Welcome to the Skull Session.
Another Student Appreciation Day is coming.
Student Appreciation Day pic.twitter.com/eSeIis91k2
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) March 30, 2026
Have a good Tuesday.
ONE OF THE GOOD ONES? Is it possible for a Michigan fan to be good?
Ha.
I make myself laugh sometimes.
Good?
No.
Best of the worst?
Sure, let’s call it that.
The Athletic’s Matt Brown (not Extra Points’ Matt Brown) conducted a reader survey this month, asking The Athletic’s subscribers to answer three questions: Who is the best coach in college football? Who are the top five coaches, in any order? And do you approve or disapprove of the job the coach of your favorite team is doing?
With 3,023 responses, here were their answers to the first two questions:
Best coach
- Indiana’s Curt Cignetti: 67% of the votes
- Georgia’s Kirby Smart: 14.6%
- Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman: 6.7%
- Ohio State’s Ryan Day: 3.6%
- Oregon’s Dan Lanning: 1.5%
Top five coaches
- Cignetti
- Smart
- Day
- Lanning
- Freeman
Before I discuss Day’s ranking, Brown noted that “Notre Dame fans were by far the most enthusiastic respondents to our poll, making up nearly 20 percent of the vote,” which “helps explain why Freeman is third on the list, ahead of Day and Lanning.”
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s look at Day’s breakdown.
Day joins Cignetti, Smart and Dabo Swinney as the only active coaches with a national championship, and though his four-game losing streak against Michigan clouded how he was viewed, it’s hard to argue with an 82-12 record.
Even three Michigan fans voted for Day as the best coach in the country. Of the Ohio State fans who weighed in, 35 percent chose Day as the No. 1 coach and 97 percent said they approve of the job he’s doing. (Among the naysayers, Buckeyes fan John S. says: “He’ll have to beat Michigan a whole bunch more.”) The 2024 national title and 2025 win over Michigan have most people respecting Day as one of the nation’s top coaches.
“Ryan Day recruits at the highest level, puts offensive skill players in the NFL at an incredible rate and consistently wins.” — Jeff H. (Michigan fan)
“As an Ohio State homer, Ryan Day has become everything we could’ve hoped and more. He has brought an NFL feel to our program and despite continued turnover on the coaching staff he brings in talented and experienced coaches. Ryan has become the general of the OSU program and not just a head coach.” — Wesley (Ohio State fan)
Yes, that’s Jeff H., Michigan fan, complementing Day.
Who would have thought a Michigan Man would have nice things to say about our head ball coach?!
Congratulations, Jeff H.
You are the best of the worst.
As for Coach Day — well, he’s the best of the best.
ALL SEVEN ROUNDS?! The NFL draft is less than a month away. I repeat: the NFL draft is less than a month away.
As the calendar turns from March to April, ESPN’s Matt Miller predicted the first seven rounds — yes, all 257 picks — of the 2026 draft. He included 11 Buckeyes in those selections, ranging from No. 2 to No. 223 overall.
Here’s where each of them landed, along with a brief reaction from muah.
- No. 2 - Arvell Reese to the New York Jets (J-E-T-S Jets! Jets! Jets!)
- No. 5 - Caleb Downs to the New York Giants (Next Kyle Hamilton)
- No. 6 - Carnell Tate to the Cleveland Browns (YES!... HA HA HA… YES!)
- No. 10 - Sonny Styles to the Cincinnati Bengals (YES!... HA HA HA… YES!)
- No. 38 - Kayden McDonald to the Houston Texans (It was perfect. Perfect.)
- No. 68 - Max Klare to the Philadelphia Eagles (Cheez Whiz)
- No. 86 - Davison Igbinosun to the Los Angeles Chargers (Thanks, I hate it.)
- No. 171 - Caden Curry to the New England Patriots (Next John Simon)
- No. 176 - Lorenzo Styles Jr. to the Kansas City Chiefs (Speed? I am speed.)
- No. 186 - Will Kacmarek to the New York Giants (He’ll have a friend!)
- No. 223 - CJ Donaldson to the Washington Commanders (You like that?!)
Ohio State had 14 draft picks in 2025 and could have 11 more in 2026. That would make 25 #DevelopedHere selections in back-to-back drafts.
I’M LOVIN’ IT. Ohio State five-star signee Anthony Thompson will take the court Tuesday in the McDonald’s All-American Game.
The No. 9 overall prospect in the 2026 class, Thompson is Ohio State’s first McDonald’s All-American since D’Angelo Russell (more on him in a moment). The 6-foot-8, 205-pound small forward has already made a strong impression in the lead-up to tip-off.
Following Sunday’s practice, Rivals’ Jamie Shaw named Thompson the session’s MVP, calling him “far and away the best shooter in the gym.”
“Listed at 6-foot-9, his balance was excellent, and he was consistently able to get the ball off with a clean look,” Shaw wrote. “Thompson is thin and will need to continue adding weight as he progresses, but he did stick his nose in there on the glass and got into passing lanes defensively. Ultimately, the scoring ability is very intriguing and the upside remains very high.”
According to Shaw, Thompson stood out even among elite company, outperforming top prospects such as Kansas signee Tyran Stokes, Duke signee Cameron Williams, Arkansas signee Jordan Smith Jr. and Arizona signee Caleb Holt.
With a massive 7-foot-3 wingspan, Thompson was one of the most productive players on the 3SSB circuit in 2025, averaging 22 points per game while shooting 53% from the field. He also knocked down 39% of his 3-point attempts and made an impact defensively, averaging 1.9 blocks and 1.6 steals per game.
A Lebanon, Ohio native, Thompson won’t turn 18 until August, giving him plenty of time to continue filling out his frame. His length, scoring ability and overall upside will be on display Tuesday night, offering Ohio State fans their first glimpse of the forward expected to pair with Amare Bynum next season following Devin Royal’s decision to enter the transfer portal.
BIRDIES #LOADING…? Did you all know D’Angelo Russell has joined the YouTube golf game?
The former Ohio State star launched a golf YouTube channel a year ago and has built an audience via videos with athletes like John Daly Jr., Devin Booker, Austin Reeves, Klay Thompson and one of the top YouTube golf creators, Garrett Clark.
This past weekend, a friend sent me a video Russell recently released with Bob Does Sports’ Fat Perez. In the one-hour, 10-minute video, Russell and FP played 18 holes at Turnberry Isle Country Club in Aventura, Florida.
Around the seven-minute mark, the conversation turns to his brief time at Ohio State:
“Were you a Buckeye?” FP asked.
“Yeah,” Russell responded with a smile.
“How was that?”
“It was great,” Russell said, again smiling. “I went to Ohio State for, like, six months. I was so scared — I was a McDonald’s All-American — and I was so scared to get in trouble and mess up my chances to be a pro after being traumatized from all the stories. So I get there, and I had very little fun. But our football team ended up winning the championship that year, so that gave me some energy to want to do more. They were so good. That’s where I had the most fun. But as soon as (the basketball) season ended, I was out of there.”
He’s correct.
They were so good.
I have to give it to DLo, he’s a pretty good golfer. I’ve watched FP play several times over on his channel with Robby Berger, and he’s legit. Russell losing by just three holes in match play is impressive.
SONG OF THE DAY. "Somewhere Only We Know" - Keane.
CUT TO THE CHASE. PFF lays off several employees amid company sale... NASA begins the countdown for humanity’s first launch to the moon in 53 years... Move over, New York and Chicago — a Midwest pizza style is taking over... FDA recalls Trader Joe's pizza, focaccia over possible metal fragments... 52-year-old elephant returned safely after escaping zoo enclosure.
