Ohio State’s most vulnerable position group and what Ryan Day thinks about a new spring idea: Buckeye Talk podcast

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State has reached the midpoint of spring practice with one scrimmage down and two more to go.

On this episode of Buckeye Talk, Stephen Means, Stefan Krajisnik and Andrew Gillis discuss where Ryan Day thinks his team stands two weeks out from the spring game. That includes an update on the quarterbacks and how he feels about the depth on the defensive line.

Plus, a short discussion about how Day feels about a unique idea for the offseason.

Read the automated transcript of today’s podcast below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it may contain errors and misspellings.

Stephen Means (00:05.61)

Welcome back to what I talk. I’m Stephen means that’s the father Christ. And that’s Andrew Gillis. Ohio State wrapped up at eight bring practice on Monday, the one that are nice. But now you’re listening to this and we’re back in the Woody talking with Tim Walton and the cornerbacks and Matt Gregory and the safeties as well. But we talk with Ryan day on Monday coming off of Ohio State’s first scrimmage. Stefan, the language he used when discussing the quarterbacks makes bag to the negative.

What does that even mean?

Stefan Krajisnik (00:39.981)

It means that if Ohio State was playing on Saturday against a real team, he would probably be pretty worried.

Stephen Means (00:44.982)

Mm.

Stefan Krajisnik (00:46.543)

But it also means that they just have a young quarterback room who knows that there’s a reason college football teams don’t play two months after the season ends is because the quarterbacks specifically need to develop and get ready to play. And that’s why you play on August 30th instead of on March 30th.

Stephen Means (01:03.616)

So nobody should be worried if the quarterbacks didn’t look great after their literal first scrimmage.

Stefan Krajisnik (01:06.178)

No, it...

Stefan Krajisnik (01:09.999)

No, and if you thought like Ryan Day was going to come out of the first scrimmage being like this quarterback who hasn’t played a meaningful snap and I guess Lincoln Keenholtz isn’t in that because he has played meaningful snaps in the past, but for the both part, for the most part, you have three quarterbacks who have not really played. They haven’t played a meaningful snap since the end of the 2023 season. How about we say that?

Stephen Means (01:31.754)

And it’s meaningful to who? Because he wasn’t supposed to be out there.

Stefan Krajisnik (01:35.245)

Correct. For the bet. Okay. We’ll just say they haven’t played meaningful snaps. Brian day was not going to walk out of that first scrimmage being like that guy was amazing. He’s got everything figured out. Frankly, if he had come to the podium on Monday and been like Julian saying absolutely tore it up on Saturday, he looks every part of the five star that we got. He’s going to be our starting quarterback. I’d probably be looking over at Matt Patricia, like, what happened? So that’s how these scrimmages work. And on top of which,

Stephen Means (01:59.028)

Yeah. Yeah.

Stefan Krajisnik (02:04.973)

This is a spring where...

like the last two weeks leading up to that scrimmage, we’re probably not apt at preparing someone for a game or a scrimmage or a format like that. Like the two hours of practice that we’ve seen, we didn’t even see 11 on 11. Now, obviously they did 11 on 11 when we weren’t there. But like that just goes to show that, you know, these practices are structured in a way where you’re not seeing a whole ton and the players aren’t probably doing a whole ton or at least, you know, maybe maybe now is starting to ramp up as Ryan Day said, but like

It’s fine. We said this about this quarterback competition this whole time. we’re just, we thought maybe someone could separate themselves in the spring. And then we saw the way Ohio State structuring things. We saw the way Ryan Day is kind of talking about this spring and we kind of said, all right, let’s take a step back in this quarterback competition. We’re not going to get any answers in the spring. So it was always designed in a way where you were going to walk out of that first scrimmage, being a bit concerned about what you got. And if we’re being honest, like,

Ryan Day being concerned about, he’s like not even concerned. Ryan Day being iffy about the way the quarterback’s played is because the bar for him is beating Tennessee and Oregon and Texas and Notre Dame and winning a national championship. But the bar for like being a really good quarterback, for some of us, we’d probably go watch Julian Sand and be like, that guy looks pretty good. And Ryan Day would say, no, he missed this play and this play and this play and this play and it all looks terrible because Ryan Day is a quarterback guru who sees everything.

But for the average spectator, probably look at it and be like, oh yeah, he’s a five-star quarterback who just needs some more time. Everything’s fine.

Stephen Means (03:44.958)

Yeah, he’s a head coach and they’re all paranoid. That just kind of comes with the territory. Hey, we’re going to give you millions of dollars, a nice house, all these resources, but also you spend every single day of your life paranoid. I’d take that job.

Stefan Krajisnik (03:47.076)

this coming.

Stefan Krajisnik (04:02.255)

Scheduling Texas week one too is brutal.

Stephen Means (04:04.884)

And you had no, yeah. And you had no control over whether you scheduled Texas week one, your AD had control over you. There are 151 days till they play Texas. That’s why Ryan Day is saying all that. Andrew, here’s what we weren’t there. We’ll be there this Saturday for their second scrimmage. Here’s what I think happened on Saturday. And here’s what I actually know. Cause I’ve been through enough of these Springs. I think in any situation, it is easier for the defense to look awesome in the spring than it is the, offense.

because on offense you’re trying to build chemistry on your offensive line, right? Now you add in the element of it’s a bunch of new offensive linemen, some of which are playing seven different positions during one practice. It’s a new quarterback in there, new running backs. And yeah, the two most reliable human beings about this offense aren’t doing anything this spring. And that’s Jeremiah Smith and Cardell Tate. They’re just not doing anything. Why? Because why would they?

There’s they have nothing to prove out there. Meanwhile on defense. yeah, and you’re doing a bunch of install With a new offensive coordinator play caller meanwhile defense. Yes, you have a new DC Yes, you have new players, but there’s a lot of Defense in the spring when you’re installing stuff. That’s just simply go get the guy with the ball So it’s a lot more instinctual play. So based off that There is not a world that was going to exist where

information was going to be trickling out of Saturday that Lincoln, Keenholz or Julian Sann or Taven St. Clair. One of them looked like Joe Burrow in the national championship game in 2019 or Will Howard, the last four. That just was never on the table. So am I just spending five minutes here going, hey, stop caring about the quarterback battle until August? Is that essentially the agreement here?

Andrew (06:04.738)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Stephen Means (06:05.736)

Okay, cool.

Stefan Krajisnik (06:06.743)

No, Steven’s lying. Andrew, you know what he’s gonna do on Saturday when we see the quarterbacks play. You know what’s gonna happen. He’s literally lying to you right now.

Andrew (06:12.046)

Yep. So I was trying to, I was trying to think of a way to say this because like we did a video a couple of weeks ago where we talked about the idea of Ryan Day like naming a starter by the end of spring. And Steven was like, I think it’s a great idea. I think if it happens, like, I think they should do it. And it’s like, well, I don’t know if that’s possible right now. And

Stephen Means (06:15.574)

You

Andrew (06:40.758)

I think that’s normal because like, if you go to a scrimmage, like let’s say you’re at this scrimmage on Saturday, the one that we’re gonna be at on the fifth, right? What’s gonna happen is Julian Sane’s gonna get picked off, let’s just say hypothetically. And everybody in the crowd is gonna cheer or people watching are gonna cheer because they’re like, did you see Jermaine Matthews make that great play on Brandon Innis? Wow. And then they’re gonna go, wait.

the quarterback just threw a pick. And it’s always like this give and take, right? And I think when you talk about the quarterback room, they’re just so young. Like Ryan kind of mentioned this at the beginning, like when he was starting this off, where he was just like, you know, it kind of like he joked like it depends on the day. And I think when you talk about where these quarterbacks are at, there’s gonna be days, I’m sure, where he’s like,

Yeah, we’re really making some steps forward. We’re really making progress. We’re really doing this. We’re really doing that. And there’s going to be days where he says like what he said today, where he was like, yeah, there’s we’re not where we need to be. And we need to take some steps forward.

Stephen Means (07:52.894)

I am lying. I’m going to be watching the quarterbacks on Saturday, but that but my point still stands of When that Julian Sands gonna throw an interception on Saturday and so is Tavon Sinclair and so is Lincoln Keno That’s just what’s going to he’s also all three of them are probably also going to have some throws that make you go Yep, that’s why they’re here What I am saying is Don’t take everything Don’t take a mo don’t make a mountain out of a mohawk

With everything that happens and it’s take it for what it is because yeah, Jermaine Matthews picked off Julian said well, who is he throwing to? Was he throwing a JJ or was he throwing the Quincy Porter who I love Quincy Porter? I think he’s going to be amazing. But Ryan Day also mentioned that there is a there seems to be a gap between the top of the room 1 through 3 and we’re four and six through six are right now because that’s normal. You’re one through three played football for you last year. You’re four through six didn’t so.

That’s more what I’m saying when I say don’t care about the quarterback bow. Don’t care about trying to figure out who’s ahead or who’s behind. Just who’s flashing and who’s showing consistency.

Andrew (09:03.796)

So this was something that we had talked about last year, where like, Steven, if you remember, we’re like, we’re more than halfway done with Ohio State spring practices already as crazy as it is. But so that’s exactly what I’m going to say. Last year was different. And I and I don’t think people can have that same mentality, because if you remember last year, we started out and it was like, hey, Devin Brown getting the first team reps kind of interesting.

Stephen Means (09:13.972)

Yeah, last year’s different though. Last year’s different. Yeah.

Andrew (09:30.254)

And everybody went, well, we’ll see. And about halfway through, everybody was like, well, Howard and Brown are kind of even. They haven’t really asserted themselves. And then like we saw the spring game and it was like, oh, Will Howard just needed some practices. That I don’t know is the way to look at this because Will Howard was about to play his fifth year of college football. And these quarterbacks are so young.

where you just need to, you need to look at them differently. You need to grade them differently. Julian Sand might end up having the better career than Will Howard. I know Will Howard just won a national championship. So that is kind of crazy to say, but in terms of like pure talent and throwing the football, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say Julian Sand might end up being a better college quarterback, but he’s also a second year player entering his second year. And not to be like,

blunt with it, but he hasn’t really done anything. He hasn’t really played a whole lot of football. And especially last year when you have a depth chart of Will Howard and then Devin Brown as the backup, Julian wasn’t even getting backup reps. Like think about like how valuable those reps can be. Because we talk about growth as like, okay, in the spring practice, you get better because there’s 15 practices and in the fall you get better. But growth can also happen from September 1st

through January, whatever, right? And those are big time reps and Julian just wasn’t just he wasn’t getting those reps or as much of them. He wasn’t getting backup reps because those were Devin Browns. So yeah, this is normal. And I think I think there’s some people that might be a little bit worried about it. And I guess this is basically just us telling you not to be. Don’t don’t panic. Don’t worry. I think when you talk about where this quarterback room was last year, it’s apples and oranges. You just can’t compare the two.

Stephen Means (11:24.458)

Bring us a marathon.

Andrew (11:26.443)

Exactly.

Stephen Means (11:27.382)

Last year, spring was not a marathon, it was a sprint. That team was out of time. That was it. You have 12 months to figure this out, Will Howard and the rest of you. This team doesn’t have to, well, they do have 12 months, but you did, this is a marathon. This is CJ Stroud 2021. I’m gonna keep saying it. I guarantee you where Julian Sand was on Saturday for scrimmage number one is exactly where CJ Stroud was after scrimmage number one.

in 2021. So it’s not about the finished product. It’s about where was he at the exact same time. don’t see J. Stroud was not the number two pick in the NFL draft on March 31st, 2021. He was CJ Stroud, the guy who was up next that had a lot of promise. That’s where Julian sand is right now. So that’s what I’m saying. Don’t care.

Stefan Krajisnik (12:18.487)

I just think like, think Ryan Day is being honest, just the way he talks about this quarterback situation is that I don’t think they’re going through the spring too much being like, Julian play better than Lincoln? The Lincoln play better than Tavian? Did Lincoln play better? Like I genuinely think that they’re looking at this being like, let’s get Julian to as good as he can be. Let’s get Lincoln to as good as he can be. Let’s get Tavian to as good as he can be. And then second week of August.

We’ll start comparing them to each other to figure out who the best is. And I think we all think that’s going to be Julian saying, but guess what? Julian saying just being better than Lincoln Keen holes does not mean that he’s a good quarterback ready to go against Texas. Like you make Julian saying as good as Julian saying can be. And if that winds up being the best quarterback in your room, then he’s your starter. But it does, you know, good if he’s just the best of the bunch and you have to put him out there. So I just, I don’t think they look at the spring at all in a sense of.

Stephen Means (12:48.138)

Yup. Yup.

Stephen Means (13:00.598)

That’s standard.

Stefan Krajisnik (13:15.619)

comparing guys, that’s just not what they’re doing this year.

Stephen Means (13:18.656)

because the standard isn’t be better than the guy in the room with you. The standard is Heisman Trophy finalist, first round NFL draft pick, national championship level quarterback. And to an extent, right.

Stefan Krajisnik (13:29.805)

Ryan Day said that today, not that, but he said the standard is to be the best quarterback in the country.

Stephen Means (13:34.942)

And he didn’t say that today, but he has said that in the past. That is the standard. And every single quarterback that has started since 2018 to some level has been there. They’ve been Heisman Trophy finalists. They’ve been first round draft picks. Listen, Kyle McCord didn’t work out here, but he lost one game here in 13 starts. And it was to the team who won a national championship.

Stefan Krajisnik (13:57.135)

It could be a first round draft pick.

Stephen Means (13:59.542)

I don’t know about all that but I mean, yeah quarterback We’re not having that conversation today. Hello, but he lost one game and it was to the team who won a national championship and Some people there are people like at that time There are people who maybe felt like that was the national championship game regardless of what you thought the run other that was a national championship caliber game and Will Howard won a national championship? So that’s your standard. So it’s not about who’s better than who right now. We’ll figure that out later

There are some other spots where you should possibly be concerned though, Stefan, about what is going on and how Ohio State maybe needs to attack the transfer portal. Dan Hope from 11 warriors did the thing that you just have to do every so often and just go, who’s playing well? Great questions because sometimes it just shows you some things. Ryan Day ran down a list that had a lot of people on it. CJ Hicks, Arvel Reese, Jermaine Matthews. He talked about the safety depth and how

Jaylen McClain and Lee Carver are both coming a long way, which is good. Cause you need somebody alongside Caleb Downs. So if you leave this spring and you’ve got three options at safety, that’s a pretty good thing. We knew the tight end room was going to be pretty deep. I love the way he talked about defensive end and the fact that we love what we have. We just need to figure out whether it’s enough or not. Maybe that’s the portal or maybe it’s a guy like freshmen Zion Brady coming along. The offensive lined up. went back and listened to it. I heard it wrong. We did a video.

He loves the interior depth. He thinks they have what they need at tackle. Guys are just learning, which is understandable when you’re top two. The guys we think are going to be the starters are transfer. So I get all that. It just seemed like he had a lot of positive things to say about every single part of this team except for one. And you asked about.

Stefan Krajisnik (15:47.203)

Yeah, I asked him about defensive tackle because his first press conference of the spring, he got asked, you know, what position groups does he think would maybe need to be addressed in the spring portal window, which is coming up here in a couple of weeks. And, he talked about the defensive line specifically, talking about defensive tackle and maybe needed some depth there. And I don’t think it’s necessarily surprising that he had said that because I think all of us are in agreement that the gap between Katie McDonald and Edric Houston and the rest of the guys is probably.

Pretty big gap. So I asked him essentially in these two weeks, spring ball has, you know, as someone emerged as maybe giving you some more confidence in that room. Cause even Larry Johnson, when he was asked last week, I believe it was about, you know, what day had said about getting some guys from the portal again, he kind of, I don’t want to say like push back on it, but I think he was maybe kind of like, all right, like, hang on, let’s, see what we got and day’s reaction or answer to my question, which was actually kind of a short answer, but it was.

pretty to the point makes me believe that I don’t know if they’re 100 % sold yet on Taiwan Malone, Jason Moore, Will Smith Jr. Whoever else it may be that’s behind Edrick and Kata McDonald. And it, I kept fumbling with my words a bit when we did the video, because I don’t know if like concern is the right word, but the more we talk about it, the more I think it might be just because I just, I don’t know what you have there. And I think you saw last year,

not just when Tylee Williams was hurt, but just in general, how important depth at that position specifically is. And you had a ton of it with Ty Hamilton, Tylee Williams, Kaden McDonald, and then Edric Houston being in the room. And keep in mind, when we came into the season, we didn’t know Edric Houston was going to be at tackle. We were talking about defensive tackle as maybe an area of need. And Edric Houston helped that out a ton. And now we go into this year.

And as opposed to having three guys, we’re pretty confident in there’s only two guys confident. So if we were concerned about DTAC will go into 2024, it’s definitely fair to be concerned about it. Now I’m interested to see what they do in the portal. At this point, it seems like a lock to me that they’re going to go out and get a defensive tackle. You’re not going to get a Caleb Downs level portal edition in the spring. Steven, you brought up the example of Josh Simmons. That’s a great spring edition.

Stefan Krajisnik (18:08.847)

still took time, right? Like you were not going into, they added Josh Simmons ahead of the 2023 season. Like you weren’t going into week one of 2023 saying that guy was a first round pick. You were saying that midway through the 2024 season. So like that, kind of stuff takes time. I don’t know if it’s just simply looking for bodies. I don’t know what it is. I think the most important thing for this defense between today, or even if you had said this two weeks ago to August 30th is even if you get someone new,

I, someone’s got to take a step from that, that group of names that I mentioned, Taiwan, Jason, will like, someone’s gotta step up because it’s clear that Ryan day is not sold on what they have there. And I’m sure Matt Patricia echoes that.

Stephen Means (18:56.67)

If we made a list of the top seven transfer portal losses of the Ryan Day era, Andrew.

in terms of their actual impact on the next season and beyond. think Hiro Kanu has a case for top three.

Andrew (19:21.39)

I need to think about that one. That’s an interesting question. Is seven the unique number?

Stephen Means (19:22.974)

Yeah, and we don’t have to like run through it right now. I know, I know, I’m just, I just, but the point is I’m. Why hero canoe leaving was confusing and now that we’re talking about defensive tackle depth eight practices into this, it’s even more confusing because here’s here’s the top five. The projected top five on defensive tackle hierarchy coming into the season and how many snaps they have played as Ohio State, but guys. Kayden McDonald has been here for two years.

He’s played 247 snaps. Tywhon Malone has been here for two years after spending two years at Old Miss. Overall, he’s played 250 snaps in his career, but as a Buckeye, he has played 144 snaps and only 95 of them came last year. Edrick Houston has been here for a year and he played 141 snaps last year, but not all of those were at defensive tackle. That came halfway through the season. Jason Moore has been here for two years. He’s played 65 snaps. Will Smith has been here for two years and he’s played 34.

snaps. Hiro Kanu had been here for three years and played 230 snaps. I don’t know if they don’t need to go on the portal, Andrew, if Hiro Kanu is still here because they might still feel the need to, but it does feel a little less pressing to reach for somebody in the portal if you felt like you were leaving the spring with at least three guys instead of in a situation where

You know, Cade McDowd and Edric Houston are probably going to be pretty good for you, even though Edric Houston is full-time defensive tackle for the first time in his career. And now you’re asking between Taiwan Malone, Jason Moore and Will Smith, one of those guys to be your number three.

Andrew (21:06.186)

Yeah. this is a really interesting dynamic. It’s, it’s, it’s like that line from the, it’s like that Leo line where it’s you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention. I don’t know if I’m in attention yet, but I definitely am curious about this defensive line. because you got Cade McDonald and Andrew Houston, and you need, like you said, Taiwan Malone, Jason Moore, Will Smith. need

I mean, you need a two deep there. I’m going to throw Eric Mensah into that because that he’s a second year player. It’s like, is he do you think comfortable enough to be? I don’t know. 10, 15 snaps a game.

I don’t know. And, you know, I think there are lot of parallels and obviously growing parallels from the NFL to college football. But I think as of right now, as we talk about this team, we’re kind of at the same level of, you know, football talk as I’m sure Brown’s talk is or Orange and Brown talk is where they’re talking about it going, hey, they have this issue.

but look at the free agency market right now, you’re not going to get a starter. Like odds are you’re not going to get a, Hey, this dude’s going to come in and immediately be a all big 10 player. This dude’s going to come in and immediately be, you know, this kind of standout one, not just because it’s hard to find, but two, because you got Cade McDonnell and then Andrew Houston there. I just, you need depth there. And it’s like, okay, but if you go get somebody out of the portal,

You if you go get a big body, yeah, that can help. But are they going to be that much better than Taiwan, Malone, Jason Moore, Will Smith and Eric Mensah? Like how much is it an improvement, I should say, to go get somebody like that? And that’s the question that I think Ohio State has to ask, because I think, yeah, they need, you know, depth there and they need somebody to step up and some buddies to step up. But at some point, you just need your guys to play well, like.

Andrew (23:19.702)

At some point you need Jason Moore to play like a top 100 recruit. Like at some point you need Tyone Malone to play like a fifth year senior. Like at some point you need these guys to just step up and play well. And there’s just, there’s a lot going on there and there’s a lot of interesting talking points about this interior defensive line depth.

Stephen Means (23:37.854)

You mentioned Eric Mensah, he’s played seven career snaps and none of them came against a powerful four opponent. So that’s a. I don’t even think that’s a. A realistic jump is like, hey, you’ve never played a powerful opponent. Are you ready to play 10 snaps a game for us? But they got it.

Hero canoe ending up being this big of a hit for Ohio State. think maybe you didn’t realize it in real time because again, they have options. There’s five guys to choose from, but it seems like right now only two of those five have stepped up to the plate while the other three are maybe more of a question mark than you were expecting them to be. And as a result, there is a good chance they maybe will go portal hunting this off season for that position. That might not be the only place they go looking for a portal guy in the spring, but it’s just the one guy where

After one scrimmage, it seems pretty prevalent that they’re going to do it. And it’s going to be interesting to see. We’re like, we’re gonna get a chance to be in there this Saturday for the second scrimmage. Maybe things take a jump. Maybe it was just the first scrimmage and things weren’t always great. Ryan, they mentioned there’s emotions were kind of running high during the scrimmage on Saturday and on Monday during practice, which is he didn’t say that in a negative way. said it as a positive almost because he gets it. There’s a lot of positions that are opening guys with battling.

So maybe guys settle in a little bit more. We see a better product from the defensive tackles on Saturday. Well, let’s take a break there. And then we’re gonna get our textures involved with something I asked Ryan Day about here on Pukkite Talk.

Stephen Means (25:09.238)

We’re back in a bucket talk. Steve and me, Stefan Christ, Nick and Andrew Gillis were talking to you after Ohio State’s eighth spring practice and talking with Brian Day. We’re back in the building today as you’re listening to this, talking with the cornerbacks and the safeties. Quick news thing. Max Claire, the first newcomer to lose his black stripe this spring, the Purdue transfer tight end has lost his black stripe. That’s a good thing. He’s got I’m all for the I’m all for the transfers getting it out the way as quickly as possible and not especially transferable. You’re expecting them to be plug and play guys.

So the quicker they lose it, the better. Myles Lockhart lost his on Saturday as a holdover from last year as well. So two guys down, a lot more guys to go here. Let’s see how quickly, speaking of cornerbacks, Devin Sanchez can maybe lose his black stripe.

Stefan Krajisnik (25:52.749)

I was going to say Jeremiah set the bar that shouldn’t freshmen stand out and said, what’s, what’s wrong with the quarterback room?

Stephen Means (26:01.514)

I’m going to save those thoughts for tomorrow because I can to that. think you’re joking because it’s a it’s just funny. But there are definitely people out there who are like, I don’t know, man. Devin Sanchez keep up with JJ. It’s like JJ is not the bar for anything but JJ Marvin Harrison Jr. called him. Well, I called him the LeBron James of football. But when Mark says it, it sounds a little better, obviously, because he played the position. So

Stefan Krajisnik (26:22.372)

Yeah, that-

Stephen Means (26:31.956)

There. There’s that. Anyway.

Stefan Krajisnik (26:35.021)

Yes. It should be normal for an all Big Ten transfer to be the first guy to lose his black stripe. Not a freshman who is sent from God.

Stephen Means (26:41.15)

You know, like, you know, the dude who’s like the best returning tight end in college football, pretty normal. Okay. So I asked Ryan Day two questions on Monday. I’m kind of using the spring more to talk about bigger picture stuff now. Cause okay, cool. You told me not to care about the quarterback battle. So I’m gonna care about the quarterback battle and that’s it’s be right. He can ask about defensive tackles and stuff like that. Andrew asked recruiting questions. I’m just asking random stuff.

Asked Ryan Day, is the Caleb downs running back thing still a thing? He said, no, not in the spring. Some of that is because Caleb downs is not fully healthy and are trying to get him back from a nagging injury, which shouldn’t be that difficult because he’s not really doing anything in the spring anyway. They’ll revisit and fall though. Something tells me partially it’s the injury thing, but partially like maybe they’re just not open to the idea of doing it with Caleb anymore. And that might be a two way street for both Caleb and from the coaching staff, but fine, whatever. The other thing I asked him about

Andrew was Colorado and Syracuse tried to have a joint spring practice and it sparked a question in my head that I got our textures involved in. But I also asked Ryan day about it. I’m not going to read his quote because I’m just going to translate it for you. He essentially said if teams want to do that, yeah, they should get the NCAA to let them do it. I think that would be a great idea. We not doing it. I mean, am I wrong? That far was that not essentially what that’s great for you guys.

Stefan Krajisnik (28:07.151)

Essentially Halloween. Steven asked two questions and he got no on both of them. He asked about Caleb Downs at running back and that was a no. And then he asked about, it was kind of a no. And then he asked about the spring games against someone else and that was a no.

Stephen Means (28:07.23)

We will not be doing it over here.

Stephen Means (28:13.014)

I did.

Stephen Means (28:24.2)

a problem with the nose though it’s a definitive answer you yeah there’s no like leaving it up for space i thought he was to this i i knew that the the first one was probably going to get a no i thought to the second one he would be a little bit more coy and do the coach speed yeah yeah just kind of brush it off and not and answer it in a way where i could translate it to what i just said but

Stefan Krajisnik (28:27.747)

Yeah, that.

Andrew (28:43.593)

we’ll see. Yeah, we’ll have to look into it. Yeah.

Stephen Means (28:52.03)

not be so obvious that you don’t even need a translator for it, but he just like went for it. said, no, fine, whatever. Ohio State’s not going to do it.

BUT

Let’s have some fun with anyway. If Ohio State were to do it, whether it’s a joint practice or a spring game, I asked our texters 614-350-315 two week free trial through that. And after that, who would you like to see them do it with? And I’ll start with the people who are in line with Ryan Day and just didn’t like it. We got one texter who was just like bad idea. Mad respect, because that’s what see what Ryan Day said.

Couple others who did not like it, 262, don’t want it because exhibition or not, would mean something. Whether that be for recruiting negatives outweigh the positives, future AP playoff rankings being skewed or potential for injury. It happens all the times in the pros. Ryan Day did touch on that, the injury part of it, because there is like a code when you’re going through spring practice, you’re not really tackling, it’s the tackle, but also when you’re doing it with your teammate, there’s no motivation for you to try to knock the lights out of your teammate. When you bring an opponent in,

Everybody doesn’t apply by the same rules. And so you’re being vulnerable to whatever. And I do agree with that. That happens in the pros a lot, which is why you see a lot of fights coming out of those joint practices. The step on.

Stefan Krajisnik (30:14.707)

Specifically specifically when you’re the team that’s going to get targeted, right? Like Caleb Downs has no incentive to light up a guy from the Mac. But hey, if you’re if you’re safety at Bowling Green, there’s a lot of incentives to lay a big hit on Jeremiah Smith. That’s not what I’m not saying to like cause injury, but like to get a highlight.

Stephen Means (30:19.039)

Right.

Right.

Right.

Right. And so I do.

Stephen Means (30:32.148)

Yeah, you want to? Yeah, you want to be the dude who says I knocked out Jeremiah Smith in the football field? I get that. So I respect that. The other part of it, though, I think is really intriguing that they typed into Stefan future AP future rankings. Like, should that even be? I don’t know. Like, would you care?

Stefan Krajisnik (30:50.351)

I get it. I don’t think it would factor because basketball does it. They have these preseason games that you know, our exhibitions and stuff. Yeah. And it winds up like not mattering. There’s more examples. The one off the of my head, just because I went to school, there was Indiana and Tennessee that basketball like preseason games. won. Indiana didn’t make the tournament and Tennessee made it to the Elite 8. So like these games obviously don’t matter. I don’t think they affect at least postseason AP much. Maybe the preseason poll, but

Stephen Means (30:56.798)

these secret preseason games.

Stephen Means (31:02.101)

Mm-hmm.

Stefan Krajisnik (31:20.373)

When you would get to the college football playoff, I don’t think you would.

Stephen Means (31:24.054)

From the 419, seems like a bad idea. NFL teams always had fights. Would only make sense to do it against a similar level program. A Cincinnati player might see a scrimmage against OSU as his opportunity to show something for big schools. So he might try to play hard and get hurt or hurt someone else. I agree with that. From the 419, the idea of playing a legitimate opponent in the spring doesn’t appeal to me, mainly because neither team would be all in for an exhibition. I think the more likely option would be a group of five school, where OSU could still take it easy on the stars.

And the twos and threes to get a different look than a normal practice. Plus it would be a way to get additional revenue for a smaller school that needs that kind of exposure to survive. I think that’s what it’s, it’s cause you already see it during the regular season, Andrew, right? Ohio State is going to play OU this year and OU is going to get paid to get its butt whipped. And that’s all over the country. You see teams play that big school, small school will pay you $800,000 or something like that to come get your butt whipped for a little bit. It’s a cool experience for you.

and we can rest our stars. That’s what I’m thinking with this type of idea is yeah, you’re going to sell this idea that I don’t know, Ken state’s going to come get a chance to cover Jeremiah, but you’re not going up against Jeremiah Smith. You’re going to spend most of the day going up against Quincy Porter.

Andrew (32:38.346)

Yeah, so well, there’s a there’s a lot to touch on there. I think for schools such as Syracuse and Colorado, like it makes sense. Like I think for schools that are in that tier, it makes sense. But like. I saw one of our textures send out, I would love if they played the in-state Mac schools. And I think that’s a good idea in theory.

Stephen Means (32:48.288)

Mm-hmm.

Andrew (33:09.112)

But like, with all due respect to the Mac, I mean, they’re just nowhere close to the level of competition that Ohio State is at, And additionally, everybody’s saying, Ohio State wouldn’t want this. Why would Ohio, it wouldn’t make Ohio State better. Okay. The Bobcats wouldn’t want it. yeah, but get, okay. I mean, first off, one, how much money is there gonna be? And two,

Stephen Means (33:30.07)

think the Bobcats would take the money.

Andrew (33:38.67)

What happens? No, I’m saying for like the spring game, like for like this spring. Yeah. What’s that? I mean, the ticket sales are not going to be of that of a normal September game. Like you’re not going to sell. You’re not going to sell $150 tickets to this spring game if it’s Ohio versus Ohio State.

Stephen Means (33:39.222)

They’re literally on their schedule.

I would it’d be the same at all. Yeah, I don’t think that

Stefan Krajisnik (33:59.983)

I still think you’re gonna sell 100,000 tickets though.

Stephen Means (34:02.804)

Yeah, and they don’t

Andrew (34:03.508)

You’re gonna sell 100,000 tickets, they might just be five, $10 a piece. Like they’re not gonna be all that expensive. So it’s like, yeah, okay. But yeah, but then there’s operating cost, there’s a whole bunch of stuff, but I guess.

Stephen Means (34:07.604)

Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Stefan Krajisnik (34:10.063)

$500,000.

Stephen Means (34:14.134)

I think you’re selling math schools too high for how much money they have in athletic department.

Andrew (34:18.936)

But I’m also, but like what happens when Ohio State decides to do this with Toledo and all of sudden Toledo’s got this linebacker who’s really good that the Rockets know about. And this dude starts showing up and he’s from Toledo and Ohio State didn’t really recruit him. And all of sudden he starts making a lot of plays and all of sudden Ohio State goes, who’s that guy? And James Orinaitis looks at his staff and goes, who’s that guy? Like.

If you’re some of these littler schools that are already in some ways feeder programs for the bigger schools, I don’t know if you want that. I think if you’re Ohio state, it’s like, we’re not going to get better by scheduling some of these programs. Like the way that it would make sense. It’s a fun idea, but the way that it would have to make sense for Ohio state is you’re playing like Notre Dame, right? Like you’re playing Tennessee.

You’re playing, like somebody in this area, you’re probably not gonna go across the country and play like Texas A but you’re playing somebody that can make you better. So I think it’s just a really fun idea, but I think the more you start to map it out, especially for programs like Ohio State, you go, I just don’t know if this is, I don’t know if the juice is worth the squeeze.

Stephen Means (35:34.772)

I think Toledo is going to lose that linebacker anyway as soon as he touches the field.

Andrew (35:38.75)

Right, but why would you hasten that departure if you’re Toledo wouldn’t Toledo much rather wouldn’t Toledo much rather schedule? Wouldn’t Toledo much rather go play Middle Tennessee State? You know, you see what I’m saying? Like wouldn’t they rather play that? That’s what I’m saying. And but I think it’s the same with the top Ohio State should want to play the bigger programs. But then I don’t even know what the benefit is.

Stephen Means (35:43.304)

At least you get it for the 25 season.

Stephen Means (35:50.44)

I don’t know. I don’t know, man. I don’t know.

Stephen Means (35:59.688)

I don’t think there’s a world where you’re playing the bigger program. think if this is going to be bit, this is not about like, there’s going to be a financial benefit for them playing the Mac schools. But anyway, here’s some people who loved it. Five one three in state Mac schools from a two one six Bama or Miami. That’s interesting. From the seven to four, one of the best high schools in the nation for more recruiting. Who we’re talking about Mac schools, but that would be an ugly game. The best high school.

team in the country would lose to the worst college football team.

Stephen Means (36:35.58)

Actually, no, yeah, they would lose to the worst. The best high school football team in the country would lose to the worst college football program in the country.

Andrew (36:38.584)

Wait, repeat that one more time. The best...

Stephen Means (36:48.64)

Yeah.

Andrew (36:50.028)

Yeah.

Stefan Krajisnik (36:50.307)

Probably the image I have in my head is that the Cooper flag, Derek Queen high school team that could definitely in basketball beat the worst.

Andrew (36:57.038)

Basically, you’re saying IMG is going to go play Kent State. That’s what you’re. Yeah.

Stephen Means (37:00.372)

Yeah, because that’s the difference in basketball. There’s not a physical element that’s so different between high school and college and college to the NFL. A lot of people said West Virginia and Pitt because they’re neighboring schools and they’re not big 10 schools. So you don’t have to worry about some of that crossover from the 513. Yeah. From the 513. How about Michigan for total interest? No, seriously a team like Picker Kentucky because they’re not the same conference that would I can’t do.

Stefan Krajisnik (37:03.875)

Right.

Andrew (37:16.62)

I saw Kentucky as well, if for that same reason.

Andrew (37:27.874)

Okay, by the way, did somebody really say Michigan? Okay, good, because I was gonna say, was like, you think there’s like fights at the the like the NFL things when they do this? Imagine Aaron Donald swinging the helmets at people in that Ohio State Michigan game.

Stephen Means (37:30.986)

They were joking. They were joking.

Stephen Means (37:36.374)

I told you this is a huge deal.

Stephen Means (37:40.958)

No, I just don’t want to mentally have to prepare for an Ohio State Michigan spring game ever from Jack and two eight one. I don’t like the idea for a variety of reasons, but if it were to happen, scrimmaging against Kentucky, West Virginia or Pitt makes the most logistical sense. And it’s against teams from the other conference. So there, there may be more of a benefit to Ohio State from the five seven four, because it’s an ex exhibition. I don’t know why I struggled with that word. I think it’d be really cool to host games.

with much smaller schools. live in South Bend, Indiana and the local community college, Indiana University South Bend does exhibition baseball games with Notre Dame annually. So it happens to other sports from the two one six army or Navy. Just think it would be great having those opportunities to have classy programs on campus from nine four one, not against another powerhouse and not too far away. Someone like Michigan state, not Michigan. They put with exclamation points, Indiana or Illinois.

Three, two, one, North Carolina. That’s it. Just North Carolina. Cause Bill Belichick is there. That would be hilarious to watch Brian day have to coach against Bill Belichick for Mike Jackson and Toledo. I like this idea. Assuming you want non-conference power five teams to work against and someone relatively close to more Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Kentucky, or Tennessee from a three three Notre Dame, Miami and Alabama. That’s twice Alabama and Miami in the same text. A few more before we get out of here from the six one four.

I would like them to go against a team like Oklahoma State, someone from a completely different power conference that they’re not likely to play against. From the 9-3-7, should it the Ohio Mac teams or use the Big Ten teams that are not on the schedule that year? From Harry in Philadelphia, I would like to see combined practices with either Alabama, Georgia, LSU. This would be a good matchup between three SEC powerhouse teams, giving Ohio State the chance to master their skills where needed and give them a sense of what they need to accomplish for several national titles in the years to come.

and how they need to achieve it. In my opinion, why I chose SEC teams is because of their speed and quickness on both offense and defense and how they throw and run the ball. It would be good for players and especially the coaches to see how they need to evaluate their weaknesses and how to adjust and make good play calling during the season. In regards to a spring exhibition game, I think it would make sense for OSU to go against an SEC team in the likes of Alabama because it would bring out the best of both teams. In my opinion, both teams are pretty well equaled in talent and coaching.

Stephen Means (40:02.806)

or the previous national championship team, which I don’t know if that’s possible. They’re saying going against the previous national championship team, but that means you’d have to double some players. You’d have to clone Jeremiah Smith, clone Caleb Downs, down the list here. A couple more and then we’ll get out of here. So from Scott and Charleston, South Carolina, Cincinnati, no offense to the Mac, but they’re the only other Ohio program that has talent in the same stratosphere as Ohio State. The hour and a half long drive is no big deal for that matter.

They could alternate practices between Columbus and Cincinnati or hold a practice and date. Could be a fun tradition. I don’t hate that. In fact, I think the basketball team should already be doing that.

Andrew (40:40.78)

I was gonna say that that feels very basketball-y to me rather than football, yeah.

Stephen Means (40:46.026)

Yeah. Okay. Last one. I wanted to end with this one because I’m curious why they chose this spring, this school specifically, Caleb in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, Kansas state would be fun because of their starting quarterback. He is poised to have a great year. Also, Will Howard’s younger brother is an offensive lineman there that is true. younger brother is still there. So it’d be fun to have him in Columbus. Any sec school would be interesting. And out of the blue pick for me would be old dominion.

I really like their aesthetic plus their starting quarterback is the second division one quarterback from down in town West after Will Howard was the first. There is a pretty clear bias here, but it would be interesting to see. I read that one because I think it’s interesting that the downtown native chose Will Howard’s former school.

Andrew (41:27.672)

So time out real quick.

Yep. So you said you said this person was from Downing Town, picked Kansas State and their name was what?

Stephen Means (41:37.8)

Yes. Yup.

Caleb.

Andrew (41:43.086)

All right, yeah, thanks, quote unquote, Caleb. Thanks, Caleb. Hey, thanks for listening, Will. We really appreciate it. Come on the podcast sometime. We would love to have you, 614-350315. Just let us know. So yeah, thanks, Caleb. See you soon, Caleb.

Stefan Krajisnik (41:58.477)

I’m more impressed that I’m more impressed that will subscribe to the text that he does. God, I looked at the pod. That’s impressive.

Andrew (42:02.862)

Yeah.

Stephen Means (42:06.742)

Caleb has been a long time Texan listener. So we do appreciate you. It’s just funny because that was good. That was good. It’s like, Hey, let’s choose the school that didn’t want Will Howard anymore. And also choose the school that has the other quarterback from the hometown there. Respect to that. That was fun. Ryan Day’s not doing it. And I don’t blame him for not doing it. I don’t blame any of the schools in the top tier of college football for not wanting to do this. I think it’s weird that schools of Nebraska’s

Caliber are scared to do this because they’re scared to get their players poached. It’s like dude, you can also poach There’s no rules the NCAA Has decided there’s just no rules so we can just do whatever we want until this summer and we see how the house handles this bill Yeah, eventually there will be some rules. Hopefully hopefully because right now this is lawless and a little bit ridiculous So once those rules come into place, that’s where we’re go first the text 6 1 4 3 5 0 3 3 1 5 2 week free trial 399 after that

Andrew (42:51.372)

Now everyone’s guessed right.

Stephen Means (43:06.122)

That was Ryan Day. As you’re listening to us again, we’re back in the Woody talking with the cornerbacks and the safeties. And that’s what we’ll be talking about later this week. And along with later this week on Saturday, we’ll be in building for the second scrimmage. So we’ll get to see for ourselves where Ohio State stands as it makes its push towards the 2025 regular season for Stefan Christ, Nick and Andrew Gillis on Stephen Means. That was Pukai Talk.