We had plenty to discuss on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays after getting our first on-field look at the 2023 Ohio State football team Tuesday.
Between watching the first 30 minutes of Tuesday morning’s opening practice of the spring and talking to Ryan Day, Jim Knowles and Ohio State’s quarterbacks afterward, we learned a lot about how the Buckeyes are stacking up as spring begins.
In the first half of this week’s show, we discuss everything that stood out to us on day one, including Devin Brown’s new number, Marvin Harrison Jr. returning punts and players who appear to be on the rise, such as Tegra Tshabola and Sonny Styles.
Later in the show, Dan talks about what he saw and heard from a week of covering Ohio State’s draft prospects at the NFL Scouting Combine. We wrap up this week’s episode with a look at a few other Ohio State sports as men’s basketball heads to the Big Ten Tournament, women’s basketball prepares for the NCAA Tournament and women’s hockey looks to defend its national championship.
The full rundown for our first 2023 spring football episode of Real Pod Wednesdays:
- 0:40: Devin Brown’s homage to Sammy Baugh is awesome
- 4:30: It’s way too soon to jump to any conclusions about Ohio State’s quarterback competition
- 6:37: Marvin Harrison Jr. returning punts drew strong reactions, but he probably won’t do it in games
- 11:07: Josh Fryar is the left tackle for now, Tegra Tshabola looks like a player to watch at right tackle
- 13:28: There’s no clear frontrunner between Carson Hinzman and Victor Cutler Jr. at center
- 15:22: Davison Igbinosun made an immediate impression in his first spring practice
- 16:07: Ohio State’s coaches love what they’re seeing from Denzel Burke
- 18:33: Sonny Styles appears to be on the fast track to playing a major role
- 20:05: Jack Sawyer won’t play the Jack position this year, and it’s uncertain if anyone will play it
- 21:15: If anyone is going to play the Jack, it sounds like it will be Mitchell Melton
- 22:55: It sounds like C.J. Hicks still has a long way to go to earn substantial playing time
- 25:58: Ryan Day challenges Caden Curry and the second-year wide receivers
- 31:20: Jelani Thurman looks physically ready to contribute sooner than later at tight end
- 34:12: Jaxon Smith-Njigba did what we thought he’d do: Remind everyone how good he is
- 36:26: C.J. Stroud called himself a “ball-placement specialist” and backed it up
- 39:42: Both Stroud and Day seem to have realized he didn’t run enough at Ohio State
- 44:09: Paris Johnson Jr. looked like a prototype NFL left tackle
- 46:03: Dawand Jones proved he can move quite well for a giant
- 48:53: Luke Wypler was Ohio State’s overshadowed standout in Indy, just as he was as a Buckeye
- 51:20: Incomplete combines for most Buckeyes, lack of 40s run leaves plenty of intrigue for pro day
- 54:00: Assessing Ohio State’s chances of winning one, two or more games at the Big Ten Tournament
- 57:14: What constitutes a (relatively) successful week for Ohio State in Chicago?
- 59:53: Ohio State women’s basketball shows high ceiling, low floor in its Big Ten Tournament run
- 1:02:18: Ohio State women’s hockey begins its national championship defense Saturday
As always, you can listen to Real Pod Wednesdays in the audio player above or on streaming platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts.
