Eleven Warriors

Stay healthy, young man.

For the second time in the last four years, Ohio State turned its offense over to a true freshman quarterback and although in each case the quarterback oozed talent, learning on the job at the FBS level comes with its ups and downs.

In 2008, when Terrelle Pryor took over for Todd Boeckman, he had Jim Tressel guiding him as a coach, a supremely talented running back in Beanie Wells, veteran wide receivers and a defense featuring several future NFL starters. The result: a 10-3 season that ended in the Fiesta Bowl.

Last season, Braxton Miller took over for Joe Bauserman in the fourth game of the season, but had a first year coach at the top, his two best running backs suspended to start the year, an inexperienced receiver corps and a bend-and-LOL-break defense. The result: the team's first seven-loss season since 1897.

Given the transitions and turmoil surrounding the team, it's no surprise that the offense struggled as much as it did in 2011. Thanks to the aforementioned suspensions to Boom Herron and Jordan Hall, the rushing attack was woeful, with Miller the quarterback leading all rushers.

Things were so bad in 2011 that fullback Zach Boren earned the team's Rex Kern award as outstanding back. Now Boren is a human wrecking ball and a fan favorite for plowing running lanes, but his last rushing attempt came in November 2010.

But as is the theme with any preview of the 2012 season, optimism running rampant in Columbus these days. Urban Meyer has completely reinvigorated the program and has assembled a staff that features a real quarterback coach in the form of Tom Herman. Stan Drayton has moved from coaching wide receivers to his more natural position as a running backs coach and both groups will benefit from the strength and conditioning program of Mickey Marotti.

We have an idea of how Urban Meyer will run his offense and how the position battles will go down, but with a new regime comes new opportunities (paging Rod Smith).

Good morning, Buckeye Nation! You know what to expect by now, right? My craving of the moment (are you sick of this yet?)... City BBQ.

I won't even be picky, as long as there is pulled pork involved. Go crazy and come up with your own order. Since I don't have a City BBQ within driving distance, if you go... post a picture for me, please! 

And now, let's get started...

DIGG-ING FOR ANSWERS. I'm going to start this off by saying that I was quite possibly one of the biggest brats in the world when it came to making my college decision. Nobody cared about my 40 time, but I was legitimately torn up until the last minute, and ultimately let my parents know through a mass email. The people who gave me life, and just about everything else for 17 years, found out in an email (that their friends were copied on) that I wanted to move 2,500 miles away from them. What happened next is a story I won't bore you with, but it's always served as a reminder to me that even the most level-headed teenagers, are still just teenagers. 

I try to keep that story in mind, as we roll our eyes at some of the bizarre things we see in the wonderful world of recruiting. And, among those that follow that world, many were rolling their eyes at Stefon Diggs this week, as he seemingly taunted everyone with his apparent inability to decide where he's going.

The five-star WR Diggs, who has narrowed his choices down to Ohio State, Maryland, Florida and Auburn, seemed to be debating with himself on Twitter on where he should go to school. At one point, Stefon said, "Never been this nervous my whole life. Football games I've never once got nervous ... Footballs easy just about the work you put in .. But making a decision that'll impact your life for the next 40 to 50 years .. Like I'm actually nervous .."

Later, he tweeted some of the reasons he felt this was such a big decision. He followed that up by saying, "Floridas hot I love weather and people ...Umd hometown ... Ohio state great place.. auburn a family... Can't go wrong with my decision .." So, either this kid really doesn't know where he wants to go, or he loves teasing a bunch of grown adults with a questionable obsession with high school boys. Either way, the circus should finally end at some point today.

He was originally scheduled to announced his decision on Comcast SportsNet at 10pm tonight, but later it was announced that he's backed out of announcing with them. Following that announcement, it was reported that its been rescheduled for 6pm at a pub in College Park, MD. Shortly after the change in venue, various outlets started posting the strong possibility that he'll be committing to Maryland.

Those writers, however, were likely fast asleep when Stefon tweeted shortly after 2am EST, "Just had a dream I was in the swamp time to go back to sleep ." So, while you all ponder the benefits of a Friday Skull Session writer who lives in PST, I'll just keep repeating the words "mass email" to myself and wait for 6pm EST.

For whatever reason, this picture no longer enrages me.

Last week, because I'm a fan of his work, I read an article by Sports Illustrated's Andy Staples, regarding "Operation: Bratwurst". In it, Staples imagines Urban Meyer as "Urbantor 1000", a robot programmed by an ominipotent Mike "Sliveborg" Slive to send Ohio State into SEC-football-like eupohoria and to further assimilate the country to SEC football culture. 

Staples uses comedy to leverage a very truthful point: Ohio State fans have begun to sing a different tune regarding their worldviews of college football in a very short span of time. I certainly am not above it. Hypocrisy is the price of human existence, and in this case, I have chosen to accept it with open arms. A mere five years ago, Urban Meyer dismantled my favorite Ohio State team and reduced me to a drunken husk of humanity.

But best believe I whistled dixie as I walked past the Florida-plated luxury cars, some with "This is Gator Country" license plate protectors, as I walked into the Les Wexner Football Complex at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center last week to cover Meyer's National Signing Day presser. In my darkest dreams, I can still see Tebow blasting into a Scarlet and Grey-clad defensive line like a hot battering ram into butter, but even those thoughts do little to deter the feeling I get when I envision the power spread offense coming to Ohio State. 

With Ohio State fans claiming their won the "right way" before mentioning Urban's Florida players' brushes with law enforcement, Ohio State recruited Terrelle Pryor in 2008 to (as Pryor even admitted) finally "get Ohio State over the hump." Fast forward to February 2012: Jim Tressel is employed in Akron and Terrelle Pryor wallows in Oakland, the SEC-bowl monkey only slewn in memory. After the unceremonious departures of two of its programs pillars sent Ohio State tailspinning to their first losing season 1988, Ohio State fans were all too willing to grab the ring-encrusted and SEC-proven lifeline which Fortune had left swinging above their groping hands.

There was an audible sigh from Ohio State fans when Gene Smith announced Ohio State's coaches would "have the resources he needed" to secure the services of the assisstant coaches he desired. We then cheered as our new champion went and taught not only the likes of Bret Bielema, but the understudy of our last champion in Mark Dantonio, the definition of "committed" in 21st century football. A few years ago, Ohio Stately fans largely mocked Southern message board recruitniks as pedophiles, and now we find ourselves googling things like "Jamal Marcus Highlights".

These are all figurative bullets I'll willingly bite. As for the overall transformation of Ohio State fans' opinions, nobody has ever accused large groups of people of behaving rationally.

Where I am forced to take issue with Mr. Staples' work, however, is this notion SEC Commissioner Mike Slive, even through the lense of comedy, is some omnipotent cyborg pulling the strings behind the curtains of college football. As the head of college football's most influential, if not toughest, college football conference, he certainly has his fair share of power; but I don't believe he is the commissioner also moonlighting as college football's shotcaller. (Besides, why would he be interested in increasing the competitive level of a competing conference?) No, I think one would have to turn their eyes to Chicago, Illinois, to find the smartest man in college football.

Jalin Marshall is a good start for 2013 to say the least

Now that the Ohio State recruiting class of 2012 is basically signed, sealed, and delivered (sans one Stefon Diggs), it is time to shift focus onto the next crop of stars, the recruiting class of 2013.

Like 2012's bunch, the 2013 group is very talented and Urban Meyer and the staff have wasted no time in going after not only the best players in Ohio, but also the entire nation.

Things will definitely be done a little bit differently under Urban, as at this point the Tressel regime was a bit more conservative in handing out offers, while Meyer has already dished out over 50 offers for a class that will number somewhere between 15-20 players.

Regardless of how they go about it, Ohio State is in line to land a recruiting class that will challenge for the top spot in the nation come next Signing Day. In this first segment of "A Look at 2013", we take a glance at some of the offensive players the Buckeyes are targeting in the early going, how they can fill needs based on the current roster outlook, what the latest buzz is and much more.

Join us after the jump to take a look at some of the recruiting class of 2013's rising stars on Ohio State's big board. We will be back next week with a look at the defensive stars in the class.

I also write for "Damnation!" and "Johnny Reb"

Sometime in December of 2010, Luke and I decided that maybe we should try and get a podcast started for Eleven Warriors. I mean, hey, all the cool kids were doing it, and it seemed to be a logical step for a website that was starting to really take off. Luke has and had way more experience and knowledge of podcasts than I did and do, so his overall goals were something along the lines of a combination of Edward R. Murrow and Jordan, Jesse, Go! whereas my personal goal was just to make fart jokes and trick people into listening to them.

In any case, a Dubcast was born, and from the outset it was a pretty big learning process. Interviewing people over the phone or through Skype about college sports is a weird (and fun) experience, but I'd like to think that over time we've gotten better and have been able to earn the listeners that we have today.

Unfortunately this week Luke had a scheduling conflict and I'm still fighting off whatever kind of disease turns your snot some combination of brown and yellow, so instead of your regularly scheduled Dubcast we bring to you a blast from the past as I subjected myself to "The Detail," our second episode ever which we broadcast to the internet on December 23rd, 2010. I jotted down some Exclusive Commentary Notes. Follow along and enjoy!

0:33 Horrible radio voice me attempts to sound suave in a misguided stab at appealing to da ladies but instead I end up actually sounding like Brady Hoke whispering sweet nothings into an Arby's drive through speaker because I'm using my 250 dollar laptop's embedded mic.

1:24 Our first guest, 11W's own Alex Gleitman, is apparently doing great. Luke jokes about the apparent awfulness of Kent State academics in the process of asking a Darrell Hazell question. I cackle like an idiot in the background.

3:25 I comment about Hazell being hard to replace, because, you know, it's difficult to replace assistant coaches sometimes. Thank God Ohio State never went through anything like that ever again.

5:04 Luke makes a backhanded slam on Nick Siciliano, which I will get and laugh about about 4 hours after we stop recording.

I will take a side of 'power' with my spread...

Taking a step from the theoretical to the practical, I wanted to look at why Urban Meyer's offense is different from other spread offenses. 

As I alluded to last week, not all spread offenses are created alike.  The differences arise from the most basic question -- what is your offensive goal and what are your base plays to accomplish that goal?   

I will put aside spread passing offenses to focus upon spread to run teams. The most obvious foil to Meyer's Florida teams is the Oregon offense.

Chip Kelly predicates his attack upon the QB read, namely in conjunction with the outside zone.  The Oregon offense is therefore a descendant of Rich Rodriguez and the original zone read offenses.  The zone read is Oregon's bread and butter and will be run a majority of plays.

The other plays run by Oregon are implemented with the idea of countering a defense's steps to stop the zone read, such as reading the defensive tackle rather than the end with a midline read (see also here).

Morning boys and girls and welcome once again to your Thursday morning Skull Session with me, your humble host, Jeremy Birmingham. If I can be honest with ya, I've missed you. And You. I hope you've been thinking about me as much as I've been thinking about you. 

We have had our close shave of the week, our "Oh my gosh I can't wait until September" moment of the week, and our "if I paid more attention to girl's hoops that would be awesome" moment of the week. 

Oh yeah, we also had our "nana-nana-boo-boo, stick your head in doo-doo" moment of the week, and as usual, that moment refers to Bret Bielema. Overall, it's been a good week in a time when most of us are, admittedly, mourning the removal of football from our day-to-day thought process.

Today is February the 9th, and we have 205 days until Ohio State begins its 2012 football season, but who's counting? (570 days until kick-off on a season that counts for something, thanks NCAA)

BALLARD GOES HARD. I know that Sarah touched a bit yesterday on Jake Ballard and Jim Cordle's involvement in the NY Giants Super Bowl win, but I felt compelled to touch a bit more on Ballard's role for the Giants this year, and his lack of usage in his time at Ohio State.

Hypothetically speaking, if you had a torn PCL in your right knee, it should be easy to get yourself motivated to play in the Super Bowl, and of course Ballard was able to do that. The former OSU TE, who was criminally underutilized in Jim Bollman's hyper-complicated offense, tore the PCL in his right knee in week 15 of the regular season against the Washington Redskins. He fought off the injury and got back on the field for the NFC title game in San Francisco.