0:00

Hey, hey,

0:02

where you

0:05

been? Buck

0:18

I talk is about to begin.

0:21

Hey, hey, come

0:24

on in. Welcome

0:32

back to Buck I talk. I'm

0:34

Steven Nienz. He's Andrew Gillis and

0:36

it's another recruiting pod. Andrew was

0:39

out in Canton, Ohio on Sunday

0:41

at the Under Armour showcase.

0:44

I can't remember what those things are called. But

0:46

one of the many things that's going to be

0:48

going on in the recruiting world over the next

0:50

couple of months here, you got showcases, you got

0:52

Elite 11, you've got the camps coming up in

0:54

June. We're in that window now where there's not

0:56

really football, it's just non football

0:58

news. So revenue sharing things

1:00

and then recruiting. That's what

1:02

May is all about. That's what June is all about.

1:05

And that's what the early parts of

1:07

July are all about. Maybe we'll get a chance

1:09

to talk with assistants to wrap up the spring

1:11

at some point this month. But if not, then

1:13

this is what we're gonna be doing a lot

1:15

of recruiting stuff, a lot of just big picture

1:17

stuff. So today, recruiting thing, Andrew was up in

1:20

Canton, Ohio doing that he talked with Marquise Davis,

1:22

Bo Jackson, Eli Lee, Justin Hill and Taylor and

1:24

Taylor, we're gonna get into all those guys. Let's

1:27

start with the one guy who is already in

1:29

Ohio State commit Eli Lee, number 569,

1:31

number 66 linebacker in the 2025 recruiting class Ohio

1:36

State 13 commits as the number one class in

1:38

the country number two class actually in the country

1:40

down they fell back Andrew,

1:43

I think this might

1:45

have been the first time you got a chance to

1:47

see Eli do football thing second

1:49

time. Second, I was up Yeah, I saw

1:51

him play hoeben and St. Ed's during Okay,

1:53

so that was a great game for me

1:56

because they have the Armstrong twins. There

1:58

were a couple other guys that are getting considered So yeah, that was

2:00

the second time I've seen him do football things. Okay.

2:02

So it's been about six months since you've

2:04

seen him do football things. And we're talking

2:06

about teenagers who are constantly rapidly growing. He's

2:08

listed as six foot three, 215 pounds. How

2:12

much of that just based off the eye test still

2:14

measures up to what you were able to see this

2:16

weekend from the Eli Lee. Well, if

2:18

he is, if he is 215 pounds, um, it is a different

2:21

215 pounds than

2:24

when I saw him in October. I

2:27

saw him play as I look up at my

2:29

board where I have my media passes. That was

2:31

October 20th, October 20th. Hogan

2:33

played Ed's. Uh, I

2:35

saw him on April

2:38

28th and his legs

2:40

looked like tree trunks. He

2:43

got significantly bigger in the last couple

2:45

of months. And I think that that's

2:47

pretty notable. Um, he

2:50

just, the physical transformation that these kids

2:52

make, it is kind of staggering. Um,

2:55

you know, I mean, you see a kid in, you

2:57

know, the fall and you look at him, you know, kind

3:00

of midway through the spring and you go, whoa, that,

3:03

that looks different, he looks like a different person,

3:05

you know, like he just, he just looks like

3:07

a grownup now. He looks like an adult now.

3:10

Um, but the physical transformation, I think

3:12

it was pretty notable. Um, obviously

3:15

the, the staff really liked him. They've kind of

3:17

compared him to a, uh,

3:19

to a Tommy Eichenberg type of player. Um,

3:22

if they have TJ Allford in the class two, he's

3:24

going to play the will. So they got, I,

3:27

uh, so they got Eichenberg,

3:29

they got Lee at the mic

3:31

linebacker. They got offered at the will. They kind

3:33

of liked that combination. You know, they compared TJ

3:35

Allford to Jerome Baker and

3:37

Ryan Chazier and players in that type of

3:39

mold. So I think that that's a pretty

3:41

good one, two punch. I think, you know,

3:44

Eli was, was pretty happy with TJ. You

3:46

know, he said that their, uh, their relationship is

3:48

growing that, you know, he kind of knew what was

3:50

going to happen. He said, he told them that, you know,

3:53

he told them what was going down. It sounded like it

3:55

was before. Um, sounded like

3:57

it was before, uh, TJ committed to Ohio state about

3:59

a month. ago. So yeah, Eli, you

4:01

know, pretty big physical transformation. I thought that

4:03

that was pretty notable. You know, we just

4:06

he looks the part. He's a bigger guy

4:08

now. He's a bigger kid now. If

4:12

there and if there were a player like that

4:14

would be locked in on this defensive side of

4:16

the ball, you feel pretty

4:18

good that Eli Lee is gonna remain in this

4:20

class. You know, everybody always says, you know, we

4:22

do get these texts from our, you know,

4:24

from our tech subscribers or, you know, you

4:27

know, tweets from random people on on Twitter

4:29

or whatever saying, why should I care about

4:31

recruiting? It's never finalized because it's not until

4:33

you put pen to paper. Well, if

4:36

there were a player that you feel pretty good about it, Eli

4:38

Lee. Eli Lee is pretty

4:40

locked in. His official visit is May

4:42

31st and he said

4:45

he's gonna be down here just about every other

4:47

weekend trying to get as many kids as possible

4:50

to join the to join the Ohio State defensive

4:52

class, which is already really, really good. So Eli

4:55

Lee, big physical transformation. You feel

4:57

good about him staying in the class. I

5:00

think that that's one where, you know, maybe the

5:02

rankings might not be reflective as

5:04

to what kind of player Ohio State is getting. So

5:09

you mentioned the physical transformation there, which can

5:11

happen when you're 16, 17 years

5:13

old, you're constantly growing. And right now he's slated to

5:15

be a linebacker. You said that they're expecting him to

5:17

be a will linebacker right

5:19

now. They're expecting Eli to be a mic and they're

5:22

expecting TJ to be a will. Yes. Does

5:24

it still we're projecting

5:26

out here because linebackers who

5:28

are teenagers can very easily turn into

5:30

defensive ends when they're in college simply

5:32

because of the physical growth that's going

5:34

to continue to happen there. Does

5:36

it look like he's still physically growing?

5:38

And if so, could

5:41

that projection of oh, he's going to be

5:43

a line might linebacker potentially change because of

5:45

that? No, I

5:48

see him as a linebacker. I think, you

5:50

know, when you when you look at him,

5:52

you definitely start to see the comparisons to

5:54

Tommy Eichenberg, you know, bigger guy, more stout

5:56

guy, but I don't think, you know, this

5:58

is going to be You know, he

6:01

grows so tall or so big that he has

6:03

to play defensive end or the stack or something

6:05

like that This kid's a linebacker You

6:08

know just physically I think you see the

6:10

the strength and and and kind of that

6:12

has grown for him So yeah with

6:15

with with Eli Lee, I think you're

6:17

feeling pretty solid about about

6:19

linebacker and specifically Mike Okay,

6:23

let's stay on defense and let's transition to

6:25

a defensive line and then Justin

6:27

Hill number 126 player Number

6:30

13 edge rusher out of Winton wood since that

6:32

Ohio same high school was mine Williams same high

6:35

school was Jermaine Matthews drain Matthews has been very

6:37

much in the camp of

6:40

I'm also recruiting Justin Hill to Ohio State. He

6:42

is publicly Kind

6:44

of a lauded Ohio State's fan base. Hey, we got to get

6:46

this guy. We got to get this guy Listen at six four

6:48

three two hundred and twenty pounds Was

6:51

Justin Hill if I asked

6:53

you to name it Not actually name

6:55

them but think of a list of

6:57

the top five most impressive players you saw on

7:00

Sunday Would Justin Hill be on that

7:02

list and would he be closer to number one or

7:04

number five? Well, do you mean For

7:07

Ohio State's perspective or do you mean from everybody at

7:09

the camp? I'm talking everybody at the camp Oh,

7:11

he's closer to one than he is closer to five He

7:14

was really good. If you if you

7:17

saw my tweet, I tweeted out our

7:19

YouTube link If you're not already like

7:21

go check out our YouTube page You

7:23

know, I put up a couple YouTube shorts about this Justin

7:27

Hill pretty much bodied Owen's tree

7:29

big and You

7:32

know, I thought I looked at one of the

7:34

recruiting writers after this rep happened and I went

7:37

I feel bad that I have To post this

7:39

but I do rushing rep. Yes,

7:41

and that's what I was gonna say. He should

7:44

have done that but okay Well,

7:46

yeah, so I so that so

7:48

I had this conversation. There was another recruiting writer

7:50

there Garak Hodge we

7:52

we had a conversation for a couple

7:54

of minutes about like, you know

7:57

Feeling bad about posting it because one we didn't want

7:59

to embarrass as the kid

8:01

that got planted. But two,

8:04

I had kind of ranted to him

8:06

before the drill started like, look

8:08

man, these drills suck because

8:10

you're not in pads. It

8:13

significantly favors the defense. Like there's

8:15

just, it's a one-on-one drill, you

8:18

know, and then it significantly favors the defense and then

8:21

all of a sudden the offensive player will just like

8:23

rip the guy's shirt off because

8:26

holding doesn't matter, there's no ref to call it and

8:28

it just turns into like a fist fight and it's

8:30

like, this is not football. This is

8:32

not the way that the game is played. So,

8:36

there is a lot

8:38

of holding in football, but it's like you're

8:41

ripping shirts off when you're doing it, I don't know.

8:44

So again, do you wanna think the bull

8:46

rush is something that-

8:50

You're literally not allowed to do it during these drills. That's why

8:52

I'm saying you should have done that. Like

8:54

in fact, because you're not, because of everything

8:56

you just listed, they're not supposed to bull

8:59

rush. Yeah. You're not in the drill. You

9:01

don't wanna get any more hurt. The whole point of the drill is

9:03

to see who can get all the ball quicker. Yeah.

9:07

I will say, the

9:10

Stree Big Kid is still a

9:12

really good football player. He's a Notre

9:14

Dame commit. He's a top 200 player. Like

9:18

that's a big kid, that's a big

9:20

deal. Like that's a good football player

9:23

and one that Ohio State would probably

9:25

love to have in their 2025 class. For

9:29

sure. And Justin Hill, whether or not

9:31

he should have done it or not, the

9:33

speed off the ball is

9:36

impressive. We

9:38

walked up and there was a gaggle

9:40

of us Ohio State reporters and

9:43

I looked at him and I was like, Justin Hill's gotta put on

9:45

some weight because he did not

9:47

look big. And

9:49

then he did that and I went,

9:52

oh, okay. I

9:55

would bet Justin Hill is probably like 220 right

9:57

about now. Which

10:00

we can get into why that might be significant in

10:02

a minute, but the speed and

10:04

then more importantly the speed to

10:06

power Was really

10:08

impressive. So should he

10:11

have done that maybe if you follow No,

10:16

he's like it's the rule so no he should not

10:19

have done it the I

10:21

mean there is a limit though You can't just

10:23

tell kids like hey don't play don't

10:26

do don't do what you've been doing for ten

10:28

years playing football I understand they tell them you

10:30

are not allowed to bull rush because they're not

10:32

this is not like a I'm

10:35

aware this isn't a matter of opinion but

10:39

The the point is the speed to

10:41

power Very very

10:43

impressive the athleticism the bend

10:46

and the twitchiness very very impressive

10:49

So the question is as we talk about his size

10:51

which obviously I mean he's not he's not a college

10:53

football Well, wait strength the conditioning program. So of course,

10:56

he's not the size that he needs to be the

10:58

plan of 4-3, but Ohio

11:01

State's had this position kicking around for the last couple

11:03

of years and I'm not really used it outside of

11:05

Jack Sawyer in year One and that's the Jack but

11:08

it does feel like they're starting to recruit some

11:10

guys who could play it Joshua Mick and Azaria

11:12

On the roster. Maybe our Val Reese has a

11:14

future in that long term It's

11:16

Justin Hill a guy that maybe fits that role

11:18

if Ohio's it ever wanted to bring it out

11:20

that Jack position Indeed I think

11:23

that you know, he he's getting

11:25

recruited said Larry Johnson's not super involved

11:28

in that which I thought was really

11:30

interesting James

11:32

Laurinitis is is the guy

11:34

who is really talking with him. He

11:36

talks to James or not. It's a lot Jim

11:39

knows a lot Ryan day a lot Tim

11:41

Walton is involved as well. I

11:44

mean Tim Walton's like the area recruiter for that

11:46

area So in the Witten Woods

11:48

in the Cincinnati area, so Tim Walton's involved. So

11:51

That to me was kind of went

11:54

interesting Ohio

11:57

State, it sounds like wants to play

11:59

him in a of different spots,

12:01

whether that's defensive end, whether that's

12:03

the jack, whether that's a linebacker

12:05

that can drop into coverage. And I thought,

12:07

so the coaching thing I thought was interesting,

12:09

because I thought that that illustrated a good

12:11

point of, hey, look

12:15

at this, here's the way that they want

12:17

to use him and the coaching that

12:19

he's going to be getting, that kind

12:21

of maybe illustrates where they view him. I

12:24

also thought it was really interesting. So we were

12:26

waiting for him to talk, because

12:28

the way these things work is there

12:30

were probably like 50 defensive ends

12:33

and probably 50 offensive linemen ish.

12:35

I would have to, I mean, I would have to check the exact numbers,

12:37

but there's just all

12:39

kinds of kids sitting there, you know, they take

12:41

a knee and they give out like a few

12:44

camp awards and then they watch, they

12:46

watch the awards happen. And then they,

12:49

then they kind of get up and it's a free

12:51

for all. And the parents are standing there. Some

12:53

of these kids drive themselves, but like, if you're close

12:55

enough, but like the parents are standing

12:58

there. So kids are talking with other kids,

13:00

they're talking with other players, because this is a cool

13:02

thing for these kids. You get to meet

13:04

a kid that you might not get to meet who's

13:06

from Detroit, who's got a Michigan and Michigan State offer,

13:08

right? So they're all kind of milling

13:10

about. And Justin Hill's talking to somebody

13:12

and all the Ohio State beat members kind of

13:14

descend upon him. And I was like, let's just

13:16

get them all, let's just do all these interviews

13:18

at once, you know, get better answers, don't make

13:20

them wait. And we look, I

13:22

looked at Justin Hill's wrist and I went, where do you

13:24

think his head is at? He had

13:26

an Ohio State bracelet on, he

13:29

had an Alabama bracelet on, and

13:31

he had a USC bracelet on. He

13:34

told us later that Oregon is in that mix.

13:37

And I think when you go to the physicians, that

13:40

to me is really interesting as well, because those

13:42

four schools are kind of the four schools that

13:44

are in on him. But he

13:46

mentioned that Oregon kind of wants to use him in a

13:49

similar way than Ohio State does, you know, moving

13:51

around, can play as an off-ball player that blitzes

13:53

a quarterback, you can play in coverage, you can

13:55

do a lot of different things. USC,

13:57

he said, plays a deep, defense

14:00

like the Baltimore Ravens and they want to have

14:02

him as like a stand up edge player. And

14:05

that's what they see him as. A

14:07

stand up edge player that sounds like just

14:09

blitzes a quarterback and just, you know, plays

14:11

in that role, but he just stands up.

14:14

Alabama is recruiting him as, I mean, Alabama

14:16

runs 34. They're

14:18

recruiting him as just a typical outside linebacker, you know,

14:21

the guy that can blitz, the guy that can drop

14:23

back in coverage into the flats and things like that.

14:25

So I thought that that was really interesting too, because it's

14:27

not just Ohio State that views him as like, Oh, he

14:29

could be our Jack or he could be a linebacker. He

14:32

could be this. You

14:34

got programs all around the country, Alabama,

14:36

USC, Oregon, that

14:38

think this dude can play a bunch of different

14:41

things, right? They're not all recruiting him as a

14:43

defensive end in Ohio State's an outlier. They're all

14:45

recruiting him because they think he is

14:47

that good of an athlete that he can

14:49

fit their defense specifically. So yeah, Justin

14:52

Hill, really unique prospect and a really

14:54

talented one at that. That's

14:59

going to be interesting to watch because

15:02

they're not going to use it

15:04

this year, but he's signing somewhere in

15:06

December. Yes. At least

15:08

we don't think they're going to use it this year. I say

15:10

that now and then they throw it out there against Oregon in

15:12

like the second series and we're like, Whoa, I finally use it.

15:15

And then CJ Hicks playing the Jack. Whoa.

15:17

So maybe not. Maybe, but they haven't used

15:20

it yet. And if they go through another

15:22

year where they don't use it, because they don't have to,

15:24

right? They've got JC Twiemelow, Jack Sawyer,

15:26

Kanyana Jackson, you know, Cade and Curry. They could just

15:28

play a traditional four or three front and then sometimes

15:30

do the Eagle thing and sometimes be five to whatever.

15:32

They can do a whole bunch of different stuff. They

15:34

don't have to go with Jack. No,

15:37

it's something that Jim Knowles came to

15:39

Columbus with. He just hasn't had a

15:41

chance to use it. And if they go through another

15:43

year of not using it, I do

15:45

wonder with this kid, if he

15:48

willing to sign up to go

15:50

to a school to play a position that he

15:52

has no proof that they are committed to using

15:54

it yet. Did

15:56

anybody ask him any type of question like that?

16:00

No, that's a good question that I

16:02

should have asked at the time. Um,

16:05

that, uh, that would have been a good question asked. So maybe

16:07

the next time I see him, that's a, that's a good question

16:10

to, uh, to kind of put out

16:12

because one of the things that Larry Johnson does, I

16:14

know with recruiting that does matter to, um, you

16:17

know, a lot of kids is what Larry does

16:19

is Larry kind of shows him,

16:21

shows them clips and says like, this is

16:23

who I think you are and this

16:25

is what I think you can be. And I know that this happens

16:27

a lot, but, um, you know, with other different

16:30

schools, but, you know, I've been told that that's kind of

16:32

the, one of the things that Ohio

16:34

state does to recruit. So like

16:37

pulling out Oklahoma state clips from Jim

16:39

Knowles saying like, Hey, this

16:42

from 2019, this is what you are. Right?

16:45

Like I, I'm curious to see,

16:47

you know, how, uh, how that would

16:49

mix. So that's, that's a good question.

16:51

Um, good job,

16:53

Stephen means you stumped me. So

16:58

that's Justin Hill. Well, Hey, one more thing about

17:00

Justin Hill real quick, uh, wants to make, he's

17:02

going to make a couple of official visits. Ohio state

17:04

is on that list. Um, the,

17:07

uh, obviously hero may 31st. Yeah.

17:10

That's that sounds like it's going to be the bigger

17:12

Ohio state weekend. We'll have to see kind of how

17:14

things map out. Uh, he does want

17:16

to have his commitment on July 3rd. Uh,

17:19

July 3rd is his birthday. Um,

17:22

so it sounds like he is going to, uh,

17:24

be making his commitment on that day. So it's got

17:27

about two months. Um, you know, I have a couple

17:29

of official visits. I'll have a couple, um, things

17:31

to check out and then, uh, it sounds like we'll get

17:34

a decision the week before July. Okay.

17:36

So that's Justin Hill. Number

17:38

one, 26 player number 13, address your

17:40

house state with an opportunity to get a third

17:42

player from Winton wood high school down in Cincinnati

17:44

during the Rhine day era, of course, buying Williams

17:46

kick things off in the 2020 class. So

17:49

you had your main Matthews in the 2023 class,

17:53

and now you can potentially have Justin

17:55

Hill here in the 2025 class. take

18:00

a quick break then I'm gonna flip sides of

18:02

the ball and go to offense where Andrew talked

18:04

with a wide receiver plus an update on the

18:07

Ohio State running back search where in a class

18:09

where maybe they end up with two maybe they

18:11

end up with one but that's Carlos Laughlin transitions

18:13

from coaching at Oregon and coaching at Ohio State

18:15

how is that going and also what the impact

18:18

that Tony offers is a burden for Michigan has

18:20

been has been for Ohio State and we'll talk

18:22

more about that when we come back here on

18:24

Buckeye's off. So before we get

18:27

into the running back conversation Andrew did talk

18:29

with another wide receiver on Sunday. I'll stay

18:31

right now one wide receiver in this 2025

18:33

recruiting class in Desi Jones out of New

18:35

Jersey. They did have another one in J.

18:37

Von Boggs out of Florida but he'd

18:39

be committed after about four or five months in

18:41

the class and Desi Jones replaced him and

18:43

you talked with another one who looks like he

18:46

could be on Ohio State's radar and you on

18:48

Sunday, Talon Taylor out of Geneva Illinois the number

18:50

112 player number 13 wide receiver

18:52

as Brian Hartline continues to put together this

18:54

wide receiver class where we're not right quite

18:56

sure what it's going to look like. decoriam

18:58

or the top wide receiver in the country

19:01

was on campus with mother over the weekend

19:03

as well so a lot happening at wide

19:05

receiver even if it's not

19:07

coming together as quickly as maybe it has

19:09

in the past for Brian Hartline what were

19:11

your impressions of Talon Taylor this past weekend?

19:14

Yeah you know impressive kid

19:17

you know I don't think he had

19:19

his best day camping but

19:22

you know this is a kid who I

19:24

think is still a really talented football player

19:27

and I'm not gonna let you know one

19:29

camp in you know t-shirt and shorts and

19:31

tights you know kind of proved to me

19:33

that a kid can't play football you know

19:36

there are a couple of visits that

19:38

he's got scheduled he wants to visit

19:40

Notre Dame he's

19:42

going to visit Georgia he's

19:44

gonna visit Ohio State there's

19:47

a couple there's a couple on the

19:49

docket for him you know

19:51

as he kind of figures some things out as

19:53

he kind of works through his recruitment and

19:58

it's a unique one I think Talon

20:00

because Talon is a kid that

20:02

when you map out Ohio

20:04

State's class, I think Talon's place

20:07

in this class is

20:09

going to happen if Ohio State

20:11

can't get one or two guys.

20:15

So which sounds crazy considering how talented

20:17

of a football player he is, Talon,

20:20

did you see what I did there? He's

20:22

number 112 in the class, number 13

20:24

overall receiver. Ohio State already

20:27

has Des Jones, you

20:29

know, he's a kind of inside player. They want to

20:31

use Talon all over the place but I mean he's

20:33

six foot two, they're gonna use him a little bit

20:35

outside more than they would on this in the slot.

20:38

They've also got some other players, you

20:40

mentioned one of them, D'Corri more. He's

20:43

a number two or number three overall player in the

20:45

class, it's kind of fluctuated over the last couple of

20:47

days and weeks. Number two or number

20:49

three overall player in the class, anyway he's very good. He's

20:52

currently an LSU commit. Can

20:54

Ohio State get him? Can

20:56

Ohio State not only pull him out of

20:58

Texas and beat LSU and flip his commitment,

21:00

you're gonna have to beat out Texas and

21:03

you're gonna have to beat out, you

21:06

know, you have to beat out the home team in

21:08

that regard. So the the D'Corri

21:10

and more thing is interesting, can

21:12

they get him out? Then

21:14

there's Jamie French, he's currently uncommitted, he's

21:17

a five-star player. Is

21:19

Jamie French somebody that Ohio

21:21

State can pull? We'll

21:24

see. I think Ohio State obviously those two

21:26

are the number one and two receivers on

21:30

Ohio State's board right now and there's

21:32

Vernell Brown. He's

21:34

from Florida as well, Jamie French

21:36

is from Florida, from Mandarin, Vernell

21:39

is from Orlando. Florida's

21:42

been good to Brian Hartline and to

21:44

these receivers. So if

21:47

Ohio State wants four and

21:50

they get more French and

21:52

Vernell Brown, I don't know if

21:54

there's a spot for Talon Taylor. If

21:57

they get like one or two of those

21:59

guys, Then I think the

22:01

door opens up a little bit wider. There

22:05

are some other players in the

22:07

mix for Ohio State. When

22:10

you map out where the room can

22:13

go, you think of

22:15

a guy like a Phillip Bell. He's out

22:17

of California, four star player, number 150 overall

22:19

in the class. There's

22:22

a couple other guys where it's like, okay,

22:24

is this where the

22:26

board wants to settle with the

22:28

Buckeyes? We'll see. So,

22:32

Talon Taylor is an interesting kid because he's a

22:34

very good football player. He just

22:36

might be one of those very good football players

22:39

who there's not a spot for him at Ohio

22:41

State because Ohio State has a

22:43

couple other really talented prospects that they're looking

22:45

at bringing in. So, a couple of different

22:47

things are going to come down to that recruitment, how many

22:49

they take, and I think frankly who they get at the

22:51

top of this board. When you were watching

22:53

Talon, excuse me, I'm sorry, I was saying Talon

22:55

earlier, Talon, on Sunday, is

22:59

there any receiver, maybe Ohio State receiver, just

23:01

a receiver in general that he reminded you

23:03

of watching him move around? Not

23:06

particularly. There wasn't a

23:08

kid that I saw and went, whoa, that

23:10

is a spitting image of blank. For

23:16

example, I said that with Eli Lee where it's

23:18

like the staff said it and then I saw

23:21

him this past Sunday and you kind of turned into a believer

23:23

a little bit. I didn't get

23:25

that with Talon. I didn't

23:30

see like a spitting image in my

23:32

opinion of, hey, this guy

23:34

is, he's a Mecca,

23:36

Guca, but 16 years old, or

23:39

he's Chris Olave, but

23:41

16 years old or something like that. To

23:44

me, I didn't see that

23:47

type of comparison. So

23:56

what stood out about him? Just

23:59

in general as you were watching. Yeah, you know,

24:01

like I said, I don't think it was his best day, but

24:03

the size I think is really important.

24:07

You know, the size is a big deal. You

24:11

know, I think when you talk about

24:13

the level of

24:17

player that Ohio State recruits, he

24:19

certainly fits that like physical mold.

24:22

And you know, there are some kids you watch and

24:24

you're like, that's a good football player, but

24:27

he's not ever going to end up

24:29

at Ohio State because he's, you know,

24:31

five foot 11 or something like

24:33

that. And he's 150 pounds. And

24:36

that's just not going to work. Talon

24:38

has the physical attributes. And

24:40

I think, you know, the, I

24:42

thought he had good ball skills. Like I said, I don't

24:44

think he had his best day at the camp, but, you

24:46

know, good ball skills, good hands. I

24:49

just, I think physically he

24:52

kind of checks the boxes that you're

24:54

looking for. So we'll see,

24:57

you know, Notre Dame is really interested. He's

25:00

got a Georgia official visit scheduled as

25:02

well. So there's a couple

25:04

other big time programs that are, you know, that are

25:07

kind of stiffing around Talon. Okay,

25:10

let's wrap up with the running back conversation. And

25:12

I want to start with Bo Jackson, the

25:15

number 72 player and number five

25:17

running back at Cleveland, Ohio, Villa, Angela,

25:19

St. Joseph High School. One

25:22

name, larger running back

25:24

in the situation. I know you talked

25:26

with Bo Jackson on Sunday. First and

25:28

foremost, just what were

25:30

your impressions of him as you were watching him go through

25:32

drills and go through things on Sunday? And then what did

25:34

he have to say about where things stand with him in

25:36

Ohio State and during the summer? You

25:39

want to know what's funny about Bo Jackson?

25:42

His name isn't really Bo

25:44

Jackson. It's

25:46

Lamar. So

25:48

I thought that that was pretty funny that

25:52

either way, either

25:54

way, you're talking about a guy who

25:56

is repping a name that is going

25:59

to be hard. live up to. But

26:03

yeah, Beau, he's a quiet kid, didn't

26:06

really say too much. But

26:10

I mean, this is a guy who I

26:12

think Ohio

26:14

State has really kind of pushed

26:18

for of late, especially since

26:22

Carlos Lachlan got there. And we will

26:24

get into another situation with Carlos Lachlan

26:26

here later in the situation. I don't

26:28

mean that negatively, just another storyline with

26:30

Carlos Lachlan. But Ohio

26:33

State really wants Bo Jackson, you know, they there's

26:35

a player out in California, Jordan Davison, who is

26:37

at the top of their board at running back,

26:40

you know, I think that they would love to

26:42

have Jordan Davison and Bo

26:44

Jackson, that'd be two top 100 running backs

26:47

in the class. You

26:49

know, so with Bo, you know, it sounds

26:53

like there wasn't really an

26:55

impact from when Carlos Lachlan

26:57

came in and Tony Allford

26:59

departed. You know,

27:01

you know, the thing that he said to me

27:03

was that, you know, he was looking for a

27:05

family environment. You know, that's,

27:08

you know, that's something that, you know, he's

27:10

looking for in his recruitment. And does

27:14

it sound like platitudes? Does it sound like a cliche?

27:16

Did it sound like Andrew? Why did you just tell

27:18

me that? I think so. I would

27:21

say that if I were listening to this podcast as an

27:23

Ohio State fan. My counter to

27:25

that would be when

27:28

the players start repeating

27:31

things that the coaches are

27:33

telling them, you can start

27:36

to see alignment.

27:39

And you can start to kind of see that,

27:41

okay, one of the things that Lachlan has really

27:43

kind of brought up and one of the things that Ryan

27:45

Day talks about all the time is the word family and

27:47

brotherhood and hoorah, fight team, you

27:50

know, go team, fight win. Like you hear

27:52

all these words and you definitely

27:54

started to hear some of those buzzwords with Bo Jackson.

27:58

So, you know, I don't think that this is all a lock

28:00

by any means. I

28:03

don't think that he's 100% coming to Ohio State or

28:06

anything like that. I would say that Ohio State probably

28:08

leads right now in his recruitment.

28:12

But he's just a

28:14

good football player, man. And I'm

28:17

curious to see kind of where

28:19

this recruitment ends

28:22

up for him because you map

28:24

it out and he's

28:26

a stout kid, right? He's a big kid,

28:30

low to the ground, good runner. I

28:32

know Kentucky's involved. There are a lot of other programs that

28:34

are kind of sniffing around, but with

28:37

Bo, I think you're seeing the things you

28:39

want to see if you're Ohio State. Who

28:42

would you say is the biggest competition for him?

28:49

Kentucky, I know, is involved. They're

28:53

a program that has been kind of

28:55

sniffing around and

29:00

let's see, I'm trying to think of the other programs. There

29:04

wasn't another

29:06

one that really kind of stood out to me,

29:08

I would probably say Kentucky. That

29:11

would probably be the number one program that

29:13

is kind of a big problem because

29:16

he's got offers from

29:18

a couple of different places. The

29:21

Michigan stuff, it's interesting. It sounds like we're

29:24

with one player that we'll talk about in a minute. There

29:28

was a big switch and there was a big kind of

29:30

change when a coach leaves. Didn't

29:35

really tell me like that happened with Bo Jackson, so

29:37

I wouldn't really count Michigan in that list or anything

29:39

like that. He's

29:41

got 20 plus offers, but I think that

29:43

those two right now, Ohio State and Kentucky

29:46

are probably the biggest fish. So

29:48

if Ohio State wins out with

29:51

Bo Jackson, just have a running

29:53

back what they'd be getting if they do eventually

29:55

win this battle. Yeah, I mean,

29:58

well, you're getting a pretty prototypical running back, right? He's

30:00

six foot, he's 205. When

30:04

you're a junior in high school, that's pretty solid.

30:08

He didn't participate athletically in the

30:11

camp. He was recovering

30:13

from an injury. He

30:15

was just there. He stretched

30:17

out a little bit. I think

30:19

he might have done some light running and stuff like

30:21

that. But he was not

30:24

doing... For example, what

30:27

would have been a great video

30:29

was they did a running back drill.

30:31

The running back would either run an out route or

30:33

a flare route or an in route or a button

30:35

hook or something. Just a short little

30:38

route over the middle. They would have the linebackers

30:40

cover them. We could have Bo Jackson versus Eli

30:42

Lee. But

30:44

Bo Jackson was obviously not participating. Definitely

30:47

hard to get a glimpse of... For

30:50

example, with Eli, you saw the physical transformation.

30:52

You saw that manifest itself on the field.

30:55

With Bo, it's a little bit

30:57

difficult because you haven't yet.

31:00

You haven't seen what the off season has been for

31:02

him and what the off season has looked like. A

31:06

little hard to say, but he's

31:08

got good size already. In

31:12

terms of height weight speed, you're

31:14

seeing what you want to see. Agility

31:16

is good with him. Short

31:19

burst quickness. This is a player

31:21

who you feel good about running in

31:25

any kind of system. You feel him run

31:28

it. You feel that he can run between the tackles

31:30

and that he can run outside. I

31:33

think if you repair him

31:35

with Jordan Davison, this would be a very, very

31:37

good class. Let's

31:40

wrap up with Marquis Davis, number

31:44

165 player, number 11 running back.

31:46

Still from Cleveland, Cleveland Heights High School up

31:49

near where we're at. Well, where our company is. We

31:51

actually just live in Columbus. It

31:54

felt like he was on the table for Ohio

31:56

State. Ohio State had an opportunity here where maybe

31:58

if he got to running back... They both could

32:00

be from their own backyard and

32:02

then Tony offered left for Michigan and it

32:05

seems like some momentum Has

32:07

shifted in the recruitment of Marquis Davis

32:09

He talked about the history

32:11

action to Tony offer leaving and where that maybe

32:13

leaves him Is there a

32:16

relationship between Ohio State and Marquis Davis

32:18

right now? And if not

32:20

has Michigan maybe emerged as

32:22

the heavy favorite to land him yeah,

32:25

I I Was

32:29

Talking to Marquis. I remember he was all the

32:31

Michigan guys were obviously good You know all these there

32:33

are different couple different reporters there There were a couple

32:35

Notre Dame reporters there were a couple Michigan reporters a

32:38

couple of high state reporters You know all the local

32:40

areas to all the local area school So obviously

32:42

the Michigan guys, you know, we're very interested

32:44

in Marquis and kind of where his

32:46

recruitment was and He

32:49

didn't really talk to Ohio State reporters and not

32:52

that he didn't want to it was just that nobody really

32:54

saw the point you know, so

32:56

I just kind of ran over right as he was leaving and got

32:58

a couple of minutes with him and um,

33:01

I Think oh, I mean

33:04

Ohio State's out like you feel pretty confident

33:06

saying Ohio State's out. I Mean

33:09

to cut to the chase I asked him directly is

33:12

Ohio State still in the mix or have

33:14

they fallen off Word for word.

33:16

That was my question. He goes. Yeah, they've fallen off.

33:19

Okay You

33:21

know, he was once in Ohio State

33:23

lean He was once an

33:25

Ohio State kind of favorite. I think when

33:27

Tony Alford was here I mean if I'm

33:29

sure if you were to go back and

33:31

listen to recruiting pods from you know,

33:34

maybe February and March You

33:36

know before Tony left and and earlier than that

33:38

we would have said, you know Marquis Davis could

33:40

be a player that you know, they bring in

33:42

as an in-state guy and I

33:46

Don't think that that's gonna happen Yeah,

33:49

the you know, the Michigan is is

33:51

definitely seeming to be The

33:54

program that is out front. He's

33:56

got a couple of crystal balls to Michigan dude

34:00

want to believe those maybe I mean that's

34:02

kind of what the national guys who are connected

34:04

with every program or hearing you

34:08

know Marquis told me that he was like I don't

34:10

even know what a crystal ball is so like if

34:12

they're telling me I'm going to Michigan

34:14

why would I commit to a school where you know

34:16

all of these you know people are telling me I'm

34:19

committed to the school but that doesn't

34:21

mean I have to go to this school you know if

34:23

I don't want to go to that school I don't know how I don't want to

34:25

go to that school I want to do what's best for me so you

34:27

know Marquis Davis I think Michigan

34:30

leads right now and and I think Ohio

34:33

State is is frankly

34:35

just out of the running you know which

34:37

would be interesting because this would be the

34:39

second year in a row that

34:41

Michigan polls and in or in Ohio or

34:43

an Ohio running back out of the state

34:46

of Ohio like a Jordan Marshall last year

34:49

Stephen have leaked Jordan Marshall was like a

34:51

top 80 recruit top 75 recruit he was a

34:53

higher rated recruit than Marquis Davis but

34:56

Marshall was a pretty good running back he goes

34:58

to Michigan and it kind of

35:00

the way that things are trending sounds like Marquis

35:02

Davis is gonna be a Michigan sooner rather than

35:04

later yeah but what that

35:06

situation Ohio State did wasn't a big deal to our

35:08

said that they lost Jordan Marshall because they followed

35:10

up with James people a week and a half later

35:13

and they got they had Jordan Lyle obviously he flipped

35:15

to Miami but they they're really happy with James

35:17

peoples now looks like people's might end up being their

35:19

running back for you in the situation so it

35:22

was a big deal because Jordan Marshall's from Ohio

35:24

and he went going he went to Michigan at

35:27

a time when recruiting momentum

35:29

is a real thing and sometimes recruiting

35:31

momentum can just be recruiting perception and

35:33

Michigan has done a good job over

35:35

the last couple of years of winning

35:37

the perception wars at times when they're

35:39

putting together their recruiting classes and

35:41

I think it's funny they're not the only school that does

35:44

it by the way Ohio State does at that time and

35:46

every school does it but it's just it's more notable when

35:48

Michigan does it because we cover Ohio State and fans get

35:50

upset when Michigan has any level of success so

35:53

just like in that situation if you lose

35:55

out on Marquis Davis because you're running backs

35:57

coach left but you still end up with Jordan

35:59

Davis any you still end up with Bo Jackson, which the

36:01

way you're talking, it sounds like it's very much still on the table

36:04

that you end up with both of those guys still. It's

36:06

probably still a quality running back class for

36:08

Ohio State, but we'll see how that continues

36:10

to unfold here. Carlos Lachlan, he had relationships

36:13

with a lot of these players already because

36:15

like I said on a previous part, he's

36:17

not coming from a group of five school.

36:19

He's coming from Morgan. Well,

36:21

that was one of the things that I talked with Marquis

36:23

Davis about. He did not have a relationship with Carlos Lachlan.

36:27

I think that that was one of the things Marquis

36:29

said that, look, he's like, look, I've known Tony

36:35

since I was a freshman in high school and loyalty

36:37

is a big thing in my recruitment. I

36:40

know some Ohio State fans are probably upset

36:42

that loyalty is a big thing in their

36:44

recruitment because they're saying, where's Tony Alford's loyalty?

36:50

He liked the coach that was recruiting him

36:52

and he said that when Tony

36:55

Alford left, it was

36:58

just him recruiting him at Ohio State. It

37:01

wasn't really the entire staff. When

37:05

Tony Alford ended up at Michigan, Tony

37:08

Alford immediately switched as you could imagine. I mean,

37:10

Tony Alford's not going to be like, I think

37:12

you should still consider my now

37:14

biggest rival. Tony

37:16

Alford's not going to tell him that. Marquis

37:21

told me that, he's like, look, it

37:23

was big because I knew that he

37:26

started talking about me because then all the other

37:29

coaches started recruiting me as well. It

37:32

became a big thing for Michigan and Michigan's

37:35

entire staff really jumped in quick

37:37

once Alford ended up at Michigan.

37:42

It sounds like Lachlan didn't really have a relationship with Davis.

37:49

If I had to bet right now, if I had to put in a

37:51

crystal ball or a prediction machine or whatever you want to call it, I

37:54

would put it in for Michigan. he's

38:00

going to end up at Ohio State anyway. Because that's

38:02

just not the way Ohio State is

38:04

typically going about things where it's just one person recruiting.

38:06

It is more of a group effort

38:08

in some ways. Now, there's obviously a clear

38:10

lead, right, when you were recruiting JC Twi

38:13

and Maloao. Larry Johnson is

38:15

clearly heading up all of

38:17

that. But it's not like you only had a

38:19

relationship with one coach. They don't tend to do

38:21

things. Yeah, I appreciate it. That was the case.

38:24

And he probably wasn't going to end up at

38:26

Buckeye anyway. It's just to your point, with

38:28

Allford gone, even the slim possibility of

38:30

it probably has gone out the door.

38:33

So it'll be interesting to see how

38:35

that running back position unfolds. I would

38:37

assume that Jordan Davison and Bo

38:39

Jackson and maybe some other guys take some official

38:41

visits in June as well.

38:43

And this will be maybe a longer process

38:45

as Carlos Lachlan transitions from recruiting at Oregon

38:47

to recruiting at Ohio State. To your point

38:49

with the Marquis Davis, he did not have

38:51

an offer from Oregon. So that's even more

38:53

of a relationship with Carlos Lachlan. He didn't have

38:56

a relationship with Oregon either. So it will

38:58

be interesting to see how that unfolds. They

39:00

probably do need to in the cycle because

39:02

they're probably going to lose to after the

39:04

2024 season, you need to replenish that room.

39:06

Get the text 614-350-3315. Camp

39:10

season is right around the corner. Plus, Andrew's probably

39:13

going to be heading up some high schools and

39:15

whatnot. All that information that we talked about today

39:17

goes to your phone's first two-week free trial, 399

39:19

after that, 614-350-3315. The

39:25

transfer portal closes as officially

39:27

closed. As you're listening to

39:29

this pod on Wednesday, we're going to be

39:31

reviewing the players at Ohio State did lose

39:33

to the portal. As we're recording this, maybe

39:35

Tuesday afternoon, they've lost four guys,

39:38

I believe, that's the counter. Maybe that number

39:40

goes up by the time that we sit down to record

39:42

the transfer portal pod on Wednesday. But

39:45

right now, the transfer portal is closed.

39:47

Ohio State, the explosive fireworks in the

39:49

transfer portal weren't quite that. You did

39:51

lose a couple of death pieces, but

39:53

not anything crazy. So that's what that

39:55

will come later this week. Plus, next

39:58

week, early next week, we're going to be doing and

40:00

pods ranking the most valuable players on Ohio

40:02

State's team in 2024. So

40:04

get the text 614-350-3315 for Andrew Gillis. I'm

40:08

Stephen Means and that was Fuck I Talk.