It's another day on the local team beat. #Blessed.
ALL ABOARD THE BURROW EXPRESS. With the importation of Tate Martell, there is once again a logjam at quarterback with J.T. Barrett, Stephen Collier, Joe Burrow, and Dwayne Haskins.
If Haskins supplanted Burrow for the backup role, the rumor mill speculated it could lead to the Athenian landing at Ohio University, where his father coordinates defense.
Burrow denied an intent to transfer Wednesday afternoon.
From theozone.net:
"I’m going to keep refining my footwork, refining my throwing motion, getting bigger and stronger," he told the-Ozone recently. "It’s really just about working on the same thing for years. Quickening my motion, my arm strength. Continue getting a better grasp on the offense. Those are the main things."
Since position coaches can't be around a lot during the offseason, much of what Burrow is looking to improve upon will be done under the watchful eyes of strength coach Mickey Marotti.
Is it fun working with Marotti?
"I don’t know if ‘fun’ is the right term," he said smiling. "I would say…interesting, challenging, but obviously he gets you right. There’s nobody better than him. I can’t imagine anybody better than him. If somebody worked us harder than Coach Mick, I don’t know if I would ever want to meet them, be around them, or be in the same weight room as him."
No, you don't, Joe, because you'd be hospitalized.
If he locks down the backup job this year, he'd be well positioned to seize the reins in 2018. If that happens, Haskins or Martell (or both) would head for the exits. The room will be too talented for everyone to accept a secondary role.
THE NEXT HOOKER. Malik Hooker made folks forget about Vonn Bell. With Hooker off to collect his earned NFL millions, folks now wonder who will make them forget about the most memorable Hooker of their lifetime (not easy to do, am I right?).
One such candidate is 2016 four-star DB Jordan Fuller.
From cleveland.com:
Safety Damon Webb, who will be a senior, is the only returning starter in the group, but he also plays the position that Fuller plays. The Buckeyes now call it the Falcon position, and it's the cover safety spot played by Vonn Bell in 2014 and 2015, where the safety often lines up in man coverage and plays like a cornerback.
"I know to be a safety you need to be rangy, to go get the ball when it's in the air, but at this position you need to be able to cover people," Fuller said. "I think I do that well, too, so it's a good fit for me."
At 6-foot-2 and nearly 205 pounds, Fuller has a size edge on the 5-10, 195-pound Webb. Regardless, the Buckeyes will get their two best safeties on the field, so that could be Webb and Fuller together.
Fuller checks all the boxes for a breakout star. My favorite part of his film is the fluidity he shows with the ball in his hands:
It must be sickening to cheer against Ohio State. The Buckeyes have always been good, but the Urban Meyer Recruiting Death Star took it to a different level.
Oh, and in case you didn't hear: It's putting the finishing touches on the highest rated recruiting class in history.
GEE DESTROYS RUMOR. Who is mongering rumors in Columbus? First Burrow, now the haters are acting like E. Gordon Gee would welch on his million dollar pledge to the institution that fired him for a crass Catholic joke.
A million dollars is peanuts to a hustler like Gee.
From dispatch.com:
A rumor that former Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee left town and never fulfilled his pledge to donate $1 million for a scholarship fund isn’t true. At least, not anymore. Four separate gifts in December totaling about $200,000 brought the fund to just over $984,144, OSU records show. Projections are that, by June 30, transferring $16,614 of earned interest to the fund’s principal will bring it to $1,000,758.
Gee made the pledge in 2009, two years into his second tenure at Ohio State. He started slowly, giving only $6,000 in three separate gifts between then and December 2012, when he donated $250,000.
After Gee retired from OSU in 2013 and accepted a position as president of West Virginia University in March 2014, he confirmed in a separation agreement with OSU that he would fulfill the rest of the scholarship pledge.
Let the records show: Gee ain't no welcher.
10TH COACH EN ROUTE. The NCAA moved one bureaucratic step closer to adding a 10th full-time football coach. Don't expect it to usher in another round of coach poaching, though.
From coachingsearch.com:
On Wednesday, the NCAA Division I Council supported the proposal to add a 10th assistant. It will be voted on by the Council in mid-April with a simple majority needed, and the Board of Directors meets to formalize proposals two weeks after that.
[...]
Most coaches I spoke with at the AFCA Convention believe the new spot would first be filled by a current staffer or coaches currently out of work, rather than widespread poaching by big schools. That means more full-time opportunities for graduate assistants or quality control coaches.
Say what they will... if the Patriots choke again in the playoffs, I'm not ruling out adding Bill Belichick until he looks Meyer in the eye and says "Thanks, but no thanks."
POUR ONE OUT FOR JON WATERS. Remember the fun time when Ohio State fired Jon Waters and #OSUTwitter almost broke into Civil War?
Waters' crusade for retribution officially ended Wednesday.
From herald-dispatch.com:
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A fired Ohio State University marching band director has dropped all his legal claims against the university in exchange for it agreeing not to try to recover its costs from him, according to an announcement Wednesday.
Jonathan Waters was fired in July 2014 when the university said he ignored a "sexualized culture" inside what's known to fans as The Best Damn Band in the Land. Waters denied wrongdoing and sued for reinstatement and damages in federal court, alleging gender discrimination. Separate litigation in state court alleged defamation.
Both lawsuits have been dismissed over the past month.
This moves Ohio State's legal team to like 878-4 all-time.
THOSE WMDs. Sheriff accused of meth theft pleads to felony, resigns... The big suit era is only getting bigger... Missing hunter found in Alabama jail... The Ice Cream Killer is so dangerous, she's headed to men's prison... Who is Anna-Senpai, the Mirai author?
