BREAKING: Ohio State Wide Receiver Headed To Transfer Portal

Breaking News: Bryson Rodgers to Enter Transfer Portal

In this special edition of the Buckeye Weekly Podcast, host Tony Gerdeman discusses the breaking news of redshirt sophomore wide receiver Bryson Rodgers announcing his intention to enter the transfer portal. Tony provides a detailed background on Bryson’s career at Ohio State, his limited playing time, and potential future destinations. He also discusses the impact of Rogers' departure on the team, the depth of the receiver room, and what it means for Ohio State moving forward. Don’t miss this in-depth analysis and make sure to subscribe for more updates!

00:00 Introduction and Breaking News
00:12 Bryson Rodgers' Journey and Decision
01:53 Impact on Ohio State's Offense
02:29 Potential Destinations for Rogers
04:33 Ohio State's Future Without Rogers
09:41 Conclusion and Call to Action

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everybody, Tony Gerderman here, Welcome to the Buckeye Weekly podcast.
I am by myself today for a breaking news edition
of the show. Tis the season. It is the transfer
portal season, and the first Buckeye to enter to announce
that he will be entering the transfer portal is redshirt
sophomore wide receiver Bryson Rogers. Rogers, as you might recall,

(00:25):
a year ago about this time, announced that he would
be entering the portal, and then did enter the portal
and then returned to Ohio State, becoming the first receiver
that Brian Harline ever took from the portal, albeit one
that he also recruited from high school. So Rogers, redshirt sophomore,

(00:47):
played the fifth most number of snaps this year, behind
obviously Jeremiah Smith and Carnel Tate and Brandon Innis, but
also behind Mylon Graham Richard freshman. Rogers was the back
up to Brandon Innis in the slot. He could also
play outside. He's not just a slot receiver. But when

(01:07):
you are a backup slot receiver in an offense that
plays as much twelve and thirteen personnel as Ohio State does,
there's not often room for a slot receiver, let alone
a backup slot receiver. So this was a move that
seemed pretty It's not hard to understand, and it's not

(01:29):
a surprise that it has happened or that it will happen.
And the portal upens on January second for two weeks,
it's only opened once now January second to through the sixteenth.
Either get in or in that time of frame, or
you don't get in at all unless you are a
graduate student. And I don't believe Rogers is a graduate student.

(01:51):
As a reacherer sophomore, so this year six catches for
seventy nine yards and touchdown. Last year he had five
catches for forty six yards, no touchdowns, So not a
ton of productivity in his time, no catches as a
true freshman. He red shirted that year. And and yet

(02:14):
you know he's he's certainly a guy with abilities, and
you look at his he's he's explosive in the limited
opportunities that we got to see. I think he could
also be involved in some some special teams wherever he goes,
and of course, where where is he gonna go? Well,
he's originally from Florida, from Tampa, and we know that

(02:36):
Brian Hartline just took a job in Tampa, South Florida.
That's an easy That's that's an easy that's easy math
right there, one in one, you know, equal to However,
you know, Brian Hartline's also the same receivers coach that
hasn't played Rogers as much as he would like now.
I doubt he's got the same kind of depth in

(02:58):
front of him at South Florida that he woulded Ohio State.
But there's some things to consider there. Certainly, they know
each other very well and they know what they'd each
be getting into. And certainly Brian Hartline needs to build
the talent base there at South Florida. But you know,
for Rogers, as he's sticking around through the playoffs right now,

(03:20):
it doesn't sound that way. But also he has not
made that known publicly in terms of how he of
his choice in that and really for Ohio State, how
much room is there for him. He didn't play on
offense in the Big Ten Championship game, now that was
also a tight end heavy attack. Would he have more

(03:40):
opportunity to play in a more wide open attack, certainly,
but so would other players, and so would Brandon Innes
who could certainly use more snaps than he's gotten, or
Carnel Tate and jeremih Smith and even you know, without
even getting into the thirteen personnel stuff. The twelve personnel
stuff is going to limit the number of what receivers

(04:01):
that play. And so for Rogers, that's you know, that
that's time where maybe he you know, not maximizing himself
for the market, which is a wild thing to even
discuss at this point, but that's one that is out

(04:23):
there now, and you know agents are everywhere and numbers
get thrown around. So he'll figure his thing out as
to how Ohio State moves on without him. You know,
Brandon Ennis will be back next year. I don't even
know if you're ready to talk about next year yet
because again, he still Ohio State still has at least
one game to play, and we'll figure out who that

(04:45):
is against Miami or Texas A and m coming up
in a couple of days. But how to if he
chooses not to stay with Ohio State, how does Ohio
State operate? Who is Brandon Innis's backup? Well, you know,
we've seen a little bit, a tiny bit of Mylon
Graham in the slot. We know Philip Bell can play

(05:05):
in the slot. Does Jones. Philip Bell and Does Jones
are your true too true freshman Des Jones has been
injured a bit, and so I don't really expect them
to go that way. I would expect if you are
playing more than just one slot receiver in this game,
it's probably going to be Mylin Graham, but also Jeremiah
Smith and Carnel Tate can play in the slot just

(05:28):
as you know, comfortably as they can play outside. So
really you don't necessarily need a backup slot receiver. You
just need your top three guys to produce and to
play as much and as well as the offense needs
to get the twenty four to twenty seven points they
need in any given playoff game to get a victory.

(05:50):
So you know, in terms of losing something from not
having Bryson Rodgers, that's not really it's not really consideration
in terms of on field stuff. Off field, he's always
been seemingly teammates love him, and he's always in a
good mood, happy guy. So there's that sort of thing

(06:11):
that gets missed, I think a little bit. When you've
got a certain level of comfort and and energy on
a team and then maybe to lose some of that
from the receiver room when also you're losing your receiver coach.
It'll be interesting to see how Ohio State handles that

(06:34):
whole emotional you know, let down or change basically. And
yet like on field, this doesn't really impact what Ohio
State is going to do, and certainly if it did,
they'd have enough time to Okay, well, how do we
deal with this? And how do we deal with not
having Bryson Rodgers. And the way you deal with that

(06:56):
is you just keep Brandon Innis on the field more,
you keep Max Claire on the field more, and you
go from there. And I think it's a relatively simple solution.
And you know, look forward to seeing what Bryson Rodgers
can do when he finds his future home and and
finds a much easier path to playing time. And when

(07:20):
you look at boy, the twenty twenty three recruiting class
for Ohio State, in terms of the receivers, you had
Brandon Ennis, Carnl Tate, Noah Rodgers, Bryson Rodgers. And after
this year, presumably Brandon Nis will be the last guy

(07:41):
standing as Cardonel Tate will head off to the NFL. No,
Rodgers already off to North Carolina State a while ago,
a couple of years ago, and now Bryson Rodgers off
somewhere else. Combine that with the twenty twenty two receiving class,
all of them transferring out well before anybody was able
to establish themselves or really frankly none. They all transferred,

(08:08):
you know, because they couldn't play at Ohio State. I
think that's maybe the best way to put it, and
the most succinct way to put it, rather than dancing
around it. So Brian Harlin and these two classes, I
think you're seeing why the receiver room was not as
deep as they would normally. Like everybody knows it's top

(08:28):
heavy with Jeremiah Smith and Colonel Tate. Who else you're
going to take over those two, But when you look
at the depth of the room, there's questions there, especially
when you've had, you know, a guy like Quincy Porter
true freshman as banged up as he's been this season,
and certainly they need him to step up. And it's
a great signing day boon to keep Chris Henry and
Drew Quaiden Guildford in the fold for next year. But

(08:51):
you're also going to have to make up for losing
so many guys in the twenty twenty three class, and
you need some of those twenty four and twenty twenty
five guys to continue to produce next produced next year
and moving forward. So there you go. Bryson Rodgers eventually
off to the portal. Doesn't change too much for Ohio

(09:12):
State on the field, but he's a guy that could
have seen the field perhaps next year, and so they
have to fill that spot. And like I said, that's
that's maybe a Philip Bell thing. That's you know, uh,
you know, Milon Graham could see the field more. Bryson Rodgers,
Brandon Ennis simply playing more, Max Claire playing more, assuming
he's back next year. So next year, this isn't you know,

(09:34):
this is a bigger problem for next year, but not
a problem that Ohio State is not equipped to handle.
So there you go, go ahead and leave your feedback
if you like. And again we'll have more breaking new stuff.
It is tis the season as the portal is about
to be open, and this will not be the last
Ohio State player to enter the portal, just so you know,

(09:57):
and so we'll be covering it all. We'll be talking
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