Stock Up For Five Buckeyes On Offense In Fall Camp

Buckeyes Fall Camp Stock Report: Offensive Players on the Rise

In this episode of the Buckeye Weekly Podcast, hosts Tom Orr and Tony Gerdeman analyze five Ohio State offensive players whose stock is trending upward during fall camp. They discuss the competition for the starting quarterback position, the emergence of key offensive linemen, and the impact of talented wide receivers and running backs. Tune in for in-depth insights and discussions about the Buckeyes as they gear up for the upcoming season. 

00:00 Welcome to Buckeye Weekly 
00:23 Ohio State Football Season Preview 
01:39 Fall Camp Offensive Standouts 
02:38 Offensive Line Insights 
07:49 Quarterback Competition Analysis 
14:42 Rising Stars: Brandon Inniss and Others 
18:49 Tight End and Running Back Prospects 
24:45 Final Thoughts and Community Engagement

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, everybody, Welcome to the Buckeye Weekly Podcast. I'm Tony
Gerdaman here as always with Tom More. Hey Tom, how's
it going?

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Oh, Tony, I'm so glad you've asked. I was like,
what's he gonna ask me at the start of the show.
It could be anything, could be about the weather, could
be about the stock market, good news. It's just about
my feelings in general. So Tony, it's great. And here's why.
We're less than three weeks away from the first Ohio
State football game of the season. And Tony, it is

(00:30):
a football game of some consequence. So as you may
have heard, number one versus number two or number one
versus number three, depending on who you ask.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
And I was not shocked at all to see Ohio
State number three and the ape pole, which is the
media poll. And as I've said on this show and
on Buckeyest tomorrow morning, wherever we talk about it, every
single media poll, outlet, magazine that said Penn State ahead
of Ohio State. The only place that has Ohio State
ahead of Penn State is the coach's poll. So are
you gonna trust the coaches or are you gonna trust

(01:01):
the media? As the know it alls and the be
it alls time. I'm also doing well. Thank you for asking.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
I was just fast forward.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
I'll put it in. I'll just add it, drop it in, Grock.
I was looking on the TV guide, not the on
the TV, to see if I can fast forward to
where I can start recording football games college football games.
And I'm still like until like the twenty first, so
I can't quite get two weeks zero yet, but man,

(01:35):
it's in the air and you can feel it. And
and now we're we are now two weeks through fall camp.
So I thought, you know, now would be a good
time to assess where certain buck eyes are, who's standing out.
So we're gonna do some stock up on the offense,
and today's show and the next show we'll talk about
the defense. And you know, this is stock up through
fall camp, stock up through you know who's making the

(01:58):
step up in a that is noticeable and will be
notable this season. And Tom, I'll give you first first
at bat.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
All right, Well, I think I had a bunch of
different names I sort of jotted down for this, and
one of the ones I wrote down later, I was like, well,
that's stupid. This is absolutely the first name here Tony,
we got to talk about Austin Sirevelt. Austin Sireveld entered, Yeah,
I think we've been broadly projecting Austin Serevelt to be
one of these starters, and Ryan Day said during the

(02:29):
spring that, yeah, he's gonna be starting somewhere basically, and
then now it looks like Austin Zireravelt is going to
be starting at left tackle. So that's a pretty big
stock up to me. He was an Iron Buckeye back
in the winter. He was an Iron Buckeye over the summer.
He certainly seems like if we're going to do a

(02:50):
poll of who's most likely to be a captain this year,
he's probably on that list. For me. He's projected to
be the starting left tackle now and his spot where
you know, this is not a by default thing. They
brought in a guy who was viewed as Okay ethan
on Neon very likely to be the left starting left
Tacklethonwa even started fall camp as the left tackle when

(03:12):
we were watching camp the first week, and then Austin
Siriveld has seemingly grabbed that job with both hands and
held it, held it all for himself. A little selfish,
but that's okay. Other than that, he's been pure captain material.
It sounds like this year, so I think he, for
me is an easy number one on that list.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
Please don't say he's holding Tom. Don't say he's holding
onto something. He is occupying the space as Ohio State's
starting left tackle. Bryan Day said he's practicing exclusively at
left tackle right now. So basically, when you're just at
one spot, that's your spot, not that he needs to
go and be. They want everybody to have a primary
to secondary. I think they know by now everything else

(03:53):
is your secondary position. For Austin Ciraveld, other than center,
everything else's secondary because he's played everywhere. And yeah, he's
a two time Iron Buckeye with Sonny Styles and Jeremiah Smith.
And I remember I was at his commitment ceremony at
his high school and staring at him, I'm like, he
reminds me of Sonny Styles and Jeremiah Smith. These three

(04:14):
are all very similar. And he blew He blew everybody
away last year and fall camping and just continued to
play and left the season as a utility starter at
guard and is now Ohio State's left tackle I'm not
sure there's many better risers and stock ups than that guy.

(04:34):
I know, Tom, we're gonna be talking to the offensive
lineman on Tuesday, so we're going to be getting into
more of this. I'm going to stick on the offensive line.
Philip Daniels at right tackle right now has kind of
come out of nowhere because I know when we've talked
about this offensive line, we kept maybe we spoke too
soon about how all the five is set. We feel

(04:55):
pretty good about the starting five, and Ohio State feels
Ryan Day feels pretty good about the entire ten that
he has in the too deep But right now it
looks like Philip Daniels is going to be It's currently
the number one right tackle, and ethan on Onwa has
been moving back between guard and tackle. Ian Moore's at

(05:17):
left tackle behind Austin Siraveld, And I know there's been
a lot of conjecture and consternation about does this mean
that ethan Onanwa has been a buster or whatever? Like
I think, Tom, the thing to keep in mind is
that Philip Daniels hasn't moved just past ethan Onionua, but
presumably has moved past Ian Moore as well. So he's
taken a big jump to be that number two offensive

(05:38):
tackle now through two weeks of camp.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
So you're saying that there's two bus and not one.
Is that what I'm hearing? That's that's boy Tony. I
don't know that I'd go that far, but you know,
I you know, I'm not gonna end I'm not gonna
you know, speak for you now. I think this is
one of these cases where sometimes every time there's a
full camp story and every time someone complete it's a
pass in faul camp or doesn't complete a pass in

(06:02):
fall camp, it's is this a good thing for the
wide receiver, it's just a bad thing for the defensive back.
And this guy has jumped ahead of that guy on
the depth chart. Is that because this first guy is
the next to Orlando Pace? Is it because the second
guy constantly ties his own shoes together and can't you know,
can't pass block off the edge. And this feels much

(06:24):
more like this is good news for Philip Daniels than
it is this is terrible news for Ethan Oneonwa and
and Ian Moore because Ian Moore, coming out of last season,
you had a sense for where they felt like Ian
Moore was Ian Moore was a true freshman who was
out there playing with the You know, he had sort
of passed George Fitzpatrick to be the fourth tackle last year,

(06:46):
and so you had a pretty good sentence for where
he wasn't He looked pretty good this spring when we
got to see him, And so I think this is
something that probably says much more about Philip Daniels than
it does about oneona or more. And you know, if
if they have another year of well, I guess technically
this would be Austin Seerveldt's third year, So technically, technically

(07:08):
Austin Seerveldt could turn pro after this year, which is
a conversation that is one of those good news bad
news situations for Ohio stated or having the conversation that's
good news. But boy, he is you know, he is
not someone who you probably projected coming out of high
school to be a three and done guy. Obviously a
long way to go between now and the NFL draft
evaluation process, but you know, you're at least you at

(07:29):
least have that in the back of your head. And
if and when he does leave, then you're you know,
I think that they're probably feeling reasonably good about Ian
Moore being his replacement. But yeah, I like that pick.
That was another pick for me. I think that's a uh.
I think that's an easy one for me. That he's
you know, he belongs in this conversation. Next up, I'm

(07:51):
gonna say Julian's saying, and you know, you don't ever
want to read too much into what coaches say, but
but when Ryan Day, you know, Ryan Day, there's no
one more cognizant of not overly gassing up a young
quarterback than Ryan Day. Ryan Day is going to be
very cautious with his words. Ryan Day's gonna be very

(08:12):
cautious with his praise. Ryan Days, you know, wants to
make sure everyone knows, well, there's still work to do
and it's still a quarterback competition and all that kind
of stuff. You listen to Ryan Day talk on Monday,
and it sure seems like he's a pretty big fan
of how Julian Sayan has been competing this camp and
that the step that Julian Saying has taken both in
terms of on field play and leadership and all that
kind of stuff. And at one point he compared I

(08:34):
think he compared his release to Dwayne Haskins, which is like, Okay,
well you were here for Dwayne Haskins, so you know
what Dwayne Haskins's release was like, It's like he's saying
all these things that are kind of like you don't
want to say too much, but saying things that are like, boy,
he's he's not saying too much, but he's saying stuff

(08:54):
that you would be the stuff you'd say if you
were pretty high on him. So we are. You know,
we saw Julian saying for the first three days of
fall camp felt like he pretty clearly won two of
those days, I would say, and you know, the third
day of camp he was really at his best. From
what we saw, you can sort of project forward and

(09:15):
you can sort of, you know, put put on him.
Wrote what Ryan Day said about how he played in
the scrimmage, and I think all of that is I
entured fall camp with the expectation of Julian saying was
likely going to be Ohio State's quarterback. My ex you know,
my expectation for the likelihood of that happening has only
gone up since the start of fall camp. So I

(09:37):
will say that constitutes a stock up for me.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
Yeah, he was on my list as well. You mentioned
the Dwayne Haskins thing. Day was also asked if this
quarterback competition reminds him of any quarterback competitions he's had before.
There's some similarities to the Dwayne Haskins versus Joe Burrow thing.
And I know you'll probably have some Ohigh State fans thinking, well,
made the wrong choice that day and Ryan or dayan

(10:02):
Irvin Meyer made the wrong choice. But if you go
back and look the twenty eighteen stats of both guys,
you'll see that they went with the guy that was,
they went with the right guy. Of course, they didn't
have any choice because Joe Burrow left. But if I
don't expect him to be read your sophomore Dwayne Haskins,
I expect him to be better than a retch, your

(10:24):
freshman Dwayne Haskins. I think that's fair to say. So
maybe that's something to you, like, certainly he should be
better than a red your freshman Dwayne Haskins. But the
release is there. And again, as Ryan Day keeps talking
and we keep reading into this, if you're saying this
kind of reminds me of Dwayne Haskins versus Joe Burrow
how did you go in that race? Who did you
choose in that race? He chose Dwayne Haskins. So again,

(10:46):
I think nothing that he said, and he's tried to
say some things to like stop people from just assuming
it's going to be Julian saying he's not going completely
out of his way, like Carlos Laughlan to be like, hey,
stop talking about these two running backs. I got six
running backs. He's not. He's not yet said hey, stop
talking about these two quarterbacks. I've got six quarterbacks. And
then it's like, Okay, tell us about Mason Maggs, tell

(11:08):
us about Eli brick Candler. How do you see them
competing for the job. He's for the longest time, it's
been a two man race, and I think you're you're again.
We talked about it in The Buckeye tomorrow morning for
the Tuesday show. Basically, who out there is picking Lincoln
Keyholts right now? And I don't think anybody is. It's

(11:30):
not just because of you know, thoughts or like opinions
stuff we see stuff. We're here, and I think for
everybody's on the same page. And if it's Lincoln Keyholds,
that's going to be a surprise, but he'll he will
have earned it in camp.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
Well, if it's Lincoln keen Holes, then Lincoln keen Holts
has taken a really big step because you sort of
have the the idea of where Ryan Day has the
level set for Julian Saying right now. So if Lincoln
keen Holes exceeds that level and Lind's starting job, that's
only good news for Ohio State fans. That's you know,
unless Julian Saying somehow forgets how to play football in

(12:07):
the next couple weeks and or tice his two shoes
together again. And I mean that's I'm here, that's going around, Tony.
But you know, I barring something like that, if Juliet
and Saying doesn't win the job, then whoever wins a
job is going to be one heck of a quarterback.
I do think we need the level set a little
bit on Julian Saying because second, you know, red shirt

(12:30):
sophomore Dwayne Haskins, that is not the expectation. Just to
reiterate what Tony said, this is a red shirt freshman. Now,
he's probably going to be better than red shirt freshman
Dwayne Haskins because when red shirt freshman Dwayne Haskins came
in in ann Arbor to lead them to victory over Michigan.
Off the bench, his wide receivers were Ben Victor or

(12:50):
Austin Mack. And no disrespect to Montreal Aloette's legend, Austin Mack,
he is still going. If you have not paid attention,
he is churning up quite a career up in montfree
All though neither of those guys Jeremiah Smith, neither of
those guys is Carnell Tate. You know, there is there
is a level of talent on this team on the
outside that was not there for Dwayne Haskins in twenty seventeen.

(13:14):
But these are guys who I think can You know,
these are guys who I think can can I think
Julian Saying can put together a good but not Dwayne
Haskins level stat Like, don't expect what did he put
up five thousand yards passing or something ridiculous like that.
He's not putting a five thousand yards passing. That's because
they can run the ball this year. That could they
have a better defense this year? Like if he is

(13:36):
just as efficient or close to as efficient as Dwayne Haskins,
if he's in that high sixties percent completion and is
you know throwing what an interception every you know, you know,
two thirds of an interception every game, something like that.
That that that would be a great red shirt freshman
season for Julian saying, don't you know if he finishes

(13:59):
lower than second in the Heisman, that's that doesn't constitute
a failure for him.

Speaker 1 (14:04):
This No, And I would also say, don't expect a
red shirt freshman c J. Stroud passing season from him either.
When c J. Stroud completed seventy two percent of his
passes for forty four hundred and thirty five yards, forty
four touchdowns and six interceptions in twelve games, don't expect
that you're thrown for three hundred and sixty nine point

(14:24):
six yards per game. I'm not saying Julian saying's I'm
gonna struggle or anything. He's not gonna do that. And again,
they won't need him to. You certainly hope they wouldn't
need him to. That's part of the reason why c. J.
Stroud needed a week off because he had to throw
so much early in the season. So my next guy

(14:44):
here is somebody that to me is I may be
a load in this, but I did not have the
highest expectations for coming into the season. But after seeing
him in camp, I now see it. That is Brandon Innis,
who you know we've saw bits and pieces of and
and last year like he was, he made plays when

(15:05):
he was given an opportunity to. But I don't know
that you ever saw anything explosive and where you're like, wow,
they need to find a way to get this guy
on the field. I don't know that we ever had
that moment where it's like, you need to get the
ball to this guy because he could do something with it.
Seeing him in fall camp, I'm of the opinion if
you need to get the ball to this guy because

(15:25):
he can do something with it. And we've talked in
the past about how he set all personal records in
the weight room and the speed and all of that
sort of stuff. Just seeing him on the practice field, Tom,
you saw he's he's more explosive than he was last year.
He's quicker. He just looks like he can be a
weapon now rather than just I don't anyone say just,
but he just never exploded or was never like, never

(15:49):
really wowed. And I know he had the fifty eight
yard touchdown catch and a true freshman, that was his
only catch. This is the first time that I've seen
him in an Ohio State uniform. War he looks like
he belongs, and not just he belongs, but he could
do something with it.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
Yeah, well he can. He can absolutely do something with it.
He's come a long way over the course of the spring,
in summer and into fall camp. This is also you
look at what a Mecca Abuuka is doing in the
NFL right now and you kind of go, okay, So
there's a reason he wasn't playing. This is not just
he was a bum last year and that's why he
didn't see the field. It was like, no, he was
behind one of the more underrated players in Ohio State

(16:28):
football history. Probably that was why he didn't play so
much last year. This year, man that he is, he
is a real sky's the limit guy. Because you look
at the you look at the Ohio State offense this
year and Okay, you know what you're getting out of
Jeremiah Smith, and you know Carnel Tate is going to
have a pretty darn good year this year because he's
gonna he's gonna be a little higher in the pecking order,

(16:50):
probably without a Mecca abookie there. You also know Max Claire. Boy,
he's going to bring a lot to that tight end
room in terms of being a weapon. We talked to
Carlos Laughlan about all the running backs, the backfield and
what they're going to do in the passing game, and
the offensive line sure seems like it is arrow up
as well. So and then we mentioned the quarterback being
arrow up, and it's like, boy, Tony, this feels like

(17:11):
a lot to be optimistic about with the Ohio's State offense.
And what that means is, yeah, they're gonna spread the
ball around a lot. So you might not see seventy
catches eighty catches for Brandon Innis this year the way
you saw you know, kJ Hill kind of single season
numbers or Paris Campbell kind of single season numbers. But
when he gets the ball, he's not gonna have two

(17:32):
guys on him very often. He's gonna have some space
to operate, and he's the way he has looked so
far this year, it seems like he's going to be
able to make the most of those opportunities. So again,
I don't know if this is I don't know if
this is a you know, sixty seventy catch one hundred
and you know, fifteen hundred yard kind of season, I'm
not expecting that. But when he gets the ball, if

(17:55):
it's whether it's thirty five catches or forty catches or
whatever it is for him, you get this sense he's
gonna break some long ones and you're gonna you're gonna
see him split in safeties and all that kind of stuff.
Like he's just it feels like you're going to have
a couple like, oh, he's he's faster than I thought
he was. You're gonna have a couple of those moments
watching games as fall.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
Yeah, I think as before the season, and we're gonna
have to do an over under show. And I want
us both be on the record about Brandon in this
because I really I'm not sure where to go with this.
Maybe maybe Carneals take type of season from last year,
but maybe a couple more touchdowns something like that, we're
fifty catches, seven hundred yards. I don't know. There's just

(18:36):
so much variability with them. With the passing game and
the slot receivers usually do pretty good at Ohio State,
but you know, we'll see who you got.

Speaker 2 (18:44):
Well I just did, Oh you did Carnel Tay or
you did at Brandon and so I guess it is
my turn. Boy. So if we want a little peak
behind the curtain, I had four different tight ends here
with their names with a question mark after them, and
three different running backs as so like we have. I
think we could talked about doing this as five Era
five Buckeyes who are arrow up. But boy, there are

(19:07):
a lot of choices here. I'm going to go I'm
just gonna take by the numbers. I gotta go with
a tight end here. I'm gonna go with Nate Roberts
because Nate Roberts is someone who came in and this
is I mean again, let's level set here. No one
is saying he's going to beat Max Claire out for
the tight end one job. No one's saying he's gonna
beat out Wilkes Marriage for the tight end two job,

(19:28):
or Bennett Christian or maybe even Jelanie Thurman. But to
be a true freshman tight end and to have already
lost your black stripe, you know, Keenan Bailey talks all
the time about the challenge of being a tight end
at Ohio State and having to be a big ten
level wide receiver in terms of receptions, but also to
be able to block a big ten defensive end off

(19:48):
the edge. To have lost your black stripe at this
point of full camp as a tight end is insane?
Is that is crazy? Because did we do the black
stripe draft every year and at this point we've gotten
pretty good at identifying the trends and the guys who
have have lost their black stripes were picked I think

(20:09):
like first second and third or first second and fourth
or something like that. And then Nate Roberts team, It's
like we have we know exactly the order this is
going to happen in except tight ends don't lose their
black stripes that early. So to me, he's someone who
I don't know what this is actually going to look
like in terms of on field productivity this year. This

(20:30):
is more of a you know, this is maybe more
of a lifetime achiefment award looking you know, a forward
facing lifetime achievement award, Like I have seen what I
have seen and heard in fall camp twenty twenty five
is really changing what I think about the Ohio State
tight end room in twenty twenty six, twenty twenty seven.
But man, Nate Roberts feels like he has really made

(20:51):
some significant strides already.

Speaker 1 (20:54):
I've trying to be on the record as many times
as I can about Nate robertson saying that he's going
to be really, really, really good, And at some point
I'm probably gonna have to like put my foot down
on just how good, like the best of all time
at Ohio State or something like that. But I will
say Jelanie Thurman, he and Wie Carford were the second
and third Buck guys to lose their black stripe in

(21:16):
the spring of twenty twenty three. Carnel Tait was the first,
and then those two lost their black stripes on together
about a week after that. So, like we talked about it, it's
it's a pretty good indicator. But also it depends on
what kind of room you're in, and Jolohnny Thurman has
been in a very good room. Nate Roberts is in

(21:36):
a very good room. There are constant challenges, but there's
everything to like about Nate Roberts and he can He's
not just a split out wide or into the slot.
I'm a flex tight end. He's all of it, and
he's making catches already, and again impressive that he is
doing what he's doing already. I got one of one

(22:00):
that I have, and I'll just throw Bo Jackson out there,
freshman running back. But I also feel like we were
talking before the show, like shouldn't James Peoples be here?
But I don't know these are stock risers. His stock
is always high, so like I don't know, like there's
no rising because we've just always like everybody just has
him up there already. So it's it's not taking him

(22:23):
for granted, and we're not just assuming that, you know,
but we are assuming. But I don't know that we
talked about him enough just because there are no questions
about him, there are no surprises about him. You got
anybody else you mentioned four tight ends? You know we can,
we don't need to go through all of them, but
get anybody else you want to throw out there?

Speaker 2 (22:42):
Well, I would I had Bo Jackson on my list.
James Peoples would have been on my list. CJ. Donaldson too.
I mean, you listen to James, you listen to Carlos
Lachlan talk about CJ. Donaldson, and you can tell he's
pretty intrigued. By what CJ. Donaldson could do this year
and CJ. Donaldson, Man is CJ. Donaldson happy to be

(23:04):
at Ohio State. Like there are players, there are players
where you know they're very business like and they're very
like c J. Donaldson. Maybe he's always like this. Maybe
if you go back and watch every single interview from
West Virginia, he is the happiest guy on earth. But man,
he sure seems like he is the Matt Patricia Award
winner on offense. I think this year for like, this
guy stops smiling at some point, right, I don't know

(23:26):
that he I've seen him stop smiling really at Ohio State.
We'll see how it goes. But he just he feels
he said, he feels faster. He's lost like twenty twenty
five pounds in the Ohio State Strengths program, running faster,
running harder. He you know, with his background as a
wide receiver, they are very intrigued. I think they are,
you know, capital O capital I officially intrigued by what

(23:48):
he could do out of backfield as a pass catching
running back. I think you're gonna see. I think you're
gonna see an impact from him that's probably bigger than
I expected at the start of the season. You know,
go back to the spring, and I think we were
talking about him being maybe like a seven hundred yard
rushing running back, and you know, maybe he's in that
seven eight hundred yard rushing, but if you told me

(24:11):
he had two hundred and fifty yards receiving or something
like that on top of that, you know he's in.
He was in the one thousand total yards of offense
kind of range, wouldn't be a surprise at all. And
I think that would that would be an arrow up
for me as well.

Speaker 1 (24:24):
Yeah, I had to take him off of my list
to put Philip Daniels on there in my top five.
He is an interesting third down back because he's not
your typical third down back, so there's some different things
they could do with him at tom a wildcat. I'm
just saying the QB power with him, as as the JT.
Bart See how that goes for you on short yardage.

(24:44):
But there you go. I'll go ahead and throw your
own stock ups. Stock Is that is that a noun
that can we pluralize?

Speaker 2 (24:51):
Stocks up? I think it's an attorney's general situation.

Speaker 1 (24:54):
Per perfect mothers in law type of thing. Go ahead
and throw your own mothers in law and the comments
and we would.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
Appreciate want to stalk up or stock down, So Hi.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
If you're watching on YouTube, ahead that thumbs up, We
would appreciate it. And of course five start writing interviews
always appreciated as well on your podcast platforms of choice,
and as always you can find us at Buckeye Huddle
dot com. Check us out there on the buckeyehead a
message board presented by Jeff Ruby's Columbus, where we are
talking about this fall camp, all kinds of stuff going
on still UH patiently waiting for the NCAA to UH

(25:26):
to make their judgments known. On the University of Michigan,
where the that thread is still going and I don't
know that it will ever stop even when it is
all over. So thank you all for tuning in and
we'll talk to you guys later