ICYMI: Wild day in Buckeye athletics yesterday.
- Beanie Wells addresses head trauma, which he says football caused.
- Ryan Shazier and Malcolm Jenkins named honorary spring game coaches.
- Redshirt junior linebacker Nick Conner medically disqualified, leaving Ohio State three players above the scholarship limit.
- Early enrollee numbers.
- The coach of the Maryland women's basketball team talked shit and took an L.
- Hungarian forward Dorka Juhasz committed to the women's basketball team.
- Men's basketball team checks in at a fifth-seed in most bracketology rankings.
- Ohio sues Crew SC to keep them in Columbus using law passed after the Browns skipped town.
- Reserve your (or your business’) spot next to the life-size statue of Woody Hayes coming to Newcomerstown!
Word of the Day: Ratatouille.
MEET THE NEW GUYS. SAME AS THE OLD GUYS. One nice thing about cheering for Ohio State in 2018 is there is no such thing as a rebuilding year. Yes, the local team loses droves of talent to the NFL every year. But there is always talent waiting in the depths.
Former players tipping off young stars in waiting always interests me. This year is no exception.
From dispatch.com:
Marcus Baugh tabbed Rashod Berry, who saw time earlier in his career as a defensive end, as the favorite to replace him.
“He’s an athletic freak,” Baugh said. “He can play whatever he wants.”
At linebacker, where Worley and Jerome Baker are gone, the competition will be intense. Tuf Borland took over at middle linebacker because of injuries last year and flourished. But the talent pool is deep with candidates such as Baron Browning, Keandre Jones, Pete Werner, Dante Booker, Malik Harrison and Justin Hilliard.
“They all can play great ball, but the guy playing behind me I’m definitely excited for is Keandre,” Baker said.
I love Berry. I think he's going to have a handful of beast touchdowns this year. If he can hold off five-star freshman Jeremy Ruckert, all the better.
If Jones beats out that group, it will mean he's taken a massive leap in the offseason. That room will be loaded if guys like Borland, Browning, Harrison, and Werner take similar leaps.
DENZEL WARD SHOWS OUT. Perhaps the biggest news yesterday was Denzel Ward cementing his status as the No. 1 cornerback of the draft by dominating two key drills at the combine in Indianapolis.
From Young Adam Schefter, Dan Hope of Eleven Warriors:
Ohio State's Denzel Ward officially ran the 40-yard dash in a time of 4.32 seconds on Monday, tying him with two other cornerbacks for the fastest 40 time recorded at this year's NFL Scouting Combine.
LSU's Donte Jackson and Tulane's Parry Nickerson also completed the 40 in 4.32 seconds.
[...]
Ohio State cornerback Denzel Ward leaped to the top of the leaderboard in the broad jump, proving himself as one of the elite athletes in this year's NFL draft class with a jump of 11 feet, 4 inches.
Ward is one of just 10 NFL Scouting Combine participants since 2008 with an 11-foot-4 broad jump or better.
They don't make many athletes like Denzel Ward, which is to say they don't make many like Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, either:
Denzel Ward's size/speed combination at the Combine was reminiscent of Hall of Famer @DeionSanders
— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) March 5, 2018
(Disclaimer: Deion vehemently disputes his 4.27 time) pic.twitter.com/0NqP3wbDBg
Speaking of Sanders, he had some thoughts about Penn State safety Troy Apke's 4.35 40-yard dash.
From our sister site, Roar Lions Roar:
Former Ohio State cornerback Dustin Fox relates to Apke's struggles:
Its like when I met some coaches and scouts at the combine for the first time that thought I was black because I could run and jump and played corner. Crazy stereotypes. https://t.co/v0mDD42Jh7
— Dustin Fox (@DustinFox37) March 5, 2018
The Last White Cornerback .... featuring Dustin Fox, coming to theaters this fall.
BIG SEASON FOR DOLODALE. Cardale Jones cried tears of happiness when the Buffalo Bills traded him to the Los Angeles Chargers. (TALK ABOUT A WEATHER UPGRADE.)
This offseason and preseason will go a long way in determining if Jones will stick around. As always, he has several tools that excite coaches. He still needs consistency.
From chargers.com:
“He really has a lot of tools that we are excited about,” Telesco said. “He got a lot of work during the season in practice, which was good to see. He had some days that were really, really good, and he had some days that showed he still needs improvement. This is going to be a huge offseason for him because now he is going to have almost a full year of our offense and scheme under his belt.”
It will also be huge since it will have been a full year since he’d seen live action once the preseason rolls around. Telesco didn’t mince words on how important his performance will be in those games for his development.
“This will be a big preseason too to get some live reps and snaps, which quarterbacks have to have. There is no NFL Europe anymore to send a quarterback to. There’s nowhere else for a quarterback to go to get some of those live reps. You can only do so much in practice. But we love what we saw in practice, but we’ve just got to see some live reps, too. We’ll start to get that more in training camp with a higher tempo, and then the preseason games with real live reps.”
There are three scenarios here:
- Jones excels for the Chargers, replaces an injured Phillip Rivers, and leads them to the Super Bowl.
- The Chargers cut Jones, who then promptly leads the Cleveland Browns to a dynasty.
- The Chargers and Browns both cut Jones, who then goes on to become the greatest XFL player in history.
That's it. One of those three things are happening.
CAN I INTEREST YOU IN A COCKFIGHT? College football halftimes are usually reserved for the band. That didn't always used to be the case. Apparently the 1904 Michigan-Chicago game (thankfully) featured the worst cockfight of all time.
From @MattBrownCFB:
Glad that tradition didn't last. Watching two animals being forced to maul each other to death isn't my idea of entertainment.
BIG BOY BUTCH BACK. Nick Saban's School for Adult Sons Who Can't Coach Good and Want to Do Other Stuff Good Too is reportedly on the brink of hiring Tennessee's greatest football coach.
From thespun.com:
The Spun has learned through sources in Alabama that former Tennessee head coach Butch Jones is expected to be hired as an offensive analyst for the Crimson Tide. An announcement is expected sometime this week.
[...]
In Tuscaloosa, he will continue a recent trend of former college coaches working under Saban. Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian and Mike Locksley have all done the same.
Currently, Jones is receiving an $8.25 million buyout from Tennessee. He is scheduled to be paid monthly through February 2021, but those payments would be mitigated by the salary from his next position.
A photo surfaced on the internet of Jones getting his first glimpse of legitimate national championship gear:
Though he was undoubtedly the greatest coach in Volunteer history, he will have to step his game up in Alabama. Life championships ain't currency down there.
THOSE WMDs. Ohio goalie serving as Blue Jackets' emergency goalie... We're living in a golden era of fake shoes... The poison we pick... Here come the fake videos, too... Guillermo del Toro’s quest to get amazing creatures onscreen... In the maestro's thrall.
