On this Thursday Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com, Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means dig into the first day of Ohio State football preseason camp. The Buckeyes practiced Thursday morning, and Doug, Nathan and Stephen were there to watch, react and then ask Ryan Day about it.

Topics covered in this episode include:

And more. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk.

On this Wednesday Buckeye Talk, Doug Lesmerises, Stephen Means and Nathan Baird look at recruiting home runs. By their definition, those are roughly top-100 national recruits that aren't from Ohio and don't have pre-existing ties to Ohio State. These are national recruiting battles where the Buckeyes go and win, beating the best teams in the country for the best players in the country.

How many home runs are the Buckeyes hitting under Ryan Day compared to Urban Meyer?

How many of the recent home runs are at quarterback or receiver compared to other positions?

How many are on defense, and how might the Buckeyes hit more home runs on that side of the ball?

Doug, Stephen and Nathan dig into all of that, plus the flip of 2023 tight end Ty Lockwood from Ohio State to Alabama.

Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk.

Since Thursday, Ohio State football saw targets commit to Alabama and UCF, saw one member of its 2023 class decommit, and also landed the quarterback it needed for the class. Oh, and the class of 2025 is officially underway with the commitment of Jontae Gilbert. Stephen and Nathan discuss that four-day stretch and try to put it in context.

Also, they look ahead to Thursday's first practice and, more importantly, the expected window of time that will be open to reporters. What will we have our eyes on when we have our first chance to watch the Buckeyes since the spring?

It's a Mark It Down Monday on Buckeye Talk, and it's getting very specific about Ohio State's opener against Notre Dame on Sept. 3.

Who will start for the Buckeyes on both sides of the ball in that game?

This is a way for Nathan Baird, Doug Lesmerises and Stephen Means to talk about the Ohio State position battles, as preseason camp prepares to start this week. But it also puts them on the spot for a prediction: Name the 11 players who will take the first snap on offense and the 11 who will take the first snap on defense.

This is a good exercise to run through the entire roster before practice starts. As always, thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com.

On this Friday edition of Buckeye Talk, Doug Lesmerises visits with former Big Ten sportswriter Teddy Greenstein, who now is a senior editor at PointsBet, to talk about three college football topics:

These are three areas that should interest Buckeye fans, and as always, thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk.

Ohio State football's recent string of runner-up finishes for top defensive prospects have jarred some fans' confidence in the program's recruiting efforts.

Each of those decisions, though, involved an individual player considering his own unique needs and preferences. When you add them up, how much do they actually affect the team the Buckeyes will put on the field in the future.

Doug, Nathan and Stephen broke down the potential 2024 roster and simply asked if each position group was national championship caliber. The results were somewhat surprising, with more strength than expected at some positions but major questions lingering with some of the most important groups.

Ohio State coach Ryan Day put a number on how much improvement he expects from his defense under new coordinator Jim Knowles this season. Day said the standard is a top-10 performance, and regardless of what measurement you use, that is a big jump for a defense that limped through 2021. Doug, Nathan and Stephen discussed whether that is a realistic goal for the coming season and what that sort of turnaround would look like.

Also, what we learned from C.J. Stroud, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Ronnie Hickman as they took their turns at the mic before Big Ten Media Days wrapped up.

On this Tuesday Buckeye Talk, Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means are reporting from Big Ten media days in Indianapolis.

Tuesday, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren and half the league's coaches and featured players spoke, but it was kind of the boring half. No Ohio State, no Wisconsin, no Penn State, no Michigan State.

That meant the focus was on what Warren said about the future of the league, and what Jim Harbaugh and Michigan players said about the Wolverines after they beat Ohio State, won the Big Ten and reached the College Football Playoff last season.

First, the guys talk Harbaugh. They they talk Warren. Then they talk what to expect when Ryan Day and the Buckeyes talk Wednesday.

Thanks for listening.

On this Mark It Down Monday edition of Buckeye Talk, Nathan Baird, Doug Lesmerises and Stephen Means are marking down their Big Ten predictions for the season and unveiling the results of the 12th annual cleveland.com preseason Big Ten poll.

Thirty-six reporters from around the Big Ten voted in the poll, picking the order of finish in both the East and West Divisions, the Big Ten champion and the Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year.

The guys discuss the overall voting in all those areas while also revealing their personal ballots. This is all a buildup to Big Ten Media Days, which start on Tuesday.

Cleveland.com will be there, and cleveland.com continues to produce the most official preseason poll for the league. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com.

It's a Friday rapid fire Buckeye Talk to wrap up the offseason as the Big Ten prepares to host its media days next week.

Doug Lesmerises and Nathan Baird take more than 15 questions from text subscribers, with topics including:

And more. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk.