Welcome to the Skull Session.
Matt Patricia is officially back.
Matt Patricia has agreed to a new contract to remain at Ohio State despite receiving interest from the NFL, Ross Bjork told The Columbus Dispatch. https://t.co/ryfetQKhEZ
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) February 23, 2026
The Buckeyes are officially back.
That is, if the Buckeyes ever left.
Have a good Tuesday.
GOT QUARTERBACKS? Last week, ESPN’s Bill Connelly updated his list of the top 100 quarterbacks since 2000.
There weren’t many updates from Connelly’s previous release, as he added just three new names: Miami’s Carson Beck at No. 86, Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia at No. 36 (I mean, I guess?) and Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza at No. 14. However, those three inclusions shuffled the list a bit — including the rankings for five Buckeye signal callers:
No. 89 - Braxton Miller
Stats: 5,295 passing yards, 59% completion rate, 52 TD, 17 INT, 3,314 rushing yards, 33 rushing TD
Miller posted seasons of 2,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in 2012 and 2013 while winning the Big Ten's offensive player of the year award both seasons. He also finished fifth in the Heisman voting in 2012. But a shoulder injury altered his career; after missing 2014, he moved to receiver for his senior season in 2015.
No. 75 - J.T. Barrett
Stats: 9,434 passing yards, 64% completion rate, 104 TD, 30 INT, 3,263 rushing yards, 43 rushing TD
He broke the Big Ten record for most passing TDs and total TDs, won 38 games in 3.5 seasons as a starter, and, perhaps most importantly, went 4-0 against Michigan.
No. 40 - Troy Smith
Stats: 5,720 passing yards, 63% completion rate, 54 TD, 13 INT, 1,168 rushing yards, 14 rushing TD
Ohio State went wire-to-wire in the 2006 regular season, and while Smith wasn't asked to do much in blowouts, he came through big-time when required and won the Heisman by more than 1,600 points. Of course, this would have all mattered more had Smith and the Buckeyes not gotten absolutely humiliated by Florida in the national title game. That'll knock down your ranking a bit.
No. 34 - Justin Fields
Stats: 5,701 passing yards, 68% completion rate, 67 TD, 9 INT, 1,133 rushing yards, 19 TD
Thanks to the abbreviated 2020 season, Fields was a collegiate starter for basically 1.5 years. But in that time he proved startlingly accurate and dynamic, leading Ohio State to two CFP bids, one national title game and only two losses.
No. 22 - C.J. Stroud
Stats: 8,123 passing yards, 69% completion rate, 85 TD, 12 INT, 1 rushing TD
He didn't have the longest career, but in 25 career games he topped 300 yards 15 times, topped 400 yards five times, completed at least 70% of his passes 10 times and threw multiple INTs just twice. And he was the best player on the field in his final game, a CFP near upset of Georgia.
It’s a shame that C.J. Stroud never won a title at Ohio State. He was one of the best quarterbacks in school history, but a dirty hit on Marvin Harrison Jr. and a missed kick from Noah Ruggles cut his career one game — and one national championship — short. Had he and the Buckeyes hoisted a trophy in 2022, I bet Stroud would be much higher on Connelly’s list.
DEVELOPED HERE. Rankings with 100 players are cool, but rankings with 101 players are cooler.
Last week, Pro Football Focus ranked the NFL’s top 101 players from the 2025 season. Three former Ohio State players appeared on the list: NFL Offensive Player of the Year Jaxon Smith-Njigba, timeless wonder Cameron Heyward and one of my all-time favorite Buckeyes, Chris Olave.
No. 97 - Chris Olave
First and foremost, Olave logged a career-high 887 snaps in 2025, playing in every game except the Saints’ season finale. Among the 43 wide receivers with at least 25 targets from the slot, Olave ranked 10th in PFF receiving grade on those plays (82.5). Furthermore, his 57 targets from the slot were the most among receivers without a single drop on such targets.
No. 21 - Cameron Heyward
Now 36, Heyward has continued to defy Father Time in recent seasons. In 2025, he was a bulwark with a 90.4 PFF overall grade, the best among qualified interior defenders. Heyward earned at least an 84.4 PFF grade in both run defense and pass-rushing, making landmark contributions on nearly a weekly basis. Also impressive was Heyward’s 3.8% missed tackle rate, the third-lowest clip among any defender with 700 or more snaps.
No. 4 - Jaxon Smith-Njigba
Smith-Njigba was fantastic in 2025, ranking second at the position with 1,992 receiving yards in the regular season and playoffs. He secured an elite 93.2 PFF receiving grade and averaged 3.42 yards per route run. That yards per route run figure was 0.74 yards better than the wide receiver in third place. Unfortunately for him, there was one receiver who had an even better year.
The “one receiver who had an even better year” was Puka Nacua, according to PFF. That is incorrect subjectively and objectively. JSN has the Offensive Player of the Year award and a Super Bowl trophy to prove it. Both of those things are about to make him the highest-paid receiver in the NFL. But at least Puka can claim that he was two spots higher in PFF’s top 101!
AHHH, THAT’S INTERESTING. Jeremy Fowler, Jeff Legwold, Roman Modrowski and Katherine Terrell released a 2026 NFL draft confidential ahead of this week’s NFL combine. In it, the ESPN writers shared results of polls from NFL executives and scouts at the Senior Bowl, Shrine Bowl and Super Bowl regarding “three big questions about the class.”
One question stood out to me while reading: Who is the best prospect in the class, regardless of position? Arvell Reese received the most votes with five, followed by Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love with three, Caleb Downs with one and Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza with one.
When it comes to who the best prospect is in the 2026 class regardless of position, that honor based on our polling goes to Reese. The Ohio State linebacker/edge rusher was a multitask player in the Buckeyes' defense, boasting athleticism, physicality and walk-in starter ability as a three-down player. He has enormous potential as an edge rusher to go with his vast array of off-ball abilities.
I love Reese, but I still have a hard time viewing him as the top prospect in the draft. Maybe his performance at the NFL Combine will change my opinion (more on that in a moment), but his lack of elite production this season — particularly down the stretch, when he didn’t record a tackle for loss or a sack in the final five games — makes his status as the top prospect, and the comparisons to Micah Parsons, feel a bit overblown to me.
Then again, I am someone who repeatedly claims Caleb Downs is destined for a Hall of Fame career in the NFL.
Maybe that, too, is overblown…
… Nahhhhhh.
AHHH, THAT’S INTERESTING, PART TWO. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported Monday that Sonny Styles and Arvell Reese will participate in drills at the NFL Combine.
Former Alabama QB Ty Simpsons weight is back ahead of his throwing session at this weeks NFL combine, where Ohio State LB Sonny Styles will also participate and could blow away the testing. @gmfb @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/T6H4yURXXw
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) February 23, 2026
Both Styles and Reese are two of the most athletic Buckeyes I have ever seen, so I’m sure the linebacker duo will test well in Indianapolis. I hope both run the 40-yard dash, because I am especially curious about how fast each of them is in straight-line speed. Think either of them can run in the low 4.4s?
SONG OF THE DAY. “Be By You” - Luke Combs.
CUT TO THE CHASE. Otters enjoy a snow day in Maryland during winter storm... A bumper berry harvest has New Zealand’s weird flightless parrot in a rare mood for romance... Huge snowstorm in the Northeast forces millions to stay home, disrupts flights and closes schools... Mike Tirico gets his due as best all-around sportscaster... Jack Hughes' uncle, president of Denison University, celebrates golden goal.
