Wednesday Skull Session

By D.J. Byrnes on October 14, 2015 at 4:59 am
Kerry Coombs, the Don Dada.
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ICYMI:

QB RUN GAME. Cardale Jones is a sneaky athlete (as sneaky as a Mac truck can be, anyway), but there's no doubting J.T. Barrett is the more dynamic runner. 

As such, the designed QB runs — the type that MENSA member Tom Herman knows and loves — have gone out the window while 12 Gauge commands the offense.

From Scout.com:

With Jones taking the majority of the snaps running the quarterback has largely been eliminated, Ohio State has designed runs for the quarterback far less this season. Jones has run 46 times, gaining 150 yards and scoring once, though he’s accrued many of those carries while scrambling away from pressure.

Against Maryland Jones ran by design just five times, gaining 23 yards. He’s on pace for 92 rushes and 300 yards, numbers that would be the least productive rushing season from a Meyer quarterback since Chris Leak rushed for 81 yards for Florida in 2005. After an increased role against the Terrapins, Barrett is on pace for 36 rushes for 252 yards this season.

“The quarterback run game obviously depends on who that quarterback is,” Meyer said.

J.T. Barrett isn't as slippery as Braxton Miller as a runner (then again, who is?), but he's a powerful, smart, and deceptively quick runner who, unlike Cardale, can stretch a defense horizontally.

The more I think about Meyer's latest offensive innovation, the more I've fallen in love with it. I don't think it was a coincidence both QBs had their best game against Maryland, because their roles were clearly defined. 

Now teams are now going to have to prepare for any combination, and that's before considering we can't be too far from the first Braxton Miller pass of the season. It all combines to help the offense dictate the game to the defense, which is a stated goal of Meyer's.

EVERETT WITHERS: STILL GRINDING. Luke Fickell caught the most heat from fans in 2013, but he was a co-defensive coordinator.

The other half of that co-op, Everett Withers, left to inherit his own program. Much like Fickell, his stock is on the rise.

From FootballScoop.com:

One look through Everett Withers’ offensive staff at James Madison (FCS – VA), and one thing will be abundantly clear – when Withers left Ohio State for his first full-time head coaching job, he wanted to hire a young, hungry, offensive staff, the majority of which he had previous experience working with. The results have been impressive.

Withers has his JMU team standing 6-0 with wins over SMU, Lehigh, Towson, Albany, Morehead State and Stony Brook and they are doing it by scoring a whole lot of points, averaging just below 50 points per game.

A few of the members of the offensive staff worked under Withers at Ohio State where he served as the co-defensive coordinator and assistant head coach in Urban Meyer’s first season. The three coaches that have previous experience working with Withers are Zak Kuhr (co-OC / RBs), Parker Fleming (wide receivers / special teams) and Sean Fisher (TEs). Kuhr and Fisher both served in intern roles in Columbus, while Fleming worked with the offense and special teams.

Parker Fleming, FUTURE HEAD COACH OF OHIO STATE? Before you laugh consider we're only about 15ish years from a #Millennial taking the reins at Ohio State. 

Two words, baby: Press conferences by txt!

(You might say that's four words, to which I'd say, "Who cares?")

PUT IT ON THE BULLETIN BOARD, URBAN. By the time coaches rise to big-time FBS jobs, they're pros at dishing paragraphs of boilerplate. (Exception: Bert.)

Players, however, are more inclined to keep it real.

From CentreDaily.com:

Players like offensive tackle Andrew Nelson seemed loose while speaking about the upcoming game. Nelson, who returned last weekend after sitting out with a lower body injury suffered against Buffalo, said the team had gotten a little bit of a confidence boost after watching film of the Buckeyes.

“We understand that we can move the ball on them offensively and we can definitely stick with them,” he said. “We don’t fear anybody, and the Big Ten is full of great teams this year.”

Nelson also said that Penn State “knows (they’re) hated by the Ohio State community,” and that the team is looking forward to its big opportunity in that environment.

To be fair to Nelson — I wouldn't expect him to admit, "Well, I did a little 'Film & Chill' last night, and frankly I'm thinking about faking an injury to save myself and my family the shame."

Besides, I'm sure Joey Bosa, Tyquan Lewis, Sam Hubbard, and Jalyn Holmes felt similar boosts in confidence after watching Temple register 10 sacks against the Nittany Lions.

BUCKS ABOUT TO BANK. Ohio State is halfway through its 2015 season (it seems like just yesterday we were pawing our way through the offseason hellscape), and the Buckeyes' draft stocks are holding steady.

From SI.com's latest mock draft:

PICK PLAYER POSITION TEAM
2 JOEY BOSA DE JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
12 TAYLOR DECKER OT SEATTLE SEAHAWKS
19 DARRON LEE LB SAN DIEGO CHARGERS
20 EZEKIEL ELLIOTT RB DALLAS COWBOYS
25 ADOLPHUS WASHINGTON DT ARIZONA CARDINALS
29 MICHAEL THOMAS WR ATLANTA FALCONS
31 CARDALE JONES QB DENVER BRONCOS

The idea of Cardale Jones learning from the knowledgeable, broken corpse of Peyton Manning makes me feel like I just drank a six-pack of reasonably-priced IPAs. 

The idea of Ezekiel Elliott sentenced to the gutters of Dallas makes me feel like I bonged a liter of Guatemalan tequila the night prior. (Aside: Why do people drink tequila? Nobody has ever woken up and said, "Hell yeah, love to drink Tequila!")

Zeke's theoretical employment under a sewer creature like Jerry Jones aside, those are quality Buckeye landing spots (and of course none of them are Cincinnati or Cleveland).

And yes, the 2016 NFL Draft (the one where Cleveland turns it around!) is going to liquidate this era of Buckeyes, but they'll be immortalized in the form of a collectible recruiting chip:

George Washington better watch his back. Millionaire Cardale Jones is coming for that No. 1 spot on the "Greatest American" list.

THE MOST MICHIGAN THING. The only way this could get more "Pure Michigan" is if this MSU-UM pregame tailgate featured the bold flavors of multiple kegs of Faygo and the tobacco-scorched croon of Kid Rock:

Bad news for Michigan fans: Not only is their coach a Cracker Barrel Loyalist, but their starting center appears to unironically enjoy Guy Fieri.

I honestly thought that was a felony.

THOSE WMDs. The Accused... The Heirs to Al Capone... When you first listen to Future vs. When you know Future's pain... Shrimp Boy's Day in Court... Waylp, Bye: Steve Spurrier Up and Left.

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