I'd like to take today to point out that I've been working at home long before it was cool. Call me a trendsetter.
Song of the Day: Nate Smith having fun with some backbeats.
Word of the Day: Vexatious.
THE OTHER TOP-100 RECEIVER. It's hilarious to think that Ohio State has such an embarrassment of riches at one position that fans could kind of just forget about former top-100 player in the country coming out of high school, but I honestly think that's where we're at with Jameson Williams.
With four shiny new top-100 players coming in, Chris Olave returning as the veteran leader and Garrett Wilson owning the hype as the super soph stepping into the slot role, the guy who looks like Ted Ginn Jr., Jr. has kinda been tossed to the backburner. But after a year of getting better, I don't think he'll spend too much time in the back of folks' minds.
“It’s a really big learning curve,” Williams said recently of his freshman season. “I took a lot of mental reps from watching the older guys. Every practice I was watching the guys. I’d watch KJ one play, Chris one play, Ben one play, Mack one play. Watching everybody. So it was a real learning experience on the offensive side. On the special teams side, it was a whole lot of fun. I go hard on special teams for my brothers. They got me, I got them.”
Williams very nearly made an impact on special teams a time or two, just missing a block here and there. He did play on the coverage team last year, finishing with a pair of tackles.
Whatever he could do for the team, he was willing to do. Some of it was harder than others.
“I started off on scout team during camp,” he said. “That’s one of the hardest things I ever did. Running routes against Damon Arnette, Jeff Okudah, Shaun Wade. Trying to go against Josh Proctor. Trying to run a route on them for me was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. But it made me better. It has helped me. I learned things that I can do to win those battles.”
Again, it's hilarious that *this* is the player that's flying under the radar, but I promise that speaks more to the wide receivers than it does Jameson Willimas.
This is fun, isn't it?
STROUD HOLDS COURT. If you had any reason to doubt CJ Stroud's leadership or intangibles, this fantastic off-the-cuff speech to some Elite 11 campers should ease all your concerns because I'd follow that human into an inferno tomorrow.
The Ohio State freshman QB CJ Stroud at the @Elite11 Saturday
— Scott Schrader (@Scott_Schrader) March 8, 2020
This Event had an enormous impact on his life - Won MVP last July in Dallas, TX and scholarship offers started rolling in @USCScoop #Buckeyes pic.twitter.com/dqo3ZLzBZc
Let's recap: he got denied a chance at the Elite 11 finals twice, kept working, got a last-minute call on the last day offering him an invite, he promised the dude he was going to win the camp's MVP and then he went and won the MVP. That's uncontainable swagger, but he packages it unbelievable humbleness.
Also, that now gives Ohio State two (2) Elite 11 MVPs on the same roster, which seems exceedingly better than having no Elite 11 MVPs on your roster, like every school that isn't Oklahoma (shouts to Spencer Rattler).
FINDING CLOSURE. Kyle Young had a hell of a time adjusting to college life his freshman year, but naturally, it was a hell of a lot more noble and selfless than just simple homesickness. Kyle just couldn't stand being away from his family and felt a duty to take care of them after the death of his father.
... Ohio State scheduled summer workouts early on Friday mornings, allowing players without classes to escape for long weekends. “We would joke that Kyle’s bags were packed and the engine running,’’ Pedon says. “As soon as the workout was done, he was on the first thing smoking back home.’’ The problem was, Kyle didn’t just want to go home; he didn’t necessarily want to come back to campus. “I just felt like I’d be better off at home,’’ he says, thinking he could get a job and figure things out there.
...
Still as comfortable as he was with the staff, Kyle just wasn’t sure college — any college — was for him. One afternoon over lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings, Holtmann and Kyle talked through his homesickness, and Holtmann finally grasped what was going on. Staying at Ohio State meant not caring for his mom. Staying at Ohio State felt selfish. “I don’t know. It was bad,’’ Kyle says. “I knew I loved basketball. My mom kept telling me, ‘This is what you want to do. This is what you’ve worked for your whole life.’ It just, I don’t know. It didn’t feel right. But my mom, my brother and sister, they wouldn’t let me go. They made me stick it out and promised me I would regret it if I didn’t. They were right.’"
It took a minute, but now he's the stickiest of glue guys for his team, even when he's not on the court, and he's found a purpose being what Chris Holtmann describes as a “junkyard dog.”
WADE GIVES BACK. Shaun Wade decided to spend a portion of his spring break giving back, heading to the Learning Time Academy to read to some elementary school kids.
Had a great time at Learning Time Academy..... Thanks to Trenton Postell for letting me come by and read to the kids.... Giving back is a MUST.... pic.twitter.com/s00HPgpqny
— Shaun Wade (@shaunwade2017) March 9, 2020
This doesn't look like a huge thing, but at the end of the day, it's something 95 percent of other college students aren't doing with their breaks, even when they have more downtime away from campus.
Wade doesn't get many breaks, but he's spending a chunk of it serving. I respect that.
NEW RULES. Just because J.K. Dobbins isn't on campus anymore doesn't mean he's out of reach from Tony Alford's shade.
So wait- Ive got to pay to get you to sign something for me. Child please, youve lost your mind
— Coach Tony Alford (@CoachTonyAlford) March 9, 2020
On a real note, Dobbins has been very open about the struggles of losing his father early in his life and I know Alford played a fatherly role to him, in many ways. What's more fatherly than busting your son's balls every now and then?
NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. Why all the venture capital Warby Parker clones are now imploding... How North Korean hackers rob banks around the world... A board game that lets players solve realistic cold cases... Strip clubs are giving away free masks and sanitizer... A new dating app emerges for men with small penises... Potassium batteries are coming for lithium-ion's throne... A proposal that we all get rid of lawns... Hell yes, there's a Zamboni simulator.
