Skull Session: Ohio State Spring Game Advanced Statistics, a Final Look at Jim Tressel's Recruiting, and a Way-Too-Early 2017 Mock Draft (LOL)

By D.J. Byrnes on May 3, 2016 at 4:59 am
Tyquan Lewis is eying the May 3rd 2016 Skull Session
Tyquan Lewis
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ICYMI:

 SPRING GAME (ADVANCED) STATS, BABY! The internet revolutionized football fandom. How do we know this? Because film sites are charting spring games. Here are some key numbers from Gray's 28-17 thumping of Scarlet.

J.T. Barrett probably isn't going to tell his grandkids about that performance. 

Happy Jamarco's arms are so long they could qualify as jousts. My advice to opposing defensive ends would be to find a leprechaun flute to lure and imprison a leprechaun between now and game time, because they're going to need luck.

Happy Jamarco, Billy Price, Pat Elflein, and Non-Crying Michael Jordan is a formidable combination. Throw in Malcolm Pridgeon or Isaiah Prince and you have a line that will knock skulls when the chips come down. 

Dre'Mont Jones might have a higher ceiling than Adolphus Washington.

 TALKIN' TRESSEL. Though Tatgate feels like it happened in 1995, it's equally surreal Jim Tressel no longer has a claim to Ohio State's talent pool.

And though Tress didn't win a championship with a team made up of a majority of players he recruited, he did recruit key pieces to two championship Ohio State teams over a decade apart, which probably tips the recruiting scales to Tressel over John Cooper.

From buckeyesports.com:

24
Northeast Ohio produced 24 of Tressel’s draftees, by far the most among the regions of the state. He found 11 future pros in southwest Ohio with four in central Ohio and two in the northwest corner of the state. The 2011 class followed this pattern nicely with three from the northeast, two from the southwest and one from central. 

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Twenty-nine percent of Tressel’s Ohio State signees were drafted by NFL teams. While Cooper signed more future draftees (73 to 63), his draft percentage (27) was slightly lower. 

33
One third (or 33 percent) of the 2011 class’ draftees went to high school in Ohio.  

Could you imagine if Jim Tressel coached those Cooper teams? Ohio State may never have lost.

 WAY-TOO-EARLY MOCK DRAFT (LOL). Mock drafts are dumb, especially a year ahead of a draft, but I wanted to mark this one because Ohio State will have more than two players drafted in next year's draft. Fave this Tweet.

From cbssports.com:

PICK  TEAM  PLAYER COMMENT
27 CINCINNATI BENGALS RAEKWON MCMILLAN Rey Maualuga and Karlos Dansby aren't getting any younger and Vontaze Burfict is always a wild card so a talented linebacker like McMillan could be in play.
31 SEATTLE SEAHAWKS PAT ELFLEIN One of the few Ohio State underclassmen who passed on the NFL to return to Columbus, Elflein is a two-year starter at guard who will move to center in 2016.

Pat Elflein and Raekwon McMillan may not be among them, although McMillan's chances will be higher than Elflein, who will be hampered by questions of his size.

Gareon Conley, Noah Brown, Jamarco Jones, Sam Hubbard and Tyquan Lewis (in no order) are the names I'm watching.

 SATELLITE UP. This was reported yesterday but is something that could be announced today:

If the inclusion of T.C.U. surprises you, just remember it's easier to recruit against Gary Patterson than Tom Herman, who founded MENSA in 1947 before immigrating to Columbus, Ohio the following year. 

 A GUY DRAFT'S HIS FRIEND'S GUYS. Despite a glaring need at guard, the New Orleans Saints drafted Michael Thomas and Vonn Bell in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft. It may have been due in part to no Urban Meyer-coached guard being available.

From espn.com:

The Saints' Buckeye love was partly coincidence. But coach Sean Payton said it didn't hurt that he has a good relationship with Ohio State coach Urban Meyer.

"He and I have been friends for a long time," Payton said. "I think [that] matters some. ... Urban and I came up out of the Midwest at the same time. He was at Colorado State as an assistant and I was at San Diego State recruiting the same areas, and over the years [we] have just always kind of stayed in touch."

He got two perfect pieces for his system too.

 THOSE WMDs. Credit bureaus were the NSA of the 19th century... Broadcaster Steve Kerr and Warriors exec Jerry West talk Draymond Green in 2012... The skills of Leonardo DeVinci... Cruising through the end of the world... Truckers train to rescue sex slaves on the road.

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