Welcome to the Skull Session.
I hope your weekend was as good as mine:
Thoroughly enjoyed watching two awesome concerts by Metallica at this weekends Sonic Temple Festival.
— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) May 12, 2025
Fittingly, their second set included a performance of Hang on Sloopy. pic.twitter.com/2pLAi4J0fg
After four days of listening to live rock music by Metallica, Linkin Park and many other bands who made their way to Columbus this weekend, my ears might still be ringing by the time you’re reading this. But In The End, One of us had to write the Skull Session today – Chase is still on vacation for a couple more days – so I plugged in my Battery to deliver your morning dose of #content to start off the week.
THE GAME PRESENTED BY... The annual Ohio State vs. Michigan football matchup has long been known simply as The Game, and those are the only two words needed to highlight the magnitude of the rivalry. As college football teams look for new revenue streams to help offset the increased expenses of revenue sharing, however, The Game could soon have a longer, more corporate title.
Last week, Dave Briggs of the Toledo Blade asked Ross Bjork about the possibility of Ohio State and Michigan selling naming rights to The Game. And Ohio State’s athletic director certainly didn’t shoot down the possibility.
“I believe our Learfield and Ohio State Sports Properties still have this on their inventory list but nothing has come together just yet,” Bjork said in an email. “Maybe someday soon!”
Added a Michigan spokesman: “I'm sure both schools will be approached about this opportunity again given the changing nature of college athletics.”
It wouldn’t be the first time Ohio State and Michigan have worked together to brand their rivalry game with an official sponsor. Back in 2004, Michigan and Ohio State agreed to a two-year, $1 million deal with SBC – a now-defunct telecommunications company – to rename The Game as the SBC Michigan-Ohio State Classic. The contract was ultimately voided due to backlash from both fan bases.
But that was before the professionalization of college sports began. While Bjork knows it is important to maintain Ohio State’s traditions, he also knows maximizing revenue is more important than it’s ever been before as OSU begins sharing revenue with athletes while also trying to provide them the best resources possible.
“Always protect tradition, but don't think traditionally about innovation and modernization,” Ohio State AD Ross Bjork told (the Toledo Blade) last year. “And I think you just have to be transparent and say, ‘Hey, we're in a revenue-based enterprise, now more than ever.’
“If we're going to kind of peel away Band-Aids, let's start ripping them off sooner rather than later and get to a place where we're transparent about everything. We state our case, we honor tradition, knowing that we have this economic engine that's not going to slow down.”
BIA BOOM COMING? Tim Walton is hoping to start his week off with a big recruiting #BOOM when four-star 2026 cornerback Jordan Thomas announces his college choice on Monday afternoon.
Thomas, who is ranked as the No. 17 CB and No. 176 overall prospect in the 2026 class, has emerged as Ohio State’s top target at the position following in-state cornerback Elbert Hill’s recent commitment to USC. It may not be entirely coincidental that Thomas is making his commitment 10 days later, as he visited Ohio State twice this spring and had great things to say about the Buckeyes after each visit.
Ohio State’s capitalized on its momentum from winning a national championship with its recruiting efforts this spring, landing eight commitments since March, and there’s good reason for optimism that another could come this afternoon when Thomas makes his announcement at 2:30 p.m.
Thomas, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound cornerback from New Jersey powerhouse Bergen Catholic High School, would join Avon, Ohio’s Jakob Weatherspoon – the No. 171 overall prospect in the cycle – as the second cornerback in Ohio State’s 2026 class.
MARV THROWS DOWN. Marvin Harrison Jr. put his dunking skills on display over the weekend as he drove through the lane for a thunderous jam while playing in Arizona Cardinals teammate Mack Wilson’s charity basketball game.
Marv throwing it DOWN pic.twitter.com/6fpI5ztaPu
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) May 10, 2025
While Harrison certainly made the right decision by choosing to focus on football, he’s said in the past that basketball was actually his first love. It’s fun to think about what kind of basketball player Harrison could have become if he had stuck with hoops, with his length and athleticism giving him high upside as a guard.
That said, he would have had to become one heck of a basketball player to be as good as he was as a wide receiver at Ohio State, where he was a two-time unanimous All-American. Now, Harrison is entering his second NFL season looking to establish himself as one of the league’s elite wideouts following an up-and-down but still productive rookie season in which he caught 62 passes for 885 yards and eight touchdowns.
He’ll be surrounded by plenty of former Buckeye teammates in Arizona this year, as the Cardinals drafted Cody Simon and Denzel Burke and signed Josh Fryar as an undrafted free agent after drafting Harrison and Paris Johnson Jr. over the last two years.
Paris giving the rookies a warm welcome pic.twitter.com/HYoy5UVLP0
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) May 9, 2025
Harrison will be going toe-to-toe with an old nemesis in practice as the Cardinals also selected former Michigan cornerback Will Johnson in the second round of this year’s draft. But Harrison will have plenty of backup in any rivalry trash talk that might ensue between them as Will Johnson finds himself outnumbered by the Cardinals’ Buckeye contingent of Harrison, Paris Johnson, Burke, Fryar, Simon and Baron Browning.
Fresh off the plane, Im like theres too many of yall.
— Bo Brack (@BoBrack) May 8, 2025
Arizona Cardinals 2nd RD pick Will Johnson jokes about having too many teammates that played at Ohio State. @PHNX_Cardinals pic.twitter.com/lX5tRUzYXG
TICKET SALES STARTING SOON. If you’re planning to attend a game – or multiple – at Ohio Stadium this season, you’ll have your opportunity to buy tickets next month.
Ohio State announced Friday that ticket sales for this year’s seven-game home slate, highlighted by its season opener against Texas (Aug. 30) and a highly anticipated Nov. 1 clash with Jim Knowles and Penn State, will begin with student ticket sales starting May 27. Sales of Pick 3 mini-plans – which exclude the Texas and Penn State games – will start June 16 at 10 a.m. A presale for OSU Alumni Association members starts June 24 at 10 a.m., while single-game ticket sales for the general public start June 27 at 10 a.m.
According to Ohio State’s release, single-game ticket prices will start at $64 – varying by opponent and seat location – while Pick 3 mini-plan prices start at $190. Pick 3 mini-plans will allow fans to put together a package that includes tickets for one game against either Grambling (Sept. 6) or Rutgers (Nov. 22) and two out of the three games against Ohio (Sept. 13), Minnesota (Oct. 4) and UCLA (Nov. 15).
Tickets will be sold via Ticketmaster.
SONG OF THE DAY. “Ride the Lightning” – Metallica
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