Skip to content
TrackPodcasts
sportsMar 5, 202638:56

OSU Insider- Inside The Buckeyes Defensive Scheme For The 2026 Season

Get every episode summarized

Each time The Buckeye Scoop publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.

Email me new episodes

Free for 3 shows. No card needed.

About this episode

“My perfect day at sand salt water in France, but my moderate to severe plaque's rises can take me out of the moment.”From the transcript
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-buckeye-scoop--4429642/support.

Thank you for being part of the Scoop Family!

Hosts & guests

Transcript ready

548 searchable segments. Every word is indexed and playable.

OSU Insider- Inside The Buckeyes Defensive Scheme For The 2026 Season

The Buckeye Scoop

0:00
38:56

Full transcript

The Buckeye Scoop — OSU Insider- Inside The Buckeyes Defensive Scheme For The 2026 Season. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.

Oh, oh, oh. My perfect day at sand salt water in France, but my moderate to severe plaque's rises can take me out of the moment. Now I'm all in with clearer skin thanks to SkyRizzy, reason Kism at Rizza, a prescription only 150 milligram injection for adults who are candidates for systemic or phototherapy. With SkyRizzy, most people saw a 90% clearer skin and many were even 100% plaque-free at four months. SkyRizzy is just four doses a year after two starter doses. Use of allergic to sky-rizzy, serious allergic reactions, increased infections, or lower ability to fight that may occur. Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor about any flu-like symptoms or vaccines. Thanks to SkyRizzy, there's nothing on my skin, and that means everything. Ask your doctor about SkyRizzy, the number one dermatologist prescribed by logic in psoriasis. Visit skyrizzy.com or call 1-866 SkyRizzy to learn more.

Tax season has arrived, and doing taxes without the right help can feel overwhelming. Into it, TurboTax is here now to guide you through it with confidence. Match with a TurboTax full-service expert who handles everything for you from start to finish. Your dedicated expert checks every single deduction and credit to help you get the best possible outcome so you can feel confident you're getting every dollar you deserve. And the best part? You'll see real-time updates on your expert's progress right on your phone while you live your life. Plus, you get unlimited expert help at no extra cost, even on nights and weekends during tax season. Visit TurboTax.com. Only available with TurboTax full-service experts, real-time updates only on iOS mobile app. Hey there, it's Ryan Seacrest for Safeway. It's stock-up savings time now through April 2nd. Spring in for store-wide deals and earn four times the points. Look for in-store tags to earn on eligible items from. Celsius, body armor, aura aida, silk, Capri Sun, Bavarian Meets, and Charmin. Then clip the offer in the app for automatic event-long savings. Stack up those rewards to save even more.

Enjoy savings on top of savings when you shop in-store or online for easy drive-up and go pick up a delivery. Restrictions apply, see website for full-terms and conditions. What's good, everybody? Happy Hunk Day, Wednesday. Hope all as well with you. Always a pleasure to see y'all, especially you book our scoop folks in the chat, always cooking per usual. I see y'all going strong, usual suspects. Mark Swick, when stars align, stilly Matt, all the usuals was good. Y'all row tied for life. Do me a favor, hit the like button if you have not already done so. Please consider subscribing, hit that subscribe button. We're getting closer to our 40k mark. We will greatly appreciate it if you do that. And then for the people who don't always do YouTube, Apple people go to Apple.

Podcasts, save us there. The non-Apple folks like me go to spreeker.com and save us there. We're going to be talking about some inside the defensive scheme for 2026, really good nugget on the Buckeye scoop board from the second wise men today. And we're going to dig into that amongst a few other things. But also remember when you send those wonderful superchats, helps to go towards the pay of Ford, which is our military in our first responders. We're going to look out for them because they always look out for us. As I bring Nevada in, we're going to just going to get straight to it and say, rest in peace to the legend, Blue Holtz. Blue Holtz, he's a heck of a guy. Over the years, we've experienced a lot with him. He was a Buckeye assistant. You know, obviously legendary Notre Dame head coach, been in, you know, television for years. You know, you had the Ryan Day back and forth stuff, hilarity, pat McAfee, whatever you got to say about Blue Holtz.

He's a legend. And so we say RIP to Blue Holtz and Nevada. Yeah, I, you know, I liked Blue Holtz. I liked Blue Holtz. He was a guilty pleasure of mine. And, you know, back to, I remember when, when he got fired and they were looking for a placement and I was just praying it was going to be Holtz. Because, you know, he'd been so good at Arkansas. And, you know, just, I thought he would just be perfect for our state. And he just didn't want to replace the legend. He just thought that was going to be too hard, which I totally get. And, yeah, in the later years, you know, he got a little goofy. And it's kind of a, you know, we live in the goofy era. You know, we live in this goofy era of social media, where the goofy you are, the more attention you get. And all attention is good. There's no such thing as bad attention anymore. I think he kind of took that to heart and kind of went over the top of some of this stuff. And I like Lou Holtz, Rustin Peach Coach. And I always thought he was just an absolutely fantastic college coach and an integrated interview and a guy that really answered interesting things to sign.

Yeah, he was an excellent interview. I mean, he was a troll. Lou Holtz was a troll. And, and he was funny. Like, he had me crack it up like at times. Now, remember, y'all, he used to go hard for a house state with Mark May. Remember him and Mark May show. And Mark May would do his usual house state hate. And here come Lou Holtz hitting him with bars for a house state. I don't, I don't, I'll never forget that. That was always great. And yeah, I wonder what Pat McAfee is going to do on his show now with the late Lou Holtz. Will they continue that skit? I mean, it was such a hit for them. You know what I'm saying? What do you do now? But yeah, Lou Holtz, Rustin Peach, man. I mean, he's college football. All my life, Lou Holtz. He's been around. He's been a staple. So, definitely a tough loss for the college football today, Nirvana. Yeah, no doubt. And, you know, it's one of those things where

you just, it reminds you too how deep the house state coaching tree is with, and you look at that 1968 staff and look at all the guys on that staff and then all the guys that are coming through the years. And, you know, that's why Ohio State's top of the football, you know, certainly top of the football world now and has been there for a long time. And it's just great part of the tradition of Ohio State is these great coaches that once coached your youngins. Definitely. Let me, let me do this because you know how they, on TV, they say, RIP to the person and they showed a picture. I got to show a picture. RIP, Lou Holtz, 1937 to 2026. There you have it. Man, lived a long life. All right, all right. So, listen, let's get into this delicious nugget we, we dined on today on Buckeye Scoop involving the 2026 defensive scheme.

And, Nirvana, I really want you to kick it off as from the second wiseman, talking about Patricia, what he learned from this one season, college football and what we're looking to implement in 2026 after really, you know, having a year to assess himself and self-scout and to see what mistakes he made and what he could have did better and things like that. Man, I thought that was an excellent nugget, Nevada. What you got? Well, yeah. And I mean, MatPatricia obviously is a guy that is very pleased with how they did, you know, in year one, you know, all the historically good type of performance. But, you know, you're always looking for improvement and the one thing that was notable him coming into the season last year and one of the cracks against him was he'd never coach at the college level and college football is different than the NFL. And, you know, as he did kind of his end of year assessment of what he did well, what he could do differently, what he wants to improve upon, one of the things that really kind of stuck out to him was the fact that he didn't feel like

they pressured enough last year. He felt like they spent too much time on simulated pressures and, you know, given the appearance of pressure and doing a really good job of disguising their intentions there. But in college football, you're less apt to get burnt by bringing pressure than you are in the NFL because the NFL, you get burned over the top and you also get burned a lot, exclusively with the screen game a lot. In college football, not so much. So I think for Ohio State, you know, one of the things they want to do in 2026 is they want to bring more pressure and they want to they want to try to, you know, create more turnovers and they want to create more negative plays because you last year we, you know, for a defense that was as good as we were, we didn't create a lot of turnovers. You know, I'm saying you look where a turnover ranking was, it wasn't, you know, top of the thing like like we were in yards and, you know, possessions and points and things like that. So I think he's just looking to kind of fine tune that. And one of the use, that's kind of the overall strategy. And one of the tactics

that they're going to be doing to kind of implement that is implementing kind of a stand-up defense event scheme. And, you know, people say why stand-up defense event? What's the difference in the stand-up defense event? And I, you know, hand in the dirt defense event. And the idea is that, you know, while what you give up is a little stoutness against the run because clearly it's easier to take on a blocker when you've hit your hand in the dirt. If you're looking to, yeah, attack, you know, going forward, attack, going back, attack laterally, describe your curve, the better attack angles to the quarterback. It's a heck of a lot easier doing it, stand it up. So I think those are the couple of things that you're going to be seeing from Ohio State is, you know, an emphasis on pressure and, you know, a increased relevance of stand-up defense events as they kind of go into the 2026 season with with a lot of new new bodies. They feel like they can get stuff going from the inside with Edward Custin, with James Smith, with John Walker. They can get,

you know, some push from the inside, but from the outside, I think you're going to look at those stand-up defense events and more jailhouse break type of pressures to kind of put the heat on the quarterback. So thought it was interesting and certainly something that's going to be a slight change from for 2026 and the continued evolution for the Ohio State Bucket defense. Yeah, I'm glad you brought up the stand-up. It was in my notes, actually. I had a buddy of mine who reached out and said, hey, B, like, did you hear Patricia's last comment on his interview with a good morning football and he mentioned he was talking to the guy by his son. He said he was his new thing of stand-up defense events. So he hit me up and said, do you think we're moving to a 3-4 now? And I went back and listen to the comment. I said, first of all, no, I don't think we're going to fundamentally change from a 4-3-2-3-4. We've been 4-3, you know, 4-2-5, you know, base defense for years. I don't see that changing. However, you can still have stand-up defense events and different looks and different packages

with your 4-3 still being the base. You don't have to change the 3-4. Now, I understand into 3-4, you know, it's it's complimentary to what you like to do in a 3-4, you know, with the outside linebacker and being able to do things fluidly, schematically from a 3-4 standpoint with the stand-up defense event, I get that. But that doesn't mean you have to fundamentally change from a 4-3. So I don't see that happening. Before I even go on, I got more to say, but do you agree Nevada that we're not changing to a 3-4, just based off of that, correct? No, I absolutely do not believe that we're changing from, you know, but I think we're going to be doing things differently. I think they are going to try to attack differently, but it will not be it will not be a 3-4. It will still be a traditional 4-3-2-3-1 because you may have one guy with the stand-up that are done once one end and one guy stand up on the other side too, you know, it's like there's a lot of different variations of that, but I think our base is going to be 4-3 for sure. Yeah, and I mean, Shu, even think back when Chase Young was here, we were doing some funky

things on a pre-snap. We had guys, we had like three guys, three or four guys standing and roaming the line. You know what I mean? Like, which was confusing was against Penn State. And so it wasn't only against Penn State. I think we did it against a couple teams. The point is, there's things you can do to really diversify your front without changing fundamentally what your base is. And that's kind of the point I wanted to bring home. Did you want to say something else? No, no, I think that I think that's I think that's spot on and you know, I think for Ohio State, you know, look, you know, they did such a great job of disguising coverage. I think they're going to be trying to do more of that with this kind of delayed disguise, kind of the dark looks, the Seattle sea ox I've been doing. But I think that for Patricia, it's been a big deal that he realizes that, hey, it's one thing to bring, you know, to bring pressure 20%, 30% time. But you can probably get away with it at a higher clip in the in the college football than you can. The NFL

and he's got to adjust his game to reflect that. Yeah. And I'm looking at the nugget again. You know what? When I was reading his Nevada, you know what got me excited. Hey there, it's Ryan Seacrest for Safeway. It's stock up savings time now through April 2nd. Spring in for store-wide deals and earn four times the points. Look for in-store tags to earn on eligible items from Celsius, body armor or aida, silk, Capri Sun, Bavarian meats, and Charmin. Then clip the offer in the app for automatic event long savings. Stack up those rewards to save even more. Enjoy savings on top of savings when you shop in store or online for easy drive up and go pick up or delivery, restrictions apply, see website for full terms and conditions. It's tax season and by now I know we're all a bit tired of numbers. But here's an important one you need to hear. $16 billion dollars. That's how much money and refunds the IRS flagged for possible identity fraud. Here's another one. One in four honest hardworking tax paying Americans has been a victim of identity theft. But it's not all grim news. Life lock monitors millions of

data points per second for your personal information and alerts you to threats you could easily miss on your own. If your identity is stolen, Life Lock's US-based restoration specialist will fix it backed by another good number. The million dollar protection package. In fact, restoration is guaranteed or your money back. Don't face identity theft and financial losses alone. There's strength in numbers with Life Lock identity theft protection for tax season and beyond. Visit LifeLock.com slash iHeart and save up to 40% your first year. That's 40% off at LifeLock.com slash iHeart. Terms apply. You're having a good time. You're out drinking with the boys. Now it's time to pay the tab. $11,352.47 wait what? Well there are court costs, attorney fees, higher insurance costs, damage to your car, do you why fines? Not to mention the damage to your social life. Plan a sober ride or pay the price. Drinking and driving costs more than your drinks.

It could cost a life. Learn more at what'sthedamage.org brought to you by Virginia DMV. Just visualizing as I was reading it was on the point number three talking about Andrew Euston James Smith and John Walker and the live before that mentions Kenyatta Jackson. Like I don't Nevada. I don't think people understand. First of all, Andrew Euston is really good. I think Andrew Euston is going to have this is just my opinion. Remember Tyleek Williams? We heard about him having flashes but he wasn't quite full goal because he couldn't his conditioning wasn't right. His mindset wasn't right early coming in to be able to really be consistent with his conditioning. Hence why he couldn't really be as consistent on the field. But we had heard he was flashing. Andrew Euston I think he's a great kid. Have some rough spots going here and there coming in. I think he's about to break out and have his Tyleek break

out here. Like what this dude is a dog. Consistency is what we're going to see this year. But James and John Walker both of them are very good. Like imagine them on the line together with Kenyatta. Like I'm just imagining that lineup in the in the front four. To me, I think that's that's pretty lethal man. Are you as excited and that's not all we have but that combination to me I think could be really brutal especially before what Matt Patricia does because as you see in the nugget they're very versatile. Look at their tape. They can all do a lot of different things. So Nevada what's your thoughts on that? Well, I think you know, I think we're probably not as excited about Kenyatta Jackson as we should be. You know what I'm saying? I think that the him coming back was a really big deal. That was a really that was a really big deal because he was a good player last year. But he you know kind of like Caden Curry was a good player in 2024. But then he became a great player in 2025. I really think Kenyatta Jackson is going to take us as a similar trajectory

and can make a similar impact. And you know, I think, you know, to have two because I look at that as like having two starters back because anyway they look at it evercuse him is a starting capable. You know what I'm saying? He's a starter. And when you get that and Kenyatta now it's like you've got two year four guys back and I think you've got you know, potential to have a really good defensive line. And yeah, I'm excited about Kenyatta Jackson. And I'm so John Walker. John Walker is a guy that wanted to come to Ohio State in the beginning, you know, had some issues with homesickness or whatever it was that, you know, couldn't you know, make the thing work. But you know, he really, I mean, he's a load. He's a he's a big two. Everybody in talk to us like that's a big man down there or down their thing. And you know, Ohio State doesn't, you know, other teams have got good defensive alignment as well. And he's certainly one of those guys that looks the part and certainly I expect to have a nice impact on Ohio State in 20.6. And let me go over the depth chart for the defensive line, just to kind of give people a visual of what we're working with. So you got Kenyatta Jackson

starter, both Bo Ackinson and Cory Wilder. Now listen, let's go back to Bo Ackinson real quick. So Bo Ackinson did not make the impact that we were hoping he would make last year. We saw him flash at times. It was times where he did make plays like, okay, that was a good play. But it wasn't like, oh, he's an impact clear. He was really good at North Carolina. And we know that the transition from North Carolina with his physicality, his strength, I should say, had, you know, needed to increase. So we got a whole season and a whole off season for Bo Ackinson to really step up. Because I think Nevada and I'll park right here before I keep going. I want to keep going through the depth chart. But how much of thoughts? I have not given up on Bo Ackinson. I think he still has a chance to be a very good contributor in this, in this 2D. What do you think about Bo? I completely agree. I mean, he just needed to get stronger. You know what? He's bigger and

stronger this year than he was last year. And, you know, he's always been bendy. He's always had a nice first off the line. Great kid. Oh, how state believes in him. You know, we talked about this before. If they didn't, they would have run him off. He's around for a reason. And again, if you look at what he's, you know, I hate to keep going back to Caden Curry. But it's a very recent example of a guy that had been okay. And then went from okay to, wow, really, really freaking good. I mean, Bo Ackinson certainly has had more success at the cause of the Caden Curry did come in the last year. So, you know, why not? Why couldn't he make a jump? Why couldn't he be an impact player? He's a guy that certainly could, you know, it could be a favorable surprise for the buccas this year. Definitely. So, yeah, we agree on that real quick chose. And what's up, homie? This is a young lady I went to church with years ago, like old school. I know I just randomly just brought that out, but it's great to see you. Just wanted to shout you out real quick. All right,

let's get back to this depth chart. So, the other names here, because again, when you think about Nevada, people kind of forget guys. If they don't see them, they forget them. All right. Now, I mentioned Curry Wilder. That's an incoming freshman that everyone's raven about already turning heads. I think he's going to work his way into the lineup on third down and rush the passer. I think that he's going to earn playing time. But on the flip side, you got Zion Grady. Zion Grady made plays last year. He flashed and looked good as a true freshman. And so, and I know Larry Johnson loves him. And so, I'm excited about Zion Grady. And then you got Kwei. I always want to call him Kwaa, because it's spelled Q-A Kwaa Rasa. Actually, Kwaa Rasa flows better than Kwaa Rasa, but it's not my name. So, let me stop. But anyway, another kid from Alabama, who has some talent, who watch film, I think James Smith is probably the higher,

the, how can I put it, the more sure of a bet to make an impact, but Kwaa has talent. And then you got Epi K. Great kid. I had the pleasure of helping Devon interview him last year. Just great kid, great family, and talented. And so, he actually has a, I mean, if you, if you look at him quickly, he kind of looks like JT Tui Malau out there with the hair out the helmet and even the size and everything. But yeah, that's for the defensive ends. I wanted to call them out. What do you think about that depth right there at defensive end, Nevada? Yeah, well, I think it's, you know, it's, it's some of it's young, some of it's untested, some of it's new, you know, what we got, but it's, it's a lot of guys. And I think we're going to find out a lot in spring ball. And I, I see, I'm, I'm of the opinion that if we utilize these guys correctly, like everybody doesn't need to be Will Smith or everybody doesn't need to be chase under the bosie. I think if you use guys, you know, correctly, I mean, heck, I feel like CJ Hicks could have

been of great impact. I was like, had he's hung around, you know, our, our release, I thought it was underutilized and potentially, you know, potentially, you're potentially great past rush or not. So I think you can get guys and you can get, you know, past rush in a lot of different ways. There's probably some other linebackers that we haven't even talked about that could slide down that defensive end position and, and, and provide, you know, you know, right, Riley Pettit, you can stand Riley Pettit John on the outside. And I don't, I don't doubt that he could do good things. So I think there's a lot of different ways that you can do it. I think there's a lot of good things that you can do with the defensive end position. But the last few recruiting classes that Larry Johnson have been in have been top notch. These, these, we have gotten a lot of them. So it's been, it's not only been quality, it's been quantity as well. And I just have no doubt that they're going to, they're going to step up. There's a wide open opportunity for some guys to step up in spring ball. And I think we'll, we'll see it in spring. I think, I think these guys will make it in the meeting the impact and, and, and it'll,

it'll be noticeable. Yep. And then, of course, the nugget also talks about rolling linebackers up to the edge to bring pressure. And so I love that because guys like Pettit John are big and fast and then Alfred, don't sleep on Alfred. Like to me, Alfred reminds me of Jerome Baker. This as far as his speed, his size, the way he moves, it reminds me of Jerome Baker. And so we got some talent. And I'm not even mentioning to Wisconsin Ali Egro, who's a really good seasoned linebacker. I mean, like he's a proven good linebacker in the big 10 from Wisconsin. And then, of course, Peyton Pierce. And you know, we got guys, they just need to step up and produce. But let me get to these DNs. And so I'm sorry, the detacles. So I mentioned James Smith, Ezra Houston, Jason Moore. We've been talking about him. And the fact that that he's still here is proof that they still believe in him. And then, of course, John Walker mentioned him,

Will Smith, Jr., just mentioned in a manual ruffin who Devon brought up the other day. And I was like, oh, yeah, I kind of forgot about him. Kid out of Alabama. Is it Alabama? Yeah, he's for Alabama. Like a big boy. I mean, I think we got some good young talent and some good experience talent. I think this D line can be really good. Because again, Will Smith, Jr. made some plays last year when he had opportunities. So we got guys that are either going to really show why they should be at first from pick like Ken Yada Jackson, Andrew Houston, even James Smith. And they'll be got some guys who are looking to make a move to say, hey, I belong in this too deep. Or you need to put me in critical moments on third down to get to the quarterback because I'm that impactful type kids. And so very curious. I just wanted to go through the defensive line because that nugget got me excited about the combinations of these kids that we're bringing

in from the portal and that what we got coming back and Ken Yada Jackson, Nevada. Hey, there. It's Ryan Seacrest for Safeway. It's stock up savings time now through April 2nd. Spring in for store wide deals and earn four times the points. Look for in store tags to earn on eligible items from Celsius body armor or aida silk Capri Sun, Bavarian meats and Charmin. Then clip the offer in the app for automatic event long savings. Stack up those rewards to save even more. Enjoy savings on top of savings when you shop in store or online for easy drive up and go pick up or delivery. Restrictions apply. See website for full terms and conditions. Creating the coffee flavor you love. But without the caffeine, Kachavas got you covered with their newest coffee flavor. This all-in-one nutrition shake delivers bold, authentic flavor crafted from premium decaffeinated Brazilian beans. Quality nutrition shouldn't be complicated. Just two scoops of Kachavas all-in-one nutrition shake and you've got 25 grams of protein, 6 grams of fiber, greens and so much more. Whether you're craving that coffee taste to kickstart your morning ritual or as a nutrient-packed

reward to round out your afternoon, Kachava keeps you fueled and satisfied wherever your day takes you. Plus, it actually tastes delicious. No fillers? No nonsense. Just the good stuff your body craves. And for the times you feel like switching it up, you've got seven flavors to choose from. All with the highest quality ingredients. Treat yourself to the flavor and nutrition your body craves. Go to Kachava.com and use code news. New customers get 15% off their first order. That's K-A-C-H-A-V-A.com code news. Craving the coffee flavor you love. But without the caffeine, Kachavas got you covered with their newest coffee flavor. This all-in-one nutrition shake delivers bold, authentic flavor crafted from premium decaffeinated Brazilian beans. Quality nutrition shouldn't be complicated. Just two scoops of Kachavas all-in-one nutrition shake and you've got 25 grams of protein, 6 grams of fiber, greens and so much more. Whether you're craving that coffee taste to kickstart your morning ritual or as a nutrient-packed reward

to round out your afternoon, Kachava keeps you fueled and satisfied wherever your day takes you. Plus, it actually tastes delicious. No fillers? No nonsense. Just the good stuff your body craves. And for the times you feel like switching it up, you've got seven flavors to choose from, all with the highest quality ingredients. Treat yourself to the flavor and nutrition your body craves. Go to Kachava.com and use code news. New customers get 15% off their first order. That's K-A-C-H-A-V-A.com code news. Oh yeah. There's a lot of what you need to create pressure in modern football in 2026 is you need to disguise your scheme and you need athleticism. And that's the one thing. If we've learned anything from the combine, from everything else that's been going on in our house, we have athleticism to burn. And that's why a kid like Kachavas offered, you know, I mean, he's going to have a chance, you know, because he's so athletic, so he's so fast, he's so explosive that, you know, I think that in the right scheme with

Patricia doing the right types of things, you know, I think we can do it. I don't think you don't just need to have the great past pressure moves. Now, we're blessed because you've got a guy like Carter Wilder, who's got the great past pressure moves, who's got, you know, I mean, he could be elite simply on his own, but you surround him with good scheme on top of that. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, for I can tell you that Patricia is telling people he does not believe there's going to be a big fall off of this defense in 2026. And, you know, I remember last year, I would have, I would have bet anything. It certainly said, hey, is the defense going to be statistically better than 2024? I would have said, not a chance in heck. You heard him say, and so I would have bet against that heavily, and I would, I would have lost, you know, because they actually improved, they improved by every metric in 2025 or in 2012. Now, I'm not saying they're going to improve again over 9.3 points again, or whatever the heck it was, but he doesn't believe that the fall off needs to be precipitous. He really likes the untaught. He's

excited about the guys in the room, and he's really excited about the scheme that they're going to be presenting. So that, that, that makes me very excited. Me too. Mark Slick, posting your comment, anyone else besides me and Dev excited to see the kicker know, I'm excited. Nevada, I want to see in the spring game, you know how we stop, okay, stop, now kick it again, or whatever. I want to see him go out there and just effortlessly nail 50-yard field goals, like with, with 10 yards of spare. You know what I'm saying? Just one of those like, just confidence, like, man, we got us one. That's what I want to see, because we just haven't been confident in our kicking game. It seems like for years in Nevada. Yeah, no, I mean, what I can say this year is we probably have more competition at the kicker spot. We've got more viable options for both place kickers and for punters than we've ever had at Ohio State. You know, typically you have like the one guy, maybe a young guy behind him, but we've got three capable kickers. And obviously the battle guy is, you know,

he's got the swagger. He seems to have the inside track is kicking something you can do year-round. You can kind of tell who's got the live leg and things like that. But yeah, I mean, we'll see but, you know, I like the fact that there's an increased emphasis on special teams at Ohio State, but, you know, by virtue of the fact that they've actually hired a special team's coach, they've gone out and, you know, in the portals, some of our big exact, not, you know, first acquisitions or special teams players down to long snappers and things, you know what I'm saying? So we're really going after special teams, you know, in earnest and we'll see if it pays off. I've always maintained that not paying attention to special teams results in your special teams not being special. And I think now we're putting the emphasis in and we've got the coaches there. We've got the emphasis on it. Now let's see if we can notice the difference. I think we will, but, but a jet to be seen. Yeah. And once again, the natural, it seems almost impossible to be

better three years straight. Like I'm highlighting this comment because Nevada is so true. Like to me, it would have been perfectly logical and reasonable to say, because I know what I said, I said, we're still going to be good. We're not going to be as good, but we're still going to be good. And statistically, we were better or just as good. So with this year, again, with Matt Patricia, the rocket scientists and the talent we have and what we brought in, it's just, it's hard for me to bet against this defense still not being in the same spot. But we'll see, but I'm regardless, this defense will be, it will be very good. I have no doubt, Nevada. Well, I mean, when you look at the trajectory from where we were in 2022, you know, defensively, you know, 2023, 2024, 2025. Yeah. And we've strung some unbelievable seasons together. And, you know, in today's football with the transfer poor, one guy's leaving and

guys that need knows that two different coordinators. I mean, we've had a lot of, you know, different changes, but we've, we've maintained excellence on the defensive side of the ball. And um, yeah, I just, I don't see a way we can improve on what we did last year. But I'll say, I didn't see a way we can improve a lot. Now, I'm not, again, I don't want to get caught in, Nevada said we're going to be better and defense tonight. I'm not saying that, but I don't think we're going to be bad. I don't think we're going to, we got some, we got some do's. I don't think we're going to be bad now. Well, you know, we'll, uh, we'll see. I know we've got a lot of talented guys to, uh, you know, a lot of high NFL draft picks to replace, but, um, a lot of young talent, a lot of guys in the portals. I mean, let's put, we're over on defense this year. I mean, we're last year. You know, we're going to, we're going to be a more veteran team. Now, will that, you know, equate to good play? Yeah, we'll, we'll find out. I mean, I would say even if we're top 10, even if, to me, even if we're top 10, I still think that's a phenomenal losing all the guys we've lost back to back years. And we're still a top 10

defense, like to me, that's like, yo, that's excellent. Do you feel like that's too low of a bar or is that fair? No, I think it's the right bar. I think top 10's the, the right thing. I think, you know, what I thought last year, frankly, if we stayed top 20, it would have been good. You know, I mean, but, um, I think this year, top 10 would just the, just with the sheer number of kids we got in the portal. And, you know, um, we need to get, you know, we're going to need to get lucky on some of those portal kids to get better than that. And we're going to need to get unlucky on some of those portal kids to be worse than that. So I think that's going to be the test is going to be our, how are, are these kids, are some of these kids, are they back from injury, are they, they've been, you know, how's the level of competition? How, how can they do? But it's, it's certainly going to be fun to watch because we're, we are, we're an old team. We're a veteran team. And I love having in college football. I love having an older team. Definitely. And we've seen that over the years, even last year, obviously, and then of course, you know, with us, I mean, it's, it matters, it matters. Um, so I wanted to ask you something

before we get to these super chats because I was thinking about this in the NFL combine, you know, the people gushing over sunny styles, they kept saying, and he was a green dot, and he was a green dot. My question is, who is going to be the green dot on defense this year? And I was going back and forth about it, um, because you got, and I know larynitis once he cross trains all his linebackers, I mean, there can be a guy that you think might not be a mic, but he's, he's a mic because of how he's handling a position. So obviously, Peyton Pierce has been making noise in the all season. We got that recent nugget and then sunny styles confirmed it by shouting Peyton Pierce out, but also don't sleep on all the Edgar for Wisconsin. Um, as a guy that can come in as a leader, petty John, of course, who do you think is the leader in the clubhouse for the green dot Nevada? I, I think Peyton Pierce has got to be the leader in the clubhouse, you know, I think he's a guy, you know, I'd love to come up with another name of somebody who like, wow,

I never heard of that, but I think Peyton Pierce really, that's the guy they, let's put this with, that's the guy they want it to be. It's his job to lose. They want him to be the guy. Yeah, there was a reason they were putting him out that are, you know, so much last year. Um, but, you know, and I think for a guy like Ali Edgar, it's going to be, you've got to learn the whole defense, you know what I'm saying? And that's a, it's a little tougher for a guy coming in than I got like Peyton Pierce, who's, you know, been there and, you know, been around. But if anybody could do it, Cristiano Legor was a smart kid, really, really smart kid and could do it, but I would, I would, I would handicap it at probably Peyton Pierce as the, at the pole position. I put Riley Petagion right behind that and I put Cristiano Legor right behind that. So that, that's my, uh, that's my three man board. Yeah, that makes sense learning the defense. Uh, that's very important because I do think of Ali Egro, I think I'm saying I write, has the leadership and experience coming from Wisconsin, but that's coming from Wisconsin. Peyton Pierce has been here, knows the system. Definitely, I can see him stepping into that role. And so I think

that's a great pick for sure. Um, but yeah, let's, uh, let's get on these super chats. Uh, Stilly Matt. Thanks for the one and I, RIP, Lou Holtz, Buckeye Nation Morns. Yep. Yep. Um, I've, I've said a lot already, but I'll reiterate, you know, I rock with Lou Holtz, man. I rock with Lou Holtz. He was funny. He was brilliant. Um, he was a great coach. And he was a Buckeye. Um, despite, you know, his little late years, you know, trolling, he was a Buckeye y'all. And he rocked with us, especially with that, uh, that clown Mark May, Nevada. Yeah. Now he used to, uh, you're, you're exactly right. I mean, he used to chill for a Ohio State all the time against Mark, because that was their stick. Mark, man, it was the anti-higher state guy. He was, so just, I, I always was amused when he would go off on this toughness thing and Ryan Day. And because I, I knew it was a stick. I agree with you. He was, uh, he was a master troll. He was a troll before

trolling was a thing. And you go back and read some of his stuff from the 70s. I mean, he was just, he was a brilliant guy. And, um, yeah, you know, I, I, I'm sad that he's gone. I know he's older. I know it was not unexpected. But yeah, um, he, uh, reminds me of a time back there when football. I, there was just, you know, everything in my life was college football. And Lou Holtz was about as good as it gets when it comes to coach in it. Yeah. He's, I mean, again, he's been around my entire college life, Nevada, like memories from a little kid. Lou Holtz was always there. Yeah. I mean, just think about, I mean, I'm thinking about the, the Notre Dame game with Regis Filman, the classic Terry Glenn touchdown as he's getting interviewed. I mean, you see Lou Holtz pacing, looking sad or, or just whatever, like I just memories of college football start with Lou Holtz all the way through it. Well, well, there was a famous game. And I, I, I, I think I, I hope I'm not misread this because I have any time to go to the Google machine and refresh my memory.

But I, I'm pretty sure he was coaching Arkansas and they were playing like Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. And there was a disciplinary issue. And he'd like suspended like his three top players for the game. And everybody's like, oh, they're, they're done. They're toast, you know, and then they went up and upset them in the Orange one. I have to see if I, I may be completely butchering this in terms of, but I, I, that's what I remember, um, and thinking, wow, that was, I just remember him being like, he was a great coach. I mean, he was a national championship winning coach. And that, you know, it's, there's not a lot of guys that can do that. And, um, and he did it. So I, he's got my eternal respect. Yeah. Absolutely. All right. Um, still he met once again. Thanks for the 199 shout out. Be Moses for hookin up Patrick Green. First of all, uh, once again, Patrick, our condolences, Patrick lost his mother. And so, um, he's doing something great, which I thought I didn't get a chance to tell you,

Patrick, when we were talking, um, you know, he's passing out buck eyes in the, in the funeral. Looks like we lost about it. We'll get him back in a second. And I thought that was great. I thought that was a great idea. And so he, uh, what, uh, still he Matt's talking about is he reached out to me to see if I could get him some buck eyes. And listen, remember, um, weeks ago, actually months ago, I went to Brian Fogel's crib. Um, y'all all know Brian Fogel, okay? Brian Fogel is a great buck guy. Great dude. He's the one that you see all over the internet and all over the facility. He makes the little, you know, uh, like, I don't want to say figurines, but he makes all the players and coaches like their own figurine of themselves. Like he does a great job. He makes buck eye necklaces. And he's just a great dude. And uh, he allowed me in my son to tour his crib because it's a bit, it's basically in a high state shrine. One of the most remarkable things I've ever seen as far as all the memorabilia he has. And I remember he showed me this big bag of

buck eyes he had. And so when Patrick asked about that, I thought about that. And I was like, yo, let me hit up Brian. So really shout out to Brian Fogel for coming through with the hookup on the buck eyes for real. I was just the guy to hit him up. You feel me? So it just wanted to kind of tell the backstory about that. But either way, God bless you, Patrick and your family, um, prayers and condolences for you this weekend as, uh, you look to say goodbye to your mother. Nevada, do you got anything? Yeah, God bless you man. Prayer prayer for you. And um, always tough, but prayers just don't worry. We're all around and we're all here for you. Yeah, definitely. Absolutely, man. Um, buck eyes scoop is a family. So, you know, it's the least that we can do, uh, you know, to look out for each other. So real quick, we're about to hop off here. We know the Buckeye basketball team is playing right now. I got my, my jersey, got my, um, my B Moses jersey, you know what I'm saying? And um, my, I don't even know,

let me see what the score is, Nevada, because I told Nevada before it's 12 to 9 on how state was 1226, 11 to 1st half. I was telling Nevada, they stormed the court. They had an emotional win against number eight Purdue, which really put them into projected tournament. And I'm just hoping they didn't go on the road and just get too comfortable and, and not play well. Close game right now. So hopefully they can pull it out and, uh, and get this win. Penn State B Iowa, Penn State is a scrappy team that will play you close and they're at home. So I know this is not an easy game, although the record is not great. So I'm hoping they pull it out in Nevada and then finish strong. I might take my son to the Indiana game at the shot Saturday. We'll see last home game, Bruce Thornton's, um, senior day, all that, but just want them to finish, man, get in this tournament. You're right there. Handle business Nevada. Any last words? Yeah, no, they got to, they got to win tonight. We'll, we'll all be watching it. Rudamon and, and I just

want to shout out me for having a great memory. It was the 78 Orange Bowl Arkansas suspended, uh, Ben Cowan's, Donnie Bobo and Michael Forrest are big three star. They were 24 point underdogs to Oklahoma and they won 31 to 6. Wow. Yeah. 24 point dogs are win 31 to 6. I got to teach up guys. Yeah, without a pre-top play. That just, that stayed with, that always was like, man, that's a heck of a coaching job, though, by, by, uh, Luke Holtz. So yeah, people remember that the, kind of, the clowny guy and everything. I remember that, the great coach at the college level, we could get his guys to, uh, to rise up. Hopefully, like the black guys rise up tonight and win, win, in basketball. Yep. That is the whole, man, handle business. Do it for Bruce. Do it for Bruce. Um, but yeah, listen, listen, always a pleasure, always a pleasure to, to come before you guys and, and do what we love. Talk about our buck eyes and, you know, so I don't take it for granted.

But listen, until next time we will see y'all then, oh, dev is going at 830 PM. He's doing a show at 830 PM. Make sure you check him out, which isn't about 40 minutes. So time to chill, get a sandwich, relax, whatever, and then meet him at 830. All right. Until then, we will see y'all next time. Go Bucks and beat Penn State. Peace. You It's tax season. And by now, we're all a bit tired of numbers. But here's an important one you

need to hear. Sixteen billion dollars. That's how much money and refunds the IRS flank for possible identity fraud. But it's not all grim news. Lifelock monitors millions of data points per second and alerts you to threats you could easily miss on your own. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it. Guaranteed. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit lifelock.com slash iHeart terms apply. Here's the truth. You could literally be adored by everyone and then come home and still get completely ignored by your own cat. It's classic cat behavior. But new Shiba Premium Puree is a lickable treat that changes all that. Their protein rich made with bone broth and have the smooth creamy texture cats go crazy for, especially when it's hand fed. Yeah, it's more than a treat. It's a fast, fast, a favorite human status. So feed your cat Shiba and go from totally ignored to truly adored in just 12 days guaranteed or your money back. Learn more at Shiba.com.

More episodes

More from The Buckeye Scoop

View all episodes →