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

0:00You're having a good time, you're out drinking with the boys, now it's time to pay the tab. 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. The average cost of a D-Wine Virginia is $11,352.47, drinking and driving costs more than your drinks. Learn more at What'sTheDamage.org, brought to you by Virginia DMV. 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,

1:00do 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. 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, what's good y'all, roll tide, roll tide for life, what's up? 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.

2:01We will greatly appreciate it if you do that. And then for the people who don't always do YouTube, Apple people, go to Apple podcast, 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. We're going to dig into that amongst a few other things. But also remember when you send those wonderful super chats, helps to go towards the pay afford, 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, Lou Holtz. Lou Holtz, he's a heck of a guy. Over the years, we've experienced a lot with him. He was a Buckeye assistant, obviously legendary Notre Dame head coach, been in television for years.

3:02You had the Ryan Day, back and forth stuff, hilarity, pat McAfee, whatever you got to say about Lou Holtz, he's a legend. And so we say RIP to Lou Holtz and Nevada. Yeah, I like Lou Holtz. I like Lou Holtz. He was a guilty pleasure of mine. 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 he'd been so good at Arkansas. 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, he got a little goofy and it's kind of, we live in the goofy era. 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 and I think he kind of took that to heart and kind of went over the top of some of this stuff. But I like Lou Holtz, rest in peach coach and I always thought he was just an absolutely

4:06fantastic college coach and an integrate interview and a guy that really answered interesting things to say. Yeah, he was an excellent interview. I mean, he was a troll. Lou Holtz was a troll 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'm never forget that. That was always great. 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, he was such a hit for them. You know what I'm saying? What do you do now? But yeah, Lou Holtz, rest in peace, 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, Nevada.

5:11Yeah, no doubt. You know, it's one of those things where you just, it reminds you to how deep the Ohio State coaching tree is with you. And you look at that 1968 staff and look at all the guys on that staff and all the guys that are coming through the years. And you know, that's why Ohio State's top of the the football, you know, certainly top 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 judgments. 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

6:14the 2026 defensive scheme. And Nevada, 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. I mean, I thought that was an excellent nugget, Nevada, what you got? Well, yeah. I mean, I mean, Patricia obviously is a guy that is very pleased with how they did, you know, in year one, you know, 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 someone he never coached at the college level. And you know, college football is different than the NFL and, you know, as he did kind of his end of year assessment of, you know, 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

7:17the 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, excuse me, but 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. Last year, 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 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, so that's kind of the overall

8:21strategy and one of the tactics that they're going to be doing to kind of implement that is implementing kind of a stand-up defensive end scheme and, you know, people say why stand-up defensive end? What's the difference in your stand-up defensive end and, you know, hand in the dirt defensive end? 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're in your hand in the dirt. If you're looking to attack, you know, going forward, attack, going back, attack laterally, describe 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 all how state is, you know, an emphasis on pressure and, you know, a increased relevance of stand-up defensive ends 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

9:23Walker. 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 defensive ends 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 about his son. He said he was his new thing of stand-up defensive ends. 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 defensive ends

10:24and different looks and different packages with your 4-3 still being the base. You don't have to change the 3-4. Now, understanding the 3-4, you know, it's it's complimentary to what you like to do in the 3-4, you know, with the outside linebacker and or being able to do things fluidly schematically from a 3-4 standpoint. With the stand-up defensive end, 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 even going 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'll still be a traditional 4-3. Because you may have one guy with the stand-up on the other side too, you know what I'm saying? So 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, shoot, even think back when Chase Young was here, we were doing some funky things

11:29on 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 spot on. And I think for Ohio State, you know, look, 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 pressure 20%-30% time. But you can probably get away with it at a higher clip in the college football than you

12:29can. 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. Thank you for calling the bomb as comfort line. Bombas makes socks, slippers, teas, and underwear made with the highest quality materials. Press one for comfort, two for style, three for donation. You chose style. Bombas are styles for whatever you enjoy. You can run in bombas, lounge in bombas, dress them up, dress them down, but always give back in bombas because with every item purchased, another is donated. Bombas, comfort worth calling for. Go to bombas.com such audio and use code audio for 20% off your first purchase. That's B-O-M-B-A-S dot com and use code audio. You're a pro at running your life, at committing to your workout, at showing up every day, at bombas we're pros too, pros at making socks. Our sportist Orban has specialized socks for whatever sport you're committed to. Running, hiking, golf, Pilates, and so much more. Mabel's sweat wicking yarns, blister fighting details, and targeted art support. Bombas sport

13:29is pro level socks from the pros of socks. For another pro, you go to bombas.com slash audio and use code audio for 20% off your first purchase. That's bombas.com and use code audio. Studies show that 100% of everybody in the world wants to curl up indoors and do nothing because it's so darn cold out there. That's why many people are turning to bombas, whose pillowy plush slippers and warm arena wool socks have been said to be the most comfortable in the history of feet. Bombas products have been found to boost coziness play up to 1 million percent. Okay, enough fake statistics. But could bombas socks and slippers really be the cure? Go to bombas.com slash audio and use code audio for 20% off your first purchase. That's B-O-M-B-A-S dot com and use code audio. 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,

14:32remember 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, has 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 Smith and John Walker, both of them are very good. Imagine them on the line together with Kenyatta. Like, I'm just imagining that lineup in the front four. To me, I think that's pretty lethal, man. Are you as excited? That's not all we have, but that combination to me, I think, could be really brutal, especially with what Matt Patricia does. Because as you see in the

15:34nugget, 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 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 capability. 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, no, I'm excited about Kenyatta Jackson. And I'm saying John Walker, John Walker's a guy that wanted to come to Ohio State in the

16:35beginning had some issues with homesickness or whatever it was that, you know, couldn't make the thing work. But, you know, he really, I mean, he's a load. He's a, he's a big two. Everybody talked to his like, that's a big man down there, down their thing. And, you know, Ohio State doesn't, you know, other teams have got good defense alignment as well. And he's certainly one of those guys that looks the part and, and certainly I expect him to have a nice impact on Ohio State in 2026. And let me go over the, 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, boat, bow, Atkinson and Cory Wilder. Now listen, let's go back to boat Atkinson real quick. So boat Atkinson 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

17:37Carolina 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 boat Atkinson 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 boat Atkinson. I think he still has a chance to be a very good contributor in this, in this too deep. What do you think about Bo? I completely agree. I, I completely, 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. Ohio 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, again, I hate to keep going back and getting 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 Atkinson certainly has had more success

18:43at the Cod's level than Kaden Curry did coming into the last year. So, you know, why, why not? Why couldn't he make a jump? Why couldn't he be an impact player? He's a guy that, you know, certainly could, you know, it could be a favorable surprise for the black guys 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 raving 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 a plan time. But on the flip side, you got Zion Grady. Zion Grady made plays last year.

19:47He 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 Kway. I always want to call him Kwa, because it's spelled Q.U.A. Quile Resah. Actually, Quile Resah flows better than Kway Resah, 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 shore bet, the more shore of a bet to make an impact, but Kway has talent. And then you got Epi, Epi K. Great kid. I had the pleasure of helping Devon interview him last year. Just great kid, great family, and talent it. And so he actually has a, I mean, if you look at him quickly, he kind of looks like a 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

20:52you think about that depth right there at defensive end, Nevada? Yeah, well, I think it's, you know, it's, it's some of its young, some of its untested, some of its new, you know, we got, but it's, it's a lot of guys. And I think we're going to find out a lot in Springborne. I, I see, I, 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 Young or the Bose. I think if you use guys, you know, correctly, I mean, heck, I feel like CJ Hicks could have been of great impact on us that had had these hung around, you know, our, our release, I thought it was underutilized in terms of, you know, you know, potentially, you're potentially great past pressure on our state. So I think you can get guys and you can get, you know, past pressure 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're 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

21:54that 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, you know, and, and lots 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, I also talked about rolling linebackers up to the edge to bring pressure. And so I love that because guys like Petty John are big and fast and then Alfred, don't sleep on Alfred. Like, to me, Alfred reminds me of Jerome Baker. Just 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

23:00the 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, uh, 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 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. Um, 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 a first round pick like Ken Yada Jackson, Andrew Houston, um, even James Smith. And

24:04they'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 were bringing it from the portal. And that what we got coming back and Ken Yada Jackson, uh, Nevada. Studies show that 100% of everybody in the world wants to curl up indoors and do nothing because it's so darn cold out there. That's why many people are turning to bombas whose pillowy plush slippers and warm arena wool socks have been said to be the most comfortable in the history of feed. Bombas products have been found to boost coziness play up to 1 million percent. Okay, enough fake statistics. But could bomba socks and slippers really be the cure? Go to bombas.com slash audio and use code audio for 20% off your first purchase. That's b-o-m-b-a-s.com and use code audio. Creating the coffee flavor you love. But without the caffeine,

25:07Kachava's got you covered with their newest coffee flavor. This all-in-one nutrition shake delivers bold, authentic flavor crafted from premium decaffeinated Brazilian beans with 25 grams of protein, six grams of fiber, greens, and so much more. 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. Creating the coffee flavor you love. But without the caffeine, Kachava's 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 Kachava's all-in-one nutrition shake, and you've got 25 grams of protein, six 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

26:08you. 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, and then there's just, look, there's a lot of what you need to create pressure and 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 has been going on on our house side, is that we have athleticism to burn. And that's why a kid like Tarvis Alford, 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 the Patricia doing the right types of things, you know, I think we can do it. I don't think you

27:11don't just need to have the great past pressure moves. Now we're blessed because you've got a Gallagher 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's only said, hey, is the defense going to be statistically better than 2024? I would have said, not a chance in heck. You heard him saying, 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 2024. 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 room, and he's really excited about the scheme that they're going to be presenting. So that, that,

28:12that makes me very excited. Me too. Mark Swick, post in your comment, anyone else besides me in Dev excited to see the kicker? No, 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 and 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

29:13the 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 sack, no, you know, first acquisitions or special teams players down to long snappers and things, you know, 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. 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 let it check to be seen. Yep. And once again, the natural, it seems almost impossible to be better through your straight.

30:15Like 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, I'm leaving strong 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

31:16had a lot of, you know, different changes, but we've, we've maintained excellence on the defense side of the ball. And 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 cornered. 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 dudes. I don't think we're going to be bad now. We'll, we'll, we'll see. I know we've got a lot of talented guys to, you know, a lot of high NFL draft picks to replace, but a lot of young talent, a lot of guys in the portals. I mean, let's put it, we're over on defense this year when we were 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 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,

32:19yo, 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 I think this year, top 10, with just the, just with the sheer number of kids we got in the portal. And, you know, 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 these kids or some of these kids? Are they back from injury? Are they, and 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 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. So I wanted to ask you something before we get to these super chats because I was

33:24thinking 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 because you got, and I know Leronitas wants, 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 from Wisconsin 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 in 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 like, wow, I never heard of that,

34:25but I think Peyton Pierce really, that's the guy they, let's put this, that's the guy they want it to be. It's his job to lose. They want him to be the guy. And there was a reason they were putting him out that are, you know, so much last year. 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, Christian, I like your smart kid, really, really smart kid and could do it. But I would, I would handy cap it at probably Peyton Pierce as the, at the pole position, I put Riley Petty John right behind that. I put Christian Lager right behind that. So that, that's my, that's my three man board. Yeah, that makes sense learning the defense. That's very important. Because I do think of Ali Edgar, 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

35:26into that role. And so I think that's a great pick for sure. But yeah, let's, let's get on these super chats. Stilly Matt. Thanks for the one and I, RIP, Lou Holtz, Buckeye Nation Morns. Yep, yep. 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. He was a great coach. And he was a Buckeye. Despite, you know, his little late years, you know, trolling, he was a Buckeye, y'all. And he rocked with us, especially with that, that clown Mark May, Nevada. Yeah, now he used to, you're, you're exactly ready. I mean, he used to chill for Ohio State all the time against Mark May, because that was their stick. Mark May was the anti-higher state guy. He was, so just, I always was amused when he would go off on this toughness thing and Ryan Day. Because I knew it was a stick. I agree with you. He was,

36:27he 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 yeah, you know, I, I'm sad that he's gone. I know he's older. I know it was not unexpected. But yeah, he reminds me of a time back there when football. It 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. Yep. 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 and looking sad or, or just whatever, like I just memories of college football start with Lou Holtz all the way through. Well, well, there was a famous game. And I, I, I, I think I, I hope I'm not misremaring this

37:30because 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 and 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 what I'm saying? And then they went up and upset them in the Orange one. I have to see if I, I made me be completely butchering this. But I, I, that's what I remember, um, and thinking, wow, that was that, I just remember him being like, he was a great coach. I'm using the 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, and he did it. So I, he's got my internal respect. Yeah. Absolutely. All right. Um, still he met once again. Thanks for the one I nine. Shout out, B Moses for hooking 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,

38:35when we were talking, um, you know, he's passing out buck eyes, uh, in the, in the funeral. Looks like we lost Nevada. 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 was a great buck eye, 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 of 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

39:36bag 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 that 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, you got anything? Yeah, God bless you man, prayers for you. And, um, always tough, but but prayers just don't worry. We're all around and we're all here for you. Yeah, definitely. Absolutely, man. Um, buck eye 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 buck eye 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,

40:40Nevada, because I told Nevada before it's 12 to 9 on how state was 1226 11 to first half. I was telling Nevada, they stormed the court. They had an emotional win against number eight Purdue, which really put them in a projected tournament. And I'm just hoping they didn't go on the road and just get too comfortable and, and not play well. Um, close game right now. So hopefully they can pull it out and, uh, and get this win. Penn State be Iowa. Penn State is a scrappy team that will play you close and they're at home. So I noticed this is not an easy game, although the record is not great. So I'm hoping they, 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 the night. We'll, we'll all be watching the rudiment. And I just want to shout out me for having a great memory. It

41:44was the 78 Orange Bowl Arkansas suspended, uh, Ben Cowan's, Donnie Bobo and Michael Forrest, they're big three star. They were 24 point underdogs to Oklahoma. And they won 31 to six. Wow. Yeah, 24 point dogs are win 31 to six. I got to tell you guys, you're without pre-top play. That, that just, that stayed with that always was like, man, that's the heck of a coaching job. They're about by, by, uh, Lou Holtz. So yeah, people remember the, the kind of the clowny guy and everything. I remember that the great coach of the cause level, we could get his guys to, uh, to rise up. Hopefully like the black guys rise up tonight and win and, win and 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 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 8.30 p.m. He's doing a show at 8.30

42:51p.m. 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 8.30. All right. Until then, we will see y'all next time, go bucks and beat Penn State. Peace. 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.

43:54Quality nutrition shouldn't be complicated. Just two scoops of kachavas all-in-one nutrition shake, and you've got 25 grams of protein, six 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. With 25 grams of protein, six grams of fiber, greens, and so much more. Treat yourself to the

45:00flavor 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. Nicole hosts Easter every year. That's why she shops at BJ's wholesale club, stocking up on spiral ham, baked goods, fresh flowers, candy, and five dozen eggs. I've got a lot of baskets to fill. Nicole's not worried because she knows she can save big and get it all done in one trip. It's like when in the Easter egg hunt? When you save everyone wins. Get a $15 digital coupon when you spend $150 in one transaction now through April 5th. Visit BJ's.com slash Easter coupon for details. BJ's your Easter destination.