COLUMBUS, Ohio — On this episode of Buckeye Talk, we discuss James Laurinaitis’ linebackers room as well as his excitement for Ohio State football’s season opener vs. Texas.
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Read the automated transcript of today’s podcast below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it may contain errors and misspellings.
Stefan Krajisnik (00:41.067)
Welcome in the Buckeye Talk. I’m Stefan Krajisnik. That’s Andrew Gillis and no Stephen today. Stephen’s taken a couple days up in Cleveland. So it’s Andrew and I just talking about linebackers. Stephen has made a big mistake. He has left Arville Reese Day on the day that I host. This podcast could really get off the rails. Andrew, we got the chance to speak to James Ornitis, Arville Reese, Sonny Stiles, and Peyton Pierce on Wednesday. And it’s about
What you would expect walking out of that conversation. I think we think these linebackers are about to be really good. And I think what this position group can do is going to be really good. We were texting about it a bit. 6 1 4 3 5 0 3 3 1 5. You sign up now. You get a free trial for two weeks. That gets you pretty close to the Texas game. Gets you a lot of news from fall camp as we talked to, you know, these assistant coaches and Ryan Day and Matt Patricia and Brian Harline and, and a lot of the players leading up to the game.
Gillis, think my number one takeaway from talking to the linebacker group is Arvo Ries is going to be really good, which I have been riding that wave since early in the 2024 season.
But Peyton Pierce might be the key to a lot of this. So we kind of went back and forth. We did a video on YouTube where we talked about Peyton Pierce kind of as this X factor. When we finished the video, I think key was maybe the better word because I think Arval Reiss is kind of the X factor because we know Caleb Donalds, we know Sonny Stiles, we know Davison Ignosin, we know Kenyatta and Germaine and some of these guys that are…
decently established or at least we kind of know what their job is. Arville Reese is probably the X factor because you can do so many different things with him, right? Like I talked about this idea of him having two sacks against Texas and really, you know, kind of cementing himself as one of the best linebackers in week one. But to do all of that with Arville Reese, someone has to be the key to unlocking. And I think that’s what Peyton Pierce is.
Stefan Krajisnik (02:52.193)
Because if you didn’t have a third linebacker that you were confident in, you can’t move around Arville Reese a ton and kind of play him as an edge rusher and have him kind of, you know, being, being this player who you disguise in different ways of how you’re going to use him. Like for Arville Reese and Sonny Stiles to be unleashed, I think you need a Peyton Pierce because for Cody Simon and Sonny Stiles to get unleashed last year, you needed an Arville Reese. Do you agree with me that Peyton Pierce
is maybe like an underrated key to this defense wreaking all the havoc that we think it can.
Andrew Gillis (03:28.157)
Yeah, because it allows you to be creative. If you and I were helpless idiots, Steven couldn’t go to NABJ up in Cleveland for a couple of days because we’d made him to do the podcast or else we’d be in trouble. I mean, look, I’m sure people miss Steven, but like.
Stefan Krajisnik (03:42.339)
There might be someone listening who’s saying they are helpless idiots and this is disaster already three and a half minutes in.
Andrew Gillis (03:48.095)
They heard Stefan say, no, Steven today. the one click, I’m out. Maybe. So maybe that’s possible. But like having a guy like Peyton, what it allows you to do is it kind of takes away maybe the tightrope act, you the high wire act of, hey, if we want to move our well down off the edge, we don’t have to necessarily put Caleb at line.
Now is that an option that they could do? Yeah, of course. we, uh, Stefan, you said it in our video, like Kayla, who would play nickel, play safety, play linebacker. You could really kind of do whatever you need to do on your defense. And this kind of takes that away. Are there situations where it would make sense to say like, Hey, third and 11, we’re going to take Cade McDonald off the field, our Vel bump down.
Caleb go to linebacker and then Malik Hartford come on or excuse me, Chandler McLean come out of the field to play with Malik. However, yeah, like that that makes sense. But for a lot of these situations, it does not fit. does not work if Peyton Pierce is not the guy. If like our vel called Peyton Pierce like a downhill kind of like thumper. I think that was the way that he like described him. And you look at the picture that they have like Riley Pettigon took that
You know, the photo after he got his black stripe removed and Peyton Pierce is like 6 to 225 and Peyton Pierce looks like he’s going to play at Ohio next year. Like he just doesn’t match up. And yet everybody talks about Peyton Pierce as being this unbelievable linebacker because again, he’s 6 to 225. He’s smart. He’s physical. I think we saw that in the spring game. It’s just, he gives you the safety net of
we can do some creative stuff and then we don’t really have to worry about snap counts or anything like that because if Sonny gets hurt, if Marvell gets hurt, they have to miss any time. Like Sonny gets a targeting call in the first play of the game against Texas, I don’t think you’re necessarily shaking in your boots throwing Peyton Pierce out there. I think you would be if you’re sending Riley Pettigon out there. I think maybe to a lesser degree if you had to send Garrett Silver out there. Guys who just either have not played or are true freshmen.
Stefan Krajisnik (06:10.241)
Yeah, I think what’s interesting with Peyton is, like, not only is he a third trustworthy option, he also is kind of the perfect complementary piece to the way that Sonny and Arville play. You’re right. Like, the downhill thing has been talked about. That word’s been used to describe Peyton for as long as I remember. I remember in Spring Ball, Matt Patricia, one of the first things he said about Peyton Pierce was, you know, he’s a downhill guy who
who you’re going to feel. And that kind of continued, obviously in this off season, it has continued in preseason camp, the way that they talk about him. Like if Arville and Sonny, and maybe especially Arville in this conversation are going to be kind of unleashed at the edge, right? Like, you you, you, talked in our video about the idea of with the defensive tackle depth, you know, what about instead of Kaden or Edrick, you know,
Going on the sideline to catch your breath for a little bit. How about instead of, you know, worrying about Taiwan Malone or Jason Moore, Will Smith Jr. Like stepping in, what if it’s as simple as Peyton Pierce comes in when Edric Houston gets off the field and Arville kind of plays a bit of a, an edge role. Maybe Kate and Kate and Curry moves, you know, a bit more inside and lines up next to Katie McDonald.
For you to do that, can’t, like Peyton Pierce can’t be the same player as Arville Reese. And when they talk about Peyton Pierce, like being this run stopper, like when they say downhill, like he’s coming through the A-gap and he’s stopping the run. So when Arville is that edge guy, it’s really complimentary to have a guy like Peyton who can do that in the middle of the offensive line and kind of create some havoc. So.
That’s, think another key to this is it’s not as simple as just having a third linebacker. You also have the perfect third linebacker to compliment your first and second linebacker. And that’s maybe where Riley Pettigon enters his conversation. I know you wanted to hit on this because we both agree and I’m sure Steven is with us on this of Riley Pettigon is developing in the way that you would want a freshman linebacker to develop. He got his black stripe removed.
Stefan Krajisnik (08:27.381)
After Tuesday’s practice, that was the fifth practice of preseason camp. Like he feels like a guy that. Use the example of like November 1st, the Penn State game like that’s probably good timeline like by then you’re kind of comfortable with him and. You know how many snaps is your fourth fourth linebacker get? I don’t know, probably not a ton, but like can he be by November 1st a complimentary piece as well to Arvel and to sunny?
Andrew Gillis (08:38.239)
Mm-hmm.
Stefan Krajisnik (08:55.765)
in the way that Peyton Pierce is and maybe he’s a little faster version of it and maybe maybe we don’t see that kind of a full display until 2026. But maybe by November December we get glimpses of Riley Pettigon also being another guy who can complement the beast that you have with Arville Reese and Sonny Stein.
Andrew Gillis (09:11.775)
Yeah, you know, I think this is going to be really something to monitor as you get kind of in the season where, you know, attrition is going to happen. You know, you’re I mean, like Ohio State had very, very good injury luck, if you want to call it luck, if you want to call it if you want to call it skill, because the way that they played games, they kind of approached it like, hey, we need to play for November, December, January. And I mean, it obviously worked out.
Stefan Krajisnik (09:36.427)
on defense. They didn’t have great injury luck on offense.
Andrew Gillis (09:39.623)
They even I mean, even then they lost two guys. Now, granted, they were the most two important, maybe the two most important players on the offense. But they are two of them. But they even then they only had like two season ending injuries offensively and like defense. They were fine. It’s like, like I said, you know, the attrition is going to happen. And I think the schedule sets up interestingly for a guy like Riley Pettigon, like you were talking about where.
All you get through the Texas game. I don’t think anybody’s expecting Riley Pettigon to play like if Arville Reese and Sonny Styles have a targeting penalty on the same play on the first play of the game. I mean, at that point, your linebacker tandem is probably Peyton Pierce and Garrett Stover considering it’s Texas that that feels it. So it’s like, all right, if Riley’s going into that Texas game as your fifth linebacker, like how much really is he going to play? However,
One, I don’t think we can look past the fact that Riley Petitjian was the first freshman on defense to get his black stripe removed. That means Devin Sanchez. for as much, I don’t think this is a, no, Devin Sanchez. think this is a, wow. Riley Petitjian conversation. So Riley Petitjian has really kind of flashed. I think as you get later in the year, not only does it maybe give you some ability to just say, Hey Sonny, Hey Arvel chill, know, Hey we, you know,
We’re up 21-0 on Minnesota. We’re up 21-0 on Rutgers. Take a breather for a minute and then we’ll kind of figure things out and we’ll get you back in the game in our next series. But it allows you the maybe versatility to say like, okay, you know what? Let’s put Arvel down, you know, they’re running a two minute drill. You know, let’s say it’s Purdue and it’s 24-0 at, you know, three minutes left in the second quarter. All right.
We’re going to bump our Vail down, but we’re going to put Riley out there with Sonny and we’re going to get Riley reps here. Like it allows you the the freedom of just saying Riley Pettigon might be the most athletic guy in the room in terms of like sideline to sideline speed. Like that was the first thing that our Vail reset. You know, when he was talking about Riley Pettigon was that, you know, that quickness, that that speed. It’s like, OK, well, if if he’s the fastest, maybe he just makes sense in certain situations. If you could get to a point where you were playing Riley Pettigon later in the year.
Andrew Gillis (12:06.668)
I mean, this linebacker core, it’s pretty ridiculous.
Stefan Krajisnik (12:13.219)
Yeah, it is. mean, you’ve got all Big Ten caliber guys starting for you and then behind them guys that would be starting, you know, a lot of Big Ten, Big Ten Power Five, Power Four, whatever you want to call it, schools. Like that is the talent that you have in that room. So, so that’s the Peyton Pierce part of this conversation, right? Like he is, he is, we’ll call him the key that unlocks maybe what those top two guys can do. And obviously you feel good about the depth with guys developing even behind Peyton Pierce.
So this might be hard to believe for some of our listeners because I’ve been advertising Arville Reese as like an all-American for about a year now. I actually didn’t go over to Arville Reese’s table while he was speaking. I went to Peyton Pierce’s table because I wanted to ask about ways that he can unlock Arville Reese. like this is all tied together, but Gillis you went over to Arville Reese’s table and you also, we all listened in as Sonny Styles was talking. What stood out about Arville Reese?
Because I’m curious with him, it seems like he’s coming out of his shell a bit and it seems like his personality is starting to show a little bit. And I think he’s just getting more comfortable. I think when you’re a linebacker, so young and is being asked to play, you know, a decent amount. And James Lawrence, Lauren Itis has talked about it like, our fellow is so fast and everything happens so quick, but.
There is the mental side of the game that comes with experience. and even as a third linebacker, he got a ton of experience last year and it just feels like between the physical side, the mental side, and I guess in terms of personality, we would call it the emotional side. Like he is forming into being a great linebacker, another great linebacker at Ohio state. What did you hear? What did you like about what our Valriese talked about?
Andrew Gillis (14:06.067)
You know, Arvel’s not exactly long-winded. You know, he’s not going to be somebody that’s going to get out there and just be like, hey, you know, let me tell you my life story, right? You know, like James Laurinaitis, Stephane, we could talk about this a little bit later, but he gave you that great answer about the OSU Texas game from 20 years ago. And you’re not going to get that from Arvel, which is fine. He’s like 19 or 20 years old. Totally makes sense. So you kind of had to kind of read between the lines a little bit.
You know, there was a part where somebody asked him what his expectations were for this year. And it was a, you know, I believe his exact quote was like a high level difference maker. Like he has a confidence in himself that Sonny talked about that maybe he just didn’t have a year ago, you know, that maybe he kind of had to grow into. And I think you see why, because the number one, that was probably the number one thing that you heard. Like the number one thing that I saw was like, this guy looks like a defensive end.
And he’s 244 pounds, which he said that. And I was like, beg your pardon. You’re what? like. He is a massive human being who can move. think that’s the other important part of this. It’s not just like, he’s two 44. He’s big. He looks like Andy Katzenmoyer out there, right? He was just like, you know, this massive hulking linebacker and like all their job was, was to like run forward and take on a fullback and stop the run. Like.
No, no, no, no. Arville Reese can do a lot for you. So physically, you see him kind of just like walk through the door and you’re like, huh, he’s as big as the, but he’s as big as the doorframe. Like he’s just remarkably physical. And this kind of backed up a little bit, what he said, like somebody asked him like how he was being used and if there was going to be like a,
trying to think of the exact phrase, but it was basically like how many different ways you’re going to get used. And he was like, yeah, they’re moving me around a little bit, but you know, we’ll see. And then he got off the topic pretty quickly. I think he’s going to be bounced around a lot. And I think Ohio State’s going to be able to get really, really, really, really creative with him. And I think that goes back to what we were talking about at the beginning. You’re not doing that if you’re scared of Peyton Pierce or if you’re scared of Garrett Stover or Riley Pettigon down the line. Like you are doing that because you feel good about Peyton Pierce, but
Andrew Gillis (16:26.515)
that allows, like Peyton Pierce being good allows Arville Reese to maximize himself.
Stefan Krajisnik (16:34.911)
It’s, it’s fascinating. The ways that they want to use our, our releases is going to be fascinating. And I think just really fun to watch. Like when people talk about fun football, think the first thing that comes to mind is, you know, Aaron and out and Jeremiah making plays and carnel making plays and Trevion last year making plays. like. Our ville Reese is the type of player on defense that could make it like, it could be a low scoring game. You’re like, that was a fun game to watch because of all the different things that a guy like our ville Reese was doing.
We learned that James Laurinitis, because this is go, this does go to your thing about our overall race looking like a defensive end. Like we learned if James Laurinitis thinks you’re going to be a pretty good linebacker, you’re going to be a pretty good linebacker because he talked about early in our VEL’s career, you know, when, they were lacking some depth at defensive end and our VEL kind of, you know, played there a bit, or at least was practicing there a bit. And, and James, think James was saying that he was still a GA, but he was, you know,
pretty adamant about, Hey, like Arvel still needs to be linebacker. I like, he understood the lack of depth and the bodies they needed there. But he was also saying like, okay, when that’s over, like Arvel’s coming back to linebackers, like he’s a linebacker. He’s a linebacker. He also did that with Sonny styles when saying that, Hey, Sonny styles is a linebacker. And you saw what, I mean, like Sonny was asked about it. Can you believe that it was 12 months ago? We were saying, what’s it going to look like with Sonny styles transitioning to linebacker?
Andrew Gillis (18:01.673)
We thought it was gonna be CJ. There was a genuine point where it’s gonna be Cody Simon and CJ Hicks.
Stefan Krajisnik (18:07.011)
Yeah. And 12 months later, we’re like, okay, Sonny styles is just confirmed one of the best linebackers in the country. So if James Laurenitis says you’re a linebacker, I’m in the boat now of believing that guy’s linebacker. If he says Julian Sain is built to be an all big 10 Mike linebacker, who are we to disagree with this point with James Laurenitis? So the room is just so talented. think there’s just, there’s so much, you know, athleticism.
in that room that you can do so many things, but you also have a guy like Sonny Stiles who’s experienced and can see things pre-snap. R. Valriese, a guy who is relatively experienced, right? Like he’s, know he’s a first time starter, but he is relatively experienced for someone stepping into that role. He has seen things, he has studied film. Like he knows things pre-snap. Peyton Pierce sounds like, I think the reason I wanted to talk about Peyton Pierce on this pod is because we heard about him in the spring.
We heard about him in the summer. He went, he, he’s named an iron buck. I like at some point the coaches are telling you and you need to listen, right? Like how many times does Peyton Pierce name going to be brought up? And not that we ever like dismissed it, but he’s the third guy in depth chart. So it’s easy to look past it, but his name gets brought up so much. think you have to pay attention and that that’s, that’s what’s happening. So like you give me those top three guys with a coach who in a very short amount of time has proven that he can.
coach linebackers at Ohio State. by the way, he also was an all American linebacker himself at Ohio State. I feel pretty good about the unit. Give me, give me your answer on this before we go to break. In terms of, I don’t want to talk ceilings and floors because I think we know what that looks like in each position group, but like confidence that this group, if healthy is going to give you.
as close to the ceiling as possible.
Stefan Krajisnik (20:07.083)
Where did the linebackers fit on the defense? And I’ll answer part of the question for you because I think we talk about Kenyatta and CJ Hicks and Bo Atkinson and Caden Curry and Andrew Houston and Caden McDonald. All of them have immense ceilings, but they have to reach it. Whereas linebackers, Sunny has come pretty close already. Arvel played a massive role last year.
and Peyton Pierce is so relied upon, like how confident are you that linebackers can be as close to their ceiling as possible?
Andrew Gillis (20:43.807)
Like a nine out of 10. I think the floor is probably higher with linebacker than maybe at some other positions. I think specifically defensive line, like you were saying. I mean, you look at defensive line and you’re like, OK, well, the defensive tackles might be great, the starting tandem. then, uh-oh. And it’s like, OK, maybe Will Smith and Eric Mensah or Will Smith and Tyone Malone. Maybe they can kind of piece that together. And then, OK, that’s fine.
but like edge rusher, mentioned it, like, I mean, even going to like the offensive side of the ball, like we think Austin, Sarah Vild can be really good. We think Ethan and Janwa can be really good. Like we, feel decent about the line right now, but like, you could realistically map out a path to. All right. And Janwa struggles with speed and he’s just kind of there and you know, Sarah Vild is in.
you know, all that’s cracked up to be a right tackle and he’s a better guard, but he’s playing out of position right now because they need him there. Like you can kind of map out a fall for like quarterback for running back for, well not receiver, but like you give her for tight end, maybe for offensive line for defensive line. I don’t know how low the floor is going to get for linebacker. Like
What is the worst case scenario that involves Sonny Styles, Arvel Reese, Peyton Pierce, Riley Pettigon and Garrett Stover at the end of the year going, yeah, I’m healthy. And the year just got away from us. I don’t know what that is. Like I don’t.
Stefan Krajisnik (22:26.281)
There’s legitimately not a world where at least one of those two guys isn’t an All Big Ten player. Like one of them is going to be, I’d be pretty confident saying one of them will be first team All Big Ten.
Andrew Gillis (22:33.631)
Yeah.
Andrew Gillis (22:41.215)
Yeah, I’m with you. I’m really struggling right now to find the idea of like, okay man, if we think their ceiling is a 100, if everybody’s ceiling is a 100, but their floor is kind of moving up and down between like zero and whatever, I mean, the linebacker room, they might have the shortest way to go to get to their ceiling because their floor is just so dang high. know, like, Arville Reese.
I mean, he’s in his third year and everybody talks about how cerebral he is as a player. It’s like, OK, well, you’re pairing him next to Sonny. Like the maybe the one thing that you could get to is like, well, we’ve got all these six foot three, 240 pound speed demons at linebacker who were just like otherworldly. And then like, the problem is they don’t know the defense or the problem is they’re not reacting quickly. OK, Sonny’s unbelievable in that regard. And he’s probably going to be your block. and he’s going to be a team captain. He’s going to be one of the defensive leaders. And I made a joke before he came out there.
He’s going to be the meat shield if they ever lose. Like if Ohio State loses to Texas, you can bet your bottom dollar that we’re going to be talking to Sonny Stiles and the post game press conference. And if they lose or if they beat Texas and then they lose to Penn State, you can bet that after the game and then in the following week, we’re going to talk to Sonny Stiles. You know why? Because he’s a team leader on this team. So it’s like the leadership is there. The, ability is there. Like we saw that last year with Sonny. just, I don’t know what the realistic scenario is for going wrong.
And then that just makes the ceiling so much higher because you’re, if you’re telling me there’s a baseline for these guys, makes it so much easier to reach because okay, our Val knows the defense. He doesn’t have any physical limitations. Okay. Well, Peyton, he’s stepping in and it’s like, okay, well, maybe it’s going to take a little bit for him, but he’s not even a starter. And technically I know James Lennon is, I think he said that we view all three of these guys as starters, but like somebody’s not going to be on the field for the first snap of the game.
Stefan Krajisnik (24:37.677)
Unless they go 3-3-5 on the first snap against Texas.
Andrew Gillis (24:37.887)
I guess that’s possible. I just, if you’ve got the basics covered, this group is athletic enough, they’re smart enough, and they’re physical enough to where you say, yeah, this is gonna be really, really good.
Stefan Krajisnik (24:51.063)
Yeah, I agree. I’m really excited about this linebacker group. If I, if I haven’t made that clear, like outside of wide receiver, I think it’s the group I’m most confident on this roster. Okay. Let’s, let’s take our first break. This isn’t going to be a super long pod. Obviously we’re just talking linebackers. And, as we mentioned, Steven’s not on the pod today. So we’ll take a break and we’re going to come back and I’m going to try to do something that I hopefully don’t screw up.
Welcome back into Buckeye Talk. Stefan Kreischink with Andrew Gillis talking to you about Ohio State’s linebackers. There was a fun part to Wednesday’s press conference with James Laurinaitis. I asked him about the Texas home and home from 2005, 2006 seasons. If you listen to Buckeye Talk, you know we did rewatches on those, both those games over the summer as we get ready for the season opener on August 30th between Ohio State and Texas.
So I asked Lorinaitis what he remembered about those games. And this is the part where I hope I don’t screw up because I am going to toss in audio of James’s answer because I don’t want to cut it short. I don’t want to do it wrong. Like the way he described it was humorous and also very genuine and kind of like this whole summer has been spent, this whole off season has been spent freaking out about what the future of college football is.
Let James Laurinaitis, a former All-American linebacker, remind you why college football rocks. So the next voice you’re going to hear is James, and they’re going to come back to us.
Stefan Krajisnik (26:49.325)
Tell me why when we come back August 30th, football starts, they’re playing games. Ohio State still gonna wear scarlet and gray. Texas still gonna have burnt orange. Tell me why August 30th, we’re all just gonna remember college football’s fine. We’ll do the politicking in the off season. College football is just fine when these two logos and these two brands are going head to head.
Andrew Gillis (27:14.111)
because we’re going to wake up in the morning. I think we’re going to have some fun pod stuff for people. So that’s like a little bit of a teaser for maybe what could be coming down the pipe. I think we’re going to have some interactive things for you that day. But I think we’re going to get one versus three. would not, I don’t, I still kind of think it’s going to be Penn State, but it’s the top five matchup at the shoe. Maybe two versus three, but we’re going to have a top five game at the shoe.
and we’re gonna wake up and the people are gonna be served when we show up at nine o’clock in the morning, nine thirty in the morning. And Lee Corso is gonna have, I know it’s his last one, but he’s gonna do his headgear pick. And people are gonna say that Big Noon sucks and they hate Big Noon and there’s gonna be the shirts that are making their way around and.
I’m sure there’s going to be people that are saying, you know, don’t show up on set of Fox noon, big kickoff, unless it’s to boo the Michigan guys or Portnoy or whoever. Like it’s going to be like show up at college game day and then boo, Desmond Howard and you know, watch Corso. And it’s going to be the whole thing. And I don’t think at that moment in time, anybody is going to give a damn that frankly,
That game just doesn’t mean as much as it did 20 years ago. Like you played that game 20 years ago and it was like, if you lose this game, you might be like up a creek. Like you might be in trouble in terms of your, your postseason goals. Now, obviously, you know, like Texas went on to, to go to the national championship game. Ohio state did lose to Penn state later. So they might’ve been in trouble anyway. And like, five, but like, I don’t think anybody’s going to care. And that I think is the coolest part about.
college football and I’m glad Lauren and I just said this because as he was talking about it, it kind of reminds you of the fact of like this is what college football is supposed to be. You know, you have your rivalry games, but then every once in a while you just got a fun one. Steven, are you not excited to see like the all the burnt orange that’s going to be like around Columbus starting on like Thursday? And I’m sure Ohio State fans are probably going, absolutely not. Get those people out of my state.
Andrew Gillis (29:41.545)
But like, I kind of want to see the hook them just running around, right? I want to see Matthew McConaughey on the sideline. Like I want to see the Ohio State fans counter with horns down. this, how could you not be romantic about baseball? That’s what this, that’s what this entire kind of week is going to be. And I’m glad he said that because I am so excited. And again, there’s going to be time after the fact whether Ohio State loses that game. And we’re going to say like, you know what, they got to fix X, Y, and Z, but
they could still be the number one seed in the playoff. I mean, it really is fine. Unless things go like horribly wrong. But like, you can talk so much about kind of what everything means, but like, when these people are watching the whatever pregame show and they’re gonna do the, I’m sure they’re gonna do the banner and you know, like the, like the 2024 title team. When you see all that, the juices are gonna get flowing and it’s gonna get you rolling. It’s gonna be very, very exciting.
Stefan Krajisnik (30:36.707)
Yeah, I think what’s cool about this too is like what’s kind of cool about college football in general though is like when Ohio State and Texas play on August 30th, you’re right. The loser is well on track to still make the college football playoff and potentially be the number one seed in the college football playoff. Like the sport has changed in that sense. But there is something like. It’s not a rivalry, but there is something between Ohio State and Texas.
When you’re two out of conference teams that will now have played each other five times in the span of 20 years and just about every time they’re they’ve played, there’s been a lot on the line. Like there is something in this where. Whether you’re an Ohio State fan or Ohio State loses or your Texas fan in Texas loses sure your season still intact, but you’re ticked off. Because Ohio State doesn’t compare itself to like Ohio State doesn’t say hey, we beat.
Minnesota, UCLA and Purdue and Texas, look at you, you beat, know, Mississippi State and Arkansas and Kentucky. Like that’s not, they’re comparing each other. what is, what can Texas do against Georgia, Alabama and Ohio State? What does Ohio State do against Oregon, Penn State? And if Michigan is what we think Michigan could be this year. Like that, that’s how you compare yourself. So when it’s Mammoth versus Mammoth going head to head, it’s Goliath versus Goliath.
It still matters. It still matters. And I think it’s why James Laurinaitis, 20 years later, can tell you how he got into Ted Gunn Jr.’s way on a kick return, on a game that happened 20 years ago. It’s how James Laurinaitis remembers the atmosphere of a regular season game against Texas, 20 years later, for a guy that’s coached and played in massive environments. It’s how he remembers going to Austin.
Andrew Gillis (32:05.641)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Gillis (32:14.643)
Mm-hmm.
Stefan Krajisnik (32:32.329)
And he had a massive game that day, like that environment and being part of that and like knowing that everyone is watching you. It doesn’t matter. It’s to some extent what this game means because everyone is watching. And how do we, so how do we apply that to this season? Because he mentioned there too, about Ryan Day and telling the players like. In this, I love this like this.
telling the players to envision what that’s going to be like. What is this? We’re recorded this 24 days before kickoff. Like don’t wait until you’re doing the walk and then you realize, holy crap, there’s a lot of people at this game and there’s so many people watching and my God, there’s game day and just around the stadium is or just around the corner is big noon and all this and that like don’t wait until August 30th to do that. On August 6th, like sit there and think about
Andrew Gillis (33:13.65)
Yeah.
Stefan Krajisnik (33:27.683)
the RVs and the fans and the tailgating and the pageantry and like be ready for that and be ready for that in a sense of like embrace it for how awesome college football is, especially on a stage like Ohio State is on. But also be ready for that emotionally because they’re also going to be probably recognizing to some extent the national title team. We haven’t seen the 2024 up there yet with the national championships. It’s not
I still don’t know what to call it because it’s not banners, but you know what I’m talking about in the North End zone. Right. Like we haven’t seen 2024 up there yet. I imagine there’s some sort of unveiling either leading up to that game or the morning of that game. There are going to be so many emotions. Put yourself in those shoes now. Think about on August 6th how you would handle that. Let’s talk about the pageantry.
Andrew Gillis (34:00.839)
Yeah, the it’s in the Ring of Honor type thing, right.
Andrew Gillis (34:09.513)
Yes.
Andrew Gillis (34:18.687)
Mm.
and have
Stefan Krajisnik (34:23.677)
Have you kind of feel it in a practice on August 6th so that you know how to handle it on August 30th? I love that Ohio State is leaning all in on this and and Ryan Day is not shying away from talking about how big week one is and how important that game is because that is why you came to Ohio State is for this game.
Andrew Gillis (34:44.957)
And that is like, that’s why I think James Laurinaitis is probably like one of the best linebackers coaches for this moment. I mean, I think he’s one of the best in the country just in general, but I think he’s one of the best for this moment, because like you were saying, Ohio state’s going to win that game 24 to 20. And our textures are going to tell us that they’re going to go back to back and it’s the greatest thing in the world. And the players are going to feel like they’re on top of the world.
and it’s the, you know, oh my God, it’s, you know, the game’s over at 3 45. I mean, somewhere in the world, somewhere in the world, you’ll know that there’s the drunkest man and that person will be in Columbus, Ohio at like nine o’clock that night, That’s, that’s a point. Like it’ll be the party of parties and like players will, players will remember this game. Like Riley Pettigon, let’s say he’s a three year player though.
Stefan Krajisnik (35:28.067)
Granted, could be a Texas fan. Texas loses the… could be a Texas fan.
Andrew Gillis (35:42.559)
just because we’ve been talking about linebackers. He might not win a national championship at Ohio State. Statistically, he won’t. They won a title in the 02 season, the 14 season, and the 24 season. Statistically, they win one of every 10 years. Like, if he doesn’t win one, this might be the most memorable game he plays in. Next year at Texas will probably be the same thing because he’s from Texas and, you’re going to have this same kind of atmosphere show up next year too.
But like, you’re going to have that same feeling, right? And James Lauren, I just knows exactly what that is. When you win, nobody on the world can, nobody in the world can touch you. And when you, know, like if you lose that game, I mean, Oh, we got to bench Julie. I mean, think about like the things that fans are going Oh, we got to bench Julian and you know, Oh, you know, I can’t believe we’re back to this and blah, blah, blah. And like the players are going to be down and everybody’s going to be down. And I want to be clear here with you guys.
I get this way too. Stefan gets this way too. If the Bears open on Monday Night Football, I think this year, if the Bears win that game, Stefan’s going to text some people and say Super Bowl. Like, we all do this. So we all know where you’re coming from. I say it from a place of love. Like, you know, I get where you’re coming from. But like, this is why Lauren Itis is able to maybe handle those moments because for a group of guys where Sonny is stepping into a leadership role that
You know, you probably think he’s ready for it, but he hasn’t done yet. Arvel stepping into a limelight that he hasn’t been in. Peyton Pierce is stepping into a limelight that he hasn’t been in. I trust James Laurinaitis to be able to get those guys to grasp the severity of the situation, to grasp the intensity of the situation, to say like, hey man, look around. Like just breathe for 10 seconds and just look at the band, which is now on the other side of the stadium and look at, you know, the crowd.
And you see that guy over there? There’s, Matthew McConaughey and like there he’s going to be able to get them to have kind of all this mentality and then also be ready to play. And that’s why I think James Lorinaitis comments were so great because it does kind of remind you of why football or why college football is awesome. You don’t get this way for the NFL. The Ravens open against the Bills on Sunday night football. And we’re not talking about that game like this
Stefan Krajisnik (38:08.247)
But even if you lose, you’re going to remember that environment. James Laurinaitis was a true freshman on kick return in 2005. Ohio State lost that game, and he remembers the environment vividly. And I think that’s what’s cool about this is players are visualizing it three weeks before, and the visual is going to be in their head 50 years later when they’re coming back to visit Ohio State and Arville Reese is there getting his number retired.
Andrew Gillis (38:20.873)
Mm-hmm.
Stefan Krajisnik (38:38.519)
That’s what the hair. It all comes, all comes back to our girl Reese at the end. It’s just like, I don’t know. It almost, someone made the joke to James Lauren. I just have like Fox should have you do like a promo read for big noon kickoff for that game, which like, you know, we, have our thoughts about big noon, but like they’re commercial for the Ohio state Texas game. It’s pretty awesome. And it is.
Andrew Gillis (38:38.687)
Come on, man. Have some shame.
Stefan Krajisnik (39:06.593)
the biggest season opener ever because we’ve never had number one versus number two, you know, open a season and the coaches pull suggests we might get that. We’ll see what happens with the eight people. Cause I think that’s the one that we’ll actually base it off of since it’s been around, you know, for almost a hundred years, but like,
I think we’re officially like there. Like August 6th was kind of the first time where I was like, holy crap. Like it’s about to be, it’s about to be Texas versus Ohio state inside Ohio stadium on August 30th. Like if that doesn’t get you going, then you know, college basketball season is right around the corner, I guess. And I love college basketball, but this gets, this gets you going.
Andrew Gillis (39:30.185)
football. Yeah.
Andrew Gillis (39:45.398)
Yeah. Yeah, like, I’m sure there are people who are going to say like, you know, they could lose it like that. I mean, they lost a friggin Michigan last year and then they won the national championship. like, I’m sure there’s going to be people who will probably say like, you whatever, you know, if we lose this game, we can battle back. It’s you know, it’s a fun game, but blah, blah, blah. I mean, this is why you play college football. No, exactly. Yeah.
Stefan Krajisnik (40:07.853)
And you’re not saying that during those three hours. You’re saying it before and you’re saying it. And, even after it’s like, you’re not saying it right after the final whistle. Like it might be Monday when you say that.
Andrew Gillis (40:12.563)
Maybe after if you lose.
Andrew Gillis (40:17.105)
Yeah. Yeah, like it is. This is like I said, this is why you watch college football. And that’s why I really like Lauren Itis’ commentary today, because like he had a lot of really good things to say about Riley Pettigon and Gerard Stover. you know, he talked to Eli Lee said he’s, know, progressing. Well, there’s all this other stuff. But like, I don’t know, I was kind of with you that this this really kind of got it got your Irish up, right? It’s got the energy flowing and the juices flow and like, wow, like James Lauren Itis.
This is the lineage to a different era of college football. And for as much as college football feels so different from 20 years ago, and it was because what was the thing that we watched in the rewatch where it was like Troy Smith took like $2 from somebody and they were like, haha, I can’t do that. And now like Jeremiah Smith is a bajillionaire because like legally, but like he did like he has all these like endorsements and everything and not like just explain that to somebody.
It’s a fun reminder that like for as much as things change and as much as like the sport changes, we are still going to reach a point 20 years later where we’re like, this is pretty freaking cool.
Stefan Krajisnik (41:24.099)
Yeah, no doubt. So three weeks, just about three weeks until kickoff. Perfect time to get the text. 614-350-3315. You sign up now, you get a two week free trial that gets you to game week basically. And that’s when things, you know, as pumped up as we sound right now, imagine what it’s going to sound like on August 25th when we’re getting ready for Ryan Day’s game week presser. And we’re getting ready to hear from Matt Patricia and Brian Hartline and…
and maybe the starting quarterback and Sonny Styles as Ohio State gets ready to play Texas. So get the text 614-350-3315. weeks free trial if you sign up now. From Andrew Gillis, I’m Stefan Krajisnik. That was an excited about football version of Buckeye Talk.
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