Hey, hey, where you been? But got to talk is about to begin. Hey, hey, hey, come on in.

Welcome back to the Thursday. Buck, I talked from Cleveland.com. We're double dip in. We got some football to start and some basketball to finish a high state did have signing day. And we did talk to Ryan day on Wednesday. And they announced to hire. And then there's a big basketball game coming up on Thursday night. So Nathan and Steven in the second half will give you all the basketball that you want right now from the buckeye's. But we're going to start off with two things, three things actually. First off, a guy who's not coming. Steven

which is Ray Sean Davis. No surprise because Ohio State's Twitter account on signing day on Wednesday morning said like it's signing day. And then like a minute later said like signing day is over. And it was like, oh, they're not getting Ray Sean Davis. They know it. They're not getting him. They're not waiting around for him. And he is not a buckeye.

Yeah, I think the first indication was the fact that we got Ryan day at 9 a.m. in the morning and not 11 30 like it was originally planned.

But yeah, I said this to the Texas. I think this would have just been a bonus game and not because you don't need an ins another linebacker in this class. One, you really don't because you got three coming in the next class, you might add a fourth.

And by the time a lot of you hear this, I'll have a story up or who's someone who that fourth guy might be if they do end up going that route instead of the transfer portal.

But it was a long shot to land Ray Sean Davis, even though he was just here 10 days ago, it was clear that even back when he was still committed to LSU, the USC still had the inside track here. I think landing to Monte Jackson, his teammate along with the list of other guys who were from modern day that powerhouse out in California, who I listen to the Texas.

So not for the text, you can get that type of information, but I just thought it was a long shot to get him. It was interesting that they got into the running and he made a point to get out here from California and spend the day in Columbus.

But don't necessarily need to add another linebacker to this class. And if you only got to add either him or JT to them allow, I think everybody would take the class star defensive and who might also be able to swing in and play defensive tackle if needed.

I've always intrigued by the strong second in recruiting, like I almost like wish you could track that's like, oh, it's a strong second like it came down.

He's an L like kid who went to USC and the only, you know, in the end, the only place far away, he was really thinking about was Ohio State. I do think it's possible if this was two or three years ago, they get him.

But as we have noticed, USC, finally, they didn't change the coach, but they changed their thinking they're back from the dead when it comes to recruiting.

And so all of a sudden it's like, oh, you didn't pull a top 50 kid out of LA. It's like, no, you didn't because he went to USC. It's just that like for three years, teams were doing that all over the place. And like if Clay Halton had his head straight a couple of years ago, like CJ Stroud might not be here.

Right. So I mean, this is like, this is what happens when you sort of target areas of weakness. And then the local in state power wakes up and USC has woken up. So as you said, would have been a nice bonus.

They were not in a place, Stephen, where they were like, oh, we really need this guy. But in part, they probably didn't allow themselves to get in that position. And because they knew it was going to be hard to beat USC for this guy.

Yeah, honestly, I compare this recruiting, this recruitment to what Ameka Bukas was, they had already, I think they had already made the decisions. They just needed to validate it by going somewhere else.

Now with Ameka Bukas, he hadn't been the Columbus in two years, but I think he fell in love with it then, which is why the crystal balls never went away there. But it was, all right, I haven't had a chance to see any other schools here. And I don't just want to be making a decision just based off of emotion.

And so let me take my time here. Let me go see Oklahoma. And let me see if Oklahoma can poke any holes in what I already feel about Ohio State, you know how and Oklahoma couldn't do that, which is why ended up with Ohio State.

I think the same thing happened with Ray John Davis, where I think I'm in love with USC, but let me make sure let me go all the way across the country away from home and not just make sure that just because it's in my backyard is the best thing for me.

I'm here. I see what I need to see. And it's, it's cool. I tweet about it and my dad's even tweet and I love it. Maybe we come back. But after we think about it, I like USC too. So it's a little bit of that. But also, yes, to the point of USC locking things down. This is a step in the right direction. Now.

I believe that that pipeline is shut off if Malik Murphy 2022 quarterback, the number two pro style player quarterback, the number 30 player who honestly might just end up being the Justin Fields, the quen yours is Trevor Lawrence, when this is also done the rankings.

If he ends up a Trojan, I'll believe that Ohio State probably can't go into California and just raid that place anymore.

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