If you thought you were missing college football, imagine how the doers of college football feel.
Missin it.. pic.twitter.com/LGzW9PrX9z
— Justin Fields (@justnfields) June 18, 2020
Word of the Day: Punctilious.
STILL UP IN THE AIR. The past few weeks I've been pretty much working under the assumption that we'd be getting a college football season, but apparently, we're not quite out of the woods yet.
Someone high up in college athletics just told me it's 50-50 -- at best -- that college fball is played. And the concept that large crowds come to games is ridiculous.
— Teddy Greenstein (@TeddyGreenstein) June 17, 2020
A slimmer sked -- 10 games in 10 weeks? -- could help.
I hear the concern, but I'll gladly take any even-money wager that we'll have college football this year.
I know folks are getting a little nervous with the MLB and NBA's rocky restarts, but there's one key difference with college football – there's no bargaining. There are no wages to dispute, no contracts to negotiate, and no drastic points of contention. It's in the best interest of all parties to play the season on time. So as long as it can be done, it's going to happen.
The NBA and MLB players have had vocal and valid concerns about their respective restarts, but I just don't see that happening with college football, especially if the season can start on time with as few changes as possible.
BEST DAMN CREATIVE CONTENT IN THE LAND. Regardless of what you do, if you're not the best in the nation, or at least capable of becoming the best in the nation, you've got no place in the Woody.
Zach Schwartz got that message loud and clear before he was even hired.
“This was a challenge because a lot of times, you’re able to look up and see how someone does a specific job,” Swartz said. “I really didn’t have that.”
Zach Swartz has been with Ohio State football since 2016. He is currently the director of creative media and post production for the football program. Credit: Courtesy of Ohio State Athletics
After spending six years at Arkansas continuing to grow his skills and expand his role, a job opening was posted at Ohio State. He said he knew it was time to go home.
The interview process was standard on all fronts except one: Former Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer was present.
“He looked at me and said: ‘Are you the best in the country? Can you be the best in the country?’” Swartz said. “I had no idea if I actually was the best in the country, but at that point, you kind of have to say, ‘Yeah,’ and say it confidently.”
It can't be terribly comfortable to have one of the most intense human beings on the planet look you in the eyes and ask if you're literally the best there is at your job. But to his credit, he's proven that he is – otherwise, he probably wouldn't still have a job.
NOT ONE, NOT TWO... TreVeyon Henderson has yet to even step foot on Ohio State's campus, but he's out here recruiting fellow five-stars and predicting a trifecta of nattys.
“I pretty much saw everything I needed to see,” Henderson told cleveland.com. “I knew about all the colleges that offered me. I did my research with the coaches and talked to the coaches a lot. I felt more comfortable with The Ohio State University. The coaches, environment, the culture, it’s all great.”
It’s not clear when he’ll finally visit Columbus and see the place he’ll call home for at least three years. The NCAA has extended the recruiting moratorium three times with no hint whether a fourth time is an option.
But he did his research on Ohio State and the other eight finalists before deciding in March. He knows he’s made the right decision, and now he’s using his experience to help recruit some of other highly touted targets such as WR Emeka Egbuka, OT Tristan Leigh and DE J.T. Tuimoloau.
“I use that ‘I didn’t visit, but I still committed’ to my advantage,” Henderson said. “That gets to a lot of the recruits and makes them feel like, ‘Well, if he committed it must be something good about Ohio State.’ That’ll make them want to commit.”
...
“Everybody’s on the same page," Henderson said. "We all talked about how many championships we’re going to win. We all agreed to three. That’s what I love about us. We don’t shoot for low goals. We shoot for high goals. Goals that seem unachievable.
I love the "We all agreed on three," as if that was a compromise that followed a contentious debate.
Three five-stars and the three national titles – I'm putting that on your IOU, TreVeyon.
BOOMS COMETH. Sorry, Zack and Andrew – I've got a new favorite pair of recruiting whisperers.
@247Sports set me and @TreveyonH15 an account up. We have some crystal balls to put in for some guys
— Evan Pryor (@evanpryor3) June 16, 2020
My unsolicited advice to the football teens: just make an anonymous premium newsletter and feed chicken tenders of inside info to your paying subscribers. Just make sure none of it can ever get tied to you and you're golden – and wealthy.
GOING FOR GWR. During his quest to win a bottle flipping challenge, Drue Chrisman faced some steeper competition than he might have expected. By that, I mean one (1) other person competed, and they probably would have gotten disqualified for using a mini water bottle anyway.
Regardless, our hero put them to shame.
You dont know how bad I wanted 30... but thats it. Submissions end overnight so hopefully I wake up a world record holder. Goodnight world @GWR #GWRchallenge pic.twitter.com/RW2ry0Iu2N
— Drue Chrisman (@DChrisman91) June 18, 2020
I almost guarantee Drue has flipped more bottles during his time in Columbus than he has punted footballs, and I'm not even remotely upset about it.
SONG OF THE DAY. "Intergalactic" by Beastie Boys.
NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. A convicted murderer will get a new hearing since his trial lawyer started dating and later married a state witness... A city commission candidate in Central Kentucky lights up a marijuana pipe during a debate... How much of a glass of water do you actually pee out?... A British department store’s disastrous experiment in human display... Architects are planning a beautiful Martian city in the Dubai desert...
