Skull Session: Archie Griffin is The Man, It's Time to Hop Aboard the Carnell Tate Train and Garrett Wilson Calls Marvin Harrison Jr. The Best He's Seen

By Chase Brown on April 17, 2023 at 5:00 am
Archie Griffin
Joseph Scheller / Columbus Dispatch
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Oh come let's sing Ohio's praise
And songs to Alma Mater raise
While our hearts rebounding thrill
With joy which death alone can still
Summer's heat or winter's cold
The seasons pass the years will roll
Time and change will surely show...

No more football until August? What are we supposed to do now?

I'm not sure, but let's have a good Monday, shall we?

 ARCHIE, ARCHIE, HE'S OUR MAN. Archie Griffin is The Man, plain and simple. On Saturday, the 48th-year senior took his first carry of the spring game to the house for a 25-yard touchdown in the third quarter. It was a moment that stole the show in the Buckeyes' offseason scrimmage at Ohio Stadium.

After the run, Griffin spoke with Big Ten Network's Brooke Fletcher about the experience. Griffin said he never expected to carry a football in the Shoe, reminding Fletcher and BTN's viewers that his Ohio State career ended in 1975. Once he took the handoff, however, the Buckeye legend looked as good as ever.

"It feels great. And nobody touched me. That makes it feel real good," Griffin told Fletcher. "But I only got one in me. That was it."

With that as his last carry in an Ohio State uniform, Griffin used the platform to remind everyone at Ohio Stadium and watching from home that he is the only two-time Heisman Trophy winner in college football history – you know, GOAT behavior.

In his postgame press conference, Ryan Day said he felt honored to involve the Ohio State football legend in the Buckeyes' exhibition, especially with the 50th anniversary of Griffin's first Heisman Trophy coming next year.

Just a great move all around from Ohio State. A classy move from Day to provide the classiest man on Earth with another chance to shine at Ohio Stadium, the mecca of college football he helped transform half a century after it was built off the banks of the Olentangy.

 "JUST KNOW HE'S A DAWG." In the first days, weeks and months in Columbus, freshman wide receiver Carnell Tate, a former four-star receiver and top-50 overall recruit in the class of 2023, has seemingly become a household name for Ohio State fans. He showed why that's the case in the Buckeyes' spring game.

Tate hauled in a touchdown pass from Kyle McCord on Saturday, a 39-yard score that involved a vertical route from Tate and a beautiful ball in stride from McCord to put six points on the board for Team Scarlet.

Now, I'll admit – no aspect of that play was particularly special. Tate was unchecked at the line of scrimmage, allowing him to have a running start before he blew past Jyaire Brown and moved to the end zone. All McCord needed to do was throw a warmup-like pass into the bread basket for the touchdown.

How-evuh, the vibe around Tate is immaculate. He earned favor from Day, Brian Hartline and the Ohio State coaching staff early on as he was the first member of the class of 2023 to shed his black stripe. Even more, according to the research of the brilliant Griffin Strom, he was the quickest freshman in program history to lose his black stripe since former head coach Urban Meyer started the tradition in 2012.

Not only has Tate earned favor from the coaches, but he's also impressed his Ohio State teammates after a brief period of winter workouts and 15 spring practices this offseason. When asked who Ohio State fans should look out for as a breakout candidate in 2023 and beyond in his postgame press conference, Denzel Burke answered without hesitation.

"Carnell Tate," he said. "Just know he's a dawg."

'Nuff said.

Do I expect Tate to steal reps from Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka this fall? No, not necessarily. But I think Tate can be an excellent replacement for Julian Fleming and Xavier Johnson, even in his first season as a Buckeye.

Of course, I would love to see where the second-year receivers are next season – players like Kyion Grayes, Kaleb Brown, Caleb Burton and Kojo Antwi, that whole bunch – but as it stands, Tate has done enough to prove that he deserves to be included in the offensive attack moving forward. How much? I don't know. But he's a dude, and he needs to be on the field in some capacity in 2023.

Make it work, Coach Hart.

Please.

 "HE'S BETTER THAN ANYTHING I'VE SEEN." Marvin Harrison Jr. was the best wide receiver in college football last season. He will be that once more in 2023. You know it. I know it. Garrett Wilson knows it.

A three-year Buckeye and the 2022 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year with the New York Jets, Wilson attended Ohio State's spring game. In an interview on BTN's broadcast, Fletcher asked Wilson to share his opinion on Harrison. He had nothing but wonderful things to say about the 6-foot-4, 205-pound wide receiver.

“He’s better than anything I’ve seen. Watching Marv, it’s truly an honor. I got to see him since he was a young guy in the facility. He’s got the right head on his shoulders, goes about things the right way. And he can ball. It shows on Saturdays, it shows on days like this. But most importantly, he’s a great person and I’m excited to see the success that he’s having.”

Remember when Wilson and Chris Olave donned Jaxon Smith-Njigba as the best of that trio of Ohio State receivers, and they turned out to be correct? Wilson has now praised Harrison similarly, claiming "he is better than anything I've seen." Again, that's coming from an offensive rookie of the year and one of the NFL's most electric young talents.

Look out college football. The one called Marvelous Marv (or Route Man Marv, or Super Marv, or Slot Man Marv) is coming back next year with lots to achieve, namely winning the Biletnikoff Award that he deserved last season, but also a Big Ten Championship and a national championship in what will likely be his final season as a Buckeye in 2023.

 GIVE HIM A RING! Over the past two months, I have had the pleasure of including Ohio State's club boxing team and its accomplishments in the Skull Session. The Buckeyes performed well at the NCBA Regionals in Cincinnati this winter, sending four boxers to Charlotte, North Carolina, for the NCBA Nationals, which took place this past weekend.

As was the case at Regionals, Ohio State looked strong at Nationals. In fact, the Buckeyes may have had their best performance as a program, as Edward Son became the club's first-ever national champion with wins over Army's Jonathan Parham and Air Force's Angelo Ganac and a split decision against Navy's Jake Jones.

Look at that belt! Hang that in the RPAC for all to see! Congratulations to Son for his efforts over the weekend. That's an incredible accomplishment that he will remember forever, as will his coaches and teammates.

And one more note: The club's coach, Nat Shineman, wanted to personally thank the Eleven Warriors community for their contributions to the team's GoFundMe page created to help send the team to North Carolina for Nationals. Without your help, Shineman said Son's title would not have happened.

"We'd like to thank the entire Eleven Warriors community who helped support our trip to nationals. We couldn’t have done it without their help," Shineman wrote to me in an email. "We were able to meet our fundraising goal and bring all four athletes to Charlotte for nationals. Tell them, thank you!"

Shineman also said Ohio State's club boxing will be back and better than ever in 2023-24. I, for one, am very excited to see where the team goes. There are big things coming, I am sure of it.

 SONG OF THE DAY. "Waffle House" by Jonas Brothers.

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