ICYMI:
- Watch Ezekiel Elliott's E:60 special in full.
- K.J. Hill lost his black stripe due in part to beating a Hooker.
- Film Study looks at the strengths and weaknesses of J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones.
Don't forget: Scarlet and Gray Days premieres on BTN tonight at 7 p.m. ET. (Here's your primer.)
BUCKEYES KEEP IT 100. Recruiting is a moral cesspool, and only the tip of the turdburg is visible to the public eye.
That said, it's refreshing to see Ohio State coaches operate on the "100" principle with recruits.
It starts at the top with recruiting director Zach Smith.
From Scout.com:
“To tell a recruit that you didn’t play very well in a game, probably no one else in the country says that to them,” Smith said. “But the kid at the end of the day, he goes home and he says, ‘That guy’s going to make me better and he’s real.’ These other guys say, ‘You’re the best, you’re the best’ – they’re full of you know what.”
[...]
“I don’t know how anybody else does it, but I’ve said from the time I was playing high school football all the way through college that in recruiting I used to think it was joke how people tried to recruit,” Smith said. “It was like salesmen going after each other. Like, do you know kids? They don’t want that, so just be real with them. That’s been my style, if you want to call it that.”
It doesn't stop with Smith, though. It extends to guys like Luke Fickell too. Here's Camren Williams:
“He was the most honest, real, no-BS kind of guy,” Williams said. “That’s what really set him apart. Obviously he had his track record with guys like James Laurinaitis and A.J. Hawk and Coach Schlegel and everybody, but it was his mentality. He wasn’t trying to sell anything. He was just being honest and real and if you want to do this then you do it.”
Urban and company recruit families as much as the prospects these days, and it's easy to see why they're able to gain trust.
I'd much rather a coach, you know, coach my son than have him pump sunshine up his ass like a used car salesman. And honestly, I think it'd be pretty easy to tell the difference.
THE RISE OF J.T. BARRETT. When Bovada last released odds, Ezekiel Elliott had been dethroned as the frontrunner by TCU's Trevone Boykin, but Braxton Miller was up to No. 3.
Given Braxton's position switch... it was a bad move to bet on the Huber Heights product back in July, when his odds sat at 10/1.
Miller is now at 33/1, but J.T. Barrett's odds are down down to 9/1 from 25/1 in July.
Oh, and Ezekiel Elliott is back to the top, albeit in a tie with Trevone Boykin.
| NAME | POSITION | SCHOOL | 1/30/15 ODDs | 7/7/15 ODDS | CURRENT ODDS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TREVONE BOYKIN | QB | TCU | 15/2 | 6/1 | 5/1 |
| EZEKIEL ELLIOTT | RB | OSU | 6/1 | 7/1 | 5/1 |
| J.T. BARRETT | QB | OSU | 16/1 | 25/1 | 9/1 |
| NICK CHUBB | RB | GEORGIA | 12/1 | 10/1 | 12/1 |
| LEONARD FOURNETTE | RB | LSU | 7/1 | 14/1 | 12/1 |
| JEREMY JOHNSON | QB | AUBURN | OFF | 10/1 | 12/1 |
| CARDALE JONES | QB | OSU | 14/1 | 20/1 | 12/1 |
| CODY KESSLER | QB | USC | 12/1 | 12/1 | 12/1 |
| DAK PRESCOTT | QB | MISS. ST | 7/1 | 12/1 | 16/1 |
| DESHAUN WATSON | QB | CLEMSON | 33/1 | 16/1 | 16/1 |
| CONNOR COOK | QB | MSU | 20/1 | 25/1 | 25/1 |
| DERRICK HENRY | RB | BAMA | 14/1 | 16/1 | 25/1 |
| SAMAJE PERINE | RB | OKLAHOMA | 14/1 | 20/1 | 25/1 |
| MALIK ZAIRE | QB | ND | OFF | 50/1 | 25/1 |
| ALEX COLLINS | RB | ARKANSAS | OFF | OFF | 33/1 |
| ROYCE FREEMAN | RB | OREGON | 25/1 | 33/1 | 33/1 |
| EVERETT GOLSON | QB | FSU | OFF | 25/1 | 33/1 |
| TAYSOM HILL | QB | BYU | OFF | 50/1 | 33/1 |
| BRAXTON MILLER | QB | OSU | 18/1 | 10/1 | 33/1 |
| PAUL PERKINS | RB | UCLA | 12/1 | 20/1 | 33/1 |
Meanwhile: The Iron King stays lurking.
THAT SEEMS GOOD. Do you ever sit back and worry Ohio State will never be as good again in your life as it is right now? Because they've been balling for awhile now.
From FootballScoop.com:
– Ohio State has been, undoubtedly, the most consistent Power Five program over the past decade and a half. The Buckeyes are the only program – period – to rank among the five best in college football across all standards of measure. Going from one Hall of Fame coach (John Cooper) to another (Jim Tressel) to a future Hall of Famer (Urban Meyer) with just a one-year blip in between will do that for you.
Some statistical sampling:
Last Ten Games
1. Ohio State – 10-0
2. Boise State – 9-1
Clemson – 9-1
Florida State – 9-1
Marshall – 9-1
Michigan State – 9-1[...]
Last 200 Games
1. Boise State – 173-27
2. Oklahoma – 161-39
3. Ohio State – 158-42
4. Oregon – 153-47
5. LSU – 152-48
If this is truly the golden era for Ohio State football then it was an honor to serve all of you, and let's hope we get at least five more years out of Urban Meyer.
We get those five years, and shit, I'll be a Cleveland Browns Super Bowl victory away from dying happy. (Spoiler: I am not dying happy.)
GRANT'S BUCKEYE TRAINING PAYING OFF. I hate the Steelers.
From 247Sports.com:
“(Antonio Brown is) the best receiver in the league,” Grant said. “It’s a great experience, great competition and you learn a lot. You learn what the top dogs look like.”
It also appears that Grant has brought some things from Columbus with him to Pittsburgh. Urban Meyer, Grant's coach at Ohio State in his last three seasons with the Scarlet and Gray, consistently talked about "getting better every day" when asked about his team's goals. Grant echoed his former coaches go-to saying when asked about his training camp experience thus far.
“It’s a good training camp. I’m learning a lot and I’m embracing it, so it’s been good," he said. "Every day you can come out here and learn something new and get better, just have the right attitude.”
Mike Tomlin recently singled out Grant for his play as well, because this world is fake and fraudulent.
I'M A LIGHTWEIGHT PANTHERS FAN THIS YEAR. Philly Brown is starting to play at another level too:
Today's MVP? None other than @phillybrown10 5 Observations from Day 12 of #PanthersCamp: http://t.co/Oui1gN0zlg pic.twitter.com/iTjcZwhxCH
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) August 18, 2015
From Panthers.com:
BROWN’S BIG DAY: Wide receiver Corey Brown was inches away from reeling in what would have been the play of the game last Friday in Buffalo. On Monday, he and the quarterbacks were right on target.
Brown made a number of catches on intermediate routes. His best came on a corner route against cornerback Bene Benwikere . Brown created enough separation and tracked the pass from Derek Anderson high over his shoulder for a big gain.
Derek "Snowman" Anderson still having a job in the NFL is proof that there are only like eight competent QBs at anytime.
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