Ohio State Football NEWS & RUMORS: Latest On Injuries, Jeremiah Smith Heisman, And McCord vs. Howard

[Music] all right all right it's Buck guys game week number two Western Michigan we'll be playing this weekend at the Horseshoe 7:30 under the lights in Columbus but we still got to talk about a little bit what happened in this past week with akan as Ohio State dominated you're watching the Ohio State football report I'm Matt Goldman thanks for joining me now I know we're not talking about Ohio State right here Texas and Michigan but this is the biggest game in the country this weekend and this involves our biggest rival the school up north I don't like them I know Buckeye fans don't like them that's how it goes so tell me in the comments section who do you got Texas or Michigan type that out for me UT give it the Mish TTU n whatever you want to say but this game really matters for a lot of reasons and that's because of the fact that this is a big game for the Big 10 but also to see what Michigan's really all about against a real opponent if you're a buckeye like me you are saying let's go Texas hook them baby come on let's go because I am not even going to think about oh it's good for the Big 10 better than the SEC no no that's not how we do it this isn't bull season we don't do that stuff for the Buckey it's Michigan or Penn State we would never root for that them so that's how it's going to be but now let's talk about what's going to happen on today's show I have a couple topics in mind that I want to talk about the first is the latest injury news and some of the rumors surrounding some of the Ohio State players and we're going to start with the injuries now regarding what went on and some of the surprises that happened during this past week because the starters that were missing were very interesting especially because of the fact we didn't really know that left guard starting left guard Donovan Jackson and and starting linebacker Cody Simon would not be playing until about 2 hours before kickoff when the Big 10 forest's mandates for teams to release and Ohio State did so Jerry Emig sent the email out and Dan hope talked about today in the press conference what Ryan Day said he said Ryan Day says Donovan Jackson and Cody Simon are dayto day Ohio state will evaluate them this week before deciding whether they will play against Western Michigan on Saturday I find it very interesting that we didn't really get any specific details and we need more definitive answers because the fact that this is kind of unacceptable to know that this has been the Ryan Day in the past where he really doesn't give any details I understand you're trying to have every Advantage as possible and not give any secrets way but at least understand what happened to Cody what happened to Donovan because we had not heard of anything prior where we knew that they weren't playing in this game especially the fact that we saw a video from Cody a few days ago and the fact that Cody was gain the block zero at practice looking healthy as ever now Donovan Jackson who you see on your screen Jackson is a very interesting player in the fact that he had an unreal 2022 season his 2023 season was a little bit of a downgrade in terms of PF grades overall and what his production was but his sackle outs were great I think with Donovan Jackson not playing we had Austin sefel in his place and Sefi played well for what he need to do as the left guard Ohio State's offensive line was really shaky but I'll say this about sefel and Donovan Jackson Ohio State needs Donovan Jackson back they can't have Austin Cedar Feld in there the entire time he could go play Right Guard potentially if Tegra is not playing well or Carson Hinman gets in there but at the moment the Buckeyes need Donovan Jackson back because the offensive line as weak as it already is needs back their star in Ryan Day talked about Austin sifel today in practice Dylan Davis set this who was at the press conference Ryan Day Austin sefelt after he made his first start on Saturday he looked like a firsttime starter in there who was real potential he didn't grade out a champion but he wasn't far off they said seefeld has earned playing time even when Donan Jackson returns so when I hear that and he said he didn't gray as a champion my response is okay that's not that's not that big of a deal because of the fact that Gray's a champion is a difficult thing at Ohio State and their the their evaluations are not the easiest because coaches want to make these players earn the champion level but I do like that Ryan Day says he has confidence in him and that does show that Ohio state does have some depth on the offensive line if a guard does go down just like we saw with Donovan Jackson now I want to shift to one of the captains Cody Simon who in 2023 57 tackles three tackles for loss and two pbus was pretty solid overall in 13 games they played he didn't really start he had about three or four starts last year and he's projected to start this year but Ohio State's linebacker room is very rotating at the moment is in a rotation let's say that Ohio State's linebacker room is in a rotation between CJ Hicks Cody Simon Sunny Styles and arel REE you can put all four of those out there in different combinations and you'll have success so having no Cody Simon not the end of the world because of the fact that ARL ree as a sophomore and I talked about in yesterday's video stepped up and played really well CJ Hicks and sunny Styles also did their thing so I wasn't too worried but would love to see where the captain and number zero is going to return because he's a much needed piece for Ohio State second part of Ohio State's football report Jeremiah Smith is he a Heisman candidate I know it's one game but the hype is there these are some of the rumors going on I mean when you look at the stats what he did as a freshman 18-year-old in one game against a group of five opponent like akan is six receptions 92 yards but the biggest thing was the two touchdowns leading the way out of any Buckeye that day Smith was unbelievable and when I look at comparisons of what a Heisman wide receivers look like in the past so I'm comparing jermiah Smith to Devonte Smith in 2020 his Heisman year in his game in his first game as a college player in 2020 I those are very big comparisons right there because of how good Devonte Smith was but let's look at the comparisons receptions Smith had two more yards Jeremiah Smith he outplayed him the average same thing with touchdowns and long so I'm not too upset the way that Jeremiah Smith played because of the fact that he played better than what Devonte Smith did as a junior at Alabama and Devonte Smith was a Heisman winner let's get that straight Heisman where so when I look at Jeremiah Smith upfield I think myself that's a stud right there that guy is legit he is a threat for any team that's going to guard him any game because I don't think there's a quarterback out there right now in the country that can handle his physical presence his route running skills just anything that he's able to provide for Ohio State he's doing better than anyone else in the country you guys aren't sub to Ohio State the Ohio State football report we talk about the Buckey daily and we have lots of different content from rumors news recruiting we talk about it all we talk about Michigan even even though they don't want to be talked about because they think they're so good they won the National Championship but we'll talk about them and we always keep our eye on the Wolverines hit that sub button Go Buck if you believe that scarland gray come help support the channel I really do appreciate it last piece on this show today it's about Kyle McCord versus will Howard this is an interesting debate and I rub my hands together because it is a little peculiar how everything has worked out so far for these two quarterbacks starting with Will Howard what he did this Saturday he looked pretty good I thought will Howard had an okay performance for what he need to do in this akan game you look at the statistics overall the yards the touchdowns he didn't really have many rushing yards even though he's more of a dual threat quarterback than K mcord ever was but the rating was there and the completion stats were also pretty good I thought the decision- making was okay from will Howard I would would have liked to see more rushing attack from will Howard but you know what if he does have to use his legs that means the O Line's working and blocking the receivers are getting open on the flip side now mord this is interesting I don't remember seeing Kyle McCord have a stat line like this in a long time he did have an interception to add to these statistics but I felt like including the rushing yards was more important cuz he had negative one rushing yard and it kind of stood out as if we've seen this before because he really didn't run the ball much at Ohio State and I compared these two I I decided to make these for you guys so you're welcome I wanted to show right here what these two did laying out the exact comparison and it's pretty interesting to think that kle mcord outplayed will Howard are the opponents different yes are they both Mac opponents yes they are Ohio University and akan both playing the same conference so they're both the same level in terms of competition now McCord's team is very different than Ohio State's team but McCord really did Rip the ball and had a better rating overall than will Howard very interesting to think about because did Ohio State mess up did they not do a good job in terms of evaluating their quarterbacks enough and letting go of Kyle McCord too quickly I'm asking you guys this too did the Buckeyes make the right decision to move on from mord this is a tough situation for me to think about because we don't really know what Kyle could have done with this team but we knew what he did with last year's team with Marvin Harrison Jr and some other players that are no longer with the team however I'm comfortable with the decision for what Ohio state did only because of the fact that will Howard does have more experience overall as a power five quarterback and I like that out of will Howard and I think the fact that he's more dual threat than com court has ever been and most likely will ever be I think that's very big for Ohio State and what Ryan day and Chip Kelly are looking for in a quarterback that's going to do it for today's show I really do appreciate you all watching today if you got any comments make sure you say down below but a little special to the first 10 people to follow me on TW the first 10 people to comment on Twitter and add their handles I'm going to follow you back so whoever the first 10 are I got you we'll see you next time go Bucks [Music]