What is up? Welcome into the Daily Buckeye Blitz for Thursday, Thirsty Thursday, February 2nd, 2023. I’m your host, Joe, from the Buckeye Cast. We had interviews with the entire coaching staff yesterday, boom, that was awesome. So, lots of stuff to get into. I pulled out some highlights that really, I think, are important to us as far as what’s happening, kicking off Spring ball here in a few weeks.
So, let’s start with Ryan Day’s quotes. Most importantly, who is out for spring. So, these players are all not going to play in Spring, okay? Most of them, you know, are due to injury, well, some surgeries had to take place. So, wide receiver Julian Fleming, wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, linebacker Tommy Eichenberg, running back TreVeyon Henderson, defensive end/linebacker Mitchell Melton, running back Evan Pryor, center Jakob James, and safety Kourt Williams. So, all those guys are out, won’t see them for a long time later this year.
Let’s talk about Brian Hartline. They said it’ll be exciting to see what Hartline could do as an offensive coordinator. He also said that there hasn’t been a decision yet regarding who will call the plays for the offense coming up next year, but they are going to go through spring. He’s going to set up scenarios where Hartline will make the calls. I imagine he’ll be calling the spring game, but definitely in practice, Hartline will be in spring anyways making the play calls. So, it’ll be a feeling out process. It’s one of those things you can’t just pick up or learn without doing it. You know, you gotta get your hands in there, you gotta, you know, he knows the plays, she probably, but you gotta like get a feel for the game. That’s what Ryan Day’s strength is, is calling plays. You know, it’s an artistry to it. So, Brian Hartline, let’s see if he can pick up that same innate ability to call plays in a game flow.
So, offensive line, Ryan Day did give us some clarity on positions, who’s going where. So, he says the plan right now is to leave Matt Jones at the right guard and Donovan Jackson at the left guard. So, no moving Donovan Jackson out to tackle or anything like that, no moving Matt Jones to center. He says Carson Hinzman is coming on at center. So, what does that mean, coming on? I tell you what I think it is, I don’t think it has to do with football though. Anyway, Carson Hinzman, if he can as a second-year guy, if he can snag that center position, that’d be awesome. But you also got Vic Cutler, who just came in in the transfer portal, so he adds depth, if not actually pushing for the starting job. Jakob James, since he’s not going to participate in spring at all due to surgery, what does that leave us? You know, how, where does he land on in that group of three? And does that put him behind if he’s missing the 15 practices in spring? So, interesting to see what center position, what happens there.
He also said that Tegra is going to move to tackle permanently. So, he must have been, you know, cross-training a guard and tackle in practice, he said. And then you got Zen Mahalski and George Fitzpatrick at tackle. So, it sounds to me like those three guys will be in the mix for one of those tackle positions, whether it’s left or right, and Josh Fryar will take the other side, obviously.
So let’s see what else he talked about. Having James learn nice on staff, he said, “It’s exciting to have James here. He’s now our sixth former player on staff here. It’s amazing, six,” he said. Laurinitis is like Hartline in a lot of ways, specifically on how he and Hartline both shared long careers in the NFL. It makes them valuable assets on the staff, and based on what they’ve learned at every level of the sport.
Let’s talk Jim Knowles and the defense quickly. Yeah, not a great finish to the season there Jim. He says, “Going into year two, I’ve got to be more demanding with the players on the preciseness of their techniques.” Okay, Knowles said the linebackers saw the most significant improvement from a one position group from week one to the Peach Bowl, so the linebackers made the most improvement. I believe that. Let’s talk about the front seven. He said, “I thought we held up at the front, but I want to see us take the next step to become more dominant across the board in these big games.” He said the front sudden will continue to be a strength through the defense, and that the defensive backfield will continue to develop and also become a strength. So, he expects the defense to be better next season because of his staff, and now he has the entire season to install defensive formations and game plans and teach players how to fit within the system to get the most out of their talent.
Let’s talk about Brian Hartline. He said, “The young receivers have an opportunity to prove that they belong this year, in the same way that Harrison and Igbuka did in 2022.” He said the wide receivers are the hardest working position group on the team, and it shows during practicing games. He also said that wide receivers need to get on the same page as Kyle McCord and Devin Brown because as a wide receiver, he believes it’s a wide receiver’s responsibility to make the quarterback’s job easier, not vice versa. I would agree with that, and it’s a good outlook to have. Hartline said that Corey Dennis, Justin Frye, Keenan Bailey, and Tony Alford all make his job much easier as he handles the offensive coordinator duties. So, he expects that the offense will run smoothly going forward. Anyway, Tony Alford just had a little blurb. He said that Chip Trayanum will remain at running back, so that will give us our five running backs needed to keep that room full. And it probably tells you that Evan Pryor is still going to be on the mend over the next few months and may not be ready for week one of the season. What it tells me is that I would not look for Evan Pryor to crack that top three. You know he’s probably number four or five in the depth chart right now.
So, side note, this I’ll talk about it tomorrow, just a teaser. Not really, I wasn’t trying to tease that, but we do have a D-line announcement on the coaching staff. So, I’ll save that for tomorrow. But anyways, check it out, tune in tomorrow, hit subscribe please. You’ll get notified as soon as that goes up, and I appreciate you as always. Go Bucks!