Speaker 1: Hello, everybody, Welcome to the Buckeye Weekly Podcast. I'm Tony
Speaker 1: Gerdaman here as always with time more times. How's it going, Tony?
Speaker 2: We are here with our free trophies or podcasting excellence.
Speaker 2: You can see those right behind us right there. One
Speaker 2: of them we got for the Michigan coverage. We did
Speaker 2: one of them movie for the Ohio state coverage, and
Speaker 2: the third one is not labeled, so I don't.
Speaker 1: Know that's coverage to be determined. They're just presuming that
Speaker 1: we're gonna win it, which is a safe presumption.
Speaker 2: It doesn't say bold prediction, so I can safely say
Speaker 2: what it doesn't what it's not.
Speaker 1: For anyway, Welcome to the While we're recording this, this
Speaker 1: is day two of Big Den Media Days, Ohio status
Speaker 1: here today and the topic I wanted to talk about,
Speaker 1: Tom is what are the possibilities that the three guys
Speaker 1: that we talked to today are first Team All Americans?
Speaker 1: Because do you remember who we talked to last year?
Speaker 2: As I will say yes, as long as you have
Speaker 2: absolutely no follow up, I will tell you.
Speaker 1: All three turned out to be First Team All Americans?
Speaker 2: Okay? Was was Jeremiah Smith there? Last year? I feel
Speaker 2: like it was Newsworthy last year. I believe it was
Speaker 2: three guys who none of them.
Speaker 1: Were old enough to check into a kitchen. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: three people.
Speaker 2: Who were not old enough to check into a hotel room.
Speaker 2: I remember that. So it was Sunny Styles, Jeremiah Smith and.
Speaker 1: One of the other nineteen All Americans on last year's team. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it doesn't really narrow it down all that much. Third
Speaker 1: year player, they're no longer with the team. Yeah, Caleb
Speaker 1: of some sort?
Speaker 2: Oh yes, oh yes, yes, they did hold Caleb downs
Speaker 2: in somewhat high regard. I forgot. I forgot about that,
Speaker 2: that he was liked and respected within the program.
Speaker 1: Yes, okay, is that because you've already moved on to
Speaker 1: the Jalen McLain era.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's how you name in Ohio state
Speaker 2: safety Jalen McClain. I can't think of any others ever.
Speaker 1: Well, and I do what, Let's start start off with
Speaker 1: Jaalen McLain. Who is he is here today? With Jeremiah
Speaker 1: Smith and Julian Sayan And sure, you know we'll get
Speaker 1: to Julian Saying and Jeremiah Smith coming up coming up.
Speaker 1: But Jalen McClain the way the coaches talk about and
Speaker 1: the way his teammates talk about him, the way that
Speaker 1: we've seen a little bit of him. We've seen him
Speaker 1: he started all of last year, started a couple of
Speaker 1: games as a true freshman, but we haven't really seen
Speaker 1: him unleashed yet. I think a lot of the defense
Speaker 1: last year was designed for Caleb Downs to go do
Speaker 1: what he wanted. This year, with no Caleb Downs, that
Speaker 1: gives Matt Patricia more opportunity to do stuff with Jalen McClain,
Speaker 1: more opportunity for Jalen McClain to do stuff. A lot
Speaker 1: of it's going to come down to attention and knowing
Speaker 1: his name. And I think you could already just start
Speaker 1: the narrative in terms of, well, this guy's replacing Caleb
Speaker 1: Downs and that that will help. But it also creates
Speaker 1: this level of judgment that he has.
Speaker 2: To me well, and that's that's like an unfair benchmarkets.
Speaker 1: You know, like being the second.
Speaker 2: Kid, which I couldn't relate as the oldest, but if
Speaker 2: you know you're the second kid, you know, the.
Speaker 1: Oldest kids like they did not get it correct, and
Speaker 1: so they kept trying until they did.
Speaker 2: I was the youngest, and then they're like, no, no,
Speaker 2: I think we're done here. It's ever again, won't make
Speaker 2: that mistake again? Yeah, the first one. The first one
Speaker 2: goes through and you know, oh, well, they were on
Speaker 2: the honor roll. Why aren't you on the honor roll
Speaker 2: like they were? Or you're on their honor roll but
Speaker 2: not on the high honor roll. Why weren't you on
Speaker 2: the higher honor roll like your older sibling? Like that?
Speaker 2: It feels like Killin Downs is going to be remembered
Speaker 2: with this like he was. He was talked about with
Speaker 2: this like angelic glow around him even while he was
Speaker 2: at Ohio State. Now that he's gone, it's going to be, oh,
Speaker 2: you remember Caleb Downs, he was the best. You know,
Speaker 2: everyone else they can't be the best because Kele Downs
Speaker 2: is the best. That's gonna be a hard standard to
Speaker 2: live up to. But it's also, you know, all of
Speaker 2: this is gonna be true of all of these guys.
Speaker 2: These guys are all going to have opportunities to if
Speaker 2: they play well early in the season. You show out
Speaker 2: in that Texas game, then all American voters are going
Speaker 2: to go, oh, yes, I remember that guy. He was
Speaker 2: the guy who had the interception, or he was a
Speaker 2: guy who had one hundred and fifty years receiving or
Speaker 2: whatever it was in that Texas game. Jilla McLain is
Speaker 2: someone who I don't He's certainly not the person I
Speaker 2: think is the most likely to be a first team
Speaker 2: All American out of this group. The voters get fatigue
Speaker 2: voting for certain positions and certain schools, Like I feel
Speaker 2: like there's Jeremiah said has maybe suffered a little bit
Speaker 2: from this with the Blitnikov Award, where he very easily
Speaker 2: could have won it either the last two years. But
Speaker 2: it's like, you know, we've given this to an Ohio
Speaker 2: State receiver. Were always talking about Ohio State receiver. Let's
Speaker 2: talk about someone else. It feels like that's kind of
Speaker 2: factors into you might just have a little bit of
Speaker 2: Ohio State safety fatigue.
Speaker 1: Well, and I think that's where it's up to Jalen
Speaker 1: to get past that, to play past that. And you
Speaker 1: mentioned this angelic speaking of Haleb Downs. I think there's
Speaker 1: some devilish speaking about Jalen McClain around the program in
Speaker 1: terms of what he could be for the defense. So
Speaker 1: that's one guy to keep your eye on. The next guy.
Speaker 1: We can probably just do an entire show on in
Speaker 1: terms of Julian saying and being an All American the
Speaker 1: last first team All American for Ohio State at quarterback,
Speaker 1: Tom it's like you've had some tangential, like you've had
Speaker 1: like this writer, this magazine did this. It does not
Speaker 1: happen off. It doesn't happen off and no, and y
Speaker 1: Smith maybe.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm thinking back, and boy, it feels like the
Speaker 2: Ohio State quarterback wins the Silver Football Award is the
Speaker 2: Big Ten's best player, like period, full stop, best player
Speaker 2: about every other year, but first Team All American C J. Stroud,
Speaker 2: I don't think that because.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be either it's it's Trice, which he did
Speaker 1: do it, yeah, and that was twenty years ago. Or
Speaker 1: then you go to Dwayne Haskins because Ja C. Verrett
Speaker 1: never did a Dwayne Haskins and Cezy Straps justin fields,
Speaker 1: those three and they were never like I don't believe
Speaker 1: any of them have Tree and Buckeye Grove. So the
Speaker 1: idea that it's tough for an Ohio State quarterback to
Speaker 1: do it despite being this is the golden age of
Speaker 1: Ohio State quarterbacks, but it's also the golden age of
Speaker 1: college football quarterbacks, and so Justin Fields is competing against
Speaker 1: you know, Trevor Lawrence, and all of these guys have
Speaker 1: other elite peers that they're competing against. So the idea
Speaker 1: that Julian Sane could do it this year, I will
Speaker 1: remind you he is the lone returning Heisman finalist, like
Speaker 1: he should be the favorite. He's been listed among the
Speaker 1: favorites in terms of like player rankings this year. Do
Speaker 1: you see him being a first team All American?
Speaker 2: Well, our friends at Sports Reference in for me that
Speaker 2: Chris Smith is the only Ohio State player to be
Speaker 2: a census first team All American as a quarterback. So
Speaker 2: I'm gonna say possible, absolutely likely, No, not particularly because
Speaker 2: you've got so many other you know, this is the
Speaker 2: spot where there's only one, so odds are odds are
Speaker 2: The answer is it's going to be someone else somehow.
Speaker 1: I mean not even just consensus, but like there could
Speaker 1: be four different.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there could be. There could be And and I
Speaker 2: think you know, we've sort of projected he's going to
Speaker 2: have a better year this Year's this the stats are
Speaker 2: probably going to be a little bit better this year.
Speaker 2: They were already very good in a lot of ways.
Speaker 2: Last year. I think he's and I think he you know,
Speaker 2: there has been enough discussion about he's going to make
Speaker 2: some plays with his legs maybe, and so that opens
Speaker 2: up some opportunities to have a Heisman moment or an
Speaker 2: All American kind of moment in a different kind of way.
Speaker 2: I think he's I think he is. Certainly, you know,
Speaker 2: we're some We're somewhere between plausible and likely. I don't
Speaker 2: think we're the likely right now, but I can absolutely
Speaker 2: see it. It's it's a possibility. But I don't I
Speaker 2: don't look at Julian saying and say likely first team.
Speaker 2: I think he's likely, deserving likely in the conversation, almost
Speaker 2: certainly in the conversation.
Speaker 1: But I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't assume that just based on the history here.
Speaker 1: I think if he's the first team All Big Ten quarterback,
Speaker 1: he's got better odds of being the first Tame because
Speaker 1: he's going to be competing with Dante More to be
Speaker 1: that All American. Also that the first team All Big
Speaker 1: Ten quarterback.
Speaker 2: And and I mean, yes, those guys, yes, But also
Speaker 2: I feel like people could take up their mind on
Speaker 2: this Week two when it's arch Manning versus juliansaying, and
Speaker 2: if arch Manning has a big night, then you're gonna
Speaker 2: have Well, you know, it's like the Notre Dame Miami
Speaker 2: thing a year ago, where it's like, well, yes it
Speaker 2: was Monday night or Sunday night of Labor Day weekend,
Speaker 2: but you know it's a head to head competition and
Speaker 2: you you saw it on the field. How can you
Speaker 2: possibly vote for you could have one of those guys eliminated,
Speaker 2: but sort of with a big dark mark on their
Speaker 2: record just having lost that game, even though they don't
Speaker 2: play particularly badly.
Speaker 1: We kind of made up our mind on arch Banning
Speaker 1: after that game. Now, he continued to yeah, prove, yeah,
Speaker 1: the opinions correct, that that had downgraded him one. One
Speaker 1: game can certainly sets the narrative. Jeremiah Smith feels like
Speaker 1: he's just he's the free free space. Yeah. And the
Speaker 1: people who don't make him All American even they're just
Speaker 1: like the contrarians, like, yeah, growing up in Northwest Ohio,
Speaker 1: those are the Michigan fans.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're being a try hard if you're if you're
Speaker 2: not voting for Jeremiah Smith as the first team All American.
Speaker 2: If he's healthy, you kind of know what you're gonna
Speaker 2: get there if he produces, Like yeah, but even if
Speaker 2: he even if the numbers are down a little bit,
Speaker 2: why would the numbers be down a little bit, Well,
Speaker 2: because he's probably drawing right two and three guys. I mean,
Speaker 2: we saw this with Marvin Harrison a few years ago
Speaker 2: where it was like, well, Marvin Harrison didn't have very
Speaker 2: big numbers. It was like, yes, well they had two
Speaker 2: guys and also had you know, a nickel sort of
Speaker 2: shaded over there, and so yes, if you've got three
Speaker 2: guys around you, you can't always Now, there was the
Speaker 2: play in the Rose Bowl against Oregon where there were
Speaker 2: three defenders around him and he's still called the ball.
Speaker 2: But you can be an incredibly impactful player and it
Speaker 2: doesn't always show up as just like you know, stat sheet,
Speaker 2: go burr.
Speaker 1: He will have enough plays, certainly you have enough touches
Speaker 1: to where you can justify it. But if he doesn't
Speaker 1: have the most, people are gonna be like, well, I thought,
Speaker 1: you're Jeremiah Smith. Why don't you have the most, most
Speaker 1: of this and most of that? And well, if you
Speaker 1: just want to play me in one on one, I would, right, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you'd playing me even up. So looking at these three
Speaker 1: and you're saying you have safety fatigue and the lack
Speaker 1: of quarterback or the difficulty of being in a quarterback,
Speaker 1: who do you think is most likely between Jaylen and
Speaker 1: Clane and Julian saying because to me, that's a pretty
Speaker 1: good question because obviously, well it's Julian saying he's the quarterback,
Speaker 1: but it's like, well, there's five or six other quarterbacks
Speaker 1: that are going to garner that kind of attention.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, and it's it's I think those two
Speaker 2: are very close. I think those are those two are
Speaker 2: very much in the same sort of bracket here where
Speaker 2: Jeremiah Smith. Yeah, I assume I would be a little
Speaker 2: surprised if Jeremiah Smith was not a first team All
Speaker 2: American Jillen McLain and Julian saying possible, deserving, but not likely.
Speaker 2: Necessarily to me, I'm gonna say Jalen McClain is the second,
Speaker 2: because I think you're going to have the quarterback position
Speaker 2: is so narrative driven that that's gonna be one of
Speaker 2: those things they're talking about on college game day and
Speaker 2: that can sort of drive the conversation and push voters
Speaker 2: who are just sort of like, well, you know, like
Speaker 2: there are going to be vote it's just going to
Speaker 2: work in Ohio State's favor. In some cases where it's
Speaker 2: like if you haven't been paying particularly close attention, sort
Speaker 2: of the default answer is Jeremiah Smith a wide receiver
Speaker 2: position quarterback. I think that could get driven in a
Speaker 2: narrative way where it's you know, who are the people
Speaker 2: on TV talking about safety? I think is going to
Speaker 2: be a little bit more of a do your own
Speaker 2: homework kind of thing and that so that can be
Speaker 2: stats that can be and because I do think he's
Speaker 2: going to have a pretty diverse stat sheet where he's
Speaker 2: going to be up and run support at times and
Speaker 2: be you know, have some maybe have some tackles for lost,
Speaker 2: maybe have some some sacks, but also have some interceptions,
Speaker 2: but also have just some highlight real plays.
Speaker 1: The interesting thing about Jayleen Jalen McLain, he can't have
Speaker 1: kleb Down's stats and being all he won't be an
Speaker 1: All American with kleb downs stats because slee down stats
Speaker 1: last year were like they're fine, yeah, but it was
Speaker 1: won a name recognition and everybody raving about him since
Speaker 1: he's a true freshman, but also as we talked about
Speaker 1: with him, like he's like jazz, you get a Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's the plays that you don't see that that he
Speaker 1: doesn't make because he's already taking stuff stuff away. Jalen
Speaker 1: McClain will need to be the stat sheet stuffer to
Speaker 1: get this, and I think he's gonna have a chance
Speaker 1: to do that. So what do you guys think? Give
Speaker 1: us your likelihood of all Americans in there is tom
Speaker 1: way off that Julian saying cannot be an all American.
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Speaker 1: dot com. Thank you all for tuning again and we'll
Speaker 1: talk to you all later. Nothing away, then, I wish
Speaker 1: you nothing.
Speaker 2: If you can tell me that's the moots all right,
Speaker 2: we can steal current le tonight