In case you missed his heads up last Friday, the architect of your daily Skull Session, Donald J. Byrnes, is blowing through all his PTO early in the year in the form of a hard earned trip to New Orleans.
As such, you're stuck with some of us old(er) guys until the Skull Session landlord's triumphant return this Thursday. Johnny will be your host tomorrow and Jason's in the hole for Wednesday.
Last we knew, D.J. was firing glowsticks at Michigan fans from a balcony on Bourbon Street which sounds pretty damn on-brand. Let's check in and see how things have progressed.
Bourbon Street smells like alcohol, weed, and sweaty ass cheeks. It is America's masterpiece.
— Marionaire (@marion_ohio) March 24, 2018
Getting my tarot read. Going to let it dictate the next 50 years of my life.
— Marionaire (@marion_ohio) March 25, 2018
It also sounds as if he's squeezing in some time for self-reflection:
There was like a six month period in my life where I used empty Newport boxes as a wallet, and I apologize to anyone who knew me during that stretch.
— Marionaire (@marion_ohio) March 24, 2018
See you Thursday my friend.
In case were entertaining in-laws or too busy shredding your bracket to catch up on 11W, here are the highlights from the weekend:
- Terrelle Pryor officially became a New York Jet yesterday.
- Cardale Jones became an honorary deputy sheriff of Ottawa County. In other news, I just learned "sheriff" is one of those words I will never type correctly on the first try, right up there with "sacrilegious".
- Saturday Spotlight: Drue Chrisman.
- LeDan Hope with a superb read on the OSU safety positions.
- 11W Community Interview: Tyreke Smith
Also, make note one hour of Ohio State's spring football practice this morning is open to the media after which Urban Meyer will chat with the Buckeye beat. The 11W crew will be over the happenings so check back frequently for updates.
ICE ICE BABY. Ohio State hockey obliterated defending national champion Denver 5-1 last night behind a pair of goals from Kevin Miller sending the Buckeyes to just the second Frozen Four in school history.
The win improved the No. 1 seed Buckeyes to 26-9-5 overall and 19-0-3 in games where they score first.
Next up for the Buckeyes is a date with No. 3 seed Minnesota Duluth on Thursday, April 5th in St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
On the other side of the bracket, fellow Big Ten squads Michigan and Notre Dame round out the Frozen Four.
Obviously, looking ahead would be a mistake for the team but I'm here for an Ohio State versus Michigan national championship game which would take place Saturday, April 7.
MORE LIKE KEVIN PERVERT. Assistant equipment manager Kevin Purvis is now former assistant equipment manager Kevin Purvis after being terminated by the University of Georgia.
Purvis was charged with three felonies for illegal eavesdropping or surveillance (and another for possession of a Schedule II controlled substance) stemming from an investigation into a hidden camera found in the football team's shower.
An equipment manager for the Georgia football team is accused of using a hidden camera to capture images of at least one individual showering in the Bulldogs locker room.
Purvis’ arrest came nearly a month after an unidentified person found a camera hidden in a shower area of Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall. UGA officials called police on Feb. 27 and an investigation was immediately initiated. Several people witnessed police conducting a search of a car — believed to belong to Purvis — in the Butts-Mehre employee parking lot while a Georgia baseball game was being played across the street. Police also searched the first floor of the building, which is where the football team’s locker room, training facility and weight room are located, and Purvis’ Timothy Road residence.
UGA spokesman Claude Felton said the athletic association was aware of Purvis’ arrest and that he had already been terminated. Felton declined further comment but emailed a prepared statement.
“As soon as it learned of the incident, the Athletic Association notified the University of Georgia Police Department, who began their investigation. The University took immediate action, and the employee was terminated early in the investigation. Based on the findings of the police investigation, no student-athletes were victims in this incident.”
Purvis, employed by the Bulldogs since 2006, has already given the 404 treatment on the school's website.
STAY SHADY, ANDY. After his associate head coach, Tony Bland, was arrested by the Feds last September and fired in January for allegedly facilitating thousands of dollars worth of payments to two families of Trojan players as part of the ongoing college basketball bribery and corruption investigation, USC head coach Andy Enfield filled the vacant role by hiring Eric Mobley.
So why would Enfield hire a guy with zero collegiate coaching experience that was most recently the head coach of the girls varsity basketball team at Rancho Christian School in Temecula? I think you already know the answer.
Mobley's two sons, Isaiah and Evan, are blue chips in the 2019 and 2020 recruiting classes.
Isaiah is ranked as the No. 22 player in the class of 2019 and Evan is the No. 4 overall player in the 2020 class, as ranked by 247Sports. Neither has committed to a school but 247 hilariously updated each kid's interest level in USC to "warmer". Uh, no shit.
Look, Enfield's not the first nor will he be the last college head coach to go this route, and there obviously nothing illegal about it, but count me as someone hoping this somehow completely backfires.
KICKED OUT. Making the most of a senior season no matter the sport is always the goal of a college athlete (one that isn't going pro early anyway) no matter the sport.
Imagine playing what you thought was your junior year only to learn a week later that you have in fact exhausted your eligibility.
Sadly, that's exactly what happened to Bowling Green placekicker Jake Suder. From John Wagner at The Blade:
The Central Catholic graduate, an All-Mid-American Conference kicker in 2017, had hoped for a big senior season this fall. But a mistake in figuring his eligibility instead has ended his college career a year earlier than expected.
After graduating from Central in May, 2013, Suder kicked for Notre Dame College, a Division II school located in the Cleveland suburb of South Euclid, that fall. He connected on 2 of 4 field goals while kicking off 13 times before leaving the school after one semester.
He then spent a semester at Owens Community College before enrolling at BG in fall 2014. He did not join the Falcons football program until spring 2015 but did not see action that fall before taking over the kicking duties in 2016.
“I thought the fall of 2015 was a redshirt year, but in reality my eligibility clock was ticking, and my redshirt year was 2014,” Suder explained. “Then the coaching switch [from Dino Babers to Mike Jinks] happened, and nobody said anything.
“I thought I was a redshirt sophomore heading into the 2016 season.”
Instead Suder’s eligibility clock — which gave him five years to complete four seasons of eligibility — started ticking the moment he started kicking at Notre Dame College, and it never stopped. So the 2013 season was his first year of eligibility, and his five years of eligibility ended in 2017.
Just last week Suder learned the NCAA denied his appeal so he's turned his attention to soliciting NFL teams for a shot at a rookie camp or training camp.
SEMINOLE MOMENT. What in the hell was Leonard Hamilton doing Saturday night? With his Florida State squad down by four points and 11 seconds remaining, he opted against putting a bad shooting Michigan team on the free throw line to stop the clock, instead giving up on his team and allowing the Wolverines to dribble out the remaining time.
That was the moment the media centered on – and rightly so – but Hamilton also made a curious decision with 40 seconds remaining. With Michigan leading 55-52 and in possession of the ball with 22 seconds left on the shot clock, Hamilton opted to foul instead of playing out the possession in hopes of getting a stop and getting the ball back down three. Zavier Simpson, who is admittedly a terrible free throw shooter, still promptly made one of two free throws making it a two possession game.
That choice wasn't quite as egregious as his decision not to foul at the end but it sure felt like Hamilton quit before his team did against the Wolverines.
Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton on the decision not to foul with 11 seconds remaining.#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/IxlWNnuPRa
— March Madness TV (@MarchMadnessTV) March 25, 2018
To his credit, Hamilton apologized to Jacobson. I hope he apologized to his team too.
SEVEN BELOW. Cincinnati's horny landlord... Star Wars: Episode IX sneak peek... The average commute to work by state and city... List of vinyl titles and quantities for Record Store Day 2018... Colliding bubble rings... Kanye bracket... His-and-Hers Fashions from the 70s.
