Monday Skull Session

By Vico on June 17, 2013 at 6:00 am
52 Comments

Let's start your work week off right with a Skull Session.

We're still well into the summer in your sports calendar. So, again, there is not much to whet the appetite of the average Ohio State football fan unless the aforementioned Ohio State fan likes the Miami Heat, the Boston Bruins, FIFA's Confederations Cup, or baseball, for example.

Still, it's worth mentioning that Ohio State's enrolling freshmen for the football team are on campus working with Mickey Marotti as you read this post.

Today's session will start with a discussion of news relevant to Ohio State football before becoming more eclectic in its topics.

 WIDE RECEIVER RECRUITING. Ohio State fans got some bad news yesterday evening when Derek Kief, a wide receiver from Cincinnati's Lasalle High School (same as DeVier Posey), turned down an offer from Urban Meyer in favor of one from Nick Saban. He'll be en route to Tuscaloosa to roll tide after graduating from high school.

I'd fret this decision more, if not for a few factors.

For one, Cincinnati has long been a sore spot for Ohio State football. Treating Derek Kief as a given to Ohio State would be perilous from the start. It's in our state, but really isn't our "backyard". Ohio State's position in Cincinnati should improve considerably with Urban Meyer as head coach and Kerry Coombs as an assistant, but there was no short term payout here.

To be honest, losing Trey Depriest to the same school was probably the bigger source of frustration for Ohio State football fans because Dayton is more the pipeline to Ohio State than the Queen City.

Further, and perhaps most importantly, Ohio State is recruiting just fine at the moment for its 2014 recruiting class. Last year's recruiting class (2013) had an exciting conclusion that was supported in large part by Ohio State's undefeated season. Should Ohio State football follow through with its promise to be in Pasadena playing for a national title, this year's recruiting class will again be excellent.

The bigger problem that follows Derek Kief's commitment to Alabama seems to be that Ohio State is coming up empty at a particular type of wide receiver. I think Ohio State's coaches have made it very clear through revealed behavior that it wants a taller, bigger wide receiver (the kind that Michigan's coaches love) in this recruiting class. This type of wide receiver would help with underneath routes and run blocking.

Kief (6-5, 200lbs) would have been that type of receiver in this class, but committed to Alabama. He's not the only loss. Drake Harris (6-3, 175lbs) committed to Michigan and Dallis Todd (6-5, 210lbs) committed to Oklahoma. Our standing with Saeed Blacknall (6-3, 190lbs) isn't looking very good right now.

Who are the other options to be joining Lonnie Johnson in Ohio State's recruiting class? One name looks promising: Isaiah Ford. Ford is actually a soft verbal to Louisville, but is demonstrating an interest in Ohio State at the moment. He recently visited the campus.

 ANOTHER URBAN MEYER FLORIDA GATOR ARREST, AMIRITE? Oh yeah, I'm right. *high five*

Florida sophomore linebacker Antonio Morrison was arrested over the weekend after an altercation in which he was alleged to have assaulted a bouncer at a Gainesville, Florida nightclub. "Gainesville, Florida nightclub"? That can't be real.

Anyway, the report says that Morrison punched the nightclub bouncer because he was not given a discounted rate for admission into the nightclub. In short, it appears that Antonio Morrison was adamant that the nightclub commit an NCAA violation to admit him based on his status as a football player.

I'm not making that up.

"Don't you know who I am?" the report states the man yelled. "I am a UF football player! I am Antonio!"

"I am Antonio", by the way, means that Antonio Morrison is affording himself Cher-level or Madonna-level first name treatment after a freshman season in which he tallied 34 total tackles in backup and special teams duties.

The incident was alleged to have occurred after 2 in the morning and Morrison was arrested and booked by 6am, underscoring the truism for college football players that nothing good happens after midnight.

Will Muschamp is aware of the situation but has yet to determine how to proceed on the matter. It will likely result in a standard indefinite suspension from team activities until Antonio Morrison, or "Antonio", resolves the issue through the court system.

But, man, that Urban Meyer fellow just can't keep the Gators' nose clean, am I right, Gainesville Sun basketball beat reporter, Kevin Brockway?

Oh yeah, I'm right. *high five*

Johnny Manziel on Spring BreakTired of College Station, but not of Cabo.

I CAN'T WAIT TO LEAVE COLLEGE STATION, EITHER. ...and I've never been there.

Okay, I'll say it. I've never been that enamored with Johnny Manziel, or, at least, I'm not yet. To ask "why" is to underscore that Case Keenum and other Airraid system quarterbacks weren't given similar levels of over the top effusive praise.

To answer that question with a reference to the Southeastern Conference will lead to the follow-up question of what is so impressive about running through the SEC West last season. Beyond Alabama and Louisiana State, that division was comically bad in 2012.

Even then, I can't say I "hate" Manziel or think he's terrible; the latter of those is just not true. It's just that I choose to ignore him. But, the Skull Session is at liberty to delve into tabloid-type commentary. Further, this is the offseason and we need football-related things to discuss.

This weekend, Manziel dropped some cryptic tweets about being "over" College Station.

No official reason was given for that tweet, but the Texas A&M internets (sic) speculated that Manziel may have been at a house party that the College Station fuzz busted for a noise violation. Another speculation is that the fuzz pulled him over for driving with tinted windows.

He since deleted that tweet, but, this is the internet. Nothing is ever deleted on the internet. He did choose to follow that up with another tweet about his hard knock life.

Given Manziel's penchant for online-only classes at Texas A&M University and trips far and wide for play, it may be worth asking when was the last time Manziel was even in College Station.

 COLLLEGE WORLD SERIES. Good job, good effort, NCAA.

Colllege World Series

 MISCELLANY. Tahiti v. Nigeria in FIFA Confederations Cup action (ESPN, 1:45pm ET)... Danny Green set a 3-pt record for the NBA Finals, and it was only Game 5... He also almost ran over Tim Duncan's son... Live it up, Oregon fans. I remember being as excited when we signed the #1 long snapper recruit in the country... Stanford won its 19th straight Director's Cup. Ohio State finished 16th, which is not okay... We all hope Bradley Roby correctly called his shot on his Twitter bio.

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