Will Ohio State football’s freshman cornerbacks help fix a lingering problem? Hey, Nathan

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Hey, Nathan: “Our DBs coming in are studs. Perhaps not No. 1 recruits within the nation, however I like the man from Winton Woods. Will we see a lightweight on the finish of the tunnel there?” — Ryan from Cincinnati

Hey, Ryan: That man from Winton Woods is Jermaine Mathews, the No. 51 total participant within the 2023 class. Calvin Simpson-Hunt, the No. 61 participant within the nation an a Texan, is the opposite cornerback on this class.

Ohio State additionally pulled in a few intriguing safeties, together with top-200 prospect Malik Hartford. However for the sake of this query I’m specializing in the corners. It’s each the place that has most been in want of a recruiting correction and the one the place an incoming freshman can probably be the most important difference-maker.

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The recruiting points had apparently been mounted going into final season. Then one top-100 prospect from the 2021 class, Jordan Hancock, missed virtually the whole season with a hamstring damage. One other, J.Okay. Johnson, began about half the season however opted to switch out when it ended.

The Buckeyes want high-level play from cornerback – which in all reality it has not seen since Jeff Okudah and Damon Arnette Jr. in 2019. That judges OSU solely by the usual it set with a string of first-round NFL cornerbacks over a decade, and, frankly, the usual it expects at each place group.

So sure, there may be mild on the finish of the tunnel, nevertheless it begins with Denzel Burke, Hancock and Jyaire Brown all taking a step ahead from final season. Ohio State wants that group to be thought of among the many greatest within the Massive Ten, and asking true freshmen to hold that load is asking an excessive amount of. (Of the 2, solely Mathews is an early enrolee.)

Mathews and Simpson-Hunt may help by doing what Brown did a yr in the past — present up able to contribute and, if pressed into motion, play above their age. Touchdown them within the 2023 class, although, was undoubtedly a vital step to stabilize the room long-term.

Hey, Nathan: “I get fairly divergent evaluation of the Vic Cutler signing. Your texts had been fairly adverse, citing his PFF grades and indicating he’s in all probability only a depth piece, however different shops appear larger on him, citing his play and grades in huge video games in opposition to Alabama and Texas. What offers? I normally consider Buckeye Discuss because the extra truthful analysts of the staff since you aren’t followers, however this appears an even bigger discrepancy than regular.” — Heather from Columbus

Hey, Heather: As you recognize from listening to Buckeye Discuss, we use the PFF grades extra for comparisons. The bottom grade for a beginning OSU offensive lineman final season was Matt Jones’ 75.7. Just one in Ryan Day’s tenure as head coach rated decrease than 65. Cutler’s 42.8 was the bottom on Louisiana Monroe’s offensive line and the second-lowest on the staff.

Cutler did submit grades of 51.4 and 56.3 in opposition to Texas and Alabama, respectively. Of the eight sacks and 28 pressures allowed, just one sack got here within the 110 snaps he performed in these two video games. (Ohio State’s beginning offensive line allowed six sacks and 51 pressures mixed.)

These grades are subjective. Extra to the purpose, they don’t inform us how he’ll play as soon as he’s coached by OSU coaches and practices with and in opposition to OSU gamers.

When OSU landed Jonah Jackson from Rutgers in 2019, it knew it was bringing in a Massive Ten starter and honorable point out All-Convention participant. Cutler has no such pedigree. He can convey aggressive worth no matter whether or not he wins a beginning job. However as I wrote above, OSU has a regular, and this isn’t the way it usually builds its offensive strains.

Hey, Nathan: “I dwell in Wisconsin, house of Kwik Journeys, and so they have pizza which I discover wonderful. I’ve labored in your neck of the woods in central Illinois and would get pizza from Casey’s. Do you want Casey’s pizza? Contemplating it’s a fuel station I discovered it to be actually good. Do Illinois natives think about it good and what’s your opinion on it?” — Ivan from Wisconsin

Hey, Ivan: Oh yeah, I’ve eaten a Casey’s pizza or two. A former colleague of mine used to joke that the instructions to each highschool in central Illinois included the phrase “flip left on the Casey’s.”

Rising up, the closest one to me was in a little bit no-stoplight city known as Catlin. I can bear in mind getting a big pizza and passing the field across the automobile whereas using house from a basketball sport.

As you say, for fuel station delicacies, it’s top-notch. However one other pal of mine who lives in Des Moines, Iowa, reported that contributors within the native newspaper’s reader ballot voted Casey’s as the most effective pizza on the town.

Now, Casey’s is an Iowa model, so possibly hometown pleasure and nostalgia influenced that vote. But when that’s the most effective pizza you could find in Iowa, that’s sadder than the Hawkeyes’ offense nowadays.

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