Skull Session: Jon Diebler Talks Justin Ahrens, Blake Haubeil Used to Play Hockey, and an All-Ohio State Team Could Win the Super Bowl

By Kevin Harrish on February 16, 2021 at 4:59 am
There's a shoe in today's skull session.
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It's wild how Jae'Sean Tate is basically LeBron James now.

Word of the Day: Myrmidon.

 SNIPER TO SNIPER. I greet you this morning with good news: Ohio State's Three-Point King has given Justin Ahrens his blessing in the never-ending pursuit of buckets.

“He’s shooting the ball with an extreme amount of confidence,” Jon Diebler told The Dispatch this week. “I’m excited for him that he looks comfortable out there. From the games that I’ve watched, it seems as if he’s settled down and settled into that role.”

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Twenty games into this season, Ahrens is connecting on 47.9% of his three-point attempts, a figure that would be second-best in single-season Ohio State history if it continues. And the way Ahrens is shooting, Diebler expects it to.

“It’s something he’s obviously put a lot of work into,” Diebler said. “It’s not an easy job. You just have to have a certain confidence about you. Justin has definitely showed the confidence that he has developed, especially this year and recently, that you can see it when he plays.”

At one point this offseason, I was pretty sure that Justin Ahrens' career trajectory was going to much more resemble that of Amadeo Della Valle than Jon Diebler.

I am extremely happy to be wrong.

 NOT JUST A KICKER. Just in time for him to leave the program, I have learned that Ohio State's now-former kicker is lowkey a badass.

My good friend Tia Johnston – who I helped pass multiple classes in college in return for the occasional bag of Cheez-Its – gave Blake a 20 Questions style interview as he begins his NFL Draft prep.

Turns out, the dude used to play hockey and linebacker?

LGHL: What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you?

Haubeil: I am a huge hockey fan. I’ve taken more shots with a hockey stick than kicked footballs in my life. I also played quarterback, linebacker, and punter in high school in addition to kicker

I'm sure some people knew this, but I sure did not. But his legit good open-field tackles make a hell of a lot more sense after that little fun fact.

 BUCKEYES TO THE SUPER BOWL. Tired: Could you build an entire NFL roster out of just former Ohio State players?

Wired: Could a team made up only of former Ohio State players win the Super Bowl?

The answer, as Doug Lesmerises of Cleveland.com writes, is probably "yes."

So if Ohio State doesn’t have a Super Bowl-winning starting quarterback, could Ohio State beat a Super Bowl-winning quarterback? That’s been the question rolling around in my head, one made more real by Urban Meyer’s place as the Jacksonville Jaguars head coach. Because he could coach this team. So here’s the Ohio State NFL team ... and if they gathered these Buckeyes on one squad, I think they could win it all.

There’s a current NFL Buckeye at every position, even long snapper, and at several spots, the depth is impressive. Quarterback is the most problematic position, but Justin Fields, a sure top-10 pick in April, will soon fix that. Maybe two other colleges could hope to field their own NFL team -- Alabama had the most NFL players to start the 2020 season, with 56, while Ohio State was second with 50 and LSU was third with 41. The Tigers had the most players in this Super Bowl with six. Any other school would struggle to pull this off.

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But if it happened, and especially if Fields solved the quarterback question, this team could lift a trophy. It at least would have given Brady more of a game than Kansas City did.

Quarterback is the stumbling block. But if Dwayne Haskins could have avoided turning it over, I think this OSU NFL team could have won. And let’s see what Fields does as rookie, and try this again in a year.

Basically, quarterback is the only position where this team would not be legitimately very good, and that's about to change this year with Justin Fields potentially being a day-one starter as a top-five pick.

You could fix this problem now and bend the rules a little to let Joe Burrow fill the quarterback void (he does have a degree from Ohio State, after all), but I respect Doug's decision not to roll that way.

 PERFECT FORM. There are a lot of incredible things about this Ohio State basketball season, but Zed Key becoming a legit icon among fans is easily among the most pleasant surprises a Buckeye basketball team has ever given me.

I mean, come on. We've got school-aged kids doing Zed finger guns after making a nerf basketball shot in his basement. It does not get better than this.

And to think, we've got at least three more years of those glorious finger guns (unless he somehow leaves early, which would be too amazing for me to be even almost upset.)

 SONG OF THE DAY. "Anyone Else But You" by The Moldy Peaches.

 NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. A dog inherits $5 million from her deceased owner... How pandemic hobbies have become a lifestyle... Police are searching for a man who pooped in unlocked cars at auto shops... DoorDash spent $5.5 million to advertise their $1 million donation... How Italian mafia bosses are cashing in on the pandemic... The Silence of the Lambs house is going to become a bed and breakfast...

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