Welcome to the Skull Session.
Bruce Thornton is one of the greats.
BRUCE CALLED GAME#GoBucks | #FightToTheEnd pic.twitter.com/HtI94WkHT5
— Ohio State Hoops (@OhioStateHoops) December 14, 2025
Have a good Monday.
LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING. Hello, Tallahassee Quarterback Club?
Jeremiah Smith won Big Ten Receiver of the Year and finished sixth in Heisman Trophy voting. And still you picked USC’s Makai Lemon — another Big Ten receiver — to win the Biletnikoff Award?
Jail. Immediately.
That’s a worse crime than when you chose Tennessee’s Jaylin Hyatt over Marvin Harrison Jr. in 2022.
— Jeremiah Smith (@Jermiah_Smith1) December 13, 2025
Yes, Smith (80 catches, 1,086 yards, 13 total touchdowns) and Lemon (79 catches, 1,156 yards, 13 total touchdowns) have nearly identical box-score numbers. But let’s put on our thinking caps!
Both played 13 games. Smith did it on 121 fewer snaps (572 to 693) and 68 fewer routes (332 to 400). And while Lemon feasted on space, Smith spent his Saturdays battling double-teams, triple-teams and constant bracket coverage — yet he still produced and created opportunities for others. Carnell Tate and Max Klare have combined for 91 catches, 1,286 yards and 11 touchdowns largely because defenses sold out to stop Smith, the focal point of every defensive coordinator’s game plan.
Buckeye Nation knows who the best receiver in the country is. @Jermiah_Smith1 | #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/23WoRizWcd
— Ohio State Buckeyes (@OhioStAthletics) December 13, 2025
I doubt the Tallahassee Quarterback Club will ever explain this decision, but I’ll still challenge them to try. What exactly could the best player on one of the best teams in college football have done better to win your precious award for the nation’s best receiver?
“JULIAN IS JUST GETTING STARTED.” Now, let’s talk about the Heisman voting. How on earth does Julian Sayin finish fourth?!
I have the utmost respect for Fernando Mendoza. He’s an excellent player on the field and a tremendous person off of it — see his mother’s letter in The Players’ Tribune, the $66,000 he raised for the National MS Society and the shopping spree he organized for MS-impacted families.
Jeremiyah Love is one of the best players in college football. His 1,652 total yards and 21 total touchdowns almost carried Notre Dame to the College Football Playoff.
I have nothing nice to write about Diego Pavia, so I won’t write anything. Actually, I’ll write this: Whoever exalts himself will be humbled. That’s it. That’s all I have.
While Sayin finished fourth, I appreciated this comment from Ryan Day before the Heisman Trust announced Mendoza as its winner:
It certainly feels like Julian will be back in NYC next year.
— Adam King (@AdamKing10TV) December 14, 2025
"Guys who get invited to New York are multiple year players, this is Julian's first year... he's got a lot football ahead of him"
Here are Ryan Day's comments on how proud he is of Julian Sayin
(Courtesy - @espn) pic.twitter.com/HfuTzvVCDZ
“Julian is just getting started,” Day said. “Like, Julian is a first-year starter in a time where the guys who get invited to New York are multiple-year players — guys who have played a lot of football. This is Julian’s first year playing football, and to see the way he’s taken this first year, with everything that comes with being the quarterback at Ohio State, and handling it with humility, he’s got a lot of football ahead of him, not just this year, but down the road, and I’m really proud of him.”
I also appreciated this response from ESPN’s Marty Smith:
“No pressure, he pretty much said you’re gonna win this award at some point,” he said to Sayin.
At some point means next year.
I look forward to it!
LOOKING AHEAD. Julian Sayin will be one of three preseason Heisman candidates next season, according to ESPN’s Mark Schlabach. The others are Jeremiah Smith and Bo Jackson. Here’s what Schlabach wrote about their chances to win the stiff-arm trophy in 2026:
Jeremiah Smith
Smith's highlight reel of acrobatic, one-handed catches continues to grow, and he arguably has been the best player in college football this season. He was the fastest Buckeyes player to reach career marks of 2,000 receiving yards (24 games), 100 catches (20) and 25 touchdown receptions (25).
Julian Sayin
Sayin might have captured the Heisman Trophy this season if Ohio State's offense hadn't flopped in its 13-10 loss to Indiana in the Big Ten championship game. In his first season as a starter, Sayin is on pace to break the NCAA single-season pass completion record of 77.4%, set by Oregon's Bo Nix in 2023.
Bo Jackson
Jackson became the fifth true freshman in OSU history to produce a 1,000-yard season, joining Robert Smith (1990), Maurice Clarett (2002), JK Dobbins (2017) and TreVeyon Henderson (2021). That's good company. And, of course, he'd be the second Bo Jackson to collect a stiff-armed trophy.
Schlabach’s other candidates include: Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton, Miami wide receiver Malachi Toney, Texas quarterback Arch Manning, Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, Missouri running back Ahmad Hardy, Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed, Cal quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, Ole Miss running back Kewan Lacy, USC quarterback Jayden Maiva, North Texas quarterback Drew Mestemaker, Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr and Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr.
Well, maybe Sayin won’t win the Heisman at some point. He’ll win Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year and then Maiva will win the Heisman! What a shame.
ENOUGH AWARDS TALK. I mentioned this to George Eisner on the Eleven Dubcast last week, but I think Ohio State will benefit tremendously from awards season being over during the College Football Playoff.
As much as Ryan Day and his players said individual accolades weren’t a focus this season, these are 18 to 22-year-olds who absolutely care about winning them. Ohio State had a lot of 18 to 22-year-olds up for awards this season, including Julian Sayin (Davey O’Brien, Maxwell, Heisman), Jeremiah Smith (Biletnikoff), Kayden McDonald (Outland), Arvell Reese (Butkus) and Caleb Downs (Bednarik, Nagurski, Thorpe and Lott IMPACT).
To be clear, I don’t believe any of these Buckeyes cared more about the individual awards than team success. But I do think there’s something about a team having a singular focus. With awards season now over, Ohio State’s players will have one thing on their mind: bouncing back from their loss to Indiana with a national championship.
As an added bonus, the Buckeyes who lost awards can use that pain as motivation! Like Jeremiah!
NEW DUBCAST. The first Eleven Dubcast of the week discusses the latest developments in the Sherrone Moore scandal since his arraignment on Friday, but not before examining the end of award season relative to Julian Sayin and Jeremiah Smith.
SONG OF THE DAY. "In The End" - Linkin Park.
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