Skull Session: Real Life Wednesdays Help Recruiting, Eli Apple Proves a Scout Wrong, and Ohio State Goes to Court

By D.J. Byrnes on June 17, 2017 at 4:59 am
Jordan Fuller takes a drink for the June 17th 2017 Skull Session.
67 Comments

It's Saturday, but I'm your weekend editor so we're stuck in the asylum together until Monday.

It would be grand if no important Buckeye figure drove drunk this weekend. We're all about the slow and steady #offseason shifts at Eleven Warriors Worldwide LLC.

ICYMI:

Word of the Day: Unctuous.

 REAL LIFE RECRUITING. Ohio State's 2018 class could end Alabama's recruiting championship dynasty eight months from now, surpassing the marks of the Buckeyes' highly-touted 2017 class.

The Supreme '18 currently stands No. 2 in the country behind only Miami. But that's only because the Buckeyes' newest commitment isn't yet publicly known.

While the Buckeyes' winning traditions likely played a role, the deciding factor according to Urban Meyer was his Real Life Wednesday programs.

From cleveland.com:

By now you've probably heard about the "Real Life Wednesday" program Meyer offers his players. It's a weekly seminar Meyer holds by inviting a prominent, successful and influential people from the business world into the Woody Hayes Athletic Center to discuss real life topics that will impact a player's view of how the world works when football is no longer a reality. It seems simple enough on the surface, but this is deeper than listening to a speaker once a week.

And the depth of this program is the reason Ohio State is assembling recruiting classes that are better, deeper and more diverse than they've ever been. It's not the NFL Draft, the facilities, Ohio Stadium or the Nike Uniforms.

"We just got a prospect to commit that hasn't been announced," Meyer told cleveland.com during a one-on-one interview last month. "And you want to know his No. 1 reason for committing? Real Life Wednesday." 

As I always say: If a recruit can look at the total package offered by Meyer and Ohio State and say, "Nah!" Then touché. The Buckeyes will be okay in the long run.

 WHO'S EATING BAD NOW? During last year's draft cycle, a cowardly anonymous scout (redundant, I know) assassinated the character of Eli Apple for the high crimes of not being able to cook as a college student.

From nj.com:

"I worry about him because of off-the-field issues," an anonymous scout told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel last April. "The kid has no life skills. At all. Can't cook. Just a baby. He's not first round for me. He scares me to death."

Apple wasn't perfect his rookie year, but no rookies are. He's back with the Giants for Year 2, and he has a secret weapon this year: An improved diet.

Apple believes he'll be even better in Year 2 partly due to some dietary changes this offseason. The 21-year-old proudly announced that he can now make grilled cheese, but the bigger change has been cutting down on fried foods this offseason.

"When I was (training) in Arizona, I got with the people out there to make sure that I didn't eat too many fast foods because I was out there by myself without my mom," Apple said. "But when I came back I had to talk with my mom. I had a conversation with her, like, 'Listen, we can't go with the fried chicken all the time.' We kind of made little changes there with the diet and her cooking."

NFL players: They're just like us, except for that they're willing to give up fried food for large portions of the calendar year. 

 R.I.P. PROFITEERS. Ohio State would sue a fundraiser for a pediatric cancer victim if it profiteered on Block "O" cookies. But in the university's defense, it makes its policies known and will at least send a bunch of sternly-worded letters asking you to cease and desist.

Smart people usually heed these warnings. Other folks of questionable intelligence continue to forge forth despite being in the university's crosshairs. When that happens, it leads little choice but for the big dogs to enforce their trademarks.

From Tom Knox of Columbus Business First:

Ohio State first contacted Lamp Apparel in June 2013, citing shirts sold online that said "Fifty Shades of Scarlet & Grey" and an Instagram post by former Buckeye basketball player Jared Sullinger where he is wearing an "OS You" shirt. The university holds trademarks on the term "Scarlet & Gray," the "OSU" acronym and the scarlet and gray color combo when it's used adjacent to Ohio State.

Fifty Shades of Grey is a popular erotic book series.

Lawyers for Lamp Apparel, while not drawing any legal conclusions about whether Ohio State owns those trademarks, said the company would "cease from creating and selling any apparel containing Ohio State University indicia," according to lawsuit documents.

Attorneys for both sides swapped letters in the subsequent years until Wednesday, when the Columbus law firm often used in OSU trademark disputes, Dreitler True LLC, filed suit in federal court.

"Fifty Shades & Scarlet and Gray," eh? I too like to broadcast my favorite team and genre of pornography wherever I get a chance.

Hard to feel sympathy for a company getting its ass kicked when that company blew off multiple warnings about the impending ass kicking. 

 KENTUCKY CROSSES LINE. Kentucky's recruiting strategy is known. The Wildcats roll through Ohio and throw offers at youngsters with the intensity of a 1970s cigarette executive.

They recently offered Mike Doss' younger brother, which means they have crossed a line.

From scout.com:

Defensive back A.J. Kirk Jr. has never played a down of varsity football yet, as he just recently completed the eighth grade in Ohio. Kirk will attend Columbus Watterson High School next fall as a freshman. 

Only 14-years old, the younger brother of former Ohio State and NFL safety Mike Doss showed good size, the ability to change direction, and the competitiveness to battle older players. 

"Getting the offer from Kentucky was an amazing feeling, because this is something I've always wanted to accomplish," Kirk Jr. stated. "Being around these Kentucky coaches was great, and they treated me like one of their players."

And no, there's no way I'm overreacting to this because Mike Doss was the best high school player I saw live (yes, folks, that includes Justin Zwick).

 LOOK, YE MIGHTY, AND DESPAIR. All you parents who bought your kids gaming consoles instead of actually parenting played a role in Utah's newest scholarship program. Come take a bow:

My mediocre son might not be good enough to play quarterback at Ohio State like his old man. He damn well better be talented enough to earn a video game scholarship.

Otherwise, he better find a trade real quick.

 THOSE WMDs. Dick Pryor became the go-to guy when coaches change jobs... 7% of Americans think chocolate milk comes from brown cows... Emigrant soldiers from the ship Great Western... 25 Soviet anti-alcoholism posters... In search for new antibiotics, scientists hit pay dirt.

67 Comments
View 67 Comments