One of the greatest trivia factoids about this site is that I – the man without a rudimentary understanding of the English language – covered Urban Meyer's introductory press conference. (2011 was a wild year.)
Yesterday, I got back to my journalistic roots — I attended OSU media day because nobody ran a background check on me. Here are my takes:
- Mickey Marotti's greatness can't be appreciated until you see his projects without pads. Darius Slade, a guy still fighting for time, looks like he could rip a tree out of the ground with his hands.
- Braxton Miller hasn't played a meaningful snap in 18 months, and he's still the team's superstar.
- Urban Meyer's #dad swagger was off the roof. (He talked about watching Jalyn Holmes FaceTime with Zach Smith's kids as if it was conjured through witchcraft.)
- Zach Smith is a walking 100 emoji, and he's going to be a helluva head coach one day.
- Cardale and J.T. truly respect and love each other.
- Seriously, you have to see these guys without pads in the flesh to understand Mickey Marotti's greatness.
DAMN IT'S TRUE. One thing that sucks about the quarterback decision is a quarterback who could literally start at every other school in America is going to be forced onto the pine.
From Pat Forde of Yahoo.com:
"Yeah, that'll probably be a tough one," Buckeyes quarterback coach Tim Beck said at Ohio State media day on Sunday. "Thanks for bringing that up."
For now, at least, Jones and Barrett sound like they will be at peace with whatever head coach Urban Meyer, Beck and co-offensive coordinator Ed Warinner decide.
"I know how I'm going to handle it [if Jones starts]," Barrett said. "Obviously, you didn't make the plays to make this the best offense it can be. Who am I going to blame? Am I going to blame the coach? Am I going to blame Cardale? That doesn't make sense."
I couldn't imagine breaking the news to Cardale or J.T. that despite their best efforts they're going to be starting the season on the bench. This is why I became a gadfly and not the guy that gets paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to break the dreams of 18-22 year-olds.
MAKE THEM SEE THE BIG PICTURE. Back in 2014, I wrote about the perils of recruiting stacked class after stacked class. So far, Urban keeps throwing gems into the bucket without looking back. It's not about to slow down either.
From Tom VanHaaren of ESPN.com:
And, as if that wasn't enough, the Buckeyes continue to lure more top-end QB prospects. Even with a stocked roster, Urban Meyer and his staff have landed five ESPN 300 quarterbacks since 2013, the most of any program during that time. Among that group is 2016 signal-caller Tristen Wallace.
Getting them and managing them are two different things, but both start with Meyer. Wallace is the first to sing Meyer’s praises when asked why he chose to play in Columbus despite a depth chart that runs deeper than the Ohio River.
“I have a great relationship with Coach Meyer, and we’ve had a feel for each other ever since he started recruiting me,” Wallace said. “He has worked with Tim Tebow, and he recruited Cam Newton, so it shows you what he’s been able to do with quarterbacks and what he’s done in the past.”
They asked Justin Hilliard about being a blue-chip freshman and probably having to sit the bench more than he'd like. Hilliard said his ultimate goal is to start in the NFL, and if he isn't good enough to start at OSU then he wouldn't have made the NFL anyway.
This might seem like basic math, but that kind of perspective isn't always found in five-star recruits. And that's why I think Urban won't run into the problems found at Nick Saban's Alabama and Pete Carroll's USC — because Urban cultivated a culture. Players police themselves.
It sounds corny until you watch freshmen who've been on campus for two weeks gush about the brotherhood of Ohio State.
SERIOUSLY THERE IS NO BEEF ON THIS TEAM. Jalyn Holmes and Sam Hubbard are competing to start opposite of Tyquan Lewis in Blacksburg, but get this... they completely respect each other.
Ohio State DE Jalyn Holmes described himself and fellow DE Sam Hubbard as "the Fast & the Furious. He's Paul Walker and I'm Tyrese."
— Ben Axelrod (@BenAxelrod) August 16, 2015
Yes, we're at a point where players are using Fast and Furious as a pop culture reference point. I hate the space-time continuum with all my heart.
ISAIAH PRINCE IS COMING. I had read OL Isaiah Prince — 6'7" 305 lbs. — was a massive human being. But again, to truly understand his massiveness you have to stand next to him — which, I, the person writing this article, did yesterday afternoon.
From David Biddle of 247Sports.com:
Bucknuts asked Prince what his biggest adjustment is to the college game: Run blocking or pass protection.
“Right now, I would say I’m excelling at both for a freshman, but I think the hardest thing right now is just picking up the blitzes,” he said. “It’s kind of hard for me right now, but I’m learning and I did a great job in the scrimmage.”
[...]
He had his pick of some of the elite programs in the country, and his choice came down to OSU, Alabama and Maryland. He explained why the Buckeyes ended up being his choice.
“The honesty,” Prince said. “(Head coach Urban) Meyer, he never lied to me. He kept it real. And just the family-like environment. Everybody is always … we all love each other. We’re a family. That’s one thing I like: I can come to anyone on the team if I have a problem. That is the part I love the most.
You have to be a force of nature to be play on the offensive line as a freshman, and Prince only needed a week to make an impact. Enjoy him while here's here, because it won't be for long.
SLEEP IS IMPORTANT You got to hand it to Tennessee. Try as they might, they ain't won anything this millennium — but they're still out here swinging for the fences.
From Brian Rice of UTSports.com:
Tennessee’s players are using sleep trackers and working with sleep coaches during training camp. Understanding their sleep is the newest tool in maximizing recovery to ensure the players take the biggest steps forward when they are awake.
“It’s all about investing in our players and investing in them reaching their full potential,” head coach Butch Jones said. “That’s all part of our sports science in having sleep coaches and sleep monitors and making sure they get the nine hours that they need. It’s about educating them on how you go to bed at night and how you fall asleep.”
The players have sensors that they place on their mattresses that measure how long they are asleep and how long it takes them to fall asleep. The sensor also tracks breathing and heart rate, key factors in how restful the sleep is and how much recovery benefit a player sees from it.
The older I get the more I appreciate the importance of good sleep (this is why there are so many typos in my Skull Sessions) but Tennessee seems to be putting in a whole bunch of extracurriculars that won't matter when it's mid-November and they're battling against their sixth loss of the season. Oh well. Ohio State kicks off in three weeks.
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