6 things to watch during Ohio State football’s second spring scrimmage: Buckeye Talk podcast

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State is a little more than a week away from its 2025 spring showcase, providing the general public an early look at its 2025 roster. But the students are getting an even earlier look.

When OSU goes through its second scrimmage of the spring, it’ll open its doors to the student body to come watch. As a result, the media will also be in attendance.

While it’s unrealistic to think Saturday’s practice will showcase a finished product, there are still some questions that can be answered. On this episode of Buckeye Talk, Stephen Means, Stefan Krajisnik and Andrew Gillis discuss what they want to learn on Saturday.

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.

Stephen Means (00:23.49)

Welcome back to Buck I Talk. I’m Stephen Means, that’s the fun Christ neck and that’s Andrew Gillis. We’ll talk with the offensive line today as you’re listening to this podcast. We didn’t talk with anybody on Wednesday. That was a day off. They didn’t practice and we also weren’t in the witty that day offensive lines. The last group we’re to talk to before Ohio State second scrimmage on Saturday. So we’re going to look ahead a little bit and look forward to that scrimmage. We’ll be in there for the entire practice. In fact, a bunch of students will be to for their student appreciation day. It’s literally the best day.

on the beat, Stefan. It’s the best day on the beat, right? Because you get to see a full practice. So you’re not trying to take an hour of stretching and basic drill work and go, well, what does this mean for the entire football season? I know. You get to see every thing you would possibly want to see. Andrew, you were at this last year. Tell him, man, vouch for me here, the value of the student appreciation day practice.

Andrew (01:24.124)

I got to see up close and personal, not a lot of football happening because my eyes were solely focused on David Sanders. And, and, and I was watching every move he made, every person he talked to, every person that said hi to him, everything that he did, because obviously that was pretty notable. So,

Stephen Means (01:34.779)

that’s a choice he made, okay.

Andrew (01:50.79)

There’s a lot of value, yeah. You get to see a lot of football stuff. I think it’s cool to see, sometimes you gotta remember, these kids are 19 years old, and when practice is over, sometimes they go run to their friends, and they go talk to their friends, and they’re like, hey man, good to see you, thanks for coming out. It’s cool to see that. It’s cool to see the.

bajillion recruits that are probably going to be there and bajillion I probably mean like 15 to 20. There’s a lot. It’s a great, great day. I really like it. I remember I ate breakfast last year and then somebody told me there was free roosters in the corner. So you might not need to eat breakfast unless you want roosters.

Stephen Means (02:37.6)

Eat breakfast, don’t see, no, no, eat breakfast. It’s not that crazy. There’s roosters there, yes, cause it’s a bunch of sponsors and stuff there, cause it’s public event, but don’t change up your whole entire life routine because you’re gonna be here for four hours, okay? Don’t do that. I think the best part of it though, Stephon, and you’ll enjoy this, we get the, there’s a part in the practice where they bring the students onto the field and they’re sitting right behind the offense.

Andrew (02:50.59)

Hahaha!

Stephen Means (03:03.434)

as they’re going through 11 on 11 and we’ll be out there too. So you’re literally watching things from the quarterback’s point of view in terms of as they go through plays and stuff. That’s pretty cool as well. But also it’s just, again, it’s the ultimate deep dive of the spring of who’s doing what, who’s good, who’s not good, who’s just kind of standing around. JJ and Caleb Downs, who’s doing some stuff, who’s flashing, who’s making some plays. Because listen, CJ Hicks has been telling me for two weeks, listen, I’m telling you.

I’ve been kicking the offensive line’s butt for a couple of weeks. I think Ryan Day kind of hinted at that on Monday too, when he goes, can you block CJ Hicks? That being the first thing he said when talking about the tackles was interesting to me. But CJ’s been telling me for weeks he’s been kicking the offensive line’s butt. Well, Saturday, I get to see those words get put into action. I’m excited. Are you excited?

Stefan Krajisnik (03:53.96)

yeah, no, I’m, I’m excited. I’m excited. The access we get to be, I’m excited for our texts or her name is escaping my mind now, but student appreciation day, you know, she got accused of academic mis, this, this misconduct by Andrew like two weeks ago. And now we get to, hopefully she’s there and we can appreciate her properly among the students.

Andrew (04:08.432)

Hmm, disagree. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Stephen Means (04:16.694)

I agree with Stefan. That’s how I heard it too. regardless of what Andrew says, the narrative has already been written. This is what’s going to happen. Okay. So there’s a lot to be looked into on Saturday. You can have your eyes at a million different places. So just kind of set the scene a little bit. Six things we want to have answered on Saturday at the student appreciation day practice. Cause quite frankly, this is probably going to be more competitive than the spring game.

Andrew (04:19.75)

Wrong.

Andrew (04:24.55)

Wrong.

Stephen Means (04:45.042)

to be honest with you. And it’s not, it’s nothing against the spring game. It’s spring games have turned into two hand tag and let’s celebrate the culture that is Ohio State football. And that’s times 1000 this year because they won a championship ring. So I’m sure they’re going to be doing a hundred different things that ladies and gentlemen.

Will Howard, ladies and gentlemen, Jack Sawyer, ladies and gentlemen, Denzel Berg, you know what saying? They’re going to be doing a lot of that. It’s celebratory. It’s supposed to be a celebration with the fans. so you can only take but so much of the Julian Sand complete 10 of his 12 passes or five of his 12 passes. It’s celebrate the fans, celebrate what they had last season one final time. I am wondering whether or not they’re going to have the new.

Championship. It’s not really a banner because it’s metal. But what do you call it? It’s like a metal.

Stefan Krajisnik (05:39.062)

I was in Ohio Stadium last weekend and it wasn’t up there yet. So, and it didn’t look like anyone was like working on it either.

Stephen Means (05:42.998)

Okay, so it’s not up there as of last weekend. Okay, so maybe it’ll be up there by the spring or maybe it’ll have to wait till the Texas game, which would be hilarious that like, hey, we’re celebrating our championship while the team that we beat on our way to doing so is in the building. That’s probably more like, that’s a quick turnaround and essentially 120 days to get that up there. So maybe it’s up there, maybe it’s not, and it’s about.

how did guys handle that environment of a hundred thousand people watching them for the first time? Other than that, I don’t know how much more you can always take from the spring game, but this, this on Saturday, you can take a lot out of, because we’re gonna be seeing a lot of different things, both sides of the ball, from players flashing to just getting an idea of a Matt Patricia’s defenses. So, Steph, I’m gonna let you go first. You’ve never done this before. You’ve never been to a full Ohio State practice before. You’ve seen parts, you’ve seen bits and pieces of spring.

You saw bits and pieces during bowl practice, but you’ve never seen a full fledged practice before. What is the number one question you want to have answered by the end of Saturday afternoon?

Stefan Krajisnik (06:52.874)

And I’m going to be realistic with some of the questions that I had. So like, I’m not, I’m not putting down like who is the starting quarterback, but my first question is, is going to center around the quarterbacks and it’s just how good do the quarterbacks look? How comfortable do the quarterbacks look? Like you mentioned, this is going be my first time, you know, really seeing a full go practice. So I didn’t see Julian say in practice last year and the stuff that we did see this year, you know, the, think the only, like the closest thing we saw to a team drill was maybe like,

Stephen Means (06:55.8)

Same.

Stefan Krajisnik (07:23.176)

A brief seven on seven. And even that was more like installed than it was like, you know, actually running routes and stuff like that. So I just want to see like, how’s the ball coming out of Julian’s hands and like, how comfortable does he look, you know, kind of with this timing with some of these receivers, right? I want to see what, you know, what Tabian’s chemistry looks like with some of these receivers with Lincoln, how comfortable does he look like we are not, we’ve made it very clear that this spring is not going to give us an answer to the starting quarterback competition.

Stephen Means (07:25.922)

Yeah.

Stefan Krajisnik (07:51.905)

But if Ryan Day has been saying, I want Julian saying, I want Lincoln, I want Tapien to get better every day throughout the spring, just them individually. I want to see what that looks like. I want to see what Julian looks like, how comfortable he looks. you know, it’s, a new offensive coordinator. That’s another, you know, new voice in the air. There’s a lot of things that go into, you know, them getting comfortable and I want to see where they are. How do they look right? Like that, that’s, think realistically, that’s the only kind of like question that can get answered about the quarterbacks.

Maybe we see somewhat of a pecking order. I think it’s gonna be pretty evenly spread out or at least to the point where Lincoln and Julian are pretty evenly spread out. So I don’t even know if we’re gonna get much of a pecking order. But I think just being able to see how comfortable these guys are, how they look playing with these receivers and working with these coaches, I think that’s realistically something that we can get someone to answer to.

Stephen Means (08:44.152)

That’s why I wanted you to go first because I think for you, Julian San is still an idea because you didn’t get to see the reason he became the idea because you weren’t here last spring where Andrew, we were watching Devon and Will Howard mostly, but in the midst of all that, it’s like, this little dude from California can kind of sling it a little bit. Right. So we’ve seen it. This is going to be Stefan’s first chance to really see it live where

Cause I don’t even know how much you can take from the reps he got during the regular season where he threw the ball 12 times, but a lot of it’s garbage reps where, okay, sometimes he looked good. Sometimes he didn’t look good, but it’s also, it’s not like he had a full game of rhythm to get into the rhythm and whatnot. So this is going to be your first chance to just see Julian saying for what he is and decide whether you actually think he’s as good as we all think he might be. Or do you maybe start to form your own opinion about that? Andrew, did you have a quarterback thing?

Andrew (09:44.984)

Yeah, I mean, my notes were very detailed and they were very specific and they were, you know, they were they were very, very in depth. my note for this was Julian saying. How does he look? Because I want to see him throw the ball and it’s kind of a similar point, because, Stephen, if you remember, they had a practice last year, I believe it was like right before the spring game where.

they had media available and they practiced in the shoe and they practiced it was like a cold gray morning in the shoe and yeah so they

Stephen Means (10:24.59)

yeah, I forgot about that. It’s the practice. It’s the the Friday before the spring game practice because like there’s during the coaches clinic when all the coaches are on the sideline as well.

Andrew (10:32.12)

right. Yes. And so we were there and we were we’re sitting I don’t know 50 yard line or so and I just this this was like the first time that we had gotten to see an extended look at the quarterbacks and frankly Julian saying there were a couple throws where you kind of look to the person to sit near left and look to the person sitting here right like you just see that. Did you just see that? Like

Seeing more than just, hey, look, he threw five seven on seven passes. Is notable, like how does he bounce back in certain situations like what happens if CJ Hicks, who I’m sure we’ll talk about, is wrecking havoc off the edge? OK, obviously they’re not going to touch Julie and saying, but how does he step up and handle pressure? There’s just there’s things that you’re going to get to see.

on a more grand scale where it’s like, you if you’re only in there for an hour, you know, sometimes you get to see a handful of plays and it’s like, well, hey, look, Julian saying, you know, he completed eight of nine passes in seven on seven, but there was, you know, linebackers that didn’t really look like they were giving their all or something like that. Right. It wasn’t a hundred percent effort on defense. It’s like, okay, now we’re actually going to get to see some stuff. And I think getting to see Julian.

handle a myriad of different things is really interesting to me. So I’m just curious on what he looks like, how he looks doing it, how he carries himself. There’s a lot there with Julian.

Stephen Means (12:18.53)

I’m not gonna say it because then Stefan’s gonna be like, yo, you’re lying.

Stephen Means (12:24.846)

I don’t care. I’m gonna say I don’t care. I care if they’re good, obviously, right? Because you want to know if the level of quarterback play at Ohio State is going to be as good. Huh? Sure, but what’s the? Chance of that. Like are you what the square of one to 10? How worried are you that they’re going to be so bad that you’re going to walk away thinking Ohio State’s in trouble at quarterback? Right?

Andrew (12:35.964)

You also probably care if they’re bad? Would you care if they’re bad?

Andrew (12:43.396)

I don’t know. I’m asking.

Andrew (12:52.092)

I don’t know, like a two? Maybe a three?

Stephen Means (12:53.964)

So if that’s not a real, if we walk out of there thinking that, it has to be significantly bad. Not just it’s spring and they’re still working on stuff bad. That’s just normal part of the process. I mean like.

Stephen Means (13:09.614)

pre-Rhyton day showing up here. Bad. And I just, that’s not a realistic possibility for me. So sure. Do I think they’re gonna be good enough that where I think it’s the first weekend of April, full weekend of April, and by the time we get to August, one of these guys is gonna start looking up and up and more importantly, by the time we get to November, one of these guys is gonna look like a dude. Then, sure.

That’s fine. Everything else outside of that, I think is just me wanting to see them throw the ball more often because we haven’t really gotten the chance to see them throw the ball a lot.

Stefan Krajisnik (13:44.618)

That’s literally the only thing for me. That’s what I’m talking about when it comes to being comfortable. I want to see Julian throw an 11 on 11 ball. We haven’t seen that this spring, you know? And this guy’s supposed to be the starting quarterback.

Stephen Means (13:51.692)

Right, right, that’s it. And it’s not even the judge it, it’s just so I can say I’ve seen it with my own eyes, because I get.

Stefan Krajisnik (13:59.092)

Right. I mean, we keep hearing like we heard at the combine, Denzel Burke talk about how like how pretty of a ball Julian Saint throws. OK, I would like to see that.

Stephen Means (14:08.246)

It’s making sure he’s still on track to be what I think he’s already going to be. That’s it. Anything outside of that is we’re having a different conversation coming out of Saturday. Just as a heads up, we’re gonna pod Saturday and put that up immediately and that will serve as the Monday pod. Cause we’re not gonna come back and do another pod on Monday. That’s just, it’s a lot. That’s a lot, especially since we’re gonna be doing the same thing the following week. So that’ll be the schedule. There won’t be a pod on Monday. Actually the other part, I don’t know. We’ll figure it out then.

I’m trying to map out a schedule in my head, but on the pod at same time. Andrew, what’s next? What’s on your list? What’s the number one thing or number two thing if quarterback was number one on your list that you want to see get answered on Saturday?

Andrew (14:50.652)

So this was actually the number one thing because this is something that I don’t think we’ve had a lot of eyes on this spring. This is something we don’t I don’t think we’ve necessarily seen a lot or heard a lot about. I want to see Ethan Owen Yawa play tackle because Ryan Day mentioned needed to lose some weight, but he’s going to play tackle. We’ve talked about.

Oh, Austin Cerevelds are up in a tackle. We’ve talked about Philip Daniels. We’ve talked about Kenny and Moore make that jump. We’ve talked about does this team need a fourth tackle? But it feels like we’ve just kind of glossed over the fact that Ohio State lost somebody who’s probably going to go anywhere from like 15 to 35 in the NFL draft. I’ve seen Josh Simmons go anywhere in my drafts, but he’s a top 40 top 30 pick in the NFL draft. He was hurt.

And everybody went, no, the sky is falling. And we did too, to be fair. And then Donovan Jackson played hero ball and was awesome. Okay. Well, Donovan Jackson’s gone now too. So it’s like Ohio state is going to have a new left tackle. And it feels like that has just kind of gone under the radar this spring. I’m curious how the rice transfer looks. I’m curious. I want to see.

CJ Hicks versus Ethan Owen Yawa. Like I want to see that match up. Because we could talk. I. Everybody wants to see Jeremiah Smith and Devin Sanchez. And yeah, of course, that’d be great. Everybody wants to see, you know, the ones, you know, go one on one with, you know, in a 11 on 11 drill with Julian Sand throwing the ball all over the yard. Everybody wants to see that. But.

know, man, it just feels like for as much as we’ve talked about this team, Ohio State having a new left tackle come in from Rice, who is as big as he is and is as physical and as athletic as he is. I don’t know, it just feels like this has gone under discussed and I’m really curious to see what that looks like. I want to see him go up against Kenyatta Jackson and CJ Hicks and Kaden Curry because we haven’t seen that like we haven’t been afforded the chance to see padded practices or anything like that. So.

Andrew (17:17.178)

Yeah, that’s my number one thing. How does Ohio State’s potential and maybe probable new left tackle look for the first time that we’re going to get to see him in pads?

Stephen Means (17:26.614)

Is he replacing Josh Simmons?

Stephen Means (17:32.846)

Donovan Jackson played more games at left tackle than he did.

Andrew (17:34.256)

Well, so that’s my point. Even if you say, he’s not replacing Josh Simmons, you fool, it’s Donovan Jackson he’s replacing. Okay, well, Donovan Jackson’s like a top 40 pick too. So he played like a first round tackle. So you’re replacing high level tackle play no matter what you say.

Stephen Means (17:42.424)

Well no, that’s what I... No, he is. He is. No, he is.

For sure. I’m just saying, he’s replacing Josh. Josh Simmons has not played football for Ohio State since the middle of October. So he’s replacing the left. So a long-term left tackle is replacing an emergency left guard.

Andrew (17:57.904)

That’s fine. Okay, so then he’s replacing Donovan Jackson. But which is still a big shoeslip fiddle.

Andrew (18:09.818)

Yeah, but we can’t. Okay. We can’t do that. We can’t refer to Donovan Jackson as an emergency left guard if we’re like, I think you could play tackle in the NFL because he was so good at left tackle at Ohio State.

Stephen Means (18:15.704)

But he was. He can.

You can’t both those things are true. I think there is a world that existed where instead of pulling Josh Simmons in from the transfer portal, they could have just kicked Donovan Jackson out the left tackle in Paris left here. That’s what that’s what those last six games told me about Ohio. Well, more like like eight games. That’s what that told me about Donovan Jackson. It doesn’t take away from the fact that he was a last resort emergency situation. That the both of those things are true.

Andrew (18:32.677)

Yeah, they color.

Stephen Means (18:50.862)

He was, we have no other options. He just turned out to be pretty good at it. Both of those things are true. So, Ethan Owanyiwa, your planned left tackle, which is very clear, Ryan Day said it to your point, he is the only human being in the offensive line room who is not cross training at multiple positions right now. He is strictly doing left tackle stuff. So your plan at left tackle.

in 2025 is replacing the guy that was, really hope we don’t have to do this at left hat.

Stefan Krajisnik (19:32.47)

and then Austin Servile enters the conversation too.

Stephen Means (19:34.316)

And then Austin Seraphin, it’s a conversation of like, ooh, that’s intriguing as well. I am with you though, Andrew. I wanna see these guys go up against Kenyatta Jackson, CJ Hicks, and Kaden Curry. But that goes both ways too, because I wanna see Kenyatta Jackson, CJ Hicks, and Kaden Curry go up against these guys too, because it’s two situations of guys who, intriguing ideas, interesting prospects, they’ve proven nothing.

to the general public. The coaches have seen things that players have seen, but we have not seen Ethan Owen Yawa go up against someone who is at least of the recruiting talent that all those guys in the defensive line are more, but also the defensive line guys have not really had to be frontline guys. And now they have to be frontline guys. So I agree with you. I want to see if Ethan Owen Yawa

especially now that you’re starting quarterback is going to be a guy who’s six foot tall, 205 pounds and not six foot four, 240 pounds. That’s a big difference. You need to tackle is to kind of be sure fire guy. So I’m with you. I want to see that Stefan. Also just it’s a it’s a two word word. It’s a two road street because both both sides seem to need to want to prove something on Saturday.

Stefan Krajisnik (20:55.934)

Yeah. I’ll save talking about the defensive line because I’m sure one of us has a question about that later, but to the point of the offensive tackles, the open sessions we saw were the first hour of each of the first two practices. So we really didn’t see Philip Daniels or Ethan Owanyiwa really even working with the ones. I don’t know if we saw a single snap of them working with the ones. think Ian Moore and Serval were with the ones. And some of that is probably these guys being new, getting acclimated. There’s a bunch of things that go into that. So it’s like,

Stephen Means (21:09.09)

Yeah.

Stephen Means (21:17.334)

No. Yeah.

Stefan Krajisnik (21:24.896)

That’s another thing where we’re talking about, like, we just kind of want to see Julian saying throw the ball. We want to see these guys play. Like we really haven’t seen them since they’ve gotten to Ohio state. Like we might’ve seen them practicing more during playoff prep than we’ve seen them practicing in the spring from the, open sessions we had.

Stephen Means (21:43.234)

Which leads into my question. You guys got very specific very quickly here. We haven’t seen anybody work with the ones. If we’re gonna be real here, we’ve seen drill work and guys being first and second in line. here’s the Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate, Brandon Ennis.

Stephen Means (22:05.666)

Davis and Nick Binochan, Caleb Downs, Sonny Styles, Arvel Reese, Edrick Houston, and Cade McDonald. That’s nine guys. I think those are the only nine guys where we can all sit here right now as we’re recording this on April 2nd on a Wednesday, and people are hearing it on April 3rd of Thursday, and be able to say, we know for a fact those nine guys.

are going to start and also where they’re going to start. Right? Am I missing anybody?

Stefan Krajisnik (22:44.054)

I don’t think so.

Andrew (22:44.949)

I yeah, don’t think so off the top of my head.

Stephen Means (22:45.038)

Right, because even German we don’t germane’s gonna start but we don’t he couldn’t have been a nickel by the time they play Texas, right James people’s is a He’s probably going to start because he’s if we go off of what they did last year Trevion Being the veteran in the program started a lot of the games I think in fact Quinchons first actual start was against Penn State if I believe

So maybe we can throw him in there, but still, we don’t know. Loughlin might mess around and throw Bo Jackson out there for the first nap against Texas, I don’t know. Oh, I’m sorry, Max Clair. Max Clair, that’s 10. I’ll put him there. He’s definitely going to start. I think. I might take that back, because it might depend on the play call. Because if they’re running the ball, then they might have Will Casbaric out there. I’ll, nine and a half, I’ll say that, nine and a half. The over-under’s at nine and a half.

Everybody else I have no idea. I Don’t know what they’re playing I don’t know where they’re not playing we have an idea of things, but we’re not 100 % sure Ryan Day says they’re cross training guys in the offensive line. Okay, what does that mean? It’s Carson Hensman doing center stuff guard stuff and tackle stuff as awesome Sarah Bell We know he’s doing some left tackle stuff, but is he still doing guard stuff at all? How many spots is Luke Montgomery at?

How spots is Philip Daniels at? How often, if we track snap counts for Jermaine Matthews on Saturday, how often is he with the ones at Nickel, versus how often he’s with the ones at outside corner? What are they doing with Malik Hartford and Jalen McClain? Especially since I just don’t expect Caleb Downs to be out there on any team period at all. I don’t expect Jeremiah Smith to be out there during any team period at all. Okay, so what does that mean for Milan Graham?

What does that mean for Bryson Rogers? What does it mean for Quincy Porter? On down the list there, right? What’s CJ Hicks doing? For me, I just wanna get some level of a clear picture of who is actually getting starting reps. It doesn’t mean you’re a starter, but Matt Guerrero said this on Tuesday. He said, do we have like a starting group? No, we have starting like packages and stuff like, because they think they could play.

Stephen Means (25:09.898)

a lot of guys, especially on defense. Okay, what does that mean? Who’s with who during what period? So it’s almost like taking attendance. A practice is anywhere from 15, like 20 periods, depending on how long it is. It’s like taking attendance 20 times. Once that is my number one goal, because then we can start to have real conversations about ideas of what we think this team might look like, who is actually in the mix to play and who are we just having pipe dreams of?

Stefan Krajisnik (25:39.018)

Yeah. One of the, the notes I have is more so like, wasn’t going to pose it as a question just cause I didn’t really know if it was much of a question, but like, what does a map Patricia base defense like look like? Like we don’t even know that. Like we’re, we’re hearing about all these packages, but like, you know, like there has to be a base defense. There’s gotta be something like, what does it look like? Who’s out there for that? Like, yeah, all these packages and stuff like that is great. And we, see the stuff with the nickel and okay, what does that mean for Jermaine Matthews? And like, but like,

Stephen Means (25:52.674)

No.

Stefan Krajisnik (26:08.522)

I don’t know, you line up first play of the game, what does it look like? Like, who’s on, like we literally, there’s so much we do not know about this team. And is there part of you that worries that we’re gonna walk out of Saturday and still not know a whole lot?

Stephen Means (26:12.686)

Who’s on the field?

Stephen Means (26:22.99)

yes.

Stefan Krajisnik (26:24.406)

Because I think they might rotate like more than normal.

Stephen Means (26:29.019)

I think

Realistically, we come out of Saturday with at least an idea of what direction to head towards now.

I think that’s the best way to put it. So I don’t know.

Stefan Krajisnik (26:45.11)

That was such a word salad.

Stephen Means (26:49.718)

I know, I know. It’s not a yes and it’s not a no to your question. It’s just sort of like, pieces. Okay, you know what? More world salad. We’re not gonna have a pizza on Saturday, but I do feel like we’ll at least know what ingredients to go to the store to get for the pizza.

And that’s a step, right? You got to your list when you go to the grocery store, right? Yeah, you didn’t purchase it. You haven’t even put it in the cart. You just know you need to get these things. And then you get there and you completely forget and end up just getting like a one of those like, yeah, bag of chips and call it a day. Yeah, that’s what I think it is.

Stefan Krajisnik (27:12.278)

I like it. I like it.

Stefan Krajisnik (27:23.136)

Bag of chips.

Stefan Krajisnik (27:27.488)

That’s gonna be us on Saturday being like, yeah, Jeremiah and Caleb are still pretty good. We didn’t see them, but yeah, they’re still pretty good. I just went and got the chips.

Stephen Means (27:32.334)

They’re on the team, they’re just not here today. We got chips. Dude, I told you it’d be a pizza. That was too much. That was too much, it was my boy. Yeah, you’ll like these Doritos. Okay, let’s take a break and then we’ll come back and we’ll go through this round again. Six things we just absolutely want to know the answer to on Saturday here on Buckeye Talk. And we’re back on Buckeye Talk. Stephen Means, Stefan Kreischnik and Andrew Gillis preview.

Stefan Krajisnik (27:42.43)

Yeah, the Doritos are gonna be just fine.

Stephen Means (28:00.91)

I’m not really a preview more of a just kind of setting the tone for how we’re approaching Saturday, Ohio State second scrimmage student appreciation day practice. We’ll be there for the entire time. Get the text six one four three five one three three one five two week free trial. The 99 after that we’ll be texting throughout that practice and probably sending some texts after it as well. We typically talk with Ryan day right after that. And there’s also a few black stripes that happen off of that date. There’s something interesting to see how many of those happen. No true freshmen have lost their black stripes yet. In fact, the only

Bonafide newcomer who has is Max Clare the tight end which it’s probably a good thing. He was the first one who lost his black stripe You actually kind of hoping that Ethan Owen. Yahweh isn’t too far behind that if we’re being honest here But there’s also a couple true freshmen will have our eyes on it Stefan. You’re up again What do you want to see? What do you want to learn absolute concrete answer to something on Saturday?

Stefan Krajisnik (28:58.976)

I’m just gonna go ahead and do it.

Stephen Means (29:00.524)

Yeah.

Stefan Krajisnik (29:04.798)

Arville Reese is maybe the most hyped up player of the spring. Not even, not even, not even just by me. You cannot like James Laurinaitis, Ryan Day, Matt Patricia, like everyone is name dropping Arville Reese left and right and all the different ways that he’s being used. I think one of the players kind of maybe accidentally told us that like Arville is one of the best guys off the edge that they got on a team. Might’ve been Peyton Pierce that said that like

Stephen Means (29:07.788)

Boooo

Stefan Krajisnik (29:33.172)

Matt Patricio is going to have a field day with how he uses Arvel Reiss apparently. So what does that look like? Like, can we see some of that? If we see Arvel Reiss lined up at defensive end, like at one snap in this practice, I’m probably just going to start writing and you guys can just handle the rest of practice, whatever happens. Techsters will be the first to know, Cleveland.com will be soon to know after that. Like I’ve been hyping up Arvel Reiss since like the Akron game.

Stephen Means (29:50.926)

Yeah.

Stefan Krajisnik (30:03.946)

But like Ryan Day and Matt Patricia have taken the keys and they’re, driving the bus. Like I’m just kind of like, like I’m, I’m the guy at home improvement who’s like move that bus because Ryan Day and Matt Patricia are just taking off with it. Like it, it is, it is going to be fascinating to see what different ways Matt Patricia is using him. Cause it sounds like he is going to be all over the place and we’re not going to see a ton of Caleb downs in this practice, nor in the spring game, I would imagine.

Stephen Means (30:14.606)

Yes.

Stefan Krajisnik (30:33.098)

But if you’re giving me a defense that features Caleb Downs, CJ Hicks, and whatever they’re doing with Arvel Reese, we’ll figure out the other eight pieces. We’ll make it work because the versatility that you could potentially have with those three guys is fascinating. And frankly, just that duo of CJ Hicks and Arvel Reese, like you can do so much and disguise so much to make other offenses very uncomfortable.

Arch Manning, he’s got way more reps and way more meaningful reps than Julian St. Has. He hasn’t played a ton though. You’ll line him up that first snap and it’s like, here’s CJ on this side and here’s Arville on that side. You got to figure out which one of them is coming after you. by the way, there’s also Kenyatta Jackson and Edrick Houston and Katie McDonald and Katie Curry, whatever combination of those guys is on the field. Ohio State likes what they got with Arville Reese. Matt Patricia likes what he’s got with Arville Reese. And I’m ready to see it unleashed.

Whatever the word was path to destruction that Jim Knowles was talking about give me some of that on Saturday

Stephen Means (31:38.764)

I just, I think it’s hilarious that R. Valriese was a defensive end for a little bit here. So it’s a realistic thing for him to do that. I don’t know if I said it this week or last week or the week before that, but this, I threw out the idea of, I liked the way they talked about Peyton Pierce as a linebacker. It sounds like James Zorinaitis has three and he’s trying to see if he can get four, which I think when we did our linebacker pod, when we pre-brewery in the spring, I said that, how many can you get to?

And it sounds like Peyton Pierce is number three. And he is closer to what Arvel Reese was as the number three last year than he is what he was as the number four last year. He’s in that range. So I’m gonna throw the idea out there again. And this is the last time I can do it because we’re gonna see some formations on Saturday, because then after that, it’s not based completely off me just hot taking this. But my hot take is this.

Ohio State might run a three four this year. And it’s CJ and Arvel as the outside linebackers. strictly, it might not be their base. Because I don’t know, well, should I go that far? If I’m gonna do a hot take, does it have to be the hottest take ever? Or can it be like a decently hot take? Okay, this is more of a room temperature take.

Stefan Krajisnik (33:00.82)

Room temperature, if you want. There’s like wings at Buffalo Wild Wings or something like that. Like you don’t gotta go for the hottest ones.

Stephen Means (33:06.434)

Okay, cool. Okay, cool. Hot wings. Yeah, not the crazy ones where you get them for free if you finish all.

Arvo recently CJ Hicks as the outside rushing linebackers. Sonny Salas and Peyton Pierce as a traditional middle linebackers. And then your three down men are some combination of Kenyatta Jackson, Kaden Curry, Edgard Houston and Kaden McDonald. And then you figure out the depth behind that from there. Whether it’s the guys in the room stepping up or maybe you go portal shopping when the portal opens up on what, April 7 or something like that.

I’m not going to, that is not going to shock me if I see it. In fact, I’m almost expecting to see it at some point, a three, four look, because Matt Patricia has run every possible defense under the sun for the past 25 years, working with Bill Belichick. So I am almost, I’m going to be shocked if I don’t see that front seven at some point this season.

And I know that’s not just an RVL Reese conversation, but the reason it’s important is because CJ Hicks is a linebacker turned defensive end RVL Reese spent the season as a defensive end has now been playing linebacker. So you, have guys who just so happened to perfectly fit all seven of those spots. Andrew three, four Ohio state, the long time forever today, four down front to Ohio state going three, four and 2025. Are you going to join me in this hot take?

Andrew (34:38.14)

Well, you said three, four Ohio State and my life flashed before my eyes. I thought about how bad it just went three and four Ohio State. was like, Oh, that’s not something I wish on anybody. I know, but I just thought three and four hours. I was like, I don’t think that’s going to happen. But if it did, Oh man, that’d be bad. Um,

Stephen Means (34:47.648)

In what world do they start three and four?

Stephen Means (34:56.43)

Their schedule doesn’t even allow them to go three and four.

Andrew (34:58.84)

I know, I know, just, the concept made me laugh. I...

Stephen Means (35:04.546)

Okay.

Andrew (35:09.958)

I’m gonna, I don’t know if I want to join you with that hot take, but it’s not out of the question. Like it’s, if Ohio State runs it at various points of the year, I’m not going to be surprised. I don’t think they’re going to major in it. I think, I think the best way to put it would be right now. I look at this defense and go, if they run a three, four or like a three man front, it’s going to be a minor.

Right? They’re going to major in a four down front, but they’re going to minor in a three down front. And I don’t think that’s crazy. And I just, don’t know they have the personnel specifically to do it every down. Like if you want to say Cade McDonald is a nose, then that’s fine. I know, but do you have the, it’s, do you have, it’s, but you’re like, need Cade McDonald to be a two gap nose. Do you have another two gap nose on the roster?

Stephen Means (35:54.094)

I just pointed it out to you, what do you mean they don’t have the personnel to do it?

Stephen Means (36:09.954)

Yeah, I think Kate and Gary can do it.

Andrew (36:12.454)

You think Kaden Curry could be a zero? You think he could be a two gap nose?

Stephen Means (36:17.026)

With the way it would run, again, I think you’re basing it strictly off a base concept of what 3-4 is, and it’s like, you have to have the dude who fits this very specific thing. Matt Patrice is smarter than that.

Andrew (36:32.006)

care.

Stephen Means (36:32.568)

So he’ll figure that out, how to go about it where you don’t absolutely need to have guys who can just be a zero all the time. That’s kind of the point here.

Andrew (36:39.824)

Well, that’s so I guess so then that kind of goes into my point where it’s I don’t think you’re going to I don’t think you can really major in it. I think it’s maybe specific situations because again, I don’t think you have the personnel for a Kaden Curry weighs 260 pounds.

Stephen Means (36:48.61)

Why not? Why not?

Right, but if you’re being real here, they haven’t had the personnel to have a true nose in like five years. They’ve had one true nose in five years and that was Ty Hamilton. I think they can run a three, four without having to have a, and again, I’m saying this to no you can’t, why are you doing? We’re also talking about a man who has ran every defense under the sun. So he’ll figure, and I’m not even saying they do it full time. That’s not even the hot take. The hot take is that they’re gonna do it at all.

Andrew (36:59.877)

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, exactly.

Andrew (37:16.721)

Yeah.

Stephen Means (37:22.958)

So this is not a, their base is now three, four conversation. What I am saying is, just because you don’t have someone who’s the size of Jordan Davis, doesn’t mean you can’t run three, four schemes.

Andrew (37:31.836)

Yeah, of course not. But I yeah, I think third and nine. Yeah. Okay. I Yeah, absolutely. You got Edrick Houston. You got maybe you have Cade McDonald out there just to, you know, just to be that big body in the middle. So you got Edrick Houston, Caden Curry, and then whoever you want to put there as a kid is a Kenyatta Jackson. And then you have our vell and CJ off the edge and Peyton Pierce and and Sonny up the middle. Like there’s

There’s a lot of different ways to do this and I’m curious to see that. So yeah, them being multiple this year is not crazy to me. I in fact, I think that’s kind of likely. I think.

Stephen Means (38:12.174)

They’re also going to add people in the Portland difference to tackle. Like that’s a, so.

Andrew (38:15.1)

I sure. And I think we can have a, I think, I think we’ll get maybe a clearer idea of, of how much they want to do certain things after people leave and people go, if people do leave after the spring portal window and if people do come in. Um, but yeah, I think them, them running three down is not a foreign concept to me. Like last year, if we had talked about this and said, Hey, Andrew, they’re going to run three down linemen. I was like, that’s really stupid because who are you going to say off the field?

Right? Yeah, but right. So that’s what I’m saying. I think you could do it in true passing situations. And I think, you know, if you’re playing a team that really wants to spread you out, I think you might be able to get away with it a little bit, especially if linebackers are going to carry this team.

Stephen Means (38:45.742)

I mean, they did it last year. It was just in true passing situation.

Stephen Means (39:03.214)

Alright, what do you want to see, What do need to have answered?

Andrew (39:06.716)

All right, well, so this is just going to be an ISO session so you guys can head to the corner. I’ll take the ball at the top of the key and drive to the paint. Nope. Yep. Well, it’s not, it’s not a Davidson point. Funny enough. There’s going to be a lot of recruits there and I want to see if we get any commitments. And the kid I’m looking at is favor a key. He goes to Delaware Hayes. He got an offer from Ohio state. He took a visit on the 17th.

Stephen Means (39:12.974)

I’m gonna talk about David’s and Nick Manilso. It can’t be helped.

Stefan Krajisnik (39:16.246)

I’m gonna go grab my water while you do this.

Andrew (39:36.57)

the first day of spring practice. he got the offer from Ohio state and I went, okay, well that’s pretty notable. And then the very next day he whittled his list down to USC Miami of Florida and Ohio state. And he had official visits scheduled and then he went down to Miami and he came back and immediately scheduled an Ohio state visit. And then

He had a little bit of a break and they had spring break and then he immediately scheduled another Ohio State visit. He was going to come back this weekend. So this is the third time that this kid is going to be on campus in the spring. And he got an offer a couple of weeks ago. He is the one guy of this list that I’m looking at going.

Andrew might be busy with news on Saturday. Andrew might have a news story to publish. Andrew might have some, some stuff to talk about, that comes from Saturday that is maybe more set in stone than anything we’re going to talk about. I mean, we could talk about CJ Hicks and Kenyatta Jackson and then, I don’t know, Mylon Graham and Bo Jackson and whoever else we want to talk about. that, you know, that’s great. And that’s why people are here, but there’s a lot of recruits that are going to be there. And.

Favour is the one kid I’m looking at going, hey, wait a minute. What do we think? Like, we think he’s gonna pop this weekend? Maybe. I think that’s a possibility. Just kind of reading the tea leaves, obviously 614-350-3315. We’ll have more about him, and specifically I’ll have more about him later in the week. So just stay tuned about that on Thursday and Friday. So we’ll see kind of what his recruitment looks like.

And then there’s just a handful of other guys that I want to hear how their visits go. And I want to hear what their weekend is like. Five star Darius Gray, a player who I love and it’s I promise you, it’s not the Virginia part of me talking with that. This is a kid who showed up and looked really good. And I’ve kind of followed him a little bit since since he came to camp last year and he had that battle with Jaquem Stewart at the time. I mean, man, this was like a four star.

Andrew (42:00.06)

like 300 ranked player, I believe. You know, this was not a player that was really drawing a lot of national attention. Now he’s a five star player and he’s the number 30 overall prospect in the class for the 247 Sports Composite. He’s going to be on campus this weekend. Braylon Womack, the five star safety out of Flowood, Mississippi, is going to be on campus this weekend. He’s the number 24 overall player. But Andrew, Ohio State can’t get safeties out of the South. That’s impossible.

Well, they just did it. So I want it like Braylon Womack. I know for a fact loves Ohio State and I know his family really likes Ohio State. They had that visit last year where they had the swing with Notre Dame and with Ohio State on back to back days. And the vibes that I got from talking to people around him were, man, we really, really like Notre Dame. Man, we really, really like Ohio State. Like this is not out of the question for him to come up north. This is not out of the question for him to come up and.

He’s got a couple of these scheduled. He’s got Auburn. He’s got A &M. He’s got Florida. Ohio State is his last official visit. So I don’t think we’re on commitment watch with Braylon Womack, but I think this is a big weekend for Ohio State. You’re to get them on campus for the first time in a couple of months. Matt Guerrero is obviously going to get his chance to say, man, we got you and Blaine Bradford. Like this could be something special. There’s Brock Wright, a 2027 tight end from Illinois.

The last five offers he’s gotten, Notre Dame, Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina. He’s a kid Ohio State is really, really interested in. He’s from Libertyville, Illinois. So there’s a lot of recruiting stuff this weekend that I’m very, very interested on and more specifically, favorite key. I think if I had to look at anybody on this list and say, okay, who might be committed to Ohio State by the end of the day? I think it might be him.

Stephen Means (43:50.034)

Listen the way this week is going to record this on Wednesday. I’ll say start the week off good news on back to back days Let’s see how long it goes Chris speaking which Christian are you supposed to be here this weekend as well? which

Andrew (44:01.328)

just shut down his recruitment.

Stephen Means (44:03.436)

Which I think is hilarious because there are a lot of people are like, I don’t know, man. He’s going to flip the organ. It’s like, dude, Brian Hardline’s in Columbus.

Andrew (44:09.636)

Yeah, it was was USC and it was Oregon and I think it was pretty clear they were just saying, what is it going to take for us to get you here? And I think he reached the point where he went, no, I’m good. I don’t, I don’t need to, I don’t, I don’t need to worry about it. And this

Stephen Means (44:24.6)

think this goes into the conversation we had yesterday, though. If Ryan Day doesn’t win a national championship, does Chris Henry Jr. shut down his recruitment in April?

Right? Right? He’s not going anywhere.

Stefan Krajisnik (44:37.93)

Yeah, mean, you’d have asked Chris, like how much of that is, you know, what Ohio State did, how much of that is, you know, here’s another, you’ve just seen receiver after receiver come through, like how much is it, how much is it? But yeah, I think there’s definitely value to it.

Stephen Means (44:46.958)

Right.

Stephen Means (44:50.574)

But the only reason I say that is, is the offensive coordinator now. And that’s why Chris Henry is coming here, because Heartline is on the staff, whether it was as a wide receiver coach, as the guy calling the plays. But also, again, no one is worried about Ryan Day leaving, or not being here. That’s not even part of the equation, because if Ryan Day is not here, Ryan Heartline probably wouldn’t be here either, though I do assume that whoever replaced Ryan Day.

Brian heartline would they that’d be their number one call and then number two call and it’d be every day after that. Brian heartline kept saying, are you sure? Are you sure? Are you sure? Please stay. Please stay. JJ is packing. JJ is at the air. JJ has taken off. He’s gone. Brian, please come back. That would be other, but still there’s no guarantee that if things don’t fall the way they fall and Brian days no longer be head coach anymore here, it is not a guarantee that Brian heartline is still here. So

If the two reasons for why the wide receivers keep coming here no longer exists, that train stops immediately. And Chris Henry probably does flip to USC or Oregon or wherever else under the planet. That’s not even a thought in anybody’s mind anymore. Ryan Hartline, maybe, I don’t know, but he doesn’t seem all that eager to go anywhere. Ryan Day can be here until as long as he wants to be here. He’s a freaking legend. He just won a national championship.

So Chris Henry has no questions about what the future at Ohio State looks like. I’m gonna come here and try to be the next JJ and the people who are turning JJ into JJ are going to be here to help me do it. So I’m just thinking it’s just, it’s another thing of, man, look what a championship can do for you. And you’re talking about Andrew Braylon Wombach, that’s the number two say. If Ohio State gets the top two safeties in the country to commit to Ohio State.

after spending years not getting highly rated safety play and the safeties just so happen to be from Louisiana and Mississippi.

Andrew (46:44.805)

Thanks

Stefan Krajisnik (46:55.671)

S-E-C. F-E-C.

Andrew (46:57.038)

If Ohio State gets Braylon Womack and Blaine Bradford to Ohio State, like you said, from Mississippi and Louisiana, I think Ohio State fans should put their feet up. They should obviously be very happy. Don’t worry about them decommitting. Don’t worry about them flipping. And I think you should remember what this feels like because Matt Guerrero is probably not going be around for very long. He’s going be a defensive coordinator somewhere.

Stephen Means (47:20.824)

No, he’s not. If he gets both of those guys, yeah, the clock is now ticking. That’s the guy who’s been a coordinator before too. The clock is ticking on that. But it’s it’s the fact that even a real, like I said that, and it’s not just, we cover Ohio State. We’re living in the Ohio State bubble where everything is going to go right. No, it’s a real, they already have one and it’s not the one we already thought that maybe they had the best chance of getting. Well, no, a week ago, forget that, Sunday evening.

Andrew (47:26.822)

Yeah, exactly.

Stefan Krajisnik (47:26.952)

Well, mean, could there not?

Andrew (47:43.182)

There’s proof of concept. There’s proof of concept to this.

Stephen Means (47:50.764)

Before Blaine commits, if we had sat down and had a conversation and looked at the top safeties in the 2026 recruiting class, that’s Blaine Bradford, Braylon Wombach, Jet Washington, those are the three five-star recruits. And then Davon Benjamin’s the number 31 player, which means he’s like borderline five-star recruit. So of the top three safeties in the country, Andrew, if I said, hey, if Ohio State’s going to get one of these guys.

Which one would it have been?

Andrew (48:26.479)

Mmm.

Stephen Means (48:27.456)

It wouldn’t have been Blaine. It would have been Braylon. That’s why we’re saying it’s realistic for them to get both. got, we, Braylon long back in Ohio State have had a relationship since last summer when he camped. So that’s like an ongoing public thing. Blaine Bradford committing to Ohio State was like, what? Huh? We didn’t even know you guys were like a conversation all like that. We just thought you showed up for a visit. So it’s a, but the,

Andrew (48:30.81)

Yep.

Andrew (48:40.304)

Yes, that was when he got it off.

Stephen Means (48:54.658)

That’s what we’re talking about here. Ryan Day now lives in this world where we can say, what if a house that gets the top two safeties in the country and they’re from Mississippi and Louisiana and no one went, okay, dude, relax, breathe. No, that might happen. We’ll see, right? And it’s a long day till signing day, but that’s the world Ryan Day gets to live in because he just won a national championship. One just committed and you said Braylon Wambach is gonna be here this weekend? So one committed after an official.

Andrew (49:15.279)

Yeah, it-

Andrew (49:19.024)

Yep, that’s the plan.

Stephen Means (49:21.76)

unofficial visit last weekend and the other one’s about to be here for an unofficial visit this weekend.

Andrew (49:28.988)

That’s the plan. Yeah, I mean, like, think about it, if you’re LSU too, there’s a kid Aiden Hall, whose name I didn’t really know. And the reason why he attends Edna Carr in New Orleans, Louisiana, Ohio State didn’t offer him and he’s committed to LSU because that’s probably what should happen. And it’s not. that that is that is where we’re at. Right. Like like Braylon Womack should in a

Stephen Means (49:31.574)

Alright.

Stephen Means (49:36.483)

Yeah.

Stephen Means (49:49.547)

Hehehehe

Andrew (49:59.386)

world that a lot of people think. not saying it’d be a bad decision to commit to Ohio State. Please don’t take me out of context here. But like in a normal world where if you were to say, all right, here’s what people think. All right, he’s going to commit to Ole Miss. He’s going to commit to Alabama. He’s going to commit to Georgia. He’s going to commit to Texas A or Texas. And if he wants to go nuts, he’s going to commit to Florida or maybe Florida State.

And again, I said the four schools, Braylon Womack has OV scheduled for this is in order, Florida, Texas A Auburn, Ohio State. One of those schools is not like the other in more ways than one. One of them just won a national championship and some of those programs are in a bad way right now or trying to get on the right track or whatever. But one of those schools is not, not in that group that you would expect.

Stephen Means (51:04.887)

It’s just...

Stephen Means (51:09.71)

I know man. I was like one of Natty, so now you can be a little unrealistic with their expectations on the recruiting trail and it not sound too unrealistic. Okay, here’s my last one.

What freshmen look like dudes? Because that’s what we’re gonna be watching. A lot of young guys. we’re gonna, Davis and Iggvinosin isn’t going to be doing a lot. I’ll take the freshman tag off and just say what young guys in general are gonna look like they might be dudes one day. Because Davis and Iggvinosin is not gonna be practicing much. So that means a lot of time for Aaron Scott and Devin Sanchez. Caleb Downs isn’t doing squat, which means that’s a lot of time for.

Malik Hartford, Jalen McClain. We didn’t mention Leroy Roker, who Caleb Downs even, he got asked some guys who were popping. Leroy Roker was one of the first people he said, I want to see Leroy Roker because again, there have been Malik Hooker comparisons thrown out there and I want to see why that’s the case. On the offensive line, Carter Lowe, I just want to see him. I just want to see him. Not for 2025, but for 2026 and beyond because.

Ethan Owen Yawa is not going to be here after this year, which means the left tackle job is going to be up for grabs in twenty twenty six. So between him and Ian Moore, those are two guys where I think it’s fair to say, hey, third year, Ian Moore, second year, Carter Lowe, Battle Royale, one of yous Ohio State’s future starting left tackle. I want to see what they both look like. I want to see Jelani Thurman. I want to see Riley Pettigon and TJ Offord. And I want to see I want to see Zion Grady.

I feel a little about Zion Grady. think he’s gonna be really, really good here. I just wanna see young guys. I wanna see Quincy Porter. I wanna see Mylon Graham. The Ohio State’s been putting out some clips from practice and Mylon Graham keeps showing up in these clips, making plays. I think he’s Garrett Wilson Jr. The way you feel about Arville Reese, Stefan, is the way I once felt about Garrett Wilson, by the way. So like, that’s why I am enjoying this love you have for Arville Reese, because I’ve been there. I’ve been there.

Stephen Means (53:16.522)

It feels good to fall in love with something and then it turn out in your favor. Unfortunately, Andrew does not yet know that feeling because he fell in love with David’s Nick Binoza and it backfired. The good thing is Andrew is loyal and he is proud and he is still waving his Iggy flag and there’s still a chance it might pop. And we respect him for that. But you and I know what it looks like to watch love flourish.

into something. And so I’m going to be very happy for you watching that love flourish this year and turn into something special. I just don’t want to see it on Saturday because I know it’s going to be special. I want to see the guys behind everybody because it’s not just about 2025 and who might be able to do something now, but what the future of this team might look like in the coming years. I think this is a good list though. Quarterbacks.

Arvel Reese, Ethan Owen Yawa, the future future as Andrew’s talking about on the recruiting trail, because there’s going to be a lot of recruits in the building. And I just want to see who’s where and who’s doing what. And then who on the young guy list is who am I going to be talking about? But I’m not talking about right now. JJ became the star of the show last year. The year before that, was like Jack and JT were tearing the defensive, the offensive tackles apart. And it was like, okay, maybe Jack and JT are ready to do this.

They were to an extent, obviously weren’t what they were this past year, but they started to take those steps. Who’s the talk of the town? What young guy becomes the talk of the town? Get the text 614-350-3315, two weeks free trial through 99. After that, we’ll be in the building all day on Saturday, watching every bit of practice and bringing all that information to you. But we’re still a day away from that. Today, as you’re listening to this, we’re talking with Tyler Bowen and the offensive lineman. That’s a lot of big guys.

Plus plenty of talk about the recruiting trail with Tyler Bowen has gotten off to a hot start with three commits in Ohio State 2026 recruiting class. For Stefan Christich and Andrew Gillis, I’m Stephen Means. was my guy talk.