Psst ... June is over (!) which means there's just over a month until Ohio State opens up fall camp for the 2016 season — 32 days to be exact. The Eleven Warriors Offseason Mailbag is here in the meantime to bridge that gap.
Any current commits/targets that you think will see a rise in ranking from their Opening performances? — CincyBuckeye
Since The Opening starts Thursday (and 7-on-7s kick off today) with the Elite 11 out at Nike's world headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, I figured this was a good place to start.
My initial thought to answer this question was offensive tackle Jake Moretti, but he will not compete at The Opening finals because of a knee injury. I saw that guy battle at the Columbus regional in May and came away impressed. He is still highly ranked — every player in the class is — but I think working against the nation's premier defensive line talent would have boosted his ranking a bit.
The same goes for Brendon White. He tore it up at the Columbus regional and is a freak athlete capable of playing multiple positions. Once talent evaluators see the way he grew into his body this spring and summer and the work he put in, I could see his numbers rise. I also like Marcus Willamson — for some reason, it seems like he is the forgotten member of the 2017 recruiting class. Expect him to try and change that in Oregon.
Any new commitments at The Opening this week/weekend? — MN Buckeye
I am not plugged into things on the recruiting trail like the Lord Of Whispers, so I can't say this with as much confidence as he would but I really don't think anyone commits to Ohio State this weekend. Of the remaining targets left on Ohio State's board, none are scheduled to announce their future intentions in Oregon. Plus, the Buckeyes already have a staggering 14 players committed in the 2017 class.
However, anything can happen in recruiting so I'll pick three players I think could commit (but really, it won't happen). My three: Wide receiver Tyjon Lindsey, safety Jeffrey Okudah and cornerback Lamont Wade because ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
**Plea: Please don't get mad at me when none of these come to fruition or someone else pledges to Ohio State that I didn't mention. I literally just picked three names that don't have commitment dates set yet but know the Buckeyes lead for them. If they do commit, Crying Jordan me as you must.
Toughest conference road game for the Bucks this season — Wisconsin, Maryland, or Michigan State? — GrandTheftHarley
I'm surprised — OK, I'm not all that surprised actually — you did not mention Penn State in your question. Everyone is down on James Franklin, and rightly so, but it is not easy playing at Beaver Stadium under the lights. I've never been to Wisconsin or Oklahoma, but standing on the field during the double overtime game in 2014 was insane. I legitimately feared for my life had the Nittany Lions won because their fans were totally rushing the field and the number of security guards present to save me was low.
Anyway, to answer your question I will give a slight edge to Michigan State over Wisconsin because the last time the Spartans hosted the Buckeyes, they lost. Plus, I think Mark Dantonio's club is better than what Paul Chryst has going for him up in Madison. Believe me, though, it is close. Camp Randall gets wild for night games.
To me, the biggest mystery man this season is Malcolm Pridgeon. "Biggest," in more ways than one. UFM rarely goes the JUCO route - so I find it hard to believe the plan is to do anything else but play him. That is, assuming he's as good as coaches Studrawa and Warinner thought he was when they convinced UFM to take him.
I'm guessing he's on campus and attending offseason workouts, etc. Have you heard anything about him at all? — Buckeye Phi
Great question, one that I wondered to myself last week because I remembered Urban Meyer saying on Signing Day Pridgeon "had some work to do in the classroom" before heading west to Ohio. Pridgeon is on campus, as evident by this tweet from his junior college coach, Joe Osovet:
Malcolmn Pridgeon is officially at
— Joe Osovet (@CoachOsovet) June 26, 2016
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
Way to get it done academically proud of you!
pic.twitter.com/YWN4HEAQDp
That is a screengrab of an image from Pridgeon's Snapchat showing his new locker at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. Pridgeon had to finish up some courses at Nassau Community College before he could officially transfer to Ohio State and it appears that happened.
The team had an extended weekend off from workouts for the Fourth Of July but returned Tuesday. Pridgeon should be there with his new teammates. As far as expectations for the offensive tackle this season, I'll leave you with Meyer's quote from Signing Day. Whether or not you choose to believe it is up to you.
We don't recruit junior college — nothing against junior college guys, but we try to build from the youth up. And they kept telling me about this player, offensive tackle from Nassau, and I saw his size and watched the videotape, very impressive guy. He has some work to do in the classroom yet. He came on his visit and stole everybody's heart. Everybody that met him, you guys will love him when he gets here. He's a 6'7", 320-pound guy that's interested in culinary arts. Like, really.
And just a great young man, and our offensive line, Pat Elflein and I went to dinner with him, and Ed and Stud, and you'll really enjoy him. What's that mean? We don't recruit a junior college guy to sit. He's a three for two, but we hope to get him here in June and compete for a starting spot.
tl;dr: Pridgeon will play in 2016, provided he takes care of business in the classroom and stays healthy.
At the end of the year who has the most carries from the RB position? Gut Feeling: Who will have more rushing yards? - J.T. Barrett, Mike Weber, Bri'onte Dunn, or Curtis Samuel? — BuckeyeMan and Neo
Mike Weber, for both questions. My gut tells me Weber eventually wrestles the starting job away from Bri'onte Dunn for good by midseason and gets plenty of touches.
You're in a college fantasy football league. You've got the next pick. What offensive player for the Buckeyes not named J.T. Barrett are you taking? — 13Buckeye
This is a really intriguing question and I have to admit it I pondered on it for a while. Like, it is the last question I answered, while. I intend to answer with the caveat that I am not good a fantasy football at all, but here it goes.
Noah Brown.
The easy answer is Curtis Samuel due to his speed and versatility, but I think Brown is primed for a breakout year. He lost the weight Meyer wanted him to lose from his freshman year, plus his teammates and coaches still spoke highly of him this spring as he continued to rehab his broken leg.
Barrett needs someone dependable to throw the ball to now that Michael Thomas plays for the New Orleans Saints. Brown is my guy.
What happens if the basketball team doesn't make the second round of the NCAAs this year? — BuckeyeMan
As a few other 11Wers pointed out, all hell would break loose on the site in the form of the hashtag #FireThadMatta.
I think the Buckeyes will make the Tournament and do some damage next March — the recruiting class is solid, the addition of Chris Jent back to the coaching staff is an excellent move by Matta and it appears JaQuan Lyle is taking the necessary steps to be "the man" as a sophomore.
However, if Ohio State does not make the second round of the NCAA Tournament this coming season, Gene Smith could think long and hard about what he expects from his basketball program and if Matta and Co. are the right people to get it there. Then he would probably move on with his day.
Matta's contract runs through July 2019, he does things the right way and has made the Buckeyes contenders pretty much since he accepted the head coaching position. I don't think he is going anywhere anytime soon unless he retires because his body does not allow him to physically do the job anymore.
In your opinion, put the following in order of most likely to least likely to happen this coming season (for the sake of argument, only consider the 12-game regular season): J.T. Barrett hits 3,000 yards passing, a 1,000-yard rusher, a 1,000-yard receiver, a player with 12+ sacks. — JohnnyKozmo
My order: a 1,000-yard rusher, Barrett hits 3,000 yards passing, a player with 12+ sacks, a 1,000-yard receiver.
Ohio State is going to run the ball and as I already stated I think Weber will eventually get the lion's share of the carries so it is most likely he'll hit the 1,000-yard mark. The other three choices were tough to pick from. First, 3,000 yards passing is not easy (Barrett didn't even hit that in the national championship run), 12+ sacks is even more difficult (just six players in the entire country had more than 12 in 2015) and Ohio State's receiving corps is extremely unproven. That is why I put them in the order I did.
Over the course of the season, what percentage of snaps will QBs not named J.T. Barrett receive? — AboyNamedTracy
I think the only way another quarterback sees significant snaps is if Barrett gets hurt, which is not out of the ordinary with his injury history and how much Ohio State's offense utilizes the quarterback run.
However, I'll say 10 percent. Ohio State should win some games going away, and I know Urban Meyer wants to see what Joe Burrow and Dwayne Haskins can do.
Who leads the team in sacks this year? — SoulPatrol32
Though Tyquan Lewis led the Buckeyes with 8.0 sacks in 2015, my pick is Sam Hubbard. The redshirt sophomore came on at the end of the year and is extremely athletic. Both of those guys will be a terror for Larry Johnson's defensive lin in 2016, but I think Hubbard beats Lewis by a nose for the team sack title.
2017 NBA Championship - Golden State or The Field? — RubixTube
The Field, because it contains a team that employs a guy named LeBron James. I didn't believe Cleveland was going to do what they did in the NBA Finals last month because Golden State had a historical season, but shame on me for that. Shame, shame, shame on me.
As a result, I'll never not believe in what James can do with a healthy roster that includes Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and any other player he adds to the roster. On paper, the Warriors are ridiculous with the addition of Kevin Durant. I am anxious to see how it meshes together.
Side bar: I did my best to stay off Twitter Monday both because of the holiday and all the #takes about Durant's decision to head west were too hot to handle. I wanted him to stay in Oklahoma City because one of my favorite things to do was watch him and Russell Westbrook tear people apart with this big-brother, little-brother relationship to prove doubters wrong. Plus, Durant built that franchise (with help from Westbrook) and was 48 minutes away from beating the Warriors this season on three separate occasions to advance to The Finals.
However, how can we blame a guy that wants to win a championship? Or multiple championships? In today's day and age, all anybody does is rank the "best players ever" and mostly does it off the number of titles they won. Then you have people saying the two James got with Dwyane Wade in Miami are tainted because he did it with a Super Team. I get that, but a championship is a championship. It ain't easy to win one.
You do you, KD. Nine years is an eternity with the same team in the NBA and foot issues forced him to miss 55 games in the 2014-15 season. Your window to win is only so long.
OK, I'll shut up now. Thanks for your questions.
