With one week to go until National Signing Day and two weeks to go until the Cotton Bowl, Ohio State is simultaneously preparing to play its final game of the 2023 season and working to fill holes on its 2024 roster.

We start this week‘s episode with some Cotton Bowl-related conversation after speaking with 11 Ohio State players on Tuesday. We talk about how the initial fears of mass opt-outs appear to have been overblown and discuss Ohio State’s apparent move toward starting Devin Brown at quarterback against Missouri.

But we spend the majority of this week’s show taking stock of Ohio State’s roster build with a position-by-position State of the Roster breakdown. We look at how Ohio State’s roster could stack up at every position on offense or defense – based upon who we expect back for next year after the first wave of transfer portal entries – and where the Buckeyes should still be looking to add talent via the transfer portal.

Finally, we spend a few minutes talking about Ohio State men’s basketball’s loss to Penn State and why we don’t think one bad game should send Buckeye fans to the panic button.

The rundown for this week’s show:

• 1:24: Ohio State doesn’t look likely to have many Cotton Bowl opt-outs, Buckeyes motivated to win
• 6:46: Devin Brown appears likely to start Cotton Bowl at quarterback, and his motivation is clear
• 11:50: Cody Simon’s decision to stay is a welcome boost for next year’s linebacker unit
• 15:37: Ohio State still doesn’t have a clear transfer target at quarterback, and maybe it won’t
• 22:52: Ohio State will need at least one transfer running back if TreVeyon Henderson goes pro
• 29:49: An Emeka Egbuka return would be big, but OSU has plenty of young wide receiver talent
• 34:53: Buckeyes could use veteran blocker to complement Gee Scott Jr., Jelani Thurman at tight end
• 38:47: Ohio State has solid candidates to start across O-line but still has reason to look for upgrades
• 50:32: Keeping just one of Jack Sawyer, JT Tuimoloau would leave OSU with strong defensive end roster
• 54:32: Defensive tackle equation is similar, but Ohio State clearly wants to add a transfer there
• 57:02: Ohio State has solid returning core at linebacker with Cody Simon staying
• 58:04: Cornerback could be the strongest position on Ohio State’s roster even if Denzel Burke leaves
• 1:03:09: Sonny Styles should lead next year’s safeties, but OSU could use another veteran for depth
• 1:06:41: One bad game in December doesn’t erase the progress we‘ve seen from OSU basketball
• 1:13:13: Why we expect Ohio State to bounce back against UCLA on Saturday