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How Will New Offensive Coordinator Bill O'Brien Change The Ohio State Attack? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to buck Eyes tomorrow morning for Saturday, January twentieth. I'm your host,
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  Tom Moore. The Akron game is in two hundred and twenty four days.
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  The game against Michigan in three hundred and fifteen days. Ohio State has
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  itself an offensive coordinator. It is Bill O'Brien. You may remember him from
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  such offenses as Penn State, or Alabama or the New England Patriots. He's
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  the head coach at Penn State. At one point it was he has a
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  long and pretty distinguished career and oh yeah, Houston, Texans too forgot about
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  that. And you know, he is someone who brings We talked a whole
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  bunch about, you know, Ryan Day looking to bring a veteran play caller.
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  And guess what Brian Day has brought in a veteran play caller. This
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  was a name that our members at bucke Huddle dot com heard about about a
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  week ago. Got some sort of early rumblings on a couple of different names,
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  and Bill O'Brien was one of them. And at the time I wrote
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  quote, I'm guessing this one won't be as well received as Kentucky offensive coordinator
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  Liam Cohen. Among the fan base, but being offensive coordinator for an offensive
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  minded head coach like Day is likely going to be pretty different than being the
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  offensive coordinator for a defensive minded head coach like Nick Saban Close quotes that was
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  Saturday last week, and you're not gonna believe it, but it was meant.
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  This news was met with some mixed responses from the Ohio State fan base.
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  That's what we're bringing in, Tony Gerdiman if buck Huddle dot com provide
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  some expertise and some analysis on what this really might mean. Why Why did
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  Bill? Why was Bill O'Brien the guy that Ryan Day picked to be the
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  guy for this job? And I guess Tony, let's start with just the
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  role on the whole, the big picture here. What does bringing in a
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  veteran play caller like Bill O'Brien do for Ryan Day and the Ohio State offense
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  this year? Well, I think it gives Ryan Day some freedom and some
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  confidence to worry about just the game management aspect of the games. We had
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  talked to him this past year about how giving up play calling would allow him
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  not only to do that, but also with so much other stuff the head
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  coaches have to do nowadays, in the off season. It would allow him
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  to continue to foster relationships and build the camaraderie among the team with players and
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  himself, and just not having to worry about that arm of the job in
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  terms of the play calling, would allow him more access and more time and
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  more freedom. And then you look at what happens in the games the past
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  couple of years where there are times where it's like missed opportunities to make some
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  fourth down calls or some challenges, and you wonder would he have been more
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  in tuned with the possibilities there if he wasn't worried about the next call or
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  whatever. So you now have a guy who has done this at the highest
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  level and has done it for a long time, and there's confidence there.
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  There's familiarity there with between the two of them, so that helps. And
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  I think just they would have loved probably to be able to give up play
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  calling last year. Would would have been okay with it, I should say,
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  but the confidence wasn't there that he could do that. With Brian Hartline,
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  I think the confidence is there obviously with Phillibrian. That's why you go
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  out and get it, and it's somebody, like I said, who's done
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  it at all levels, has even been a general manager in the NFL,
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  has just seen everything and as a different perspective. But also I think is
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  veteran enough to be able to do whatever it is that Ryan Day wants them
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  to do. And I think that. I mean, the general manager stint
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  in the NFL, it was brief, It did not go particularly well,
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  and there have been other moments in you know, this year, the New
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  England Patriots offense did not go particularly well, but there was not a whole
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  heck of a lot to work with there. In terms of the New England
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  Patriots offense. You went back and looked at some of his quarterback play over
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  the years. You know, the guy's playing quarterback for him, especially at
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  the college level, and the results were pretty impressive. So, you know,
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  I know there's sort of an immediate backlash to this based on some of
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  the negative stuff, but the you know, he's not going to be asked
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  to be the general manager of the twenty twenty four buck Cace. He's gonna
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  be asked to run the offense. And when he's been in charge of the
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  offense, it feels like things have gone pretty well for him in his quarterbacks
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  in the past. Yeah, when you look at his first year at Penn
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  State twenty twelve, he took over there and the quarterback that year, Matt
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  McGloin, who had started five games each of the previous two years, then
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  started all twelve games for Penn State. Twenty twelve was an honorable mention All
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  Big Ten player, led to Big Ten in passing yards, touchdowns, interception
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  ratio. And then in twenty thirteen started true freshman Christian Hackenberg and that was
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  the best year that Hackenberg had. He played three years at Penn State and
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  only one year under Bill O'Brien. That was his true freshman year and it
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  was the best year he had. He was honorable mentioned that year as well.
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  And it's not just quarterbacks, Tom, Do you remember the leading rusher
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  for Penn State in each of Bill O'Brien's two years, Because this is a
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  blast from the past for me. When I looked it up, I will
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  give you a seven seconds, boy seven seconds come up with the leading rushers
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  for Penn State. And this was between Curtis Enis and Saquon Barkley and boy
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  Tony. I am drawing some real blanks here in terms of early twenty tens
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  Penn State running backs. Why don't you just get me off the hook and
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  tell me. Tell me who it was, and then I'll go, oh,
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  yeah, I remember him, because odds are I will in fact remember
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  him. Yeah, it was somebody who entered the twenty twelve season vying to
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  be the backup fullback with Michael Zordich. It was Zagzwinnek, who in twenty
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  twelve rushed for exactly one thousand yards and then twenty thirteen rush for nine hundred
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  and eighty nine yards. There is no world where that guy should be,
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  you know, leading the charge. But that's you know, that was something
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  that Bill O'Brien was able to do, and it kind of it's a microcosm
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  of the toughness that he preaches when you're running Zagswinnek, you know, up
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  up the gut six you know, like sixty pounds, just you know,
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  trying to control the clock as best you can because you are so undermanned in
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  those couple of years in Penn State and pretty amazing what they were able to
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  do there, and obviously that led to the job with the Houston Texans.
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  But here's a name for you, Tom, What do you think, you
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  know what, I honestly you said that, and I was kind of like,
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  hmmm, I might remember that. Just those Penn State teams were so
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  forgettable. I mean, I think one of those years, twenty twelve or
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  thirteen, they lost to Ohio University out of you know, out of conference.
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  That was Those were teams that were absolutely decimated by the sanctions, by
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  the fallout from the whole Jerry Sandusky situation. And I think if you don't
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  if you don't remember those times in that team, you probably don't recognize what
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  a remarkable job Bill O'Brien did there. But if you are looking for context
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  on this, I don't remember what. Did the twenty twelve team finish eight
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  and four something like that? It was, yeah, eight and yeah.
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  There is on the side of the stadium at Penn State, they have like
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  memorable teams or great Penn State teams listed on the side of the stadium,
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  like inside the stadium, Bawl you can see him and it's you know,
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  nineteen ninety four and nineteen eighty six and they won a national championship, but
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  they had an undefeated season. One of the seasons up there is twenty twelve
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  because that was the season where it could have all just gone to heck for
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  that Penn State program, and Bill O'Brien came in and kind of held everything
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  together and it was not easy and it was not pretty, but he kind
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  of held it all together and it was a very duct tape and baling wire
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  kind of season. He's gonna have no offense to Zach Zwinnak, but I
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  think between Travon Henderson and Quinshawn Judkins and Dalan Hayden, he's probably gonna have
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  some better running backs to work with at Ohio State than he did at Penn
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  State back then. So that's the sort of Bill O'Brien piece of this.
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  Now there was news about another staff departure or at least stay staff change.
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  This is one of these great moments in phrasing in the Ohio State official release
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  quote, it is anticipated that Corey Dennis, quarterbacks coach the past four seasons,
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  will transition into a still to be determined role with the program. So
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  that's a polite way to say that Corey Dennis, who has been the quarterbacks
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  coach for the last four years, is no longer going to be the quarterbacks
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  coach and we'll see where he ends up somewhere else within the within the balls
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  of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center probably, But you know, this is this
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  is a change again that I think we had heard was in the works,
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  but this is a you know, another notable staff change. And the really
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  interesting thing is Ohio State was at nine. They add Bill o'bryan's another at
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  ten countable assistance. That's it. That you're done well, then Corey Dentist
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  departs and then you're back at nine. And it seems, based on what
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  some of the folks on our staff are hearing, like it might be you
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  know that tenth body come on the defensive side of the ball. I'm not
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  the offense. Yeah, And if the name being rumored, if they can
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  go and get a Jason Taylor to help out on the defensive line with Larry
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  Johnson, that would be just about a clean sweep on a home run off
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  season for Ohio State if they can make that happen. He's Jason Taylor's making
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  waves at Miami right now and the recruiting and production, so we'll see if
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  that happens. The Corey Dentist thing is interesting to me because does he just
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  become another Todd Fitch, and Todd Fitch is like a QC guy at Ohio
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  State who handles some quarterback stuff and works with the quarterbacks. Remember, Tim
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  Hinton was a tight ends coach at Ohio State until Kevin Wilson was brought in.
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  With Kevin Wilson and Ryan Day came in at the same time, they
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  needed a spot and so Tim Hinton was moved to like Ohio High school liaison
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  and also just a special assistant. And he's still around. We see him
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  ten were at practice and so like, yeah, you can not be one
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  of the ten assistants and still be around every single day and dealing with players,
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  working with players. We hear the quarterbacks talking about coach Fitch, we
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  hear tight ends talking about coach Hinton, Like, there are still plenty of
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  things that Corey Dennis can do if he chooses to stay at Ohio State.
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  I think if he can, I think that whatever it is, quarterbacks liked
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  him in terms of recruiting, and so if there's something that he can do
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  in that realm, in terms of helping out Ohio State, if he wants
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  to do that, I don't see any harm in it. At all.
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  So there is one more assistant coaching move at least to be made in the
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  coming days or weeks. We're gonna be watching that very closely at Buckeheadle dot
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  com. But oh boy, is there a whole lot of other news coming
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  as well on a whole bunch of different fronts. Let's see five star quarterback
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  Jared Curtis for twenty twenty six. Some significant news developing in the last day
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  or so on him. Mark Kifler had a report on the huddle board on
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  at buckeyehuddle dot com. The Hudleboard presented by Jeff Ruby Steakhouse, that is
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  our insider board members only. Mark Hifler had a report on five star quarterback
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  Jared Curtis for twenty twenty six. Owen also five star quarterback Julian Sayin for
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  twenty twenty four, who was the number one quarterback in the class at twenty
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  twenty four, signed with Alabama, showed up at Alabama. Nick Saban retired
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  from Alabama and now Julian Sayin's in the portal and there's a lot of smoke
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  around Julian Sayin coming to Ohio State. So are the Buckeyes going to pursue
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  that or are they going to leave it alone? Well, good news the
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  news from Mark Kifler on the huddleboard at buckey Huddle dot com about that as
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  well. Oh, other Alabama players in the transfer portal Caleb Down safety,
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  Caden Proctor offensive lineman. Hey, good news this news from Mark Kifler on
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  the huddleboard at bucke Huddle dot com about those guys as well. There's other
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  guys committing soon. There's guy there was just a top target just pushed his
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  commitment day back. There is so much news going on right now. This
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  is one of the craziest mid januaries that I can remember, and it just
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  feels like the news keeps coming and the news keeps coming at Buckeye Huddle dot
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  com. So we would love to see you there. And if you're sign
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  up for membership, you get access to our huddle board, presented by Jeff
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  Ruby Steakhouse, where we talk about all this kind of stuff. We'll let
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  you know what we're seeing, what we're hearing, what we think might be
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  the next news to come down the track at us all at Buckeye Huddle dot
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  com. And of course whenever news happens. You know. Also where to
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  find us at YouTube dot com slash Buckey Huddle. Kevin and Tony and I
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  did about an hour and a half on a snowy Friday morning. For those
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  of you who joined us, thank you for joining us. For those of
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  you who didn't join us, well join us next time, and you can
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  do that by being subscribed there at YouTube dot com slash Buckey Huddle. Hit
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  that bell be notified when we go live. That's a great way to make
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  sure you never miss out on the fun because boy, there's always something new
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  happening, and generally that just involves Tony and Kevin and I texting each other,
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  Hey, can we go live in five minutes and then we do.
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  So that's the best way to make sure you don't miss out because we generally
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  when news breaks don't take long as get going. So that will do it
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  for today. Thank you guys all for joining us every great day. We
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  will talk to you tomorrow.