Skull Session: Jim Tressel’s Name Will Be Immortalized in the Horseshoe, Ohio State’s 1996 Team Was One of the Decade’s Best and Bruce Thornton is Ready to Make An Impact in the NBA

By Chase Brown on June 24, 2026 at 4:55 am
Jim Tressel
Adam Cairns / Columbus Dispatch
8 Comments

Welcome to the Skull Session.

Is the week over yet?

I think I'm ready for the week to be over.

I'm being told it's only Wednesday.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends.

Have a good one.

 ONE OF THE GREATS. This fall, Jim Tressel’s name will be immortalized on the banks of the Olentangy.

Ohio State announced Tuesday that Tressel will be enshrined in the Ohio Stadium Ring of Honor, with his name forever etched inside the Horseshoe alongside Woody Hayes, Paul Brown, Troy Smith (No. 10), Les Horvath (No. 22), Eddie George (No. 27), Vic Janowicz (No. 31), Howard Cassady (No. 40), Archie Griffin (No. 45), Chic Harley (No. 47) and Bill Willis (No. 99).

The videos the Buckeyes’ creative team and Tressel shared Tuesday were pure nostalgia, and it was hard not to smile while watching them.

Tressel is the first Ohio State head coach I ever knew. 

He’s The Vest. 

He’s The Senator. 

He’s a legend. 

A fitting honor for one of the program’s all-time greats.

 WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN. The Athletic has a series this summer on 1990s college football. One of the articles the outlet produced came from editor-in-chief Stewart Mandel, who ranked the decade’s 15 best teams on Tuesday. Ohio State’s 1996 squad checked in at No. 12, while 1998 and 1995 were honorable mentions.

No. 12 - 1996 Ohio State

AP All-Americans: T Orlando Pace, DE Mike Vrabel, LB Andy Katzenmoyer, CB Shawn Springs

Signature wins: vs. No. 4 Arizona State (20-17 in the Rose Bowl), vs. No. 7 Penn State (38-7), at No. 18 Iowa (38-26), at No. 19 Notre Dame (29-16)

This was the peak of John Cooper’s run of loaded teams (43-7 from 1995-98) that kept getting stymied by Michigan. Led by five future Pro Bowlers, including Hall of Fame tackle Pace, the Buckeyes won their first 11 games, rising to No. 2 in the polls, before an inexplicable 13-9 home loss to an 8-4 Wolverines team. They rebounded in Pasadena, though, to ruin Jake Plummer-led Arizona State’s perfect season and finish No. 2.

We don’t talk about Nov. 23, 1996.

Had Ohio State won The Game, it would have had a clear path to an undefeated season and a national championship — its first in 26 years.

To their credit, the Buckeyes turned the page and delivered one of the program’s most memorable bowl performances against No. 2 Arizona State, which entered the Rose Bowl 12-0 with a 19-0 win over defending national champion Nebraska. Stanley Jackson controlled the final minutes, and David Boston hauled in the game-winning touchdown with 19 seconds left to cap the Rose Bowl in classic fashion.

My parents were at that game.

I’ve got the vintage crewneck to prove it!

 THE PLOT THICKENS. Just when I thought I was out, Brendan Sorsby pulls me back in.

The Texas Tech quarterback will not play in the NFL in 2026 after the league elected not to hold a supplemental draft this summer. According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Adam Schefter, NFL personnel said the decision came because league officials believe it would “ultimately become a distraction to teams as they begin training camps.”

“His application carries with it a lot of issues,” an NFL source told Thamel and Schefter. “Core of the game integrity issues.”

Sorsby’s attorney, Jeffrey Kessler, told ESPN that the NFL’s decision not to hold a supplemental draft “is a violation of the CBA and the law” and that he and Sorsby will “pursue this immediately with the NFLPA.”

One problem: Sorsby is not a member of the NFLPA, the party to the CBA, so good luck with that, Mr. Kessler.

In a letter obtained by ESPN, the league said Sorsby’s late petition — filed just days before the deadline and lacking supporting documentation — did not provide enough basis to alter its plans. The NFL also pointed to his recent legal maneuvering to avoid NCAA sanctions before eventually abandoning that path to pursue the supplemental draft instead.

The letter, signed by NFL general counsel Larry Ferazani, also criticized Sorsby’s filing for failing to address accountability or NFL integrity standards.

“Your Petition does not demonstrate accountability for your conduct or indicate whether, or how, you would adhere to the League's rules and policies governing the integrity of competition,” Ferazani wrote. “Instead, even after receiving notice of the NCAA's decision rescinding your college eligibility in May, you sought to avoid the consequences of that determination through litigation rather than accepting responsibility for your actions, and you pursued entry into the NFL only after abandoning those efforts.”

Ferazani added that while Sorsby is “a talented player with the potential for future success,” the league encouraged him to “focus on preparing for possible entry into the NFL through the 2027 NFL Annual Draft.”

I feel like this is the best outcome for everyone, right? Justice is served. Sorsby receives comeuppance. And the NFL doesn’t have to deal with the PR disaster this entire saga has become — one so chaotic I no longer want to follow, but also can’t escape.

 HELLOOOOOO, BRUCE. Bruce Thornton did not hear his name called in the first round of the NBA Draft, but it shouldn’t be long before Ohio State’s all-time leading scorer comes off the board in Round 2 on Wednesday.

In an interview with The Columbus Dispatch’s Adam Jardy this week, Thornton’s mom, Tiaunna Briggans, said Thornton is ready for the moment to arrive.

“I guess we’ve never done anything like this before because it’s a matter of someone choosing you versus you get to choose them,” Briggans said. “We keep having conversations and you just keep showing up and keep being yourself and the best is going to come for you because you’ve done everything the best of your best.”

For Thornton, the numbers and accolades reflect a four-year career defined by consistency and leadership. In addition to scoring 2,164 points at Ohio State, he became the first four-time captain in program history.

Since Ohio State’s NCAA Tournament loss to TCU, Thornton has stayed busy preparing for the next level. He earned an NBA Combine invitation and completed 18 pre-draft workouts, finishing his last on June 22 while crisscrossing the country to meet with teams.

The process has been demanding. Thornton’s travel schedule has taken him from Los Angeles to Toronto to San Antonio to Dallas, with long layovers and little time to reset. He has made brief returns to Atlanta and Columbus, but otherwise it’s been a nonstop stretch of flights, workouts, and meetings.

Ohio State coach Jake Diebler and his staff have supported him throughout the process, and Briggans said former Buckeyes coach Chris Holtmann — now at DePaul — has also stayed in touch.

Wherever he lands, it will mark a clear transition from Columbus, where he spent four years developing into one of the most productive players in program history.

“I asked him, ‘Does it feel weird that Ohio State is practicing and you’re not there?’” Briggans said. “He was like, ‘Mom, I did my four years.’ He’s content. He’s not scared. You’ve got to grow up now. You’re ready… I think I’ve done everything I was supposed to do to get to where I am and prepare myself, so yeah, I’m ready. It’s time for me to go.’”

Content.

Not scared.

Ready.

That’s a good summary of Thornton’s Ohio State career, and it’s no surprise that’s his mindset for whatever comes next.

 SONG OF THE DAY. "The Anthem" - Good Charlotte.

 CUT TO THE CHASE. Astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to observe CRISTAL-02 and discovered a galaxy-killing wind... Guinness crowns Canberra town crier as the world’s loudest person at 122.4 decibels... Ancient teeth from Siberia rewrite the plague’s timeline, dating back to over 5,500 years ago... Authorities seize hundreds of drones near World Cup stadiums.

8 Comments

Ohio State to Induct Jim Tressel into Ohio Stadium Ring of Honor

Jim Tressel

Elite Wide Receiver Austin Miller Becomes Ohio State’s First Commitment in the 2029 Class

Austin Miller
View 8 Comments