December 14, 2025 • 16 mins
In this episode of the Skull Session Recruiting Podcast, Marc Givler and Juck Miletti discuss the signing of elite Louisiana safety Blaine Bradford, what he can bring to the Buckeyes, the difficulty of pulling him out of Baton Rouge, and much, much more.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, everybody, This is Tony Gerdaman kind of another bonus
edition of the Skull Session Recruiting podcast with Mark Givler. Here,
he and Juck are discussing the signing of elite safety
Blaine Bradford, what he means from the class of that,
the difficulty in landing him out of Baton Rouge, and
(00:22):
what he can bring to the Buckeyes down the road.
Give a listen, Subscribe to the show if you would like.
It's the Skull Session Recruiting Podcast. Just search for it
and you will find it.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Here you go.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Hello everyone, Welcome to the Skull Session Recruiting podcast here
at Buckeye Huddle dot com. I am Mark Givler, Juck
Maletty with me. Signing Day recruiting coverage continues here.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
The Buckeyes have signed.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
The elite safety Blaine Bradford out of Baton Rouge Catholic
in Louisiana. Yes, they have pulled a kid from a
five star caliber prospect from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to Columbus. No, Lane, Kiffin,
it's not gonna happen for you. At the very end,
He's staying with the Buckeyes. Huge signing for Ohio State.
(01:08):
Juck this like, it's almost miraculous when you look back
a year ago and say they're gonna do this. He's
gonna stick with let's face it, fairly low drama, Like
pretty much five percent of the drama down the last
(01:30):
couple of months of this was media creation. It wasn't
anything the kid was saying or doing, like, and then
you're gonna get Kiffin at the end, and the you know,
the programs are gonna be energized, and Brian Kelly's gone,
and no one likes Brian Kelly because he's just a
miserable human, but they're gonna get They're gonna get him
now because Kiffin's here and the program is gonna be
(01:51):
back on track. And he still says no and his
brother lsu like this is all time great recruit job.
I think biohigh see one of the best recruiting jobs
I think I've seen by Biohive State is on this kid.
And this kid's a unicorn in terms of his attitude.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
I am with you, Mark, And this was when we
looked at the safeties that were on the board in
this class as we were kind of covering this here
In the beginning, I didn't even really consider him an option.
I didn't consider him an option because it was just like, well,
this one's clearly too good to be true, so I'm
(02:31):
not going to waste my time talking about it. Because
it's a kid literally at Catholic High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana,
not like in Louisiana, but in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who's
big brother, who he loves and they're very close plays
at LSU. Like what a ridiculous thing to even think
of that you could like like the hootspot honestly, like
(02:54):
to even attempt to pull this kid out of there.
I thought Greary was nuts. I thought he was nuts.
I don't know why you're wasting your time, Pal.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
You're gonna lose all these other targets chasing the it's
gonna be with Deshaun Watson.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
What are we doing?
Speaker 5 (03:08):
Like you're wasting your time. And then it was just like, yeah,
he's in the he's in the top three with LSU
and Tech. Okay, LSU in Texas for the kid from LSU,
and I'm still like, it's and then it came and
it was like you gotta be kidding me.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
This surely won't last. And it wasn't until we saw
him come up to Ohio State.
Speaker 5 (03:29):
Mark the pictures of him at Ohio State, the look
on his face, and I was like, Wow, this dude
loves Ohio State. And every time he visited he had
that same look on his face, like this is where
I want to be.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
It was transparent as heck, and that's why I love him.
I love him.
Speaker 5 (03:49):
This isn't out of stater or that I love He's
my favorite player in his class because of that, and
obviously he's an animal on the field, but.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
He's so cool too. This he's the dude. He's gonna
be a real one.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
I still didn't believe him. I went down to high school.
I took my old behind down a baton rouge and
went to his high school and talked to him for,
you know, probably twenty thirty minutes, and we did it
like a ten twelve minute interview.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
As far before you go any further, your interview was hysterical.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
It was hysterical.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
I've never seen a single recruiting person talk to a
kid like you were like, all right, come on, tell
me the truth here, what's going on?
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Yeah, I I told I, like, dude, I'm gonna put
you on a spot.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
I did give him a little bit of heads out
of like I'm.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Gonna put you on a lot, like, don't think I'm
gonna like it was awesome, And and I left that
conversation not just on camera, but like talking to off camera.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
I left that conversation thinking.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
My goodness, they may actually do this, Like this is
not gonna be you know, name offered. As soon as
he committed, I said, I don't think he's gonna sign here.
Tell you about it now if you want, but like
this is gonna be all the way until signing day.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Going to be drama, drama, drama.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
And I left my interview with Blaine and my my
sit down with Blaine and just hanging around the school
all afternoon feeling a different feeling than I felt. And
I had done the same thing with Offred a year
before I went to Alabama to go spend time with me,
and I didn't leave that with a particularly and he
I wasn't like more convinced leaving that than I was before,
(05:27):
Like I still was skeptical. Nothing he did or said specifically,
I just it was a vibe that just you know,
was still going to be really tough for them to
sign him. And I just I got a different vibe
from Blaine, and I you know, even at him, like
why are you You know, I've heard a lot of
like I've heard a lot of kids say what you're saying,
but like why are we?
Speaker 4 (05:47):
Why are we to believe that?
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Basically, And he looked me like dead in the eyes.
He said, I keep my promises.
Speaker 5 (05:54):
It felt to me from your interviews Mark, and you
tell me if I'm wrong. Like, Blaine just had a
different level of maturity. He just really felt like an
older kid when he was talking to you about this.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
Yeah, he did very mature.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
He's got a seriousness to him that reminds me of
Caleb downs Caleb downs Is was very serious as a
recruit and very.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
Pretty matter of fact and almost like.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
He it wasn't naive, it was it was more maturity
than being naive, but like it was almost a thing
of like I don't have time for the games, so
like I'm not going to play the game with you
as the interviewer. I'm just going to tell you what
I really think, which is unusual and so it's hard
to wead that out sometimes when you're like, Okay, I've
had a lot of can say these things, but like,
(06:50):
there was a vibe from Blaine that I got that
like he truly meant that, you know, And then you've
got dad on social media like my son's going to
Ohio State, this is best for him, And it was
very like supportive of the decision. It wasn't like wanting
his kids to play together at LSU or selfishly wanting
(07:11):
them to stay close to home, or there's a lot
of things. As things progressed into the spring and into
the early summer, where I'm like, and then he kept
coming back for visits and I don't know, clearly this
was what he wanted to do, and I applaud him
for making his own decision and sticking with it. I
(07:36):
think he's going to be a star at Ohio State.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
I can tell you this.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Ohio State thinks he's the best high school safety in
the country. We'll see if they're right. I think their
evaluations have been pretty good recently, but you know, they
feel that this kid's special. And let's throw up a
little film here and you can kind of talk us
through what you like about blame Bradford the football player Jack.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
You know we talk about Caden Geppart.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
I mean it's really a player in a similar mole
that he's a production machine. He's an absolute hammer, a
stat stuffer, but everything is just a little more juiced up.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
He's just faster, he triggers more.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
I mean like he's just elite, elite as an athlete
on top of all the instinctual things and the maturity
and the quick play diagnosis, and it's clear that he
absolutely loves the contact, which you know you love to
see from a safety.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
He's an intimidator, he's a mall or, he's a.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
Master's He's Chuck Cecil, He's Ronnie Lott, He's that kind
of dude reincarnated and you just love that.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
But honestly, everything.
Speaker 5 (08:40):
About this guy says superstar in his future, and I
don't see the sky's the limit for him. With the
maturity level working with McCreary, I just see this guy
as being the next big time safety at Ohio State
if Fahem Delanne doesn't beat him to it, which, by
the way, we're talking about two Ohio State goes back
(09:01):
to back with their number one target at safety with
Theahem Delayne and Blaine Bradford, which is saying a ton
for Macerary and what they're doing back there. But Blaine's
just just an all out dude.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
Man.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
You see the speed here, It's just ridiculous. And when
he comes, he comes with bad intentions.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Yeah, I am.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
At as a.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Very much back pedal mark my gosh, dude.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Yeah, yess as maybe the head of the Fahem Delayne
fan club. I'm gonna say, Fahem Delaanne is gonna make.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
A really big impact next year.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
But yeah, Blaine Bradford has some tools that are reminiscent
of Caleb Downs, and I think maybe the most important
tool he has it's reminiscent of Caleb Downs is his mind.
I do think this is a kid with the football
instincts and the general demeanor in general just overall intelligence too.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Be a chess piece for Matt Patricia.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
To learn how to do different roles, different things in
the secondary. Yes, he'll be able to blitz, He'll be
able to play in the box. I think he's a bigger,
more physical player than Caleb Downs was coming out of
high school. Does he run quite as well as Caleb No,
but he runs more than well enough. Caleb's like Ed
Reid like almost in the way he can run out there.
(10:24):
But Blaine has a lot of those similar qualities to him,
and again, just a ferocious hitter and a really instinctual, smart,
mature football player. And so I think they're gonna put
a lot on his plate. Maybe not day one, day one.
They're probably gonna let him learn one.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Thing and learn a position.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
But I think again, when you're talking about a kid who,
by the time he leaves Ohio State could be one
of those guys where you just week to week you're
not really sure where he's gonna line up. He may
play mike linebacker one week. You know, he may come
off the edge and blitz a lot one week. He
may play nickel one week, he may play more of
a deep safety role one week. He has that type
of physical ability, with that type of mind for the game,
(11:09):
and just overall just general intelligence.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
So this is, uh, this is an.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Absolute like gem Steel of a signing for Ohio State.
Like I'm trying to it's like to me, he's this
is as big. I'm going back a little bit, but
it was such a big deal when when urban Meyer
got von Bell and I think this is similar to
(11:39):
that in terms of the scale of Wow, they actually
pulled this off. But I think Blaine actually arrives in
Columbus and in von by By Von's the end of
his true freshman year as a starter. I mean, he
started that Orange Bowl game against Clemson. But I think
(12:01):
Blaine even comes a little more physically ready. Donald was
a skinny little guy coming out of high school. Blaine is,
you know, over two hundred pounds right now. I think
he's gonna be physically ready to be be a part
of a rotation back there. And again, if we're sitting
here talking about rotating a guy like Fahim Delaine and
Blaine Bradford, we're talking about rotating those guys in with veterans.
And you've got Jalen McClain back there as your Jordan
(12:22):
Fuller center field, last line of defense. You know, Yeah,
losing Caleb Downs, you're not gonna upgrade. But I don't
think safety's going to be an issue next year. I
think they're very well restocked there.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
I'm with you. I'm with you, man.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
And as far as what this commitment means, this recruitment,
I mean, it's just like the full on like we
have officially seen, and in my opinion, it was always
Ohio and Louisiana because they were so uniquely positioned with
the state school that everybody loves, the one place that
both have, you know, pretty much similar talent, the hardest
(13:01):
to poll from out of states. And as we've seen
more and more Ohio State, you know, Ohio kids receptive
to leaving, we're seeing it out of Louisiana as well,
and I know that there's a lot of Ohio State
fans who, you know, furious when we see these Ohio
kids recently leaving the state. It's not just us, man,
it's Louisiana two, which was also the hardest place to poll,
(13:25):
and we saw it last year. Now we're now we're
seeing it again with Blaine Bradford. But the first Louisiana
prospects since Johnny Wells or Nati Abdollah to come up
to Ohio State and you end up getting two from
Louisiana in this class, three from Alabama in the last
(13:45):
two cycles. Now, it's just it's a different world. And
this one in particular, like this was the final one
we got. We got Zion and Turbo from Alabama. The
last cycle, and then it was still like, well there's
there's still Louisiana. And now it's like, all right, Louisiana
conquered as well. The Buckeyes can officially go plant their
flag anywhere in the country. There's nowhere that's off limits
(14:07):
now and that is just a wild feeling.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
That's it's the feeling when we talk about this on
like when I do my Southern Swing in the in
the spring and it's like first time ever, do you know?
First it was, you know, first time ever doing Alabama
a couple of years ago. Last year was our first
ever we had we had never been to Baton Rouge.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
You were in Mississippi too, were we were in.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Mississippi for brailln Womack. But we had we had made
one stop in Mississippi in like the ten twelve years
I've been doing it. It was for cam Acres. It
was actually our first Mississipi High schoolough cam Akers invited
us to his house on a Saturday to to do
the interview. But like we'd briefly been through New Orleans
once for Jaqem Stewart, but mostly our trips to New
(14:55):
Orleans were to go through there to get to Houston.
You know, it wasn't so we had never even been
up to Baton Rouge and just again just checking new
places off the list here the last couple of years
in the Deep South, places we never thought Ohio State
could have success and than they are now and it's
become such a national brand and recruiting has become such
a national deal for a lot of schools now. Nil
(15:18):
is not gonna slow that down by any stretch. So yeah,
it's a whole new world. But this is this is enormous.
This will be a great pickup. This will be a
guy who does I think, get to play a little
bit early. There's not a ton of guys in this class. Again,
not because of the talent in this class more so,
but because of the talent in this true freshman class
(15:38):
right now at Ohio State where all those guys are
already playing and they're going to block some younger guys
next year. But I think Blaine Bradford's one who will
get out there and get some work in early for
the Buckeyes. So yep, huge signing for Ohio State. The stress,
you know, if anyone's stressed out about.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
This, it's over. It's all over.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Now he is signed, and he'll be up here very
shortly and be in uniform. So thanks everyone again. We're
gonna keep rolling these out. We got a bunch more
coming here on signing Day, and then we'll have more
throughout the next two weeks, kind of profiling each player
who signs with the Ohio State in this twenty twenty
six recruiting class. Thanks again for watching, Thanks again for listening.
(16:17):
We'll be right back here with another one.
Hey, everybody, This is Tony Gerdaman kind of another bonus
edition of the Skull Session Recruiting podcast with Mark Givler. Here,
he and Juck are discussing the signing of elite safety
Blaine Bradford, what he means from the class of that,
the difficulty in landing him out of Baton Rouge, and
(00:22):
what he can bring to the Buckeyes down the road.
Give a listen, Subscribe to the show if you would like.
It's the Skull Session Recruiting Podcast. Just search for it
and you will find it.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Here you go.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Hello everyone, Welcome to the Skull Session Recruiting podcast here
at Buckeye Huddle dot com. I am Mark Givler, Juck
Maletty with me. Signing Day recruiting coverage continues here.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
The Buckeyes have signed.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
The elite safety Blaine Bradford out of Baton Rouge Catholic
in Louisiana. Yes, they have pulled a kid from a
five star caliber prospect from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to Columbus. No, Lane, Kiffin,
it's not gonna happen for you. At the very end,
He's staying with the Buckeyes. Huge signing for Ohio State.
(01:08):
Juck this like, it's almost miraculous when you look back
a year ago and say they're gonna do this. He's
gonna stick with let's face it, fairly low drama, Like
pretty much five percent of the drama down the last
(01:30):
couple of months of this was media creation. It wasn't
anything the kid was saying or doing, like, and then
you're gonna get Kiffin at the end, and the you know,
the programs are gonna be energized, and Brian Kelly's gone,
and no one likes Brian Kelly because he's just a
miserable human, but they're gonna get They're gonna get him
now because Kiffin's here and the program is gonna be
(01:51):
back on track. And he still says no and his
brother lsu like this is all time great recruit job.
I think biohigh see one of the best recruiting jobs
I think I've seen by Biohive State is on this kid.
And this kid's a unicorn in terms of his attitude.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
I am with you, Mark, And this was when we
looked at the safeties that were on the board in
this class as we were kind of covering this here
In the beginning, I didn't even really consider him an option.
I didn't consider him an option because it was just like, well,
this one's clearly too good to be true, so I'm
(02:31):
not going to waste my time talking about it. Because
it's a kid literally at Catholic High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana,
not like in Louisiana, but in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who's
big brother, who he loves and they're very close plays
at LSU. Like what a ridiculous thing to even think
of that you could like like the hootspot honestly, like
(02:54):
to even attempt to pull this kid out of there.
I thought Greary was nuts. I thought he was nuts.
I don't know why you're wasting your time, Pal.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
You're gonna lose all these other targets chasing the it's
gonna be with Deshaun Watson.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
What are we doing?
Speaker 5 (03:08):
Like you're wasting your time. And then it was just like, yeah,
he's in the he's in the top three with LSU
and Tech. Okay, LSU in Texas for the kid from LSU,
and I'm still like, it's and then it came and
it was like you gotta be kidding me.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
This surely won't last. And it wasn't until we saw
him come up to Ohio State.
Speaker 5 (03:29):
Mark the pictures of him at Ohio State, the look
on his face, and I was like, Wow, this dude
loves Ohio State. And every time he visited he had
that same look on his face, like this is where
I want to be.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
It was transparent as heck, and that's why I love him.
I love him.
Speaker 5 (03:49):
This isn't out of stater or that I love He's
my favorite player in his class because of that, and
obviously he's an animal on the field, but.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
He's so cool too. This he's the dude. He's gonna
be a real one.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
I still didn't believe him. I went down to high school.
I took my old behind down a baton rouge and
went to his high school and talked to him for,
you know, probably twenty thirty minutes, and we did it
like a ten twelve minute interview.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
As far before you go any further, your interview was hysterical.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
It was hysterical.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
I've never seen a single recruiting person talk to a
kid like you were like, all right, come on, tell
me the truth here, what's going on?
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Yeah, I I told I, like, dude, I'm gonna put
you on a spot.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
I did give him a little bit of heads out
of like I'm.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Gonna put you on a lot, like, don't think I'm
gonna like it was awesome, And and I left that
conversation not just on camera, but like talking to off camera.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
I left that conversation thinking.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
My goodness, they may actually do this, Like this is
not gonna be you know, name offered. As soon as
he committed, I said, I don't think he's gonna sign here.
Tell you about it now if you want, but like
this is gonna be all the way until signing day.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Going to be drama, drama, drama.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
And I left my interview with Blaine and my my
sit down with Blaine and just hanging around the school
all afternoon feeling a different feeling than I felt. And
I had done the same thing with Offred a year
before I went to Alabama to go spend time with me,
and I didn't leave that with a particularly and he
I wasn't like more convinced leaving that than I was before,
(05:27):
Like I still was skeptical. Nothing he did or said specifically,
I just it was a vibe that just you know,
was still going to be really tough for them to
sign him. And I just I got a different vibe
from Blaine, and I you know, even at him, like
why are you You know, I've heard a lot of
like I've heard a lot of kids say what you're saying,
but like why are we?
Speaker 4 (05:47):
Why are we to believe that?
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Basically, And he looked me like dead in the eyes.
He said, I keep my promises.
Speaker 5 (05:54):
It felt to me from your interviews Mark, and you
tell me if I'm wrong. Like, Blaine just had a
different level of maturity. He just really felt like an
older kid when he was talking to you about this.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
Yeah, he did very mature.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
He's got a seriousness to him that reminds me of
Caleb downs Caleb downs Is was very serious as a
recruit and very.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
Pretty matter of fact and almost like.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
He it wasn't naive, it was it was more maturity
than being naive, but like it was almost a thing
of like I don't have time for the games, so
like I'm not going to play the game with you
as the interviewer. I'm just going to tell you what
I really think, which is unusual and so it's hard
to wead that out sometimes when you're like, Okay, I've
had a lot of can say these things, but like,
(06:50):
there was a vibe from Blaine that I got that
like he truly meant that, you know, And then you've
got dad on social media like my son's going to
Ohio State, this is best for him, And it was
very like supportive of the decision. It wasn't like wanting
his kids to play together at LSU or selfishly wanting
(07:11):
them to stay close to home, or there's a lot
of things. As things progressed into the spring and into
the early summer, where I'm like, and then he kept
coming back for visits and I don't know, clearly this
was what he wanted to do, and I applaud him
for making his own decision and sticking with it. I
(07:36):
think he's going to be a star at Ohio State.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
I can tell you this.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Ohio State thinks he's the best high school safety in
the country. We'll see if they're right. I think their
evaluations have been pretty good recently, but you know, they
feel that this kid's special. And let's throw up a
little film here and you can kind of talk us
through what you like about blame Bradford the football player Jack.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
You know we talk about Caden Geppart.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
I mean it's really a player in a similar mole
that he's a production machine. He's an absolute hammer, a
stat stuffer, but everything is just a little more juiced up.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
He's just faster, he triggers more.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
I mean like he's just elite, elite as an athlete
on top of all the instinctual things and the maturity
and the quick play diagnosis, and it's clear that he
absolutely loves the contact, which you know you love to
see from a safety.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
He's an intimidator, he's a mall or, he's a.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
Master's He's Chuck Cecil, He's Ronnie Lott, He's that kind
of dude reincarnated and you just love that.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
But honestly, everything.
Speaker 5 (08:40):
About this guy says superstar in his future, and I
don't see the sky's the limit for him. With the
maturity level working with McCreary, I just see this guy
as being the next big time safety at Ohio State
if Fahem Delanne doesn't beat him to it, which, by
the way, we're talking about two Ohio State goes back
(09:01):
to back with their number one target at safety with
Theahem Delayne and Blaine Bradford, which is saying a ton
for Macerary and what they're doing back there. But Blaine's
just just an all out dude.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
Man.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
You see the speed here, It's just ridiculous. And when
he comes, he comes with bad intentions.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Yeah, I am.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
At as a.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Very much back pedal mark my gosh, dude.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Yeah, yess as maybe the head of the Fahem Delayne
fan club. I'm gonna say, Fahem Delaanne is gonna make.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
A really big impact next year.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
But yeah, Blaine Bradford has some tools that are reminiscent
of Caleb Downs, and I think maybe the most important
tool he has it's reminiscent of Caleb Downs is his mind.
I do think this is a kid with the football
instincts and the general demeanor in general just overall intelligence too.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Be a chess piece for Matt Patricia.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
To learn how to do different roles, different things in
the secondary. Yes, he'll be able to blitz, He'll be
able to play in the box. I think he's a bigger,
more physical player than Caleb Downs was coming out of
high school. Does he run quite as well as Caleb No,
but he runs more than well enough. Caleb's like Ed
Reid like almost in the way he can run out there.
(10:24):
But Blaine has a lot of those similar qualities to him,
and again, just a ferocious hitter and a really instinctual, smart,
mature football player. And so I think they're gonna put
a lot on his plate. Maybe not day one, day one.
They're probably gonna let him learn one.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Thing and learn a position.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
But I think again, when you're talking about a kid who,
by the time he leaves Ohio State could be one
of those guys where you just week to week you're
not really sure where he's gonna line up. He may
play mike linebacker one week. You know, he may come
off the edge and blitz a lot one week. He
may play nickel one week, he may play more of
a deep safety role one week. He has that type
of physical ability, with that type of mind for the game,
(11:09):
and just overall just general intelligence.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
So this is, uh, this is an.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Absolute like gem Steel of a signing for Ohio State.
Like I'm trying to it's like to me, he's this
is as big. I'm going back a little bit, but
it was such a big deal when when urban Meyer
got von Bell and I think this is similar to
(11:39):
that in terms of the scale of Wow, they actually
pulled this off. But I think Blaine actually arrives in
Columbus and in von by By Von's the end of
his true freshman year as a starter. I mean, he
started that Orange Bowl game against Clemson. But I think
(12:01):
Blaine even comes a little more physically ready. Donald was
a skinny little guy coming out of high school. Blaine is,
you know, over two hundred pounds right now. I think
he's gonna be physically ready to be be a part
of a rotation back there. And again, if we're sitting
here talking about rotating a guy like Fahim Delaine and
Blaine Bradford, we're talking about rotating those guys in with veterans.
And you've got Jalen McClain back there as your Jordan
(12:22):
Fuller center field, last line of defense. You know, Yeah,
losing Caleb Downs, you're not gonna upgrade. But I don't
think safety's going to be an issue next year. I
think they're very well restocked there.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
I'm with you. I'm with you, man.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
And as far as what this commitment means, this recruitment,
I mean, it's just like the full on like we
have officially seen, and in my opinion, it was always
Ohio and Louisiana because they were so uniquely positioned with
the state school that everybody loves, the one place that
both have, you know, pretty much similar talent, the hardest
(13:01):
to poll from out of states. And as we've seen
more and more Ohio State, you know, Ohio kids receptive
to leaving, we're seeing it out of Louisiana as well,
and I know that there's a lot of Ohio State
fans who, you know, furious when we see these Ohio
kids recently leaving the state. It's not just us, man,
it's Louisiana two, which was also the hardest place to poll,
(13:25):
and we saw it last year. Now we're now we're
seeing it again with Blaine Bradford. But the first Louisiana
prospects since Johnny Wells or Nati Abdollah to come up
to Ohio State and you end up getting two from
Louisiana in this class, three from Alabama in the last
(13:45):
two cycles. Now, it's just it's a different world. And
this one in particular, like this was the final one
we got. We got Zion and Turbo from Alabama. The
last cycle, and then it was still like, well there's
there's still Louisiana. And now it's like, all right, Louisiana
conquered as well. The Buckeyes can officially go plant their
flag anywhere in the country. There's nowhere that's off limits
(14:07):
now and that is just a wild feeling.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
That's it's the feeling when we talk about this on
like when I do my Southern Swing in the in
the spring and it's like first time ever, do you know?
First it was, you know, first time ever doing Alabama
a couple of years ago. Last year was our first
ever we had we had never been to Baton Rouge.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
You were in Mississippi too, were we were in.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Mississippi for brailln Womack. But we had we had made
one stop in Mississippi in like the ten twelve years
I've been doing it. It was for cam Acres. It
was actually our first Mississipi High schoolough cam Akers invited
us to his house on a Saturday to to do
the interview. But like we'd briefly been through New Orleans
once for Jaqem Stewart, but mostly our trips to New
(14:55):
Orleans were to go through there to get to Houston.
You know, it wasn't so we had never even been
up to Baton Rouge and just again just checking new
places off the list here the last couple of years
in the Deep South, places we never thought Ohio State
could have success and than they are now and it's
become such a national brand and recruiting has become such
a national deal for a lot of schools now. Nil
(15:18):
is not gonna slow that down by any stretch. So yeah,
it's a whole new world. But this is this is enormous.
This will be a great pickup. This will be a
guy who does I think, get to play a little
bit early. There's not a ton of guys in this class. Again,
not because of the talent in this class more so,
but because of the talent in this true freshman class
(15:38):
right now at Ohio State where all those guys are
already playing and they're going to block some younger guys
next year. But I think Blaine Bradford's one who will
get out there and get some work in early for
the Buckeyes. So yep, huge signing for Ohio State. The stress,
you know, if anyone's stressed out about.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
This, it's over. It's all over.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Now he is signed, and he'll be up here very
shortly and be in uniform. So thanks everyone again. We're
gonna keep rolling these out. We got a bunch more
coming here on signing Day, and then we'll have more
throughout the next two weeks, kind of profiling each player
who signs with the Ohio State in this twenty twenty
six recruiting class. Thanks again for watching, Thanks again for listening.
(16:17):
We'll be right back here with another one.
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