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LGHL Uncut Podcast: Uncut: Hartline is confident, Harrison is ready, Fleming is bionic
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Uncut Podcast: Uncut: Hartline is confident, Harrison is ready, Fleming is bionic
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Ohio State Athletics
The offensive coordinator and two of his top wide receivers chat with the media.
Throughout the year, the Land-Grant Podcast Network will be bringing you uncut audio primarily from Ohio State press conferences, but also from individual interview sessions.
Listen to the episode and subscribe:
Subscribe: RSS | Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio
On today’s episode of “Land-Grant Uncut,” we are bringing you unedited audio from Ohio State football media availabilities from earlier this week in which offensive coordinator Brian Hartline and various wide receivers spoke to assembled reporters. We have comments from Hartline and starting WRs Marvin Harrison Jr. and Julian Fleming.
Hartline discusses everything from his rooms preparation and his young receivers to the quarterback competition and his play-calling duties. Then, Harrison talks about playing some snaps in the slot and how impressed he is with true freshman Carnell Tate. Finally, Fleming discusses what it is like for him to finally be healthy.
Contact Matt Tamanini
Twitter: @BWWMatt
Continue reading...
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Ohio State Athletics
The offensive coordinator and two of his top wide receivers chat with the media.
Throughout the year, the Land-Grant Podcast Network will be bringing you uncut audio primarily from Ohio State press conferences, but also from individual interview sessions.
Listen to the episode and subscribe:
Subscribe: RSS | Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio
On today’s episode of “Land-Grant Uncut,” we are bringing you unedited audio from Ohio State football media availabilities from earlier this week in which offensive coordinator Brian Hartline and various wide receivers spoke to assembled reporters. We have comments from Hartline and starting WRs Marvin Harrison Jr. and Julian Fleming.
Hartline discusses everything from his rooms preparation and his young receivers to the quarterback competition and his play-calling duties. Then, Harrison talks about playing some snaps in the slot and how impressed he is with true freshman Carnell Tate. Finally, Fleming discusses what it is like for him to finally be healthy.
Contact Matt Tamanini
Twitter: @BWWMatt
Music by: www.bensound.com
Continue reading...
LGHL Emeka Egbuka looks to improve on his breakout 2022 season
- News
- 0 Replies
Emeka Egbuka looks to improve on his breakout 2022 season
justingolba via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Set Number: X164268 TK1
Egbuka is entering this season as possibly the second-best receiver in the country.
Every day from now until the start of the season, Land-Grant Holy Land is highlighting Ohio State football players that you should be watching this season. Check out all of our “Player to Watch” articles to get ready for the season opener against Indiana.
When talking about Ohio State and its weapons this season on offense, Marvin Harrison Jr. gets most of the ink of the media. And it is obviously well deserved. However, while Harrison Jr. is the consensus top receiver in the country, arguably the second-best receiver in the country also takes his practice reps at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
Emeka Egbuka comes into the season as one of the top receivers in the country returning to the college football landscape, and he will look to take an even bigger leap during the 2023 campaign. In 2022, Egbuka recorded 74 catches for 1,151 yards and 10 touchdowns. He added 11 rushes for 87 yards and two touchdowns in 13 games. He averaged 15.6 yards per catch and 7.9 yards per carry.
During his freshman season, he recorded nine catches for 191 yards and averaged 21.2 yards per catch in 10 games. In total, he has recorded 83 catches for 1,342 yards and 10 touchdowns, and 11 rushes for 87 yards and two touchdowns.
He has been productive from the minute he stepped on campus, and with the receiver room he walked into, it is impressive to make a mark immediately. And all of these stats have come with him battling injuries throughout all of last season.
“I just know that with the trainers that we have, they’re all getting me right,” Egbuka told 247Sports about his injuries “They’ve been on top of it 100 percent, and they helped me so much this past year, this past offseason, just getting my body right and getting back to a place of confidence again. So, I’m super grateful towards all of them. I can’t even speak on all the people who’ve helped me get to this point, but I’m just really excited for this season.”
Egbuka added, “I’m just staying on top of my body to make sure that I can be as healthy as possible. But like I was saying, it is football. So, you’re always gonna have little nicks and bruises.”
Egbuka came into Columbus as a top recruit, ranking No. 9 overall in the 2021 recruiting class, No. 2 in the state of Washington, and the top receiver recruit in the class.
Egbuka comes from Steilacoom High School in Steilacoom, Washington. Scouts were impressed by him because he was the full package of size, speed, and agility.
As of right now, the Ohio State quarterback battle between Devin Brown and Kyle McCord has yet to be decided. However, for Harrison Jr. and Egbuka, it is safe to assume they will produce staggering numbers this season, no matter who the man behind the center is.
What makes Egbuka so dangerous is the multiple ways he can be used and lined up on the field. He is elite at creating space, running after the catch, and can be used in the running game. With Harrison Jr. drawing so much attention along with Egbuka, it truly makes for a no-win situation for opposing defenses. It is almost a guarantee that one of them will tear up any secondary, and in a lot of cases, it is both of them.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24874772/usa_today_19707886.jpg "NCAA Football: Peach Bowl-Ohio State at Georgia")
Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
There are some question marks for the Buckeyes this season, and we will see how those get answered. The production of Emeka Egbuka and what he will bring to the team this season is not one of them. Pretty much any stat line is not out of the question this season for the rising junior.
Continue reading...
justingolba via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Set Number: X164268 TK1
Egbuka is entering this season as possibly the second-best receiver in the country.
Every day from now until the start of the season, Land-Grant Holy Land is highlighting Ohio State football players that you should be watching this season. Check out all of our “Player to Watch” articles to get ready for the season opener against Indiana.
When talking about Ohio State and its weapons this season on offense, Marvin Harrison Jr. gets most of the ink of the media. And it is obviously well deserved. However, while Harrison Jr. is the consensus top receiver in the country, arguably the second-best receiver in the country also takes his practice reps at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
Emeka Egbuka comes into the season as one of the top receivers in the country returning to the college football landscape, and he will look to take an even bigger leap during the 2023 campaign. In 2022, Egbuka recorded 74 catches for 1,151 yards and 10 touchdowns. He added 11 rushes for 87 yards and two touchdowns in 13 games. He averaged 15.6 yards per catch and 7.9 yards per carry.
During his freshman season, he recorded nine catches for 191 yards and averaged 21.2 yards per catch in 10 games. In total, he has recorded 83 catches for 1,342 yards and 10 touchdowns, and 11 rushes for 87 yards and two touchdowns.
He has been productive from the minute he stepped on campus, and with the receiver room he walked into, it is impressive to make a mark immediately. And all of these stats have come with him battling injuries throughout all of last season.
“I just know that with the trainers that we have, they’re all getting me right,” Egbuka told 247Sports about his injuries “They’ve been on top of it 100 percent, and they helped me so much this past year, this past offseason, just getting my body right and getting back to a place of confidence again. So, I’m super grateful towards all of them. I can’t even speak on all the people who’ve helped me get to this point, but I’m just really excited for this season.”
Egbuka added, “I’m just staying on top of my body to make sure that I can be as healthy as possible. But like I was saying, it is football. So, you’re always gonna have little nicks and bruises.”
Egbuka came into Columbus as a top recruit, ranking No. 9 overall in the 2021 recruiting class, No. 2 in the state of Washington, and the top receiver recruit in the class.
Egbuka comes from Steilacoom High School in Steilacoom, Washington. Scouts were impressed by him because he was the full package of size, speed, and agility.
As of right now, the Ohio State quarterback battle between Devin Brown and Kyle McCord has yet to be decided. However, for Harrison Jr. and Egbuka, it is safe to assume they will produce staggering numbers this season, no matter who the man behind the center is.
What makes Egbuka so dangerous is the multiple ways he can be used and lined up on the field. He is elite at creating space, running after the catch, and can be used in the running game. With Harrison Jr. drawing so much attention along with Egbuka, it truly makes for a no-win situation for opposing defenses. It is almost a guarantee that one of them will tear up any secondary, and in a lot of cases, it is both of them.
There are some question marks for the Buckeyes this season, and we will see how those get answered. The production of Emeka Egbuka and what he will bring to the team this season is not one of them. Pretty much any stat line is not out of the question this season for the rising junior.
Continue reading...
LGHL Ohio State fans are concerned about offensive tackle as season nears
- News
- 0 Replies
Ohio State fans are concerned about offensive tackle as season nears
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
You ask, we answer. Sometimes we ask, others answer. And then other times, we ask, we answer.
Buckeye Nation, we are officially one week away from the start of the Ohio State football season. Even though OSU brings back a ton of production, there is seemingly a lot of unknowns still left to be answered for this team. The biggest question — as it has been since C.J. Stroud declared for the NFL Draft — is who will be the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback, but that is far from the only thing left to be determined as the team prepares for Week 1.
So, earlier this week, we asked you — the loyal, objective, honest, and insightful fans of The Ohio State University football program — a few questions about a handful of positional battles that either still need to be resolved, or we still just aren’t sure how they are going to go.
Take a look at what the Buckeye voting public had to say below.
Check out DraftKings Sportsbook, the official sportsbook partner of SB Nation.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24873955/OhioState_1_082323.png)
This to me is the obvious right answer. I think, by virtue of the talent on the field and in the coaching staff, the quarterbacks will be fine. Will they be Stround and Justin Fields-level productive? Probably not, but that’s an insanely high standard to meet, but I’m not worried about the QB position — but more on that in a minute.
The coaching staff seems somewhat surprised by how well Josh Simmons has acclimated to the rigors of being a Buckeye — seemingly claiming the left tackle job — and Mike Golic Jr. told me earlier this week that Josh Fryar staying on the right side where he was comfortable makes sense. So maybe this all works out and the offensive line proves to be a strength for this team.
Even if that proves to be true for the starters, I am still a bit apprehensive about the backups. The staff has talked up a lot of the young guys in that room, so maybe they are better than I think, but it usually takes three years for most offensive lineman to be ready to play at a high level, and beyond the starters, there’s not a lot of guys with much experience under their belts.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24873956/OhioState_2_082323.png)
About midway through the 2022 season, I told the staff here at LGHL that I didn’t think Kyle McCord would be on the Ohio State roster following the next spring practice. That wasn’t because I didn’t think that he was a good quarterback, or even that I thought Devin Brown was exceedingly better than him. Instead, it was because Ryan Day had admitted that he had made a mistake not getting Stroud more reps when he was backing up Fields, and yet McCord was given next to zero opportunities to do anything of value last season. Therefore, I reasoned, McCord must not be the guy that Day wants to entrust the offense to once Stroud departs.
However, that appears to have been more because Day didn’t learn his lesson, rather than McCord not being capable of claiming the starting spot, because here we are a week away from kickoff, and he is still in the mix — even if most people assumed he would have grabbed that brass ring by now.
I do not have a particular rooting interest in this race. I don’t think that I have seen enough from either McCord or Brown to really feel like I know what either is capable of. So, my only hope is that whoever Day and his staff pick is ready to go so that we don’t have to go a full season with QB1 looking over his shoulder.
I’m ok if it takes a couple weeks into the season to figure out who the right guy is, just figure it out and stick with it once you do.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24872682/_National_1_082323.png)
These results weren’t from our Ohio State-focused weekly poll, but rather from the national SB Nation Reacts survey, so I thought I’d pass them around. It feels like football fans are giving the Buckeyes more credit than most in the national media. I don’t think that it’s anything personal (I don’t believe there’s ever been a conspiracy against OSU), but I do think that the Buckeyes have been at the top for so long that any semblance of weakness leads some folks to assume the worst.
I hope that those people are painfully wrong this season.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24872683/_National_2_082323.png)
Caleb Williams won the Heisman Trophy last season.
There has only ever been one two-time Heisman Trophy winner.
History has shown how difficult it is to repeat as Heisman Trophy winner.
Therefore, Marvin Harrison Jr. is the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy.
Continue reading...
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
You ask, we answer. Sometimes we ask, others answer. And then other times, we ask, we answer.
Buckeye Nation, we are officially one week away from the start of the Ohio State football season. Even though OSU brings back a ton of production, there is seemingly a lot of unknowns still left to be answered for this team. The biggest question — as it has been since C.J. Stroud declared for the NFL Draft — is who will be the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback, but that is far from the only thing left to be determined as the team prepares for Week 1.
So, earlier this week, we asked you — the loyal, objective, honest, and insightful fans of The Ohio State University football program — a few questions about a handful of positional battles that either still need to be resolved, or we still just aren’t sure how they are going to go.
Take a look at what the Buckeye voting public had to say below.
Check out DraftKings Sportsbook, the official sportsbook partner of SB Nation.
Question 1: Which Ohio State position battle are you most concerned about?
This to me is the obvious right answer. I think, by virtue of the talent on the field and in the coaching staff, the quarterbacks will be fine. Will they be Stround and Justin Fields-level productive? Probably not, but that’s an insanely high standard to meet, but I’m not worried about the QB position — but more on that in a minute.
The coaching staff seems somewhat surprised by how well Josh Simmons has acclimated to the rigors of being a Buckeye — seemingly claiming the left tackle job — and Mike Golic Jr. told me earlier this week that Josh Fryar staying on the right side where he was comfortable makes sense. So maybe this all works out and the offensive line proves to be a strength for this team.
Even if that proves to be true for the starters, I am still a bit apprehensive about the backups. The staff has talked up a lot of the young guys in that room, so maybe they are better than I think, but it usually takes three years for most offensive lineman to be ready to play at a high level, and beyond the starters, there’s not a lot of guys with much experience under their belts.
Question 2: How do you feel about the quarterback battle at Ohio State?
About midway through the 2022 season, I told the staff here at LGHL that I didn’t think Kyle McCord would be on the Ohio State roster following the next spring practice. That wasn’t because I didn’t think that he was a good quarterback, or even that I thought Devin Brown was exceedingly better than him. Instead, it was because Ryan Day had admitted that he had made a mistake not getting Stroud more reps when he was backing up Fields, and yet McCord was given next to zero opportunities to do anything of value last season. Therefore, I reasoned, McCord must not be the guy that Day wants to entrust the offense to once Stroud departs.
However, that appears to have been more because Day didn’t learn his lesson, rather than McCord not being capable of claiming the starting spot, because here we are a week away from kickoff, and he is still in the mix — even if most people assumed he would have grabbed that brass ring by now.
I do not have a particular rooting interest in this race. I don’t think that I have seen enough from either McCord or Brown to really feel like I know what either is capable of. So, my only hope is that whoever Day and his staff pick is ready to go so that we don’t have to go a full season with QB1 looking over his shoulder.
I’m ok if it takes a couple weeks into the season to figure out who the right guy is, just figure it out and stick with it once you do.
Bonus Results:
These results weren’t from our Ohio State-focused weekly poll, but rather from the national SB Nation Reacts survey, so I thought I’d pass them around. It feels like football fans are giving the Buckeyes more credit than most in the national media. I don’t think that it’s anything personal (I don’t believe there’s ever been a conspiracy against OSU), but I do think that the Buckeyes have been at the top for so long that any semblance of weakness leads some folks to assume the worst.
I hope that those people are painfully wrong this season.
Caleb Williams won the Heisman Trophy last season.
There has only ever been one two-time Heisman Trophy winner.
History has shown how difficult it is to repeat as Heisman Trophy winner.
Therefore, Marvin Harrison Jr. is the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy.
Continue reading...
