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How Did Ohio State Land Elite Running Back Quinshon Judkins In The Transfer Portal? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning. For Wednesday, February seventh, iim' your host,
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  Tom Moore. The Akron game in two hundred and six days, the
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  game against Michigan in two hundred and ninety seven days. We can add another
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  countdown to this at the start of the show, every day sixty six days
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  till the Ohio State Spring Game. Ohio State admitted official on Tuesday. Spring
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  game is Saturday, April thirteenth. Tickets will go un sale Friday at ten
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  am. That spring game gonna be one of the more anticipated spring games in
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  Ohio State history, not just because of all of the returning players, but
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  maybe and especially because of some of the new players on the Ohio State roster.
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  Today you're going to be hearing from a couple of those new players,
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  former Ohio University tight end Wilkesmrick and former Old Miss running back Quinn Shawn Judkins.
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  Let's start with Judkins. What put Ohio State at the top of his
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  list when he entered the transfer portal? Well, I think growing up,
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  you know, Ohio State isn't just a school you hear about at that certain
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  moment, you know, with all the accolades, They've had all the great
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  players that have come through here. Some of my favorite running backs have played,
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  so you know, it's always a school you've looked at growing up.
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  And I think just with me being in the portal, it was a great
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  situation to be in. There was some question when Judkins was in the portal
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  whether he would be open to coming to Ohio State because Ohio State has a
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  returning running back Travian Henderson, who was obviously going to be getting a fair
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  number of carries this year as well. So what was the thought process that
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  led him to being open to going somewhere that he might end up sharing carries?
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  Right? I think, you know, just the idea of coming to
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  a team where you know you're playing for some that's bigger than yourself. A
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  lot of great players have come here, as you've seen through the portal this
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  year, so I think when you come together for calls, it's bigger than
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  yourself. You know, you have great players around you and you want to
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  win, and that's what it's all about. What kind of conversations have those
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  two guys, Travian Henderson and Quinch and Judkins had throughout this whole process.
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  Yeah, me and Trevion have always been close. You know, We've always
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  been close on social media before I even came here, so we've always been
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  in contact, you know, just supporting each other throughout our collegiate careers.
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  And when I came here and decided to come here, it's very excited.
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  So Oxford, Mississippi, and Columbus, Ohio are two fairly different places.
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  Football a pretty significant piece of life in both of them, some pretty different
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  different areas as well. So what are quin John Judkins' first impressions of Columbus.
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  It's very passionate. The fans here are very passionate. Everywhere you go,
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  they have Ohio State on. They talk about the football team all day.
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  They know everything. So I think the community here is very welcoming,
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  very passionate fans and everyone here is involved for sure. Earlier you heard a
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  little bit about the decision that led him to Columbus, But what went into
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  the decision for him to leave Ole Miss in the first place. You know,
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  I've done some great things at Ole Miss. You know, I've learned
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  a lot, But I think just for me and my third year, you
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  know, you want to be somewhere like a place like Ohio State, like
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  I said, with great culture, great teammates, you know, great coaches,
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  the best players, and the best fan base, so you want to
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  win it. Judkins was one of the more dynamic running backs in the SEC,
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  in the entire nation in the last couple of years at Ole Miss.
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  How would he describe his runnings. I think I run tough. I'm very
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  elusive, fast. You know, I have vision, patience, I can
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  make people miss, I can run you over, I can catch I can
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  you know. It's very different. So there was a lot of excitement bordering
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  on elation among Ohio State fans when Judkins announced that he was transferring to Ohio
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  State. But what was the reaction he got from Old Miss fans and other
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  players and staff and all that down at All Miss when he announced he was
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  going in the portal in the first place, it was it was crazy.
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  You know, a lot of a lot of different things that were a lot
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  of different emotions. But it's it's a business. It's a business, so
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  you understand it. You know, people won't always be happy for the decisions
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  you make when it's best very your self. But like I said, man,
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  I'm just excited to be here and do what I can and win it
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  all. You may have heard that it just means more in the conference where
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  in Quick Chuck where Quinn Sjuhn and Judkins used to play the SEC. What
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  has he learned about the Big Ten and Big Ten country so far? You
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  know, I did not know that it was this big of a factor.
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  You know, you always see it on TV when they play games on Saturdays,
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  and it's big. It's a lot of fans and like I say,
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  everybody's passionate, but when you're hitting it, it's a whole nother ball game.
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  So really excited. Judkins spent the last couple of years playing in one
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  of college football's notable regional rivalries, Ole Miss Mississippi State in the Old Egg
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  Bowl game. That's certainly one that is famous for certain moments in history.
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  What has he learned so far about the Ohio State and Michigan rivalry? Has
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  he had to study up on that at all? Oh it was a big
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  time. I've always heard a lot about it, but to be here and
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  you see how big it is. They got the clock in there with the
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  countdown is serious. So I'm excited to beat the team up North End.
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  That's what we're working for the Buckeyes have added three different players who played it
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  at the SEC last year, plus Julian Saying, who was a transfer from
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  Alabama but didn't play there last year. Judkins went up against Caleb Downs last
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  year when Ole Miss played Alabama. So having played against Caleb Downs, what
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  does he know about about Caleb Downs's game? This is gonna be two answers
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  kind of butted together here. Yeah, definitely a great player. Like I
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  said, everyone who's come here this portal class great players from all around their
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  dventtines and Caleb personally, you know, he's done some great things at Alabama
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  and we were exciting to have, right I think when we played on we
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  more so ri Trump. We had a different ball game plan, like we're
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  trying to throw the ball, and he's very successful there he stopping it.
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  So that's pretty good. So that will do it for Judkins. Now on
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  to Will kas Merrick. He is a tight end transfer from Ohio University that
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  is only about an hour and a half or so down the road from Ohio
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  State, but kind of a world of difference when it comes to the level
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  of football you're potentially playing. So could kas America have possibly envisioned this when
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  he started his career at Ohio that it would end up here. And how
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  quickly did he hear from Ohio State once he went into the transfer portal.
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  Here's two winsors kind of butted together again. Not at all. No,
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  it's been a long process for sure. I mean, my personally likes to
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  come every day and play my hardest, So I think that just building day
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  by day through OU kind of led me to the supportunity and stuff like that.
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  Oh, they were pretty pretty quickly a bunch of schools as soon as
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  I entered. I was a little bit later in the portal, just a
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  lot of family discussions and stuff like that. So as soon as I hit
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  had a lot of attention, and then I just connected really easily with all
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  the coaches here, and I just knew this is this is my home.
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  So just how big of a difference is it for being an Ohio Bobcat to
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  an Ohio State Buckeye Again, two answers here, back to back. Honestly,
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  it's not quite too different. I mean, obviously there's the facilities and
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  stuff like that, but just player wise, like all the players down there
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  got along with each other, all of them get along on the pier,
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  so it's pretty It was a pretty easy transition, just through the nature of
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  the locker room. I would just say that three resource wise is a little
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  bit of the jump. At first, it was pretty it was pretty crazy,
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  just because there's a lot more a lot more fans, a lot more
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  attention. But like I said earlier, it's not too much different. Everyone's
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  here just play football and all guys at the end of the day, so
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  it's it was pretty pretty smooth and I'm comfortable now. So this is always
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  kind of an interesting question. You see guys going to the transfer portal,
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  you see guys come out of the transfer portal, but what is it like
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  to be in the transfer portal. No, that time, it was very
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  stressful. I said earlier that as soon as I entered, there was just
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  NonStop phone calls and me keik go along really easily, and I just love
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  the coaches here, and it was just one thing led to another end.
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  State. This was home not too far from Ohio, so it was an
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  easy move, and it's one of the best programs in the country, so
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  I thought it was a no brainer. Kas Mark said that he really connected
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  well with Keenan Bailey. So what was it that made him and the Ohio
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  State tight ends coach connects so well? I love how he's still my coach,
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  but he's just another one of the guys. He's super personable. We
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  could talk about different things. Nothing's too like, too strict, too serious
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  as sus. We're just chatting through techniques and stuff like that. It's just
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  he makes it a really fun and enjoyable play game. The transfer portal move
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  between Columbus and Athens has happened before. Last time it was in the opposite
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  direction when walk on wide receiver Sam Wiglos went from the Buckeyes to the Bobcats
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  and turned into an All Mac wide receiver. So what did Kasmeric hear from
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  Wiglows about his time at Ohio State. I mean, not in the fact
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  that me coming here, but he said he loved to hear and once I
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  entered portal, I definitely took that out of all the good things he said
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  about the program and stuff like that. And you can see if the player
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  who's become today he was a baller at OU the two years in a row
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  he was first team on MAX. You can just see where how people could
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  be developed here at Ohio State. So you heard him there talking about how
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  Wiglos was developed at Ohio State. Well, okay, how did Kasmeric feel
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  that he developed during his time at Ohio Yeah, So my freshman year,
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  I was redshirt and we had a really good defense at that time, and
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  I was on scout team and that's where I just every day I would put
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  in the work and treat that like my game. So I feel like that's
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  where I got acclimated to the college level. One. Then my sophomore year
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  and this past junior year. Redshirt sophomore year is really where I made my
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  impact on the field. And a lot of my coaches believed in me there,
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  and I loved all those coaches down there. There are awesome people,
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  great program, and they just put a lot of faith in me, and
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  I get faith back in them and just try to make plays. So well.
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  We will have more interviews with the buck Eyes coming up a little bit
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  later on today nine am. On Wednesday, we're supposed to get a press
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  conference with Ryan Day. We'll be talking today about coaching staff changes, new
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  additions to the portal, some of the winter workouts, all that good stuff.
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  Only give me a bill A little Bill O'Brien talk there as well,
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  I would guess, so it's gonna be plenty of interesting stuff to talk to
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  Ryan Day about. That'll be Wednesday morning, nine thirty am. We should
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  be streaming that at YouTube dot com at slash bucke Huddle, so make sure
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  you're subscribed there, make sure you hit that bells you get notified when we
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  go live, watch the whole thing live. I mean, I guess we
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  will probably have some kind of an instant reaction show there after the interviews as
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  well from the Wudy Hayes Athletics Center. That'll all be there at YouTube dot
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  com, slash bucke Huddle, and of course at buckey Huddle dot com as
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  well. That's where Tony, Kevin and I cover the team, Mark covers
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  recruiting. We have our whole team of exes in those gurus making you a
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  smarter football fan, all at Buckeyehuddle dot com. That will do it for
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  today. Thank you guys all for joining us. Have a great day.
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  We will talk to you tomorrow