Be following is a presentation of play Fly Sports properties. My guys, they're
trying to turner the goal line. What the hands you pass up? Up?
Here comes the button? Now the sideline shown that. You know,
he practiced well, his attitude, ude and want to and everything's been really
good. And we you know, Coach Reed's been talking about we need to
get him in more andy, and he got him in there. And I
thought he ran really well, ran hard, you know, got actually yards,
fought for extra yards, made some people mess, broke some tackles.
So in my opinion, and he keeps practicing like that, playing that he
got to get more carrier. Well, that was coach Kappan. He was
talking about Elijah Collins. I'm your host, Jason Straehorn my loam with my
co hosts Otis Wiley and jay U Chew Chew Colcrik and this is smart On.
We are now gonna break down the preview for the Ohio State game.
And I know we've been talking a lot about Elijah Collins and his effectiveness.
Guys, going into the Ohio State week is gonna be paring aout. The
MISSISSII is able to rush the ball on the ground, obviously. And you
know something came out today, a little message from the Twitter world, well
up here and it's from yours truly Elijah Collins at two four FAU showes and
blessed. Now, what do you guys think of that message? The thing
I take from that message is he got some reps in practice. He's in
the game plan. That's what I took from that message. You know,
you know the game plan, you know how how the week's gonna shape out
and everything. You know Wednesday, you know, big practice. I think
he was heavily involved in the game plan. That's why he's he's a little
juiced right now because everyone's been you know, doing the talking feed Collins Feed
Collins, let Elijah eat, And now I think he's gonna get an opportunity
to eat. Yeah. I think it's Uh, that's that that's that time
where you go look at the depth chart back in the day when like,
oh, where's my name man? And it's at the top. Yeah.
On work that he's been doing. I mean he's been a team player for
day one. I mean think about it. He took a seat back when
Kenneth Walker came in. He was his biggest cheerleader. It was run,
like you said, running back by committee. But now I think the hard
work is being recognized, not just internally, because I feel like one is
like, why has he not played? Two is I think Spartan Nations is
seem like there's a different juice when he's in the game, and that's a
completely It's transparent and a parent that he is in the game number one running
back. Hopefully we'll see that he gets to start. Hopefully he does get
the start this week against the Ohio State Buckeyes as kickoff except for four pm
in Spartan Stadium. The buck Eyes come in on their first game on the
road of the season in Week six, which is pretty rare. Guys.
They're a top team coming into Michigan State. Michigan State half beaten Ohio State
as a top five team five times in history now and including one number one
ranked Ohio State team back in nineteen seventy four, nineteen ninety eight when one
of us was on the field. Ye yevo world, Yes, sir,
you know so. I mean this is a little different. You know,
they got a team in here who's rolling. They're very balanced. I mean
they're averaging over three hundred yards passing and two hundred yards on the ground,
one of only two teams in the country doing that. Miss State's got the
work cutout for him. R I guess absolutely positively. We already know it's
on the board. You saw the body of work that they put together already.
I mean, they're convincingly whipping guys up in the shape where like it's
no, like, oh man, Ohio State's about to go down. They
haven't had that test yet, right, and so they're coming in high mighty
as they use do. And it's really about playing our ball and not trying
to do stuff out of the ordinary, which I feel like we've been doing.
It's like, let's play a ball. Go ahead, Jaya, No,
you're one hundred percent right, owners And the thing that really struck me
that you said is Michigan State playing their game years past. I know when
we played, when we would play a team, there are times that we're
going to you know, Ohio State or Ohio State will come to us and
we're one loss or undefeated at the time, and we try to change the
game plan and do too much. We try to go outside of who we
are Michigan You're talking what are you talking about, because we already know elephant
and the room on this one is uh John l slapping his face field goal.
Yeah, you know, we tried to do too much and there's chaos.
You know, we got to you know, Coach D said it best.
You have to stay the course and we are who we are, all
right. We got to figure out how to amplify our game. Offensively,
we have to figure out how to get stops. Defensively, we have to
play aggressive defensively, We have to get off the field on third down.
Defensively and offensively, we have to control the clock, keep Ohio State's high
power offense on the sidelines. Even if we go and we get three points,
even if we have a fifteen play drive and you come away with nothing,
you're still running and keeping the offense off the field and that clock control.
That's the big thing we have to do that. We have to stay
within ourselves. We can't let the moment get too big and piss down our
legs. Yeah, you were calling the game when we were playing, right.
Do you recall Coach D's first year we went to the Shoe and we
almost made a comeback where like that was the closest that I feel like I've
been in beating Ohio State when they had beating Wells. They had I don't
even know the quarterback name. This was before uh Terrell Pryor came in and
that you know, Jim Jim Trestle started a freshman quarterback after that, after
this game. But I do remember offensively, it was a slow start and
on defense we had to get turnovers and I recalled too. I was still
benched, but then came in and played second half and took a pick six
to the crib. Right, I remember that, so think I mean you
called that game? Do you remember that game at all? Oh? Yeah,
I remember that game. It was a defensive struggle that was on that
team, no younger than us. Yeah, we were able to get some
points offensive. Now, don't be talking about defensive struggle. No, no,
we were. We were able to throw up some points there. And
you don't let me tell you about that game. We were at Ohio State
that game and coach d this is how ingrained. He was into this right
because he was there. But Michigan said this home. He made our director
of football operation, Brad Lungsford, drive to Ohio State and get bluck Eye
the nuts, the buck Eye nuts. Remember that. Oh, and he
gave to each of us before we got on the bus to go to the
airport. That's how you know mental like you know that we we are who
we are, we own them. Kind of mentality that Coach d was trying
to bring to the program is this is a game that ended up forty two
to thirty nine. No one. No, this was like a sad It
was like a seventeen fourteen maybe or even like seventeen twenty. It was a
close one because we we almost had it, because we almost we got another
turnover. I mean, it was my fault, but I try to get
greedy and I scoop it like I try to scoop it and pitch it back
to the Irvin Baldwin. Uh, and he dropped it. But but you
think about so this is what I knew. Coach D'Antonio was the coach for
us, so obviously being on the side with the Buck guys, he's on
our sideline and I'm talking. He is talking cash money to Malcolm Jenkins junior
man. I remember it to this day and Malcolm Michael Jenkins out here talking
crazy to coach D and Coach D's talking right back, man, And that's
when I knew, like, man, like, we're not gonna back down
anymore. We're gonna play like usually they always are stacked. We're always the
you know, it's not smaller team, but we weren't as nationally known.
They were always naturally known. But this is where it was like, look,
we're spartans, man, we dressed up, we practiced the same,
and we can compete at this level. I mean so yeah, So if
it was, it was, it seems like a defensive struggle. Although jay
you doesn't want to admit that. I just looked at the score game pick
six is he's taking about trying to pass it back, but with jay Us
somehow says they scored a lot of points. Tell me more my bad play.
Players, players mess up. I looked at this, Corey was fourteen
to three. Okay, okay, okay, defensive struggles but whatever that defensive
line. Wise man once told me, never let it, never let the
truth get in front of a good story. All right, all right,
that's a good story. Offensive jumper out jay U was all over the field,
catching ball right, running up and down the field, and somehow ODIs
semestered it up all right three no no no no no seven no no no,
no no no. It wasn't let's we gotta we gotta figure this out.
We gotta figure this out here skip twenty four. Yea, at some
point, look, he's the only one. He's the only one on the
podcast that beat him. Though, let's be like pay homage to it,
like tell us about that game though. Yeah, yeah, so it was
a November it was. It was a chilling November night. It was chilling
November night, twenty eight and a half point underdogs. The young Spartan team
went down there, led by guys like Bill Burke, who was a quarterback.
Plexico Burris was our receiver, you know, one of our main receivers.
But it was really the defense and special teams, those guys that you
don't like on special team kickers, guy by the name of Paul Edger.
I think it was five for five that night, perfect that helped Missus State
win that. I mean, how many snaps you how many snaps did I
have? I mean how many plays you remember? How many players did you?
Go? Oh, probably seventy five, seventy five plays somewhere in that
neighborhood. But they had a guy by the name of Andy Katzimoyer who was
this. You know, they unretired Archie Griffin's jersey just for him. He's
a linebacker. He was all world. And you know, people were like
afraid of linebackers for whatever reason. But on the offensive line, if you
ain't good, what's a linebacker? Bro? Linebacker? You know? So
you know, you boy had to handle Andy Katimore. The big Cat was
his name, right, We neutralized the big cat. Cedric Gerbin was able
to get off for some big plays on the ground. But the defense man
Robert Smith, Julian Peterson, Eric Morris, I mean we just had Ronaldo
Hill on the back of the interception, right, yeah, yeah, Yes,
that was a that was a turnover in the ball game, lad,
in the ball game when they got a fumble script fumble and turned it over
and we went back out there. But I'm telling you, you know how
that horseshoe is right and it's intimidating. Its loud, and you feel that
pressure. It felt like, you know the term band of brothers. The
guys are all together, and you know, we didn't hear it. It
felt like we were all alone. Out there like it was like we were
on a camping tree by ourselves, and all we needed to do was go
through this and do what we know that we can do. It was like
we just need to execute, execute, execute, execute. We didn't care
about what was going on around us. Everything was clicking, you know,
when the kicker's kicking, the receivers are catching, the defense is clicking.
I mean, who can beat us? Right? And then for me as
a center, when we would break that huddle, I knew we were gonna
win. When we broke the huddle early in the third quarter and I think
we were down by two scores or more, and you can hear that defense
arguing with one another. I don't know if you ever heard this, Guys,
have ever been out on the field. You break the huddle and you're
lining up and you see that defense and they're pointing a finger and f bombing
this and you're stupid and years they were doing a lot of that stuff.
And I said, we got we got, we got them. And you
know we still had about, you know, three scores ago. But somehow,
some way we were able to pull it out. And I'm talking one
hundred thousand people that horseship. Quiet, Man, it was just silent out
there. Bro it was You've seen three generations in the paper the next day,
three generations a son, a father, and a grandfather crying their eyes
out because they lost. They were the number one team in the nation and
we had gone in there to beat them, and they just stayed there and
just looked at us as we celebrated and danced. The coaches were dancing.
Never seen coaches dance like that. Man, You would have thought we won
a national title. Broke. It was crazy important, like to see.
Man, got some important questions for you. All right, What time was
kickoff? Because I know it's a night game. I think it was three,
okay, so so you got back in time. So okay. How
was the plane ride back? It was It was a it was a fun
playround. I don't really remember it, but it was none no adult better
just I can tell you that. But it was when we arrived in Lansing
Airport. Man, the crowd, it was a crowd there like a parade
when we landed and the people were cheering, and just I mean the whole
city was happy, right, the campus was happy. It was a different
feeling, man, It was something magical. Okay, we looked forward.
These guys do again, right, so I still gotta go. How you
do the people out there want to know the inside scoop here. Okay,
you know we're not gonna we're not gonna shirt answer the questions. Okay,
A three thirty game, four thirty five, thirty, six, thirty,
seven thirty, you left, flew out by eight thirty nine, forty five
minute flight. You were back in East Lanton by ten thirty. Which part
you hit up first? Midnight? It was still still got two good hours.
It's not good hours out. We couldn't even get to the buses.
There were so many people by the time we got back to our dorm stuff.
I mean it was after midnight, gos. So everybody's like, where
do we go? Where are we go? Like everybody kind of just hung
around together. Nobody wanted to go to a bar. Everybody up together over
in Cherry Lane, Erry Lane, Cherry Lane Lane, make out of you.
It was a lot. It was fun. Man. Those are fun
times, great memories and hopefully you know, we could see more of that.
I mean, you guys have had big games, been a part of
that yourselves, right now, Guys, let's go into a This is part
of Inside Look at Ohio State, brought to you by I Hop. The
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Dying in only. Price and participation may very restrictions to apply well,
felas look last two meetings between Ohio State and Michigan State Mel Tucker Era was
a meeting COVID, an eerie site. No one in the stadium. A
Buckeyes come in led by Justin's fields man, and was it an ugly day
to be on the field because Justin was on it stride man, I mean,
Michigan State had a tough outing, you know, like Justin's playing for
the Bears right now. It looked like he could have been playing for the
Bears. Then he goes on, you know, throws the touchdown there.
Then we are in the end zone and can you believe this one? A
pick six to a defensive tackle. He didn't even he ran out of the
end zone like we were like wait, wait, he was playing Madden and
he was gloating. Yeah. Yeah, he gets ready to run the other
way and his buddy, his teammates like, hey, you scored, Oh
I scored, Yeah, he scored. Incredible. Man, So that that
game ended up fifty two to twelve two years ago, and we go on
to last year. As we know in the Horseshoe, c J. Stroud,
another quarterback, another touchdown pass to the buck eyes. He does it
time and time again. I mean he went thirty two for thirty five for
four hundred and thirty two records third way, four hundred thirty two yards rather
and a school record six touchdowns fellas in the first half from speech from speechless,
I can I don't even know what to say in the first half.
Yeah, this guy, he didn't even see the field in the second half.
Do you remember, I'm sure sparking paper remember this game. This was
a I mean, how many how many how many first rounds or wide receivers
went to the league. They had like two or three right three three ons
league two first rounders. Yeah, I mean we got to give credit.
What credits do with with coach heartline Man, Brian Hartline. We played against
him and he is an x's and those schematic receivers coach, I mean,
he gets those guys every year playing at a high, high, high level,
and it just it looks like, you know, we're we just we're
around communicating sometimes just just how how the chips fall? Man. But it
definitely last year was one of those like kind of humbling beatdowns of like we're
not there yet, right, We're not there yet, so give us some
time. But with with with seeing c J. Stroud, I mean he
basically almost won the Heisman on us based off of that one game. So
yeah, you know, you talk about you know c J. Stroud and
Michigan State came into that game nine and one. If you can remember,
if you recall that, you know, Ken Walker the third was a little
nicked up in that ball game and you have the loss to Purdue. Outside
of that, Mischigan State would have been undefeated going into that ball game.
And if you can recall, if Michigan State beats Ohio State in that game
and they've gone to finish the season the way they did, they're probably in
the playoffs. Guys. I mean, that's how close it was last year.
Yeah, definitely, they definitely are in the playoff with the way that
things shook if they finished like we did and the Ohio State Michigan game ended
like it was. Because we beat Michigan, we're in the Big Ten title
game. And I think most likely, you know, K nine staying back
to playing that Big Ten title game because there's greater hopes of jumping into that
the playoff talk there. But Otis said it, you know, he said
it exactly right. Ohio State game, that's a measuring stick for a program.
If you can hang with these guys, you know, you're you know,
your programs where it should be. And coach Tucker said the same thing
after last year's defeat. He said, we're not there yet. We got
to get guys in here that are there. So if you're a recruit,
if you're a guy you know sitting out there and want to be part of
something great, want to be build a legacy of up building a program and
coming to be part of that program, to have the stories that Strayhorn just
talks about, going and defeating number one Ohio State in Ohio State, this
is the program to come to to help build a part of that, and
it's something special when you can build a part of a program. Just like
when coach d was here. I was fortunate enough to be his first year
and every time I talked to him, he say, the guys like you
Otis. You know those guys in your first and second year, that's the
building block for building the program. And so if you're a recruit watching you're
coming to the game. I know we have a lot of recruits coming out
there on Saturday. This is something special and you can be a part of
Oh, well said I mean, Jayu. This is what mel Tucker dreams
of. He talks about building a team that can go on the road in
town Ohio State. That's that's a misery stick. We know that. Obviously,
we want to beat Michigan because that's the robbery, that's the backyard brawl,
that's everything, that's little brother all that stuff, right, But if
you want to be a factor, a major factor in the country, then
you've got it. The road goes through Columbus. This is the way it
is. They've been excellent, you know, five and fifteen over the last
fifty meetings against Michigan State. This is the fifty first meeting. They've been
very dominant. Right now, they number one in the nation in scoring offense,
number one in the nation in red zone offense, just their third down
conversions, their defense, everything is clicking for Ohio State. Now this is
their first time being on the road. I know the Spartan faith will are
down because Michigan State has lost three in a row. This is why we
say it's so important to not give up your seats because they will invade Spartan
Stadium if you'll let them. So it's important to stand behind the guys.
And look, they average that we just said three hundred yards over in the
air and two hundred yards on the ground. So they have their work cut
out for him to be able to stop that offensive machine that Ohio State puts
out year after year. And the tight end is good, even Jayu.
I mean they got a guy, look, oh, it's your safety.
Why does that that talk that tight end get down? That scene round and
people just seem to lose them all the time. They had a tight end
cased over three catches over thirty yards. Yeah, and honestly, I thought
we had two tight ends ourselves when we just kind of stopped throwing them the
ball. But I think it's as a safety, the tight end is almost
sometimes where if you have an athletic tight end that is like a game changer.
We talked about this about that's mismatches for outside linebackers. If you got
a tight end who's quick, Chris routes, big, tall and can block
at the same time where you know, I think with the Ohouse tight end
cased over, you know he does a lot of disguising where you know he
might be blocking down and he just releases and he's just smooth man. And
so I think it's being and keeping your eyes. We talk about eyes on
your man or don't get lost in the backfield. I think it's where you
know you got to trust your other players up on the mid level in the
front front four is that dude, they'll do their job, and I gotta
do my job and not not not let the team down by jumping a route
that I shouldn't be jumping. Stay the course. Coach Barnett says this all
the time. Be deepest of the deepest. If you're at the deepest of
the deepest, you can always come up and make the play. But if
you bite on an r PO or you bite on the run and it's play
action, it's good writtens like you're chasing. It's not going to cool school.
So I think it's one of those opportunities where if we just stay the
course, stick to the game plan, trust the coach's game plan, play
ball, do your job, I feel like we'll be able to be competitive.
Talking about taking the top off the defense, and that's that's exactly what
you know. Michigan State wants to stop Ohio State from doing. And speaking
about Ohio State and the Michigan State rivalry. We have two guests that are
coming on the show, and Boom and Dave Herrit from Ohio. Two brothers,
one with Michigan State and Dave Hart graduated those six was one of Bobby
Williams prize recruits coming in right, sir. And then you have a brother,
a younger brother that went on to the buck Eye side of things.
Both guys are prize of Warren G. Harding High School that just pumps out
a ton of players. Man, they got to play with a couple of
them. I always hear about Warren G. Harden So great to have Houston
two on the show. Man, How you guys been doing? Hey Jason,
Hey, Otis we have company that got to I had to break out
the good neck list. You got the top up in there, you know
what I mean? How you guys doing Man? Thanks for having his own
Man. We really appreciate it, Man, and and excited to talk about
some football and what the future is for our team and you know maybe his
team. That's a big baby. Man. You know they're always killing it,
right, what's going on? Fellas like doing? Man? Good to
see y'all. Man Man, thanks for coming on. Appreciate show show.
You know it's all Man, you know, you know, you know,
you know he started where he first started at truly was that Michigan State.
Yeah, he was to be on campus with me in the summertime. He
would come up there in the summer and uh, you know he would be
with the fellas. So what happened? Others going what happened? Did Jay?
Did? Jay? You're not treat you right? Put them too many
them home parties listening. I had to make a business decision decision. We
know, Hey, hey, great time. I'll tell you that. How
is that though? Like, so you know what, how what went into
that decision? Right? You got a brother that's balling at east Lands and
you're coming up there. You got the you know, the vibe going with
the fellas on the team, and then here comes Ohio State with an offer
you can't refuse. Was that a difficult decision for you or it was just
like, hey, bro, I gotta make that, I gotta do this.
Uh well, I mean I'm gonna keep it. But you know,
I mean honestly, it wasn't really a hard decision, man, just in
the direction at Ohio State, just how they was playing, you know,
you know, for me, you know, I wanted to have a great
college career and go to the next level. And just seeing how those guys
were, you know, putting guys in the you know every year. You
know what I'm saying. Just just the tradition of the running back room there
was just so great. And then playing for coach Trussell was just like you
know, being for Warren coach Trussell Youngstown. God, it was just everything
kind of just added up where Ohio State was the right place for me to
go. How about you, Dave? How was it like like the coaches
give you greed? Like, hey man, you couldn't eve get your brother
here already? Know, you know, every time I walked into my meeting
room. I was just like, you know, I had I had my
brother, and I also had my cousin who played at the other school of
the street, right Prescott Burgess. You know, so they were definitely on
me about getting one of them to Michigan State. At the time, you
know, I was he was like, I'm be real with you. I
just uh, at the time, we didn't know where with the future was
going to hold, you know, so I thought it was a better Like
my brother said, I thought it was a better business decision for him to
stay home and build his reputation in the state of Ohio. I take nothing
away from it. I mean, if he would have came to Michigan stay,
I thought it would have been great for him, you know, he
would he would have added to to the running running game, which we we
all we always have had good running backs, so I believe he would have
been able to add to that. But at the time and with our situation
around four o six, as a loving brother, I didn't want him to
have to come into that situation. So I told him it was best for
him to uh go to Ohio State and it would it would benefit him for
life. Mm hmm. Well that was very sless, right. I mean,
like it's not always about just being hey, I'm your brother, you
gotta follow me, or you know, I'm your father or whatever it is.
Right, Sometimes you got to look at it for where that particular school
is in at the time that your your your loved one is getting ready to
make this decision, right, And that's a selfless decision on your part day
to let him make that decision that was better for him at the time because
of what was going on in these lands. Go ahead, ju yeah,
see you see how straight through there are your brother or father because he got
some highly recruited boys there himself, so he's going off him. I see
that. So hey, look, I think I think it's people don't know
about about the hair of the family. Right. So Bishop, I mean,
y'all come from a lineage of obviously gospel son like church religious folks,
right, So like talk about Bishop man like as a father figure, Like
obviously I met Bishop, right, I met him. We all did,
well, everybody you met him, Like talk about that where you know,
you got a father who you guys are obviously respected, but like, how
was his involvement in your decision? And one you're going to Michigan State,
but also Ohio State. For me, I think that through my experience I
was able to help them with making that decision. As far as me going
through college already and playing in the big team, playing against all those major
programs, playing against Ohio State, I felt that at the time I could
just give my family just my point of view on where it would be better.
It would be better for him, you know, I think that,
you know, I feel if I was maybe from Michigan, you know,
it would it would be a different It would be different, I think it
would be. It would be just a little different. You know, I'm
Ohio boy, but I do live here now. But I just think it's
just that that connection that you have when you stay in state is just a
little bit more solid I can, if I can use the word. And
you know, we get many players from different different different states, different cities,
and they come and play in East Lands and they go to Columbus all
over the place. And but at the time, like I said before,
I just I believe that it was it was just so so important that he
stayed home and you know, just just build building, building his career in
Ohio State. So yeah, hopefully. I answered that, Yeah, so,
Dave, really, because you can't. You can't gloss over the fact
you came to Michigan State. You balled out at Michigan State. You are
a hard nosed football player, hard hitter. You had that old school mentality.
I used to hate seeing you lined up in the linebacker position in inside
run drops. I used to hate that you are hitting. You talk about
it. It wasn't It wasn't the funnest thing. I mean, you were
about two thirty five to forty maybe so, and you and you already know
the mentality that our coaches were trying to set. You know, we were
inside. We were inside run for I believe to two days out of the
week. I think sometimes teams just might do inside one run during the season,
just once a week. So you just get that good pop, you
know what I mean, to get you to get you ready for that that
week. We were banging problem. We were banging every day. You were
every single day. It's true. I don't know if you guys, I'm
sure you're I'm sure you remember this. But when we play on Saturday.
We used to go in on Sundays and have full path practice and we used
to go at it. It wasn't no, it was we were hitting.
We were hitting, and then we would go from Sunday maybe, and we'll
get Monday off. Then we'll go to Tuesday and we'll go straight into inside
run the first period, okay, And then I got I got jay U
back there, Then we got we got Javon Ringer back there. You know,
you know what you know he put up at full back. Who oh,
man, I forgot his day. I'm sorry, but he was big,
you know what I mean. So after I and I believe that he
was just trying to they were trying to build a strong and a mentality like
we were just they wanted us hitting, you know, and they wanted they
just they were trying to build the program of toughness. But I feel like
it might have backfired a little bit because you know, too much hitting sometimes
can can cannot be as well, you know, especially late in the season.
I shouldn't be hitting j U. Call Creek. We eight. We're
both starters, just like either And it's not Jays running the ball hard now
we all know, yeah, because I'm going now, you know, James
coming downhill. And then you got a big old fullback coming downhill in front
of him. So it's just you know, you're gonna you're gonna, you're
gonna, you're gonna think you're gonna swim. So I was choosing I'm gonna
swim, even though I might have not shouldn't be hitting. I mean,
it was the mentality. But I uh, we definitely prepared very, very
hard during those weeks, and it was it was a lot of hitting,
I tell you that right now, and oldis you You already know they used
to bring you down there and inside run. Yeah. I hated it.
I hated it coming down there and come down there and field, but it
did. It did training to be a warrior though, because I was like,
either I take these ls and uh in practice, but in game days
like I'm bringing that thump. But I think boom boom. They was doing
pro style before we even thought about it was only you know what I mean,
they come to the game fresh, were coming to the game limping,
you know. Unfortunately, we would come I mean I remember one one.
I don't know who we were playing. I think I think it was Illinois.
I think I woke up one morning and it was game day and my
ankle I did not move my ankle. I went through the walk through everything,
if everything was fine. The next morning I woke up, I stepped
off the off the bed and I could not put them a weight on my
foot, and I'm just like, man, what did I do? It
must have been something that happened during the week, you know what I mean.
So, like you said, some guys were not pro style, type
of uh off type of team and and some guys were just just banging because
we were trying to just always set the record straight, just always set the
record. This was the John L. Smith era. And that's that's a
good point to say. Jay. You you know, uh, I don't
want to say I'm gonna say nothing bad about nobody. I'm not gonna say
nothing bad about our team, but you know that the error was, it
was tough. It was John L. Smith had better talent than coach d
had. The yeah that won the Rose Bowl. I believe I agree with
that. I believe that everybody on our defense they had a shot in the
NFL. They had they had a chance to to get their foot in the
door. And I think that if you if you even get your chance to
put your foot in the door, that's that's that's that speaks volume. It's
so hard to get to the NFL. I mean, I mean, it's
it's you can be a starter for four years and you can ball out and
it's just one person liking you and another person not liking you, and it's
it's it's that. It's it's that small on my margin that you you can
get there. So I commend everybody who got to make it. I commend
even the guys who didn't make it, because just because they didn't make it,
I don't mean they couldn't have played. It's just their opportunity, right,
and so so on that as you talk about like the John L.
Smith there, I played in the Nick Saving era and we were banging like
crazy too. That was it was ridiculous, right. But you know,
talking to Nick now and seeing how he runs this program, he's changed,
man, I don't know if it's softening up or evolving whatever it is he
runs the game change though, you know this game has changed. It speaks
of that bright So the game has changed. Right, Let's go back to
your days playing days at Ohio State. Okay, you were involved in some
of that whatever that the scandals crap they suspended you for I don't know,
some tattoos or something like you in too real with them. Something was going
on. I mean, I mean it was a lot of stuff, you
know, a lot of stuff they talk about that like, So you went
through that pain right as a player at Ohio State and then now looking at
what today is with nil right where it's basically the wild wild West. As
long as you disclose that you're getting paid for whatever reason, then everything's okay.
So how do you feel as a person who was penalized right as a
player in college now seeing guys, hey, it's free, Willie. Honestly,
how do I feel? It's plenty? A lot of people ask men
like, I'm very happy for the players. I'm happy that they they they've
changed the rules, man, because guys deserve it. I mean, when
you when you're bringing millions of dollars to the university, a lot of people
don't even know, like the football team is paying for most of all the
sports, you know, all the facilities, all the all the buildings that's
going up, all the construction that you're seeing, that's from the guys that
that's putting the work in on the field. So you know, I'm very
happy to see guys, you know, have an opportunity to you know,
make make money off their names, you know, make money off what they're
doing, you know, because you know, for a guy like myself who
got in trouble for it, I mean, it's just crazy. I mean,
it's it's to think to think that you know, what we were doing
now is like guys get basically praised for it. You know what I'm saying,
you cant paid for it. So it's like it's tough, you know,
I said. I mean, I'm happy for the guys who, like
I said, they're going to make money now. But am I mad?
Of course. I mean I feel a certain type of way I could have
got made, made I mat a lot of money. I'm mad for him.
The thing too, is I'll jump in here too, like you pissed
off about the fact that you know the money side of things in college,
But I think too, you had an opportunity. You hadn't missed six games
your senior year, and also to show to your character and your work ethic,
you hadn't missed that sixth game. You were still voted team captain by
your peers. That's that, says something. You all right, But the
thing is, so you missed six games, you played in six other and
you still had some yards, but that took away from you know, your
draft position. You know, you know we missed that. You're putting you're
not putting film out there those six games. Yeah, I mean not even
just the It kind of turnures my character too. It made me look like
I was a bad guy who didn't right there about the program. You know,
it's it's so much that you know a lot of people don't know that
y'all gonna hear about pretty soon, you know, but stuff happened, and
you know, you go through that process and like you said, you heard
your draft status. You know, you missed games, you get stats taken
away. It's all type of stuff that happened. But you know, at
the end of the day, you know we moved forward. You know,
it's like it's like it happened. But then you know the next year they
go, they go undefeated, and I can't playing a ball game, you
know, right the year that we get suspended. We played in the Bowl
game when we were suspended us. It gets deep, bro, But like
I I said, we ain't gonna go too deep. In so Okay.
You you said earlier you went to Ohio State. It was in home state.
Coach Trussell had you know, a big part of that And with this
is coach Trussell was suspended one game and then he went and said, Hey,
I want to be suspended the same amount of games with my players.
How did that make you feel? And what's your relationship like with coach Trussell?
Oh, trust is my guy. I mean been to this day,
like we were still tight and we kind of I mean, we talk about
the situation now. It's just like we're all just like, Wow, it's
crazy that now guys, you know, they getting the bag now, you
know what I'm saying. You know they're getting praised for it, and you
know it's almost like, you know, I would say there were guys who
got in trouble before us, but I feel like we had a mark,
Like we had one of the biggest stories when it came to like the suspension
stuff. You know what I'm saying, like breaking off because you know what
it was, it was so big because at the time that's when like social
media started taking off. You know what I'm saying. You have Twitter and
Instagram and all that stuff like it was. It was stuff that happened way
worse than what we did back in the day, but it just never really
came out because you didn't have all the social media and all that stuff.
So I don't need to cut you off. But for the record, it's
crazy, you know, I don't, I don't, I don't cut in.
But he went through this, but we, my whole family went as
well. The n c a A is we're very very The investigation was like,
yeah, so so they were. They tapped into our family. They
tapped. It touched just not only Boom, but it touched us all in
a certain way, and it was so devastating. That not devastating, but
it was. It was just it was just it was tough, it was
hard, and this happened. He he might not talk about more than I
do, but this happened. Is with the situation that happened as freshman year.
This didn't come out into his senior year. So all those years that
they could have they could have they could have handled it. I feel like
they if I think if they would have handled it correctly, all the suspensions
wouldn't have been as as as as large you had I think it was what
six players or five players? Man, it was you had a few like
so you had five guys who had got Originally it was five games. So
I got suspended twice. Actually some guys got suspended. A couple of us
got suspended twice, but for the most it was five guys we got.
Originally the original was five games. I ended up getting six games. Posy
gat nine games twelve prior and they lost the season. White wipe the botty
here, you know. So that was another thing. You know, I
come back, I played the next six games, and I'm playing with even
though my boy was a dog, braxim really a fresh he a true freshman.
You know what I'm saying, Hey, that we get a new like
you know, uh Ficko becomes the you know, the interim head coach.
Like that year was just crazy, man, Like it's crazy because I never
had the chance to play against Michigan State. Mm hm. You know,
you know I was looking forward to you know, I want my brother to
get off, but I didn't want to win. I'm a spartan dog all
the way. You know, I would love for him to get off,
but not too much where you win the game. So let's let's talk about
that so in house rivalry, right, Like so when we do play every
year, like tell us about what goes on, Like are y'all are y'all
talking cash money? Are we're talking like brotherly wa? Or like we are
here talking like y'all don't talk to each other? Like it's like that team
that rolled or up north? Like how we doing it? But Jason,
you might not know me as good as the otis and Jau, I know
you know me. I know you. I played with jay U, I
played with Otis. What do you think? What about? What do you
think? Like? Yeah, we talked stupid questions as we know what we
got into one. I think we had one heated argument at my parents house.
That's what I want to know. We want to know that my parents.
My dad came downstairs like what's going on. I'm like, I'm like
that, calm down. We were not like mad at each other. We're
just the competitiveness in us was coming out, you know what I mean.
We were going back and forth. And I think that's that's the year.
I believe Michigan State beat Ohio State. I think we need it at home.
That was the field goal. Kid you know, you know, I
was talking, Hey, we have finally got a That wing was so important,
that wing was so big, and I was just just smiling from from
ear to ear man that what we went through when we played Ohio State was
was what's terrible? We were up. We were playing in Columbus. About
we were playing in Columbus. We were rocking on defense, you know,
on defense, I played I think it was forty eight snaps. You and
you play forty eight snaps on defense, you're supposed to win the game.
You're supposed to win. Yeah, you're not. You're not on the field,
you know what I mean. And their offense is not on the field.
We were going three and out and just that momentum is crazy. Once
that field goal was blocked, it was all down here from there from there.
So, I mean, it's so important that, you know, having
that that family. I won't call it a rivalry, but just going back
in competitiveness, you know, we've always been competitive as as even as younger
younger kids. I'm I'm five years older than them, but he was always
with me, so he was always with my friends, and he was always
with older guys. So he all he had to be competitive. He had
to. He had the level up and be able to hang with us.
So and I wasn't giving him no slot. So you know, I was
a big bro and I'm still I still am big bro. I mean growing
up. You know, if you want to hang with me, then you
you better you better come. Correct, Let's talk about that a little bit,
so that you spent I mean, what six years in the league?
Five or six years? It was four four? Okay, well yeah it
was four years. I went into my fifth year and got released and it's
going into my fifth year. I was, I'll tell you I was.
I was. I wanted to stay in the league because I wanted to play
against my brother or play with him more play with him than play against him.
So my my goal was you know, I didn't get to play against
him in college, of course because because of the age difference, but I
knew that I would have a chance to maybe play against him in in the
NFL. But it didn't work out. But maybe it was a maybe it
was a good thing because I didn't I don't want to have to put him
down like that. So I got for the running backs on here. Now,
So okay, do that easy? There? You are. You already
know, but I know too those because then you come down here and you
gave me, you gave me many headaches and that inside inside period. So
boom boom. So you're looking up to your big brother he's in the league.
Did that help you give your leg up when it was time for you
to get to the NFL level and play because you knew what big bro went
through? Oh? Absolutely, I mean it ain't even just it started back
from when I was in middle school. Man, Like like you said,
we come from a rich football uh town, you know, Warren g.
Hardy and like just watching you know, my brother Marius correct, you know,
just to name just those two. You know, I used to be
a water boy for these guys. So I used to go to all their
practices and just to see watch them work. Man. It was just like,
man like, this is what I want to do. Like I gotta
be doing what they doing, you know. So and then like you said,
just having him in the league at the time when I was playing,
you know, just to be able to just like ask questions and just you
know, know what the grind is like. You know, obviously, once
I got my own position, you know, I knew, like all right,
just what it's like, just what it's gonna take to get there,
you know what I'm saying. And then obviously going to Ohio State, you
know, and you've seen pretty much every guy that's before you go to the
league. I mean, it's just like I knew what to do to get
there, you know. So it made it easier though, cause you know,
like I said, you know, looking up to him, seeing him
you know, grind, grind food and make it and just having good people
around me. I mean, I was very fortunate and very blessed man.
And you know, all praise to the man upstairs, you know. Man,
So go ahead, I want to go. Let's jump to the league.
Both of you guys played in the league there. Uh, Dave you
are in Minnesota. Boom, you were with the Colts, and you know,
I gotta I gotta give a shout out. You had a little stint
there, uh with the with the Buffalo Bills there, Gott you know,
yeah it was mafia, you know. Oh yeah, you already know.
Great. Great. I got love with Buffalo, man, Yeah, Buffalo
got love for you. Buffalo got love for all the players for sure.
So what do you got to the league. Now you have a little change.
Now boom, you had changing on High State. But you got what's
the first big purchase for him or me? Both of you. I gotta
go fir, I'll go all right, So all ready for this one.
Okay, let men get you right. So we'll go back to my dad.
Okay, my dad is even though he's a bishop, he also is
an entrepreneur. Growing up, he also had houses where he would buy and
he would buy and flip them and he would sell them. My dad one
time bought a house for ten dollars and turned around and sorda for ten grand.
So he when I seen him doing things like that, he of course
would tell me something, you gotta get some property. You gotta get some
property. So what I did was this wasn't my first year, of course
I was, you know, I was young. So I would say my
first thing that I bought was a Champagne color hummer and I just I just
you know it was it was pull up a lot and it just call my
name. So this is a crazy story about this. I don't want to
hold us up, but you can't tell my story about this. How much
time we get you good? You good. All right, we might be
allry for a little bit about you coming on that after y'all, but yeah,
we're good. Okay. So champagne hummer that I got. So I
was in Minnesota through through Mini camp, through O t as ot As Mini
camp, preseason camp, went through the preseason with with Minnesota. Right,
so I'm going They kept on telling me all thirty two teams can can are
looking at you. They kept on saying that to us, they said,
they said, it don't matter what you do, just understand you get on
that field, you are auditioning for all thirty two teams. And I guess
it must have stuck with me. So my rookie year, Minnesota decided to
put me on practice squad. And you know when you gotta go on the
practice squad, they got to put you on waivers. So when they put
me on waivers, New England claimed me. So I'm sitting in my hotel
room thinking I'm about I'm about to go to Minnesota and signed my practice squad
papers and my agent calls me and said, says Bill Belichick on you know
he's he's on another other line. They just claimed you. And I'm like,
what do you mean, I didn't even know that New England was even
looking at me. I had no idea that they had any eye on me.
So I made the active roster my rookie year in New England. So
as soon as I pulled to England, it was a It was a car
dealership across the street from the stadium, right, Like why you know,
I mean smart, smart for the car dealership, right. So I go
through the garden and I pull up and it's just this this champagne colored hummer
and I'm like, man, that thing is this? This is calling me?
Right, So after two weeks in New England, two weeks in New
England, they decided to cout me on practice squad. Then Minnesota claimed me
back. So then I went back to Minnesota and spent the next three years
there. But I knew I didn't forget that hummer. So I called the
guy in Foxborough and I said, I need you to ship meet his hummer.
Right, So I was like, I gotta have this hummer. And
I probably could have got a hummer from somewhere else, I'm pretty sure,
but at the time I think hummers might have been big. It was two
thousand and six. Yeah, ummer was kind of kind of but they are
bad and bad. They're bad too. Yeah. So yeah, so that's
how I ended up with my with my my age my age two hummer.
You know. It was I got a ship from Foxboro to eaton Prede,
Minnesota man and that and I head onto that thing for a while until until
I upgraded. But that was my first big spin. But I'm all kind
of all over places. But my dad told me to buy a house,
and I bought a house and I flipped it and made money off of it.
But that was that was. That was my first big purchase. Sorry,
that was that was a little mong one died. But what was your
big first purchase? So I ain't even do nothing crazy, to be honest
with you. I actually the car that I had in college, but I
ended up just getting some. Uh, I put some I had a charger
at the time. I had a charger. I threw some furs on there.
There's some fours on my my charge. I gotta I gotta wrap Matt
black and uh. That was like my that was my first major major purchase.
After that, I was I was chilling. He had the fastest slowest
car ever. It looked fast. It looks it looked fast, but you
put that way. I teased him to this day about that car man.
Yeah he had he had the two exhaust pipes, only only one had the
real exhaust. I didn't even have it. I think. I think for
me being in the NFL for for a few years, I also was trying
to give him some information about how to just be smart with your money and
make sure that you don't just just blow it all on stupid stuff. So
I think that, uh, I don't think that helped out. And I'm
hoping. I'm hoping that I was a good example. I mean, life
was pretty good in college. Like I say, so, once I got
to the league, it was like, you know, you took a pay
cut. It's funny that you said that, because as soon as I got
to Cincinnati, better facilities. It's crazy. Uh So, before we let
you guys jump off, real question, what's what's the keys to beating Ohio
State this weekend? Dave? It starts up fronts and I've been watching for
the past couple of weeks. I think that our offensive line and our defensive
line they need to get a little bit more active and just in my opinion,
I see guys getting blown off the ball and you know, backed up.
We're running the ball and we're getting we're getting stood up as as office
a lineman. We watched I watched the Washington game and I don't remember seeing
a sack. So I did attend the Actor game and they were active.
They were getting after the quarterback. I think one guy get his name,
but he had for yeah, yeah, he had for It's time to ask,
It's time to bring that that noise this weekend. You know, if
you if you really want to to turn the season around, this is the
perfect weekend to do it. You want to do it against the top ranked
team and you want you want this is the time to shine. When when
I was playing, I knew that when we played Ohio State, when we
played Michigan, we played Penn State, those those top teams. Back when
I was playing Notre Dame, that's time to show up because and if you
want to play at the next level, you want to show up in those
games. Games. Those are where the recruiter the scouts are going to be
of those games, They're gonna be looking at both teams, and you need
to put yourself apart from everybody else. So for me, that was that
was coming up playing. I just knew these are money games. If you
think about it, You're not getting the money now, but in the future,
this is where you make your money. If you ball against Ohio State,
if you ball against Michigan, if you ball against Notre Dame, you
you're going against some recognition. They're going to see you, right. So
yeah, yeah, what's the key to beating Ohio State? Man, the
key to beating Ohio State? I couldn't tell you. I couldn't tell you
when you so, what do you think? How do you how do you
think the game is gonna go? From your perspective, from my perspective speaking
hard speaking, that's what you say, you know, in my opinion,
I think I think, uh, I don't even know if is playing this
week, but I know you didn't play last week. But he he he
definitely want you gotta worry about. But that mine whims Hey Jay, Hugh,
that that's you. You know what I'm saying, like like he coming
downhill, you know what I'm saying. And then like, honestly, bro,
they got so much, they got so much, they got so much
talent. I think I think I think Ohio State just figuring out, Like
you know, when you have so many guys, it takes time to like
figure out who who plays what part, you know what I'm saying, Like,
you know, but like for a game like this, bro, like
that's a guy that played at a house that you always know like this is
this is like a setup game, you know what I'm saying. Like everybody
got us circle on their schedule, like we targeted every week, so we
have to play like we gotta play our best game every week because we know
we're gonna get everybody's best shot. So it's like, you know, this
week, we know it's always a dog fight with Michigan State. I mean
obviously in the last couple of years it's been you know, but uh,
it's gonna be a fight, man. I mean, anytime you play any
game in the big team, it's gonna be a dog fight. And you
know, and I can honestly say, as a guy that played our house
State, we we expect to win every game in the big team. No
disrespect, but we expect like we're supposed to run through the big team.
You're supposed to you're supposed to win the big team championship every year you're going
to the playoffs and we're gonna see whoever we're gonna see when we get there.
That's just our that's just our mindset because we like that. I'm sorry,
we disrespect you know what I'm saying. That's that's just the mental that
that they built in us. Man, Like we're the best team, you
know, uh far as the big team, Like you gotta come see us,
you know, because we the big dogs. So but we know it's
gonna be a fight every week, so we gotta you gotta be prepared,
you know what I'm saying. You know, y'all was banging. Y'all was
banging. We watched a lot of film. You know what I'm saying.
Trust Trust, Trust was big on assignments. Uh you know this might sound
crazy, y'all, but trust say most important playing football is the punt.
We used to be like what you know what I'm saying. But if if
if you understand how a block punt, how how big of a change that
can make in the game, or somebody returning the point for a touchdown,
you start thinking about you, you know what, right moment momentum swing like
like like a mug. But I'm looking forward to you know, a great
game. Are we doing sport predictions or what? Yeah? Go ahead,
be b mean A mean. IM want to ask y'all. I'm gonna ask
y'all, like, I mean, how do y'all see this game going?
Don't freeze up now? I'm just asking. It's all about who is the
coin toss I want to hear from. I want to hear from LG.
Straight is the only one who beat Yeah, like Ohio comes in definitely with
way more talent. They're on the roll and number one in all kinds of
categories nationwide offensively especially. You know, for for Michigan State to have a
chance in this game, they got to take the ball away. They gotta
be way up in the turnover margin. They're gonna have to play the best
players at every position for the duration of the game. I can say that
very I don't know if I can say them any clear. The best players
need to play the game in their positions for the duration of the game.
And you know, the crowd needs to be into it too. You know,
you got to make this an intimidating place to play right now. You
know we're trying to get tickets away. People aren't really giving trying to get
the tickets. So that that's concerning to me. If if if Ohaio say
Buckette fans, this is their first road trip, they in there. Yeah,
see that right there. The logically will mess with the Spartan players.
But if if Michigan State shows up, they rally. You know, from
what I understand, the players that practice are still have a great attitude,
you know, so they haven't broken down just yet. And and those guys
on the locker room on both sides of the ball expect to win, right
every player thinks that, man, we can beat these guys. They have
a chance. But you know, obviously, if everything is all things being
equal, Ohio State will win the game. But there's a way a path
for Michigan State to win it. And again it's gonna have to be well
take care of the football on the offensive side of the ball and taking it
away on the defense side of the ball and creating more opportunities to score,
and just being a hell of a day against c. J. Stroud and
trying to confuse him and not let him be make all kinds of Highsman Trophy
highlights on the Sparklands. So that's what it is. I got mad love
for tuck Man, you know, him being a Cleveland guy, you know,
coming from Ohio State. You know, you know, I think Michigan
State is definitely I mean, obviously y're having a rough year this year.
I don't want to say rough. I think we're just starting off slow.
But I think he gonna put y'all in the right position and get the guys
in there that need to be in there, man, Because the one thing
I know for sure, he's a hell of a recruiter, the hell of
a coach. I mean, just be patient. I know everybody went winning
right now, but but y'all definitely got a good one over there for sure.
Marathon marathon. Yeah, man, well said man, I appreciate it.
I'm not gonna put Oders and Jay you on the spot, you know,
all right, Hey, well, I'm looking forward to seeing you guys
at the game. Yeah yeah, I'm looking forward to as well. Man.
Yeah, I'm you know, you know, I got I got mad
love for for Michigan State. Man. I mean, I feel like I
started at Michigan State, you know, with y'all, I feel like I
grew up at Michigan State, you know, to start it off, so
I appreciate y'all man, all the love y'all showed me and you know,
helped me, and you know it's all love, bro, I love man.
I appreciate y'all man taking the time out. I appreciate it. And
thanks for having a song man, I really appreciate it. It was It
was great talking to all three of you and sharing the scream with my brother.
It's awesome. Yeah, but all right, good bucks. All right,
guys, I talked to you soon. Wow, that's a fun times
fun, fun fun. That was great man talking to those two guys man,
you know, catching up and get interesting perspectives from boom on like how
his time in Ohio State was and how he was able to battle through the
criticism the character assassination for getting paid man and now guy's getting paid. That
was one of the takeaways from me. That was like eye opening. But
really the love that you can see between the two, the brother they love
man, that was beautiful, right, definitely, definitely I think the all
you know, the one thing that you know, we played with Dave Man,
and I mean Dave taught me a lot from a standpoint of how to
cone win it. Every time you get on the field, right, Like
every time you start up, it's a privilege to be out there wearing the
green and white, kind of having that spartan dog mentality where you know,
as a young freshman pup, you know, I'm playing and uh, you
know, he's coaching me up on stuff of like on the defense of what
to look at on offense. And you know, you can see that that
he's a leader, and you can see how he obviously has led his younger
brother into what he is today. Man. So I'm glad we had those
guys on man because it you know, we saw reviews, we saw our
followers talk about how transparent and how real we are on this podcast. Man.
That's why I love being a part of his crew. Man. You know,