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What's up Buckeye fans, it's Patrick Murphy from Buck Nuts and 24-7 Sports. Here with you

for another episode of the Buck Nuts Happy Hour, we are going to look ahead to Ohio State's

Spring Game on Saturday. That will be the majority of today's show. I'm going to go through five

storylines that I think are the most interesting going into the Spring Game things. I'll be keeping

note of watching for those type of things. And we will talk a little Ohio State basketball,

the transfer portal, obviously, as in full swing right now. And there's been a seemingly a lot

of interest in that. So I think there's a lot of information put out there and some of it is

accurate, some of it is not. So we'll get into some of that at towards the end here. But we'll start

with football. But before we get into it, remember to please, if you're watching us on YouTube,

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And then all the interviews we do, we've done tons this spring. They'll be more after the

Spring Game. We are getting to a time of year where there will be fewer of those. But over the

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that helps us. And while we're on the topic, we are running a 60% off promo at Buck Nuts and 24

seven sports gets you all of the 24 seven sports network, all of your Ohio State coverage,

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So if you are not a Buck Nuts subscriber, now is a great time. Now that'll get you basically seven

months, I think I'm not great at math, but I think that is how it works. So if you go over to

to Buck Nuts, really any of the 24 seven sports sites, you can sign up there and that'll take you

through the Spring Game through the rest of the college basketball transfer portal. And into

recruiting season and next season and all that where you'll want to know exactly what's going on

with the Buck guys. So let's get into it with the Spring Game coming this Saturday. I wrote something

on Buck Nuts. You can read it. It's free. If you're not a subscriber today about the impact or the

players that I think you Buckeye fans should keep an eye on or be looking for in the Spring Game.

Guys that have had, you know, impact this this spring that I think can kind of leave the spring,

leaving an impact from the game. So you can go read that. There will be some overlap with some of

the stuff we talk about here, but I wanted to point you to that. It's a little bit different.

It's more player specific. This will be more conceptual so to speak. So the first thing,

the first storyline that I'll be looking at on Saturday at Ohio Stadium is Arthur Smith and what

the offense looks like under Ohio State's new offensive coordinator. And I think it first,

it's important to point out we're not going to learn everything about this offense in one spring

game, right? You know, I think it would be asking a lot to say for Ohio State to A, want to show

a ton, but also they haven't installed everything. You've only had 13 practices so far. 14th

practice will be on Friday and that's in front of coaches during the coaches clinic. So high school

coaches. So you probably won't do a ton in that practice. So there's still a full summer,

a full fall camp, all of those things to continue to install this offense. But I think back to two

years ago with the spring game, when Chip Kelly was doing his one and only, or his first and only

spring game with the buck eyes. And there were some things that we saw there that then not necessarily

directly were done again during the season. If you think back to one that stands out the most was

the T formation down at the goal line. Ohio State did do some variations on that a little bit

through during the season. It wasn't a big part of the offense. But it did show Chip Kelly's

creativity. And especially in the run game, what he felt like would help this offense be better.

And you got a sense of that in the spring game. And like it really stood out. Like that's

that's new. And after the game, he joked, maybe it wasn't a joke, but but said that, you know,

it was in to pay homage to to Woody Hayes and and whatnot. But it was a sign of things to come

in terms of the buck eyes and short yardage and red zone situations, something that they were

much better at in 2024 than they were last year or even in 2023. So I think things like that

that we can take out of this. And and maybe how Arthur Smith's offense is a little bit different

than what we've seen traditionally under Ryan Day. What kind of things maybe they're adding.

I can tell you we've already seen a little bit of it at being out at Ohio State's practice.

The student appreciation day, they were doing red zone drills and sort of the mesh concepts and

things like that, which I don't know why Ohio State hasn't run a ton of that in the last couple

of years, but it used to be a thing they did quite a bit and was very effective for the buck eyes.

So stuff like that that, you know, maybe won't tell you everything about the offense,

but does give you some kind of idea of, okay, here is how Arthur Smith is impacting. And I think

mostly it will be in the past game because I don't know how much running we'll see

because of the injuries to the running backs. If you haven't been following both both Jackson and

Isaiah West have been out all spring, but then Legend Bay and Turbo Rogers are both not expected

to play in the spring game, which means only Jacobi Jackson and freshman favorite key are going to

be the scholarship running backs also Stanley Jackson Jr who who is available.

So that just kind of limits what you can do is also injuries on the offensive line. So I think

this will probably be a more pass heavy spring game and usually they are anyway because I know

that's what fans most fans I should say want to see. So what is Arthur Smith doing to impact the

passing game? How is that changing things from maybe what we saw a year ago, you know, tight ends,

right? That was a big thing for Ohio State last year. It was not very effective. Arthur Smith

has been very effective using tight ends. What do we see from from that position? Just just things

like that to give us an idea of how the buck eyes will will look in an Arthur Smith led offense I

guess, but you know, it's still Ryan Day's offense. It's still going to be what what Ryan Day has

done, but the tweaks and things like that that that offensive coordinators bring in I think is

always interesting and then this is our first real glimpse in a game like atmosphere.

Speaking of offense, the second thing is is how do things stand with the offensive line or where do

things stand with the offensive line? We know how the season ended, right? The buck eyes had two

underwhelming performances against Indiana and Miami on the offensive line and then came into

the off season with a lot of questions about that group. Now the group that that they came into

spring practice as sort of the first choice group is pretty much the same as what they had at the

end of last season. The only difference in in terms of personnel is Philip Daniels or excuse me,

Tegra Shibola transferred and so that right guard spot is open, but they've had injuries. Austin

Cerevelle, Philip Daniels, who I accidentally just mentioned, those two guys both dealing with injuries,

both have been out for a good chunk of spring. They will not play in the spring game, so you're

going to have Carter Low as the first team right tackle we assume and Ian Moore, who did play for

Austin Cerevelle when he got hurt in the game against Miami that whole second half. He also started

the Purdue game in place of Philip Daniels, so we had some experience getting in there. And then

the interior, obviously you have Luke Montgomery left guard coming back, you've got Carson Hinsman

coming back. The right guard position, I assume you'll see Gabe Van Sickle as the first team guy,

but that's not set in stone. So what does that look like? Where are the improvements?

And are they doing things that give you confidence even though you know that there are two guys and

probably two important guys that are not going to be in there, does it look like hey they're

protecting Julian Sey and when they do run the ball or any of the quarterback, when they do run

the ball, does it? Are there holes? Things like that that he's running backs can hit and that's

all important, right? But there's plenty of time to correct things and whatnot, but you want to see

it now to feel good going into the summer and into fall camp and all that. I do think that this

offensive line is going to look different, not just because of the injuries. I've said it before

I'll probably say it a bunch this offseason. I think this best the best group of that you know if

you really want the best five out there and that's what Ohio State says, I think Ian Moore,

assuming he continues on the trajectory he's been on is going to be the it should be the left

tackle, Luke Montgomery at left guard, Carson Hinsman at center, and then that right guard spot,

I think you can talk about is it, you know does Austin Cerevel go there that he's played that

position before, gave Van Sickle, Josh Padilla is out for the spring, but he's another guy

who could be in the mix at that position. And then if you are moving guys around is Phil Daniels

are starting right guard, if Austin Cerevel doesn't hear starting left guard, do you move him to

right or excuse me right tackle? Do you move him to right tackle? So I think the buck guys have

despite having four starters back still have some ability to move guys around and kind of figure

some things out to get the best five on the field. Unfortunately we won't see see that group

because of those injuries, but if they're playing well like if if Ian Moore comes out and plays

really well, I think that's a feather in his cap towards hey this this could be your starting left

tackle next year and then you figure out what's next with Austin Cerevel or where you put him or

where you put Phil Daniels or or whatnot, you know Ian Moore could also play right tackle,

I don't think Carter Low is quite there though we'll see what he looks like on Saturday,

but it does sound like from from talking to Ian this past week that he's pretty much only

wrapped at left tackle since Austin Cerevel got hurt. So it does sound like that that is the

position he's he's most likely to play in but he also said he's comfortable switching if he needs

to to right tackle, but I do think you know seeing him and his build I do think he makes more sense

tackle than having a guy who was a guard moved to tackle and not to say that Austin Cerevel

didn't play well last year for the most part he did, but I think if you could move him to your right

guard back to where he was when Ohio State won the national championship and you have a true left

tackle playing left tackle, I think that that puts you in a better position to to be successful

in the offensive line. The third thing is flipping to the other side of the ball but staying in the

trenches the defensive line. Ohio State defensive line was good not great last year and I think you

you have some questions because you lost Kaden Curry who was your leader in sacks and tackles for

loss. You lost you know vital piece in Kaden McDonald Taiwan Malone who didn't start every game but

started a chunk of them and I thought was was fairly effective. So that's three guys who were

two of them, starters every week, one who started some and played a good amount. I think you play

the third most snaps on the interior. So how do you replace those guys? We know Kenyatta Jackson

Jr's back. I do think that his role will be different than it was a year ago. I think he will be

able to do some more of the Kaden Curry stuff and you kind of saw that towards the end of the season

when they sort of or second half of the season when they sort of freed him up to the you know kind of

brush the past or more and things like that. But what about the the new guys who who who is the

other edge players at Kueh Rousseau the transfer from Alabama Zion Grady we won't see on Saturday he's

been hurt. You know which which of these guys is going to step up or you know and it could be

multiple of those guys to help replace you know the production of Kaden Curry alongside Kenyatta Jackson

then on the interior you've got Edgar Houston you've got the transfers and James Smith John Walker

so you do have some option there Will Smith Jr coming back I think there are there are options

there but what does that look like and I think they're probably still mixing and matching and

figuring a lot of that out but does it look like it's coming together in the spring game and there's

a chance you know we don't see a ton from a guy like Kenyatta Jackson Jr who you know obviously played

a lot of snaps last season though in his career hasn't played a ton obviously being a backup for

the first three year first yeah first three years so do you get him out here more and and let him

let him you know kind of show what he can do in this kind of environment you know in a slightly

different role than he was last year but you know I'm really interested in the transfer guys just what

they can do and how they can produce now the the thing that you you always see whether it's

watching Ohio State practice or in these kind of scrimmages spring games is if one side of the ball

looks good or one position that it goes directly up against so in this case the defensive line looks

good well then you have questions about the offensive line right so it will be interesting to try

and and this is always the challenge coming out of spring game try and dissect okay what was good

on on both sides what worked what didn't and that's more for the for the coaches to figure out but

it us is you know analyzing the game you know if if Kenyatta Jackson has a great day does that mean

Ian Moore is not ready to play well not necessarily you know one guy is way more experienced in the

other right so you know you do want to see the defensive line get some production and also

they can't well we'll see if they can hit the quarterback or not Ryan Day seemed uncertain of that

but you know can they get to the quarterback and you know cause pressure and things like that

and that's something I want to see how does the interior hold up against what little run we probably

do see in that so I think that is is going to be important for Ohio State the fourth thing is

what does it look like beyond Julian Sayon at quarterback we know he's going to be the starter right

he was a high-smetrophy finalist finished fourth in the voting if he stays healthy knock on

good he's going to be the starting guy for the buck guys at quarterback but and Ryan Day talked

about this this past week like and he brings it up a lot you know the history at Ohio State now the

history probably isn't as long as right day makes it seem there was obviously the the national championship

of Cardell Jones but you have had other moments you know you need backup quarterbacks at times and

so I think the the the the way that that is is playing out now the expectation is

Tavine St. Clair, Ohio Kid, former five star prospect all that he's the next guy up and and

that's my assumption I assume that's most of your assumptions um but I don't think that's just

going to be handed to him yeah the buck guys did go out and get a guy who has some more college

experience not a huge amount uh though he's been in college for a long time in Justin Martin uh

who's played at UCLA in Maryland and Ryan Day likes to have you know four scholarship

quarterbacks the other one being Luke Fahey the the freshman who I don't think is is quite ready to

be a real threat to challenge for that backup spot but does throw a nice ball a little bit

undersized for for Ohio State and Hormuley expects like you think Julian St. Small way to see Luke

Fahey but what is the where is the battle between Tavine St. Clair and and Justin Martin and like

what does Tavine do that Justin Martin doesn't what does Justin Martin do that Tavine St. Clair

doesn't and and kind of the the skill sets there again when when you're watching a spring game

and this is another thing that makes tough like who are these guys throwing to just Tavine get

some time with the first team wide receivers does Justin more gets or excuse me uh Justin Martin

get some time with the first team wide receivers I think that will help um if we have some direct

comparison there but all in all just who looks comfortable leading this offense and what not

I've thought from from the bits and pieces we've gotten to see during spring practice that Tavine

has has certainly taken some steps you know he only played I think 13 snaps against Grambling

last year only through two passes both were incomplete Justin Martin's obviously played a bit more than

that but you know who looks comfortable who's running the offense who's taking command those type

of things and then obviously you want to be moving your team up and down the field uh Tavine did

that some last year if you remember in in the spring game there was the interception but I I thought

you know for a first time playing I thought he looked good and then how do you build on that

this this year and and how are you getting pushed by these guys that you know especially

Justin Martin um and how are they pushing Julian say and you know I think if it both look good

maybe you don't come out with a hey this guy's definitely going to be your number two but you

like wow they've got two guys that I feel pretty good about if if Julian saying we're to

misplay or or anything so I think that back up quarterback position we're probably right saying

it'll be Tavine St. Clair if God forbid something were to happen or just you know you're up big and

the first guy off the bench is is probably Tavine St. Clair but I don't think we know that for sure

and I want to see just how it looks like that battle is playing out and then the fifth

thing and this is kind of a bigger more than the first four bigger picture type of thing but it's

just the secondary and what that all looks like when we've been at spring practice and gotten

to watch one thing that has really stood out to me is the three safety look that that Ohio State

has primarily played out of and often it has been sort of a the group of Jalen McLean who obviously

is the returning starter and or a little who transferred from Florida state and sort of the

surprise of spring practice if you want to call it that Inley Roy Roker the third and they've

kind of lined up sort of if you picture the back end of the defense just in a straight line

pre snap and then right as or right before the ball snapped you know kind of after the quarterbacks

made his checks they're moving you know so one guy's obviously playing deeper one guy sort of

jumps up into that nickel roll that we've seen you know it's almost like a couple years ago and

then they did this a little bit with Lorenzo styles last year but like when Jordan Hancock became

comfortable almost as a true safety you could drop him back and things like that but I thought

it's interesting it's just been like a line of three guys that start off and then and then they

move to wherever they need to be on that defensive plate is it those three guys too because don't

forget about Terry Moore who the safety's coach MacCarrary knows well from maybe you know they

were both at Duke and you know had a really good season two years ago before his knee injury

from all accounts he's he's back he's healthy but I don't know if he's made quite the push yet

that a guy like Earl Little has coming in and and being able to perform pretty quickly

at least in practice you know I think I think you know I know Jalen McClaim has has a safety spot

locked up I think Earl Little is probably for sure your number to your second safety and then

the battle probably is between a guy like Terry Moore or Lee Roy Roker and you know that could

even be a thing where different guys are on the field for different situations or different drives

or whatnot but I do want to see how that's looking and kind of how it's working both from a schematic

standpoint and then like who is in who's not personalized what it looks like and then as you kind of

move up into the the rest of the secondary domain Matthews Devon Sanchez he those had been the

outside corners that we've seen when we've been in practice with the first team defense but

guy like Dominant Kelly from Georgia the transfer you know he's looked impressive we've heard

really good things about him can he make a push to be a starter or you know sort of like

Jermaine Matthews was a couple years ago where he's in the rotation at at corner I think that you

know watching him play will be interesting you know J Timmans the freshman has has generated a decent

amount of buzz this offseason now he's probably more of your like slot nickel guy and if you're

gonna play three safeties a decent amount maybe you don't use that kind of corner but can he figure

out a way to or can he work his way I guess I should say into a role as a freshman he was a guy

that I think everyone had a decent amount of excitement with going into the seat you know coming

out of this recruiting class like this is a guy who you know things go right can can make an

impact and there's other guys too but those are the guys I I think are are interesting when it comes

to how this corner back room is going to to play out and then you know if there's three safeties

on the field predominantly that does take away you know like the Lorenzo styles can the corners show

hey we can you know Jalen McLean let's excuse me Jermaine Matthews let's use him for example hey I

can play the slot because we've seen him do that at times and be some do some of that safety stuff

is that something that they're doing yeah I think they have a lot of flexibility with with this

the defensive backs so you know what do we see out of it now if Ohio State's going to be throwing

the ball a decent amount on Saturday I think there's a chance that we do get to see a decent amount

of looks now they're not going to show everything obviously because you you don't want to put that on

film obviously this is a game on TV and stuff like that but again I think there are opportunities

to you know get gleaned something and what they're trying to do and what you know maybe the

you know that the scheme is going to or at least there's tells on like what this is going to look

like obviously it will change and evolve as we get closer and then one last thing I'm just going to

throw in and this wasn't this just popped into my head as I was talking here but just the receiver

rotation like it seems to me that there's going to be and Ryan Davis asked about this this week like

more of a rotation at Y receiver I think you know the the past few years we've seen more or less the

the three and they've all been really good the starting three just played most of the snaps

now I think you've got your your number one with with with Jeremiah Smith Brandon Innis now he has

to take a next step but obviously he's a returning starter in a captain and then that other outside

position vacated by Carl Tate is is open and there are options Kyle Parker Devon McEwan obviously

Chris Henry Jr. and then Brock Boyd has has made some noise there's there's the returning

guys who haven't played a ton and Desi Jones and and Phil Bell that we'll we'll try and be involved

in that so like because you don't have these three that are sure fire you know these guys are

going to be first round picks they've been productive all that plus you have a new coach right

like a new receivers coach and Cortez Hankton so we don't know you know you can look back at some

of his LSU stuff but we don't know exactly how he's going to do it is there a bit more of a rotation

with with this group and yeah I game day at my place is kind of a big deal if I'm grilling

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on the app download today i don't think that you're going to take Jeremiah Smith out the field a ton

but maybe you look to you know save him a little bit during the season if you have enough guys

that you can rotate in so he doesn't have to be out there for nearly every first team offensive

snap right so i think that you know that that's something to watch and i think that's something

we'll probably get a little bit of a field that'll change obviously and in a spring game you can

rotate more because it's a spring game but i do think oh okay these guys are in this guys in with

this guy and and things like that i think it gives you a sign of kind of where in the pecking order

these guys are and and maybe how deep this receiver receiver rotation at least right now we'll go

so those are my five plus one things you know sort of interesting storylines that i'll be following

during the game keeping my eye on let's get to the basketball mostly transfer portal

if you have not been keeping up with the transfer portal Ohio State has landed two players so far

those are Justin Pippen the son of Scotty Pippen and brother of Scotty Pippen junior by the way

Scotty Pippen spells his name differently then his son who is a junior i look this up i can't

really find a reasoning for why Scotty Pippen spells it that way i think it's let me make sure

I have this right so Scotty Pippen the the six-time NBA champion spells it s-c-o-t-t-i-e

though if you look on like his Wikipedia page it has it as s-c-o-t-t-y but then in parentheses

it has Scotty but if you look at like his NBA page and stuff it's i-e weird quirk i don't know

this has nothing to do with Ohio State but just as i was looking stuff up for Justin Pippen

i came across that and i was like this is really odd why does he spell his name differently

than his son who is a junior like his junior not uh not a junior in school i digress Justin Pippen

he played at Michigan he was one of if not the first commit under dusty may and then didn't play

a ton of freshman year transfer to cal last season and had a pretty good year all things considered

pulling up the stats here because i had it open but then closed down average 14.2 points per game

shooting 37% from the court and 32% from three point range which isn't outstanding uh shooting

wise but started 32 games 3.9 rebounds 4.6 assists um he to me is going to be a guy who helps

facilitate the offense along with john mobile junior assuming he comes back which is the expectation

he did announce for the NBA draft but is maintaining his eligibility and said he will be back at

Ohio State if he returns and and ever wanted to Ohio State believes he will return i think you'll

see john mobile junior handle the ball more um i think you'll see some other guys handle the ball

some too and we saw some of that last year with with mobile right but i think Justin Pippen

he doesn't need to be Bruce Thornton you're not trying to replace Bruce Thornton you need a guard who

can facilitate knock down some shots those type of things and and Pippen Ohio State believes can

do some of that and then um the buck guy's added former Kentucky big man on draves excuse me

on draves dravela i believe it's how you say it i haven't heard actually anyone say it in fact

i was talking to somebody the other day at Ohio State they just kept saying yellowvitch and i

said is it because you don't know his last how to say his first name and they were like yeah we

haven't gotten that yet uh clearly not somebody who had directly recruited him but uh yellowvitch

is a 6-11 uh power forward center however you want to um frame it uh he's going to be one of Ohio

states big big man along with Josh aji wuna and oji wuna another complicated name and uh

negoven now the numbers aren't great for him last year at Kentucky 5.5 points uh four rebounds

0.3 blocks did shoot 47% played in 32 games started 20 15.6 minutes per game uh so i know that

doesn't sound great now he did you know because he's he's not American so he did have to he did miss

it was kind of like uh uh Matthew Gruchitz for Ohio State last year like he couldn't really get involved

with Kentucky until the end of the summer because of the the rules with international players uh so

he did his summer he didn't have the summer with the team and so kind of a slow start didn't start

season as the starter became the starter uh later on in the year i get that his numbers aren't

overwhelming and talking to people from Ohio State you know they've talked about a lot and this will

come up in in these conversation here but fit and they think like this is a sort of a stretch guy

you know they already have and as you wuna the the sort of traditional big man center um so this is a

guy who can can shoot the three um he took 2.43s now only shot 27.6% last year uh but he's he's capable

pick and pop pick and roll type of guy which which they want to do can get up and down the court

which they want to do and you know sort of fits that Christoph Tilly mold they're not the same uh

but can do some of those things as the i hate the term finesse big because it just sounds

bad but the the you know athletic not just the the shack type that you you post up in the paint

and given the ball and let them back guys down things like that and that's what the buck guys

more often than not are going to want under jake deabler because they want to run they want to play

quick i've said it before uh it's sort of like the golden state warriors type of uh uh you know

offense where it's fast they're shooting threes things like that um and you know they think

they'll be able to do that more this year and they're trying to recruit to that um you also have

Anthony Thompson the five star freshmen coming in you have Alex Smith the four star freshmen coming

in um so the buck guys that that's kind of where it is right now uh the buck guys did miss on

uh jalen herelson the forward from Notre Dame who did commit to Tennessee uh visited

Tennessee was supposed to visit Ohio State he did not he ended up committing to Ohio State or

committing to Tennessee um you can read about that i'll have a story if it's not up by the time

this is out then it will be out soon but i will have a story kind of what i've heard about the

herelson situation and sort of where the buck guys you know what what they thought of herelson and

that kind of thing i'll say this go read the piece if you want but um i don't think that i know

that this wasn't viewed as oh crap we missed on the the guy what he have been great to have uh sure

but again going back to fit not a perfect fit for the way Ohio State wants to play probably fits

better with Tennessee and so yeah he's a kid Brian Walsh the the assistant coach was the assistant

Indiana recruited him out of high school they have good relationships they certainly would have

like to have him but there are that they are looking at in that sort of big guard small forward

wing type player uh that that want to or that may fit a little bit better uh towards that style of

play they can shoot better um you know athletically i think herelson would have been fine but you know

only one season at Notre Dame might be trying to get an older guy things like that and the biggest

thing and and i know there's been a lot of reaction to transfer portal stuff online um the biggest

thing is that i keep telling people is that the buck guys and and i've had multiple people tell me this

they are not trying to win the off season with with these transfer portal additions would it be great

if they did and it works in the seat rego season yes but what they want to do is put together a roster

that they think makes a lot of sense and that includes bringing back john mobility bringing back a

maribino two guys that they're sort of calling pillars so to speak that's my word of what this team

is going to be and then adding a guy like Thompson you know that's that plus jasha are you gonna

um is probably your your your kind of core four guys and then you add in some of these other guys

and you you build from there and so i think a you have to keep in mind bringing back a guy like

john mobility junior or a maribino they're not coming back for free and if they hit the open market

in the transfer portal they probably can be commanding a pretty pretty penny so you know some

of the budget and it is a bigger budget than it's been before was used on bringing those guys back

i know that's not sexy i know this time of year you want to hear big names and you know new players

is what's what's hot um but they they were very focused on getting those two back and they think that

both are gonna take steps we've already seen that from john mobility junior from year one year two

it's gonna be on the ball more like i said um i think that then you go and you find guys that fit

and remember Ohio State not only wants to have this uh a good starting five they want to have a

better bench that was something we talked about all last year the the struggles of the the bench and

kind of what um what that group could do when they had to go to the bench so if you can more balance

out what you what you have at you know financially what you're where you're dividing up the pie

from the starters and the bench that may mean you don't get the the bigger names or the sexier names

now has dates been in you know guy like heraldson i state was very much involved uh you know i'd say

he was without talking to him or or his family like it sounds like he was or Ohio State was the

the number two team um after ten to see so yeah you maybe don't get him but do you find a better fit

and a guy that maybe isn't asking for as much money and he fits better and now you can use whatever

money's left over to keep going out and and filling out that roster so you're better equipped to

handle when you need to go to the bench and and things like that um you know i i again i get

that Ohio State fans want to see what michigan did last year right just to use them for an example where

they went out and got what was it five impact you know big name type of players in the transfer portal

i say to people all the time when this comes up like Ohio State and Michigan aren't the same in

college basketball right now a last year michigan was coming off a sweet sixteen run b they have a

coach that went to the final four Ohio State right or wrong decide to go with Jake debler who is

you know a guy who can't sell his accomplishments because they don't exist as a head coach

um and see they've got they've invested a lot of money into this men's basketball program

Ohio State has invested some money and then Jake debler has gone out and and raised more

through nil and so the the idea that Ohio State was just going to take a first round you know

21 win season and a first round exit from the NCAA tournament and all of a sudden land all

these guys is it's tough you know could they have spent a ton on one guy or two guys

yeah but then do you have enough to then go and invest in your bench or your fifth guy so to speak

if you you know say amari and Anthony Thompson excuse me isn't up to snuff right away because

he's a true freshman coming in like you might want somebody who's and Anthony Thompson's not

coming for free you might want somebody who who can start early at that sort of that that number

three position um and you know Haroldson could have been that guy but then you need a depth at other

positions you need some backup guards like things like that um so you know kind of the the word

that's been or the phrase that's been said to me uh multiple times is is that they're not panicking

they feel like they're in a good spot they've got guys and you can read about some of these guys

on bucknuts um that they feel pretty good about in terms of the the relationships and and

you know where things stand not all of them are ready to commit because you know they want to see

kind of where all the other puzzle pieces uh fall but they feel good about how they're building this

roster now my thing and I keep saying this on our message boards let's wait and see what it looks

like like let's not judge the roster immediately I will tell you if I think the roster is not good

two years ago I was looking at the the the decision to go get guy like Sean Stewart and Aaron Bradshaw

and I was just like I don't think this makes sense I if you watch the show or listen to me

other places like I said that a lot so I'm not gonna sugarcoat this to anybody and you know I know

there's always this thought that reporters you know they won't get information or they have to

say certain things and and whatnot that's not the case and I've said that before um you know

no one's gonna stop talking to me if I give an honest opinion and you know especially if I

end up being right which in that case I was I thought last year's roster was better last year's

roster did better things and so when this is all said and done like I'll give you my honest opinion

if I think they screwed up in the transfer portal I'll tell you you know I'm not I'm not

shilling for lack of a better term um so we'll see I think they've had a decent start uh it could

it be better yes could it have been worse I mean you could be sitting here with no no

buddy landed yet um but they they've done that they're not panicking they're not gonna overpay

some guys to come and they they've got a good feel for what they do what they're doing there's a

method to the madness I guess I will say so let's see how it all plays out let's see what this

roster looks like in a month um and remember just because the transfer portal closes I forget

what day that is uh doesn't mean that the players already in there can't commit they you know high

states guys later than than the transfer portal so it may go over and you know it may go longer

before we really know but I think we'll have a good sense of of what this looks like after the

transfer portal closes all right I'm gonna wrap this up because I have to go pick up my dog from

the vet she had to have some teeth pulled she's an old lady now so uh and we need to do a better

job brushing those teeth so I've got to go pick her up but thank you guys for tuning in remember

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people stuff uh go check it out great deal 60% off and uh enjoy the spring game if you're a basketball

fan try not to panic too much about the transfer portal we're going to figure it out once it's

all set and done where the buck guys stand then but enjoy Saturday enjoy the weekend hopefully

uh it's a fun spring game if you're going out there if you see any of the bucknuts crew walking

around before the game or whatever come say hi we always enjoy that so thanks again guys and we'll

talk to you soon cheers