Tuesday Skull Session: Bosa's Evolution, Urban Meyer Grants a Wish, Tate Says Final Four Within Reach and More

By D.J. Byrnes on December 22, 2015 at 4:59 am
Jacoby Boren, Taylor Decker, and 1/3rd of Billy Price sing 'Carmen Ohio' after beating Illinois.
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ICYMI: The women's basketball team pasted Virginia, 93-73, on Monday night and Aaron Craft, a professional basketball player in Hungary, surprised his sister after the win.

 BIRTH OF BOSASAUR. Joey Bosa came to Ohio State as one of the most sought-after recruits in the country. He will leave as a potential No. 1 overall pick.

While it feels like it happened over night... that would ignore a history littered with "cant-miss" prospects who, for whatever reason, never reached the potential that seemed their birthright.

Here's Bosa in 2012:

Bosa in 2012

Bosa is an all-time great, but that picture makes me want to reach back through time and warn him his path leads to a Cleveland Browns jersey. 

From espn.com:

Under former position coach Mike Vrabel, Bosa's go-to "club-and-rip, wipe-down" was obviously effective, but the approach didn't match up to what Johnson views as the most effective way to pass rush. So Johnson, who was hired two years ago after a long, decorated career at Penn State, went right to work teaching Bosa the basic techniques that have turned him into a terror -- the side scissors, the double scissors, inside side scissors and the long arm.

All of them rely on generating power from the lower body, with the first three moves at their most basic describing the way a blocker's arms are attacked, pushing them away to help allow somebody like Bosa to get room to "lean, burst and accelerate" on the way to the quarterback. The long arm is essentially a bullish, power move -- and it's the one Bosa has made most famous by driving a perfectly-placed, extended arm into an opponent and driving them into the backfield. On multiple occasions, Bosa has taken them all the way into the lap of a quarterback, like he did with a walk-off sack at Penn State as a sophomore.

[...]

"Probably about 30 reps of doing it, he did it perfect," Johnson said. "He was eating it up. Anything brand new, it was like, more, more, more, more, more. Because he saw the results, he saw his hips got better, he understood it. It was, 'This stuff works at the highest level, just watch.'

I love the Browns, and I will probably die the night they win the Super Bowl. But watching them draft Joey Bosa would be like watching an innocent man catch the death penalty. 

 OHIO STATE GRANTS A WISH. Always good to see Ohio State partner with the Make-A-Wish foundation. This time a five-year-old Buckeye fan was the benefactor.

From USAToday.com:

Kevin Jones, who battled a blood disorder since the age of 1, was invited with his family tour the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, and Jones got to meet J.T. Barrett and Joey Bosa, sit in the locker room and even try on a few Ohio State championship rings.

Kevin then hit the practice field with head coach Urban Meyer, who surprised the family with tickets to the Fiesta Bowl to watch the Buckeyes play Notre Dame.

Well, there's only one thing for the Buckeyes to do now.

 WE'RE GOING STREAKING. The Basketbucks dumped Kentucky on Saturday, and it was a result only foreseen by support staff, players, coaches, and Rasputin. 

It was the equivalent of a double shot with breakfast—a game-changer. Is it possible to take the good vibes across the street to 14-0 Carryout and buy a winning lottery ticket? Yes, says sophomore forward Jae'Sean Tate:


An ancient parable invented in Marion: "A thousand mile journey begins with one step." Ohio State's next step is against Mercer tonight at 9 p.m. (Tim will be through with a preview at 8:35 a.m.)

 MICHIGAN HUNTING DUDES. Wolverine fans were all about that "three shutouts in a row" stat until the U.S.S. Ohio plowed through it like icebreaker in heat. 

D.J. Durkin is off to Maryland, and Michigan replaced him with Boston College's defensive coordinator, Don Brown. My interns crunched the numbers, and folks, if this guy is half as good with defense as he is with Photoshop then the Fun Zone may be dead.

Via @Landgrant33:

Bill Belichick endorsed the hire, and you know Belichick is legit because he hired Charlie Weis.

Cheap yukyuks aside, people who apparently watched Boston College this year say Brown is legit. Credit to Harbaugh. The Game exposed the gap between the two programs, and he responded with recruiting and an out-of-the-box hire for a key assistant vacancy.

Brown, like Jerry Kill before him, is a name I know from my days as a Montana student. Back in 2006, when playoffs were seen as a potential death knell to the FBS, Brown's Massachusetts Minutemen rolled into Missoula for a Saturday night playoff tilt.

The Minutemen left Washington-Grizzly Stadium with a victory, which is no easy feat. My lasting image of that game wasn't watching my team get Tresselized, but of the woman who yakked on my frozen feet midway through the second quarter. 

I can still smell the peach schnapps. 

Had that woman seen the future dominated by a Michigan defense led by Don Brown's wicked mustache? Perhaps, but it's going to take more than statistics to convince me Brown led "the best defense in the nation" last year. If that were true, his team wouldn't have finished 3-9.

 AMERICA: THIS IS SPARTA!!!! I said I'd ride with Oklahoma in the playoffs. I won't be salty if the Sooners win, but I can no longer hate on a Michigan State victory either.

From publicpolicypolling.org (via @DrPattiJones):

America is pulling for Michigan State to win the College Football Playoff. 26% of voters say they're pulling for the Spartans to 15% for Clemson, 13% for Alabama, and 10% for Oklahoma.

The results are in: America loves legendary college football coach Mike D'Antoni.

 GOOD RIDDANCE TO A BAD DUDE. Ohioan and Oakland Raider Charles Woodson, a man played so long you might think he witnessed an undisputed Michigan title, is retiring after this season.


I won't believe he retired until three seasons pass without him making an alien play against my teams.

 THOSE WMDs. The first website turned 25... Man allegedly defrauds DreamWorks by claiming he invented Kungfu Panda... Pandas love balls... Goodness, Yaya Touré... Little girl slays the Dab.

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