Landmark news broke in the world of college sports this past week.
USC and UCLA are coming to the Big Ten in 2024, and the move will have ripple effects for years to come. With Dan Hope on vacation this week, Garrick Hodge joined Griffin Strom to break down how the Big Ten’s latest expansion efforts will impact Ohio State and college athletics as a whole.
We started by stating our initial reactions (2:35) to the news before assessing the pros and cons from several perspectives, and also dug into the potential recruiting impact the addition of USC and UCLA might have on the Buckeye program (8:10).
With Griffin and Garrick both present at this past Friday’s joint press conference between Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith and president Kristina Johnson, we stated our biggest takeaways from the presser (21:45) and look ahead to what might come next as far as conference realignment.
Aside from the biggest news of the week, there was still plenty to discuss in the world of recruiting (30:30), and Garrick had plenty to say about the recent commitments of four-star cornerbacks Kayin Lee, Calvin Simpson-Hunt and Jermaine Mathews. We then discussed the state of Ohio State’s secondary in the 2023 cycle and assessed how Tim Walton and company have done on the recruiting trail since coming aboard the Buckeye staff.
We wrapped up the show by talking about Griffin’s experience at Kingdom League over the weekend, where he saw past, present and potentially future Buckeyes put in work on the hardwood at Ohio Dominican University.
Of note, current Buckeyes Zed Key, Kalen Etzler, Brice Sensabaugh, Bruce Thornton and Felix Okpara all played on Sunday, and Griffin let us in on a slice of what he saw from each (42:53).
