Real Pod Wednesdays

Ohio State’s first two games have given us a look at how the Buckeyes’ depth chart stacks up at every position, and the Buckeyes appear to be loaded just about everywhere.

The Buckeyes haven’t faced any real tests yet, and they won’t this week either – at least we don’t think so – as Ohio State hosts Marshall in its final non-conference game of the regular season, a game the Buckeyes are favored to win by 40 points.

That said, the Buckeyes have looked the part of an elite team so far, dominating their first two opponents with a 52-6 win over Akron and a 56-0 rout of Western Michigan. Ohio State’s starting lineup is full of stars on both sides of the ball, and the first two games have demonstrated that the Buckeyes have a lot of talented backups, too.

On this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, we take a look at how Ohio State’s depth chart stacks up at every position so far this season and evaluate where the Buckeyes are the deepest and where question marks still linger.

Following a nearly hourlong discussion on the Buckeyes’ depth chart spanning their offense, defense and special teams, we conclude the show by making our predictions for how the Buckeyes will fare against the Thundering Herd and whether Michigan is headed for its second loss of September when it hosts USC this weekend.

The full rundown for this week’s episode:

• 0:00 Intro
• 4:46 Will Howard Solidified as Starting Quarterback; Could Julian Sayin Become No. 2 QB?
• 10:47 James Peoples Proving Himself as RB3 Behind TreVeyon Henderson, Quinshon Judkins
• 13:46 Ohio State’s Receiving Corps Looks Better Than Last Year Even Without Marvin Harrison Jr.
• 19:40 Tight End Group Showing Depth But No Go-To Guy Yet
• 24:07 Ohio State’s Interior Offensive Line Two-Deep Looking Strong
• 29:27 Offensive Tackle Depth Remains the Biggest Concern on Ohio State’s Depth Chart
• 31:46 Defensive End is Ohio State’s Deepest Position
• 33:46 OSU Still Looking for More Defensive Tackle Depth Behind Strong Top Three
• 38:30 Arvell Reese’s Outstanding Start Bolsters Ohio State’s Linebacker Depth
• 41:38 Jermaine Mathews Jr., Lorenzo Styles Jr., Aaron Scott Jr. Giving OSU Great Cornerback Depth
• 46:36 Safety Depth Remains Question Even with Malik Hartford, Jaylen McClain Surging
• 49:32 With Joe McGuire’s Emergence at Punter, Kick Returner is Biggest Special Teams Question
• 53:39 Why We Both Expect Another Blowout Win from Ohio State vs. Marshall
• 57:06 Is Michigan Destined for Its Second Loss of September vs. USC?
• 1:02:26 Nebraska/Illinois, Michigan State/BC Among Other Big Ten Games to Watch This Weekend

If you’ve been following the TTUN Scandal threads on Eleven Warriors‘ message board, you‘re undoubtedly familiar with the name Premierdrum by now.

For those who haven’t, Premierdrum is one of several Eleven Warriors site members – along with Brohio and 22buck, among others – who have taken it upon themselves to dig into the Michigan sign-stealing scandal and share what they’ve learned from their investigative reporting in the 11W forum. Premierdrum, who formerly worked for multiple Columbus TV stations, has used his background as a media member to uncover information about the NCAA’s investigation into Michigan and potential punishments the Wolverines could face as the NCAA awaits Michigan’s response to its Notice of Allegations.

Premierdrum’s posts have drawn thousands of daily visitors to Eleven Warriors as his reporting has garnered attention from Ohio State fans and others following the scandal, so we invited him onto this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays to share how and why he started reporting on the scandal, what he’s uncovered through his reporting and why he believes major sanctions and a possible coaching change could be coming for the Wolverines.

(Disclaimer: Premierdrum is not an employee of Eleven Warriors and his reports have not been confirmed by Eleven Warriors staff unless otherwise stated.)

Following our conversation with Premierdrum, Dan and Andy delve into the trouble Michigan is facing on the field after suffering a 31-12 loss to Texas this past weekend. Ohio State, on the other hand, looked like a championship-caliber team in its 56-0 win over Western Michigan, and we wrap up the show by talking about what impressed us most from the Buckeyes’ dominant performance against the Broncos.

The full rundown for this week’s show:

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:11 How Premierdrum Became An Investigative Reporter on the Michigan Scandal
• 4:45 Why Reality Could Be About to Catch Up with the Wolverines
• 6:56 The Evidence Against Michigan
• 11:05 Why “Three Goofballs on a Message Board” Are Worth Listening To
• 13:46 Potential Punishments (And A Coaching Change?) for Michigan
• 18:04 Why the NCAA Wants to Make An Example of Michigan
• 22:36 Could Michigan Self-Impose A Postseason Ban?
• 27:06 Premierdrum’s Thoughts on “Untold: Sign Stealer” and Connor Stalions
• 29:02 Premierdrum’s Excitement to Be in the “Find Out” Phase of the Scandal
• 31:38 Premierdrum’s Closing Thought: Support the Ohio State Marching Band
• 32:18 Dan and Andy React to What They Heard from Premierdrum
• 38:45 Michigan Doesn’t Look Like A Team That Will Be in the CFP This Season Either Way
• 46:31 Ohio State Looked Like A Championship-Caliber Team Against Western Michigan
• 49:57 Offensive Line, Chip Kelly’s Playcalling Among Ohio State’s Week 2 Standouts
• 51:58 Ryan Day Making Bigger Impact on Other Units With Chip Calling Offensive Plays
• 54:22 Is Oregon Still the Second-Best Team in the Big Ten After Slow Start?

We said last week that anything less than perfection against Akron could be seen as a disappointment for Ohio State’s season opener, and that’s pretty much how it played out.

With all the hype Ohio State entered the season with, much of the focus in the days following the Buckeyes’ first game of the year has been on what could have gone better – namely, an underwhelming start for the offense and specifically the offensive line, particularly in run blocking. But Ohio State still won its season opener by 46 points, which means there were far more positives than negatives.

There was no bigger positive than the play of Will Howard, who exhibited none of the accuracy issues that were present in the earlier stages of the offseason as he impressed as a passer while also proving to be a clear upgrade for the Buckeyes in terms of athleticism and pocket presence at the quarterback position. Other promising developments from the Buckeyes’ 52-6 victory included the immediate impact of Jeremiah Smith, the depth that stepped up in the defensive front six and the explosive punt returns of Brandon Inniss.

We spend more than half of this week’s show discussing our takeaways from the season opener before looking ahead to the Buckeyes’ second game this weekend against Western Michigan, who they’ll host in Ohio Stadium at night on Saturday. In the final segment of the show, we share our biggest takeaways from what we saw from the rest of college football in Week 1 as Oregon and Michigan struggled to beat lesser opponents, USC made a statement in its season opener and Florida State and Clemson stumbled out of the gates.

The rundown for Real Pod Wednesdays post-Week 1:

• 0:00 Intro
• 0:57 Ohio State’s Season Opener Wasn’t Perfect, But the Buckeyes Still Won By 46
• 7:37 The Offensive Line Needs to Improve, But There’s Plenty of Time For It to Grow
• 9:33 Will Howard Looks Like A Quarterback Upgrade in Impressive Debut
• 14:28 Jeremiah Smith is Special
• 18:07 A Great Start for Ohio State’s Defense, Especially Its Defensive End Depth
• 22:36 Has Arvell Reese Already Surpassed C.J. Hicks at Linebacker?
• 28:51 Sonny Styles, Gabe Powers Also Impress at Linebacker
• 30:52 Brandon Inniss Looks Ready to End Ohio State’s Punt Return Touchdown Drought
• 35:21 OSU Still Wants Nick McLarty to Emerge, But Joe McGuire Had A Good Showing at Punter
• 37:12 Western Michigan Can’t Be Overlooked After Playing Wisconsin Tough, But OSU Should Still Win Big
• 42:41 Score Predictions for Ohio State vs. Western Michigan
• 45:27 Oregon is Still Ohio State’s Top Competition in Big Ten, But Must Play Better vs. Boise State
• 48:09 Michigan’s Opener Shows Major Concerns on Offense
• 51:20 Penn State, USC Highlight A Very Good All-Around Week 1 for the Big Ten
• 54:11 Miami Looks Like Early ACC Favorite As Florida State, Clemson Stumble Out of Gates

Ohio State’s first game of the 2024 season is just three days away and Connor Stalions has broken his silence.

On this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, we preview Ohio State’s season opener against Akron and share our thoughts on Netflix’s Connor Stalions documentary while also making some big-picture predictions for the Buckeyes’ 2024 season.

In the first 20 minutes of the show, we discuss what we’re most eager to see from the Buckeyes in their first game of the year after eight months of hype and make our predictions for whether Ohio State will cover the 48.5-point spread.

In the middle segment of the show, we hand out some preseason superlatives by making our predictions for who will be the Buckeyes’ team MVP, All-Americans, breakout stars (other than Jeremiah Smith) and unsung heroes this season.

In the final third of the show, we give our opinions on what Stalions had to say about his role leading Michigan’s sign-stealing operation and why his story doesn’t add up, with a shoutout to Eleven Warriors’ own Brohio for his role in “Untold: Sign Stealer.”

The full rundown for our opening-week edition of RPW:

• 0:00 Intro
• 0:38 What We’re Most Eager to See in Ohio State’s Season Opener
• 3:16 Everything Must Be Kept in Perspective in A Season Opener Against Akron
• 9:16 How Early Should The Backups Come In If The Game Becomes A Blowout?
• 13:30 Balancing Rotation and Experimentation with Building Rhythm and Chemistry
• 18:29 Why We Think Ohio State Will Cover the Spread
• 21:32 The Unanimous 11W Pick: Ohio State over Georgia in the National Championship Game
• 24:03 Team MVP Picks: Caleb Downs and Denzel Burke
• 27:12 How Many First-Team All-Americans Will Ohio State Have This Season?
• 32:30 Breakout Stars: Sonny Styles and Josh Simmons
• 37:04 Unsung Heroes: Lathan Ransom and Ty Hamilton
• 42:14 Why Connor Stalions’ Story Doesn‘t Add Up
• 51:41 Recognition for Brohio and Other Investigators in the Eleven Warriors Community
• 54:38 Now We Await Michigan’s Sanctions (Which Likely Won’t Come Until 2025)

Ohio State’s 2024 roster is loaded with star players, but some of them would be tougher to replace than others.

While there’s no question that the likes of Denzel Burke, Jack Sawyer and Emeka Egbuka rank among Ohio State’s best players entering the 2024 season, the Buckeyes have enough depth at each of their positions to be OK if someone misses time. Losing a starting offensive tackle, safety or Will Howard, on the other hand, could be more concerning.

On this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, we discuss which Ohio State players most need to stay healthy and perform well for the Buckeyes to achieve their goals of beating Michigan, winning the Big Ten and winning the national championship this season.

Later in the show, we also discuss the ongoing backup quarterback competition between Devin Brown and Julian Sayin, why Justin Frye should be on the hot seat and why we think the Buckeyes got it right with their captain selections.

The full rundown for this week’s show:

• 0:00 Intro
• 4:12 As Ohio State’s New Starting QB, Will Howard Stands Out As Important Player
• 11:03 Why Josh Simmons, Josh Fryar Might Actually Be OSU’s Most Indispensable Players
• 17:12 Ohio State’s Most Important Defensive Player: Caleb Downs or Lathan Ransom?
• 20:33 Jordan Hancock’s Unique Skill Set at Nickel Makes Him One of Most Vital Defenders
• 23:45 Cody Simon, Ty Hamilton Are Important Defenders Who Shouldn‘t Be Overlooked
• 28:20 Donovan Jackson Being Dominant is Crucial to Offensive Line’s Success
• 30:25 Why Will Kacmarek Might Be the Most Important Non-QB or Lineman on Offense
• 33:09 Both Top Running Backs Are Needed, But We’re Confident in James Peoples
• 35:57 Who is More Likely to Start A Game This Season: Devin Brown or Julian Sayin?
• 41:25 Only A National Championship-Caliber Offensive Line Should Save Justin Frye’s Job
• 50:08 Sawyer, Simon, Egbuka and Henderson Were The Captains We Expected

With our Season Preview in full swing here at Eleven Warriors, we’re taking a big-picture look ahead to the 2024 season on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays.

First, we look at the just-released AP Top 25 and discuss whether the voters got it right by slotting Ohio State as the No. 2 team in college football behind Georgia entering the 2024 season.

After that, we break down the initial projected field for the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff and make our own predictions for which dozen teams will play in the four-round national championship tournament this December and January. We both agree that Ohio State, Georgia and Florida State will earn first-round byes as conference champions, but we have some different thoughts on who else will make the 12-team cut.

From there, we focus more specifically on Ohio State and evaluate the Buckeyes’ regular-season schedule with an eye toward which games will be the toughest tests for OSU.

Finally, we share our biggest takeaways from the past week of preseason camp and interview sessions as Will Howard closes in on Ohio State’s starting quarterback job and the Buckeyes project confidence about what they’ll accomplish this year.

The full rundown for this week’s show:

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:26 Buckeyes Are Ranked “Right Where They Should Be” (Even Though They Have the Best Roster)
• 6:07 A Look at the Top 15, Where No. 11 Missouri Might Be Underrated
• 9:43 Should ACC, Big 12 Champions Get CFP Byes When SEC, Big Ten Are Clear Top Two Conferences?
• 16:18 Which 12 Teams We Think Will Make the First 12-Team CFP
• 24:25 The 12-Team Playoff is Gonna Be A Lot of Fun, And Andy Has Fully Embraced It
• 32:29 How Ohio State’s 2024 Schedule Splits Up Into Four Tiers of Difficulty
• 34:22 Why Dan Thinks Michigan State Could Be the “Trap Game” on Ohio State’s Schedule
• 37:18 Why Iowa and Nebraska Are Opponents That Can’t Be Overlooked
• 42:37 Which Game Will Be Tougher: Michigan or Penn State?
• 45:54 It’s Only A Matter of Time (Thursday?) Before Will Howard is Named Ohio State’s Starting QB
• 49:32 Jeremiah Smith Remains Humble as His Hype Continue to Build
• 52:45 Buckeyes Showing Their Confidence, Building Competitiveness Through Trash Talk
• 57:28 Hero Kanu, Eddrick Houston, Carnell Tate Among Players Impressing in Camp
• 1:01:02 Ohio State’s Receiving Corps Could Be Better This Season Even Without Marvin Harrison Jr.
• 1:03:01 Arvell Reese, Gabe Powers, Jaylen McClain, Payton Pierce Boosting Defensive Depth

The defense was as impressive as expected during the four practices Ohio State opened to media members and paying fans, but our confidence in the Buckeyes’ offense has also grown after seeing Will Howard and the offensive line make strides during the team’s initial practices of August.

Howard was just one of many standouts during Ohio State’s first four practices. Linebackers Sonny Styles, Gabe Powers and Arvell Reese, offensive tackles Josh Simmons and Josh Fryar, cornerbacks Jermaine Mathews Jr. and Calvin Simpson-Hunt, freshman running backs James Peoples and Sam Wiliams-Dixon and the wide receiver trio of Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate and Brandon Inniss were just some of the Buckeyes who caught our eye in the first week of camp.

We share all of our biggest takeaways from the first five days of camp on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays.

The rundown for the first RPW of camp:

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:09 Will Howard Showing He Can Be Good Enough as Ohio State’s Starting Quarterback
• 11:22 Sonny Styles Looking Like An Elite Linebacker; What Does That Mean for C.J. Hicks?
• 17:32 Tegra Tshabola Making Move at Right Guard as Rest of Offensive Line Solidifies
• 25:37 Ohio State’s Punter This Season: Nick McLarty or Anthony Venneri (Or Both)?
• 29:36 Will Kacmarek, Jelani Thurman Pushing Gee Scott Jr. at Tight End
• 33:35 Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate and Brandon Inniss All Look Ready for Stardom
• 36:41 Sam Williams-Dixon, James Peoples Looking Ready to Play as Freshmen
• 39:26 Jermaine Mathews Jr., Calvin Simpson-Hunt Showing OSU Has Elite CB Depth
• 41:26 Jaylen McClain Looking Like Potential Answer to Safety Depth Concerns
• 42:12 Mitchell Melton, Kenyatta Jackson Jr. Among Defensive Line Depth Standouts
• 44:21 Arvell Reese, Gabe Powers Making Case for Playing Time at Linebacker
• 45:57 There’s A Lot to Be Optimistic About with Ohio State Right Now

Ohio State is one day away from the start of preseason camp and one month away from the first game of the season.

Thirty days before the Buckeyes begin their much-anticipated 2024 campaign against Akron on Aug. 31 at Ohio Stadium, Ohio State will take the field for its first of 25 preseason practices at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on Thursday.

The good news for the Buckeyes entering preseason camp is that most of their starting lineup is already set. Everyone expects the defense to be one of if not the best in the country, and there’s no doubt the Buckeyes will be explosive at the offensive skill positions with the likes of TreVeyon Henderson, Quinshon Judkins, Emeka Egbuka and Jeremiah Smith in their arsenal of weapons.

That said, there is still plenty that the Buckeyes need to accomplish over the next four weeks before the games begin. On this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, we preview preseason camp by discussing the most important things Ohio State needs to accomplish over the next month.

At the end of the show, we also spend some time discussing Ohio State men’s basketball’s additions of Ques Glover and Ivan Njegovan to round out the Buckeyes’ 2024-25 roster.

The full rundown for our final RPW of July:

• 0:00 Intro
• 3:07 Ohio State Must Try to Avoid Allowing Quarterback Competition to Bleed Into Season Again
• 10:41 Firming Up the Starting Offensive Line Might Be Even More Important
• 20:04 Sonny Styles vs. C.J. Hicks is the Only Real Position Battle on Defense (And Both Should Play)
• 26:53 Ryan Day Says Ohio State Needs to Find Its Offensive Identity; What Will That Look Like?
• 34:22 Buckeyes Must Balance Building Physicality, Toughness with Keeping Team Healthy
• 38:17 Offensive Tackle, Safety, Running Back Among Positions Where OSU Must Build Depth
• 45:00 Why Ques Glover, Ivan Njegovan Are Strong Late-Summer Additions for OSU Basketball

Real Pod Wednesdays is on location this week at Lucas Oil Stadium as representatives from Ohio State and the Big Ten’s other 17 schools go through Big Ten Media Days.

After Ohio State coach Ryan Day, cornerback Denzel Burke, wide receiver Emeka Egbuka and defensive end Jack Sawyer participated in their media sessions at Lucas Oil Stadium on Tuesday, we sat down inside Lucas Oil Stadium on Wednesday morning to share our biggest takeaways from what we heard from the Buckeyes. (Note: This episode of Real Pod Wednesdays was recorded before Wednesday’s Big Ten Media Days interview sessions.)

Among those takeaways: Carson Hinzman sounds like a strong candidate to start on the offensive line even with the addition of former Alabama center Seth McLaughlin, the hype around freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith just keeps growing and Will Howard still has work to do to prove he should be Ohio State’s starting quarterback this season.

The full rundown of what we’re talking about on our Indianapolis edition of RPW:

• 0:00 Intro
• 2:24 Carson Hinzman, Seth McLaughlin could both start at either center or right guard
• 6:11 Denzel Burke, Ryan Day not ready to fully endorse Will Howard yet
• 8:37 Burke not backing down from “natty or bust” declaration
• 9:56 Jeremiah Smith draws more praise from Burke, Jack Sawyer
• 12:56 Brandon Inniss also remains a major player to watch at wide receiver
• 14:02 Caleb Downs could see action on offense, but not a true RB depth piece
• 18:31 Ryan Day trusting Chip Kelly to establish offensive identity
• 21:36 Nick McLarty seems like the frontrunner to be Ohio State’s punter
• 24:15 Sawyer makes it clear that players stand behind Ryan Day
• 27:12 Everyone’s talking about expectations and Michigan, but Day’s focused on preseason camp

It wasn’t easy choosing which Ohio State players we’d most want to have on our team this year.

Ohio State’s star-studded lineup for the 2024 season gave us plenty of options to choose from as we conducted our annual Real Pod Wednesdays draft to build head-to-head lineups for a hypothetical game of Buckeyes vs. Buckeyes between our two hosts.

Eleven Warriors beat writers Dan Hope and Andy Anders conducted a snake-format draft to build 22-man teams consisting of players on Ohio State’s 2024 football roster. Dan won the coin toss for the No. 1 overall pick, after which Andy and Dan alternated selections two at a time until both teams had drafted 11 offensive players and 11 defensive players for a total of 44 selections.

The ground rules for the draft required each of us to draft one quarterback, five offensive linemen and five skill-position players (wide receivers, running backs or tight ends) on offense and at least three defensive linemen, two linebackers and four defensive backs with two flexible selections on defense. Ultimately, Dan and Andy both chose to draft three wide receivers with one running back and one tight end on offense and to draft four defensive linemen, two linebackers, three cornerbacks and two safeties on defense, mirroring Ohio State’s actual base offensive and defensive personnel alignments.

We made each of our selections in real time on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. The full list of selections and where you can hear us talk about each of them is below.

0:00 Intro
6:35 1. Dan – Caleb Downs
7:36 2/3. Andy – Donovan Jackson and Emeka Egbuka
8:53 4/5. Dan – Denzel Burke and Josh Simmons
9:53 6/7. Andy – Jordan Hancock and Jack Sawyer
11:25 8/9. Dan – Will Howard and Jeremiah Smith
11:59 10/11. Andy – Lathan Ransom and Seth McLaughlin
13:09 12/13. Dan – Josh Fryar and Tyleik Williams
13:56 14/15. Andy – Tegra Tshabola and Sonny Styles
15:13 16/17. Dan – JT Tuimoloau and TreVeyon Henderson
15:44 18/19. Andy – Quinshon Judkins and Davison Igbinosun
17:06 20/21. Dan – Jermaine Mathews Jr. and Cody Simon
17:56 22/23. Andy – Brandon Inniss and Ty Hamilton
19:38 24/25. Dan – C.J. Hicks and Carson Hinzman
20:35 26/27. Andy – Luke Montgomery and Malik Hartford
21:38 28/29. Dan – Carnell Tate and Gee Scott Jr.
22:41 30/31. Andy – Caden Curry and Gabe Powers
25:00 32/33. Dan – Kayden McDonald and Lorenzo Styles Jr.
25:25 34/35. Andy – Bryson Rodgers and Jelani Thurman
26:31 36/37. Dan – Austin Siereveld and Joshua Padilla
27:26 38/39. Andy – Jason Moore and George Fitzpatrick
29:58 40/41. Dan – Kenyatta Jackson Jr. and Mylan Graham
31:09 42/43. Andy – Devin Brown and Calvin Simpson-Hunt
33:55 44. Dan – Keenan Nelson Jr.
35:12 How our teams compare with each other

Visit elevenwarriors.com for more analysis of each pick and to vote for whose team you think would win.