Speaker 1: Hello, everybody, Welcome to the buck Eye Weekly Podcast. I'm
Speaker 1: Tony Gerdaman here once again with Jack and let you Jock.
Speaker 1: How's it going?
Speaker 2: Man, that's the longest one I ever got. Feel like
Speaker 2: a VIP today, Tony, how about you doing well?
Speaker 1: Doing well here at the final days of the big
Speaker 1: time media days?
Speaker 2: And we've we we just uh, We've.
Speaker 1: Done a legend Bay expectation show. Now I want to
Speaker 1: do an Earl Little expectation show because there could be
Speaker 1: all kinds of good luck getting the numbers right on
Speaker 1: what can air? Would a I just spoiled there? What
Speaker 1: Earl Little is going to do this year for the
Speaker 1: buck Eys. We know he's going to be one of
Speaker 1: the wires State's three safeties. Where's he going to be?
Speaker 1: Sometimes he's going to be here, Sometimes he's going to
Speaker 1: be there. We're considering him the Nickel. He'll be part
Speaker 1: of replacing Caleb Downs, as Daleen McLean will be, as
Speaker 1: Terry Moore will be, even maybe as Leroy Roker will
Speaker 1: be and Jermaine Matthews frankly as well in terms of
Speaker 1: the Nickel situation.
Speaker 2: But Earl Little began his career.
Speaker 1: At Alabama, played some Nickel there, went to Florida State
Speaker 1: for a couple of years, played some nickel and played
Speaker 1: some safety. Was their defensive MVP last year as he
Speaker 1: was second team All acc I believe a proven guy.
Speaker 1: I know there have been some critics about his ability
Speaker 1: to cover, which is kind of a concern if you're
Speaker 1: playing in the slot against some of these quicker guys.
Speaker 1: When you saw Earl Little and in terms of signing
Speaker 1: with Ohio State, Dredge Rigdwire State, what did you think?
Speaker 3: I was immediately like, I hope this isn't the guy
Speaker 3: at safety. Yeah, I hope that there's another guy coming
Speaker 3: who's gonna be the guy at safety.
Speaker 2: And boy, that was wrong. That was the wrong opinion.
Speaker 3: I was very happy with Terry Moore when that came,
Speaker 3: but Earl was first and I was waiting on, okay, this,
Speaker 3: I hope this isn't the guy. If this is the
Speaker 3: guy at nickel, right, I'm okay with it.
Speaker 2: And obviously as things have gone on, things have changed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's I wish we would have gotten to
Speaker 1: see more in the spring, but things are so basic.
Speaker 1: And then Earl Little was injured towards the end that one.
Speaker 1: They're not going to show you everything he's doing right,
Speaker 1: because I saw Jayalen McLain at nickel more than I
Speaker 1: saw Earl Little from what.
Speaker 2: I was watching at times. And of course when Earl Little.
Speaker 1: Is out, then then Jermaine Matthews is your nickel and
Speaker 1: everything gets flipped up and Dominic Kelly is a corner.
Speaker 1: All things being equal and healthy and standard, there will
Speaker 1: be some movement. Mattatrician is gonna move guys around. As
Speaker 1: Jayalen McClain said on Wednesday, part of the strength is
Speaker 1: not knowing necessarily where.
Speaker 2: Everybody's going to be.
Speaker 1: But do you remember the way Jeremiah Smith talked about
Speaker 1: Earl Little in the spring where he was like he
Speaker 1: started and then he's like, you know what, like I
Speaker 1: don't want to say too much, but you could just
Speaker 1: see Ryan Dane likes to talking about the look in
Speaker 1: their eyes and look in Jeremiah's eyes about Earl Little.
Speaker 2: I think speaks volumes, you.
Speaker 3: Know, as we are, you know, I don't know what
Speaker 3: three years into kind of seriously into the transfer game, right,
Speaker 3: we've had different situations. Pau, Okay, this is you know,
Speaker 3: we thought it was like this and it goes like this.
Speaker 3: We thought it was like this, and it goes like this.
Speaker 3: I don't know if we've had one like this where
Speaker 3: from the time the guys signed to Spring, the feel
Speaker 3: about it was so different because once that started coming up,
Speaker 3: Jeremiah started saying things like that, it was like, oh no,
Speaker 3: we we.
Speaker 2: Got a real dog dog for real.
Speaker 3: We all should have known from his accolades from his dad. Obviously,
Speaker 3: his dad was Cleveland Brown, big Browns fans over here
Speaker 3: at Buckeye Insiders, aren't we retelling?
Speaker 2: And you know, the dude is super serious.
Speaker 3: When I originally saw we got two transfers, he went
Speaker 3: to Florida State, and I'm just like, I don't know
Speaker 3: so much about this, but he is a crazy serious guy,
Speaker 3: all about his business. He entered the draft, or he
Speaker 3: was going to enter the draft, you know, didn't like
Speaker 3: the results, so we decided to enter the portal. And
Speaker 3: this is a guy who's coming to finishing school. So
Speaker 3: what I always talk about with these with these smart,
Speaker 3: serious guys in the portal, they want to come to
Speaker 3: Ohio State finishing school before they go to the NFL,
Speaker 3: and they take it very, very seriously. This is their
Speaker 3: shot at the rest of their career. And uh, I'm
Speaker 3: he's one of them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he's serious. They're serious about him. The physical
Speaker 1: the physicality that they everybody talks about him, and he
Speaker 1: likes me.
Speaker 2: He's not the biggest guy. He's like six foot two hundred, yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, and he's a banger, right, and.
Speaker 1: So he's he's got he's got the experience playing Nickel
Speaker 1: and covering those guys the way that Matt.
Speaker 2: Patricia is going to use him.
Speaker 1: And this has been my theory before Jeremiah Smith started
Speaker 1: talking about stuff. But for me, Keiante Scott is the
Speaker 1: ideal way that if you're going to put a safety
Speaker 1: type at Nicol, you want somebody like Keantay Scott from Miami,
Speaker 1: who put up a bunch of numbers, was in the
Speaker 1: backfield a lot, as opposed to Denzil or Lorenzo Styles
Speaker 1: last year, who's a corner type of Nickel and they've had,
Speaker 1: you know, Jordan Hancock kind of is a little bit
Speaker 1: of both a more corner than safety at Nickel. This
Speaker 1: is a safety at Nickel, and they've got three safeties
Speaker 1: now and which I think is a concern in terms
Speaker 1: of coverage, but they're gonna be doing different zone kinds
Speaker 1: of things. And that's why I kind of think you'll
Speaker 1: see her a little more involved, more involved in the backfield,
Speaker 1: certainly more involved in the backfield than past Nichols at
Speaker 1: Ohio State, because I think they need to create some disruption.
Speaker 2: I think that's one way they can do it.
Speaker 3: I agree, and I think that he is going to
Speaker 3: be excellent at it. I didn't see a whole lot
Speaker 3: of that in his film. But you know, they they
Speaker 3: said at Florida State, like they're beat guys and such,
Speaker 3: that he wasn't great.
Speaker 2: When they moved him to Nickel. They liked him better
Speaker 2: at strong Safety.
Speaker 3: This will be a different situation than that with him,
Speaker 3: And I wish we would switch to calling this the Star.
Speaker 3: So I think, you know they call it the Star
Speaker 3: at the Woody, we should just call it the Star
Speaker 3: this year officially, now that it's kind of a different
Speaker 3: mall a role because Nicol just conjures up corner to
Speaker 3: me and and he's just not that this is a
Speaker 3: different type of dude in this role and this three
Speaker 3: pack of safeties. I am somewhat concerned about coverage as well,
Speaker 3: and he's got if you look at PFF, it's not
Speaker 3: a great coverage. Great as I recall it, it wasn't
Speaker 3: you know something that would But what does that mean?
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't grade coverage, Tony.
Speaker 3: So we're just gonna have to wait and see when
Speaker 3: we see And that obviously doesn't because the bad ones
Speaker 3: they'll come up in the highlight film.
Speaker 2: So I'm not so sure about it.
Speaker 3: But what he's going to be able to bring if
Speaker 3: Matt Patricia is confident about him there right, I feel
Speaker 3: certainly good about it because they had a lot of
Speaker 3: options in the portal and they chose him, and they
Speaker 3: chose Terry Moore, and you know, I'm happy with with
Speaker 3: that for sure, and I'm excited about Earl probably, I
Speaker 3: would say, you know, of all the of all the
Speaker 3: guys on defense, James Smith and Earl's probably.
Speaker 2: Number two for me.
Speaker 1: They're they're you're you're talking about the the way the
Speaker 1: thoughts on Earl. It'll change from the time he signed
Speaker 1: tails like spring. It's like right around spring, it's like
Speaker 1: a spring football spring game. You're kind of already sizing
Speaker 1: him up for the heisman. You know, the people were
Speaker 1: talking about him. So those kinds of possibilities are intriguing
Speaker 1: in terms of being disruptive and how they're gonna use him.
Speaker 1: So as we did with Legend Bay, I want to
Speaker 1: do some over unders. Okay, Now the numbers I'm pulling here,
Speaker 1: these are all Kiante Scott. Okay, and we'll start with
Speaker 1: sixty four tackles now, which is about Caleb down said
Speaker 1: last year and also came McDonald.
Speaker 3: And we can say also that Kante Scott had a
Speaker 3: similarly great defense, right, yeah, right, it's pretty similar to
Speaker 3: that in that aspect. Sixty four tackles sounds like a
Speaker 3: sounds like quite a nugget. But I am going to
Speaker 3: go slightly over that because Canta did miss We missed
Speaker 3: a couple of weeks with danger hears the end of
Speaker 3: the season.
Speaker 2: Uh, yeah, yeah, he was a little bank dub. Yeah,
Speaker 2: no he played fourteen but.
Speaker 1: Okay, they played more than fourteen though.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was a little bank ub Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1: And then the real number that I meant, like the
Speaker 1: these are the possibilities that fascinate me with what he
Speaker 1: could do. Thirteen tackles for loss last year for Kanta Scott,
Speaker 1: and you don't have a lot of a higher state
Speaker 1: defensive backs get into that realm you mentioned the star
Speaker 1: maybe I don't know what Jamale Haynes, Jamal Hines or
Speaker 1: Tyler Mueller back in the day when they were stars.
Speaker 1: Thirteen is a concerted effort to create chaos. And that's
Speaker 1: what Cantey Scott was last year, just wondering how much
Speaker 1: of her A little. The thing is they have more
Speaker 1: than just a little to do that, yes, And I
Speaker 1: don't know. Miami maybe didn't because he was he was
Speaker 1: so good at what they didn't need anybody else to
Speaker 1: do what he was doing.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna have to go under there, believe it when
Speaker 2: I see it.
Speaker 3: Like you said, there are so many options where the
Speaker 3: buck hyes can potentially come with that kind of heat
Speaker 3: that I'm just not quite so certain on that one.
Speaker 2: So I'm gonna go under for that one. The first
Speaker 2: under of the day, Well, how about this one? Five sacks? Now, again,
Speaker 2: this is how often are you gonna let him blitz?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 1: Do they need him to blitz when you've got the
Speaker 1: five man front and you maybe used to have a
Speaker 1: linebacker there or is it? Does that make it easier
Speaker 1: for them? So five sacks chuck over under?
Speaker 2: Now? Tell me, now, I think that this is gonna
Speaker 2: be ano.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go with another under here tone, And I
Speaker 3: just don't feel like we're gonna see enough enough opportunity
Speaker 3: for him from Matt Patricia to uh to get those
Speaker 3: sacks on those blitzes.
Speaker 2: So you're under Is it four and a half? Is
Speaker 2: it one and a half? I'm thinking more of like
Speaker 2: a three? Okay, yeah?
Speaker 1: And then two interceptions. We know people probably remember one
Speaker 1: of those from Kante Scott last year against Julian saying
Speaker 1: and Jeremiah Smith.
Speaker 3: Now I'm going over here, Okay, he had like four
Speaker 3: last year, didn't he, Cante Scott? Or a little yeah
Speaker 3: or a little yeah pall Hawk yeah, and uh, you
Speaker 3: know differ all right, right, But I just love the
Speaker 3: like when you watch him, he really is a risky guy.
Speaker 3: He missed his tackles, he goes for big hit, He'll
Speaker 3: give up a reception going for a pick. This isn't
Speaker 3: the most disciplined guy, but we love him because of
Speaker 3: how he plays. Maybe the Buckeyes will coach a little
Speaker 3: bit out of him, but sometimes part of being great
Speaker 3: is taking those chances.
Speaker 2: And he's a little bit like that, and I love
Speaker 2: it well.
Speaker 1: And I remember watching Miami last year in preparation for
Speaker 1: that game, Kante Scott was not great in coverage either.
Speaker 1: He was just great and everything else. There were ways
Speaker 1: to take advantage of him. Why staying didn't necessarily do that.
Speaker 1: And as long as he doesn't leave the line of scrimmage,
Speaker 1: you can't take him up, you can't take advantage of
Speaker 1: his coverage.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think the possibilities are there.
Speaker 1: It seems like this is just too easy of a
Speaker 1: comp so there's gonna be some errors there.
Speaker 2: Who were you gonna use as a comp Terry Moore
Speaker 2: when we do that one?
Speaker 1: I think Jordan Foller type because I view him as
Speaker 1: kind of like the last line of defense.
Speaker 2: But I also think he's gonna.
Speaker 1: Have some interceptions because he had four interceptions yep in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2: As the ball out to me, I see him like
Speaker 2: I see.
Speaker 1: Jalen McLean and Earl Little creating the chaos, and he's
Speaker 1: back there just cleaning an everything up like Jayalen McClain
Speaker 1: did last year, where he's just the last line of defense. Dorry,
Speaker 1: I've got everything else, you know, and he's got ranged
Speaker 1: presuming you're assuming he's recovered. And I think the rush
Speaker 1: took a little bit of time in the spring, but
Speaker 1: he was with the Ones the second half of spring.
Speaker 2: That free safety that he was.
Speaker 1: I just wonder how often he's going to move up
Speaker 1: and you know, play some of that inside stuff or
Speaker 1: in the closure to the line of scrimmage. But Ryan
Speaker 1: Day said on Wednesday, talking about Jalen McLain's communication, he's
Speaker 1: like him and Earl, you know, they've gotta they've gotta
Speaker 1: communicate everything. So it feels like Terry Moore is just
Speaker 1: gonna be back there.
Speaker 2: Just wait, we're talking. See.
Speaker 3: To me, this, to me was my number one transfer
Speaker 3: when the class was originally signed was Terry Mooer. And
Speaker 3: coming out of spring as we head into preseason, to me,
Speaker 3: he is the biggest mystery.
Speaker 1: Do you feel the same way He is a mystery
Speaker 1: because we didn't really see much from him because again
Speaker 1: Lee Roy Roker was with the Ones the first half.
Speaker 1: Then you saw more from Turm, but you didn't see
Speaker 1: anything right. There was when when Mallie Cooker was a
Speaker 1: Red Cherd freshman, he was he was intercepting passes uh
Speaker 1: in practice, when Josh Proctor was intercepting past now it
Speaker 1: took him a long time to get on.
Speaker 2: The field and show anything.
Speaker 1: But like you haven't really heard any any of that,
Speaker 1: none of them. Matt Greary loves him, recruited him at Duke,
Speaker 1: he wanted him to safety. Once Matt Greary left, they
Speaker 1: put him at running back for like a year and
Speaker 1: a half before moving him back to safety.
Speaker 2: So I know Greary's thrilled to have him.
Speaker 1: I guess if he's opening the fall camp with the
Speaker 1: ones that should tell us right. If he's not, then
Speaker 1: kudos to Leroy Roker. But I think that creates more
Speaker 1: mystery for sure.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, but but yeah, he's the one that we've
Speaker 3: heard the least about obviously, the guy that we've seen
Speaker 3: the least and then coming off still about that acl
Speaker 3: you know, we've not seen him yet.
Speaker 2: But if he gets that spot, then you know, you know,
Speaker 2: that's fine.
Speaker 1: He's just he's smart, he's athletic, he's productive, and that's
Speaker 1: what they're looking for, and that's that's what the portal
Speaker 1: is for. That's what people are winning with, you know.
Speaker 1: So we'll see how it goes for Isolate, that's a
Speaker 1: show for another time. Yeah, this was Earl little Go
Speaker 1: ahead and throw your thoughts in there. What are your
Speaker 1: expectations for him? We'll check those out on YouTube you
Speaker 1: can listen to. As you know, any podcast platform, five
Speaker 1: star rating reviews always appreciated, and as you know, you
Speaker 1: can continue to find us at Buckeye Insiders dot com.
Speaker 2: Thank you all for tuning in and we will talk
Speaker 2: to you all later.
Speaker 3: Wish it through a way, don't know one tell me?
Speaker 2: I wish it never.
Speaker 3: Meant nothing to me?
Speaker 2: Were if you could tell
Speaker 3: Me that's the bot's all right, we could steal currently
Speaker 3: tonight