Skull Session: Slobs Focus on Mentality, Buckeyes Hit the Links, and Dayton a Sleeper for Dane Goodwin

By D.J. Byrnes on June 22, 2017 at 4:59 am
Kevin Wilson demands form from the June 22 2017 Skull Session
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After yesterday's Summer Solstice, today marks our annual descent into eventual darkness at 5 p.m. ET, which is an abomination that tires me more and more every year.

Maybe one day I'll get smart and cover the local team from Peru or somewhere else cheap and warm with a favorable exchange rate.

At least Buckeyes and Browns football draws closer.

ICYMI:

Word of the Day: Prestidigitation

 SLOB MENTALITY. Ohio State football players are in the part of the offseason calendar where headlines are usually earned with bad decisions. 

But just because the Buckeyes aren't in season doesn't mean they can't work on their craft. For example, the offensive line has been hitting the film in their spare time.

From dispatch.com:

“There’s a lot of film prep going on right now,” said Billy Price, who will be a four-year starter making the switch, as Elflein did last year, from guard to center. “For instance, Matt Burrell and I will look at certain formations we like to run plays out of. If they present this type of defense, how do we react? There are a lot of what-if scenarios that are being addressed to make sure that we are comfortable with those looks.”

Burrell is one of the candidates for the right guard spot vacated by Price. Asked about a front-runner there, Price was coy.

“Yeah, I’ve got an idea, but I can’t tell you,” he said with a smile. “I’m pretty confident in what we have going forward.”

Doubt Price would spend his time studying formations with a guy he figures to be riding the pine in crunch time. With it being Burrell it means the Virginian has tightened up his circle off-the-field as Price requested earlier this year.

That all bodes well for the offensive line this year, which bodes well for Ohio State and Mike Weber:

We already know what the defensive line has in store. If the offensive line returns to Slob status, it's championship or bust for Meyer's team.

 BUCKEYES HIT THE LINKS. Offseason bonding continued Wednesday afternoon when the local team hit (what I assume to be) the Jack Nicklaus-designed Scarlet Course. (If it's not Scarlet it's definitely Green Acres in Marion.)

From the Ohio State Twitter account:

Kevin Wilson and Jalyn Holmes
Kevin Wilson and Jalyn Holmes
Ryan Day and Parris Campbell
Ryan Day and Parris Campbell.
G.O.A.T.
Urban Meyer.
Brady Taylor
Brady Taylor

Worth noting: There are always winners and losers under Meyer. Safe to think anybody pictured here is also handling their business this offseason.

Let's hope the national media is asleep at the wheel. I want the Buckeyes coming into the season with a No. 16 ranking.

 DANE TO DAYTON? Four-star 2018 Upper Arlington guard Dane Goodwin committed to Ohio State as a freshman back in December 2014.

Goodwin will consider Ohio State going forward while other schools will remain wild cards. One competitor to watch will be Dayton, despite the loss of Archie Miller to Indiana.

From daytondailynews.com:

Zach Fleer of Columbus-based 270Hoops.com broke the decommitment story and called UD a potential suprise player for the senior-to-be.

Goodwin told this news outlet in January he had not received a scholarship offer from then-UD coach Archie Miller, who left to become head coach at Indiana in March. He was replaced by Anthony Grant, a teammate of the elder Goodwin.

“Growing up we spent a lot of time (at UD),” he said. “Obviously, with my dad going there it’s a special school. We play (basketball) all the time. We post up and go one-on-one. He’s a good mentor to me and helps out a lot with my game. He’s my role model.”

The Gem City is a fine city, and Dayton did it right with the arena. I could see how a man could be persuaded.

 ILLINOIS: MORE OF THE SAME. Ohio State hosts Illinois in what amounts to a tune-up the week before The Game in Ann Arbor. Don't worry, friends, Lovie Smith's team will probably look a lot like the team that went 3-9 in 2016.

From Bill Connelly of sbnation.com:

2016 wasn’t a full-on Year Zero situation, but it wasn’t far from that. The offense juggled QBs, dealt with inconsistency virtually everywhere, and couldn’t do the things its coordinator wanted. The defense was experienced up front and terribly green everywhere else; in year two, it faces the opposite predicament. Plus, per the 247Sports Composite, Smith’s first recruiting class ranked just 46th and 10th in the Big Ten and featured zero four-star recruits, and quite a few underclassmen left in the offseason.

There’s no guarantee this gets better, in other words. Illinois ranked 95th in S&P+ and won three games last year and projects only 85th with four wins this year. The Illini have a better than 40 percent chance of winning in only three games, with a bunch in the 20-40 range.

If Smith can build continuity, and if McGee can find what he’s looking for, then maybe there’s hope. There are just enough explosive guys that you can see promise if you squint. But it’s hard to predict huge things for 2017.

Spoiler: Illinois ain't winning anything. Old folks tell me the Illini used to be respectful but like civilization without cell phones I don't believe it.

 MARYLAND MAY HAVE SOME WORK TO DO. Maryland offered Michael Robertson, a 2020 wide receiver from Greenville, Georgia, on Wednesday. Turns out the Terps may have some work to do on their brand #identity in this talented teen's mind:

Gotta love 'crooting.

 THOSE WMDs. Quentin Tarantino oral history as told by men I dated... Battling #brands online has gained urgency, impact... CIA fired contractors for stealing $3K from vending machines... The woman who hunts down GoFundMe fraud... Media startups use unpaid students to lower cost.

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