We’re officially one month away from Ohio State’s first football game of the 2022 season and one day away from the start of preseason camp.

We’ll have the chance to watch the Buckeyes practice – well, at least a little bit of practice – on both Thursday and Friday as Ohio State holds its first two practices of preseason camp, and we’re excited to see them up close, in person and on the field again. What will we be watching and listening for as camp begins? We start this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays by talking about which players and position battles we’ll have our eyes on.

As much excitement as there is surrounding the upcoming Ohio State football season as the Buckeyes’ preparation for the games ahead ramps up, many Buckeye fans are also feeling angst about the recent misses and decommitments Ohio State has suffered on the recruiting trail. In the second segment of this week’s podcast (beginning at the 21-minute mark), Eleven Warriors recruiting analyst Garrick Hodge joins us to discuss what’s going on with Ohio State recruiting, what needs to happen for the Buckeyes to overcome those losses and where he believes this year’s class will ultimately stack up in the final rankings. (Note: This segment of the podcast was recorded before Ty Lockwood officially announced his flip to Alabama on Tuesday.)

It’s also a big week for Ohio State men’s basketball, which is headed to the Bahamas on Thursday for a five-day trip in which it will play a pair of exhibition games against national teams from Puerto Rico and Egypt. In the final segment of this week’s RPW (beginning at the 45-minute mark), we share our takeaways from watching the Buckeyes practice and talking to Chris Holtmann on Monday, and Griffin explains why he believes this could be a great week for Ohio State recruiting as four-star small forwards Devin Royal and Scotty Middleton are set to announce their commitments.