Skull Session: Julian Sayin Shines As a Deep-Ball Thrower, Arvell Reese Might Be This Year’s Jalon Walker and Brian Kelly Crashes Out on LSU Football Reporters

By Chase Brown on September 15, 2025 at 5:00 am
Julian Sayin
Joseph Maiorana / Imagn
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Welcome to the Skull Session.

Jeremiah Smith — good at football.

Have a good Monday.

 CAN YOU HEAR ME, MAJOR TOM? Ground control to Major Tom… 10, 9, 8, 7, 6… Commencing countdown, engines on… 5, 4, 3, 2… Check ignition and may God’s love be with you… 1, lift off!

David Bowie’s Space Oddity, which I first heard in the criminally underrated movie, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, plays in my head when I see Julian Sayin prepare to launch a deep ball for the Buckeyes.

Sayin had beautiful deep balls on Saturday, delivering a 47-yard strike to Jeremiah Smith and a 49-yard strike to Carnell Tate in the second half of Ohio State’s 37-9 win over Ohio.

After the game, Sayin praised Smith and Tate for their effort on the touchdowns.

“Great plays by Carnell and Jeremiah,” he said. “They made two great catches. I was excited to see them come down with it.”

According to Pro Football Focus, Sayin is 9-of-9 for 394 yards and six touchdowns when throwing passes of more than 20 yards this season, earning him a near-perfect 96.6 grade. Eleven Warriors assistant producer Josh Poloha will have the stats on where Sayin’s passes landed in his breakdown later this week, but for now, here’s what PFF has charted for Sayin through three games:

  • Outside Left: 2-for-2, 127 yards, 2 TD
  • Between Numbers: 5-for-5, 209 yards, 3 TD
  • Outside Right: 2-for-2, 58 yards, 1 TD

That’s elite.

Despite Sayin’s early-season success, he said Saturday that he has plenty to work on during the bye week, particularly in taking care of the football and leading the Buckeyes to have better efficiency in the red zone.

“I think it’s good to battle some adversity out there, you know, have the turnovers and see how we respond as an offense and how I respond, Sayin said. “I think it’s good to battle some adversity out there.”

 THIS YEAR’S JALON WALKER? Arvell Reese is incredible.

In his first season as the Buckeyes’ No. 1 Mike linebacker, Reese — a Cleveland native and representative of the Glenville to Ohio State pipeline — has been one of the team’s best defenders, recording a team-leading 20 tackles with two sacks, two tackles for loss and two pass breakups.

Reese earned praise for his performance in Ohio State’s statement win over top-ranked Texas in Week 1, as The Athletic’s Dane Brugler shared that the 6-foot-4, 243-pound linebacker had “a ton of buzz” with NFL scouts as “the next dude from that Ohio State defense.” Two weeks later, during the Buckeyes’ win over the Bobcats, ESPN’s Field Yates piled on the praise, calling Reese “this draft’s Jalon Walker.”

Walker emerged during his third season at Georgia in 2024, collecting 60 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks, two pass breakups, and two fumble recoveries in 14 games. The 6-foot-1, 243-pound linebacker earned first-team All-American honors and won the Butkus Award for his efforts. 

Following his breakout junior campaign, Walker declared for the 2025 NFL draft, where many analysts, including Brugler, had him ranked as a top-five overall prospect. Walker eventually landed with the Atlanta Falcons at No. 15 overall.

If Reese continues to shine as the Queen on Matt Patricia’s chessboard, I could see him following a similar path to Walker. I mean, seriously? What can’t Reese do?

“Arvell is awesome. He can do so many different things,” Sonny Styles said of Reese on Saturday. “It’s no surprise to me. I’ve seen him do it in training camp and throughout spring. Him making those plays in the game now, it’s no surprise at all.”

 BRUTUS GETS HIS GETBACK. After 15 years, Brutus exacted revenge on Rufus over the weekend — but not in the way you’d think.

In 2010, Rufus (Brandon Hanning) attacked Brutus (Sean Stazen) as the Ohio State mascot led the football team onto the field, successfully completing a WWE takedown and landing a few punches. Rather than avenge himself with violence, Brutus asserted his dominance via a tug-of-war and a 100-yard dash.

After Ohio State took a 6-0 lead with 9:58 remaining in the first half, Rufus appeared in the North end zone with a WWE championship belt while footage of the infamous tackle played on the scoreboard. Brutus then walked out of the North tunnel to John Cena’s “The Time Is Now” entrance music.

Brutus then won the tug-of-war to even “the score” at 1-1.

At the next media timeout, Brutus took the belt from Rufus after easily winning a 100-yard dash. Rufus then held up Brutus’ hand as the victor, and both mascots made up before returning to their respective sidelines.

Well done, Brutus. Well done!

 “YOU’RE SPOILED.” Let’s zoom out from Ohio State.

You all see Brian Kelly’s latest rant?

On Saturday, LSU only defeated Florida, 20-10.

Yes, only.

Florida quarterback DJ Lagway threw five interceptions, yet the LSU offense was so bad — it had 322 total yards, including 102 rushing yards, with 51 coming on the final offensive play before the team went into victory formation — that the Tigers only scored two touchdowns and two field goals.

After the game, Kelly called the game “one of the SEC classics” while praising LSU punter Grant Chadwick, who averaged 50.4 yards per punt and pinned Florida’s offense inside the 20-yard line four times.

“Sorry that that doesn’t sound appealing to you folks, but I don’t really care,” Kelly said. “We’re trying to win football games.”

Soon after that comment, a reporter asked Kelly about his offense. Kelly didn’t wait for them to finish before he shut the reporter down.

“Stop. Really?” Kelly said. “Is that the first question? We won the game 20-10. Try another question. What do you want me to tell you? I just laid it out for you. We played the game to win the game.”

Kelly then deflected questions about his third-down offense and LSU’s struggles running the football. He cited the 51-yard run as proof the Tigers can pound the rock.

“We can run the ball,” Kelly said. “Did you see the last play of the game? That’s all you need. You just need one. … These are ridiculous questions, and I’m getting tired of it. That football team just worked their tail off to get an SEC win. And you know what’s wrong? You’re spoiled. … This is ridiculous for a group of seasoned reporters. That kind of question is so out of line.”

No, Coach Kelly, you are out of line — and you are spoiled, even if your best victories at LSU were at… *checks notes*... at the 2022 Citrus Bowl, 2024 ReliaQuest Bowl and 2024 Kinder’s Texas Bowl.

I could never see Ryan Day doing this to reporters on the Ohio State football beat. Never in a million years. And for that I am grateful!

 DAILY DUBCAST. The Eleven Dubcast begins the Buckeye bye week by recapping the Ohio State vs. Ohio game and assessing what the immediate future of OSU's backfield may look like given the breakout performance of freshman Bo Jackson.

 SONG OF THE DAY. "Carmen Ohio" - The Best Damn Band in the Land.

 CUT TO THE CHASE. Ghana’s fantasy coffins are a colorful celebration of life and legacy... John Daly makes a 19 to set wrong kind of PGA Tour Champions record... Bengals' Joe Burrow feared to have suffered toe injury that will sideline him at least three months... Fantasy Baseball is better than Fantasy Football.

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