Speaker 1: Hello everybody, welcome to the Buckeye Weekly Podcast.
Speaker 2: I'm Tony Gerderman, here as always with With Tom Orr. Tom,
Speaker 2: how's it going?
Speaker 3: Well, Tony, there was only like seven seconds into the
Speaker 3: show or so before I remembered. Oh, I should put
Speaker 3: the microphone on. So now I'm great. Earlier, not as prepared.
Speaker 4: Now, now. We're to live in the moment, Tony. We're
Speaker 4: not here to talk about the past.
Speaker 5: You put the professional in professional, just so you know.
Speaker 4: The fest in professional, yes.
Speaker 5: So we were here at interviews with the seven captains.
Speaker 2: Here at Ohio State tonight and the one thing that
Speaker 2: I left with is the only thing that I tweeted
Speaker 2: from this and it's not the only thing I took
Speaker 2: from this.
Speaker 3: There was a lot that was interesting but the thing
Speaker 3: that you tweeted from this that I looked over at
Speaker 3: you and said well gonna have to do a show
Speaker 3: on that before we leave.
Speaker 2: And here we are we're doing a show on it
Speaker 2: and that was Jeremiah Smith was asked about Legend Bay
Speaker 2: losing his black stripe and what does that mean for
Speaker 2: the offense and he said it's big for the offense
Speaker 2: and And then he recounted a story of like, he's like,
Speaker 2: I think it was, I was talking to Luke Montgomery
Speaker 2: back in the spring. And I told Luke that before
Speaker 2: Legend Bay leaves Ohio State, he's either going to win
Speaker 2: the Heisman or be a finalist. And I had one
Speaker 2: of those, a very nice accomplishment for anybody, but especially
Speaker 2: at Ohio State, it's hard to say like you're going
Speaker 2: to win the Heisman because there've been so many finalists
Speaker 2: and you know how hard it is to win the Heisman.
Speaker 5: But what a statement from.
Speaker 2: A guy who, who very well could be the Heisman
Speaker 2: winner or a finalist this year, the best receiver in
Speaker 2: Ohio State history, saying, this guy is doing some things
Speaker 2: that people don't realize yet, but they will.
Speaker 3: Well, this is a little bit of a takes-one-to-no-one, you know, brackets, complimentary,
Speaker 3: as opposed to the usual way that's used, where, you know,
Speaker 3: I think a lot of us in Jeremiah Smith's true
Speaker 3: freshman season were saying, so, get ready to speak Times Square, buddy, and...
Speaker 3: you've seen that what that looks like then. And he
Speaker 3: has been, I think he was a finalist.
Speaker 4: Two years ago, right?
Speaker 5: I thought I was thinking so.
Speaker 3: I think he was a finalist as a true freshman
Speaker 3: and was like fifth place last year, but either way,
Speaker 3: obviously close enough to that conversation to be aware of
Speaker 3: what it takes to get into that conversation. That's the
Speaker 3: stuff that is really, you know, we get, there's like
Speaker 3: different tiers of how meaningful all this stuff is. And it's,
Speaker 3: If I ask you specifically about this player, tell me
Speaker 3: about this player, and you're going to tell me that
Speaker 3: he's a great guy, and he works really hard, and
Speaker 3: he's putting in a lot of work, and he's really
Speaker 3: studying hard, and everyone likes him, and his breath smells great,
Speaker 3: and whatever. When you ask me about a guy from subgroup,
Speaker 3: freshman class, wide receiver room, who surprised you, and you
Speaker 3: tell me something, and you name a name, that's more
Speaker 3: meaningful to me. Because if I ask you about a
Speaker 3: specific guy, you're not going to be like, that guy stinks. Like,
Speaker 3: no one since Denzel Burke, and even before Denzel Burke,
Speaker 3: there weren't many that would be real straightforward with you.
Speaker 3: If you get named in a group like that, like, okay,
Speaker 3: that's okay. If you're talking to teammates about that away
Speaker 3: from us, and then later feel so confident about that
Speaker 3: six months later... that you're sharing this as an amusing
Speaker 3: anecdote with us, and you're someone who has been there
Speaker 3: and done that and knows what it takes to get there,
Speaker 3: that's when you're like, okay, that is the highest tier
Speaker 3: of teammate to teammate company.
Speaker 2: And Jeremiah also saw Julian Sayen be a Heisman finalist.
Speaker 5: And it's completely different.
Speaker 2: It's like you said, if somebody were to ask, Jeremiah,
Speaker 2: do you think Legend Bay could win the Heisman one
Speaker 2: day or be a finalist?
Speaker 5: Of course. But then when it's volunteered forward like that is.
Speaker 4: Interesting.
Speaker 2: We've talked about the expectations for him this year. Got
Speaker 2: the slow start in fall camp. Ends up losing his
Speaker 2: black stripe in the past week. That's a very good
Speaker 2: sign that he is in the good graces.
Speaker 5: Because, again, you lose your black stripe, you are a bucca.
Speaker 5: And nobody that is like, you know, wishy-washy on. They're like,
Speaker 5: you know, he's... We've.
Speaker 2: Seen guys that don't lose it until their redshirt freshman year.
Speaker 2: A guy named Joe Burrow. Famously not very good.
Speaker 4: Never did much at Ohio State, did he? I mean.
Speaker 5: We don't need to relitigate the past, but.
Speaker 2: Losing the black stripe, getting back into good graces, and
Speaker 2: everybody celebrates it when it happens. And we said, gosh,
Speaker 2: back in March, you know, like how many touches? Five
Speaker 2: to eight, something like that. As a true freshman, that's
Speaker 2: what they want to get him involved in. Special teams,
Speaker 2: pass catching, running the ball.
Speaker 5: Nothing.
Speaker 2: I've seen since, heard since, lends me to believe that's
Speaker 2: still not the plan. The biggest question has always been, how?
Speaker 2: How do you get those many touches? It's never been like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't think he's good enough.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 3: It has been away from the field stuff. You know,
Speaker 3: you missed the first two practices of the fall for
Speaker 3: disciplinary reasons. And this was not like a crime or anything.
Speaker 3: This is just like silly freshman stuff.
Speaker 1: And.
Speaker 3: But silly freshman stuff can... That's one of the reasons
Speaker 3: that freshmen don't play. The fact that he lost his
Speaker 3: black stripe is a pretty good indication that he has
Speaker 3: learned the lesson from the silly freshman stuff and has
Speaker 3: not repeated that mistake and has been doing what he
Speaker 3: needs to do. We were being told by people relatively
Speaker 3: high up in the program, like, I mean, like, glowing
Speaker 3: things about him, even before spring ball.
Speaker 4: Glowing things about him.
Speaker 1: And.
Speaker 3: Then he showed up for spring ball. He had the
Speaker 3: high expectations. Everyone's excited. And then he just, like, tweaks
Speaker 3: his hamstring. It's nothing major, but it's just enough to
Speaker 3: keep him off the field. And then right before fall practice,
Speaker 3: you know, just a silly mistake. Nothing major, but just
Speaker 3: enough to keep him off the field for the first
Speaker 3: couple days of fall practice. So it was kind of like,
Speaker 3: all right, it doesn't take that much. There's lots of
Speaker 3: ways for a talented freshman to not get on the field.
Speaker 3: It feels like he's leaving a lot of that stuff behind,
Speaker 3: and now he's back in, you know, sort of on
Speaker 3: track to get on the field early. And, you know,
Speaker 3: five to eight touches a game, as you said, that's
Speaker 3: a lot.
Speaker 4: That's Jeremiah Smith. Yeah, right. You're a running back. You're
Speaker 4: going to get, you know, but you've got Bo Jackson.
Speaker 3: You've got Isaiah West. You're not the only guy who's
Speaker 3: going to get carries. Jacoby Jackson is probably going to
Speaker 3: get some carries. So you might give him a couple
Speaker 3: in the run game. You throw him the ball once
Speaker 3: or twice. Do you trust him in the kick game?
Speaker 3: Do you trust him to go back and return kicks
Speaker 3: and punts?
Speaker 5: I'm wondering.
Speaker 2: Kickoffs, for certain. I wonder, because they have given him
Speaker 2: some shot at punt returner. I'm wondering if part of
Speaker 2: this black stripe is because he's done so well in
Speaker 2: terms of protecting the ball.
Speaker 5: And that aspect as well.
Speaker 4: You have to check all the boxes.
Speaker 3: You can't be like, well, you know, his grades are
Speaker 3: really good, but he's putting the ball on the ground
Speaker 3: in practice. But, you know, the grades, black stripe, like
Speaker 3: you got to check all the boxes.
Speaker 5: He's trying not to fumble. Right.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Working really hard on not fumbling.
Speaker 3: He looks really disappointed when he puts the ball in.
Speaker 4: Like that doesn't, that does not fly.
Speaker 5: He takes the lap full speed.
Speaker 4: Yeah. No, you have.
Speaker 3: To, you've got to be doing everything right. Because like
Speaker 3: you said, There are plenty of guys who turn out
Speaker 3: to be perfectly good players at Ohio State who don't
Speaker 3: lose their black stripe until October of their freshman year.
Speaker 4: Spring of their, you know, spring following their freshman year.
Speaker 3: Plenty of guys who end up being contributors, regular starters here.
Speaker 3: This is not something that it's like, you know, everybody
Speaker 3: gets a trophy, everybody loses their black stripe before the
Speaker 3: first game.
Speaker 4: Like, no, no, no, no, no. If you get it
Speaker 4: off before the first game, you are earning that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's why it's going to be fascinating to
Speaker 2: see who all plays against Texas. And as you said, that's,
Speaker 2: that's when you, you will know how the coaches feel
Speaker 2: about those players and how much they trust them on
Speaker 2: the road there. So what would a Heisman season Heisman
Speaker 2: finalism finalist season look like.
Speaker 5: For legend Bay?
Speaker 2: Cause I'm thinking like a Curtis Samuel, but not more
Speaker 2: running than catching, you know, cause Curtis Samuel had like
Speaker 2: 70 catches for like 800 yards.
Speaker 5: And I don't think that's the case. We'll see with
Speaker 5: legend Bay. Um, But as you know, there's also going
Speaker 5: to be some special teams in there. But is this
Speaker 5: like just an overall, does he have to rush for 1,000 yards?
Speaker 5: Does it have to be like 1,200 or 1,300 yards?
Speaker 2: Or is this such an encompassing lightning kind of big
Speaker 2: plays everywhere? Like he is dangerous, like.
Speaker 5: A Devin Hester.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: You know he's the best personal player on the field,
Speaker 2: whether the numbers are there or not.
Speaker 3: It's probably a highlight reel driven thing because he's not–
Speaker 3: He's not right now someone who you look at and
Speaker 3: you go, yeah, that guy can take 23 carries a
Speaker 3: game in the Big Ten. He's not going to be
Speaker 3: able to do that. So you've got to work around
Speaker 3: that a little bit. And so that's probably... And we're
Speaker 3: not talking about this year. This is not a 2026
Speaker 3: Heisman Finalist Legend Bay. This is 2027, 2028, whatever it is.
Speaker 3: Eight carries and five catches and a couple punt returns
Speaker 3: and a couple kick returns and... And then you're putting
Speaker 3: out stats that are, you know, 2,300 total yards and
Speaker 3: 17 touchdowns accounted for in four different ways.
Speaker 4: And then he throws the ball too. And then, yeah.
Speaker 3: And you get, you get the Eric crouch Memorial. Look,
Speaker 3: our quarterback caught a touchdown pass. Like it's on the
Speaker 3: other way. It's like, Oh look, it's the row. Look,
Speaker 3: our running back for a touchdown pass. Isn't that wild.
Speaker 3: And like, if he can kick, we'll find out he'll get,
Speaker 3: he'll kick extra point, like whatever. Like it's, That's the
Speaker 3: kind of stuff you're going to have to do because
Speaker 3: it's not going to just be a sheer numbers case
Speaker 3: where it's, you know, like J.K. Dobbins where it's like, well,
Speaker 3: he ran for 2,000 yards. It's probably not going to
Speaker 3: happen that way. You're going to have to do it
Speaker 3: in a little bit of a different shape.
Speaker 5: So there you go.
Speaker 2: Congratulations to Legend Bay, future Heisman finalist at the very least.
Speaker 4: Put a year on it, Tony. Coward.
Speaker 5: Well, I would say 2028. Or, I mean, there's 2029. 2029.
Speaker 5: There's 2030. We can go on and on.
Speaker 3: I would imagine the number of players who are projected
Speaker 3: as true freshmen, as Heisman finalists, by other Heisman finalists
Speaker 3: in their true freshman season, the overlap between that and
Speaker 3: five-year players, probably not extremely high, but, you know, maybe.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 5: And remember, Jeremiah Smith said this back in the spring.
Speaker 5: We didn't get to see a lot of Legend Bay.
Speaker 5: They saw enough. He saw enough. This guy.
Speaker 2: So there you go, some thoughts on Legend Bay, and
Speaker 2: mainly some thoughts on what Jeremiah Smith thinks of him.
Speaker 5: What do you guys think? Throw it in the comments,
Speaker 5: hit the thumbs up, subscribe to the channel.
Speaker 2: And, of course, we are talking about this, believe me,
Speaker 2: over on the Buckeye Insiders message board. You can find
Speaker 2: us at BuckeyeInsiders.com. We'd love to see you there. Thank
Speaker 2: you all for tuning in, and we will talk to
Speaker 2: you all later.
Speaker 6: Make it my love Love This time Can what I
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Speaker 6: I wish it never meant nothing to me Say you will,
Speaker 6: I'll say you will If you tell me that Des
Speaker 6: Moines's alright We could steal a car and leave tonight