Skull Session: Sorting the Secondary, How to Walk-On at Ohio State, and ‘Hang on Sloopy’ Singer Pinched for Packing a Pistol

By D.J. Byrnes on February 11, 2017 at 4:59 am
Dontre Wilson at Fat Rat pose for the February 11th 2017 Skull Session
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Word of the day: Menagerie.

This Skull Session is dedicated to Charles Oakley, the last 53-year-old man I would want to fight:

PROGRAMMING NOTES:

  • The men's basketball team plays Maryland in College Park at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN.
  • Dontre Wilson will be signing autographs at the Miami Valley Centre in the illustrious Piqua at 2 p.m. ET.

Normally I don't propagate player signings, but I will for a guy with enough swagger to rock a denim jacket like the one in the header.

 THE SECONDARY SO HOT RIGHT NOW. Despite losing three potential first-round picks, Urban Meyer, Kerry Coombs, and Greg Schiano won't lack for options in replacements. 

Stop me if you've heard this before: There's another blue-chip logjam at Ohio State. According to a Woody Hayes Athletic Center source, who is probably risking extrajudicial execution to give the fans #info, over at 247sports.com:

“To me the most interesting group will be the secondary,” the source began. “You’ve got one guy coming back, Damon Webb, but he didn’t play as well I expected him to. I know they like [Jeffrey] Okudah, they like [Shaun] Wade, too, but they really like Okudah. And they like Jordan Fuller a lot.

"Damon Arnette went from playing a lot early in the season, to not playing much. So what happens with him? And you have Kendall Sheffield coming in who is really fast. Denzel Ward is going to play one corner. But how the rest of the secondary shakes out is the most interesting group to watch.”

My lot is already cast with Jordan Fuller. And yes, it will be interesting to see what the coaches do with Webb. Opposing offenses picked on him at times last year. Meyer, however, has shown a more preferential treatment to senior players than I originally thought.

If Fuller can develop into a ball-hawk like Hooker (easier typed than done), the secondary will surprise people who don't pay attention to the Buckeyes in the offseason.

I'm much more interested in the safety battle than the cornerbacks. Developed safeties and Tyquan Lewis, Jalyn Holmes, Sam Hubbard, and Nick Bosa should be more than enough to season whoever the coaches decide to put out there.

 SO YOU WANT TO WALK ON TO OHIO STATE. Walk-ons never get the props they deserve. Ohio State football couldn't function without their bodies. Yet, most can only hope to ascend to cult status like Joe Burger or Craig Fada.

While fans gawk at the latest recruiting rankings, Assistant Personnel Director Eron Hodges plods through hours of tape for guys who will probably never touch the field during a game.

It's a thankless, necessary, and interesting task.

From theozone.net:

“Typically in the fall, around August I start cutting film of the one-star and two-star guys,” Ohio State’s Assistant Director of Player Personnel Eron Hodges told The-Ozone. “I ask questions like where are they from and why haven’t they been recruited big time. Then by December I will look at who has offers and who doesn’t. I typically stay in state for walk-ons because these kids have to come out of pocket (for their schooling). Sometimes you have a boy wonder who has the talent and who can afford to come out of pocket and come to Ohio State (from out of state).”

[...]

He also explained that there are two different types of walk-ons, and that most people don’t realize this.

“People mix things up, a preferred walk-on doesn’t have to try out, where as a normal walk-on has to go through the tryout process (held twice a year),” he explained. “Once you are on the team, however, you are treated like a regular member of the team. The gear, the food, everything, you are just a Buckeye with the title of walk-on.”

I pray my mediocre son never asks me to foot the bill so he can roleplay as an NCAA football player when the local community college is offering him a 35% full-ride due to his feeble genes.

Seriousness aside—the food, clothing and camaraderie are obviously worth the sweat and effort to some.

 SOUNDS LIKE MEXICO GOT WILD. Bad times for the singer of Hang on Sloopy, the song we all love to know, who apparently made a regularl habit of bringing guns onto airplanes.

That can get you arrested.

From nbc4i.com:

ATLANTA (AP) – Prosecutors say rock guitarist Rick Derringer carried a loaded gun in his carry-on bag on a Delta Air Lines flight from Cancun, Mexico, but was stopped after landing in Atlanta.

A federal air marshal quoted in court records says Derringer told him that he flies as many as 50 times per year with the gun in his carry-on bag, and has never had a problem.

A criminal complaint says Derringer has a Florida pistol permit and thought he could bring the gun on airplanes.

Sounds like Derringer broke my number one rule of flying: Never talk to anybody. The earbuds are battering Bee Gee bangers onto my eardrums for a reason, pal.

 WHEN IN IRAN. Former Thad Five member and NBA 3-point champion Daequan Cook is doing big things these days, like growing a beard and schooling Iranians in basketball.

From Marcus Hartman of Dayton Daily News:

“Yeah, bless his little heart, he grew himself a beard,” Renae Cook said of her son Daequan. “He looks like one of the Iranians now. He blends in good.”

[...]

The 29-year-old shooting guard — a product of Dunbar High School and Ohio State before he began what’s become a 10-year pro career — now plays for Chemidor Tehran in the Iranian Basketball Super League.

He leads the league in scoring, averaging 23.4 points per game.

I would pay to watch a documentary about Cook's life in Tehran. In fact, there should be a documentary about international Buckeyes (Jon Diebler in Turkey, Evan Ravenel in Japan, etc) and their overseas adventures.

If an enterprising Netflix director wants to produce a film that interests about 30 people, feel free to run with it as your own.

 THOSE WMDs. Company of Heroes was the perfect RTS... In Hell: The fight to save one addict... How a tenure-track professor ended up selling plasma... Family Tree Now has tons of your personal information... The Preacher and the Sheriff: Corrupt cops in Louisiana.

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