Eleven Warriors

It's been my experience that there are few fan bases that have fans as committed and as thoroughly excellent as Ohio State fans. They are a dedicated bunch indeed, supportive of the program through the ups and downs and always willing to show up and cheer on their eleven warriors, brave and bold.

Relax Buckeye fans.

It is that commitment to the Buckeyes that no doubt drives their refusal to settle for any hint of mediocrity within the school's large – and often in charge – athletic department. Coaches with historical winning percentages, responsible for rebuilding and maintaining the nation's elite sports programs, are often discarded and replaced by the "next" great coach, and so on and so forth. 

For Buckeye fans, it's been a fairly pleasant ride the last 15 years or so. The football program has remained in the national spotlight – albeit with a few bumps in the road – and the lure of playing football at Ohio State has not worn off for most of Ohio's best and a good number of the country's finest athletes who recognize a chance to play at Ohio State as rare and special.

CAN YOU WIN WITH MEDIOCRE RECRUITING?

From 2002–11, Ohio State – despite a historic 10-year stretch that saw a 105-25 record – struggled (for the most part) to land nationally lauded recruiting classes.

In fact, during that 10-year run, only three times did Jim Tressel put together a Rivals.com Top 10 recruiting class at Ohio State. His average finish? Just 14.4, and only three classes (2002, 2008, and 2009) finished in the top 10 of Rivals rankings.

One area that saw the Buckeyes struggle mightily in recruiting was the offensive line, an area that Tressel seemed to allow his offensive line coach, Jim Bollman, to recruit as he saw fit. The normally hands-on and micromanaging Tressel must've turned a blind eye to Bollman's recruiting, because there's no other explanation for how it could have produced such lackluster results.

Recruiting has become a sport inside a sport. In the Midwest and Deep South, tracking blue-chip prospects is a weekly venture. It takes a special coach to process in-season strategy and recruiting all together. But Urban Meyer has mastered that craft, signing top-five classes for what seems like every year in the past decade.

Once again, when Signing Day came along in February, Meyer inked a (five) star-studded group of future Buckeyes. A handful are considered to be elite playmakers that could make an immediate impact this fall. But as Meyer and offensive coordinator Tom Herman said during spring practice, they’re concentrating on the guys that are already present.

One current member is wide receiver Corey “Philly” Brown. And after a 60-catch season, he – and the coaches – is looking for an even bigger impact during his senior season.

“We were not near as good as what we needed to be, so they knew coming into this winter what they had to do,” said wide receivers coach Zach Smith about his position group. “There was not a lot of explaining, planning or motivating because they knew what they had to do. They have to finish out the rest of the spring strong, and then this summer has to be the best summer in the history of Ohio State football for my group.”

The more I keep doing these, the more I run out of creative ways to open these Saturday Skull Sessions. I already used a Loverboy reference some months back.

I would reference Sam Cooke's lonely cry that I ain't got nobody, but I do have some money because I just got paid. Alas, Jason doesn't want me writing a Saturday Night Skull Session, nor would the 11W commentariat care much if I mention that I met a woman, who bore a strange resemblance to a cat named Frankenstein.

Plus, who names their cat "Frankenstein" anyway? That's weird.

 TEXAS A&M GOING BIG AND REDESIGNING ITS HOME. There is usually not much to mention for the sports you care about this time of the year. This is usually a good thing more often than not. No one should want to revisit the summer of 2011.

The Southeastern Conference dominated the headlines this week, which follows neatly from it being a rather quiet news cycle that would allow the conference to be the top story with its SEC Network project. One conference member, in particular, made some waves. And it wasn't the Rammer Jammers.

Texas A&M is wanting to revamp Kyle Field in order to push the stadium into one of the upper echelons of the college football experience. Texas A&M already has the distinction of having one of the most — if not the most — unique student body experiences in college football. The "12th man", complete with the Midnight Yell Practice, is an imposing bunch.

However, Kyle Field itself isn't a particularly impressive venue. It has one open end (that cameras strategically avoid showing) and the fans are a little further from the action than they are in a place like Ohio Stadium, where the fans almost figuratively sit on top of the field. In some respects, Kyle Field seems quaint despite its capacity of 82,000+.

Texas A&M's board of regents just approved a $450 million redevelopment plan to address just that.

May is finally here. The month is off to a quick start as we already have a couple of big news stories to touch on.

Kyle Allen is the newest OSU QB offer

In last week's edition of the Recruiting Notebook we touched on the fact that Deshaun Watson, formerly Ohio State's top quarterback target, would be staying solid on his commitment to Clemson. The Buckeyes needed to find a new quarterback to target and they made a bold move by offering three over this past week.

They started things off by offering Scottsdale (AZ) Desert Mountain quarterback Kyle Allen on Wednesday. They followed that up by offering both Bossier City (LA) Parkway quarterback Brandon Harris and Apopka (FL) signal caller Zack Darlington on Thursday.

It will be interesting to see how this quarterback situation works itself out in the upcoming weeks as we know the staff wants to have a quarterback as part of this class.

Notre Dame scored commitments from two players who held offers from the Buckeyes this past week in running back Elijah Hood and offensive lineman Quenton Nelson. There were a couple of other players who also spurned the Bucks for other schools. We'll touch on that a little later.

We'll have more on that, the quarterback situation, and much more in this week's edition of the Ohio State Football Recruiting Notebook.

Around the Oval is Eleven Warriors' weekly love letter to Ohio State sports that don't get the coverage they should.

Having already dominated the regular season, it was a safe bet to assume that the Ohio State men's tennis team would get the job done in the Big Ten Tournament, especially with it being played on their home turf. Of course, we all know what can happen when we make assumptions, but this one proved prophetic: After three 4-0 wins against Purdue, Illinois and Michigan, the Buckeyes were once again Big Ten champs. 

Both the Boilermakers and Illini were dispatched in quick fashion to set up a final against the Wolverines, Ohio State's final regular season opponents only a week earlier. That Sunday in Ann Arbor saw identical doubles results as the final in Columbus, with the Buckeye teams of Peter Kobelt/Connor Smith and Blaz Rola/Kevin Metka earning their team yet another doubles point. Singles competition also produced a similar outcome, with Constantin Christ the only different winner from seven days before.

The tournament victory is Ohio State's seventh in eight years, and it punches their ticket to the 2013 NCAA Championships. As the tournament's No. 5 seed, the Buckeyes can host the first two rounds, and their first opponent is Cleveland State. They'll host the Vikings next Friday at 1 p.m., and should they progress, they'll meet either Notre Dame or Washington the next day. 

In addition to the team competition, three Buckeyes will compete in the NCAA individual championships at the end of the month. Blaz Rola and Peter Kobelt will represent the team in the singles category, while Kobelt and Connor Smith are the team's representatives in the doubles. 

The college offseason is interminably long. The calendar tells us that it lasts only a few months but that’s only because scientists refuse to admit that their evil experiments with time travel have created warps in the space-time continuum that slow the passing of days from spring football to fall kickoff.

How do you get through it? The NBA and NHL playoffs can only get you so far. You could watch baseball, but that just makes the time pass even slower. There must be a way to get from the spring game to opening day without losing your mind.

I’ve given it a great deal of thought, so you don’t have to. There are things you can do to make the time pass more quickly, or at least to occupy your mind while you’re waiting. This is important in helping you to retain your sanity and keep your blood pressure down.

Here is an A-Z primer on what to do to during the college football offseason:

Anticipation: You could simply spend the offseason waiting for the Buckeyes to return. This way madness lies. There’s no sense in just building your excitement because you are not Kerry Coombs and therefore you can’t handle the level of intensity you’d reach with at least two weeks to spare. Your head might literally explode. This is a dumb idea and I don't recommend it, but the offseason would eventually creep past.

Better Know Buckeyes: It’s never too early to get to know the incoming freshman class. Because you are already an 11W reader, which speaks to your impeccable taste, you don’t even have to go digging for information. Our very own Vico is already providing all the info you need in his award-winning* “Better Know a Buckeye” series. (*Jason gave him an “atta-boy” and there is no honor higher than that.)

It starts early in the morning before 8 a.m. Football players pile into the school wearing their jerseys, cheerleaders in their uniforms. After noon, people line up outside Purple Rider Stadium to secure their seats for the football game – at 7 p.m. It’s game day in Martins Ferry.

The gates to the 5,550-seat stadium open at 5:30 and the 2,700 seats on the home side are filled by 6, an hour before kickoff.

“Friday night in Martins Ferry actually starts Friday morning,” said athletic director Kim Appolloni. “Friday nights in the fall are exciting days around here. People pack the home side every game. It’s an exciting time for the kids and the community.”

This working class town of almost 7,000 sits in the middle of the Rust Belt where steel mills once dotted the landscape along the Ohio River, extending from Youngstown to Marietta. Martins Ferry, the oldest settlement in the state of Ohio, was once home to 15,000 residents, steel mills, glass factories and coal mines.

Just a day after hearing that Meyer and Herman had offered a second quarterback for 2014, two more potential Buckeye signal callers were offered yesterday. 

Yes, that's right: start the forum topic, "Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Trust Urban's Quarterback Recruiting Plan." 

Zach Darlington and Brandon Harris were the lucky pair to be offered following Kyle Allen, and each one looks like a fine potential addition. 

Harris has expected an Ohio State offer for a little while now, but Darlington was caught by surprise. Even as a surprise, it's one that he has been hoping for: "That’s the one I’ve really been working for, Ohio State."

Herman obviously came away impressed by his 4.43 speed and arm strength in person, but Urban was so impressed by his film that he approved the offer from afar: 

“He hasn’t seen me in person yet, but he said from what he’s heard and seen on film that I remind him a lot of [Tim] Tebow because of my willingness to work and my will to win,” Darlington said. “He’s coached Heisman Trophy winners and numerous national champions and coached numerous guys to the NFL and for him to say that … it’s a pretty big compliment.”

Harris, meanwhile, possesses arm strength and athleticism that are off the charts, but he needs the usual college level work in his mechanics and footwork. 

 HEY, THAT'S OUR PRIVATE COACH. Harris isn't the only one to get some quarterback coaching, as Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner picked up some training time with noted QB coach George Whitfield Jr.

With the long and winding offseason ahead of us (and with the Stumbler retired), it was high time to launch a new weekly column. After weeks of deliberation in an undisclosed location, 11W's finest minds spawned, “Turning Points.” 

What is Turning Points? In essence it will be a look back at one game each week and the pivotal moment in which that contest turned its gaze toward the Buckeyes and whispered, “I’m yours.” The perfect turning point is one in which NOTHING is going right for the Scarlet and Gray until a single play serves as the catalyst for a massive change of fortune. However, some turning points are a little less dramatic, requiring a series of plays to turn the tide in the Buckeyes’ favor.

So, now that we’re all up to speed, let’s kick this series off with the 1994 contest against Michigan State.

The Buckeyes are overdue.

No, not for a national championship — or even a B1G title — but for an overhaul of their on-field football brand. In the interest of expediting a sartorial change, I distilled my own thoughts on the topic — what works in a uniform, what doesn’t — and created what I believe to be the perfect uniform for the Ohio State football Buckeyes.