Skull Session: Dawand Jones is Practicing at Guard, Chris Holtmann Got Some Downtime, and J.K. Dobbins' Jersey Helps Give Back

By Kevin Harrish on September 29, 2020 at 4:59 am
Wyatt Davis is happy in today's skull session.
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We're less than a month away from actual Buckeye football. But for now, this will have to do.

Word of the Day: Empyreal.

 WHERE ARE THEY NOW? I have exactly one memory of Dylan Thompson's time at Ohio State and it's Urban Meyer bluntly telling the media that Thompson needed to "Do something. And underline that. Do something."

I wonder if carrying 412-pound rebar cages with ease qualifies as "something."

I must say, that was one wild "where are they now?" story to randomly show up across my timeline on a Monday afternoon, but I'm not complaining about it.

 WORLD'S LARGEST GUARD? Conventional football wisdom (and the 2009 film The Blindside) tells us that your freakishly large offensive linemen should play tackle.

I say to hell with convention. Put the goliath-sized human at guard.

It feels like a quarterback sneak behind all 6-foot-8, 375 pounds of Dawand Jones is just a free first down. But if I'm being honest, I think we should take it a step further and just line him up at quarterback instead.

Ryan Day, if you're reading this, I'd also settle for fullback. Thanks!

 GIVE BACK. I'll let he who has never sleepwalked through work on a Monday cast the first stone at the Ravens, but it's a little tougher to get away with when your job performance is broadcast on national television and critiqued by strangers in all corners of online.

But I'm happy to report at least some good came of it!

I would have loved to see J.K. Dobbins get some chances to make something happen against the worst rush defense in the NFL, but the Ravens seemed content with the bold strategy of living and dying by Lamar Jackson's arm.

 DOWNTIME? IN THIS ECONOMY? There are obvious perks to being a Division I men's basketball coach at a big-time program (I hear the pay ain't too bad, either), but downtime at your own home sure ain't one of them.

Unless, of course, there's a global pandemic.

... The pandemic has paused in-person recruiting and evaluation until at least the end of the calendar year, and it wiped out what are the two busiest months for college coaches: April and September. The former is busy on the recruiting trail for both high school prospects as well as the exploding transfer market and roster retention, while the latter often features 20-hour days as the Buckeyes start preparing for the season while also hosting official visitors on campus often for home football games.

Those months can prove even more consuming than the season.

“The dynamic that changed completely was just the travel,” Holtmann said. “The amount of time after the season that I was on the phone or working or conducting business was actually more. It’s been over 25 years since I’ve experienced consecutive months where I’ve not been gone for 15-20 nights out of a month.”

Put the nation on notice – Chris Holtmann is rested and ready to defend his (simulated) national title.

 TBT. If y'all were looking for a little blast from the past on this fine Tuesday...

The good news is, there are worse things than making fun of how you looked in high school. Like, for example, peaking in high school.

 SONG OF THE DAY. "Basket Case" by Green Day.

 NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. A Good Samaritan turns in a wallet, leading to a meth trafficking arrest... A man allegedly killed his wife's lover after learning of their affair, then ordered her to behead him... Astronomers claim to spot multiple bodies of liquid water on Mars... With an army of sex soldiers, a Thai king makes his great escape... The pandemic has killed cash...

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