2: starts with him.
1:51
Speaker 3: Now.
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Speaker 1: The first of the recruiting questions, has there been any
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Speaker 1: kind of a change in philosophy in the recruiting or
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Speaker 1: a change in the plan for this year in terms
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Speaker 1: of how many guys they're going to take, because they
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Speaker 1: have had a sort of flurry of commitments and it
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Speaker 1: looks like this class is going to end up as
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Speaker 1: one of the bigger ones in Ohio state history. So
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Speaker 1: what's driving the bigger class this year?
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Speaker 2: Well, we're trying to make sure that we're in a
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Speaker 2: good place obviously with our roster as we head into December,
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Speaker 2: and then and then you have the portal and with
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Speaker 2: that there's you know, a lot of challenges as you know,
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Speaker 2: you have retention and then you have you know, guys
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Speaker 2: who are at other schools, and we want to make
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Speaker 2: sure that we're continually recruiting high school players that we
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Speaker 2: can develop. And there's a little bit based on how
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Speaker 2: far we go the season and what happens that will
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Speaker 2: adjust sort of how we ended up getting to our
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Speaker 2: number at the end of the year. But you know,
2:43
Speaker 2: we want to make sure that you know, we're we're
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Speaker 2: flush at all areas and and that's at you know,
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Speaker 2: at the high end, you know, in terms of like
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Speaker 2: the starters and the older guys, and then and then
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Speaker 2: certainly with the young guys, as we're developing them. So
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Speaker 2: we want to make sure that you know, this the
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Speaker 2: way that we're building the rosters the right way, and
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Speaker 2: a lot of it has to do with with, you know,
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Speaker 2: the high school guys coming in. So we're trying to
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Speaker 2: project at the best we can, but obviously it's floating
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Speaker 2: around and it's moving target.
3:09
Speaker 1: One of the big changes that's happened off the field
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Speaker 1: in college football this season is there's no longer going
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Speaker 1: to be just a post spring portal window. Players are
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Speaker 1: going to have a chance to ender the transfer portal
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Speaker 1: in January or December and that's going to be it,
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Speaker 1: and then after that, no more transfer portal. So you
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Speaker 1: get one shot and only one shot now if you're
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Speaker 1: still in the playoffs. Well, and that's probably going to
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Speaker 1: complicate things a little bit. It certainly did for the
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Speaker 1: Buckeyes last year in January. So does the change to
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Speaker 1: one portal window impact their approach in high school recruiting?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's the case because you can't be short.
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Speaker 2: And I've said it before, I mean, whoever you know
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Speaker 2: plays past when the portal closes, you know late into
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Speaker 2: the season is going to really be at a disadvantage.
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Speaker 2: Because there's no way to replace those guys once the
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Speaker 2: five day window opens after the final game. So you know,
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Speaker 2: we all have to make sure that you know we're short.
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Speaker 3: That's our job. So we're going to make sure that
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Speaker 3: you know we're in good shape here and we're flush.
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Speaker 1: Now ont of the offensive line, and certainly some stuff
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Speaker 1: to talk about there and some concerns. There is ethan
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Speaker 1: oneonwall potentially an option along with Josh Padia in terms
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Speaker 1: of potentially finding some different solutions up front, So that
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Speaker 1: was one of the questions. And then sort of an
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Speaker 1: update on the health status of Philip Daniels, the right
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Speaker 1: tackle who sat out last game, and Josh Padilla, the
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Speaker 1: backup lineman who sat out on Saturday as well.
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Speaker 2: He's an option and he played in the game. I
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Speaker 2: thought he had some good movement in the run game
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Speaker 2: and did some good things. So we'll see how this
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Speaker 2: week goes. But we're gonna keep pushing the envelope on
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Speaker 2: it and keep grinding on it. But he did have
4:41
Speaker 2: some good snaps in that game, and hopefully we can
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Speaker 2: get him to play at a certain level that we
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Speaker 2: need him to play in order to you know, finish
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Speaker 2: the season. The way we want to Josh. You know,
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Speaker 2: we're expecting a full week from from Josh. We'll see
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Speaker 2: how today goes, but you know, he and Phil both
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Speaker 2: you know, we'll we'll kind of see as the week
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Speaker 2: goes on, but we're expecting them a full week of
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Speaker 2: work out of those guys.
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Speaker 1: One of the major breakout players on this year's Ohio
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Speaker 1: State team is linebacker Rvel Rees. What makes him the
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Speaker 1: player that he is and just how did he take
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Speaker 1: the leap that he did from where he was this
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Speaker 1: time last year where he is now?
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Speaker 3: Well, I think the first thing is that Arvel.
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Speaker 2: You see this in guys when they get into the
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Speaker 2: you know, year three, sometimes year four, but where you know,
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Speaker 2: the program, you know, kind of kicks in. What I
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Speaker 2: mean by that is like all the work that they've
5:31
Speaker 2: done up to that point, it all starts to come together.
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Speaker 2: And I think you see that with a lot of
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Speaker 2: our guys, but in particular with Rvel. He was a
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Speaker 2: very productive player in high school. Coach Gain did a
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Speaker 2: great job of bringing him along and you know, providing
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Speaker 2: a mindset of what it means to be a Buckeye
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Speaker 2: and that's that's critical, what it means to play at
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Speaker 2: Ohio State, and Rvel has that mindset. He had an
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Speaker 2: a minuity he walked in the door, and I think
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Speaker 2: Rvell never gets distracted with like noise. He just focuses
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Speaker 2: on what matters. And that's a that's a unique trait.
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Speaker 2: We were talking about this the other day. You know, maybe
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Speaker 2: there's talk about him with awards, or maybe there's talk
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Speaker 2: about him in the draft. That doesn't affect Arvel. Arvel
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Speaker 2: just focuses on what matters. And again it starts with
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Speaker 2: a mindset. But I think early in his career, you know,
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Speaker 2: he could have very easily, you know, been discouraged because
6:20
Speaker 2: maybe he didn't play as much early on. We moved
6:23
Speaker 2: into D line for a couple of months and all
6:24
Speaker 2: those things helped him. And then he sat and watched Cody,
6:28
Speaker 2: he watched Sonny and now his athletic ability, his mindset,
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Speaker 2: and now you know the understanding of what goes on
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Speaker 2: in that room and what James has done in terms
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Speaker 2: of you know, just a football I Q in that
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Speaker 2: room is allowing him to play at a high level.
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Speaker 3: And I think all that combines to what you're seeing
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Speaker 3: in the field.
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Speaker 1: Has Ryan Day ever been around someone with the skill
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Speaker 1: sets to do all the different stuff that r vel
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Speaker 1: Reche does for the Buckeyes.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I'm trying to think if there's been
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Speaker 2: somebody I've been around that has that type of a
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Speaker 2: skill set as talented as arvel Probably not.
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Speaker 3: Probably not. I mean when.
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Speaker 2: Sunny's right there too. Of those guys have that ability
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Speaker 2: and that versatility, and yeah, I'd have to go back
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Speaker 2: and think, but you know, they're right there at the top.
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Speaker 1: R Velarie is just one of the players who is
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Speaker 1: sort of up for some of the big national awards
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Speaker 1: this year. How is the team dealing with the hype
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Speaker 1: around the national major awards races, the Heisman Race, all
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Speaker 1: the excitement about that, but then trying to also balance
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Speaker 1: that with not getting caught up in that hype and
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Speaker 1: just being able to focus on the game to game
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Speaker 1: and down to down.
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Speaker 2: Well, I think the number one goal is to win
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Speaker 2: and for team goals of winning championships, and if the
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Speaker 2: guys understand that, then I think it's it's great to
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Speaker 2: promote that. I think if we started to feel like
7:43
Speaker 2: we have a bunch of guys that are self promoters
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Speaker 2: or that are playing the game to try to get
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Speaker 2: statistics and get awards, then I don't think that we
7:50
Speaker 2: should focus on that, and we're not focused on that.
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Speaker 2: But I think our guys understand that if you win
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Speaker 2: as a team, then everybody's gonna do well. And I
8:03
Speaker 2: think that's the case. I think you can see that
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Speaker 2: with Jeremiah, can see that with Julian. They both are
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Speaker 2: pulling for each other. I think the way that our guys,
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Speaker 2: you know, lift up their teammates, that all matters. So
8:14
Speaker 2: if I started to feel like it was becoming an
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Speaker 2: individual thing, then yeah, we'd probably put a stop to it.
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Speaker 2: But I think this is a team who understands, you know,
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Speaker 2: how important is to win as a team and not individually.
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Speaker 2: And that's a message that we've been talking about for
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Speaker 2: a long time, about being unselfish and the best team
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Speaker 2: in the country is gonna win. And one selfishness starts
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Speaker 2: to kick in, that's players and coaches included, that's when
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Speaker 2: we get distracted, and you know, obviously it's my job
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Speaker 2: to keep a close eye on that.
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Speaker 1: There is a lot that stands out about this year's
8:41
Speaker 1: Ohio State defense, from the players to the scheme, but
8:44
Speaker 1: one thing that's really stood out recently is man there
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Speaker 1: are some big hitters in that secondary. So are those
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Speaker 1: big hits and that physical play from the secondary is
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Speaker 1: that important to who they are as a defense.
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Speaker 2: Set in the tone, especially early in the game. I mean,
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Speaker 2: it's the one difference about football na other sport. And
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Speaker 2: you got to set the tone early in the game
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Speaker 2: and let them.
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Speaker 3: Know you're there.
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Speaker 2: And and that's that's a that's a part of our brand.
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Speaker 2: That's that's a part of our identities, playing physical and
9:10
Speaker 2: you know, whether it's guys running and hitting, winning at
9:12
Speaker 2: the line of scrimmage, finishing guys downfield. You know, that's
9:16
Speaker 2: that's what we want. That's we come in here on
9:17
Speaker 2: Sundays and watch the clips. I mean, those are the
9:19
Speaker 2: first ones that we show. Those are our culture clips.
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Speaker 2: Starts in pre season, and it's got to go all
9:24
Speaker 2: the way throughout the throughout the season because if that's
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Speaker 2: our identity, it's got to be that way every week.
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Speaker 2: And and so that's it. And this time of year,
9:30
Speaker 2: we got to be seeking contact.
9:32
Speaker 3: You know, we've got to be hunted up.
9:34
Speaker 1: Ohio State once again ranks among the teams with the
9:37
Speaker 1: fewest number of snaps per game this season. We've sort
9:41
Speaker 1: of talked about some of the benefits of that in
9:43
Speaker 1: terms of lowering the number of plays and the number
9:46
Speaker 1: of reps these guys go through during what is a very,
9:49
Speaker 1: very long season. But also is there a challenge to
9:52
Speaker 1: balancing that with also trying to maintain your consistency while
9:57
Speaker 1: having not as you know, not having as many snaps
9:59
Speaker 1: to get into a rith.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's I think we had over seventy plays
10:03
Speaker 2: this past week, so that was great to get and
10:05
Speaker 2: the defense I think had thirty seven going into the
10:08
Speaker 2: last drive, so there's a lot of good there. But
10:13
Speaker 2: I think it's just it's kind of the way you know,
10:18
Speaker 2: we operate. You know, we operate out of the huddle,
10:21
Speaker 2: and I think when you look at it from the
10:23
Speaker 2: beginning of the season, you know, you look at it
10:26
Speaker 2: from a twenty thousand foot view and you say, well,
10:29
Speaker 2: you know, we can cut down in the number of
10:31
Speaker 2: plays to keep our team healthy and fresh towards the
10:33
Speaker 2: end of the season.
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Speaker 3: That's important.
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Speaker 2: But once you once you kind of get in their
10:36
Speaker 2: rhythm of huddling, you get used to that and the
10:39
Speaker 2: guys get comfortable with with with that as opposed to
10:42
Speaker 2: the other part of it. But we also need to
10:44
Speaker 2: be able to do that when we need to do it,
10:46
Speaker 2: and when I say need to, you know, it's based
10:48
Speaker 2: on what's going on with the game. You know, we're
10:49
Speaker 2: not all of a sudden just going to go tempo
10:51
Speaker 2: because like we just want to go tempo.
10:53
Speaker 3: It has to give us an advantage.
10:55
Speaker 2: And when we're on the same page and we're being
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Speaker 2: efficient in what we're doing and we're executing a high level,
11:00
Speaker 2: like that's what's most important, period and so you know,
11:03
Speaker 2: we're still chasing that we're not there, but changing the
11:08
Speaker 2: tempo does help. Or if you find yourself in a
11:10
Speaker 2: situation like we did in a two minute dro we
11:11
Speaker 2: have to play on the ball, that's good.
11:14
Speaker 3: It keeps defenses, you know, on their.
11:15
Speaker 2: Heels a little bit as a change up, so you know,
11:19
Speaker 2: we'll keep looking at it, but we're not just going
11:21
Speaker 2: to do it to do it, I think quite honestly,
11:25
Speaker 2: you know, for the most part, the defenses and defensive
11:28
Speaker 2: coordinators really have caught up to just playing tembo all
11:30
Speaker 2: the time. They can see your formation and call your
11:32
Speaker 2: defense based on how you line up, and so that's
11:35
Speaker 2: that's where the coach of player communication sort of change
11:38
Speaker 2: things and all those things have combined to where we're
11:42
Speaker 2: at right now, and that's why we focus so much
11:43
Speaker 2: on efficiency, but we also want to be really explosive
11:46
Speaker 2: as well.
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Speaker 3: So get back to work today and get after it.
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Speaker 1: There have undoubtedly been some issues on the offensive line
11:53
Speaker 1: this season. On Saturday against Purdue, you saw FRU freshman
11:56
Speaker 1: running back Bo Jackson making the most of some of
11:59
Speaker 1: his opportunit even when the offensive line maybe did have
12:02
Speaker 1: someone slipped through and have at least a lack of
12:05
Speaker 1: consistency on the line. Let's just say that you're gonna
12:08
Speaker 1: have a Brian Day's answer on that. You're also gonna
12:10
Speaker 1: hear him mention the name David Case you're wondering, that's
12:13
Speaker 1: David Adolph. He's a backup wide receiver today. Is going
12:15
Speaker 1: to sort of reference briefly in this answer.
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Speaker 2: There's two plays in particular where we had a free
12:21
Speaker 2: runner and Bo man what two great runs he had
12:24
Speaker 2: on third down.
12:25
Speaker 3: Man.
12:25
Speaker 2: The first one was what we call free safety mix
12:29
Speaker 2: of the will blitz and the free safety came into
12:31
Speaker 2: the B gap. We had, you know, David in there tight.
12:33
Speaker 2: He usually handles any fourth defender over here. You know,
12:37
Speaker 2: they did a nice job. They hit it inside, so
12:39
Speaker 2: David couldn't quite get to him. So that's a scheme issue. Actually,
12:43
Speaker 2: we actually blocked it pretty well because once Bo kind
12:46
Speaker 2: of broke the tackle, he ended up making some yards there,
12:48
Speaker 2: and there was a couple others like that, you know,
12:50
Speaker 2: and you give them credit. They did a nice job
12:52
Speaker 2: with a couple of those things. I thought, you know,
12:56
Speaker 2: we did overall handle something that was a lot of
12:58
Speaker 2: movement up there. We early on we ran a stretch
13:01
Speaker 2: play that Austin didn't quite get to the second level.
13:03
Speaker 2: The next time we ran the same one, he got
13:05
Speaker 2: to the second level and the same blitz got to
13:07
Speaker 2: the backer and it turned into explosive run. So one
13:10
Speaker 2: of the things about the run game is, you know,
13:12
Speaker 2: it does take time to take effect. We certainly wish that,
13:16
Speaker 2: you know, the first play you know would have been
13:18
Speaker 2: you know, part of part of our our day, but
13:21
Speaker 2: it wasn't. So we had to regroup and come back
13:22
Speaker 2: after it. But like we're just going to keep swinging
13:25
Speaker 2: on it, and you know, it comes down to fundamentals,
13:28
Speaker 2: that's it. So you know, we'll keep trying to figure
13:31
Speaker 2: out ways to be creative and create space and create explosion.
13:34
Speaker 2: But like when it all comes down to the end.
13:36
Speaker 2: It's going to come down to fundamentals and so but yeah,
13:40
Speaker 2: I think there's positives, but there's also things we got
13:43
Speaker 2: to get better at.
13:44
Speaker 1: You see a lot of consternation about the Ohio State
13:46
Speaker 1: run game right now, and certainly the play of the
13:48
Speaker 1: Ohio State offensive line at times too. So is Ryan
13:51
Speaker 1: Day disappointed and they did what a lot of people
13:53
Speaker 1: are viewing as a lack of consistency upfront and in
13:56
Speaker 1: the run game.
13:58
Speaker 2: I wouldn't say that. I mean, I aways wanted to
14:00
Speaker 2: be more consistent. Yeah, But I can't sit here and
14:02
Speaker 2: say I'm disappointed right now. I'm encouraged with a lot
14:05
Speaker 2: of things that are going on up there. And I
14:07
Speaker 2: you know, if I thought it was, you know, a
14:09
Speaker 2: real problem or a mess, I would I would address it.
14:11
Speaker 2: I know that we're going to get a lot more
14:13
Speaker 2: challenges here, and we're challenging these guys every day. And
14:16
Speaker 2: you know, the backs need to continue to run better,
14:19
Speaker 2: and we need to continue to figure out ways to
14:21
Speaker 2: put them in a situation to be successful in the
14:23
Speaker 2: angles of the blocks. We've got to keep working on that.
14:26
Speaker 2: But no, I mean, I think they're grinding on it.
14:29
Speaker 2: They're working hard. Two of the guys graded out of champion.
14:32
Speaker 2: The other guys didn't. You know, we upped our annion
14:34
Speaker 2: being a champion used to be over eighty you know
14:36
Speaker 2: this past week. Now we're eighty three percent because we
14:38
Speaker 2: feel like we need to, you know, increase our efficiency
14:41
Speaker 2: and execution. But yeah, I mean, I think there's a
14:46
Speaker 2: lot of good there, but certainly, you know, we know
14:48
Speaker 2: we need to you know, get towards in terms of
14:51
Speaker 2: winning a championship, So we want all those guys to
14:54
Speaker 2: grade out over eighty three percent.
14:56
Speaker 1: The Buckeyes threw a bunch of different stuff out there
14:59
Speaker 1: against Purdue saturday. Are they just kind of trying to
15:02
Speaker 1: put some new things on film? Are they just trying
15:03
Speaker 1: to get guys in different situations and see what they have?
15:06
Speaker 1: Is this just throwing opponents curveballs? What's the what's the thinking?
15:11
Speaker 2: Well, I think part of it is you try to
15:13
Speaker 2: put guys in a situation to be successful. I think
15:16
Speaker 2: when you looked at the group we had on the field,
15:18
Speaker 2: that was a pretty twitchy group we had, and you
15:21
Speaker 2: figure out where it goes. Sometimes it's a little bit
15:24
Speaker 2: of a laboratory to figure out, you know, once they're
15:26
Speaker 2: in that moment. What does it look like? You try
15:28
Speaker 2: to project? Some things are great. I thought, like you know,
15:31
Speaker 2: our package with Lincoln was well thought out, you know,
15:33
Speaker 2: and what went on with that. Sometimes you do it
15:36
Speaker 2: and it doesn't work out the way you thought it
15:37
Speaker 2: would work out. But I think this time of year,
15:40
Speaker 2: it's more about putting the people in the right positions
15:42
Speaker 2: to be successful. And then, like you said, having curveballs
15:45
Speaker 2: and change ups are good and then sometimes you know,
15:48
Speaker 2: they're good for one or two shots. Sometimes you know,
15:51
Speaker 2: you come back and you build off for that package
15:52
Speaker 2: and then it kind of goes from there. So I
15:55
Speaker 2: think you can tell on both sides of the ball.
15:58
Speaker 2: You know, we just look a little different than maybe
16:00
Speaker 2: we did last year, you know, from formations to alignments
16:03
Speaker 2: to fronts, the coverages.
16:06
Speaker 1: Ohio State has four running backs who are all running
16:09
Speaker 1: very hard right now. That's certainly a luxury that a
16:12
Speaker 1: lot of teams would like to have. But also again
16:15
Speaker 1: trying to get back into a rhythm. Does did they
16:17
Speaker 1: have to pair that rotation down at some point?
16:20
Speaker 3: Well? I think they all.
16:24
Speaker 2: CJ's the most veteran there, you know, the other guys
16:27
Speaker 2: like you know, Bo didn't didn't you know, actually didn't
16:30
Speaker 2: play a whole bunch of running back actually in high school.
16:32
Speaker 2: And then he got hurt, you know, late in the season,
16:34
Speaker 2: so like he hasn't played a ton of football. Isaiah West,
16:37
Speaker 2: you know, was injured, you know, his senior year. You know,
16:42
Speaker 2: James didn't really get a lot of carries last year,
16:44
Speaker 2: so the same thing with him his senior year. And
16:47
Speaker 2: so these guys haven't, you know, played a lot of football.
16:51
Speaker 2: So the more carries we can get them, the more
16:53
Speaker 2: we can get them into the game, the better. The
16:55
Speaker 2: good news is to your point that you know, we
16:57
Speaker 2: we have four of them, where it has been we've
17:00
Speaker 2: had two and then one of them gets hurt and
17:01
Speaker 2: you know, like it's it's a scramble. So I think
17:04
Speaker 2: we've done a good job of that. And the more
17:06
Speaker 2: they play, the more they're getting comfortable. And I thought
17:09
Speaker 2: there was I thought that group took a step, even
17:11
Speaker 2: though maybe it only looked like a little step to everybody,
17:13
Speaker 2: there was a lot of things that I saw they
17:14
Speaker 2: took a step on. I thought the two runs by
17:16
Speaker 2: Bow and the short yard of situations were excellent. I mean,
17:19
Speaker 2: that was a free guy in the hole. But that's
17:21
Speaker 2: how Quinn Shawn looked last year. You know, you know
17:25
Speaker 2: some of the explosive runs that we got with Tray
17:27
Speaker 2: last year. It was good to see bow hit one.
17:28
Speaker 2: We had got a call back, but that's what we're
17:30
Speaker 2: looking for. And then obviously in past protection, I thought
17:33
Speaker 2: CJ did a nice job picking up a couple of bitzes.
17:36
Speaker 2: So but that's that's it, man, When when you have
17:38
Speaker 2: a young room like that, you got to keep getting
17:40
Speaker 2: them out there getting experience, and then got to keep
17:42
Speaker 2: growing and not make the same mistake over and over again.
17:44
Speaker 2: So and then trying to identify are the other schemes
17:47
Speaker 2: that they do better in than others. And that's the
17:51
Speaker 2: day to day grind we're on.
17:52
Speaker 1: The Buckeyes played without a number of their starters on Saturday,
17:56
Speaker 1: usually seems like it was all precautionary for the most part,
17:59
Speaker 1: but it offered an opportunity for some of the younger
18:02
Speaker 1: guys and some of the depth guys on the team
18:04
Speaker 1: to play. So what did Ryan Day see? Who did
18:06
Speaker 1: Ryan Day maybe see some improvement or some positive things
18:09
Speaker 1: from among those guys who did fill in on Saturday
18:12
Speaker 1: against the Boiler MA.
18:13
Speaker 2: I think some of the guys maybe that hadn't played
18:16
Speaker 2: as much. Maybe like some of the non starters, like
18:18
Speaker 2: I thought Peyton Pierce was was excellent in the game.
18:20
Speaker 2: He's playing well on special teams. This is a guy
18:22
Speaker 2: who you know is a high school wrestler, and you
18:25
Speaker 2: just really has taken the next step, I think, and
18:28
Speaker 2: as a productive player for us, as you guys can see,
18:30
Speaker 2: diagnoses play as well, really serious about his business, tough guy,
18:34
Speaker 2: you know, really smart. I thought Bryson Rodgers played well,
18:39
Speaker 2: and we need some guys to step up at receiver,
18:42
Speaker 2: and so really really good to see him. You know,
18:45
Speaker 2: he made some nice blocks, he made a couple of
18:46
Speaker 2: nice catches, so hopefully that can build him some momentum
18:50
Speaker 2: and him some confidence moving forward. In terms of other
18:55
Speaker 2: young guys, it was good to see more in his
19:00
Speaker 2: first start play well. I mean when you don't notice somebody,
19:03
Speaker 2: that's a good sign of tackle. And you know, we
19:05
Speaker 2: didn't really notice him too much. And yeah, a lot
19:11
Speaker 2: of good, a lot of good, you know, I think,
19:15
Speaker 2: full disclosure.
19:16
Speaker 3: You know, he's so used to practicing.
19:17
Speaker 2: I think that there were times where at you know,
19:20
Speaker 2: the last ten to twenty percent of the play, he's
19:24
Speaker 2: just he's kind of programmed.
19:25
Speaker 3: To sort of shut it down or you've got to
19:26
Speaker 3: play the whole play.
19:27
Speaker 2: But like overall, it's a heck of a start and
19:30
Speaker 2: so hopefully again that's another guy that now can build
19:32
Speaker 2: some confidence.
19:33
Speaker 1: Coming into the spring and really coming out of the spring.
19:36
Speaker 1: Depth of defensive tackle was one of the big questions
19:39
Speaker 1: for this Ohio State team. Taiwan Malone was someone who
19:42
Speaker 1: was not necessarily expected to be a starter caliber player
19:45
Speaker 1: and then he sort of turned into one. But then
19:47
Speaker 1: he had to sit out Saturday, So what's the status
19:49
Speaker 1: of him? And then also the two of the other
19:52
Speaker 1: guys who were sort of rotating through in that spot,
19:54
Speaker 1: Edward Houston and Jason Moore. What a day see out
19:57
Speaker 1: of those guys. And is he comfortable maybe getting a
19:59
Speaker 1: little letting a little more depth play there?
20:02
Speaker 2: I would I would love to, yeah, And it was
20:04
Speaker 2: good to see him flash. Now he needs to be
20:06
Speaker 2: more consistent. You're talking about Jason Moore, somebody who you know, Again,
20:11
Speaker 2: it's another guy that we'd love to see take the
20:12
Speaker 2: next step. He can do it. You've seen him do
20:14
Speaker 2: it physically. Now can he consistently do it? Which is
20:17
Speaker 2: what I think Edric has now, you know, kind of
20:19
Speaker 2: learned to do just you know, maybe not as much drama,
20:24
Speaker 2: just going out there and playing and playing the next snap.
20:27
Speaker 2: And and that's that's the sign of his maturity. You know,
20:29
Speaker 2: it's a guy who just lights up a room when
20:32
Speaker 2: he walks.
20:32
Speaker 3: In a room.
20:33
Speaker 2: You know, edric Is is a great young man. He's
20:35
Speaker 2: got a lot of talent, and he's learning how this
20:37
Speaker 2: all works. And you know, once he made the transition inside,
20:40
Speaker 2: what that comes with. And you know, he's had ups
20:43
Speaker 2: and downs a little bit this year, but like you're
20:44
Speaker 2: starting to see him play his best football. And I
20:46
Speaker 2: think the maturity and the preparation of what he's doing
20:48
Speaker 2: is paying off, and I think, you know, he's he's
20:51
Speaker 2: gonna be a big player for us. And then in Taiwan, yeah,
20:55
Speaker 2: we we you know, we felt like it was just
20:59
Speaker 2: he could he have played, but we decided to hold them.
21:02
Speaker 3: And yeah, so expecting a full week of work out
21:06
Speaker 3: of him too.
21:07
Speaker 1: Ryan Day is usually one of the first people to
21:09
Speaker 1: greet Julian, saying when he comes off the field, to
21:11
Speaker 1: have a conversation about what he saw and what he
21:14
Speaker 1: did on the field. Sometimes that's a touchdown and it's
21:16
Speaker 1: just kind of a smile and a pat on the head,
21:18
Speaker 1: and sometimes you throw an interception and it's a little
21:20
Speaker 1: bit of a different conversation. So over the course of
21:23
Speaker 1: the year, as Julian has come off the field after
21:25
Speaker 1: all those different drives, it's talked about what he's seen,
21:28
Speaker 1: how has his ability to diagnose things live on the
21:30
Speaker 1: field grown and developed over the course of it.
21:33
Speaker 2: I think once you start playing games with somebody and
21:35
Speaker 2: you spend more time with him and you see him
21:37
Speaker 2: on the field, you give him the benefit of the
21:40
Speaker 2: doubt in terms of what he's thinking, and you know
21:45
Speaker 2: he's you know, he's not quite there yet, but like
21:48
Speaker 2: I understand now that like he is putting the preparation in,
21:52
Speaker 2: I kind of understand how his mind works. And you know,
21:55
Speaker 2: there's certain times where you know you got to you
21:57
Speaker 2: got to bark at him to make sure that you
21:59
Speaker 2: know he's locked in, you know what I mean, as
22:00
Speaker 2: a young player, But like I see a guy who
22:03
Speaker 2: is locked in a lot, So like I don't kind
22:05
Speaker 2: of over that stage and now it's more about the
22:07
Speaker 2: football and what he's seeing, the decisions he's making in
22:09
Speaker 2: the preparation and making sure that he's focused and locked
22:11
Speaker 2: in and concentrating on each.
22:13
Speaker 3: Situation and what comes with it.
22:14
Speaker 2: And as the scheme continues to increase weekend and week out,
22:17
Speaker 2: you know how important every single play is, so you know,
22:22
Speaker 2: and that's and then just what it takes to execute
22:24
Speaker 2: each play and making great decisions, and that's and then
22:27
Speaker 2: you know, having the toughness to lead the team as
22:30
Speaker 2: we you know, get into these bigger, bigger games as
22:31
Speaker 2: the season comes to an end. So that's kind of
22:35
Speaker 2: where we are. And you know, he's doing great in
22:37
Speaker 2: terms of his preparation, his mindset.
22:39
Speaker 1: When you have a young quarterback, obviously they're going to
22:42
Speaker 1: sort of bring him along slowly. Look at what they
22:44
Speaker 1: did with Julian Saying in the Texas game as compared
22:47
Speaker 1: to what they've done Julian Saying in some of the
22:48
Speaker 1: more recent games, you can see how that growth has gone.
22:51
Speaker 1: But when you see him make a mistake like he
22:53
Speaker 1: did against Purdue on Saturday, where he throws that interception
22:56
Speaker 1: in the end zone, do you want to see him
22:58
Speaker 1: continuing to take chance just like that, even if it
23:01
Speaker 1: does sometimes mean a risk of an interception or a
23:03
Speaker 1: mistake like that, or do you want him to maybe
23:05
Speaker 1: play it safe.
23:07
Speaker 3: I think that's the art of playing quarterback.
23:08
Speaker 2: And you know, if you could tell somebody that, you know,
23:12
Speaker 2: it'd be a lot easier. You know, it's just there's
23:14
Speaker 2: so many moving parts and after playing the position, like
23:16
Speaker 2: I understand, like you know, and just that like if
23:19
Speaker 2: you're talking about that one play in particular, like you know,
23:22
Speaker 2: you know, in that situation, we had a seventeen play
23:25
Speaker 2: drive and like they're dropping eight.
23:27
Speaker 3: There's really no room in there, like.
23:29
Speaker 2: You probably got to check the ball down or run
23:31
Speaker 2: and you know, maybe we play fourth down or maybe
23:33
Speaker 2: we kick the field goal. But you know, there's just
23:35
Speaker 2: so many bodies in the end zone when it's a
23:39
Speaker 2: three man rush that gets really hard. And if you're
23:41
Speaker 2: going to make that throw, it's got to be like
23:43
Speaker 2: really tall top shelf.
23:44
Speaker 3: And he can catch it.
23:45
Speaker 2: But like those are the things that you know, it's
23:47
Speaker 2: so hard to replicate and you got to learn, like
23:49
Speaker 2: and but he knew it the minute he did it.
23:51
Speaker 3: He knew it. He came right over.
23:52
Speaker 2: And that wasn't a situation where you know, you know,
23:56
Speaker 2: you start barking at somebody, you just you know, because
23:58
Speaker 2: he knows, you know, nobody want to take take care
24:02
Speaker 2: of the ball better than.
24:02
Speaker 3: Him in that moment.
24:03
Speaker 2: So but then you know, if you overdo it and
24:05
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, guys get paralyzed, they don't let
24:07
Speaker 2: it rip. So you know, you gotta let it rip, man,
24:08
Speaker 2: And every once in a while, bad thing's gonna happen.
24:11
Speaker 3: You gotta come back from it.
24:11
Speaker 2: And I think to his credit, you know, he's kind
24:14
Speaker 2: of always stayed even keeled in that area. So again,
24:17
Speaker 2: bigger challenges ahead, but that's kind of where he's at now.
24:21
Speaker 1: An update on the status of offensive lineman Josh Padilla.
24:23
Speaker 1: He missed last Saturday's game, and Day has talked about
24:26
Speaker 1: the fact that he probably is close ish to playing.
24:28
Speaker 1: You may see him this week. You may. We'll see
24:30
Speaker 1: how that goes when he does come back. Is he
24:33
Speaker 1: expecting Josh Patia to maybe get a bigger role at
24:36
Speaker 1: that right guard spot or even earn a starting spot.
24:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think right now where we stand right now,
24:42
Speaker 2: it's it's we're gonna kind of like split the duty
24:44
Speaker 2: up there, but who knows that might change later Today, Josh,
24:49
Speaker 2: he's got to get healthy. We'll see how even Ethan
24:52
Speaker 2: does today. But that's kind of where we kind of
24:54
Speaker 2: feel like we are right now and we feel like
24:57
Speaker 2: splitting the reps can help them all those guys become
25:01
Speaker 2: more efficient. But we're gonna keep evaluating and keep pushing
25:06
Speaker 2: on it and see where we go. And a big
25:07
Speaker 2: part of it is how healthy Josh is now.
25:09
Speaker 1: One more question about recruiting, and you hear a lot
25:12
Speaker 1: at in basketball about positionless basketball. And you don't have
25:15
Speaker 1: the point guard and the shooting guard and the small
25:17
Speaker 1: forward and the strong forward and then the center anymore.
25:21
Speaker 1: It's sort of positionless basketball. You got guys who could
25:23
Speaker 1: do a bunch of different stuff. Ryan Days have asked
25:26
Speaker 1: about positionless football when they're recruiting guys. Where does he
25:29
Speaker 1: see value in players who may not just have one
25:32
Speaker 1: fixed position but might meet just fantastic athletes.
25:35
Speaker 2: That's another thing I think that is like not to
25:38
Speaker 2: give giveaway trade secrets, but I think nowadays, if you're
25:41
Speaker 2: just a one position only guy, you better be elite,
25:45
Speaker 2: you know. And so if you're an offensive lineman that
25:47
Speaker 2: can play, you know, guard and tackle, or you know,
25:50
Speaker 2: you're a receiver you know that can block and run,
25:54
Speaker 2: you know, or you know, if you're a you know,
25:58
Speaker 2: a linebacker that can play on the edge, or you're
26:01
Speaker 2: a nickel that can play corner, or safety that can
26:03
Speaker 2: play down, Like all those things come into play because
26:06
Speaker 2: you know, the versatility is important because we know this
26:09
Speaker 2: rosters every year is getting shorter and shorter. We're going
26:11
Speaker 2: to get to you know, just over one hundred people
26:13
Speaker 2: on the team, and so that means everybody has to
26:16
Speaker 2: have versatility. That that means guys who are on the
26:18
Speaker 2: field and also scout team guys. So anybody that you
26:21
Speaker 2: know we're bringing into the program, we want to have
26:24
Speaker 2: some versatility. I think you can see by maybe some
26:26
Speaker 2: of the guys that you know we're adding to the
26:28
Speaker 2: roster hero even over the last month, they can do
26:30
Speaker 2: multiple things, and I think that's important. You know, guys
26:34
Speaker 2: like Xavier Johnson, like think about how many roles he played,
26:36
Speaker 2: a guy like Mitch Rossi. You know, these guys, they
26:40
Speaker 2: became very important in those seasons because they could do
26:42
Speaker 2: multiple things. And so the more guys like that that
26:45
Speaker 2: we can have in the program, I think, the better
26:47
Speaker 2: off we're going to be.
26:48
Speaker 1: And finally, you're seeing a lot of rotation from Ohio
26:51
Speaker 1: State this year. You're seeing it on the offense line,
26:53
Speaker 1: You're seeing it running back position. You're seeing wide receivers
26:56
Speaker 1: playing who might not normally have played. They're playing a
26:59
Speaker 1: lot of depth guys all around the field on both
27:01
Speaker 1: sides of the ball. Is that about keeping the starters
27:04
Speaker 1: fresh or is that maybe more about building for next year?
27:07
Speaker 3: I think a couple of things.
27:08
Speaker 2: I think the first thing is the first thing you're
27:09
Speaker 2: thinking about is development for this year, developing depth. What
27:14
Speaker 2: is it going to look like when you're putting you
27:15
Speaker 2: in the game in a big ten game? You know,
27:17
Speaker 2: what does it look like in those moments? Is one
27:18
Speaker 2: thing what we see in practice, but it's another thing
27:21
Speaker 2: to actually do it in the game. So that's the
27:22
Speaker 2: first thing we're trying to evaluate. Then the second thing
27:25
Speaker 2: is like you're to your point, like where are we going?
27:28
Speaker 2: You know, what what's this looking like in the next
27:29
Speaker 2: two to three years? In each game we'll go through
27:31
Speaker 2: and we'll take a look at the guys and see
27:33
Speaker 2: how they do and try to figure in all these
27:35
Speaker 2: decisions on you know, guys coming into the program, retention
27:39
Speaker 2: all of that, and then try to project out the
27:41
Speaker 2: best we can based on what we see. And as
27:43
Speaker 2: you can imagine, there's a lot of conversation. He just
27:45
Speaker 2: needs more reps. You know, you know, his his awareness
27:49
Speaker 2: is excellent. You know, we can see a projection over here,
27:51
Speaker 2: look at this. You know, maybe you know, in a
27:55
Speaker 2: different type of scheme or a different type of you know, play,
27:58
Speaker 2: he could do these types of like we're all trying
27:59
Speaker 2: to figure the those things out where we feel like
28:03
Speaker 2: with the older guys have a pretty good feel for that,
28:05
Speaker 2: which is why we've adapted on both sides of the ball.
28:08
Speaker 1: Well, that'll do it for today's show. We will have
28:10
Speaker 1: more from Ryan Day and the Buckeyes Wednesday night at
28:13
Speaker 1: the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. We'll have those interviews live
28:16
Speaker 1: for you at YouTube dot com slash Buckeye Uddle. We'll
28:18
Speaker 1: try and get the full interviews up a little later
28:20
Speaker 1: on on Wednesday, have a reaction show from Tody Gurban
28:23
Speaker 1: and I. After that, also have a reaction show after
28:27
Speaker 1: rewatching the Indiana Purdue game. A lot to learn there
28:30
Speaker 1: about a team that Ohio State could potentially play in
28:33
Speaker 1: three weeks in Indianapolis. We'll have all that coverage for
28:37
Speaker 1: you coming up next day or so at YouTube dot
28:39
Speaker 1: com slash bucke Huddle, and of course at Buckeye Huddle
28:42
Speaker 1: dot com. That'll do it for today. Thank you guys
28:43
Speaker 1: all for joining us. Have a great day. We will
28:45
Speaker 1: talk to you tomorrow.