Welcome to Skull Session.
Your usual stupendous and skilled Skull Session writer Chase Brown is on a well-earned vacation, so I'll be navigating the USS Skully today in his stead.
Have a good Friday.
OHIO STATEHOUSE. Ohio State's 2024 national championship victory tour continued this week when Ryan Day, Ross Bjork, Ted Carter, Lorenzo Styles Jr., Carson Hinzman, Austin Siereveld and Malik Hartford visited Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and his wife, Fran, at their Statehouse.
Fran and I were honored to host the College Football National Champions, @OhioStateFB, at the Statehouse! Go Bucks! pic.twitter.com/CjGcjRUu8Y
— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) May 8, 2025
While there, Carter made sure to brag about his athletes, not just for their on-field accolades but for their success in the classroom. Ohio State was the only Division 1 college football team with a perfect Academic Progress Rate of 1,000.
"We outscored Harvard, we outscored Princeton, we outscored every other school in the country," Carter told the DeWines.
Mike DeWine gave his guests a full tour of the Statehouse, including the governor's cabinet and the governor's ceremonial office, which features the Lincoln desk, where former President Abraham Lincoln received news he'd won the election to become the 16th United States president in 1860.
The College Football Playoff national championship trophy was brought along for the ride and placed on said Lincoln desk for some photos.
The Buckeyes were honored today at the Ohio Statehouse by Governor DeWine, members of the Ohio Senate & the Ohio House of Representatives pic.twitter.com/ZOnJKH9rGI
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) May 7, 2025
Start Austin Siereveld's gubernatorial campaign today!
“PRETTY DAMN WIDE.” NFL teams are using all the latest technology to give themselves a leg – or, more appropriately, a foot – up wherever they can. For the Cleveland Browns, that includes scanning their players' feet to build custom cleats for optimal performance.
In a video posted to Cleveland's Twitter (I left Xs in high school algebra), the Browns showed the process of fitting former Ohio State running back Quinshon Judkins' sod-running shoes after they selected him 36th overall in the second round of the 2025 NFL draft.
Quinshon getting his cleats right @quinshon_ | #DawgPound pic.twitter.com/BmVgFIZIVT
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) May 8, 2025
The clip showed Judkins donning a pair of specialty socks for the measurement, after which he got to select his style of cleat from an assortment of Nike designs (fun fact: the NFL will be a Nike league until at least 2038) before he stepped on a pair of sensors that mapped his feet.
The technician announced one of his measurements to the room and remarked, "That means pretty damn wide."
ENJOY HIM WHILE HE'S HERE. I've been known to take Pro Football Focus' grades with a boulder of salt over the years – not a knock on their analytics, they provide a lot of useful data – but regardless, Max Chadwick and Dalton Wasserman of The PFF College Football Show are #BallKnowers (people that know football). Then again, it doesn't take a #BallKnower to recognize that Ohio State safety Caleb Downs is among the top prospects for the 2026 NFL draft.
On Wednesday, Chadwick went so far as to call him the best prospect in the class and compared him to three NFL first-team All-Pros.
"Caleb Downs is the best football player in this year's draft," Chadwick said. "Malaki Starks got a lot of the generational safety love coming into summer last year, this guy actually deserves it. I think he is actually on the level of Derwin James, of Kyle Hamilton, of Eric Berry."
Caleb Downs is the best prospect in the 2026 NFL Draft pic.twitter.com/CNkKOmbrz5
— PFF College (@PFF_College) May 7, 2025
Wasserman agreed, adding a Pro Football Hall of Famer to the list of comparisons.
"The force multiplier, the ability to play any role that you want," Wasserman said. "Like those guys, what makes those guys Kyle Hamilton, Derwin James, Troy Polamalu, the great safeties great? The ability to do everything."
I also agree!
Downs did, in fact, everything for Ohio State's secondary in 2024. Per PFF (see what I did there), Downs played 393 snaps at deep safety, 339 snaps in the box, 160 as a slot cornerback and even 11 snaps at outside cornerback during the Buckeyes' championship run.
Wherever he lined up, teams were advised not to target him. Downs allowed just 20 receptions for 188 yards and no touchdowns with six pass breakups and two interceptions on 32 targets in 2024. That's just 5.9 yards per target. Only four of the 133 passing offenses in college football had fewer than 5.9 yards per pass attempt last season.
The traditional counting stats show his ludicrous ability to make plays downhill in the running and short passing games, as he racked up 82 tackles with 7.5 tackles for loss. More than anything, it's Downs' football IQ and instincts that are impressive. It doesn't take him long to master a defensive system, as he showed by making an instant impact for Ohio State after transferring in from Alabama last offseason.
Sounds like the best prospect in his draft class to me!
SONG OF THE DAY. "reincarnated" - Kendrick Lamar
AROUND THE INTERNET WITH ANDY. Basketball Hall of Famer Paul Pierce walks 20 miles in a robe after losing a bet... A snail that lays eggs with its neck... A woman who disappeared in Wisconsin more than 60 years ago has been found safe... World record for longest soccer throw set... 98 iguana eggs found in a yard in Florida.
