Buckeye Talk: Ohio State podcast by cleveland.com

Al Washington stays put in Ohio. Ohio State adds analysts to staff. C.J. Barnett hired as director of player development. Minor adjustments to 20-21 college football season. Ohio State vs. Michigan face off in basketball this coming Sunday.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're kicking off the week with a rapid-fire edition of Buckeye Talk. Among the Tuesday topics: What role does diversity play in hiring assistant coaches, is an Alabama-like dynasty attainable for the Buckeyes, would you take Ryan Day over other national coaches to lead a program over the next decade and who would win an arm wrestling match between Nathan and Stephen? (Notice no one asked how Doug...

After a week of speculation, Al Washington is staying at Ohio State as linebackers coach -- and, we assume, some other change in title and duties. The Tennessee defensive coordinator job will not be the only one dangled in front of the Buckeyes' rising young defensive assistant in the coming years. But for 2021, would losing Washington have potentially punched a hole in Buckeyes' season that would...

For the second installment of Buckeye Future Fridays -- BFFs if you're short for time -- Nathan and Stephen take a look at the national recruiting map. Ohio State has enjoyed great success in both California and Texas, but major programs in those states are in the process of turning things around. OSU has also exploited other areas when home-state programs take a dip, such as New Jersey. So where...

On this Thursday Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com, the episode is split into two parts. Up first, Doug, Nathan and Stephen discuss fifth-year seniors in the OSU program, how they help the Buckeyes, which members of the 2017 recruiting class now in Year 5 could help in 2021, and how fifth-year seniors could help playoff pushes in 2022 and 2023. Is the transfer portal lessening the chances of finding...

For this week's Big Wednesday episode we are taking a big leap into the future. We already projected the 2021 depth chart, but that was child's play. What will Ohio State's starting offensive and defensive lineups be in 2023? Obviously, accuracy is not the goal here. A similar exercise in 2017 only predicted 11 of 22 spots for 2020. However, it opened some interesting discussions of what we expect...

The NFL season is over, and the 2021 draft in Cleveland is two months away. Buckeye Talk wanted to wrap up one and look ahead to the other by taking stock of the best Buckeyes in the pros as of the end of the 2021 season. Doug, Nathan and Stephen each ranked their top 10, as did our Buckeye Talk text subscribers. Would you still rank Michael Thomas No. 1 despite his odd and injury shortened 2021 s...

Ohio State shifts attention to 2022 recruiting season. Ohio State coaching staff changes. Ohio State spring football practice right around the corner. NFL award for former Ohio State defender Chase Young. Ohio State assistant coach Al Washington targeted by Tennessee as potential defensive coordinator. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Vis...

Wrapping up the week on Buckeye Talk we delve back into the 2021 quarterback battle. The Buckeyes know they will have an unproven quarterback from Day 1, which is something no playoff team from the previous seven seasons can say. However, some of those teams had great success or won national championship games with true or redshirt freshmen quarterbacks. One example was Ohio State in 2014, which m...

Fridays will be all about recruiting on Buckeye Talk throughout the offseason. Nathan and Stephen teamed up to take a look around the Big Ten Conference in the wake of Wednesday's national signing day. Things were quiet for Ohio State, but other teams landed some notable names or signed a big portion of their class. Which teams had strong recruiting cycles for 2021, and which ones lacked impact? T...

Ohio State signed a grand total of ... no one on Wednesday's national signing day. But the Buckeyes still gave us plenty of news to talk about as Ryan Day made official the promotion of Matt Barnes to secondary coach and former quality control coach Parker Fleming to special teams coordinator. Doug, Nathan and Stephen discuss what this means for defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs and why focusing...

Time for another Big Wednesday pod, and this one happens to fall on the first day of the late signing period. So we continue our week-long recruiting theme with a look back at Ohio State's 2018 signing class, which remains mostly intact entering those players' fourth seasons in 2021. Doug Lesmerises provides historical perspective on what else was happening in the Buckeye program on February's sig...

The late signing period for the 2021 class begins Wednesday, and Class of 2022 recruiting is already well underway for Ohio State. Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means take a look at the national landscape and debate whether the Buckeyes -- a runner-up for the nation's top recruiting class a handful of times in the past decade, can ever sign the No. 1 class. More specifically, is Alabam...

Four Buckeyes play in the Senior Bowl. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this Saturday Buckeye Talk Podcast, Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means ask questions about one of the most controversial former Buckeyes in recent years -- Tate Martell. But it's not only about Tate, for those who are tired of the one-time OSU quarterback who transferred two years ago without starting a game. The guys, with the help of a texter survey, dig into how OSU fans feel ab...

We critiqued the Ohio State offensive assistant coaches earlier this week. Now it's time to tackle the other side of the ball. Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means give their A-F grades for each defensive assistant, and so do our text subscribers. Also, which assistant on the entire staff did the best job in 2020, and which one has the toughest challenge ahead for 2021? See acast.com/pr...

Some Ohio State fans were probably surprised that Michigan opted to give Jim Harbaugh a new contract -- even one with nearly unprecedented terms. Over the past couple of weeks he has also revamped his entire staff. Almost every position either turned over with a new coach coming in or saw a change in duties. The staff is also almost entirely comprised of coaches in their 30s. Could this be a turni...

On this big Wednesday Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com, Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means run through 15 rapid fire questions from Ohio State text subscribers. Most of them are about the offense, with a few focused on the looming QB battle. Other question topics include which Buckeye might wear the Block O jersey in 2021; linebacker K'Vaughan Pope; receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba; potenti...

If you listened to the live postseason survey episode of Buckeye Talk, you heard us reference a couple of questions about the assistant coaching staff that we held off on for time. Those questions spawned this episode grading the offensive assistant coaches and another to come on the defense. We discuss the various aspects of job performance for Kevin Wilson, Greg Studrawa, Tony Alford, Brian Hart...

Ohio State defensive assistant Greg Mattison retires See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ryan Day announced the retirement of co-defensive coordinator Greg Mattison on Friday morning, and the Buckeyes' search for his replacement leads our discussion. What kind of coach -- age, position speciality, background -- should Ohio State prioritize? What coaches with ties to Day or Ohio would make sense as Mattison's successor? We also delve into the other topics of conversation from Friday mo...

On this Friday Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com, Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means take a first look at the Buckeyes expected to be part of the 2021 NFL Draft, which is scheduled to be held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1. Of course quarterback Justin Fields will be taken in the first round, but Ohio State also could have a run on players in the third and fourth round. There's a l...

On this Buckeye Talk episode, Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means dissect the Ohio State defensive two-deep for the 2021 season. Nathan leads the way as the guys try to figure out how Lathan Ransom, Josh Proctor, Lejond Cavazos, Ronnie Hickman and others will be deployed in the secondary. With the top four linebackers gone from 2020, who makes up the entire new starting group in that r...

On this big Wednesday Buckeye Talk episode, Nathan Baird, Doug Lesmerises and Stephen Means project Ohio State's offensive depth chart for next season. It starts with the offensive line and how the Buckeyes will sort out the tackle position with Thayer Munford, Nicholas Petit-Frere and Paris Johnson. Then it's the tight ends, headlined by the return of Jeremy Ruckert. At running back, how will the...

Ohio State players make NFL Draft decisions. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices