Speaker 1: Hello, everybody, Welcome to the Buckeye Wesly Podcast. I'm Tony
Speaker 1: Gerdaman here as always with more time.
Speaker 2: How's it going, Tony is going well?
Speaker 3: The vibes on this show are not going to be
Speaker 3: quite as good as the vibes on many recent shows,
Speaker 3: because we got to kind of talk about the okay,
Speaker 3: if things don't go great.
Speaker 2: For Ohio state this year, where if it might things
Speaker 2: fall a little bit short.
Speaker 4: Yeah, who is to blame?
Speaker 1: What position? If you just line up all the position
Speaker 1: rooms like right in a row here and be like
Speaker 1: you're giving it the Uncle Jesse like point at you know,
Speaker 1: particular rooms, which could those be in terms of just
Speaker 1: falling short of being the unpleasant surprise if you will?
Speaker 1: And you know I've been getting I've been letting you
Speaker 1: go first and all of these shows that we've been doing.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna just continue because I continue to win. Tom,
Speaker 1: what's the first one on your mind to me?
Speaker 3: I think the first one is wide receiver to me,
Speaker 3: because you've got Jeremi Smith.
Speaker 2: You know what Jeremiah Smith is.
Speaker 3: The problem you've got is the standard is so high
Speaker 3: for what an Ohio state wide receiver room is and
Speaker 3: You've got Jeremi Smith and then everyone else. I kind
Speaker 3: of look at and go, well, I have some questions,
Speaker 3: Not that they're doomed, not that this can't work, just
Speaker 3: I have questions. What is Devin McEwan going to be
Speaker 3: this year? What is Kyle Parker going to be this year?
Speaker 3: Ken Brandon and has take a step forward this year?
Speaker 3: What are you going to get out of the true freshman?
Speaker 3: These are the answer to all of these. Could be
Speaker 3: you're getting a lot, You're going to be incredibly impressed.
Speaker 3: This is going to be just as good a wide
Speaker 3: receiver room as it has been over the previous several years.
Speaker 3: Entirely possible, but this is just you don't have a
Speaker 3: Carneal Tait on the other side of the field right
Speaker 3: now from Jeremiah Smith. Maybe someone will turn into that.
Speaker 3: Entirely possible, but right now you don't have that. And
Speaker 3: with as much as Ohio State has leaned on its
Speaker 3: wide receivers over the last few years, it feels like
Speaker 3: this is an area where if the offense isn't what
Speaker 3: it could be. Yeah, man, no one else stepped up
Speaker 3: in the wide receiver room. Seems like one real plausible
Speaker 3: way that could happen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And the reason why I let you go first
Speaker 1: is because I figured this would or are going anyway,
Speaker 1: and it made me seem like a better person for sure.
Speaker 1: I agree with you, Tom great point when we look
Speaker 1: at what oh I say has had in the past,
Speaker 1: Devin McEwan, Kyle Parker, Brendon Innis, Chris Hemmy junior proc
Speaker 1: Boy chaquinin Gilford. Like you throw all of the names out,
Speaker 1: nobody's going to be Carnel Tate. And last year they
Speaker 1: had Jeremiah Smith and Carnel Tate as the top two guys.
Speaker 1: The year before, Carnel Tate was the number three guy.
Speaker 1: And certainly there's no number three here that is going
Speaker 1: to match necessarily what Carnal Tate did in twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four fifty two catches, seven hundred and thirty three yards,
Speaker 1: four touchdowns, but more than that, like he was very,
Speaker 1: very good. It's just there was no room for three
Speaker 1: thousand yard receivers. And then you know twenty twenty three,
Speaker 1: Marvin Rrison junior, ameca Abuca Carnel Tate as a true freshman.
Speaker 1: Like the levels that they have had, there's always been
Speaker 1: this second I say, always last six seven years, there's
Speaker 1: always been this second first rounder, top guy that was
Speaker 1: there and they don't have that this year, I don't think.
Speaker 1: And if they do, then that is the biggest surprise.
Speaker 1: That is the real surprise here. But just I agree
Speaker 1: the step down is why this is an issue, and
Speaker 1: not just a step down from the talent they've lost.
Speaker 1: This cortes Haankton having to prove himself and show that
Speaker 1: he can build, not just build a room, but like
Speaker 1: put a room out there that produces. And I do
Speaker 1: expect him to go deeper, which is good in terms
Speaker 1: of the depth of how many guys are playing. I
Speaker 1: don't know if he'll throw the ball deeper, and that's
Speaker 1: kind of up to Devin McEwan and those guys. But
Speaker 1: you can see some issues here. You can see some
Speaker 1: concerns and Devn McEwan being the most proven, but also
Speaker 1: that's at Utsa and Kyle Parker and Brandan and As
Speaker 1: being veterans. But I've had trouble getting over ten yards
Speaker 1: of catch, which is a concern. So yes, I'm with
Speaker 1: you on this one, Tom, very much so, and I
Speaker 1: think everybody else is as well. I'll go to the
Speaker 1: other side of the ball and even though we've talked
Speaker 1: this position up and I'm going to say cornerback, where
Speaker 1: I expect Devin Sanchez to be every bit of an
Speaker 1: all big ten guy, Tremaine Matthews could be as well
Speaker 1: as an experienced has started games all every year of
Speaker 1: his career. We're very high on Dominic Kelly, but he's
Speaker 1: a true sophomore who has never started and has never
Speaker 1: played substantial minutes. And the only substantial minutes that Devin
Speaker 1: Sanchez has played it came last year as a true freshman,
Speaker 1: so you can't really say he's an established guy. Jermaine
Speaker 1: Matthews had some moments last year that he would love
Speaker 1: to have back. And so when we start talking about
Speaker 1: all of this, all of these potential guys and this
Speaker 1: three three man rotation, yeah, but isn't good enough to
Speaker 1: win it all? And Jermaine Matthews is very much a
Speaker 1: part of the twenty twenty four national title team. And
Speaker 1: you look at those starting corners of Denzel Burke and
Speaker 1: Davids Ninggunosen. I think Burke was a fourth or fifth
Speaker 1: round picking. Minosen was a second round pick. So you
Speaker 1: don't need you don't need Marshall and Lattimore and Denzel
Speaker 1: Ward basically as your corners to win it all. But
Speaker 1: still there's there are questions here, and then if your
Speaker 1: fourth quarter is either a true freshman like Jordan Thomas
Speaker 1: or Jay Timmons or Cameron Calhoun who is now a
Speaker 1: senior and has only really played one season of his career.
Speaker 1: There's been plenty of times where a fourth corner has
Speaker 1: to play, and then every year a third corner has
Speaker 1: to play. And so while I think they're gonna be okay,
Speaker 1: I don't know how deep they are, and I think
Speaker 1: there's there's enough reason for concern with just the top
Speaker 1: three guys, let alone going beyond that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think this is a perfectly legitimate one. And
Speaker 2: this is a lot like with the wide receivers.
Speaker 3: If they had kept Quincy Porter and Mile and Graham,
Speaker 3: you'd probably feel a little bit more confident in the
Speaker 3: other pieces that they have in that room. If they
Speaker 3: had kept Aaron Scott and Bryce West in the corner room,
Speaker 3: you'd probably feel a little bit better about where things
Speaker 3: stand there. I don't think that Aaron West or Bryce
Speaker 3: Scott is going to nope, reverse that Aaron Scott and Bryce.
Speaker 2: West I do.
Speaker 3: I'm not expecting those guys to be like first team
Speaker 3: All America and this year or anything like that. But
Speaker 3: the floor is probably a little bit higher where you've
Speaker 3: got guys who've been in that room, played for Tim
Speaker 3: Walton for a couple seasons, and you know, these were
Speaker 3: not guys who were world beaters at Ohio State, but
Speaker 3: they were guys who if you had to throw them
Speaker 3: in there, you were probably gonna be Okay, you lost
Speaker 3: those guys now, so now you're trying to sort of
Speaker 3: fill those holders, trying to backfill those whole I think
Speaker 3: they did a pretty good job in the portal bringing
Speaker 3: in cam Calhoun and dominant Kelly to sort of backfilled
Speaker 3: those holes.
Speaker 2: But you haven't seen it.
Speaker 3: You haven't seen it on the field in the fall,
Speaker 3: and until you do, I think that is a legitimate question.
Speaker 3: And I think that kind of flows into my question
Speaker 3: on the defensive side of the ball, which would be
Speaker 3: the linebackers, where it's kind of a lot of the
Speaker 3: same stuff where in this case we're talking about you
Speaker 3: know a lot like Carnel Tait, boy, do you have
Speaker 3: someone who's going to be a top five pick there? Well,
Speaker 3: you have two guys who are going to be top
Speaker 3: ten picks there because that was.
Speaker 2: The standard last year.
Speaker 3: And Sunday Styles and Rvel Reese are both gone, so
Speaker 3: now what And they've got lots of potential solutions there.
Speaker 3: I think Peyton Pierce, we have seen the third line
Speaker 3: backer at Ohio State have a good season and then
Speaker 3: just sort of do the take two steps forward.
Speaker 2: And now you're the first. You know, now you're the
Speaker 2: number one linebacker.
Speaker 3: We've seen that enough, and we saw enough out of
Speaker 3: Peyton Pierce last year that I don't think I've got
Speaker 3: any real concerns there. And I think you've got potential
Speaker 3: solutions with Christian Legro And I think you've got potential
Speaker 3: solutions with Jay Alford and Riley Patty John and and
Speaker 3: you know, we've done other shows on the linebackers this
Speaker 3: week where we're talking about like, yeah, man, you got
Speaker 3: a lot of potential answers there.
Speaker 2: But this is a.
Speaker 3: Little like the line the wide receivers, where the standard
Speaker 3: for that room was so high last year that it's
Speaker 3: going to be hard to match that. And even if
Speaker 3: the guys who they have all get to like a
Speaker 3: seventy fifth percentile outcome, which is like that's above and
Speaker 3: that's an above average outcome, You're still not getting exactly
Speaker 3: what you had last year. So I think this is
Speaker 3: going to be a spot where if people remember what
Speaker 3: a typical Ohio State linebacker room looks like, I think
Speaker 3: this Union unit has a very good chance of living
Speaker 3: up to that standard. If people are going, well, why
Speaker 3: don't they just have two top ten picks at linebacker
Speaker 3: every year? Like that's not that's not a realistic standard.
Speaker 3: But if that's the standard you're holding this year's linebackers too,
Speaker 3: then you might be a little disappointed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, when you say the standard is two top ten picks,
Speaker 1: I want to be the hold on. That's like Ryan
Speaker 1: Day saying, are for four goals every year is beat Michigan,
Speaker 1: win the Big Ten, win a National title, win a
Speaker 1: super Bowl, Like it's not, it's not how things work.
Speaker 1: That was a That was one time you won the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl and that was just because everybody bowed out
Speaker 1: Like this, you can't expect to have sunny styles and
Speaker 1: r Valve says your linebackers every year, and and I
Speaker 1: don't think they do, but certainly you're right, like it
Speaker 1: can be. It can be Cody Simon and Tommy Eikenberg
Speaker 1: that or whatever. Like there's there are plenty of good
Speaker 1: linebacker groups that don't have to be the greatest of
Speaker 1: all time. So yeah, I think one of the concerns
Speaker 1: about the entire defense is you could say this for
Speaker 1: any position group. You can look at it and be like,
Speaker 1: you know, like like safety, for instance, you're bringing in
Speaker 1: Terry Moore who didn't play last year. You're bringing in
Speaker 1: Earl Little who played safety, and you're asking him to
Speaker 1: play nickel and he did it at Florida State. And
Speaker 1: this is new. It's a new defense, a lot of
Speaker 1: moving parts, and you're trying to fit or how do
Speaker 1: you replace Caleb Downs and you're using all of these
Speaker 1: different guys to do it. And I think while you
Speaker 1: look at it and be like, well, sure, an all
Speaker 1: ACC safety should work and well too also basically two
Speaker 1: second team all A CEC safety is being brought in
Speaker 1: with experience and versatility should work out, but there's there
Speaker 1: are enough questions there to what if it doesn't. And
Speaker 1: I think you'd say say the same thing about you know,
Speaker 1: defensive tackle or defensive end. As we've talked about all
Speaker 1: of these positions throughout these last eight months. Basically or
Speaker 1: seven months, you could see they've they've attempted to address
Speaker 1: the issues, and in addressing those issues, you're kind of
Speaker 1: just creating questions until we see the answers.
Speaker 3: Basically, yeah, you don't have any sure things in any
Speaker 3: of these position groups that we're talking about. I think
Speaker 3: we have Tony and I have I think been pretty
Speaker 3: optimistic based on what we saw in the spring that
Speaker 3: or a little Terry Moore. These guys are gonna be
Speaker 3: able to step in and do what you need them
Speaker 3: to do. But similar to the conversation about the two linebackers,
Speaker 3: similar to the conversation, but Carnell Tate, Caleb Downs doesn't
Speaker 3: work here anymore, and that opens up some you know,
Speaker 3: how do you replace Caleb Downs? You don't you have
Speaker 3: other guys who are going to play a position similar
Speaker 3: to what Caleb Downs did last year. You're not going
Speaker 3: to just be able to do the same stuff you
Speaker 3: did with Caleb Downs. And the good news on this
Speaker 3: front is that Matt Patricia knows this. This is not
Speaker 3: Matt Patricia's first time having to replace a talented player,
Speaker 3: and so he's going to have some workarounds. So there's
Speaker 3: going to be there's just gonna be some stuff that
Speaker 3: they did last year that they might not be able
Speaker 3: to do exactly the same way this year. But in
Speaker 3: a lot of these cases, if these guys stay healthy,
Speaker 3: I'm reasonably be confident that the safeties are going to
Speaker 3: be good. But you lose a guy or hey, or
Speaker 3: a little can't play nickel as well as they thought
Speaker 3: or whatever. I don't have that as a real concern
Speaker 3: coming out of the spring, but maybe it just doesn't
Speaker 3: pan out there, and then you get to figure somewhere
Speaker 3: out someone else to play nickel. And you know, Terry
Speaker 3: Moore missed all of last season than injury, he gets
Speaker 3: hurt again, someone else gets hurt again, You got to
Speaker 3: find another guy to fill that spot. So, yeah, this
Speaker 3: is this isn't Yeah. I think there's a reason that
Speaker 3: this is the third thing we're talking about on the
Speaker 3: defensive side of the ball. But I also think between
Speaker 3: replacing Caleb Downs and not having totally sure things in place,
Speaker 3: I think it is a legitimate question.
Speaker 1: Well, and I'll just throw in if Earl Little can't
Speaker 1: play that nickel spot like they want in terms of coverage,
Speaker 1: what they're going to do is probably move Jermaine Matthews
Speaker 1: there yep, which then thins out the cornerback room, which
Speaker 1: then so all of the there's just you know, you
Speaker 1: plug one hole and boom, now here's another sort of thing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and there are potential solutions everywhere, and you don't
Speaker 3: need to bat a thousand on the potential solutions because
Speaker 3: you've got a bunch of different stuff where you know,
Speaker 3: on the offensive line, we didn't We've did an offensive.
Speaker 2: Line show earlier this week.
Speaker 3: And you don't need both Ian Moore and Josh Padia
Speaker 3: to be perfect ready to go. You just need one
Speaker 3: of those guys to be able to do it, and
Speaker 3: then Austin Seervel to be ready to go at the
Speaker 3: other open spot. They have a lot of potential solutions,
Speaker 3: a lot of really intriguing solutions. You got a lot
Speaker 3: of talent on this roster, as they always seem to,
Speaker 3: but you need the pieces to sort of fit together.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And one last thing on the quarter situation or
Speaker 1: the Nickel situation, I do wonder they have designs having
Speaker 1: this safety based corner or Nickel in terms of a
Speaker 1: little they would have to change things a little bit
Speaker 1: if they were to move to a corner at Nickel
Speaker 1: or would they want to say, no, let's not sacrifice
Speaker 1: the scheme. Let's just find the next best safety guy
Speaker 1: that can be there, which is that Jalen McLean, which
Speaker 1: we saw him a bunch in the slot and the spring,
Speaker 1: and then le Roy Roker comes in again, moving parts
Speaker 1: all the questions that coaches will have to figure out,
Speaker 1: who are the best guys suited anything else?
Speaker 3: Tom No, I think we've I think we've given people
Speaker 3: enough to worry about.
Speaker 2: And you know, now this is the fun time to year.
Speaker 3: Everyone's undefeated everyone, you know, you ask fans of every
Speaker 3: team like what their record's going to be, and you
Speaker 3: add them up and it's like, that's like a seven
Speaker 3: to fifty winning percentage. I don't think the whole sport
Speaker 3: can have a seven to fifty winning percentage.
Speaker 2: But that's all right. This is the this is the
Speaker 2: time for optimism.
Speaker 3: So don't let Tony and his hating ways and his downbeat,
Speaker 3: down beat concerns get in the way of your your
Speaker 3: good mood and your excitement about the upcoming football season.
Speaker 1: Be afraid, be very afraid. That will do it for me.
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Speaker 1: from here. Thank you all for tuning in and we
Speaker 1: will talk to you all.
Speaker 4: Lady, let me.
Speaker 3: This time.
Speaker 4: What else you wet it through away? The no one
Speaker 4: tell me I wish you'd development nothing. M M. If
Speaker 4: you can tell me that the morning's all right, we
Speaker 4: can see you.
Speaker 2: I can't leave nine