The Jan. 30, 2017 Skull Session is dedicated to the North Carolina retirement home resident that passed Whitney a cinnamon roll recipe. It's an honor to pass that patriot's cooking to another generation. Most shameless six pounds I'll gain in my life.
Also shoutout to my friend, OSUMastro, who dropped out of corporate America on Friday to live in Australia and New Zealand for six months. May we all have the courage of OSUMastro.
ICYMI:
- The men's basketball team lost to Corn East.
- The women's team shucked Corn West.
- Kyle Snyder dumped Russia.
- The Hurry Up: Junior Day review.
THE HEART OF IT ALL. Ohio State is one of America's best teams. It also sits on one of the hottest talent beds in the country. But Ohio State can't win titles with only Ohioans.
Urban Meyer has taken a more national approach than Jim Tressel. Of the 19 commits in the 2017 class, only six hail from the Buckeye State. The latest being four-star 6'5" wide receiver Jaylen Harris, Ohio's No. 1 wide receiver.
It makes for an interesting balance.
From cleveland.com:
Ohio State getting Harris is more important for the Buckeyes than getting that offer from Ohio State was for Harris. He had options. He'd be fine. But as the Buckeyes go more national in their recruiting, they wouldn't be who they are if they didn't add a player like Harris.
The Buckeyes can't talk all year about beating Michigan if they're spending most of their time explaining why the rivalry is important. You can't tout the history on the walls of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center if most of the team knows nothing about it. It's not about ignoring the other 49 states. That's no way to win. Meyer won at Florida and won here because he went and got the best players in the country.
But an Ohio heart needs to beat within the program.
I have this state tattooed on my rib cage and will one day, Warren G. Harding, be entombed at the Waffle House off 670 East. But does hating Michigan as a #youth lead to more production against the Wolverines?
It didn't stop Ezekiel Elliott and Joey Bosa from bludgeoning Michigan.
Because here's the thing: Michigan stands in the way of Ohio State's title hopes. So if players from Texas (or wherever) can't get up for that game, it won't be due to their lack of Rivalry knowledge. It'd be a failure the development of mental toughness.
Still, I think the overall point stands. An Ohio State devoid of any local talent would be weird and borderline blasphemous.
TEXAS RAID NO ONE-TIME AFFAIR. Ohio State landed three of the top six players from Texas in its 2017 class and could add the Lone Star State's No.1 player, five-star defensive tackle Marvin Wilson, on National Signing Day.
The haul could be contributed to Ohio State's success while programs like Texas and Texas A&M faltered, but Baron Browning's high school coach doesn't see it as a one-time thing.
From dispatch.com:
That's why Richard Barrett, Browning's coach at Kennedale, isn't ready to label 2017 an anomaly for Ohio State.
"I don't know if you can call it a one-time deal or not," Barrett said. "Certainly, the program at Ohio State speaks for itself. A lot of good things have happened and will continue to happen with that program. You've got coach Meyer there, a name all the kids can relate to, and they've had so much success. They're on TV all the time.
"So I wouldn't say it's a one-time deal. Now, whether they're going to get four every year, I don't know about that. But I certainly think there are kids here from the state of Texas that would love to go play there."
Yes, I too noticed Barrett seemingly included Wilson (or Elijah Gardiner, for the less ambitious) in his Buckeye bounty.
But Texas done goofed letting Meyer and the local team erect a transregional pipeline. Recruits these days were seven when Texas last won a national championship, and they don't remember Texas A&M's 1939 title, which historians insist isn't fake news.
Last thing you want is a three-time champion running amok in your fertile recruiting bedrock, but if Texans prosper at Ohio State more will take the leap.
I just hope the pipeline stays intact until these Friday Night Tykes superstar lads come of age.
JUST MAKES SENSE. When I hear "New England," I think stodgy people with an absurd fixation on the past and an inflated sense of self-worth, which makes it the perfect recruiting ground for Michigan.
While the Buckeyes are busy raiding Texas, Michigan and Jim Harbaugh placed an emphasis on Connecticut.
From Kyle Rowland of The Toledo Blade:
Michigan has raided an unlikely locale in an attempt to keep up with the Joneses — and the Sabans, Meyers, and Swinneys: Connecticut.
Four members of the Wolverines’ 2017 recruiting class attend schools in the New England outpost, which has fewer than 4 million people and is the third-smallest state in area. Another hails from bordering Rhode Island, about the size of Lucas and Wood County combined.
“I would say it’s pretty uncommon for a national powerhouse located outside of the northeast to land that many players from the region,” said Marc Givler, a recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. “I’m really not sure what to attribute the talent boost in that area to. Sometimes certain areas just go through hot streaks that can’t be explained. Utah is kind of on a similar run right now where you are getting a national guy or two each year.”
Harbaugh accepts all the commitments before whittling them down before National Signing Day. But here's how their Constitution State haul stands, via 247sports.com (* denotes early enrollment):
| COMPOSITE RANK | PLAYER | POSITION | HOMETOWN | STARS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 122 | TARIK BLACK* | WR | CHESHIRE | ★★★★ |
| 368 | ANDREW STUEBER | OT | DARIEN | ★★★ |
| 421 | BRAD HAWKINS | WR | SUFFIELD | ★★★ |
| 809 | BEN MASON* | ILB | SANDY HOOK | ★★★ |
Bold strategy, Harbaugh. We'll see how it plays out.
LINSLEY EARNS RAISE. The Green Bay Packers thankfully prevented the Dallas Cowboys from winning the Super Bowl. They also fell short of the title.
That won't stop Corey Linsley from receiving a sizable raise heading into next season.
From espn.com (via Homey1970):
Tight end Richard Rodgers and center Corey Linsley both will see their salaries spike to $1.838 million for next season because they qualified for the salary escalators available to players drafted in Rounds 3-7, according to NFL Players Association contract information. The raises come in the final year of the contract if they play at least 35 percent of the offensive or defensive snaps in two of their first three seasons.
The “proven performance escalator” was a provision in the rookie wage scale that was added to the collective bargaining agreement in 2011.
[...]
Rodgers (a third-round pick) and Linsley (a fifth-round pick) were scheduled to make $690,000 next season. Rodgers has played in all 48 regular-season games since he entered the league. Linsley started the first 38 of a possible 48 games. He started the first 29 games of his career and then regained his starting job in Week 9 of this season after he came off the PUP list with a hamstring injury.
Linsley was ready to walk away from football when Meyer arrived in Columbus. Never forget a lot can change in six years, folks.
MAKES YOU THINK. It's awesome when you realize somebody you like associates with another person you like. On the flip side, it's horrible when somebody you like associates with a loathsome figure.
Here's a photo from 2018 offensive tackle Quinn Carroll of Minneapolis, Minnesota, during Ohio State's Junior Day:
File this one under 'things I notice from recruiting Twitter feed'. pic.twitter.com/CFbMrbM3tM
— Nate Bauer (@NateBauerBWI) January 28, 2017
*hits corncob pipe* Hmmmmmm. CAMERA ENHANCE!!!!
Actually, Joe Pa is bad, Urban. Joe Pa is bad.
THOSE WMDs. High-speed chase ends with finding of empty FourLoko can... China retailer adding drone delivery routes to rural villages... Two charged in Ponzi scheme built around Hamilton tickets... Behind the cellar door: Learning how to drink and how to stop... Behind the dizzying student loan game Navient allegedly played... Cult murders in Mexico.
