BOOM
Ohio State lands a transfer commitment from former South Carolina transfer safety Keenan Nelson Jr.
Welcome to the Skull Session.
— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) April 29, 2024
Feed him.
Have a good Tuesday.
BROTHERS? In the second and third rounds of the 2024 NFL draft, the Cleveland Browns selected Ohio State defensive tackle Mike Hall (No. 54 overall) and Michigan offensive lineman Zak Zinter (No. 85 overall).
On Saturday, Hall and Zinter sat next to each other for their introductory press conferences. Once on opposite sides of the greatest rivalry in all of sports, the former Buckeye and Wolverine were now teammates. That means both must set aside their differences and work toward a common goal in Cleveland.
However, before that could occur, Hall and Zinter had to address an unfortunate event that involved both players last fall.
When Ohio State faced Michigan in the 119th edition of The Game, Hall fell on Zinter's leg, inadvertently breaking his left tibia and fibula. The injury ended Zinter's college career as the Wolverines went on to win the [REDACTED].
Zinter said there’s “no hard feelings.”
“He's a great dude, and it's football, stuff happens in the trenches,“ Zinter said of Hall. “I'm fired up (to play with him), and I think everything happens for a reason. So, just kind of a full-circle moment for that to happen and now we're going to be teammates.”
Zinter then said his doctors cleared him to participate in the Browns’ rookie minicamp in two weeks, so he looks forward to his one-on-one reps against Hall.
“Being my rival throughout my career and finally being teammates here, it's crazy,” Zinter explained. “I'll see him day in and day out. But we're brothers now, and it's all about that.”
Hall echoed Zinter's sentiments.
"We were enemies in college, but we're brothers,” Hall said. “Now we're brothers and teammates.”
The Browns' social media team had some fun with the word brothers this week. Soon after Hall and Zinter's press conference, the Browns posted this picture to Facebook, Instagram and X:
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) April 27, 2024
Perfect meme. 10/10. No notes.
TROY SMITH GOLF SCRAMBLE. This week, former Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith announced he will host “The Troy Smith Celebrity Golf Scramble” on Aug. 12 at The Golf Club at Little Turtle.
Bringing Buckeyes together to support OSU NIL athletes while also bringing attention to Mental Health. @troystourney #GoBucks
— Troy Smith (@yn_TroySmith) March 9, 2024
https://t.co/zAv9DRq8Og pic.twitter.com/8EtX5ktTxw
According to a Troy’s Tournament press release, Smith’s event “brings together supporters of Ohio State University NIL athletes” and will “champion the cause of mental health awareness,” as a portion of the event’s proceeds will benefit Harry Miller’s mental health non-profit.
Here is some need-to-know info about the event:
Schedule
- 8 a.m. - Registration opens at The Golf Club at Little Turtle
- 9 a.m. - Breakfast / Warm-ups / Contests
- 10:45 a.m. - Introduction
- 11 a.m. - Scramble
- Noon - Lunch (Served on the course)
- 4:30 p.m. Award ceremony and live auction
- 5 p.m. - Happy Hour
Cost
- Single Golfer - $1,000
- Two Golfers - $2,000
- Three Golfers - $3,000
- Four Golfers - $4,000
- Celebrity Guest as your golfer - $6,000
- Troy Smith as your fourth - $7,500
Celebrities who will attend the event include former Texas running back Ricky Williams and former Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel. Troy’s Tourney, an X account for the scramble, also mentioned that several Ohio State football legends will commit to the event this week; Smith announced the first two of those former Buckeyes on Monday, revealing that Ted Ginn Jr. and Braxton Miller will both participate in the golf outing.
Honored to have @h_miller76 s support& involvement in @troystourney His courage in speaking out about mental health challenges serves as a beacon of hope and inspiration for us all.
— Troy Smith (@yn_TroySmith) April 29, 2024
Proud to announce our first serious Buckeye celebs @TedGinnJr_19 & @braxtonmiller5 !! pic.twitter.com/BYiO0ijhZM
All in all, Troy Smith’s Celebrity Golf Scramble sounds like it will be a fun morning and afternoon on the links at a beautiful golf course!
IT’S IN THE GAME. Matt Brown of Extra Points is the resident expert on EA Sports College Football 25. This week, Brown reported that EA will release multiple versions of the video game, each with a different cover athlete.
The term cover athlete is important here.
According to Brown, each cover athlete will be a current college football player from a different power conference. That means we could see a World Famous Ohio State Buckeye on the cover of the first college football video game released in over a decade.
I’ve been making calls of my own, and I can share some details to help everybody narrow their guesses a bit, thanks to multiple conversations I’ve had with multiple individuals with direct familiarity with EA’s cover choices. I can share that:
There are multiple cover athletes, since EA is releasing multiple versions of the video game.
Each cover athlete is a current college football player who plays in a different power conference. There was plenty of internet speculation that the cover athlete could potentially be a coach (Nick Saban?), or any number of athletes that played during the years the game was not released (previous Heisman winners?) or even fans/mascots (the Oregon Duck?!?). Those were reasonable guesses, but I’ve been told that the athletes will be current athletes…people you will see play actual college football this season.
The athletes all play different positions. That means there’s only one quarterback, one running back, etc.
Which Ohio State player would you want to see on the cover of EA Sports College Football 25? ...
... TreVeyon Henderson? Quinshon Judkins? Emeka Egbuka? Jack Sawyer? JT Tuimoloau? Tyleik Williams? Denzel Burke? Caleb Downs?
... Other?
ON THE MOVE. Last week, Eleven Warriors was all hands on deck covering Ohio State men’s basketball transfer portal news (Roddy Gayle to Michigan, Scotty Middleton to Seton Hall, Felix Okpara to Tennessee and Bowen Hardman to Akron) and the 2024 NFL draft.
With our attention directed in those areas, we missed a couple of updates for Ohio women's basketball, including Diana Collins’ commitment to Alabama and Emma Shumate’s commitment to Michigan State. On Monday, Rikki Harris joined Collins and Shumate on the commitment train, announcing she will transfer to Dayton for her final season of college basketball.
If you want to know more about these moves and their impact, let me break it down for you:
That's just a "break it down" joke I've seen in Instagram comment sections in recent weeks. Whenever I see it, I laugh. But anyway – back to business.
Collins announced she would transfer to Alabama last week after one year at Ohio State. This past season, Collins appeared in 18 games for the Buckeyes and averaged three points and 1.2 rebounds per game. She scored a career-high 10 points in Ohio State's 90-60 win over Northwestern on Jan. 5.
The No. 70 overall recruit in the 2023 class, according to ESPN, Collins could have competed for a role in Ohio State's backcourt rotation next season. However, a role was far from guaranteed, as the Buckeyes will return Madison Greene, Kennedy Cambridge and Kaia Henderson at guard in 2024-25. They also added No. 2 overall prospect Jaloni Cambridge and No. 52 overall prospect Ava Watson in the 2024 class, as well as Oregon transfer Chance Gray from the portal.
Shumate announced her commitment to the Spartans last week after two years with the Buckeyes. The Dresden, Ohio, native contributed off the bench in each of the past two seasons and appeared in 58 games. She averaged 2.8 points and shot 33.6% from the 3-point line in her Ohio State career.
Like Collins, Shumate could have contended for a role in Ohio State's backcourt in 2024-25. Still, she decided it was best for her basketball future to move on to another program. That program will be Michigan State, where the 6-foot-1 guard could end up facing her former team multiple times.
Harris had the largest role at Ohio State of the trio. This past season, she appeared in all but one game for Ohio State, coming off the bench and contributing 4.4 points and 1.7 rebounds in 17.3 minutes per contest. An Indianapolis native, Harris will split the distance (kind of) between her hometown and previous school, joining a Flyers squad that went 12-19 overall in 2023-24.
SONG OF THE DAY. “Por Ti Volare” - Will Farrell, John C. Reilly in “Step Brothers”
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