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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- On this episode of Buckeye Talk, Stephen Means and Andrew Gillis discuss the current state of Ohio State’s recruiting class, the impact of recent coaching changes at Penn State and LSU, and the strategies that Ohio State might employ to capitalize on these shifts. They analyze key players in the 2026 recruiting class, the importance of building relationships with recruits, and the financial considerations that come into play in the modern recruiting landscape. The conversation also touches on the challenges of recruiting from Louisiana and the historical context of Ohio State’s recruiting efforts in that state. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk and sign up to get text messages from experts Stephen Means, Stefan Krajisnik and Andrew Gillis at 614-350-3315. Get the insider analysis, have your voice heard on the Buckeye Talk podcast and connect with the best Buckeye community out there. Latest Ohio State Buckeyes news Predicting the first College Football Playoff rankings: Where will Ohio State be in the bracket? 2 big things Ohio State football needs to achieve against Penn State Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith hasn’t suffered sophomore slump, to dismay of Penn State: Buckeyes Breakfast The Julian Sayin effect: Why Ohio State’s QB is more than just a product of elite weapons Read the automated transcript of today’s podcast below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it may contain errors and misspellings. Andrew Gillis (00:00.455) yeah. Stephen Means (00:02.704) And I have we have 60 minutes because the next one starts at 110. So. Andrew Gillis (00:06.382) That’s fine. Stephen Means (00:09.614) Welcome back to Buckeye Talk. I am Stephen Means. That is Andrew Gillis. And the Coach Wee cover still has a job. Ohio State has the number nine recruiting class in the country, headlined by five-star recruits, Chris Henry Jr. and Blaine Bradford, who is officially... He’s not actually official about God, it does seem like Ohio State won the war though. Gillis because again, the coach we cover still has a job and the coach of the team who’s been trying to steal him for the last six months no longer has a job. Andrew Gillis (00:42.466) we can get into maybe the winning and losing and who won and who lost because it’s not just as complicated as, that team, their coach lost his job. They must be in disarray. They’re recruiting classes dead for some cases it is. And for some, isn’t. Stephen Means (00:57.934) And to be fair, he’s still from Louisiana and Louisiana kids have never chosen LSU because a coach they’ve always chose LSU because they choose LSU for the same reason that Ohio kids choose Ohio State because it’s freaking Ohio State. It’s freaking LSU. But obviously we have not done a recruiting pot since James Franklin was fired by Penn State after losing a third straight game this year. And obviously news broke that Brian Kelly after it’s lost to Texas A over the weekend where that Parker Fleming, he’s a follow on Twitter that people should follow. think he’s one of my favorite follows because every Monday he puts out this stat that shows the whole point of the status. Like, did you really get beat that badly? Did you really get beat as bad as maybe people thought? And it’s always fun to see the more to the right you are on this, the essentially like the more like, yeah, you actually did get beat that badly. And the Texas A and LSU game is I think one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. It’s the seventh largest gap in between teams, which is why I think at halftime of that game, we were all like, how is LSU winning this game? cause Marcel Reed can’t stop throwing the ball to LSU. If he stops throwing the ball at LSU, they’re going to dog walk them and they dog walk them. And now Brian Kelly no longer has his job. So here’s the entire premise of today’s podcast. With coach firings, one of the reasons why you do it now is you want to give yourself time to find another head coach, right? But also recruiting cycle is still going on. It gives you time to try to scramble and hold on to recruits, but it also opens up your recruiting class. Even in this new world of NIL and guys getting paid out to lawsuit. It’s flip season already. And now you don’t, your program doesn’t have a leader. You are now opening up your program to be open season for the rest of the country. And so. Today’s podcast is called What Brian Kelly and James Franklin’s pink slips mean for Ohio State? And I am essentially going to take the role of the fan and Andrew is going to take the role of the responsible journalist. And we are going to go through these two classes and I am going to at times go, oh, this guy looks cool. Should Ohio State go get him? We’re going to play a game of will they should they and could they? Stephen Means (03:19.246) with LSU and Penn State’s recruiting classes. I think we should start with Penn State Gillis because maybe there’s more names on that list that Ohio State was maybe already fighting to get, but also it’s a big 10 program. So it’s a little bit more of a, it just hits a little harder if Ohio State starts stealing guys from the Nidalee Lilings recruiting class, right? Andrew Gillis (03:30.968) Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Andrew Gillis (03:40.704) Yeah, yeah, 100%. There it’s, for reasons that we will get to in a minute, or I guess in multiple minutes. It is a much easier recruiting ground for Ohio State in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, let’s say, than in New Orleans, Louisiana. There are areas that Ohio State is better at recruiting and that play better. to kids from the north rather than kids that are maybe not and kids that you might have to go convince that cold weather is not so bad. Stephen Means (04:21.165) mean, Jeremiah Smith is from South Florida, and he’s playing in Ohio right now. So I don’t know, cold. Well, that thing is, I think the whole cold weather thing is an overrated concept in the world where most of these kids are trying to get to the NFL where you have no choice choice of where you play. And so, I spent my entire life playing football the first 21 years of my career in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and now I just got drafted by the Buffalo Bills. Or, Oh, I just spent my entire life playing in Texas. Oh, now I just got drafted by the green Bay Packers. All right. Well now you’re playing in the cold. The wood jamming chip. now what Penn state’s got 16 commits and it’s 20, 26 recruiting class at the time that we’re recording. This is the number 23 class in the country. Ironically enough, LSU also has 16 commits, but they’re ranked 11th. We’re going to start with Penn state though. 23rd class in the country, 16 commitments. Let’s start running through this. Kevin Brown, four star offensive tackle. Are they and should they go try to steal this kid from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania? Andrew Gillis (05:28.928) Yeah, they’re working to get a visit with him. As far as I understand, he visited Penn State on May 30th, committed to them a couple of months later, he committed over, I think committed 24 if my notes are correct. He again, he’s a top 60 kid like this is somebody that when you look at the offer list, Ohio State. Stephen Means (05:37.912) Okay. Andrew Gillis (05:54.858) has not offered him. Ohio State did not offer him a scholarship. And I think part of that is a little maybe Justin Fry. You know, we talked about that wide net. I don’t think you’re going to see many of those situations with Tyler Bowen. know, whether or not he ends up kind of leading Ohio State to successful offensive line recruiting classes, we’ll find out. but I don’t think you’re going to have an issue of, Hey, this kid never had an OSU offer. Why? I do think partly this, the reason he didn’t have an offer as you look at this was frankly, he’s from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He goes to Harrisburg high school. He committed in 2024 before his junior year began. This kid very much felt locked in to Ohio, or excuse me, to Penn State. but He is apparently keeping his options open. You know, we will, we will see, you know, I think Ohio state’s working on it as I understand it. he’s, think taking a visit to West Virginia, if I read correctly from a West Virginia site, things have changed a little bit for him. So we’ll see how, how this all plays out, but Ohio state is trying to get back into the mix, which is interesting. You’ve got five offensive linemen in the class. we’ll see about Aaron Thomas. Aaron Thomas did visit Florida state. He’s one of your tackles. We’ll see what, happens there, but you, you’ve got breed, you’ve got Greer, you’ve got Riley, you’ve got Tucker Smith kind of locked in. Aaron Thomas did take that other visit. So we’ll see if you can stick at five, but Ohio state does not appear unopposed to taking a sixth. And this, mean, for context, This kid is right up there with Sam Greer in terms of the rankings. So this is somebody that they’re working to get and I think they should be. Stephen Means (07:50.896) Okay, so that’s a should and is this is gonna be fun. We’re literally just gonna talk about 32 players. I love this. Jackson Ford number 240 overall number 22. athlete 642 40. So I’m assuming this is a defensive lineman. Okay, sure. Which category is he the categories again, Ohio State is and should go after this guy. Ohio State isn’t but should go after this guy. Andrew Gillis (08:05.88) This is a defense event. Andrew Gillis (08:18.474) Neither. Ohio State was going after this guy. He took an OV to Ohio State in June. It was Penn State and then it was Ohio State and then he ended with Michigan. He committed to Penn State at the end of June. This was one of those, if you remember, if you’re a subscriber to the text, which I’ll hope you are, you remember there was a lot of worry about defensive ends and there still kind of is a little bit of worry about defensive ends in this 26 cycle. They are looking elsewhere for that help. Dre Quinn, former Clemson commit, Ohio State is really actively pursuing him. They’re pretty aggressive there. I don’t have any reason to believe that Ford has necessarily, you know, I’ll put it like this. I don’t know if he is all that concerned with taking other visits right now. Um, but I do think that Ohio state might reach out in the next five weeks. We’ve got five weeks until signing day. Um, it’s the Wednesday before the big 10, the championship game and after Michigan. So nothing right now from Ohio state. I think it depends on how some other situations go. Um, Luke Waiful is currently committed to USC. I’m wondering if Ohio State’s going to snap back on that one and try to circle back and see. That obviously became an NIL arms race in June. I think it was June, maybe July. One of those, was over the summer. That became a pretty significant push for Ohio State. I don’t know if that’s going to happen with Jackson Ford, but they were interested. They did host him for an OV. It seems as if Ford will probably stick at Penn State, but I don’t want to count out Ohio State just saying, you know what, let’s, let’s try this one more time. He’s the only have one edge rusher in the 26th class. Like we talk about offensive line. It’s like, Hey, Kevin Brown, that’d be cool. Wouldn’t be a need. It would kind of be a want, but with Jackson Ford, you need another defense man in this class. And he would fit that bill. Stephen Means (10:35.341) Zero. Stephen Means (10:44.015) Okay, next up on this list of commitments. I skipped a couple of people already. Messiah Mickens number 162 player number 13 running back also from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Andrew Gillis (10:49.39) and skip to some people. Yeah, that’s fine. Andrew Gillis (10:58.326) Mm-hmm. Yeah, I don’t think so. I think this is going to be Amari Latimer. I think he is going to commit to Ohio State at some point, the current Wisconsin commit. And then I think it’s going to be favor of key. And I think those are going to be your two. So no and no. Stephen Means (11:19.065) Cool. Matt Sieg. Hope I’m saying that Riley Sieg or Saig. Andrew Gillis (11:25.28) Yeah, I believe Sieg from Fort Cherry, Pennsylvania. This is going to be kind of a theme that you’re going to look at. I don’t believe so. Ohio State never offered. They have three safeties in their class. They’ve got Bradford, they’ve got Caldwell, and they’ve got Bing. They just got Bing a couple of weeks ago, the Maryland Commit, former Maryland Commit. I think they’re good at safety. Stephen Means (11:50.458) Okay, so if they’re good at safety, then I’m not going to say I’m assuming it’s the same concept with Darryl Casey number 60. Okay, cool. Because if not, this is going to get really boring. Terry Wiggins, six, three to 10 from also from Pennsylvania number 265 player number 16 linebacker and also Tyson Harley number 268 number 23 linebacker. He’s six, four to 15. I’m just adding all linebackers right now. Andrew Gillis (11:54.773) Yes, correct. Stephen Means (12:16.033) Matthew Lamar, number four, six, seven, number 33 linebacker, six, three, two, 35. Does Ohio State need to steal a linebacker? Well, does this do any of these linebackers for either the two categories we’re talking about with Ohio State? Andrew Gillis (12:28.878) No, and no Ohio State just recently and here’s the fun thing about this we get sprinkled in other stuff. Ohio State just offered Braxton Rembert a six foot five 200 pound linebacker from North Carolina. He’s a current or excuse me, he’s from Georgia, committed to a school in North Carolina committed to Wake Forest. But Ohio State did offer him they are Stephen Means (12:35.299) Hey, you good. Andrew Gillis (12:50.954) actively searching for a third, Jayden Williams, the kid out of Massillon seems like it’s trending Indiana. It seems like he’s going to stick with his commitment. Jacob Curry committed to Oklahoma, the Florida commit. we’ll see what Ohio state does at linebacker. They only have two. We’ve talked about Arville Reese kind of playing his way in Ohio state needed three in this cycle. They added three last cycle. I think they need three. think that’s why they got offered Rembert, but remember again, six five, 200 pounds is kind of that outside backer. I don’t know if this is gonna happen for Ohio State, specifically in the Penn State way, or in the Penn State fashion, I would say. yeah, know, there’s Elijah Littlejohn, he’s somebody that maybe could be a target, but I don’t think. Stephen Means (13:27.278) Mm-hmm. Andrew Gillis (13:47.042) that that is going to be a priority, at least as we record this podcast, perhaps later. Little John would be the one where it’s, hey, Ohio State might get into the mix there, but everything else, think you’re kind of, I think you’re kind of set on. Stephen Means (14:00.759) Is Brock Williams going to be a Buckeye? And is that why Ohio State’s going out of its way to keep telling us that they’re playing a lot of tight ends? Andrew Gillis (14:08.14) They’re gonna try. I texted Stephen when we were in, well, I was in Libertyville, Illinois. Stephen and Stephane are in Milwaukee. Stephen Means (14:15.629) We were in Milwaukee. Andrew Gillis (14:20.718) I texted Steven that my next podcast was just going to be me fawning for 60 minutes. Brock Williams is an incredible football player and I think Ohio State should do whatever they can do to get him. That guy’s awesome. That guy looks like the first second round tight end that you dream of as an offensive coordinator and as a play caller. He looks like the guy where you’re like. Holy smokes, like this guy opened so much up for us. This guy can do so much. He’s a willing blocker. I don’t know if he’s a good blocker. He’s a willing blocker, but I think willing at 17 years old as a high school junior is good enough for me, especially when you can catch the ball like he can. I think they’re going to see what happens with him. They’ve got some other interesting options at tight end and 27. I wrote a story for the site on Monday morning about Jordan Karhoff. It goes to St. Francis in Columbus, current teammates of RJ Day, Ryan’s son. They were chopping it up a little bit after the game, kind of celebrating their win over Bishop Hartley. I think Karhoff is an option for them, but Brock Williams is priority one and it seems like he’s going to commit in the next five weeks or so. So we’ll see. So maybe, maybe that’s why and maybe, maybe tight end. They’re kind of holding out 26 for, for hoping 27 and maybe they’ll take two. Stephen Means (15:38.831) And that’s why instead of talking about Peter’s on number three or four player number 19, 10, and we talked about Brock Williams and the kids you went to go see on Friday night. I would assume Marlon Bright is not necessarily in Ohio State. mean, he’s 6′6, 260. That seems like a project. Andrew Gillis (15:54.112) Yeah, Kevin Brown is the one to keep an eye on the offensive lineman out of Harrisburg that we already talked about. I don’t think any other offensive lineman here are options because again, you got to take into account this is Kevin Brown, but it seems as if they’re going to keep kind of swinging on Adam Guthrie. Stephen Means (15:57.581) Okay. Stephen Means (16:07.513) Sure. Andrew Gillis (16:11.022) Micah Smith, he’s a current UCLA commit. He took an OV the weekend of the UCLA for the Minnesota game. We’ll see there. Like Ohio State’s not just, you know, barking up the Penn State tree. There are a lot of other trees that are going to be available to Ohio State. Stephen Means (16:29.327) And you said Elijah little John who decommitted from okay. So that is the most interesting one. And he can, he decommitted after the firing. So this is like a, cause and effect situation. So, okay. Assuming if Ohio state pulls that, that would be the second guy from how Penn States recruiting class that they flipped. Obviously educated in Guilford who flipped to how state earlier this summer was also committed to pins. I will at least Andrew Gillis (16:32.183) Yes, he decommitted. Andrew Gillis (16:36.398) That’s the most pressing thing I’ve Andrew Gillis (16:44.992) Yeah. Yeah. Stephen Means (16:58.447) 247 sports hasn’t committed to Penn State at one point. Andrew Gillis (17:01.998) Might have been committed very early in the process, yeah. Stephen Means (17:04.783) like so before the entire world found out about him, that doesn’t count. It does, but it doesn’t count. OK, any. don’t know, like this house, they need a kicker in this cycle. I told you guys I’m coming on. I’m literally just going to. I’m just. Andrew Gillis (17:17.152) They might need a kicker. They might need a kicker. I’ve told you my, I’ve told you my kicker strategy. I would never recruit a high school kicker ever. I would never recruit a high school punter ever. You know what I would do? I would pick off from the little schools. I would flex your muscles on some of these other smaller schools. And I would find out if there’s a kid at Purdue, there was a really good kicker. I think he went to Alabama at Miami of Ohio. I’m keeping my options open in the portal and if I have to take a kicker every year, I’m going to get the best dag on kicker that I can get out of the transfer portal. I would never recruit a high school kicker. Stephen Means (17:58.915) You know what the problem with that is, Ohio State did do that. They have Jackson Corvell from Ball State on their roster right now. They’re just not using him because they’re playing the guy they recruited out of high school here. I’m just I told you guys this is how this is going to I’m just going to throw names at the wall and get this is going to tell me whether they fit into one of these two groups. OK, so that’s Penn State’s recruiting class. Andrew Gillis (18:16.546) Well, there, yeah. So there’s, there’s two points that I want to add in real quick. There’s a couple of 27 kids that I want to talk about, but Penn State is the interesting one because it’s going to be the opposite with, with LSU. And it’s going to be the opposite with, with other schools. I Penn State, you see kids decommit because they really like James Franklin. We can make fun of James Franklin. You, the dear listener can say, ha ha, what a loser. Stephen Means (18:20.93) Okay. Okay. Andrew Gillis (18:44.92) couldn’t beat Ohio State. And you could, you could make fun of him and do all that you want. Players really did like him. Players really did like James Franklin players really liked playing for him. You saw all of the decommitments that happened right after that. And we will get into a handful of them in just a second as we get into the 27 kids as Steven starts to ask me about them. But there’s a couple of 27 kids, they all decommitted. Some of them were saying like, I’m going to take some time and take my options and look at some stuff because this is weird. Other kids were like, I’m out. I want to win. See ya. but they all really like playing for James Franklin. The LSU of it is all very different and we can get into that more detail later, but the James Franklin of it all, these are flips of Ohio state is taking advantage of a situation with LSU. I don’t think frankly. the Brian Kelly firing is going to have all that much to do with if they flip a kid or not. I think it is very much going to be, hey man, we want this kid anyway. It didn’t matter if Brian Kelly was a coach. didn’t matter if Lane Kiffin’s a coach. didn’t matter if Ed Oh or Nick Saban’s the coach. We were trying to get this kid anyway. And it just happens that Brian Kelly’s no longer. Stephen Means (20:04.75) Yeah, Penn State’s entire point 27 recruiting class just like left and I get it right the coach you just commit committed to is no longer committed. So like literally James Franklin got fired on October 10th Khalil Taylor the number 62 player number 12 wide receiver did committed and then on October 12 camp Kevin spell Kevin spell the numbers Come on. Okay, cool. Thank you. Thank you always correct me if I’m doing it wrong Andrew Gillis (20:26.51) Come on. Come on. Come on, spell. Stephen Means (20:32.066) Come on, spell the number seven player number one running back in the country out of Pennsylvania. Mind you, decommitted, Leydon von Brandt, the number 33 player, number five, offensive tackle, five star recruit decommitted. That’s tough. This dude had three top 100 recruits and two of them, stars, and then he got fired. And then Gabe Jenkins and number two 46 player, number 27, cornerback four star recruit also out of Pennsylvania, decommitted as well. that’s three Pennsylvania guys. And then a Delaware guy who is a five star offensive tackle. I would assume in some capacity, all three of these guys are on the Ohio state should and is list. Andrew Gillis (21:11.254) All four. So let’s just go down the line. Come on, Spell, the five star running back. He is very, very good. He’s from Western Pennsylvania. Like, I’ll put it like this. The name Saquon has been used to describe Mr. Spell. Yeah, he’s listed at 59205. Stephen Means (21:30.796) He looks like Snake-Wan Barclay. In the face. Andrew Gillis (21:37.772) There’s a lot of smoke as it regards to, or as it relates to Notre Dame. I’m curious how that holds. He gave an interview, I think with on three, and it was basically just, I want to win. I want to go somewhere that’s going to compete for championships. And there were two teams that played in the national championship last year and Ohio state’s in the mix. And so it was Notre Dame. And that’s part of it. I think his name is J. Juan cider. is Notre Dame’s running backs coach. He left Penn State this past off season to go to Notre Dame. And he obviously had a pre-existing relationship with him and he was still committed to Penn State after that. But now obviously things have changed. We’ll see if Penn State can get back into the mix depending on who they hire. We’ll see how that all plays out. But I think Notre Dame might have just had the inside track because of that. because they had cider as their running backs coach, because he just visited for the USC game. Jeremiah Love ran for 200 something yards. Notre Dame ran for 300 yards total. Imagine Ohio State had a five star receiver visit and Jeremiah Smith had 225 yards and Karnell Tate had 150. That’s what happened with C’mon Spell at Notre Dame. So that I think... is one where everybody’s going to point to Notre Dame and I don’t think Ohio State’s out of it. We’ll have to see. David Gabriel Georges is the number one back on their board. He has been for quite some time the running back out of Tennessee. He camped over the summer. You and I, Stephen, we’re looking at him working out and what my goodness gracious, this kid looks the part. He’s Ohio State’s number one target. I know in the building they love him. So we’ll see what happens, especially they’re going to, it seems like they’re trying to take two running backs in 26. 27 we’ll find out. You you’re not getting spell in Gabriel Georges. Like I don’t think that NIL stuff is going to work out. I don’t think that math is going to math, but I do think you can add one of them. And I think David Gabriel Georges is the guy, but I think Tomas Spell certainly helps. So Ohio State’s in and they’re going to do what they can. Stephen Means (23:59.683) You’re not predicting Carlos Loughlin to pull in two five star running backs. Okay. If he does that, we’re going to have to do some serious recruiter rankings at Ohio State because that’s. Andrew Gillis (24:04.15) No. Andrew Gillis (24:09.87) And we’re going have to do a podcast about Ohio State hiring new running backs coaches. That man might be an offensive coordinator somewhere. If somebody’s going be like, Hey man, Iowa might hire him if they can hire him and get two five star running backs. Stephen Means (24:17.228) Yeah. Yeah, I wonder how many running backs coaches are often to coordinate right now. I know there’s a couple who are head coaches, but I’m wondering how many are are offensive coordinators right now. It’s not an easy path to move up. And that’s I think part of why Carlos Lachlan hates other positions coach, because it seems like with a running back, there’s an there’s a assumption that you just go get a guy who’s already made and get out of his way. And that’s not always true. Is it just fair to say Ohio State should take two running backs in every cycle going forward given how if this is how they’re gonna play running back by committee You would almost seem like you need to just take two every year regardless because the workhorse is Dan in Columbus Andrew Gillis (25:04.14) Yeah, I think that’s fair. The workhorse might be dead everywhere. think ideally, you know, I think there. Yeah, right. I think there are certain teams and certain programs that will say they want to, and then it just works out that they have one, you know, like I’m sure Washington would love to have another Jonah Coleman. You know, I’m sure Minnesota would love to have another Darius Taylor. And if they did, they would have a much bigger split. Stephen Means (25:09.046) Unless you’re in Las Vegas. Andrew Gillis (25:33.698) But those programs are not Ohio State and Ohio State has a better chance to do that. Like Notre Dame is currently doing what Ohio State did last year with Jeremiah Love and Judarian Price. You those, those might be two of the best. Those are definitely two of the best. They might be the two best running backs in college football. that is the goal. That is what you want. That what Ohio State did last year with Judkins and Henderson. So I think it’s fair to say you want to, but they also took three in 25. So it’s like, maybe you have a weird scenario where you have that and then you take three and then you can take one and then it’s fine. Cause when I had a red shirt and you end up with four and a two year span, you do that math. So I don’t know. I think ideally you’re probably looking for two, but there, there is a very, very small amount of. Stephen Means (26:09.933) Yeah. Stephen Means (26:19.226) First and foremost, the Ahmad Hardy and Justice Haynes erasure from you as a Notre Dame family is showing is showing this man’s name to Notre Dame by Jeremiah Love. That’s a valid one. I don’t know. But like them taking three this year was because they had to get the room back to where it to be numbers wise versus the other way around. I think four is two. And that doesn’t mean you have to take two like. Andrew Gillis (26:24.088) they are. Yeah, those two dudes are very, good. Andrew Gillis (26:31.534) Yeah. Andrew Gillis (26:36.098) Yes. Stephen Means (26:42.848) you know, the two guys you named are five star recruits. It doesn’t mean you have to do that. You can take one five star, one three star, but I just think you need to take two regardless. Okay, so what we have here, we have nobody in the should be, but isn’t. But we have four in the should be an is category and that’s Kevin Brown, the number 59 player and the number four offensive tackle in the 2026 recruiting class just against Ohio State once I had a sixth offensive lineman or if they want to mitigate the fact that they might lose an offensive lineman at some point the next month and a half year until signing day and then all four players who were once the foundation of Penn State’s 2027 recruiting class. That’s come on spell. number seven player number one running back late in bond brand number 33 player number five offensive tackle. Galero Taylor, the number 62 player number 12 wide receiver and Gabe Jenkins and number 246 player and number 27 corner should and is so I would assume I don’t know if all these guys are going to camp but I would assume at least you know, three of the four at some point we see them on a campus next June out there camping again. Andrew Gillis (27:46.454) Yeah. So Leighton von Brandt, he’s planning a spring visit. This is not going to be a commitment that happens soon. I think he’s going to take his time with this one. And frankly, with some of these kids like Leighton von Brandt specifically, like I think he had a quote where he’s like, I need to take some time. And I think basically what a lot of these kids want is they want to see Penn State hires. Like, you know, if Penn State hires a coach that re-offers them and you know, that’s a big thing. Maybe some of these kids go back. Khalil Taylor, he decommitted. Stephen Means (28:12.046) Mm-hmm. Andrew Gillis (28:16.556) the Friday before the Northwestern game, which eventually got James Franklin fired. So that might’ve happened anyway. He’s going to take an OB to Ohio State here soon. So he’s a 27 wide receiver. There’s a lot of them, 27 wide receivers. we will see what happens there. Gabe Jenkins, same thing. Ohio State’s looking to schedule something, but I don’t know if this is going to be an imminent thing. So Von Brandt and Jenkins are the two kids where it’s like, Hey, Ohio State, they’re reaching out. We’re doing their due diligence. They’re working on visits. Stephen Means (28:22.519) Mm-hmm. Andrew Gillis (28:45.794) Khalil Taylor, they’ve scheduled a visit. Come on, Spell, we’ll see. He did the appropriate Jeremiah Love touchdown celebration that made everybody go, he’s going to Notre Dame. I’m not saying that. I think Ohio State’s got some time. Stephen Means (29:03.864) So that’s the Penn State side of this. And now we’re going to take a break and do the LSU side of this, which probably won’t be as long of a conversation, but it won’t. But it leads to a big picture conversation I might want to have with Andrew here. Andrew Gillis (29:13.999) I will not. Stephen Means (29:21.358) We’re back here on Buckethog. Stephen Means and Andrew Gillis. It’s Ohio State recruiting as flip season is upon us, but also firing season is apparently among us. Hugh Freeze continues to escape that. But that’s a conversation for a different day. Right. James Franklin’s been fired. Billy Napier has been fired. Brian Kelly has been fired. I don’t know if there’s a lot of players in Ford is recruiting class who Ohio State is in on, though they did just offer a four to commit. So before we get into the LSU part of this, Who is this kid that Stefan was sending us in our group chat earlier this morning? Andrew Gillis (29:55.022) Yeah, I was at the allergist when this got sent, so I didn’t see it for a little while. CJ Brana is a corner in the in the 26 class. Ohio State is obviously looking for help there. 61166. He’s a little light. He’s from Windermere in Florida. 109 Prospect, number 13 corner. in the class. He did not take an OV to Ohio State. Ohio State has still not technically offered him, but Ohio State is going to get a visit. seems like it’s going to be on the 15th when they play UCLA. So they play Penn State this weekend. They go on the road to Purdue and then they host him after the fact. Ohio State has dipped its toe into the water here. in a couple of different ways. They looked at him. They have looked at Jay Timmons. He attends Pine Richland, which is a school in Western Pennsylvania in the Pittsburgh area. Timmons is a Florida State commit. You know, we’ll see. think somebody reported that Danny Odom, the Nebraska commit is, is potentially getting ready to take a visit to Ohio State as well. He took an OV to Ohio State. Like Ohio State is circling the wagons on, on some of these, some of these kids looking for another corner in the class. So this is a very interesting cycle. And this is just to kind of tease what we’re going to talk about. I don’t think there’s going to be a ton of LSU fired Brian Kelly attack. Let’s plunder and pillage if you’re Ohio state. I don’t think there’s going to be a ton of that, but I think there could be a domino effect. think Penn State was a legitimate domino effect. I wonder about LSU because LSU I think is the best job on the market right now. And if LSU is open. Andrew Gillis (32:04.782) Okay. Who do they hire? And then if it’s from, if it’s another sitting head coach, that job is open. And if they hire another, it just, you see what I’m saying? It can just go down the line. And I think this can have a reverberating effect because of how big this job is. I sent this out to our textures on Monday morning, six, six one four three five, three three one five. I basically said like, I don’t think there’s going to be a huge aftershock from LSU in terms of like a wave of decommitments. Stephen Means (32:15.842) Mm-hmm. Andrew Gillis (32:34.318) You know how I said everybody was tweeting about how much they love James Franklin and how great of a man he is and how much they loved him and the players said they feel like they let him down. I didn’t say a whole lot of that with Brian Kelly. And I think that is not necessarily by design, but it’s just not the way that people feel about Brian Kelly down south. So I think that we will see Florida’s obviously open, Florida State with Norvell, who knows what’s going on there. Stephen Means (32:45.166) then Andrew Gillis (33:03.852) What if rule goes to Penn State? Does that open things for some Nebraska kids? Like there is a domino effect that could happen that frankly, Ohio State, and I’ve been kicking around on how to write this, Ohio State could be the benefactor of, seems like one of the crazier coaching cycles we’ve had in a few years. 2022 was nuts with Notre Dame open, with LSU open, with USC open. This one, this one could be up there as well. Stephen Means (33:33.486) Unless you just got a commitment from a kid who like who flipped from Louisiana Tech. So that’s the prime example of regardless of who the coaches at LSU, Louisiana kids want to stay home. They’re not getting the more brown. I don’t that’s not a thing. Andrew Gillis (33:57.998) He is a should he’s he’s a should he’s yeah, he’s the number one player in the country is a defensive lineman But Stephen means do you have his two four seven page up? Stephen Means (34:00.514) I mean, of course, he’s the number one player in the country. Of course you’re sharing this. Stephen Means (34:09.226) I do. He’s from Baton Rouge. I mean, to be fair, Blaine Bradford is also from Baton Rouge, but it’s not, but it’s not one for one, right? Blaine Bradford has never been committed to LSU. Lamar Brown is literally committed to LSU as the number one player in the country. don’t know. That kid’s probably going to end up LSU anyway. Same thing with Trenton Harrison’s from Florida. Richard Anderson’s from New Orleans. I wonder where he’s going to go to school. Jabari Mack is from Andrew Gillis (34:10.85) There you go. Stephen Means (34:35.34) Louisiana, I wonder where he’s going to school. Those are the top 75 players in their recruiting class. And then they got another kid from California. The one kid I actually do want to talk about from Louisiana’s State University’s recruiting class is Deuce Jurls because he is an Ohio State recruit. Number 92 player number 10 defensive lineman. He’s from Collins Hill High School in Suwannee, Georgia. I mean, he just he looks like Caden McDonald. Andrew Gillis (34:50.062) Mm-hmm. Yes. Yes. Andrew Gillis (35:04.142) Yeah, he’s he’s a little quote unquote undersized. He’s listed at six to two seventy five. But yeah, I know. So you mentioned it like go through. mean, I’m not going to read all 17 kids, but like listen to some of the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, New Orleans, Louisiana, Gonzalez, Louisiana, Destrehan, Louisiana, New Orleans, Louisiana, but bossier city, Louisiana. Like all like they have a lot of Louisiana kids on their team and like. Stephen Means (35:08.876) Yeah, so is Kayden McDonald. Andrew Gillis (35:30.23) This is one kid, like you were saying, that really doesn’t maybe fall into that mix. know, LSU has a lot of, or maybe not a lot of, but it has a big Ohio State property to it, in that they are the only major program in their state. They are the only powerful program in the state of Louisiana. Ohio State cannot say that because of Cincinnati. But I think we all understand that, I mean, Stephen Means (35:56.386) Technicalities. Andrew Gillis (36:00.014) Steven you you covered recruiting before I did how many times have you heard a kid from the state of Ohio say well you grew up in the state of Ohio you wanted to play for the Puckeyes a lot a lot well there’s kids from Louisiana where it’s hey if you grew up in the state of Louisiana you want to play for the Tigers you want to run out on a Saturday night in Death Valley that’s that’s the LA that’s the Louisiana thing so I think it’s gonna be hard because I don’t think any of these I don’t think there’s gonna be a mass exodus from this class of kids going Stephen Means (36:08.023) Yeah. Andrew Gillis (36:28.862) no, Brian Kelly’s gone. And I think if you read LSU’s statement, they released their whole thing about whatever, saying whatever, we’re gonna fire, we’re gonna move on. Scott Woodward had a line in there, I believe, is their AD, about finding a guy who’s better for the culture with LSU and better fits the culture. So don’t think they’re gonna find somebody who talks like my family and they’re gonna do that whole thing. I think they’re going to try to find Louisiana people, southern people. And I think that’s going to play well with the kids in the class. But that could help. Ohio State would do is Gerald’s because when things do go haywire a little bit, we’ll see. Here’s where it gets interesting. He took an OV to Ohio State. He took a couple of them. had a visit to Ole Miss, Oregon, Michigan, Ohio State. LSU was his first visit. I don’t think he’s playing edge. And yeah, and. Stephen Means (37:22.409) No, he’s a he’s a three tech or they’re he’s not a three tech or they’re gonna put 40 pounds on him and make him a nose. Andrew Gillis (37:27.854) Yeah. And, and that is where this gets interesting because Ohio state has Damari Simeon, six three, two 75 in their class. He’s an interior guy. have cam Brickle in their class. He’s six two three Oh five. He’s an interior guy. have Jameer Perez, six four, three 60. Do I even need to say it? They’ve got three interior guys on their defensive line already in the class. They have one edge rusher in Kari Wilder. Is this a class that look, I just listed to you Ole Miss, Oregon, Michigan, LSU, Ohio State. Those were OVs that he took. Does Georgia get back into the mix? Does Bama try to get into that mix? You just have to worry about those Southern schools along with everything for a top 100 kid who teams. Whether or not it’s accurate, coaches do smell blood in the water when something like this happens, and they will try. I think for Penn State, saw kids were more receptive to that than I think is going to happen at LSU. Is it worth it for Ohio State financially, frankly, to go after a kid like Deuce Gerald’s and say, we can pony up and try to get him into the class? I think it’s possible. I don’t know if you want to take four interior defensive linemen. I don’t know if that’s the right way to do it. Now, could it, could it happen? Sure. But you need an edge rusher first and foremost in this class, I believe. And if you want to take two edge rushers and four interior guys, because you know, you’re looking at it going, Tyrone Malone is gone and we think Cade McDonald might go pro and we’re not sure about the guys coming up next year. Cause Jason Moore hasn’t popped and you know, Will Smith Jr. We’ll see. And you know, with the freshman class, don’t like, if you want to take four to kind of reset the room. That’s fine, but I don’t know if this should be at the top of your priority list if I’m Ohio State right now. Stephen Means (39:33.773) I guess the... Stephen Means (39:40.364) The response to that would be, I don’t think there’s such thing as taking too many defensive linemen in a world where the more the better. but to your point, this is also a world where you’re trying to manage a financial situation and there’s only been so much money to go around. And so if, you know, you got, if you gave Larry Johnson $10 this cycle for defensive linemen and Andrew Gillis (39:47.008) I think that’s totally fair. Stephen Means (40:06.829) know, Carl Wilder cost $4 and you know, another guy costs $2 and another guy costs a dollar 75, right? Right. It starts adding up and all of a sudden you’ve got 250 left. Do you spend that money on maybe splitting that between Deuce Gerald’s and another option? Or do you try to use that 250 to go, go fly to try to flip a big boy, right? Like literally and figuratively speaking here. Andrew Gillis (40:17.294) Mm-hmm. Andrew Gillis (40:30.818) Yeah. Stephen Means (40:32.383) Right. I mean, in the way full thing, I don’t know if the way full thing is a real possibility at this point. Yeah, but I think. With that one, I think it depends on why did you walk away in the first place? Because if you walk, if you walked away because the number was too high, the number is not going to isn’t getting lower. Right, like five months later, it’s like I get a lower five months later, right? Andrew Gillis (40:36.994) I don’t know if it is either, but I think Ohio State should try again. Stephen Means (40:59.699) If it gets lower than yeah, let’s have a conversation here. But if it felt like, we’ll give you $4 and you want six. And now all of sudden we still only going to give you $4, but you want eight. Well then like, we’re not going to do that anyway. Right. So I guess it’s, it’s, it’s now the thing that they have to juggle is the financial aspect of this, which is why I understand that the pause on a guy who is the number 92 player in the country, who, I mean, he looks like K to McDonald’s. physically where like if you just put 30 pounds on him and make him a nose, I know he’s undersized, which is why George is probably not all over him. But Ohio State currently turning an undersized nose tackle from Georgia into a legitimate NFL draft pick. and a guy who’s probably an all Big 10 level player. So why would you not do it again? And if you’re if your answer to that is, because maybe we can better maximize that money elsewhere, there’s not really an argument to have against that. Because that’s that’s a fair point to bring up in this cycle, because there’s only so much money. And maybe instead of using that money on Deuce Gerald, you go find a portal guy to use that money on right. that’s those are all different ways to look at this. Here’s my question with LSU then because you’re right, they’re not going to flip a bunch of LSU kids. Blaine Bradford is the number 36 player and number four safety in the country, which I don’t know how that happened. He was the number one safety in the country six months ago. And I mean, he looks pretty fine to me. Historically, Ohio State has landed and signed one. player from the state of Louisiana in the past 25 years. So modern recruiting era meaning 2000 and on they had some guys before that because I wrote about it back when Jair Brown was still a Louisiana kid before he moved back up to Cincinnati. So he no longer classified as this. Nader Abedallah was a defensive tackle in the 2004 recruiting class. was 65 to 90. That’s the only other time in the past 25 years Ohio State’s pulled in a kid from Louisiana. It is very difficult to pull kids in from Louisiana. Andrew Gillis (42:52.258) Mm-hmm. Stephen Means (42:55.147) So the fact that Blaine Bradford as a five-star recruit from Baton Rouge Catholic, not only is he from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, his high school has the words Baton Rouge in them. is probably going to sign with Ohio State. Stephen Means (43:15.723) It’s not only a big deal that they got a five star safety out of the South, they got a five star safety out of a state that does not lose its players, regardless of how good or bad the program is. Andrew Gillis (43:23.978) Imagine if there was a five star recruit that attended Upper Arlington High School and Louisiana got him or LSU got him. That’s that’s the kind of the comp here. Stephen Means (43:32.558) Yeah. But even that is not as outlandish as it looks like. Louisiana kids just want to go to LSU. It makes zero, like they could be the worst program on the college football landscape. And LSU kids are going to go, yeah, I’m going to LSU. Cause it’s what they do, man. That’s why I think I was talking to you as I was like, where does they keep getting these receivers from? Cause they’re not highly recruited. They’re just from Louisiana. From there. Andrew Gillis (43:39.0) Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Andrew Gillis (43:59.658) They’re just there. Yeah. Stephen Means (44:02.655) why would I leave the food’s good? The music’s great. LSU’s fun at night to play at. Like, I’m not leaving here. Are you crazy? I guarantee if all those Louisiana players could just play for the Saints, I think they would. What would it take for Ohio state to start making this a new routine? And is it a reasonable expectation? Is Blaine Bradford a one-off situation where this is an awesome safety where even if regardless of where he was from, they were going to recruit him or could they turn this into something? Andrew Gillis (44:38.39) They can turn this into something. It has to start with effort at the beginning and probably money at the end. I think that’s probably the way that I would say it. think Blaine Bradford’s dad has been very vocal to like LSU outlets specifically, where he’s basically said like, I don’t know why everybody’s like freaking out about this. Ohio State’s been after him for a while and Ohio State’s been the most aggressive team after him. So. Stephen Means (44:53.942) Yeah. Andrew Gillis (45:07.031) Why is this a big deal? And he’s basically said, yeah, he committed to Ohio State. He locked into Ohio State, you know. Stephen Means (45:12.631) Because they have a number seven jersey with Blaine Bradford’s name on it down there in Louisiana. That’s why. Andrew Gillis (45:16.206) Yeah, look, I’m not I’m not saying that, you know, he’s 100 % right to be like, why is everybody freaking out about this? This is normal and cool and good and definitely not at all weird. I’m not saying that’s true. But it started with effort at the beginning. And I think Ohio State kind of felt like they were in the mix. And you obviously have to have a competitive NIL offer. Stephen Means (45:28.205) you Andrew Gillis (45:43.586) You obviously have to be competitive in that landscape now and I think they are for Blaine Bradford. There are two kids where it didn’t really work, but they were in the mix. Braylon Womack, who I think, by the way, I think some people have kind of started to wonder like, hey, Auburn’s kind of a mess. Hmm. Stephen Means (46:04.321) Yeah, can quick sidebar. He’s a good football player. There’s a lot of good football players though, so I don’t want this. Can’t just be like five star. They should go get him. Let’s look at what’s happening and then else also understand the program we cover and like the type of people they want to bring in here and this is not calling brain bad for the bad person. It’s just saying that there’s some things are maybe not worth the squeeze anymore. And maybe it is. I don’t know. Maybe you have a difference of opinion, but. Andrew Gillis (46:09.452) Yeah. Stephen Means (46:34.465) Brailen Womack has been kind of bad talk in Auburn. The school he’s currently committed to. And like it seems like right now, and this is from the outside looking in, again, outside looking in, he has narrowed his options down to, I’m either going to stay committed to Auburn, or I’m going to flip to a school who just fired head coach. Is that work, from an Ohio State perspective? Andrew Gillis (46:50.71) Yeah, like I Stephen Means (46:57.535) Is that worth poking at? Or is it just kind of leave it alone and let’s go some, let’s, if we’re gonna find another safety, let’s go elsewhere. Andrew Gillis (47:05.986) I think in general, it’s worth poking at it for Brendan Womack. think it’s I think it’s I think that ship has sailed. Ohio State had three safeties in his class. They got they went and got Bing. And this is a kid, think, Kimari Bing, where it was one of those things where it’s like, go look at his offer lists and like, go look at who was trying to land him. Ohio State was in the mix. Alabama got in the mix late. Like, Maryland was obviously trying to the nail to hang on to him and they couldn’t. So, you know, I think that ship has sailed. The interview stuff like I think. Stephen Means (47:12.245) Okay. Stephen Means (47:29.356) Yeah. Andrew Gillis (47:35.086) He’s 17. You know, I don’t think he said anything that was crazy. Stephen Means (47:36.397) Yeah, listen. No, it’s it’s it’s it’s not even really about the interview, right? He didn’t say anything. It’s more just like you probably should have said that to a microphone, but he’s 17 and it’s fine. It’s what 17 years ago he was. was emotionally he was passionate. It’s good to see he cares. It’s more about. Andrew Gillis (47:49.836) Yes. Stephen Means (47:53.838) Like recruiting can be, I think recruiting has become an irritable part of the job. Is that a fair way to put it? Andrew Gillis (48:05.272) for who. Stephen Means (48:07.649) Probably, I mean, probably coaches. Just because it’s, there’s an element to it of like, it’s not just about relationships anymore. Like what you just, to what you just said about the Louisiana thing, it’s got to start with a, essentially what you just said was it’s going to start with a strong relationship in the beginning and then end with money on the back end. And that’s like every recruitment in the world. And if it feels like you put two years into a kid, Andrew Gillis (48:10.801) yeah, I think, yeah. Andrew Gillis (48:27.523) Yeah. Stephen Means (48:32.237) and that kid’s 100 % supposed to commit to your school and then all of a sudden somebody throws a bag and so on. Well, now I didn’t get the kid. It’s like something that I don’t know what you want me to do with that. Like I did everything I was supposed to do. I didn’t lose out because somebody built a better relationship with me. It’s just, it came down to financial situation. And I’m not saying that’s wrong, but it can definitely turn a coach off. I think two things can be true. You can be fine going and taking the most money, but it can also be fair that a coach can be turned off by that situation. Andrew Gillis (48:52.75) Mm-hmm. Andrew Gillis (49:01.594) I think that’s totally I think that’s totally true. And I think it goes the other way. I think a kid can be turned off by a lack of interest. Like like think about J.J. like Ohio State wanted J.J. J.J. wanted Ohio State. Obviously, you know, he was, you know, very much considering Miami up until the end and whatever. But this was one of those things where if Ohio State showed up when he was a junior and was, hey, man, how’s it going? I don’t think he’s at Ohio State. Stephen Means (49:07.286) Right. Stephen Means (49:25.132) Right. Andrew Gillis (49:27.49) but they had built a relationship with him for quite some time. Like Chris Henry Jr. I don’t think he’s shut down his recruitment if Ohio State was not after him. Like imagine if Ohio State didn’t offer him and make it a committable offer like going into his freshman year of high school or whatever that was. imagine it or sophomore year high school, whatever. I don’t know. Like. imagine if they had waited and then all of sudden he’s in California and they’re like, crap, this dude’s really good. Like, let’s go after him. Like the relationship thing can also turn a kid off, which is why coaches need to be proactive early in these kids recruitments. I mean, this is another name, which Ohio state fans are probably not too fond of. Nahim offered, like I talked to Nahim’s dad and he was like, I have been screaming for Ohio state’s coaches to come down here ever since he committed. Now I know he obviously committed to Oregon at the end. and things got hairy there. that doesn’t like just because Nahim offered went to Oregon doesn’t mean you stop trying. Right. And I think, you know, one of the things that I thought was really interesting in talking to Kaori Nahim’s dad was he was like, again, I’ve been telling coaches like kids will come here. Schools in the North don’t even try. And I think we looked at it as like a Saban thing. I think that’s true. Where like, well, that kid’s going to Alabama. If he doesn’t go to Alabama, he’s probably going to Georgia. If he doesn’t go there, he’s probably just going to stay and sing, go to Auburn and blah, blah, blah. Stephen Means (50:40.141) Hmm. Andrew Gillis (50:47.502) And I think people looked at it as a Saban thing or a Kirby thing, but there it’s also an effort thing. And he was like, Ohio State’s coaches laid out a plan. They were in a name that people should be happy about. Devin Sanchez. His parents told me multiple times, Ohio State’s coaches were the most consistent coaches of anybody. They were the coaches that were after him. They told him what a priority he was. They told him the plan. Everything was simple, smooth, consistent. They laid everything out. Stephen Means (51:07.725) Yeah. Andrew Gillis (51:17.634) We knew that they really wanted him and he was turned on by that. Like he was like, hey, Ohio State really wants me. That’s a good sign. And his parents knew, hey, Ohio State really wants Devin and Devin really wants Ohio State. This is a good fit. And I think his mom told me like all these schools, once he committed were like, hey, well, wait a minute. You committed a little early there. And they were like, well, we tried and we talked to you and you weren’t interested. Now you’re interested because he’s going to Ohio State. So You know, there are kids like Devin and there are kids like Nahim Offord and there are kids like Blaine Bradford and there are kids like Nahim Offord and Braylon Womack and all these kids down south. Like you have to build a relationship early because if you don’t, you have no chance. You have to show up with money because when all these other schools start throwing cash around at the end of the line, which is about to happen here in the next couple of weeks, you need to have an understanding of what’s going to happen and Stephen Means (51:57.293) Thank Andrew Gillis (52:14.622) You can get away with not having the biggest NIL package, even if you’re Ohio State, if you have a good relationship with somebody. So it’s multifaceted. Stephen Means (52:22.698) And that ladies and gentlemen is recruiting in 2025 relationship first money at the end. Let’s see what wins out in 2026 with this recruiting class. What’s ranked ninth nationally headline by Chris Henry Jr. and Blaine Bradford. That’s our list. You got Deuce Gerald as the should but is. For LSU and then you got Kevin Brown Lamon spell lady von Brandt and Khalil Taylor as the four guys from Penn State Recruiting classes where they should and are so no shouldn’t is it so there’s nobody that’s like What are you doing? that’s a good thing. That’s a good thing. This would be a different podcast We were having this different conversation after treating Andrew Gillis (52:55.202) Yeah. It’d be weird if I was like, there’s trying for four kids and I don’t know what the hell they’re looking at. I mean, look, I’d say, look, I’m not covering for anybody. I’d say it if I thought so. Stephen Means (53:11.532) I was thinking about like the Devon Sanchez thing about how he committed and everybody’s like whoa Wait a minute. I’m pretty sure that’s what happened with Jackson Smith the jig bit like Brian Hart like grabbed him early and then Texas was like wait No, this guy has This guy’s of 3000 catches come to Texas and he was like, no I’m going to Columbus and now he plays for the Seattle Seahawks and he’s pretty good He’s he might be the best receiver in NFL right now. I know Jamar chase is a Andrew Gillis (53:23.256) Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, yeah. Andrew Gillis (53:32.771) That is correct. Andrew Gillis (53:36.256) No, he’s not. can’t. Justin Jefferson. All right. Yeah. Who are Justin Jefferson’s quarterbacks? Stephen Means (53:44.842) I mean, Jackson Smith, the jig was quarterback is Sam Darnold, so I don’t want to. Andrew Gillis (53:48.364) Yeah, Sam Darnold having a renaissance Sam. Justin Jefferson would love Sam Darnold right now. Stephen Means (53:53.549) Yeah, he had him last year. Right. Sam Dardol chose better. He chose to go west. That’s fair. Well, I would say this. The top three are probably those three right now. And then like Puka is like knocking on the door. That’s insane. The Jackson. jiggler. Gary and Chris tried to tell us four years ago. We didn’t want to listen to him. 61435 though. Andrew Gillis (53:55.648) Yeah, what happened? They won a lot of games. Stephen Means (54:18.604) 3315 that’s a recruiting pod up next. We’re talking with day as you’re listening to this later this afternoon as Ohio State prepares to play Penn State this weekend. That’s not necessarily the on field product that maybe we thought it was going to be, but the pageantry around it seems to still be there. It’s a big noon kickoff, big noon kickoff will be here. Andrew Gillis (54:29.496) game that we thought. Stephen Means (54:37.965)
