Skull Session: Big Ten Media Days, J.T. Barrett Talks Heisman Hype, and Braxton Miller Returns to the Shoe

By D.J. Byrnes on July 25, 2016 at 4:59 am
Mark Pantoni comments on the July 25th 2016 Skull Session
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Credit to Urban Meyer. Despite the undeniable fact Ohio State will lose at least four games this season, the historic 2017 class continued its warpath to National Signing Day over the weekend.

High four-star DE Chase Young committed during Friday Night Lights. High four-star — I love that "high four-star" is a thing in recruiting now — CB Amir Riep committed 24 hours later.

Oh, and the 2018 class picked up its first commitment in four-star Florida RB Brian Snead

Eleven Warriors' Friday Night Lights hub is over there.

 BIG TEN MEDIA DAYS DETAILS. Let's all take a moment to pour one out for the offseason. We almost escaped without facepalms, but thankfully the football season just appeared atop a white stallion on a distant cliff.

Big Ten Media Days is here, and BTN is offering midwest football straight from the muscle in the region's capital, where it looked like this last night:


Pat Elflein, Raekwon McMillan, and J.T. Barrett comprise Ohio State's athlete contingent. 

From a conference release:

CHICAGO –BTN and BTN2Go will provide more than 13 hours of live coverage at Big Ten Football Media Days in 2016. Coverage will include the press conferences of all 14 Big Ten head football coaches, as well as remarks by Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany.

From 1 p.m. ET through 3 p.m. ET on Monday, July 25, BTN will televise remarks from Pat Fitzgerald (Northwestern), Darrell Hazell (Purdue), Chris Ash (Rutgers), James Franklin (Penn State), Tracy Claeys (Minnesota), and Jim Harbaugh (Michigan). Immediately afterward, from 3 p.m. ET – 7 p.m. ET, the coaches and their students will visit the BTN set at Media Days for BTN Live, alongside Dave Revsine, Gerry DiNardo and Howard Griffith.

Press conference coverage resumes at 9 a.m. ET on Tuesday, July 26, when Lovie Smith (Illinois), Kevin Wilson (Indiana), Mark Dantonio (Michigan State), Paul Chryst (Wisconsin), DJ Durkin (Maryland), Kirk Ferentz (Iowa) and Urban Meyer (Ohio State) address the media. Delany follows the coaches, speaking at 11:20 a.m. ET.

BTN Live will return for a second-consecutive day, once again providing live coverage of the coaches and their students visiting the set from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. ET.

Nebraska will not attend as it mourns the tragic death of kicker Sam Foltz:


For up to the minute coverage, make sure to follow Eleven Warriors on Twitter, as well as our two venerable beat reporters: Eric Seger and Tim Shoemaker, who will be through in a couple of hours with an unofficial primer for the week's events.

 BARRETT ON HEISMAN HYPE. Las Vegas pegs J.T. Barrett at 12:1 odds, fourth overall, to win the 2016 Heisman. 

Many analysts and oracles predict big things for Barrett and Ohio State's offense, which rejuvenated last season when Ed Warinner moved to the box. I predict more stagnation for Barrett and Ohio State, who will lose four games this season.

Barrett, however, is aware of the hype.

From dispatch.com:

"It’s one of those things, you see it and you are honored to be part of (the discussion), seeing that it is a great fraternity to be a part of,” Barrett said. “But it’s not something you dwell upon too long, because you know that all of the work that has to be put in in order for those kinds of things to happen, it’s still ahead of you and your team.”

The odds on the gambling website Bovada show Barrett tied for fourth at 12-1 in the Heisman race with Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield and Florida State running back Dalvin Cook. They are behind LSU running back Leonard Fournette (4-1), Clemson quarterback DeShaun Watson (9-2) and Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey (11-2).

[...]

“When you see a watch list or anything like that, you’re definitely grateful for being recognized for the things you’ve done in past seasons … but when you look at the guys who have won them, I think they’re guys who were all about team first, winning and doing the best they can to help their team,” Barrett said. “That’s how I focus on it.”

Shoutout to the delusional Ohio State fans and misguided bettors placing real money on J.T. Barrett to win the Heisman. I haven't seen a pyre of money like that since Michigan paid Brady Hoke millions of dollars to coach its football team.

 AND JUST LIKE THAT, HE'S GONE. Folks, the space-time continuum is wild. It seems like just yesterday — back when Ohio State was good, kids — we talked ourselves into Joe Bauserman's moxie over a rawly talented Braxton Miller.

I'm here to report that was five years ago, actually. A lot can happen in five years. An athletic dynamo can salvage respect from a lost season, pilot a record-shattering offense, and get drafted as a wide receiver.

From Ohio State Football's Instagram, what could be our last look at Braxton Miller doing football things in the Shoe, where he appeared at Friday Night Lights:

 

Also liked this tweet from an Ohio State recruiting staffer:

Bon voyage, Braxton. You were a legendary touchdown maker.

 DAILY POKÉMON GO SAFETY PSA. I played Pokémon Go for a week and saw a fatal motorcycle accident, Marc Loving riding a hoverboard past the 13th Avenue Subway, a skunk rolling around outside the psychology building, and learned Capital's campus like the back of my hand.

I did not get mistaken for a bank robber, however.

From Iowa defensive end Faith Ekakitie:

What's wild to me is Ekakitie looks nothing like Kirk Ferentz, who is still at large after staging the largest bank heist in Iowa history.

 LET ME HOLD $20, TOMMY. The Big 12 will expand soon, and Houston is reportedly a lock. When that goes down, everyone run to the bar, order a swanky cocktail from the bearded gentleman wearing suspenders and put it on the founder of MENSA's tab.

From cardiaccoogs.com:

Houston head football coach has signed a contract extension which will raise his base salary to $2.8 million per season (not counting bonuses). Herman is due to receive a $5 million bonus if the Cougars are accepted into a Power 5 conference.

Not a bad payday for single-handedly engineering Houston's move into the Big 12. Hopefully, Houston's promotion satiates Herman's coaching ambitions until 30 minutes after Urban Meyer resigns in disgrace after Ohio State loses by three touchdowns at Maryland.

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