Today is the day.
Probably.
At 9 a.m., the Ohio State Board of Trustees will convene to discuss the findings of a two week investigation into Urban Meyer and his handling of domestic violence allegations regarding Zach Smith.
After that meeting, an announcement will come. How long after remains to be seen. It could be minutes, it could be hours, it could even be days. But as soon as that meeting ends, the masses will be on pins and needles in anticipation.
Be sure you're following @Dan_Hope and @11W for up-to-the-second updates.
ICYMI:
- Urban Meyer and Gene Smith each met with investigators multiple times, per a report.
- Alabama, Clemson, Georgia are among Ohio State's top competition for a national title.
- Ohio State's defensive backs are experienced at the top, and talented at the bottom of the depth chart.
- Nick Bosa named a preseason All-American by both ESPN and the Associated Press.
- Ohio State creates a report-and-response office to address sexual misconduct.
Word of the Day: Brummagem.
SNOOK GIVES FINAL THOUGHTS. Three weeks ago, I was only vaguely familiar with Jeff Snook and thought a Facebook feed was just a place for my mother to post photographs of her grandchildren and share periodic severe weather updates.
Times change quickly.
These past few weeks, I've spent more time reading and digesting long-form reports and columns shared as Facebook posts than I have actual Facebook posts over the past eight years. So it's only fitting one last Snook Facebook column carries us into the announcement on Urban Meyer's future.
Snook gave his prediction on the sort of punishment Meyer will receiver – minimal – and speculated the national response to said punishment – absolute outrage.
But punishment and public perception aside, what matters most is that the truth is revealed.
From Snook's Facebook page:
Meyer himself sits and waits in his Muirfield Golf Course home, likely watching every miserable minute pass as he’s away from his team, but fully expecting to be exonerated when the findings of the investigation are made public.
He has known the truth all along. By now, at least six others, and the school’s board of trustees as well, know it, too.
When the final determination is announced by university president Michael Drake, I believe he will do one of three things: Issue a one-game suspension, a two-game suspension or an immediate reinstatement with “time served.”
That seems pretty consistent with what Ohio State beat GOAT Tim May told Paul Finebaum yesterday, when he said he "wouldn't be surprised to maybe see him come out of this ready to go back on the field maybe as early as Wednesday afternoon or Thursday."
But one way or another, we're nearing the end, and we're nearing a decision.
The best, most encapsulating line in Snook's piece was this: "They all discovered the truth, and it will be revealed shortly."
Lord willing, yes it will.
WIDE RECEIVERS LOOK TO BE ELITE AGAIN. Every one of Ohio State's receivers is returning this season, and they have a goal to perform at an elite level for the first time since any of them have seen the field.
From the Washington Post:
During spring practice, coach Urban Meyer said Ohio State has failed to put an “elite” group of receivers on the field since the 2014 national championship squad that featured the likes of Devin Smith and Michael Thomas.
This season’s experienced corps of receivers heard about the dig, of course, and is considering it a challenge.
“He’s not only saying that to (the media), he’s saying that to us as well,” senior H-back Parris Campbell said in the spring. “He kind of wants us to get defensive about it.”
I'm not trying to imply causation, but in Meyer's own words, the last time Ohio State had a set of elite receivers, the Buckeyes won a national championship. It makes you think, for sure.
Maybe Brian Hartline can push them over the edge, but only time will tell. Only time will tell.
JORDAN FULLER, BIA. With all the talk of Ohio State's inhuman defensive line, folks seem to be overlooking Jordan Fuller, who is quietly one of the best players on an absolutely loaded defense and also Sinbad's nephew.
But not everyone is sleeping on Fuller, as Paul Myerberg of USAToday.com ranked the Buckeye safety as the No. 9 defensive back in the country heading into the season.
9. Jordan Fuller, Ohio State
Fuller’s status as one of the Buckeyes’ unquestioned leaders extends his value beyond just the depth chart. In terms of his on-field performance, Fuller is developing into the program’s next All-America defensive back. A sure tackler who excels in space, Fuller led last year’s team in solo stops by a significant margin and might have been the most consistent performer on a defense just loaded with NFL talent.
Here we are, trying to speculate whether or not Kendall Sheffield can be Ohio State's next first-round pick from the secondary when Fuller has been quietly making his case all along.
THE COMEBACK PRINCE. As long as he's at Ohio State, I don't think we'll ever stop talking about Isaiah Prince's career turnaround, because it will never get any less remarkable.
In 2016, Prince was a legendarily bad pass blocker. Not only did he have the lowest pass blocking efficiency in the country that season, according to CFBFilmRoom.com, but he had the lowest efficiency they've ever charted. He gave up 15 pressures in the Penn State game alone.
But then it extremely switched. Prince finished last season in the 90th percentile in pass blocking efficiency and Nick Bosa called him the best offensive tackle in the country overall.
From Tony Gerdeman of TheOzone.net:
Now a senior, Prince can look back on his early days and not only recognize what he did wrong during the game, but also after the game.
“I didn’t learn that until after my 2016 season,” Prince said. “Just going into my workouts I had a lot of time to reflect on what I needed to do to become a better player. That was one of the things I thought about, you just can’t care too much about making mistakes. If you make a mistake, you’ve got to keep going forward because everybody makes mistakes.”
How was he able to move on and no longer concern himself with mistakes?
“Just having a different mindset and talking to myself positively and not focusing on making a mistake,” he said. “Just playing hard. If you play as hard as you can, you’re still going to make mistakes, but it’s how you react after you make a mistake.”
I always thought Prince was a natural and a physical freak who just needed to play with confidence, and that's what bothered me so much about his 2016 struggles.
It was never that he was actually bad at football, it was that he seemed to believe he was bad at football every time he made a mistake. And that's not a great way to do sports, or life.
HARGAUGH'S WHITE BOARD. If you ever wanted a peak into Jim Harbaugh's fascinating mind, here's your chance.
Within his office, @CoachJim4UM has a massive whiteboard covered with Harbaughisms.
— Marty Smith (@MartySmithESPN) August 20, 2018
Fat is the enemy of speed.
pic.twitter.com/IIRdBpnypQ
I really want to poke fun at Harbaugh rambling a bunch of relatively nonsensical and slightly paranoid things on a big board presumably for his use only, but also:
When they renovated Ohio Stadium, they found this old blackboard full of Woody Hayes' writing. pic.twitter.com/WDr57GdIs2
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) November 20, 2015
We'll let you have this one, Jim.
THOSE WMDs. 95-year-old former Nazi camp guard deported to Germany... The isolating life of parenting a potential psychopath... A string of shootings, a scientist killed and questions detectives can't answer... Scientists find ice on the surface of the moon...
