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Ohio State Spring Football: Jeremiah Smith and 8 Other Freshmen To Watch · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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Welcome to buck Eyes Tomorrow Morning for Thursday, February twenty ninth. I'm your
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host, Tom Moore. The Akron game is in one hundred and eighty four
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days, the game against Michigan in two hundred and seventy five days, the
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start of spring practice in five days, and we are going to be leaping
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get it because it's a Cbebruary twenty all right, Yeah, we're gonna be
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leaping right into our show today. I titled it initially five Freshmen to Watch,
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and then it was like, well, there's kind of a combination of
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guys at a few different positions, so it's like five positions with freshmen to
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watch. And I thought, well, that's not a very good title.
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And then I thought, oh, we're talking about Jeremiah Smith, so good
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news. I'll just put Jeremiah Smith in the title and everyone will be excited.
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So there we go. We're going to talk about Jeremiah Smith today.
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Spoiler alert. He is a freshman that some people at Ohio State are excited
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about. I'm guessing I do not need to tell an audience of Ohio State
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fans that I probably do not also need to tell Tony Gurdham in that he
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is followed a Higo State football somewhat closely. Over the years, Tony,
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there have been plenty of hyped freshmen coming in. You know, this is
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not a quarterback, so this is not Andy katzen Moyer. But I think
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it just feels like the level of excitement around Jeremiah Smith, not just from
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the fan base, but from people within the program who are in a position
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to kind of know, like, hey, this guy seems like he's pretty
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good. It is up there with some of the more anticipated freshman springs.
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Some of the reactions from Ohio State fans kind of reminds me of Swifties actually
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in terms of their infatuation and their love of just the idea of Jeremiah Smith.
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But I think we're all kind of interested because we've heard for a new
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and stein frankly for two or three years now about him. And you know
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what freshman sophomore in high school like this way, did you see this guy?
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This guy's coming up, he's gonna be the next one. And now
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he's here, and so let's see what he does. And I know,
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I'm almost almost tired of talking about how we see these freshmen in spring.
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Garrett Wilson Jackson Smith than Jigba. How talked many times about how blown away
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I was the first time we saw Jackson Smith and Jigba just catching everything his
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first spring practice before the world imploded in twenty twenty, how he was just
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incredible and you knew right then watching him like this guy is going to be
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a star. And he had ten catches for forty nine yards as a true
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freshman. So there are glimpses and then it takes a while before you see
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the full picture. And with Jeremiah Smith, people are talking like it's not
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going to take long and see that full picture. It's just going to be
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like first page. It's right there, all out for you. So I'm
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looking forward to it. I think it's interesting that there are two starting jobs
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available, as we talked about in the last show, that there is an
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opportunity to go win a spot, and people are already talking about how he
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is. You don't give this opportunity, You don't assume a freshman can do
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it. You don't put that kind of pressure on him. They're kind of
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doing that, and it's it's being done with Jeremiah Smith, so we will
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see you know it is you mentioned he's not a quarterback, where he's not
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Andy Katsenmore. This is very similar to the Andy Katzenmoyer thing though, where
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like he was he was, he was big time and maybe maybe like Maurice
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Clarette as well, where it's just they're they're known before they've ever done anything
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at Ohio State and then as freshmen they lived up to that. So that's
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that's a lot for Jeremiah Smith to do. And I know we've talked plenty
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of times about the thirty catch threshold for freshman receivers. We'll see if he
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can get there. Carnel Tate had a fantastic freshman year last year and had
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like what nineteen catches or something like that, So the opportunity is going to
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be there for him to do more. Yeah, there's definitely gonna be opportunity.
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Farbe it from me to tell you to pump the brakes on this,
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but you know, I think going into the spring with reasonable expectations is probably
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going to set you up for a happier spring. He is probably not going
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to catch, you know, seventeen hundred yards worth of passes this year,
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no matter how good he looks on film, no matter how good. He
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looks during the spring, but I think go back and look at the trajectory
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for like a Garrett Wilson or Chris A. Lava or Jackson Smith and Jigba
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or any other any other true freshman receiver that you've seen in the past that
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has gone on to have a really spectacular career. Harrison in that group if
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you want, and there's been a lot of they start to really show up.
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You know, sure he'll probably have do something cool in the fourth quarter
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against Akron. Absolutely, they don't generally against good opposition. They start to
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show up around mid to late October early November. Marvin Harrison really showed up
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in the Rose Bowl more than anything else. So you know, don't necessarily
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expect starting day one, but there's certainly something to be intrigued by. There
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is plenty to be intrigued by there, and there's certainly a path to the
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field there as well. So you'll get to see something this year, and
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the spring and the fall camp are really going to be about finding out how
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much are you going to get to see? Wide receiver is one of the
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places where we have seen freshmen get on the field for Ohio State. The
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next three position groups that we're going to be talking about are other places where
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we have seen freshmen get on the field before and you know, in some
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cases win starting jobs. Let's talk next about defensive end and Edwrick Houston.
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That's a spot where this is a deeper defensive end unit than I think we've
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seen in a number of years in the past. So it may be a
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little bit of a tougher path to the field for him, but there is
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certainly an opportunity there to get on the field this fall and start sort of
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making a name for himself. Yeah, I definitely think there's an opportunity,
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and obviously it starts this spring where I think he's going to get quite maybe
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more work than a lot of freshmen do, because when you have Jack Sawyer
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and J. T. Twey Molowile, you don't necessarily need to work them
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too much in the spring. So that moves everybody up, including Edrew Houston.
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And you got Kenyatta, Jackson, Kaden Curry, Mitchell Melton, josh
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A Mickens of red shirt freshman ahead of him in terms of experience. But
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with Houston, let's not forget Ryan Day on signing day, when he can
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finally talk about Edrick Houston after leaving the press conference to go talk to Edric
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Houston and then coming back and getting the signature and being able to talk about
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him, said that they think he's an impact player on day one. Now,
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what does that mean? I mean to me when you say that,
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I'm expecting to see him on the field. But then I think Ryan Day
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also said that, not necessarily knowing if everybody was going to be returning,
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you know, in terms of J. T. Twey Molowile Jack Sawyer,
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because he said this in mid December, and those two announced their returns in
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like mid January, So that maybe gets put on hold a little bit.
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But it's a long season. You're gonna be rotating a bunch of guys because
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you want, you you need all of your veterans to be as fresh as
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possible in January. Now it's no longer just November. It's November, December,
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January. It's like basically September October is the preseason and November, December,
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January is the essentially the playoffs now, and so that leaves room for
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a guy like Eddrick Houston to make an impact for Ohio State. But yeah,
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we'll get to see him this spring and get to just see when we
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get to see that, watch those one and ones, and maybe we'll get
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to see two or three practices this spring. And you chart them and you
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watch them, and you go back and you look and sometimes guys just jump
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out at you. And we've seen him before defensive ends where guys just like,
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Okay, that guy looks special. And I do remember Mark Gibler and
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Kevin Noon going down to Florida to watch Edward que or to Georgia. You
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for Georgia to watch edarck Houston, and Mark at that point said he's he
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hasn't seen any better prospect in the twenty twenty four class than edwarck Houston.
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And Kevin of course chimes in, he's like, well what about Jeremiah Smith
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in Mark SLECLD. So that's the kind of level that we're talking about with
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edwarck Houston, where you know, this was a guy that everybody wanted Ohio
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State got. So I'm looking forward to seeing him this spring as well.
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So those are two guys who I think are you know, just based on
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the high school resume alone, you would sort of think, yeah, you
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maybe have a faster than usual path of the playing field, another spot where
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you typically will see if a freshman is going to be a standout, if
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a freshman is going to earn a starting role. Running Back has been one
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of those places you have seen that over the years. JK. Dobbins obviously
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relatively recently, Trevion Henderson even more recently than that. So there is a
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path for that to happen. I don't know that there's a path for that
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to happen this year with James People's because you've got Traveon Henderson, You've got
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Quinnchawn Judkins, you've got Dallan Hayden. I mean, there's plenty of talent
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on this roster, but it's certainly a position, Tony where we have seen
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freshman get out there and make an impact immediately or make an impact relatively quickly.
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James People feels like he could be someone who, you know, I'm
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not expecting him to win the starting job, I'm not expecting him to necessarily
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be the number two running back, but he feels like someone who could get
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out there and make a bigger impact than people might expect in year one with
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as crowded as room as that it. Yeah. I mean, we still
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haven't seen Trevion and Henderson like go through a full season without missing a couple
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of games. It's maybe his freshman season. So in instances like that,
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everybody's gonna move up a spot. You know. I go back to Ezekiel
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Elliott carried the ball thirty times as a true freshman in twenty thirteen. Demario
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McCall add forty nine and twenty sixteen, and that was basically the high water
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mark. So like in blowouts, there are gonna be opportunities. But you
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know, Dylan Hayden has been very, very patient, so you would expect
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that he's going to be that third guy and there aren't a lot of carries
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for a fourth guy. But again, this is gonna be a long season.
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This also, you're not just gonna throw out Dalan Hayden. I think
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in the final eight minutes of a blowout either you're gonna want to get guys
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some playing time. But I wouldn't you know, is James Peoples to me,
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I think because of the depth at the running back position, he's a
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red shirt candidate. I do expect him to play his four games, and
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I expect him to to make a mark. But this spring it'll be interesting
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to watch in terms of how much does Travon Henderson do, how much do
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they want Quinn shown Jenkins doing because obviously you know this is a new offense,
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but he's not an inexperienced player. So and frankly, Dllan Hayden is
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all he's ever done is spring football and fall camp. Like all he's ever
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done is practice. How much time does he need? But so I think
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there's gonna be some some decent work for James People this People's this spring that
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can then springboard him into something more. But we saw last year with Dallan
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Hayden like it's it's very difficult to get a fourth guy out there, especially
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if you're trying to red shirt it, and they we may see the same
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thing happening for James People's this year. Yeah, that's kind of the sixty
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four thousand dollars question is do they try to red shirt him because then you
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potentially see eight carries against Akron or you know, ten carries against Rutgers or
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whoever. But you know, then then they don't you know, you are
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only playing those four games. The real interesting thing is the postseason stuff doesn't
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count, so then you could have as many, theoretically as many as five
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postseason games which wouldn't count, so you could play nine games and red shirt
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theoretically. That's one of about it's probably about the four hundred and thirty second
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weirdest thing about this upcoming season. But a lot to get a lot get
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used to there. So we'll see how James people starts this spring and where
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that ultimately ends up leading him to this fall. Another position where we have
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seen true freshman go out there and start. Denzel Burke went out there started
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as a true freshman day one at corner against Minnesota in twenty twenty one.
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We saw j R. Brown out there start, We saw Jeraine Matthews I
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think it a start by last year. So you know, corner is a
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position where it has happened. There is a lot of talent coming in at
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the corner position. This is kind of a three headed monster of Aaron Scott,
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Brice, West, Miles Lockhart. I mean, that's a really deep
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corner room. They would have to have either a remarkable leap forward from one
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of those guys or really really bad injury luck at the corner position. We
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have seen both of those things happen at Ohio State in the corner room over
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the last few years, so it's it's definitely not impossible. But I think
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these are three guys who I'm really intrigued to watch and just sort of see
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what maybe you know, where they are coming out of the spring. Yeah,
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because this is a cornerback room at Ohio State, like you said,
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three straight years they've had a freshman start at least one game. But Tim
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Walton, the cornerbacks coach, has also recruited that room better now to where
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it seems like it would be much more difficult for a freshman to make this
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a four year in a row thing because you do add as you said,
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Jermaine Matthews, and you got Calvin Simpson, Hunt got Lorenzo Styles out of
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the portal last year, so it's a deeper room and and so like that's
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gonna be much more difficult. I am interested to see what happens in the
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spring in terms of who is where. They recruited Myles Lockhart to be a
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slot, a nickel corner, so I'm assuming that's where he will be.
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Bryce West to me could end up just about anywhere in the secondary. He
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could he could end up outside at corner. He could. He talked to
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I talk to him a year or two ago. He said he's been He's
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mentioned the slot as well. I think he could end up as a free
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safety honestly as well. So I think they're gonna get him in there obviously,
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you see where he fits best. I just wonder how how much time
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they give him. I remember Jordan Fuller, I don't know that, I
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don't know if it was in the spring or fall camp, but he he
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was at corner for like one practice and they moved him to safety. Same
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thing with Christian Bryant from Glenville, started out as corner and lasted maybe half
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of camp before he was moved to safety. And so just be you know,
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we'll see. One of my favorite things about going to the first practice
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compared to like the tent is to see who has moved where. It's like,
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oh, now Torrence Gibson is with the wide receivers and stuff like that,
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where it's kind of newsworthy that they've moved guys around. So those three
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guys again all very talented, and Aaron Scott might be this year's version of
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Jermaine Matthews. Yeah, and If he is, that would be a real
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real shot in the arm for the Ohios date defense because you've got a really
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talented top line at that corner spot already, but you could potentially lose Denzel
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Burke and Davison Nigbunosen and Jordan Hancock next year. So that would be a
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big, big boost for the twenty twenty five Buckeyes. And the last position
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I want to talk about is really also more of a twenty twenty five positional
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battle. Potentially. We're going to read these names in alphabetical order, just
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so we don't offend anyone. Lincoln keenholes Air Nolan Julian saying three very talented
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quarterbacks at Ohio State. Coaches are very very high on a pair of true
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freshman five stars. Lincoln Keenhols came in as a high four star in the
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twenty twenty three class. He played more than you maybe would have expected in
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twenty twenty three as the third string guy, and you know, was really
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thrust into a very unfair spot in the and Bowl behind an offensive line that
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was not great, and you know, in a game he was very clearly
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not ready to play. I don't know that I'm necessarily expecting him to be
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in the twenty twenty four quarterback battle, but this feels like this spring might
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kind of be the start of what might shape up to be the twenty twenty
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five quarterback battle between these three guys. Yeah, because we're gonna be talking
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about it, We're gonna be measuring it, We're gonna be comparing them to
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each other, and like, oh, this is Lincoln Keenols is lead leading
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now and then in three days like oh, Aaron Nolan, oh Julian's saying
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on the charge. And think back to last year, where from day to
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day it was Kyle Lcord leading, it was Devin Brown leading, and now
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we've got like a two year head starter or one year head start on that
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sort of thing. And the thing with it already starting now is there's so
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much ground to gain to lose from now until whenever. And sometimes it's something
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as smaller as significant as breaking a hand like Joe Burrow that determines whether you
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are the backup or you are the starter at another conference. So just little
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things at the time they don't seem so major, that become major because Dwayne
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Haskins is the guy that goes in instead of Joe Burrow, because Burrow was
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not the backup in twenty seventeen against Michigan. So this is this spring is
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the start of that. But anything that can, anything can happen between now
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and then to disrupt it. Like it doesn't matter really to me who leads
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among them out of the out of spring you would Lincoln Keyenholtz, I'm sure
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is hoping that it's him because he's been here longer, so he should.
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And if you're caught by somebody who is a year younger than you in spring,
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that would be a concern. But again, it's not so much of
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a thing right now that you can't overcome it during the course of the season,
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during the course of next spring, and during the course of next fall.
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And these those three guys, and though Keenhols is a red shirt freshman,
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this is his first spring camp, so they you know, he has
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a little bit of a head start on th other two guys, but not
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as much as you might think with a full it's not a full year.
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It's half a year. And he did get thrown in a little bit,
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a little bit earlier than probably expected, but now has a chance to go
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through spring and there's a lot of development, a lot of growth to be
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seen there, a lot of interesting stuff as you're describing, you know,
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oh this guy's in front, now, Oh this guy's in front now.
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The word you were looking for, Tony was overreaction, But we can't wait
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to be overreacting. Less than a week from now, we'll be at at
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Ohio State watching some little spring practice and watching the Buckeyes really kind of kick
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off that twenty twenty four season prep. Winter workouts wrapping up this week,
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and then we'll be out there for springball starting next Tuesday. A lot of
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interesting stories to be to be had, a lot of interesting stuff to watch
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on this year's team, and a great place to do all of those things
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is at buckeyehuddle dot com. We're talking about this year's team, we're talking
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about the NFL Combine going on this week, Mark and Kevin in Indianapolis,
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with lots of coverage out of there. You can find that at bucke huddle
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dot com and of course Bucket YouTube dot com slash bucke Huddle as well.
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We have plenty of coverage from the combine, plenty of coverage from Ohio State
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spring football camp starting next week. There's gonna be some recruiting news I'm guessing
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coming pretty soon. There's plenty of x's and nose talk as well. There's
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a lot of exciting stuff happening, and it's all happening at bucke huddle dot
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com. We hope to see you there. That will do it for today.
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Thank you guys all for joining us. Have a great day. We'll
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talk to you tomorrow.