Skull Session: Ryan Day “Very Surprised” C.J. Stroud's Cognition is in Question, Ohio State's Spring Game Attendance Was Quite Large and the Buckeyes Are the Most Popular Brand in CFB

By Chase Brown on April 24, 2023 at 5:00 am
Stroud / Day
Adam Cairns – USA TODAY Sports
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Welcome to the Skull Session.

Big Ten Network's Adam Breneman has a question: Is Ohio State Wide Receiver U?

The answer is yes.

Let's have a good Monday, shall we?

 “I'M JUST VERY SURPRISED.” When NFL reporter Bob McGinn reported C.J. Stroud received a much lower score (18%) on his S2 – a test that measures cognition and processing ability – than his counterparts Bryce Young (98%), Will Levis (93%) and Anthony Richardson (79%), college football and NFL Twitter went into a frenzy.

Almost a week before those frenetic moments occurred, S2 co-founder Brandon Ally told Pro Football Focus' Sam Monson to "take some of those (scores) with a grain of salt," as he claimed all of the top quarterbacks, including Stroud, "scored really, really well" on the test.

Whether accurate or inaccurate, those numbers have made their rounds on social media and have been published in numerous articles on the interwebs, which means it will affect the perception of Stroud's cognition and processing as the draft approaches. Knowing this, Ryan Day advocated for his quarterback in an interview with Bill Rabinowitz of The Columbus Dispatch over the weekend.

“I’m just very surprised that this has become a topic of conversation,” Day told The Dispatch. “Of all the things, I just feel like this is one that I've always felt was what makes him special. For this to be something that's a topic of conversation right now is catching me off guard.”

...

Day said the test was not used when he was a quarterbacks coach in the NFL in 2015 with the Philadelphia Eagles and in 2016 with the San Francisco 49ers. Because he’s unfamiliar with the test, he said he can’t speak to its value.

“I hope it’s accurate,” Day said. “For as much as people are talking about this, I hope it actually translates to on the field because it seems like a pretty heavily spoken-about topic right now. For folks to be talking about a test that may or may not have something to do with football – I don’t know – I just hope whatever they’re testing really translates to on the field.”

Day told The Dispatch he witnessed Stroud's accuracy, football IQ, vision, spatial awareness and leadership, among other qualities, in every workout, practice, scrimmage and live game at Ohio State. He also called Stroud "one of the best I've been around" in his time as a football coach.

When asked if Day had spoken with Stroud about the test score, Day said they talked last week. Day said he reminded Stroud that the headlines and discourse on social media are "part of the (draft) process," something he noted Stroud understands.

“I can tell you that when it comes to seeing the field – vision, spatial awareness – he’s one of the best I’ve ever been around,” he said. “He can see the field. He knows exactly what he saw and can tell you exactly what happened. And not just where he’s looking. He can see the entire field. He can verbalize what he saw on the last play, why he did what he did.

"When I evaluate a quarterback's decision-making and processing, I evaluate him as high as you can. I guess in terms of A, B, C or D, he’s an A.”

Stroud has yet to comment on his reported S2 score. He also made no rebuttal toward claims that he is difficult to coach or that he ghosted the Manning family before its Manning Passing Academy last year. And good for him. At this point in the process, let others speak on your behalf, interceding for you as Day did in the interview with The Dispatch.

Rabinowitz closed his article with a quote from Day. The first sentence read: "This will all be behind us in a week."

That's a good word.

The NFL draft starts Thursday, and whoever drafts Stroud will find out what kind of player he is soon enough. High S2 score, low S2 score, coachable, uncoachable, ditched the Manning camp, didn't ditch the Manning camp – none of that will matter. Stroud will have plenty of chances to prove himself, something he's excited to do and will hopefully accomplish early and often in his career.

 THAT'S A LOT OF PEOPLE. Ohio State has The Best Damn Fans in the Land. On what was a beautiful, sunny day in Columbus on April 15, over 75,000 people attended the Buckeyes' spring game at Ohio Stadium. After back-to-back weeks of intrasquad scrimmages for the best programs in college football, that number still stands as the most in the sport for 2023.

That number, and Ohio State's No. 1 ranking, for that matter, surprised me. I wrote in the Skull Session about Ohio State's desperate attempts in the final week to have fans purchase tickets. Those efforts were seemingly rewarded as the program brought in the largest spring game attendance of any program this year. And good for the Buckeyes.

Moreover, good on you, Buckeye Nation, for your continuous support of the program. Regardless of Ohio State's opponent – in this instance, itself – you always show up rain or shine because that's what fans do. You are a bunch of freaks, but you are my kind of freaks, so keep doing what you're doing, you filthy animals.

 THE POWER OF THE BRAND. When I write that Ohio State has The Best Damn Fans in the Land, I mean that subjectively. However, one can arrive at the same conclusion objectively after reading a Sports Market Analytics and AL.com report that ranked college football's most popular teams ahead of 2023. No surprise, the Buckeyes were No. 1.

 EVERYBODY CAN BE A SOMEBODY. Fox NFL Insider Jay Glazer welcomed Harry Miller onto his mental health podcast "Unbreakable" last week to have the former Ohio State offensive lineman share the courageous story behind his mental health journey. The following is a clip from that podcast:

"There was a student-athlete committing suicide every other week. It felt so absurd, and it felt like surely somebody has to say something. And I think everybody is just afraid of being a 'somebody.' But it's so easy to be a somebody. Anybody can be just somebody. Fortunately, I was a person who could be just somebody. I viewed it as almost a martyrdom when I was depressed. And I was thinking, you know, the only way I can get visibility to this issue is to sacrifice myself. You know, I like to write, and I love to edit, and I can't stop editing. It's like I couldn't even conceive of writing a suicide note because I wouldn't be able to come up with the final draft. I would be thinking, you know, I can't use this word; I have to put a paragraph here and it's a great thing to be able to live and have a constant editing power of your life."

A couple of things:

  1.  Shoutout to Harry Miller. Whenever I see him share his story online, I can't help but share it with you all.
  2.  Shoutout to Jay Glazer for having a mental-health-specific podcast where he welcomes athletes onto the show to share their experiences with mental health. That's big-time stuff.
  3. "Everybody can be a somebody" are words to live by. You matter.

Be a somebody today.

 SONG OF THE DAY. "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon.

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