Speaker 1: Hello, everybody, Welcome to the Buckeye Weekly Podcast. I'm Tony
Speaker 1: Gerdaban here right now with Jack Mlutty.
Speaker 2: Jack, Tony, how's it going?
Speaker 3: Fantastic?
Speaker 1: We have not spent a lot of time you and
Speaker 1: I talking about Legend BA, and that is what the
Speaker 1: show is about. Tom and I have done a series
Speaker 1: of expectations shows on various players, So now I want
Speaker 1: to talk to you about your expectations for Legend BA,
Speaker 1: my expectations for Legend BA, the expectations from inside the program, and.
Speaker 3: How realistic those are.
Speaker 1: Because what I was told back in before spring ball
Speaker 1: like six to eight touches for Legend Bay and that
Speaker 1: they're very serious about that. I don't know where those
Speaker 1: are gonna come from, because I know they want to
Speaker 1: do some kickoff return as well. But you might get
Speaker 1: one of those a game, and then you might get
Speaker 1: a catch. So you're talking five or six carries a game,
Speaker 1: which is what Isaiah West averaged last year when he
Speaker 1: was in So.
Speaker 3: Is six to eight touches possible?
Speaker 2: I when I hear six to eight touches, like immediately
Speaker 2: the number sounds like that's not that much, But then
Speaker 2: when you really think about.
Speaker 3: It and you think about the limited.
Speaker 2: Amount of plays they're running, even sixty three plays a game,
Speaker 2: half of those. I mean, it's just I don't really
Speaker 2: feel like that's gonna be something that is gonna be
Speaker 2: reasonable with this offense and the number of weapons. But
Speaker 2: that's based on how I feel about where he's going
Speaker 2: to be in the offense this year, which is not
Speaker 2: I mean, it's totally possible that he could end up
Speaker 2: kind of eating into one of those starting running backs carries,
Speaker 2: but that's not where I have him right now. I have,
Speaker 2: you know, obviously Bo and Isaiah at the top, and
Speaker 2: then I got Jakobe. Kind of is that that third
Speaker 2: guy getting some carries as well? And if that's the case,
Speaker 2: where does Legend get all those carries?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 2: Total possibility that he blows everybody away as a you know,
Speaker 2: as a standard running back taking carries, and then he
Speaker 2: flies right up to the depth chart.
Speaker 3: But I don't know if that's if.
Speaker 2: I feel like I'm confident enough to say I think
Speaker 2: we're going to see six to eight at this point.
Speaker 1: And really, you say, it does not sound like much.
Speaker 1: That's Carnell tape, right, that's a productive wide receiver. Six
Speaker 1: to eight touches a game, and so when you're putting
Speaker 1: that on a true freshman, even as a running back,
Speaker 1: that's still a significant number of touches. It's just a
Speaker 1: matter of who are you taking those touches from. And
Speaker 1: the way that it was explained to me is like,
Speaker 1: he's not part of the running back battle. His situation
Speaker 1: is already solidified, Like it's almost not worrying about where
Speaker 1: he's taking touches from. It's like who's taking his touches
Speaker 1: because these six to eight are happening and then everybody
Speaker 1: else is gonna have to deal with it. And the
Speaker 1: thing is with running backs, five of those touches could
Speaker 1: get no yards, and then it's like, well, why do
Speaker 1: you keep giving this guy the ball? He's getting tackled
Speaker 1: in the backfield, and then one touch goes for seventy
Speaker 1: yards and you're like, why are you not giving this
Speaker 1: guy the ball more? Yeah, And so that's the fun
Speaker 1: and the give and to take. I think the legend
Speaker 1: bay this year, but I do agree he is going
Speaker 1: to be a legitimate running back. He's not just some
Speaker 1: as urban Myrier used to say, a hood ornament, where
Speaker 1: he's just out there trying to distract or be a decoy.
Speaker 1: I think there's plenty of usage for him. And as
Speaker 1: Ryan Day said on Wednesday, he's he's also learning receiver
Speaker 1: a little bit. We saw that in the spring where
Speaker 1: he takes some takes some reps there. I I know
Speaker 1: we're all looking forward to seeing it.
Speaker 3: I just do.
Speaker 1: You think when they say six to eight, could it
Speaker 1: be more like is six to eight is that the baseline?
Speaker 3: And it won't go below that?
Speaker 4: Assuming he's good, Assuming he's good, six to eight's got
Speaker 4: to be the base, like, assuming he reaches what we
Speaker 4: think he's capable of, the way we've heard Ryan Day
Speaker 4: talk about him, the way we've heard Carlos Laughlin talk
Speaker 4: about him is kind of different, right, It's a little
Speaker 4: bit different.
Speaker 3: There's a different tone. You can't deny that.
Speaker 2: And if he's getting six to eight touches and those
Speaker 2: are going as expected, which I mean it sounds like.
Speaker 3: And Ryan Day said it again here a to media
Speaker 3: days yesterday.
Speaker 2: When asked a bottom just the tone in which he
Speaker 2: was you know, yeah, he can do it was just like,
Speaker 2: of course you can in.
Speaker 3: The size Tony.
Speaker 2: We've seen him put on some masks quick, some good
Speaker 2: mask real quick. I mean, if he's actually producing in
Speaker 2: a way that we think he might be able to,
Speaker 2: then six to eight has to be the baseline. Because
Speaker 2: we sit here and we talk about these when we've
Speaker 2: heard it all off season, Tony. People aren't quite happy
Speaker 2: with the running backs last year, that right there, what
Speaker 2: you saw wasn't good enough. And we just listened to
Speaker 2: Ryan Day yesterday say this is the room I'm watching.
Speaker 2: This is the room that I'll be focused on as
Speaker 2: we go into the preseason.
Speaker 3: They want more.
Speaker 2: So if you're getting a repeat of what you got
Speaker 2: last year, and Legend comes in and he's doing what
Speaker 2: we think he might be capable of, then six D
Speaker 2: eight has to be the baseline.
Speaker 1: Well, and we saw Carlos Locklin his up. The chart
Speaker 1: moves up and down based on production and quickly, yeah,
Speaker 1: he doesn't wait too long and the opportunity, the opportunity
Speaker 1: will be there for legendiate because they're gonna carve out
Speaker 1: something for him, especially in that game one, unless they're
Speaker 1: gonna hold him and it's like spring him on Texas,
Speaker 1: which I don't think you should do that you're not
Speaker 1: gonna let him. Your first game is at Austin dealing
Speaker 1: with that no at night. No, you want to get
Speaker 1: him some carries in that first game against Paul State
Speaker 1: and get that experience and get that first time or
Speaker 1: out of him. But we saw Bo Jackson didn't play
Speaker 1: against Texas last year, so I wouldn't be shocked if
Speaker 1: Legend doesn't do it. But there will be a some
Speaker 1: times where he's out there and he's not getting the ball.
Speaker 1: So again there's also snaps he's taking from somebody else.
Speaker 1: He's not gonna be out there to pass block. We
Speaker 1: know that when he's out there to you know, whether
Speaker 1: he's out in motion and flexed out, he's going to
Speaker 1: draw some attention just because it's like, why is he
Speaker 1: out there? He's gonna they're gonna do something there, which
Speaker 1: maybe opens things up for other people. Hedge putter, how
Speaker 1: often they can use him without using him? And is
Speaker 1: it too early for him to have this sort of
Speaker 1: gravity where the defense knows watch that guy, because right
Speaker 1: now he's not there yet. He's just I mean, Texas
Speaker 1: knows him because the former quarterback from Texas, so he
Speaker 1: hasn't built that yet. Maybe that comes after the Texas
Speaker 1: game or because of the Texas game.
Speaker 2: It just might and they well, they got into his
Speaker 2: recruitment real lay right at the end there they started
Speaker 2: trying to trying to make a push.
Speaker 3: So they certainly know him. They know all about what
Speaker 3: he's about.
Speaker 2: They know that he's got the wild news and the
Speaker 2: magic or whatever however Locke described or what he's as
Speaker 2: a magician or whatever he said. But you know when
Speaker 2: we talk about Legend in this, uh, you know him
Speaker 2: having these touches, these potentially like these are his and everybody,
Speaker 2: you know, depending on what he does, he might get more,
Speaker 2: but nobody's just gonna eat into his. This almost feels
Speaker 2: like when you bring in Jakobe Jackson, like what's his role? Right,
Speaker 2: because that is like I really feel like he's a
Speaker 2: in the similar mold to Isaiah and bow right, Like
Speaker 2: those three are very similar. And you bring him in
Speaker 2: and now you've got Jacoby and Legend both kind of
Speaker 2: competing for what I think are these third running back steps,
Speaker 2: and this situation is just like I don't know, man,
Speaker 2: because I think Jacoby's also got some juice too. He does,
Speaker 2: and the potential of Legend not playing well early, making
Speaker 2: a dumb mistake early also exists, And all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: now we're looking at Okay, we're waiting till the next
Speaker 2: half of the season to get those six days.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you see a fumble against Paul State, he
Speaker 1: might have six to eight touches in the year after
Speaker 1: that because he will not see the field against Texas,
Speaker 1: and that's part of dealing with the freshman. But I'm
Speaker 1: with you on Jacoby Jackson because it's like he was
Speaker 1: very good in the spring.
Speaker 3: He did some things.
Speaker 1: He's never been great anywhere, although he did rush for
Speaker 1: our hundred yards against Texas in twenty twenty four. He's
Speaker 1: viewed as the replacement for CJ. Donaldson's but they don't
Speaker 1: need that guy. This year they needed they needed a
Speaker 1: bigger back. Last year they've got Isaiah West bo Jackson
Speaker 1: are bigger in Jacoby Jackson. He's a third bigger type back.
Speaker 1: And it's I think his value is the experience because
Speaker 1: without him, you've got two sophomores, a freshman, a retro
Speaker 1: freshman too true freshman, and a retrip freshman two sophomore.
Speaker 1: So I think the room aspect of it being able
Speaker 1: to come in at any point if needed, I think,
Speaker 1: but I don't think there's any way that Carlos Laughlin
Speaker 1: is holding Legend back because of Jacoby Jackson.
Speaker 2: The only thing that's gonna hold Legend back is Legend. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: I definitely agree with that. There's no way that we're
Speaker 2: gonna see Jacoby Jackson just like all right.
Speaker 3: We're on an even playing field.
Speaker 2: Whoever wins with like Legend this is this is his
Speaker 2: gig in that role, and he's gonna feaster famine based
Speaker 2: on what he does.
Speaker 3: As far as I'm much, you can play.
Speaker 2: But what I think, you know, Jacoby's biggest role for
Speaker 2: me is if there's an injury, I think you got
Speaker 2: a guy that's really solid who can do what those
Speaker 2: guys do, and that's great.
Speaker 1: And they've got running backs with injury histories they do
Speaker 1: they do, and we've had quite a few seasons recently
Speaker 1: with injury history.
Speaker 3: So I think it was a great move.
Speaker 2: But as far as Legend six to eight, I think
Speaker 2: that that will end up potentially being the baseline in
Speaker 2: the second half of the year.
Speaker 3: I just don't know if I can commit to saying
Speaker 3: that in.
Speaker 2: The first half, yeah, but I do think he will
Speaker 2: perform really great. Like I'm looking really really looking forward
Speaker 2: to this.
Speaker 3: So I'm going to give you some some numbers.
Speaker 1: You tell me over under fifty nine carries, three and
Speaker 1: ten yards. That's that's Isaiah West's numbers last year. By
Speaker 1: the way, do you uh I would go I may
Speaker 1: go under the carries and over the yards, but.
Speaker 3: I really yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Here's where I'm gonna go over because the situation
Speaker 2: entering the season last year was two different ahead of
Speaker 2: the two better backs Bow and Isaiah, And had those
Speaker 2: guys not been in the picture and it was Bo
Speaker 2: and Isaiah in the same situation, I think Isaiah would
Speaker 2: have gone over that considerably obviously. So I'm gonna go
Speaker 2: over for both through legend. Definitely for the yards and
Speaker 2: way definitely over.
Speaker 3: On the two touchdowns. Oh yeah, oh yes, over on
Speaker 3: the two catches.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, over on the zero kickoff returns, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: So what do you guys think? Go ahead and throw
Speaker 1: your comments. Is Juck crazy about all of these overs?
Speaker 1: Is he way out of his out of his depth
Speaker 1: on this legend based stuff, even though all we're doing
Speaker 1: is repeating stuff we've been hearing about legend Bay from
Speaker 1: the people who would know. So go ahead it thumbs up.
Speaker 1: Continue to find us over at Buckey Insiders dot com.
Speaker 1: Would love to see you there, and if you're listening
Speaker 1: and want to watch, you can find us at YouTube
Speaker 1: dot com slash at Buckeye Insider. So thanks for tuning
Speaker 1: in and we'll talk to you all later.
Speaker 4: It happen, it's time.
Speaker 3: What about using through a way?
Speaker 4: Don't no one tell me I wish you'd never been
Speaker 4: nothing to me?
Speaker 3: Where down.
Speaker 2: Where my father?
Speaker 4: If you can tell me that's a moot's all right?
Speaker 3: We could steal currently that