Eleven Warriors

The Joker

Every year is supposed to be a breakout year for Ohio State’s tight ends. This season, that might actually be the case.

With athletic playmakers like Jeff Heuerman and Nick Vannett occupying the position, mixed with Urban Meyer’s offensive philosophies, the potential for a cocktail of points and highlights seems inevitable.

The duo only combined for 17 catches and 217 yards a year ago, but the offense wasn’t a well-oiled machine either. The first season in the system had numerous roadblocks along the way. Entering Year 2, the level of confidence and togetherness has hit a new high.

“Last spring we were putting in a new offense, with the new coaching staff coming in, and so the emphasis for me was on figuring it out, learning it and getting confident with it," Vannett said. “Now I've got that whole year behind me where I understand it and I can just go out and play the game and be confident. And I am definitely more confident this year than I was last spring.”

Said Heuerman: “We can do a lot, between Nick and I. We have a great combination of tight ends. That is huge. You can’t just play with one tight end. We’re getting better every day. It’ll be a good year.”

According to Heuerman, who’s developed quite a reputation for being a jokester, the tight ends are No. 1 on the offense’s pecking order – ahead of Braxton Miller. When Heuerman made the claim, he did so with a straight face. It quickly gave way to a smile, though.

The current situation Heuerman finds himself in wasn’t exactly what he signed up for. But he isn’t going to start complaining anytime soon. Jim Tressel was the head coach when Heuerman was being recruited out of Naples, Fla. Tight end wasn’t exactly a glamour position under the old regime. Recovering a fumble was the most likely way to touch the football.

In a Meyer-led offense, the viewpoint is a tad bit different.

“A lot of people say this is the best offense in the country for the tight end,” Heuerman said.

“It’s fun. No one was sure of it or what was going on last season. Once you get it down, though, it’s a lot of fun. You get to do a whole lot of things you wouldn’t normally do in a pro-style offense.”

Good morning, and welcome to the Skull Session. There are some weighty stories out there, but first up is our national pastime: trolling.

This story was related in Kyle Rowland's spring practice notebook, but it's too good not to repeat. In keeping with April Fools' Day, tight end Jeff Heuerman conspired with strength coach Mickey Mariotti and coordinator of player development Ryan Stamper to make tight ends coach Tim Hinton believe Heuerman had been arrested.

According to Heuerman, Hinton was close to having a heart attack before Heuerman reminded him about April Fools' Day. As for repercussions, well...

“He almost died,” Hinton said. “Coach Meyer almost had to kick him off the team because I almost killed him.

“Needless to say, he didn’t play in the scrimmage (on Tuesday).”

As long as that's exaggerating, it's tough but fair. Maybe Heuerman could've gotten a police officer to play along to really mess with Hinton, but from what it sounds like he stuck the landing anyway.

As a reminder to OSU students, there will be an open practice at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center tomorrow. Sure, it may not have free pizza like Illinois's open practice did, but compare the teams: perfection>pepperoni.

Another tidbit of news: there's been some discussion about who will be the new basketball coach at Rutgers after Mike Rice was fired for abusing his players. According to Jeff Goodman of CBS Sports, one possibility is Ohio State assistant coach Chris Jent. Jent, who was a Buckeye letterwinner from 1988-1992, has been an assistant under Thad Matta for the past two seasons, and before that was an assistant head coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

It'd stink to lose one of the constants on a couple deep tournament runs, but Rutgers is a great opportunity for an assistant coach. If he is a target, best wishes to him.

Criticism was mounting. Ohio State’s high-powered offense resembled nothing close to Urban Meyer’s past. The quarterback was a work in progress and the running backs lacked the shiftiness Meyer was accustomed to. But most glaring was the play at wide receiver. The elusiveness and burst of speed was non-existent.

“In the spring, with (Meyer) on me a lot, I couldn’t stand it,” Devin Smith said. “I knew I had to make a change and I worked very hard in the summer working on my speed and my strength, and getting the timing down. It carried over to camp and we had a great camp.”

It also carried over into the regular season. Maybe not to the extent Meyer would have liked, but also not a “clown show.”

One year after the leading receiver had 14 catches, the Buckeyes had three pass-catchers eclipse that mark and another come two shy. Five of the top six wide receivers and tight ends return this season, including Philly Brown (60 catches, 669 yards, three touchdowns) and Smith (30 catches, 618 yards, six touchdowns).

“I didn’t enjoy being around noncompetitive guys,” Meyer said.

Urban Meyer announced this winter that he was studying NFL teams utilizing spread read principles, such as the San Francisco 49ers and Washington Redskins. Meyer apparently liked what he saw, and wanted to implement certain wrinkles with the 2013 Ohio State Buckeyes.

At the time, I discussed a key innovation the 49ers had utilized with the zone read play and surmised that perhaps that was what Meyer was referencing. 

Meyer is putting his money where his mouth is. Spring practice has demonstrated that OSU is not just utilizing a wrinkle. They have installed the Diamond formation and associated concepts that the 49ers and Redskins so successfully employed.

It is therefore an opportune time to examine the formation that has become popular both in the NFL and amongst Air Raid teams.

Video from Urban Meyer's Buckeye Football Spring Kickoff, held Wednesday at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.

Meyer, his staff and players (and a few former greats) came out to tell stories, share a few laughs and raise money for Alzheimer's disease and cancer research.

The highlight of the event was Braxton Miller's new mohawk, but that wasn't the only interesting tidbit:

• Meyer shared his thoughts that he had the Buckeyes as a three- or four-loss team heading into last season and that he and Mickey Marotti panicked after the Cal game because the team was in disarray.
• KERRY F. COOMBS! Seriously. TURTLENECK TUESDAY.
• Coombs said Tyvis Powell thought his first name was "Damnit," because Coombs always yelled "Damnit, Tyvis!"
• Everett Withers said Ohio State dropped 28 interceptions last season.
• Mike Vrabel clowned on Michael Bennett (and the crowd loved it).
• Braxton Miller on getting popped by Noah Spence in practice: "I wear a  black jersey for a reason. I wasn't expecting to get hit like that."
• Ed Warinner drew laughs for saying he told Jack Mewhort to stay away from the Memorial Tournament this season.
• Much more...

As many of you know, yesterday QB Braxton Miller showed up at the Buckeye Football Spring Kick-off sporting this bad boy.

The Tyrann Mathieu-esque look turned quite a few heads and the reaction on Twitter was certainly mixed:

Considering Braxton Miller's new blonde hair swath and his 2-0 record vs. Wisky, perhaps he should be called the Honey Badger Beater.

— Tim May (@TIM_MAYsports) April 4, 2013

Ohhhh, noooo. RT @kostagus: “@espn_bigten: The new Miller 'do #TwitPict twitpic.com/cgq2q8” @steaknstiffarms

— Elika Sadeghi (@steakNstiffarms) April 3, 2013

Sooooooo did he lose a bet orrrrr... Braxton Miller rollin' w/ the blonde hair to ring in the spring football season. cbssports.com/collegefootbal…

— Eli Burris (@elijahQB) April 3, 2013

WWII Mohawk

While not everyone loved the new 'do, I’m here to tell you why you should. However, in order to understand, a brief lesson on the origins of the Mohawk is needed.

HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK, THE ABRIDGED VERSION

The hairstyle derives its name from the Mohwak nation, the Native Americans who inhabited the Mohawk Valley in upstate New York. However, the association of these individuals with the current hairstyle is slightly off, as the Mohwaks used to pluck out all of their hair except for a three-inch square on the back of their head.

Urban Meyer has been a head coach for more than a decade now. He’s won two national titles, helped lead multiple teams to undefeated seasons and coached numerous NFL draft picks, including a No. 1 overall selection and a Heisman Trophy winner.

But through all the years and scanning all the rosters, two players stand above the hundreds of others that have put on the orange and brown, red and white, orange and blue, and scarlet and gray.

Inside Meyer’s opulent office at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center hang two jerseys: Tim Tebow and John Simon. The No. 15 and No. 54 pullovers represent the essence of leadership in Meyer's eyes. Tebow’s status is legendary, while Simon was an uplifting presence during Ohio State’s 12-0 season last year.

One story is of Simon sobbing in the locker room after the Buckeyes’ close win over Cal in September.

So, I was afraid I'd have to lead with the catastrophe that is Braxton Miller's new 'do but alas, Auburn came to the rescue. 

Via Selena Roberts of roopstigo.com, comes a juicy story detailing all kinds of shenanigans taking place within the Tigers' football program. Before you scoff at the web source, take note that Roberts is a former columnist for the New York Times, senior writer for SI, and a graduate of Auburn University. 

In her article surrounding a 2011 robbery allegedly carried out by players Mike McNeil, Antonio Goodwin, Shaun Kitchens and Dakota Mosley, Roberts details how Gene Chizik and the Auburn coaching staff supposedly left McNeil hanging out to dry in the name of protecting the program.

Further, the article contains allegations via quotes from said former players outlining various ways in which the coaching staff skirted a host of NCAA bylaws – beyond erecting churches without a paper trail – in an effort to keep the program in position to compete for SEC and national titles. 

In the lengthy but worthy long read, highlights abound. On the topic of Academic Fraud:

Three players say that before the BCS Championship game the team was told that as many as nine of their teammates would not be able to play in the title game because they were academically ineligible. “We thought we would be without Mike Dyer because he said he was one of them, but Auburn found a way to make those dudes eligible,” says Mike Blanc, a teammate and roommate of Mike McNeil’s. Dyer’s name was cited by McNeil, too. Dyer did not respond to calls to his cell phone.

Before the season, McNeil says he was given an F for attendance in a computer science class. “I had B work but I missed too many classes; and I went to the instructor and said, ‘I really need this grade,’” says McNeil. “He said that he was sorry but he wouldn’t change it. I went to the person over him. She was in a position of power and backed up the instructor. I then told my counselor with the athletic department.” Within days, McNeil says, the grade was changed from an F to a C and he did not miss a game.

The Item – A Piece of Clarett's Cape

Oh, hi there. Welcome to another 11W Stumbler. This week’s edition was a tough one as I unearthed a number of eBay gems from politically incorrect B1G posters, to a gumby Woody Hayes and even a creepy Ohio State chef baby.

In the end those were all great Stumbler candidates, but I ultimately landed on this interesting piece of Buckeye goodness: a Maurice Clarett Jersey Card.

What is that exactly? Let’s let the seller do the talking:

"OSU FOOTBALL MAURICE CLARETT game used jersey swatch card ...GUARANTEED AUTHENTIC !!!  Sage certifies the piece of a jersey / uniform worn by Maurice Clarett on the reverse side of the card ..."

Is that an ACTUAL piece of a game-worn uni or is it just part of a local junior high practice jersey? Who’s to say. Either way, it looks great and makes for an excellent conversation piece.

McMillan is on campus right now. [@Kwon_daTRUTH]

Not long after signing one of the nation's top classes, Urban Meyer and his staff are in on some of the nation's most coveted prospects in the class of 2014.

Under Jim Tressel, the Buckeyes built a fence around the state of Ohio with that strategy paying dividends in the form of most of the state's top-ranked talent finding their way to Columbus. The list of five-star recruits he pulled in from Ohio is impressive: Maurice Clarett, Ted Ginn Jr., Alex Boone, Beanie Wells and many others.

Meyer, however, takes a more national approach to recruiting, which is why we're starting to see the Buckeyes in the mix for highly rated recruits across the nation, not just in the great state of Ohio. The recruiting battles are always going to be a little more ferocious when you venture out of your backyard, but the prizes can often make the fight worth it.

Today, we'll take a look at Ohio State's top targets in the class of 2014, current high school juniors from across the United States. To form this list, I used position need, the chance of Ohio State landing the prospect and overall talent.