COLUMBUS, Ohio — On this episode of Buckeye Talk, Andrew Gillis and Stefan Krajisnik discuss Ohio State’s season halfway through the regular season.
Most recently, about the team’s 32-31 loss to Oregon on Saturday.
The two talk about the good, bad and everything in-between for Ohio State’s season through the first six games.
Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk.
Read the automated transcript of today’s podcast below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it may contain errors and misspellings.
Stefan Krajisnik (00:02.67)
Welcome into Buckeye Talk. I’m Stefan Krajisnik. That’s Andrew Gillis coming to you here from the bye week. Ohio State coming off that 32-31 loss against Oregon. As you notice again, Steven’s not with us. He’s still recovering from his illness that he got over the weekend. But Andrew and I are here to talk to you guys during the bye week here. And we want to do something a little bit different, right? Like it’s a bye week. We don’t have a press conference to talk off of or a game to preview yet. We’ll get to the…
Nebraska game more next week when we talk and hopefully by then Stevens back with us, Andrew. but one thing we wanted to do this week that was a little bit different is it just so happens that this second by week is right at the midway point of the regular season for Ohio state. They’re five and one, two and one and big 10 play. And we wanted to do mid season superlative awards. Some of them good, some of them bad. We had our textures join in six one four three five three, three one five to give some of their opinions.
We got about six or seven awards that we’re going to go through here. Andrew, let’s just get into it. Let’s talk about probably the most basic award, the one that’s gotten the most, I guess, popular or consistent response from some of our textures who through the halfway point of the season for Ohio state, would you say is the most impressive? Whatever on the roster, we said that we can do players, we can do coaches, a position group, a unit as a whole, whatever the answer may be, what’s impressed you or who’s impressed you most.
Andrew (01:22.118)
Yeah, I think when you look at the various categories we have, there’s two answers that really kind of make sense for this one. So my answer is Jeremiah Smith, and we’ll get to my other answer here later. Jeremiah Smith’s awesome, 32 catches, 553 yards, seven touchdowns.
Stefan Krajisnik (01:30.338)
about this Ohio State team so far.
Andrew (01:52.14)
in six games. I think we had kind of tried to balance that line of, he’s just a freshman. He might be the best freshman to ever live. He’s just a first year player. He’s generational. This is what generational players do. You hey, there’s still other really good receivers on the team. He might be the best one. We tried to tow that line all off season. like Stephen and I, we were talking about this in the spring. We were like,
What if Jeremiah isn’t a great blocker and that’s something that is something that he has to work through. you know, then you get into situations where you have to move him around a little bit and that could be something that, you know, deflates his numbers at first. And there is not a part of his game that is not great. Jeremiah has been amazing. He was really good against Oregon. thought nine catches, a hundred yards and a score. Like.
He didn’t score in or he scored in every single game that they’ve played so far. Excuse me. He had two against Akron, one against Western, one against Marshall, one against Michigan State, one against Iowa, one against Oregon. He had the one handed catch for a touchdown against Michigan State. He had the one handed catch for a touchdown against Iowa, which was ridiculous. Like the play leading up to the touchdown against Michigan State was perhaps even a better catch than the touchdown. Like the fact that he has come in here.
and not only been awesome, which is kind of what we thought, right? Like we kind of knew he was going to be really good. The fact that he’s come in here and been Ohio State’s best receiver, that is impressive. That is wildly impressive. you know, Steven and I had been talking, you know, if this, if you, if we had dropped Stefan in here and he had no context of the team, didn’t know anybody on the team. And we had looked at him and went, that guy’s a third year player who’s been in the program for two years.
He’s the best receiver in college football. He’s going to make it to the NFL next year. You wouldn’t have, you wouldn’t have batted an eye. You would have been like, yeah, that makes sense. That’s their next Marv, right? He’s the guy who comes up after Marvin then. Nope. And Jeremiah is going to be here for another, you know, two, he’s got this half season and he’s got two more after this. It’s just ridiculous how good he’s been. So Jeremiah is my answer. He’s been the most impressive for me. just, it’s hard to understate how good he has been.
Andrew (04:15.696)
when you consider all the factors of him being a freshman, him jumping in with an offensive of Emeka Buka and Karnell Tate. It’s been incredible to see.
Stefan Krajisnik (04:25.506)
Yeah, I think to me and we’re going to do an award later for biggest surprise so far, but between kind of biggest surprise and if we were to do an award, just saying best player, I think most impressive is kind of in between that, right? Like you have to be really good, but there has to be kind of the settlement of surprise too of, you know, what you’re doing isn’t just good. It’s impressive. And I think that’s where Jeremiah Smith fits perfectly right. Like to do that as a freshman and to be, I mean,
If I told you that he’s the best player on this roster right now after six games of his collegiate career, I don’t know if he would disagree. Like he’s arguably the best receiver in the country. If he was draft eligible in April, he’d probably go in the top 10, if not higher. The dude is just unreal. Everything he’s done so far has been impressive to fit the definition. And I think what was big for him too is not that.
If he didn’t have a good game against Oregon, I don’t think any of us would change our opinion on how good he is. Right. Like sometimes you just have a bad game. Sometimes you play really good defensive backs and really good secondaries and you struggle. He was good against Iowa. He was good against Oregon. He was good against Michigan State. The level has gotten tougher and tougher. And we kept saying through the non-conference, even Urban Meyer, when he was in Columbus for the Marshall game, when they had big noon kickoff there, he said that, Hey,
This guy’s really good. Let’s just see it against Big 10 teams. Let me show you. Every week, the Big 10 teams they faced have gotten tougher and he’s gotten better and he’s put up impressive numbers. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s the most impressive player so far through six games. Some of our textures from the five one three JJ Smith. Obviously someone else. Let me let me find it here. Someone said Jeremiah Smith. Yeah, from the seven three four Jeremiah Smith. Duh. Like that is a very fair response. I’ll give you some of the other responses from our textures.
before you give your other candidate for the most impressive award. Someone said the running back room as a whole. I think that’s fair. Someone went into some more details for most impressive said wide receiver blocking. I think that’s very fair. These receivers have been very good blocking Nick Saban.
Andrew (06:28.622)
Yeah, I wanted to shout that one out too. Yeah, that’s a good, that was a great answer. Who sent that in? Did they give their name? From the 937, whoever you are in the 937, that was a spectacular answer. A great ball-nower answer. Really, really impressive by that.
Stefan Krajisnik (06:35.214)
the
Stefan Krajisnik (06:45.262)
You’re a ball knower because Nick Saban pointed out on game day. So if the greatest coach of all time pointed out wide receiver blocking, then you are onto something. So yeah, Jeremiah Smith is the obvious answer for a lot of these, but I want to give a shout out some of those other ones. A few people mentioned Will Howard, someone from 317. Shout out 317 in Indianapolis. They said Jeremiah Smith and Will Howard tied for most impressive. Let’s talk about that a little bit. Let’s talk about Will Howard through six games.
And why he is or maybe isn’t a candidate for the most impressive because there has been good. You wrote about this after the Iowa game. There’s been good from Will Howard and then sometimes there’s the bad. And do you think that he is a candidate for this most impressive award? And if so, yes. Why if not, why not?
Andrew (07:34.919)
No, I think he’s a candidate for something else on this list. This is going to say I’ve been fairly critical of Will Howard these last two weeks. Perhaps it was a little too critical after Iowa, but impressive is not really the word that I would use with Will Howard. that’s people are going to get mad at me about that. I understand that. But I think he’s kind of been what we thought. Right.
You know, I think to me when you’re, when you’re picking impressive as a superlative, it’s wow, that’s surprised me in a good way, or that’s been, you know, notable in a good way or whatever. Right? Like I think that that has been, that has kind of been the category with Will Howard, right? Or the category with this is, know, something’s been really good and you thought it was going to be fair.
You thought it was going to be average or whatever. Is Will Howard not what you thought he was going to be, right? Like he’s a veteran quarterback. The ball’s coming out quick. You know, he’s a great kind of advocate for the program. I think like, you know, he’s really handled the pressure and the delights of this well. Now we’re going to see how he handles the pressure and the lights of this, this week, because losing a game at Kansas state is way different than losing a game in Ohio.
So we’re going to figure this out in a week or two, especially as you play Nebraska at home and then you got to go to another really, really tough environment, State College. Though I don’t know if that State College environment will be as crazy as Austin Stadium was because my ears were ringing on Sunday morning. That was the loudest stadium I’ve ever been in. So I think with Will Howard, I think you can be impressed with him, but you’re impressed with him.
because he has fulfilled his expectations. I don’t think Will Howard has come in here and played like a first round pick. I don’t think he’s shown you that, you know, he’s that Kenny Pickett player who has a great last year of college football or a Jaden Daniels player who has a great last year of college football. And they all of sudden go from, well, that guy’s a draft pick to, whoa, this guy’s, you know, you need to take him in the, he hasn’t done that, but I think he’s done.
Andrew (09:58.256)
pretty well for himself. think if you know what we’ll do a great later in the week and I’ll save mine for later but. I think he’s been really soft. I think he’s been that past first point guard that I brought up before I think he’s distributed the ball well he’s found Jeremiah when he’s had to he’s found a mecca when he’s had to you know they’re running I think it off and that suits him really well so. It’s not impressive in that regard because. We know it.
Like next year when we do this, we, let’s say the bye week comes at the halfway point, I’m not going to say Jeremiah is the most impressive receiver I’ve ever seen unless he like somehow creates a no hands catch. And then we’re talking about that. That’s, know, like Jeremiah doing things like that is not going to be maybe impressive to me at that point. Cause I’ll have seen it. And I think Will has just been really good, but I figured he was just going to be what we’ve seen.
Stefan Krajisnik (10:38.926)
I wouldn’t doubt it.
Stefan Krajisnik (10:53.954)
Yeah, I think that’s a fair way of putting it. And we had another texter mentioned a Mecca, Buka as well. Mecca probably fits into that category with Will in the sense of this is kind of what we expected and whether that’s fair or not to say, you know, whether or not it’s impressive because it’s what we expected that that’s, that’s another debate. But I think I agree with you, Jeremiah doing it because we had expectations for Jeremiah too, right? Like we had expectations for to be really good.
We didn’t expect him necessarily through six games to have a case, pretty solid case for best wide receiver in the country. And I think that’s what adds to it, right? We’re talking about most impressive. I think Will Howard has been impressive to a degree. think Emeka Buka has been impressive. Most impressive though is the freshman who solidified himself as one of the best wide receivers, if not the best wide receiver in college football. So yeah, I think the consensus there is that Jeremiah Smith is the most impressive player. We’re to go on the flip side now. I’ll go ahead and start here.
Most disappointing, if the bye week was after the Iowa game, this would probably be a little bit tougher to answer. We’re doing this after the Oregon game, so we’ve gotten a lot of responses. When we sent it out to the texters, I sent out five questions for them to answer. I said, answer as many as you want. If you want to answer one of them, answer one of them. If you want to answer all five, go ahead. It’s a Monday afternoon. You don’t have to be doing this if you don’t want to. There were a lot of people who elected that.
Andrew (11:58.505)
yeah.
Stefan Krajisnik (12:18.83)
If they are just going to answer one question, they’re going to answer the most disappointing question. we got answers all over the place. D line, Denzel Burke, Larry Johnson. the people, the defense as a whole, Jim Knowles, was mentioned. So I’m going to go kind of with a cheap answer here. CJ Hicks was also mentioned. I’m to go with a cheap answer here. I’m just going to say the defense as a whole is the most disappointing.
When you were just talking about it with Will Howard, the most impressive argument, a lot of it depends on the there’s an expectation level that kind of balances out how impressive you’ve been. Right. Like, like you said, if Will is close to about what you expected, it’s hard to be most impressive. If Will came out and was the best quarterback in college football, that’s more towards the most impressive. Most disappointing goes to the unit that you thought was going to be one of the best in college football history, a unit that claimed they could be
one of the best in college football history. And they just haven’t been that. And it’s tough because there’s not a lot of statistics you can point to right now that really point out the struggles of this defense because there’s only really been one offense capable of exposing them. Like their numbers look really good because Western Michigan didn’t score because Iowa put up seven points because Michigan State didn’t do a whole lot. Right. Like the numbers suggest they are a very good defense.
But I struggle in the sense of this is not what we expected from this unit. The moment they started playing the tough teams, right? I was thinking going into this game, as long as the offense shows up for Ohio State, they’ve got a chance, right? Because defense travels, everyone obviously says that. And I felt like it was a unit that the secondary is not going to let you beat them deep and they’re not going to miss a lot of tackles. So what is Oregon going to do? And we were wrong.
Cause Dylan Gabriel took some shots and he exposed the secondary and the secondary didn’t get a lot of help from those upfront, you know, creating pressure on Dylan Gabriel. Like the people who mentioned Denzel Berg, the textures who mentioned the defensive line, we have textures who have mentioned JT. I think they’re all right because I think every part of this defense has contributed to the defense struggling as a whole. There’s so many times like think about your favorite NFL team.
Stefan Krajisnik (14:41.1)
Right. Cause NFL teams throughout the years, they fluctuate right up and down, up and down. It’s very hard to have a dynasty like the chiefs or the Patriots had in your fandom. There’s been years where your secondary is not good. And then there’s a year where your linebackers aren’t good. And then here’s your year where your receivers aren’t very good or your quarterback’s not very good. Maybe just, you know, maybe maybe your franchise quarterback just retired or something like that. I look at this defense and I’m like, man, I can point out some flaws with every level of
Like linebackers, maybe the one where I look at, I’m like, you’re pretty solid there. You’ve kind of got what you expected from that unit, but I can point at corner. can point at defensive line. guess safety probably there’s not too much to complain about, but you can look at defensive line corners. just not getting what they expected from this defense. And there’s not one area to pinpoint and say, well, if they just clean that up, they’ll be fine. I got some concerns about this unit going into second half of the season. They’ve been the most disappointing for
Andrew (15:37.636)
Yeah, well, just so first off, Stefan, just I know some people are kind of laughing at you right now because we cover Ohio State. We’re based in Ohio. There’s a lot of people that listen to this podcast that are Browns fans that are going, what do mean some parts of our roster are good one year and next year? They’re all saying, man, our roster is bad every year. So Browns.
Stefan Krajisnik (15:56.216)
Hey, I grew up in the Chicago area. Listen, I’m Browns fans. You can come at me because I’m with you. It’s been tough.
Andrew (16:05.348)
Yeah, do. So I do feel for the Browns fans in that that regard. So I understand where you’re coming from. However,
I answer to I think the easy answer is probably the secondary, but I’m actually going to go the defensive line. Now, it feels like these last couple of weeks, it has maybe kind of led to the Oregon game and maybe there were signs of an impending natural disaster that kind of happened against Oregon where, you know, like that we pointed it out, like that team very well could have given up 40.
against Oregon and like last year they gave up 31 time and that was because they threw an interception at like their own 10 yard line and Michigan scored a touchdown on that. Like I’m not pinning that on the defense. So they gave up more than 20 points one time and it was in the Michigan game. And that was when they were gifted a short field to like someone hanging 30 on Ohio state is really rare in these last two years.
And again, we pointed this out in the postgame pod where Oregon has that, the PAT disaster where, know, they lose two points because of, you know, the botched hold, they missed the field goal. They get stuffed at the one or two yard line or whatever that was. They kicked a field goal at the one on the last drive of the game. Like they, they walked away from points or left points on the field as well. So.
You Ohio State did that too. I don’t want that to sound like, you know, Oregon should have killed them. It was a very, very close game that either team could have won. Ohio State did that as well. you know, it’s not a crazy line to draw that game, you know, 42 to 38, right? You know, that, that’s not insane to say that that game could have been even higher scoring. And you’re right. That’s where we are. And I’m just, you have two five-star defensive ends and
Andrew (18:04.782)
You get two quarterback hurries combined against Oregon. I know they didn’t get, you know, I know there’s not a lot of time to get after Dylan Gabriel. You know, I know one of the parts of their offense is that they try to get the ball out quickly. I thought they had some really nice scheme designs like Oregon’s going to score their points. We can’t act like Ohio State was going to hold them to seven points all game. And that was going to be the end of it. You know,
Oregon is a really good offense and I think we’ve seen Dylan Gabriel is a really good quarterback and Oregon has some really, really good receivers and that’s probably going to be the toughest offense that they play all year, like even including the playoffs, but they just got shredded and that’s the tough part. You need some of those guys to make plays and you can map this out and say, okay, well, JT2 Maloao and Jack Sawyer have combined for five and a half sacks in six games.
You that’s not bad if you’re getting other production, but these are fourth year seniors that you would expect to get bigger production and you you would expect to make an impact. And I don’t really think that they made a huge impact on the Oregon game, which was obviously the biggest game. And obviously the Oregon game is going to be weighted heavily as we do these things, good or bad, just because not only was it the most recent game, it was the biggest game of the year, but the defensive line, I don’t think they’ve gathered enough pressure.
You I don’t think that they’ve done enough to, you know, go after opposing quarterbacks. they do have 17 sacks through six games, but it doesn’t feel like in big time moments, they’ve gotten after the quarterback as they should have. I just, you would expect more from a defense like that. I mean, you, you said it with your entire defense answer, like the secondary hasn’t been great either. And it just feels like when you talk about the defensive line and you talk about the secondary, you can solve.
one of those problems of, we’re getting beat deep. We can solve that problem and drop guys into coverage, play more cover to shell, play more cover three even. We could really just kind of keep everything in front of us or we could just get after the quarterback and we can blitz. And Stefan, you were saying this in the press box and I think on the post game pod too, we need to simulate pressure. We need to send players at different quarterbacks. We need to send all kinds of different looks.
Andrew (20:29.35)
But it doesn’t feel like you can solve both of those problems. And Ohio State has both of those problems. seems like right now Denzel Burke did not play well. Obviously all know that a lot of people sent in most disappointing just instead of the defense or the defensive line or Larry Johnson. A lot of people said Denzel Burke specifically. I thought Denzel Burke’s been pretty solid up through that Oregon game, but that’s the game you need him for. That’s the game you need him to play. Well, he didn’t play well. Davis and I don’t think, you know, had a very good Michigan State game either like
It just feels like there’s a lot of holes to plug on this defense, but I think the defensive line is more disappointing for me just because you expected them to be such chaos, such havoc wreckers up front, and they just haven’t been that.
Stefan Krajisnik (21:15.182)
Yeah. And what’s weird is, you know, this isn’t like we came into this year and Katie McDonald was the starter and you’re saying, all right, like that’s a sophomore. You got to give it a little time. You know, maybe the defensive line struggles while he continues to develop all four of your starters on the defensive line are solidified, right? Like all big 10, not like all big 10 caliber guys, like all big 10 players, like they have won those honors before.
And you’re not getting that. So, yeah, I agree. think disappointing is a good category to put that unit in. Definitely going a little longer than I thought already. This is just two answers in. But let’s go to this next one. This one’s a bit more subjective, right? Like maybe we get some overlap. Maybe you could say probably Jeremiah Smith for this. Andrew, who’s been your biggest surprise for Ohio State through six games?
Andrew (22:04.536)
Yeah, this is a good surprise. I think the offensive line has played really well. Now, Josh Simmons is out. We’re going to talk about that a lot more in the next week because and even as we get into Penn State and the playoff and things like that. you know, Zen Mahalski is going to fill in at left tackle. So we’ll see. Tegra Shibola was banged up against Oregon. I know they didn’t run that ball, run the ball well in the second half. So we’re going to have to see kind of what
what comes of this and what happens with the offensive line. But we’re also doing this through six games and charitably through six games they’ve played well. think if you want to be critical through five and a half games, they’ve played really well, right? I think the offensive line has been solid. Josh Simmons was playing really well. You didn’t hear his name a lot, which is a good thing. If you’re a left tackle, you didn’t really hear.
anything negative about him. I know Donovan Jackson got turnstiled on that play where Quincheon Judkins turned the ball over and he got stripped by Derek Harmon up the middle. And that was obviously a negative, but you know, the run game has been really effective. Quincheon Judkins is averaging 6.9 yards a carry. Trevon Henderson is averaging 8.2 yards a carry. They’ve run the ball really, really well. Will Howard’s been sacked three times in six games.
That’s impressive. That’s a really good number to have and those are really good numbers to have. So I’ve been really surprised by the offensive line. I’ve been really impressed by the offensive line, especially from last year. I mean, we all remember the Missouri game where things were just dire straights. just, they weren’t getting off the ball clean. The game plan didn’t look great. I know they didn’t have a quarterback in there that had played a whole heck of a lot. were down to their third string quarterback for that game.
But the offensive line did not help him out that game. And I think through the first six games, they have played very, very well. So we’ll see how this. Progresses because there’s two really tough games coming up against Nebraska or I guess maybe a tough game against Nebraska at home and then a really tough game on the road against Penn State. And then you play Michigan at the end of the year. If things go according to plan for Ohio State to play Oregon again, we might have a completely different answer in six weeks in seven weeks.
Andrew (24:32.1)
because we don’t know what this is gonna look like. But the offensive lines played really well and I’ve been very impressed with what they’ve done and I think a lot of fans should be too. I think they’ve been a pleasant surprise and a really pleasant upgrade from what we saw from last year’s unit.
Stefan Krajisnik (24:48.494)
Yeah, I’m going to go on the flip side of you. I’m going to go kind of more negative with the biggest surprise and I’ll save us some time here just because we talked about it. I think it’s the defensive line. I just in no world that I expect to come into the season through six games to be concerned about, you know, the productivity and the consistency consistency that you get up there with the veterans that they brought back with the and it’s not just experienced guys. These are experienced guys with talent, right? Like first round caliber guys. I just expected more.
A texture from the 513 had Jeremiah Smith as their most impressive and the defense specifically the defensive line is their most disappointing for biggest surprise said both of the above. think that’s a very fair way of. So we had a couple textures mentioned Arvel Reese from the 317 from the 614. They both mentioned Arvel Reese. Someone mentioned Will Howard as a biggest surprise.
Andrew (25:31.3)
Yeah, that’s a fair point.
Stefan Krajisnik (25:45.298)
I’m sure, you know, there weren’t a lot of people, especially nationally that had questions about Will Howard and wondering, you know, can he come over from Kansas state and have some success? overall, he’s been pretty good for Ohio State. I could see why, why that would be a bit of a surprise. You know, if you’re listening to some of the concerns people have defensive collapse as big a surprise, mentioned on here, offense was the biggest surprise. You know, there were questions, Hey, it’s a new offensive coordinator. What’s it going to look like? and it’s been good.
So that’s definitely been a pleasant surprise. So yeah, it’s, there’s a lot of things that I think I’ve been surprising both good and bad for this team.
And, and, you know, we’ll see how much of that continues, right? Like it’s a surprise that the defensive line struggled is, that going to continue to be the case? Right. It’s a surprise that, you know, Jeremiah Smith has been as good as he has. We all think that’s going to continue to be the case, but you never know, guess. So moving on to, most underrated slash overlooked. Cause I think both words can kind of be defined a little bit differently. I’ll go, I’ll go first on this one. I think it’s.
Andrew (26:51.398)
you
Stefan Krajisnik (26:57.922)
I think it’s the offensive line as a whole. And like some of that is, is biggest surprise. Maybe is, is maybe even more of a fair label. I just think you hit on it when you were talking about Josh Simmons, you haven’t heard his name a lot. We haven’t since the Akron game talked about this offensive line a ton because they have been really good and offensive line in general is kind of a position where they do get overlooked because when they’re doing their thing,
That’s when Jeremiah Smith can go off. That’s when a Mecca can go off. That’s when Quinchon and Travion are putting up huge numbers. So when the offensive line’s playing well, that usually means we’re talking about position, skilled players who are doing really well and doing some flashy things. So it’s just been a very, very impressive unit. It’s a unit that’s had to move some things around. Like Josh Simmons is obviously hurt now and they’re going to have to find a way to work around that. Donovan Jackson’s and all big 10, you know, all American caliber guy.
who missed a couple of games, right? Like at right guard, you had a competition like going on. Can Tegra Sibola be the guy to step up? And he has. Seth McLaughlin came in and everyone remembers his struggles from Alabama and he seamlessly transitioned into being a starting center. everything, every question that we had about this offensive line coming into the year feels like it’s been answered through six games. And on top of that, you have a guy like Austin Servile that steps up and I mean, if, if I told you that, Hey, they’re playing Penn State and,
Tiger Shabal is out and Austin Servile has to step in. Would you be very concerned? Probably not, right? It’s just been a unit that’s been very good and kind of been the backbone of what this offense has done. I think that gets overlooked at times.
Andrew (28:39.086)
Yeah, that’s actually where I’m going to go, but I’m going to nail down a little bit more specifically. think my answer here is Seth McLaughlin. think at center, I think he’s been a very, very important part of this offensive line that people might not be kind of necessarily checking in on because I think Josh Simmons, I guess we say this past tense now was the best offensive lineman on this team, I thought, you know, and
I don’t think necessarily Ohio State got good right guard play against Oregon. So you’re playing next to a guy in guys in Austin, San Arvalo and Tiger Shibola that are working their way into the offensive line room and that’s a difficult challenge. So I think Seth McLaughlin and what he has brought this offensive line is really exactly what they needed. I think stability was what they needed.
I think a veteran leader up the middle is what they needed. A really smart football player is what they needed. I’ve been really impressed with him. think there are clips of, if you really get into the nitty gritty of Twitter and things like that, and you really kind of watch the game and you see some all 22 clips, there are just clips of him really getting to second level. Reach blocks look really good. The snapping issues have been good. I guess maybe we’ll find out if that was a snapping issue, if he snapped it too early or something like that.
against Oregon and Will Howard, but that looked to be just a play where Will Howard should have been ready for it. wasn’t. And that’s not on McLaughlin. So maybe it was, and maybe I’m wrong in that assessment. you’re talking about a guy who came from Alabama and came from a program in which there were a lot of snapping issues. up, down, left, right, there was snaps early. There was snaps when Milro wasn’t ready for it in Alabama. And those have been corrected.
you know, obviously, you know, Ryan Day said this and, you know, it sounds like there were some issues with snapping issues that were not maybe on him at Alabama. Sounds like they were maybe on some cadence issues on on Millrow more than they were on McLaughlin. But he’s played well. He’s he’s my answer for most underrated and overlooked because it feels like every week we talk about this team and, you know, this offensive line or like, the offensive line is a hole. But I think McLaughlin has really kind of made a really big impact up the middle. Just real quick.
Andrew (31:04.43)
The other answer I think for most underrated overlooked is Will Howard actually, I think, because, you know, underrated, I think you think back to that like Oregon game where, look, I gave him a C minus after the game because of that last drive, that last play, you know, I understand it’s on the coaching staff to realize the clock is going to run after that OPI. So I’m not really going to do that with him, but the drop snap that that can’t happen. And then the
I understand if they’re telling you, got to get to a certain yard line to make it a reasonable field goal. But like, if you have to end up three yards short because the clock’s running out, you just got to be aware of that. You know, this isn’t Madden where, you you go down with one second left and immediately you’re to get the time out. It’s just, it’s not that way. But I think him spreading the ball around him being perfect for this Chip Kelly offense has really been impressive to me. And I think people maybe take that for granted a little bit.
you know, last year we saw Kyle McChord with, you know, he had a little bit of a turnover, happy gene, where he would just kind of make some throws where you’re like, dear, that doesn’t look great. And I think this year will has, you know, maybe shown that propensity a little bit, but there hasn’t been a ton of, dear. think there was one, there was one or two throws late in Oregon’s game where you were like, that’s not great. But every quarterbacks going to make those. And I think just having a.
veteran general to kind of steer the ship. That has been really impressive for Ohio State and that’s been something that, know, Ohio State fans, you know, I think they mostly kind of appreciate it. But I do think that that is a very, very underrated part of this year’s team.
Stefan Krajisnik (32:49.218)
Yeah, we had a texture from the two one six area code mentioned. Will Howard is most underrated says he’s been great for the most part. Mecca is probably the most popular answer kind of going through this. Cardinal Tate was mentioned a ton. we’ve had, you know, both running backs mentioned Josh, Josh Simmons got mentioned. Offensive line got mentioned. Yeah. For things to work for the Jeremiah Smiths of the world, right? For the Caleb Downs of the world, for stuff to work from them. Things around them have to be good as well. Right.
And I think for Jeremiah Smith to be great and put up the numbers that he has, some of it comes from, you know, defenses have to be able to focus on Carnell and Emeka as well and focus on these running backs. Right? Like a lot of these things go hand in hand. And when we talk about Jeremiah a ton, a lot of that is, you know, a credit to Emeka and kind of the work he does to force defenses to focus on him too. So Emeka is a great answer on that front. I wish I had said that, but offensive lines in there as well.
Last one before we go to the break and go kind of a different direction with these awards. Best coach could be a head coach, assistant coach, best coach through six games for Ohio State.
Andrew (33:54.592)
Kelly. think Chip Kelly has has come in and been exactly what Ohio State’s needed and exactly what I wanted. The run game obviously has been very good. think obviously in the Oregon game, there were some issues that you know, maybe they strayed away from the running game a little bit and you know, we can nitpick about that. But you did lose your left tackle. Your right guard was banged up. You had to go to Austin, Sarah Veldman, Tegra did come back and it was just
The right guard was kind of rotating. You lose your starting left tackle who might’ve been your best lineman. you know, that was tough, but the run game otherwise has, I think, been really good. And that’s a credit to Chip Kelly. We have seen this unit run the ball really effectively this year. I think we’ve seen them throw really unique looks, I think, with Jeremiah and Emeka and…
Carnell to a lesser extent because you know just the numbers just aren’t there for Carnell Maybe like we thought he has 15 catches through six games and Jeremiah and a mecker really kind of you know really kind of leading the way on on some of those numbers, but I think just this RPO game fits Ohio State perfectly this year and It was just a match kind of made in heaven not just because of you know, Chip Kelly and Ryan Day’s relationship
but because of the talent that Ohio State has and the specific type of talent that it has. So yeah, I think Chip Kelly has been very, very impressive to me so far. And I just, I think when you map out this offense and what it has done and what it should continue to do throughout the rest of the year, you have to give Chip Kelly props and I’m doing it. I’m doing that here.
Stefan Krajisnik (35:38.286)
Yeah, I’m going to go, I’m going to stay on the offense as well. I’m to go with Justin Fry. know coming into this year probably would have been kind of surprising to think that that would be the answer midway through the season. And this is obviously not, this conversation specifically is not talking about or, incorporating recruiting, right? I think that’s a big part of being a coach. And I there’s been some valid question marks around, you know, the recruiting of the offensive line for Ohio state. But in terms of this season specifically.
I just talked about all the things that are great about the offensive line. The unit has depth to write, like Zemahalski stepped in and looked pretty good, at least for that first drive where he had to step in for Josh Simmons. Right. I mentioned some of the other injuries that they had on the interior and guys that had to step in and the depth that you had to develop. I feel pretty decent about the depth that Ohio State has on a defensive line, along with the production that they have at the top in terms of the five starters that are out there or the five stars that have been out there throughout.
You know, this first half of the season, think fries on a good job with that unit. And I think it’s why they kind of went into my category of of, know, whether you want to say biggest surprise or most underrated or whatever it might be. It’s just been a good unit. It’s been one of the better ones in the country. One of the arguably the best one in the Big Ten. And, you know, as much as we criticize him, I think some of that credit goes to him, too. Right. I don’t think this this kind of production from that unit is possible without the work that he did in the offseason. So a credit to him for sure.
We’re going to go ahead and go into our first break. be right back to talk some more about our mid season superlatives here on Buckeye Talk.
Stefan Krajisnik (37:14.968)
Welcome back to Buckeye Talk. It’s Andrew and I doing our midseason superlatives. Our textures are joining in 614-350-3315. Two week free trial if you join now. So come join our conversations as Ohio State goes through their bye week and prepares for next week’s game against Nebraska. Andrew, for the second half, I wanted to do… So the thing with superlatives is you think like the yearbook or awards that are handed out at the end of the year, it summarizes the year, right? Well, we’re doing our own twists and doing it in the midseason.
halfway through the season so we can do awards that are still kind of maybe preseason superlatives for the second half of the season. Right. What’s going to happen from here? What can change? So I’ll start with you again. Which player that’s been relatively quiet? Maybe we don’t talk about him a ton, right? Like the, you know, Jeremiah Smith doesn’t fall into this category. Which player who has been relatively quiet, do you think can have a big impact on the second half of the season?
Andrew (38:13.414)
I think that there’s two ways of looking at this. think you could look at it in the first half of going, okay, well, this player just didn’t play well. And I think they’re going to turn it on late. And I think they’re going to crank it up late and you’re going to be really happy with what they do. I think there’s another aspect of, well, they just didn’t utilize this player a lot.
Stefan Krajisnik (38:13.57)
And when the season is done, say, well, you didn’t have a great first five or six games, but Ohio State doesn’t do X without him stepping up.
Andrew (38:40.91)
This player didn’t play a lot, but I think he’s gonna play a lot moving forward. I think this player’s gonna be really good moving forward. So there’s two different answers there. I’m gonna go with the second one. I think Carnell Tate might have a big second half and especially if Josh Simmons, it sounds like he’s out for the year. That’s the way that Ryan Day painted that picture and whenever you have a non-contact knee injury, it’s never good.
If Tegra Shibola and Austin Cereveld are kind of banged up, maybe we’ll see what happens for the Nebraska game and kind of how they play. if the offensive line is going to be a diminished version of what we saw, I think Cardinal Tate might have to take on a bigger role because Jeremiah Smith is great. We know this. And Mecca Agbuka is great. We know this. But
If the run game is not going to be as effective, you might need to spread the ball out a little bit more. Those long handoffs, as coaches like to say, those might be a bigger part of the offense. And if you’re throwing the ball more because you’re not getting as much of a push up front, I think that that might open the door for Cardinal Tate. So 15 catches, 232 yards in the, in the first six games for him. I’m going to say that I think that he might be able to have a pretty strong second half here.
and a pretty strong impact. I mentioned this on the Oregon preview pod, like what happens if Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Buka are shut down by that Oregon secondary. Well, that didn’t really happen. They both, I thought, had really good games, really good days. So we’ll see. But if the running game is going to be less of a factor, they’re going to throw the ball more. And I think Cardinal Tape might be a beneficiary.
Stefan Krajisnik (40:34.584)
For a lot of those reasons that you just mentioned is why I’m going with the tight end room kind of as a collective. G Scott’s had a few pretty good games down the stretch here. Not none stretch down the stretch of the first half of season. I should say he’s had a few good games. One of our textures mentioned Wilcas Marek as their biggest surprise. He’s been pretty impressive in sports for them, right? Like we saw Jelani Thurman early in the year, get some chances. If this offensive line needs a little bit more help, I think the tight ends are going to get
you know, be more important, probably mainly G Scott and Will Casmeric more so than Jelani in this sense of help and block. So I think we’re going to see, and it might not be receptions and yards and touchdowns, but the usage and the necessity of having a tight end out there doing what they need to do, I think is going to increase because of what you just said about the offensive line.
So that’s where I’m going. I’m going with the tight ends. Another guy I wanted to mention though, because I was kind of in between my answer here. Do you think because of what we talked about the struggles with this defense, do you think CJ Hicks has a bigger role in the second half? Is he a guy that maybe Jim Knowles turns to and says, hey, you’re our best blitzer. We need to create some havoc in the backfield because the four man front, the traditional four man front just isn’t getting it done right now.
Is there a role, is there a world in which the second half of the season we see more of an unleashed, more of a used C.J. Hicks than we did in the first half of the season?
Andrew (42:10.392)
Yeah, I think that that’s a really good answer. And that’s a really good way of looking at it because we just we don’t know what this defense is going to do. Because like I said, the first problems that you saw against Oregon were that you couldn’t really defend the deep ball. And there were some moments against like Michigan State where you’re kind of like, why are they playing so far off? The secondary is not playing well. And you can solve the deep ball issue. But I don’t know if you can solve both that and
getting after the quarterback. So I think CJ Hicks is a really solid answer here. You know, cause if you are going to just send him off the edge and send him blitzing, you know, that could be a fix for that. I debated picking Jack Sawyer and that was an answer that we, yeah. Well, when I started that sentence, that was who kind of I was referring to. think you could go any of the defensive linemen or any of the, just the defensive line maybe of, you know, what,
Stefan Krajisnik (42:55.694)
That’s where I you were gonna go.
Andrew (43:09.134)
any of the defensive line men that you could make that selection for because we saw this last year with Jack Sawyer where Jack Sawyer really turned it on late. You know, I think early in the year there were some, you know, there were some, you know, kind of issues and, he didn’t really play all that well. you know, I think he had three and a half sacks in the beginning of the year. And then really that like Wisconsin game onward, they played Wisconsin on the road. I thought he played.
really, really well during that game. I believe he forced a fumble in that game. And then he just cranked it up for the rest of the year. He had a sack against Michigan, sack against Minnesota. He dominated Missouri in the cotton bowl. had three sacks in that game. If Jack Sawyer does that again, it wouldn’t necessarily surprise me. It wouldn’t necessarily take me by, blow my hair off that he really did that.
Jack Sawyer is an option as well. think that maybe goes into what we were talking about, this defense being disappointing as a whole. And then you can kind of pick which has been the most disappointing to you, the secondary or the defensive line or an individual player or a group or whatever. That I think is maybe where you could see a big impact in the second half. If one of those guys or a group of those guys specifically kind of turn it on and do what they did.
Jack would probably be the most logical answer there because we’ve seen it before. We’ve seen Jack Sawyer play well before. So I play well in the second half, mean. So I think Jack might be the best answer. I would have probably taken him over CJ Hicks.
Stefan Krajisnik (44:52.098)
Yeah, that’s fair. I think you probably make the case for JT to me low as well in terms of stepping up and really having a big second half. think those guys are both prime candidates there along the defensive line. So I wish Steven was on with us for this one because he predicted in the preseason that Will Howard was going to win the Heisman. But I know that he likes to get reckless with me about Jeremiah Smith. The question is when December rolls around,
Who is the most likely candidate from Ohio State to win the Heisman Trophy? And I really want to say Jeremiah, and maybe I’ll force you to say Jeremiah. But I think it’s Will Howard, because he’s very low key, like we need to minute pick his game, and I think he is to blame, you know, a good amount for the reason they lost that Oregon game. I think he’s the reason that, you know, they were in the game still, but I think he’s also part of the reason why they lost. I think he had two critical mistakes.
But he’s got over 1500 passing yards, 14 touchdowns, three interceptions. And let me find his rushing numbers here real quick as well. There you go. Like you got it. So and how many, how many touchdowns does he have rushing?
Andrew (45:58.542)
77 yards on 33 carries.
Andrew (46:06.566)
Let’s see, touchdowns rushing. This is great podcasting. He has five, five rushing touchdowns. So he’s combined for 19 touchdowns and three picks through six games. So that’s pretty solid. Yeah.
Stefan Krajisnik (46:16.974)
The numbers are pretty good. The numbers are solid and if he continues to continues at this pace and let’s say they go 11 and one or whatnot, there’s going to be some players who kind of fall out of this mix, right? Like Travis Hunter just got hurt. I don’t know what his status looks like, but you know, last year an injury kind of knocked him out of the conversation. Ashton Gentile is doing his thing. mean an injury is really going to be the only thing that keeps him from staying in the conversation. But like Nico at Tennessee, he fell out of the conversation when he started losing some games.
Jalen Milro is kind of quietly falling out of the conversation. The more Alabama struggles like teams are going to lose and players are going to fall out as a result of it. And Ohio State has a pretty straightforward path to just going 11 and one and Will Howard have an impressive numbers. I don’t think his case for at least being a finalist is done yet. He’s got the numbers and he’s got the team around him where if Will Howard
was a Heisman finalist or won the Heisman. At this point, it wouldn’t shock me. I don’t think it’s going to happen, but it wouldn’t shock me. And I think he’s the most likely candidate.
Andrew (47:27.926)
I don’t hate that answer, but I do think he would need to have like a really, really big second half because I’m not saying I agree with this notion. I’m not saying I agree with this, but you hear the phrase Heisman moment a lot. He just had a banner opportunity against Oregon and it didn’t happen. So the Penn State game is going to present that opportunity, but nothing else on the schedule really is.
You know, and while Indiana might be really, really impressive when they come to Columbus, I don’t think people are going to look if Will Howard throws for six touchdowns against Indiana and be like, wow, Heisman Trophy, like we got to give it to him. I just.
Stefan Krajisnik (48:11.854)
I don’t know if there ever been a Heisman moment against Indiana or like Vandy or Kansas. Like are those programs ever going to happen? You know?
Andrew (48:17.794)
Yeah, right. I mean, maybe I guess like, well, I mean, maybe if Diego Pavia at Vanderbilt, I mean, maybe that’s already eyes on moment for Vanderbilt.
Stefan Krajisnik (48:26.2)
Yeah, but like Milrose, like Heisman moment was never going to happen at Vandy. It was going to have to happen against Georgia.
Andrew (48:32.248)
Right, exactly. like, I think that’s the issue is that Gabriel had his moment, right? Gabriel had his moments where he led the team down and they kicked the game when it field goal, you know, that 27 yard run was yeah, because he ran through I think Lathan Ransom and Davis and Ibn Osin on the way to that touchdown run. I would have to go check the numbers on that, but I believe it was those two like, that’s a moment where he has the edge on you. So yeah, the numbers are great for Will Howard.
Stefan Krajisnik (48:43.95)
Now run, now run this is like
Andrew (49:02.058)
but I don’t know if the narrative is going to be there, right? If the narrative is going to get there, especially because you’ve already lost to a quarterback who probably has the edge on you. And then, I mean, you’re talking about Ashton Gentey and you’re talking about Travis Hunter and you’re talking about Dylan Gabriel, who are in that mix right now. Sounds like Jaylen Milrow has kind of fallen off, especially with Alabama’s last two weeks. Quinn Ubers maybe, but Quinn Ubers also plays Georgia this weekend. So like we’ll see.
So there’s a lot that can go into it narrative wise. Real quick, I will say Jeremiah, don’t twist my arm on that one. I will say Jeremiah. He scored in every game Ohio State has played. He’s their leading receiver through six games. Like you’re talking about a guy who’s on pace for more than a thousand yards, who’s on pace for more than 60 catches, who’s on pace for like 15 touchdowns. I mean, that’s awesome. And
Stefan Krajisnik (49:38.414)
you
Andrew (50:00.012)
He’s already got those flash plays that everybody ooze and aahs over. The one-handed catches, you know, the plays where I tweet out the Dune meme, the Lisa Nogai meme, you know, which is basically just saying he’s the savior, he’s the chosen one. I’m tweeting that out because he does something ridiculous and he gets a few more of those. Like he’s going to have some really, really impressive numbers. And especially if they turn into more of a passing team down the stretch.
I think we might get a little bit of that where, okay, well, Will Howard’s had a really good statistical year, but I also just watched Jeremiah Smith leap over two dudes and make a one-handed catch, so let’s pick him. I wonder if that might get him in that conversation. Might be a little bit premature with Jeremiah, but I do think that loss to Oregon hurts Will Howard more than hurts Jeremiah.
Stefan Krajisnik (50:52.502)
Yeah, I really hope the stat that I found here is correct. Jared Dillard Rice 2006, he had 13 games with a receiving touchdown. That’s the record. So. Let’s I mean, Jeremiah might have more opportunities than any player in college football history to get a reception of receiving touchdown and X amount of games. So who knows? I mean, anytime you break a record, you’re in the conversation. Yeah, I don’t disagree. Jeremiah.
Jeremiah probably nationally does it it’s so weird because the husband is a national trophy But he’s not really getting talked about as a candidate for it, but he’s quietly is like at this pace if it continues I Mean he’s gonna win the Blintkoff if he continues the pace that he’s at right like I know Ryan Williams is having a great year, but Alabama’s been more up and down and Ryan Williams didn’t play that great against South Carolina like Jeremiah hasn’t had
terrible game yet.
Andrew (51:55.51)
No, that’s going to be a really, really interesting question because Ryan Williams has also had really, really good numbers. Travis Hunter might win the Ballotnik Cup to be completely honest with you. know there are receivers with better numbers, nobody’s, think, looking at… I’m just trying to think of a name. Ty Felton, don’t think he’s really being the receiver at Maryland who’s got a bajillion yards already. I don’t think anybody’s really looking at him as…
you know, a contender for that. I don’t know about gonna win the Balitnikov because there are really good receipts. Felton, think, is in that Balitnikov conversation. not in the Heisman conversation. Felton is up there. Tett Macmillan is up there. Travis Hunter’s up there. Ryan Williams is up there. There’s just a lot of really good receivers. So I don’t know about that, but he’s gonna be in the conversation at least.
Stefan Krajisnik (52:47.564)
Yeah, no doubt. Last one we wanted to get to here. This one is the most looking ahead one. This one’s looking at next season. Which player? And this is this actually good one to talk about now, because a lot of the younger players as we get into the second half of the season, we’re maybe not going to see them as much as we saw them in a non conference games like we’re already starting to see, you know, the snap disparity dwindled down a little bit as the games get bigger. Who from these first six games?
Do you look at and you say you’re not allowed to say Jeremiah Smith, who do you look at you say next year? That guy is going to have a really big year like we’ve seen enough through six games where even if he doesn’t play much the rest of the season, these next six to however many games are left, even if he doesn’t play very well or play very much in those games, you got him circled as, next year, don’t be surprised if he’s a starter and all big 10 type player.
Andrew (53:22.786)
Excuse me.
Andrew (53:38.374)
Stefan, you go first, because I’ll let you say Arvel Reiss.
Stefan Krajisnik (53:50.38)
Yeah, all right. Well, I’ll go ahead. I do agree that I think it’s our velvety. We’ve had a few textures mentioned him as kind of the biggest surprise. There’s going to be a void there, right? With Cody Simon leaving, not just in terms of production and snaps and things of that nature. Someone’s going to have to step up as a leader on this team, right? And there’s other candidates. There’s, I’m assuming Caleb Downs is going to be back next season. That’s automatically one of the leaders on the defense, right?
But our Ville Reese as a linebacker who’s shown you that his instincts are there. It’s just a matter of getting some more reps and he’s gotten a ton already this season. I think he’s a guy who actually could still factor into the second half of the season and they’re run toward a national title. But next year he’s a starter, no doubt. And I’ve said that, you know, I’ve said that he could be an all American type player. I think all big 10 is, is a no doubter in terms of the potential for him to do that. He just, I,
I didn’t see it coming. I mentioned it when we did our when we did our preseason predicting the depth chart, predicting the starters. It like right around Big Ten media days. I didn’t mention him as a start, like I was a month into this and I was kind of looking at the the measurables for some of the guys. And I think Steven and asked the question, like who is someone who’s not starting who you maybe see on this depth chart? You’re like, don’t be surprised if they have a bigger role than we expect. And I said our vel Reese.
And I feel very vindicated about that because I don’t think a lot of people saw coming this quick to this extent for him this year. He seems like a no doubt or the next year he’s going to be wreaking havoc and there’s a lot of big 10 teams that are not going to want to face him.
Andrew (55:35.652)
Yeah, I like that answer a lot. That’s why I let you have it. But I think one of the guys that I think this is an interesting question because I think we might start to see him more as the season goes along because we saw it against Oregon. I’m going to say Jason Moore, the interior defensive lineman. He played, think, only a handful of snaps. I think he only played five snaps against Oregon. I would have to double check that, but it was under 10. He only played a few, but
Ohio State trusting him against Oregon is really notable to me. Now, the deployments of those snaps and how he played them, I think people can have questions about. think we saw this and actually it worked out, but I don’t know if it was necessarily the best process. think that maybe results oriented business over process oriented business is maybe not the finest thing to do in all cases.
I don’t know how you want to look at that, but Ohio State and Larry Johnson put him out on the field in the most important game of the season up until this point. And I thought that spoke volumes because Tyler Williams and Ty Hamilton are not going to be around next year. And I think Jason Moore kind of playing a level of snaps that are, that is up there with Caden McDonald. Like that might be your interior tandem next year. Jason Moore and Caden McDonald.
You know, maybe you’d like to have maybe a more run stuffing, you know, whole plugging with, you know, kind of guy with Ty Hamilton. We’ll see. But I think Jason Moore is somebody that you might to see, you might get to see him down a stretch a little bit more as the season goes along. I think as he progresses, because you got to remember, like progression is not only in the off season progression is not only in spring practice or over the summer. know,
You talk about it. he had a great summer. had a great, like guys can have great falls too. And I wonder if that’s what we’re going to get out of Jason Moore, where from August to October, you’re thinking, wow, this guy’s played really well in practice. And this guy’s shown us a lot in practice and he’s got all the physical tools. We might see him a little bit. And I think next year he might be a guy that you just start to see glimmers of hope about. And you might just see, you might get to see some flashes with Jason Moore. And I think next year he might kind of leap onto the scene and
Andrew (58:00.091)
be an impact player for Ohio State on the defensive front.
Stefan Krajisnik (58:02.976)
Yeah, no doubt. think another candidate for this is probably Brandon Innis. We’ve seen him use the ton, obviously, in special teams. He what’s funny is the play with Will Howard there at the end of the Oregon game when he slides down and the clock ticks. Did you notice who the receiver was running down the field with him trying to get a timeout?
Andrew (58:23.558)
Who? No, I didn’t. Who was it? on that last play. yeah.
Stefan Krajisnik (58:26.574)
It was Brandon Ennis. yeah, like for him to have the wherewithal and the awareness of like what is going on after, you know, not being someone who’s getting a ton of snaps, I thought was actually kind of impressive. And it’s just hilarious that like you’re watching this clip and you’re like, biggest game of the season and biggest play of the year. And there’s Will Howard taking off and Jeremiah and Emeka, there’s Brandon Ennis trying to get knowing that it’s time to get the time out. And I thought it was really impressive.
I don’t even know if the referees would have let Brandon Innis be the one to call the timeout. I’m not sure exactly. Yeah, it’s just, it was just, it was a great moment. think he’s someone who this coaching has coaching staff speaks highly of. think he’s going to have a big role next year. Any other, any other candidates that we didn’t mention that you think they got, they got a chance to take a breakout.
Andrew (59:00.378)
I guess you can, I mean he’s on the field, yeah.
Andrew (59:16.28)
Innis is a really good pick because Emeka is going to be gone. And you’re talking about a receiving room of Carnell Tate and Jeremiah Smith and Brandon Innis. That feels pretty locked in at this point for the 2025 Ohio State Receiving Corps. So I really like that answer. Jermaine Matthews might be a really good answer because Denzel Burke is gone at the end of this year.
Jordan Hancock is gone at the end of this year. Jermaine Matthews is probably going to be a starting corner. A really fun answer. I don’t know if this is necessarily a staying within the rules of this podcast. Devin Sanchez. I mean, he’s making a jump from high school to college. That might be the biggest jump, but of all the players, I think in the 2025 class, he’s the most likely to play in 2025 as a true freshman.
Stefan Krajisnik (01:00:02.402)
That’s it. Yeah.
Andrew (01:00:15.974)
I mean, he is a really, really talented player. Like, it would not stun me if he sees significant playing time as a freshman. And that’s just something that’s really rare. know, we’re spoiled in talking about Jeremiah Smith and I think Ohio State fans are spoiled. Yeah, like, we talk about Jeremiah and it’s just like, well, business as usual, especially for that receiving room and for what he’s doing, that’s really rare. But Devin Sanchez is…
Stefan Krajisnik (01:00:30.828)
was gonna say it’s not that rare, I see it every Saturday.
Andrew (01:00:45.592)
a really, really good football player. And as a high school player coming into Ohio State, him making the jump from North Shore star corner, five star corner in Texas to Ohio State lockdown number one, number two corner wouldn’t surprise me. So Devin Sanchez might be on this list. It might be somebody that is not even on the roster, right?
Stefan Krajisnik (01:01:09.218)
Yeah, no, I didn’t. I think that’s good answer. I think it’s like you said, he’s the most likely candidate of the high school class, so I think he fits into this category. So that’s it for the superlative awards. I appreciate everyone bearing with us for that. Try to do something new. Hopefully you guys enjoyed it. Thanks to all our textures. 614-350-3315. Get the free trial and join our conversations moving forward through this bye week. And as we prepare for Ohio State versus Nebraska, hopefully we get Stephen back soon. We’ll see.
I don’t really know how he’s feeling yet. He was down bad after the Oregon game. you know what, Andrew, did you see our textures? They give Steven a hard time. A lot of them were wishing him well though, sending him some get well soon’s.
Andrew (01:01:53.486)
yeah, I mean they’re great people. They can tell me that I’m dumb for saying I was too hard on Will Howard or were not hard enough on Jim Knowles or Larry Johnson or Ryan Day, but then whenever actually something actually happens, they’ve always been really good. Whenever I’ve been out there, been like, I hope everything’s okay, I hope to see you back soon.
Stefan Krajisnik (01:02:00.182)
Yeah, but-
Stefan Krajisnik (01:02:08.3)
Yeah, it’s
Stefan Krajisnik (01:02:13.09)
Yeah, it’s not. Let me, let me clarify this. I know that our, our, our techsters are nice. I just didn’t think they were, were nice to Steven. I didn’t know they respected that. That’s shocking. I, I wouldn’t have blamed you guys for not saying anything to Steven. I’m just messing. I appreciate all you guys that chime in on those conversations. Hopefully get Steven back soon. We’ll have podcasts throughout the week as we prepare. Like I said, for Ohio state versus Nebraska next week from Stefan Krasnick, that’s Andrew Gillis. That was book. talk.
Andrew (01:02:20.941)
Hahaha!
