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LGHL Ohio State will welcome Northwestern transfer linebacker, 2025 prospects this week

Ohio State will welcome Northwestern transfer linebacker, 2025 prospects this week
Matt Tamanini
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Syndication: The Columbus Dispatch

Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK

The July Dead Period is over, so the Buckeyes will get some recruiting work in before fall camp

When Monday turned to Tuesday, the NCAA’s Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Dead Period ended, which means that from yesterday through Aug. 1 when the training camp Dead Period begins, teams can welcome players to campus for visits. We all know about the SummerFest in The Shoe happening on Friday, but that’s not the only time that Ryan Day and his staff will be welcoming potential Buckeyes to the Woody.


Northwestern Transfer Linebacker to Visit Columbus This Week


Thanks to all of the turmoil happening in Evanston, Northwestern linebacker Nigel Glover will be making a handful of official visits this week in an effort to find a place to land for this season. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound is originally from Clayton, Ohio, and was the top-rated recruit in Northwestern’s 2023 class, despite having offers from Ohio State, Iowa, Kentucky, Washington, Wisconsin, and others. He was a four-star prospect, coming in as the No. 335 player in the country and No. 30 linebacker nationally; Glover was the No. 10 player in the state of Ohio last cycle.

He is currently on an official visit to Kentucky and will get to Columbus on Thursday — as originally reported by Rival’s Jeremy Birmingham — where he will stay through Saturday, before heading to Ann Arbor for the weekend. Bucknuts’ Bill Kurelic spoke to Glover who said that he will make his decision following this week’s trio of visits.

Coming into college, Glover was a bit of a tweener, potentially able to play linebacker or safety. The Wildcats had him slotted in to play Will linebacker, but the Buckeyes are keeping their options open in making their pitch to the Ohio native.

“(Ohio State) doesn’t like to pigeonhole guys on an exact position,” Glover told Kurelic.


While I will leave the position assignments to the OSU coaching staff, it sure would be nice to get another linebacker into the program following the commitment of Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa to Notre Dame on Sunday and there being no other linebackers of note currently holding Buckeye offers.

Check out highlights from the first month of Glover’s senior season:


Ohio State to Welcome More 2025 Prospects to Campus This Week


On Tuesday, Kurelic ran through a list of players who were taking advantage of the one-week recruitment window to take a trip to Columbus. Yesterday, five-star offensive line Georgia commit Micah DeBose was on campus and today, Perry Eliano will welcome four-star safety Ivan Taylor.

DeBose is the No. 18 player in the country and committed to UGA in mid-January, but is still taking visits. He currently does not have an OSU offer, but it seems pretty likely that he will earn one before he leaves the Buckeye state. Taylor is the No. 64 player in the country and the No. 6 safety according to 247Sports Composite Ratings. Taylor told Kurelic that his family is coming with him on the visit from Winter Garden, Fla., which is about 30-40 minutes from where I live.

Rising juniors also coming to campus this week include offensive tackle Rowan Byrne and potentially four-star running back Marquise Davis. Initially, the Cleveland Heights RB wasn’t going to be able to make it due to a conflict, but after position coach Tony Alford spoke with Davis’ high school coach, there is now a chance that he will be in attendance at the SummerFest on Friday.


Quick Hits:

  • Birm did a nice job of breaking down Ohio State’s options at linebacker in the 2024 class. While their options aren’t super deep or impressive, he highlights four-star edge rusher Booker Pickett Jr. as the only real uncommitted option for the Buckeyes right now. While he would need to add a decent amount of weight to play LB in the Big Ten, that is a position change that he is open for. Pickett plans on being on campus for a game in October.
  • Chris Holtmann’s men’s basketball program offered a big-time recruit on Tuesday in 2025 power forward Bryson Tiller. The No. 6 player in the country according to 247’s Composite Rankings, the Atlanta native plays for Overtime Elite and holds 20 offers from programs including Florida, Georgia, Houston, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, North Carolina, Villanova, Virginia, Xavier, and more.
Blessed to receive an offer from Ohio State University! pic.twitter.com/aL2hagoRmO

— Bryson (@brysontiller_11) July 23, 2023

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LGHL Two Ohio State women’s basketball players are hooping for Team USA this summer

Two Ohio State women’s basketball players are hooping for Team USA this summer
1ThomasCostello
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2023

Photo by Borja B. Hojas/Getty Images

A back-to-back gold medal summer for one Buckeye and how a new guard’s 3x3 team performed in France

The Ohio State women’s basketball team doesn’t have summers off. While most of the Buckeyes are taking part in summer conditioning and practice, a few spent time overseas representing their respective nations in international competitions. Here’s how each performed before returning to Columbus.


Celeste Taylor


Of the new members of the 2023-24 Scarlet and Gray, the most hype surrounded the addition of National Defensive Player of the Year finalist Celeste Taylor. The guard who transferred to Ohio State by way of the Texas Longhorns and then Duke Blue Devils competed in two competitions in the growing 3x3 basketball world.

For the uninitiated, 3x3 basketball is half-court basketball with each team fielding four athletes, with three on the court competing. For Taylor, the guard played both tournaments with Team USA’s U24 team.

Taylor played alongside fellow NCAA athletes: Guard Kayla Wells (Texas A&M), forward Madison Scott (Ole Miss), and fellow highly touted 2023 transfer guard Alexis Donarski (North Carolina). Unfortunately for the U24 squad, in both tournaments, the young side fell in the quarterfinals.

In Orléans, France, Taylor’s side fell to Spain, the eventual tournament champions. Then, four days later, the U24 side lost to China in the quarterfinals in Poitiers, France. China also made it to the championship game but lost to Canada by one point.

A highlight for Taylor came against Lithuania in the first game of the Poitiers Women’s Series stop. With only two seconds remaining, the guard received the inbounding pass and charged the basket. Taylor hit the layup and forced overtime, although Lithuania came away with the ultimate victory.

The afterburners! @_celeste620 forces OT with the quick step.

#3x3WSPoitiers pic.twitter.com/tepWAQTEWn

— USA Basketball 3x3 (@usab3x3) June 27, 2023

Cotie McMahon


In June 2022, before McMahon stepped onto the court for her first start as a Buckeye freshman, the Centerville, Ohio native helped lead Team USA’s U19 squad to an Americas Championship.

McMahon returned with the U19 squad for one last run, this time in Madrid, Spain for the U19 FIBA Women’s World Cup.

Team USA won its first six games by an average score of 49 points, with the opening game against Mali proving to be the closest with a 19-point difference. All of those lopsided wins didn’t continue in the tournament championship, that’s when McMahon and the red, white, and blue faced off against Spain.

Overall, McMahon averaged 8.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game. None of the stat lines led Team USA’s roster full of fellow NCAA standouts like Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo and Oregon’s Grace Van Slooten, but McMahon did what McMahon does best in the championship game.

The B1G Freshman of the Year led Team USA with 16 points, her highest point total of the tournament. McMahon did it on 8-for-10 shooting and with 22 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, the dynamic forward scored the championship-winning shot.

With the game tied at 66, Team USA took a timeout. Off that stoppage in play, the ball went to McMahon and her teammates stepped aside to let the forward attack the rim. With two bodies blocking the paint, McMahon did a spin move and bounced off the bodies of the defenders to hit the layup, a play Buckeyes fans have seen countless times in one season with Ohio State.

Check out the play here:


Team USA held on and lifted the championship trophy. McMahon wasn’t named to the first or second tournament team but showed the international basketball world what those in the NCAA know well.

However, in the end, McMahon received the most important trophy of all, accepting the World Cup trophy for Team USA.

Sweet sweet victory

#USABWU19 x #FIBAU19 pic.twitter.com/PKMa54KJh2

— USABJNT (@usabjnt) July 23, 2023

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LGHL Bold Prediction: Marvin Harrison Jr. will win the 2024 Heisman Trophy

Bold Prediction: Marvin Harrison Jr. will win the 2024 Heisman Trophy
meganhusslein
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl - Ohio State v Georgia

Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images

Is it really that bold of a prediction?

From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about making predictions that may or may not be reasonable, in fact, some might say they are bold. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our ”Bold Predictions” articles here.

Right now, you’re probably thinking to yourself, “Is Marvin Harrison Jr. winning the Heisman that much of a bold prediction?” You know, I don’t think it is. However, when you dig a little deeper, it just might be.

Over the past 31 seasons, only one wide receiver has won the award for college football’s best player: Alabama’s DeVonta Smith. He was up against Trevor Lawrence, Mac Jones and Kyle Trask, so the fact that he beat them out, especially Lawrence, truly meant he was the best player in that season.

Only three non-quarterbacks have won the Heisman since 2000, as it has increasingly become known as the award for the best QB. So, even if Marv does play out of his mind this year, it might be a little more tricky to win than one may think.

Currently, according to Vegas, he has the highest odds of any receiver at +4500. He has 17 players ahead of him with better odds, all of them quarterbacks besides Michigan running back Donovan Edwards (I’m not sure why Blake Corum isn’t listed) and Penn State running back Nick Singleton. Kyle McCord is even favored ahead of Marv, and he hasn’t even started a full season yet! Everyone loves a quarterback.

Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic - Tulane v USC
Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images

Obviously entering the season, Marv’s biggest competition would be last year’s Heisman winner, USC’s Caleb Williams. I would say Williams does have a pretty good shot at repeating — a lot of the other guys on the list of possible Heisman contenders are either first-time starters or have transferred to a new team in the offseason, such as Quinn Ewers/Arch Manning, Sam Hartman and McCord. Meanwhile, Williams played out of his mind last season, and could do even better this year with the same team.

The guy with the second-best odds is UNC QB Drake Maye. He had some pretty insane stats last year (4,321 yards, 38 TD and seven INT), but I feel like not too many people paid him much attention because he plays at UNC. The Tar Heels finished the season 9-5, but when the top teams in the nation are undefeated or only have one loss against the other best teams, more attention and approval will go towards them. So, I would say Maye’s only shot at winning would be ensuring his team wins pretty much every single game.

Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl - Ohio State v Georgia
Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images

As for Marv’s odds, Urban Meyer said on a recent podcast that he believes the OSU WR should be the Heisman winner, and believes he was the best player in college football last season as well. I think that his skills are truly going to be demonstrated this year. With a first-year starting quarterback at the helm, most likely McCord, he is going to be relying on Marv A LOT to have offensive success.

Plus, the fact that McCord and Marv played together in high school means they are already very comfortable with each other, which should make it a seamless transition from C.J. Stroud last year.

No defense has been able to figure out how to defend Marv yet, and I don’t really see it happening this year either. If he can stay healthy and be just as dominant as he was last year, there really shouldn’t be any debate for who should take home the Heisman.

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LGHL Bold Predictions: Media darlings that won’t meet expectations

Bold Predictions: Media darlings that won’t meet expectations
Chris Renne
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Syndication: Florida Times-Union

Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK

Sorry, but not every team can be successful in this sport.

From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about making predictions that may or may not be reasonable, in fact, some might say they are bold. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our ”Bold Predictions” articles here.

Fall camp is approaching across the country, and that means fans of all teams are about to get overly ambitious about their chances of success. With all the hype trains getting rolling, there needs to be some warning signs on the track for some of the more zealous fan bases.

There is nothing wrong with a person getting excited about their team’s upcoming season, but there is also nothing wrong with other people have more reasonable expectations. Not every team in the country can win a national championship, and to me there are five at most who could potentially hoist the trophy. As a person who writes about one of those five, there is no shame not being in that list.

Most teams will not reach that level, and that is why there is value in meeting other expectations — like winning a certain amount of games.

Sports books are not the be-all end-all from a prediction standpoint for college football programs winning games, but their win totals do set a marker for teams to meet. To me, there are teams who will absolutely not meet those numbers, but the fan bases – or media — think differently. Using win totals from DraftKings, I will the boldly proclaim which college football teams will be bad by not living up to the hype.

(All lines/odds are from DraftKings Sports Book unless noted otherwise.)


Clemson (O/U 10 wins)


Over the past few seasons Clemson has benefitted from a weaker ACC, and still this year could be much of the same. Florida State is looking to improve under Mike Norvell, North Carolina has the 1B NFL quarterback prospect, and they have to go to South Carolina to try to win back the bragging rights in that series.

For the Tigers, they are looking for a reset on offense after hiring Garrett Riley, and are still finding their footing defensively after losing Brent Venables to Oklahoma. All eyes will be on quarterback Cade Klubnik, but my question here is who is going to help him? For those who might have seen his excellent performance against North Carolina, there was an equally as bad performance against Tennessee where Clemson only mustered 14 points against a “vaunted” Volunteer defense.

Riley will be tasked with fixing the offense, but they will still be young at receiver with Antonio Williams leading the room as a sophomore. A dire need for run game improvement is exactly what you’ll get from an air raid coach, and to me that doesn’t bold well for Will Shipley reaching his potential. The defense underperformed last year as well though, and there really wasn’t much done to address that.

We’re taking the under on this one, as the streak of double-digit wins ends at 12 seasons for Clemson.

Tennesse (O/U 9.5 wins)


On the other side of last year’s Orange Bowl was the Tennessee Volunteers in their first 11-win season since 2001. In some ways, Josh Heupel caught lightning in a bottle with the emergence of Hendon Hooker and Jalin Hyatt to go with the already well-established Cedric Tillman. With the wide open passing game, the Volunteers wowed the college football world, and even beat Alabama.

Now it is up to Joe Milton to maintain the new standard that the Vols faithful expects. He will have Bru McCoy stepping into the No. 1 receiver spot and a guy who goes by Squirrel operating out of the slot – but don’t underestimate Squirrel White. This isn’t to say these players have not proven to be solid college football players, but what it does say is Tennessee is replacing multiple record setters at the positions that define Heupel’s scheme. They are also replacing an offensive coordinator, which hurts less given the simplicity of the scheme, but will provide a challenge nonetheless.

Defensively they return 69 percent of their production, but that group produced a defense that ranked 127th in passing yards allowed and ranked 92nd in total defense. Is that bad? It’s definitely not good, and this is where the game gets scary for them. They gave up 49 to Alabama at home, were down 24-6 to Georgia in the first half before a torrential down pour, and 63 to South Carolina to end their playoff hopes.

With all the replacements on offense, the defense will need to be better against the top teams on their schedule. If not, the pressure can crush the offense.

It’s going to come down to the bowl game, but I don’t think the Vols are winning back-to-back bowls. UNDER 9.5 wins.

South Carolina (Win Total O/U 6.5)


Shane Beamer has become a media darling, and I bought in as well. When is enough, enough though? This guy beat a bad Clemson team, picked on a Tennessee squad without their starting quarterback, and then ended the year on a disappointing note in their bowl game.

Beamer has done a commendable job in getting South Carolina back to a respectable program, but they are still a tier below where most people have them. There are two facts that remain certain about this South Carolina program: they still have Spencer Rattler playing quarterback, and they still lost to Tyler Buchner in the Outback Bowl. I bring this up because South Carolina opens up the season with games at home against UNC, on the road at Georgia, in Knoxville to take on Tennessee, and then they get their rival Florida after the bye week. That could be the end of the season right there.

They lost more than half their production on both sides of the ball. Clayton White, the defensive coordinator, has improved the defense every year he’s been in the role, but they still ranked 39th out 69 Power Five teams plus Notre Dame, who they lost to. This team has a fun culture, but at the end of the day they have a long way to go.

6.5 wins is not a high number, but this is not going to be a good football team.

Notre Dame (Win Total O/U 9)


If you have followed my work, this is the least surprising school on the list. To start the coach doesn’t even have the confidence to stand by his words. He may not have wanted to make the same mistake twice, but having to play Ohio State twice in consecutive years is going to plague him at least twice.

The Fighting Irish are going to be relying on Sam Hartmann, the transfer from Wake Forest to get them to that next level under Freeman. There is still a lot that needs to be proven at the receiver position with it being one of the least explosive groups in the country last year. In the run game Audric Estime established himself as one of the best backs in the country, but lacks the ability to change a game in one play.

This is where this takes a turn that you might not be expecting. With the returnees on defense, this Notre Dame team has a chance to be solid this year. They get both their toughest games against Ohio State and USC at home, and their toughest remaining game is Clemson on the road. That’s a really great opportunity for this program to get to 10 wins and anything else as an abject failure.

If they don’t get to 10 wins they are a bad team, if they do get to 10 wins they still probably lost their most important games.

Wisconsin (Win Total O/U 8.5)


Oh Luke Fickell, you finally took a job outside the comfort of the state of Ohio. There is no longer sneaking around in the shadow of the flagship program in the state, and with that comes the spotlight in Madison. Wisconsin underperformed last year, and outside the heroics of Braelon Allen they often failed to create any offense.

Fickell brought with him to Madison three transfer quarterbacks, four transfer receivers and Phil Longo to call the offense. Wisconsin’s offense was directionless at the end of the Paul Chryst era, and for the Badgers Longo at least brings some sense of identity to that side of the ball immediately. The turnover is a major question. Looking at fellow Big Ten conference member Michigan State, there has been back-to-back years with varying results.

This is the new way to kick start a program, but there is no guarantee these players come in flipping the switch immediately. Losing an elite player in Nick Herbig and a reliable player in John Torchio leaves a major void that needs to be filled defensively. They have to play Washington State on the road, Ohio State, and a Big Ten West schedule with many other coaches looking to prove themselves as well.

If they do not get off to a fast start, this season can go off the rails entirely in year one for Fickell.

Wisconsin could be 8-4 or 4-8. Either way, they don’t win more than 8.5 games.


Honorable Mentions


Colorado: Primetime is what this will be either direction in Deion Sanders’ first year as the coach of the Buffaloes. Shadeur Sanders and Travis Hunter are jumping levels. There are also more transfers in the program than any other in the country. Good luck against that schedule as well, not like there isn’t a huge target here now.

Ohio State:
This is here as a bias check. Ohio State has a lot to replace on the offensive line, they still need to decide on a quarterback, they’ve had injury issues in three consecutive seasons, and the defense fell apart at the end of last year. I don’t believe that these will be issues, but if they don’t get figured out, the Buckeyes could suck.

Alabama: Tyler Buchner or Jalen Milroe with Tommy Rees calling the plays is a water gun in a college football world full of bazookas for offenses. This is the worst roster outlook Saban has had entering a season in some time, but odds are this will be his best team in recent years because of it.

Oregon: Bo Nix going back-to-back years of awesome — I’ll believe it when I see it. The Ducks lost Wunderkind coach Kenny Dillingham to
Arizona State, so the pressure is on for that offense to show it was not one man’s creation. Troy Franklin is awesome, the defense should be good, but they are likely playing for fourth this year.



College football is fun when teams overperform and fun when they underperform, but when it is your own team it is truly hard to watch when expectations aren’t met. Once storied football programs pray for bowl eligibility or 10 win seasons. That is the reality of this world when a few bad hires, a golden generation of players, or other variables bring the downfall of a football team that once showed promise.

I don’t think these teams are actually bad, but I do think they have an incredibly wide margin in how their seasons go with lower peaks than their fan bases. Nobody in the list above the Honorable Mentions section has any business thinking about the college football playoff this year.

Seeing a team like South Carolina finish the year strongly or a Tennessee fanbase that is bullish about there only being one direction to go is what makes college football exciting. Just because the media has nothing to talk about does not mean that every team can be great. That is why these bold predictions are personal to me — a challenge that only one side is looking at.

I know Clemson’s football program won’t read this, but when they don’t meet expectations again like I boldly proclaimed here, the personal victory will provide satisfaction. Not every team in college football can be great, especially the first four I listed. The media can fawn over the moves all they want, I am not buying in.

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LGHL Ohio State Football Countdown: 39

Ohio State Football Countdown: 39
Gene Ross
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


COLLEGE FOOTBALL: OCT 28 Penn State at Ohio State

Photo by Scott W. Grau/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

One play or big moment per day as we count down to the start of Ohio State’s 2023 football season.

As we count down to the start of the 2023 season, we will be looking back at one play or big moment in
Ohio State history over the past decade or so that corresponds to the remaining days left until Buckeyes take the field against Indiana on Sept. 2. There are 39 days remaining.


Play of the Day: Ohio State beats Penn State in 39-38 thriller (2017)


Probably the best sporting event I’ve ever attended, the Ohio State comeback over Penn State in 2017 was one for the ages. The Buckeyes trailed by as many as 18 points in the second quarter, and the Nittany Lions still held on to a 15-point lead heading into the fourth. Then, a blocked punt by Denzel Ward completely flipped the momentum. Ohio State outscored PSU 21-3 in the final frame, largely on the back of a perfect performance by J.T. Barrett, who went 13-of-13 passing for 170 yards and three TDs in that fourth quarter. The Buckeyes emerged victorious, 39-38, as fans stormed the field in excitement and disbelief.


Players to Wear the #39 (since 2010):

  • Derek Erwin (2009-11)
  • Jordan Whiting (2009-11)
  • Kyle Clinton (2012-14)
  • Kyle Berger (2015)
  • Malik Harrison (2016-19)
  • Andrew Moore (2021-present)

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LGHL Silver Bullets Podcast: Alternate uniforms, Big Ten Media Days, and the Northwestern scandal

Silver Bullets Podcast: Alternate uniforms, Big Ten Media Days, and the Northwestern scandal
Michael Citro
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Syndication: The Columbus Dispatch

Adam Cairns / USA TODAY NETWORK

Our offseason is winding down, but there’s still a lot to talk about as preseason camp approaches.

Subscribe: RSS | Apple | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio


We are back, and there’s plenty of offseason news to discuss.

We begin with Ohio State’s all-gray alternate uniforms that are planned for this year’s Michigan State matchup. We are traditionalists, but we can still appreciate a good-looking alternate whenever those appear. Our consensus is that we like the gray ones, but we also have thoughts on Ohio State’s traditional uniforms that would make them better (again).

We looked ahead to Big Ten Media Days and discussed the things we’re eager to see when that event gets underway this week. What will Ryan Day have to say? Will things finally calm down for Northwestern? What will the new coaches have to say?

Linebacker target Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa committed to Notre Dame over OSU. Is Ohio State doing enough on the defensive side of the ball when it comes to recruiting? Is there a defensive Brian Hartline out there somewhere?

Finally, we discussed the Northwestern hazing scandal, how it has already affected the Wildcats, and what might happen in the future. We already weren’t very high on Northwestern’s chances in 2023, but will the Cats have a fighting chance (or any fight at all) without Fitz? This situation will bear watching.

We’ll be back next month, or possibly sooner if news warrants, as we remain in our offseason broadcast schedule. We’ll return to our weekly format in August as we ramp up for the 2023 Ohio State football season. In the meantime, feel free to reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or send us an email.

Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, and share, and follow the show over on Twitter at @SilvrBulletsPod.

As always, thanks for listening!

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