Earl Little Reveals What Makes Ohio State Different

0:00ihr Hello everybody, welcome to the Buck Eyewikly podcast. I'm Tony Gurderman here as always with Tom or Tom. How's it going? Tony, we've got to talk about the brotherhood. Is it the brotherhood of this podcast? Boy, I hope not. No, let's talk about a legitimate one. One that is different. One based on respect. Excellent. Trust. Yes. I'm going to leave this in the show, just to say no.

1:01Sorry everybody can see what I get to deal with. Anyway, we do want to talk about brotherhood because when we talked with Earl at all and Ryan Day and Carson Hinsman on Tuesday, Earl a little kind of gave a glimpse behind the curtain of what makes Ohio State different. He was asked, the question he was asked was like, what tells you about the program? Now you've been with Florida State. You began your career with Alabama. We were at Florida State. What tells you when you were at the program that you got a chance to be really, really good? He said the first thing is the chemistry. And he sees that here and he said the brotherhood, the chemistry and the brotherhood are key. And it is real here. You can feel in a locker room. You just know it. And he's like not trying to throw anywhere else. Maybe he's been under the bus. But he said that he was asked is that common. And he said honestly, no. Because in other places, especially now, you've got guys who are worried about themselves. They're NIL, they're lack of NIL, winning more NIL, what's good for them.

2:04And whereas at Ohio State, everybody has the common goals. And he went through them. We're beating the team up north, winning the big 10, winning a national championship. Everybody fighting for the same goal. And it sounds so cliché to say, well, I understand it's different. That's not what we're saying. That's what Earl Little is saying for one. So. Well, I think as he's talking about this stuff, I think there's a couple different places in my mind. Number one, it's much easier to be focused on the big picture, focused on the big goals when you're at a team that does have a legit chance to win the national championship. As opposed to Florida State the last couple of years where I think you went into the, I mean, I can pull up the national championship odds or the college for, make the college football playoff odds this year. But Ohio State making the college football playoff is like 75 or 80 percent Florida State is I'm going to guess in these single digits percentage wise. So then it's very easy to stay focused on that goal as long as the goals in front of you. Like you saw that in 2011, the Ohio State football team, they were very focused.

3:06And then they lost a couple of games and then it all kind of went to crap because then it was like, well, now, none of those goals were in front of us. So I'm like, well, okay. We need to really, you know, bound, bind ourselves together and the last year of yourself to the mass. And maybe we can make the gator ball. It's like, yeah, that doesn't really keep things moving the way, moving forward the way that a national championship thing would turn around. That's one of the reasons Erwin Meyer loves the 2012 team so much. Yeah. Yeah. They couldn't go anywhere. And yet they still all came together to go 12 now. So that's one piece of this. The other thing that I think is interesting is Ohio State has taken a certain approach in NIL and I do not want this to come across as well. The boys all just want to come together and study the classics and go take that best girl for a multi like, yeah, guys are making NIL at Ohio State. No one's saying that unless people aren't making NIL and a good amount of NIL at Ohio State. But Ohio State has also not taken the same approach as some schools have with NIL where, well,

4:08you have to get this guy. So we're going to make an exception to the rule and we're going to throw a huge amount of whatever at this person or we're going to give this person these benefits. And it's legal. It's fine. You're absolutely fine to do that. It's not there's nothing wrong with that. It's just that's not how Ohio State has approached it. Guys are making plenty of money at Ohio State. I'm not saying they're not making play. I'm not saying Ohio State is not one of the biggest pay rolls in the nation. They are. But there's a lot of you come in. You get paid as a freshman. But when you earn, you earn a bigger roll than you earn a bigger, you earn more money down the line. Culture that then you get what you earn. That becomes the culture as opposed to, well, I've been here two years and I was the starting whatever last year and then you've got a true freshman coming in and he's making three times what I am and then why is he making three times. And then you get guys who are pulling in different directions. Again, it is not all combayah and perfect in any college football team, in any group

5:11of, you know, in any, in any workplace you've ever been in of more than one person has it ever always been combayah. I'm going to guess probably not. But, you know, the approach to roster building and the approach to compensation that Ohio State has had, I think, is shows itself in this kind of conversation. Yeah, two things real quick. When we talked with Carson Hisman, he did say like he's got a firing at his home now and so he can have people come over and ask him back in college. Like our firing was like 50 gallon drum. That was also the trash can in the back alley at Chittenden. You know, or sometimes it's on fire sometimes it's not, you know, it just depends on what you got going that weekend. But the locker room was always the thing that we talked about in terms of when NIL was first starting. It can't just be about the money. The locker room you can't go buy a championship and you have to have the culture first and that's something the Ryan Day has talked about where it you, you, as best as you can during

6:11the speed dating portion of the transfer portal. You got to figure out who is in for the right reasons and who fits your culture and that's where they focus and that's why the portal guys have worked so well for them. But also they do get very well compensated. The Ohio State doesn't always offer them the most. Rarely they do. Sometimes they probably have. But it's what Ohio State offers in terms of the culture and the fit that really makes all of that work. And I asked, or a little like, what is it like when you come to a program like Ohio State as it, you know, is it enlightening? Is it empowering? It's like it's both. It's enlightening. It's empowering. Where now I've been it's like enlightening in terms of it's almost freeing. You don't have to worry about yourself anymore. You can worry about something bigger and again, it's so cliche. But also this is what they're talking about. And this is what it takes to cliche is our cliche for a reason. This is what it takes to really win it all. Do you think Indiana was national championship last year because they were just the most

7:13talented and paid the most for anybody? No, I mean Indiana, I mean, if we want to get into the specifics of it, Indiana was in the like 20s is what I've heard in terms of what they were paying in terms of, and there were plenty of teams in the high 30s and 40s last year. So this was not Indiana doing it. That was Kurt Signetti is a culture guy. He is a culture and details guy. And you can be a culture and details guy. And if you also have you're also a remarkable talented value editor, you can get pretty far in this world. Yeah. And Ohio State doing a lot of that and you're going to go, well, if they can just be what Indiana is, they're like, well, Ohio State football, if they can only be more like Indiana and lots of people have fun. But it was also interesting, the whole culture thing and the foundation of the program. This is also the same weekend where Jim Tressel and Maurice Claret are going to be honored. So being honored with his name and the ring of honor in Ohio Stadium, Maurice Claret ringing the pregame victory bell. And they asked Maurice because he thought it would be good for him to, you know, it's

8:16a good, you know, symmetry. You know, Jim Tressel is being honored. Why not let Maurice Claret do it? So he was been around the program. And the fact that he has been around the program and right, they said he wants Maurice's message to continue to be heard because he's been through all of it. And he's come out stronger and has made himself something and has become a success. And you've seen the you come basketball program has him around as well. Just the experience he wants that experience in terms of the Ohio State experience, the good and the bad of it to and everything that came after it. And that is also coming to fruition now. Like that is all rewarding information for these players that are here now, whether they've been here for five years like Carson Hinsman or they've been here for five months, like her little. And Maurice Claret is such a fascinating example because we talked about this a couple of years ago when Jeremiah Smith's a true freshman and Maurice Claret was a, uh, Claret was there on the team a bunch then as well because this is, this is someone that this

9:17is not like a one off thing with Ryan Day. Ryan Day has had Maurice Claret around the program very intentionally. And when Jeremiah Smith was a true freshman phenom and was coming in and incredible hype and national, you know, national headlines and national like a superstar immediately at the age of 18. How many people in the world can probably relate to well, you're a superstar 18 year old football player at Ohio State and you know, part of a national championship team and, you know, dealing with that what, you know, what comes with that expectations, attention, positive and negative, all that kind of stuff, temptation. Maurice Claret is a guy who's like, well, let me, allow me to tell you friend exactly what you're going through because I was here exactly 22 years ago. Maurice Claret's telling Jeremiah like I, I, I couldn't even go to a big bear and Jeremiah was like, I can't either. There's a reason. So did we just become best friends?

10:18But Maurice Claret is also, Maurice Claret can be his own, don't do what Donnie don't does like he can be his own, he was goofess in a way that Jeremiah Smith is gallant now really mixing our simpsons and our highlights magazines and all sorts of stuff. But, you know, he can, he can say, look, this is what I was, I was in your shoes. Here's what I did. Don't do that. Like, here's how it worked out for me. And then he has changed his life completely. He is not the same person that he was in 2002, 2003, 2004. Very, very different person. And, you know, culturally, if you had to pick a football program, a college football program that would be like, oh boy, who does, who does virtually everyone in the nation want to be? You know, how is it going to be pretty high on that list? Have you had to pick a college basketball program that would be, who does everyone in the nation want to be? You kind of be pretty high on that list. And he's like the common thread between those two places. Yeah, very much so. So it's interesting conversations all around with the, with the, the newest one of the newest

11:20guys in Earl Little and way right now sees the program that he's taken and then continued to build. And I think he deserves so much credit for the way things are because he's been able to see Ohio State through all of these changes and better than anybody else has done it. And has been able to keep players, you know, straight narrow, everybody, you know, like, certainly don't want to jickse anything. You know, as soon as I say that, people were like, but please don't ever say that. But like other programs they have their issues, Ohio State continues to just, you know, march along and, you know, just now what, this is a 10th year at Ohio State, which is crazy. But yeah, started in 2017 and yeah. No, so, so, so they had just some thoughts on, on the old, the little brotherhood as it were, if you are watching, please hit that thumbs up, subscribe to the channel. Hit the bell to be notified if you're watching on mobile, hype us up, by go ahead and do that. That's all. Appreciate it. Comment.

12:20We always like to see in the comments that we'll, we'll engage in there as well. But if you really want to talk to us, you can do that over at buckiensiders.com. Welcome you all over there. We'd love to see you talking all things Ohio State and more. That will do for bear. Thank you all for tuning in and we'll talk to you all later.