Word of the day: Troubadour.
ICYMI: Spring game tickets go on sale today. General admission is $5 and students get in free.
HERE COMES PRIDGEON. Looking back on the 2016 season, losing JUCO four-star transfer OT Malcolm Pridgeon may have ultimately been a decisive blow. At the very least, the 6-8, 328-pounder could've played tackle or guard for a team that lacked a dependable right tackle and started a true freshman guard.
Coming into 2017, he has his eyes on that right tackle spot currently held by former five-star prospect Isaiah Prince. He's also aware he could end up playing inside if that's where the team should need him.
From theozone.net:
Even though he considers himself an offensive tackle, Urban Meyer has already talked to him about the need for the five best players to play, which could mean that somebody isn't in their preferred spot. The Buckeyes do have a right guard spot wide open right now, and Pridgeon could find himself involved there as well.
"I was talking about it with Coach Meyer," he said. "I’m definitely a tackle all the way but gotten aware of all five positions, which I feel I can master."
Starting tackles Jamarco Jones and Isaiah Prince both return in 2017, and while Jones is in no danger of losing his spot, there are those who believe Prince could find himself in a battle with Pridgeon to retain his starting right tackle position.
Pridgeon, at worst, should be a guy who can play crucial spot minutes and be a dependable backup should OSU suffer a rare Slob injury. I'm not ready to give up on Prince, but a lot of fans will expect Pridgeon to start against Indiana.
MIKE THOMAS BLOWS UP. The New Orleans Saints selected Michael Thomas with the 47th overall pick in the second round of last year's NFL Draft. Thomas has said he felt teams slept on him, and he proved it. If they re-drafted, Thomas would probably be the first receiver taken.
Instead, he fell to a position where his dedication to technique can thrive in a dome with a super-accurate, future Hall of Fame quarterback in Drew Brees.
From profootballfocus.com:
After only one season, that consensus has changed. Leading all rookies in yards, catches, touchdowns and broken tackles tends to do that. Not only did Thomas establish himself as the top rookie wide receiver in the NFL, but he also took over as Drew Brees’ go-to receiver by the end of the season. Thomas’ 119 targets were six more than former first-round pick Brandin Cooks and the rookie caught 77.3 percent of his targets compared to 63.6 percent for Cooks.
The question then becomes, how did a receiver who ran a pedestrian 4.57, 40-yard dash at the combine and didn’t top 800 yards in any season at Ohio State establish himself an overnight success in the NFL? The answer is that New Orleans recognized the rookie’s strengths and played to them. What he may lack in long speed, Thomas makes up for in suddenness. And at 6-foot-3, 212 pounds, Thomas is already one of the most physically imposing receivers in the NFL. Those two attributes combine to make him a weapon on quick underneath routes and a consistent chain-mover.
I told y'all to draft Thomas in your computer football leagues because Brees and Saints head coach Sean Payton both raved about him in training camp. Guys like that don't go out of their way to praise rookies before they've seen live action.
THE EXCEPTION. Meyer redshirts more freshmen than he wants. Historically, teams leaning on freshmen can't reach the sport's pinnacle (see: Ohio State, 2016).
If it happens this year in a flood, it could be an indictment on player development... especially among the 2015 class that Meyer and Mickey Marotti battered on National Signing Day by comparing the current roster to an Oreo (hard on the outside, soft in the middle).
From norwalkreflecter.com:
Starting Michael Jordan on the offensive line last year was a failure of other player development more than a demand to get Jordan on the field. Urban Meyer said as much, though obviously Jordan deserves all the credit in the world for holding down that job.
There could be one freshman, however, that not only contributes but starts. And he hails from the Lone Star State.
He's Jeffrey Okudah, a cornerback from Texas, and a recruit that everyone knows. This is not a unique opinion. But at Ohio State, I don't want to see true freshmen in critical roles. And I want to see this guy and expect to see him.
Starting, game one, Aug. 31, at Indiana.
"They said they wanted me to come in mentally ready to play as a freshman," Okudah said on National Signing Day. "And they'll get me physically ready."
Okudah and Kendall Sheffield, another four-star JUCO transfer, would make a helluva tandem. With the CB assembly line Kerry Coombs has rolling right now, I could talk myself into two walk-ons being a "helluva tandem" with three sips of alcohol.
THE NEXT BIG THING. We all know about the #teen menace plaguing humanity (outside of those who attend or plan to attend Ohio State, naturally).
From Snapchat-orchestrated brawls at malls to threatening to assassinate Austrian Foreign minister Sebastian Kurz, our side never lacks boogeyman.
Here is our latest target: Mater Dei sophomore J.T. Daniels.
From espn.com:
"If you and I went to his locker right now," said [Bruce] Rollinson, who has coached for 28 years at Mater Dei (Santa Ana, California), "we would find six huge notebooks, completely full. He does not come into a meeting without taking copious notes."
Daniels is just the latest at Mater Dei, following in the steps of Matt Leinart and Matt Barkley. In two years, Daniels has shattered the career yardage and touchdown records of every passer to attend high school in the QB haven of Orange County.
As college programs wrapped the Class of 2017 last week and attention in recruiting moved swiftly forward, this 6-foot-1, 210-pound QB in the Class of 2019 already has captured the attention of recruiters -- as much for his attitude toward the game as his nearly unfathomable numbers.
The 16-year-old has offers from California to Michigan, USC, and Alabama. It will be hilarious if he ends up in the Shoe on a cold day in late November.
EARLY 20TH CENTURY LOOKS LIT. Flashback to 1901, when folks got churched up to sit around a man-made(?) puddle on campus.
From @UDHCMH:
This pic might delude you into seeing 1901 as a simpler, more civilized time. But then you remember the cane rushes.
THOSE WMDs. Jedi Council after action review... Why you should vacation in Columbus... JP Morgan accused of nickel-and-diming jurors with debit cards... Seattle aquarium cancels octopus sex act due to cannibalism concerns... Chillin: The Columbus Chill music video.
