Welcome to the Skull Session.
Chase Brown is off this week for a well-deserved vacation before Big Ten Media Days, so I’m back on Skull Session duty for today, Wednesday and Friday, while Josh Poloha will fill in on Tuesday and Thursday.
Let’s have a great week.
“HE HAD A GOOD TIME.” Former Buckeye tight end Jake Ballard had a front-row seat for one of the most infamous recruiting visits in Ohio State history.
While talking about the best players he played with in his NFL career during his appearance on last week’s 12th Warrior Happy Hour, Ballard revealed that he was the player host for Rob Gronkowski’s recruiting visit to Ohio State in 2006 – a visit forever immortalized by the now-iconic photo of a hungover Gronk standing next to former Ohio State reporter (and current Columbus Blue Jackets team reporter) Jeff Svoboda on the sidelines at Ohio Stadium.
Ballard, who was an Ohio State freshman at the time, said part of his responsibility as Gronkowski’s host was making sure he enjoyed his trip to Columbus, but downplayed his role in what was undoubtedly a fun night for the future NFL great.
“I don't know if that was the night I had him or a different night,” Ballard said in reference to the night before the game Gronkowski was pictured at. “I haven't talked to Gronk in forever, but I saw him on a podcast just talking about that picture, and he said that some of his boys who he's friends with took him out that night. But, you know, you're supposed to show those guys a good time, and I took him around and introduced him to people and girls and he had a good time. But I had football the next day, so I was just like a driver or a chauffeur taking him to places.”
While Gronkowski ended up going to Arizona instead, Ballard and Gronk reunited when the New England Patriots signed Ballard in 2012. And even though Ballard had helped the New York Giants beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl just a few months before, the first thing Gronkowski wanted to talk to him about was his trip to Columbus six years earlier.
“I walk in this facility with these guys I just helped beat in the Super Bowl, and Gronk's one of the first person I see and he yells like, ‘Oh, it’s my host!’” Ballard recalled. “And I hadn't really talked to him much (since his trip to Ohio State), but eventually I talked to him, I was like, ‘Why didn’t you come to Ohio State?’ And he's like, ‘Well, you know, I just loved Arizona and the weather and all the girls out there. And I just wanted to get away from the East Coast.’ I'm like, ‘OK, that's why you went to Arizona, I guess.’”
Gronkowski’s trip to Columbus was just one of many stories shared by Ballard about his Ohio State and NFL careers during his hourlong conversation with Eleven Warriors and our 12th Warriors. To watch our full conversation with Ballard and participate in future 12th Warrior Happy Hours with Ohio State greats, sign up to become a 12th Warrior today.
THE WORLDWIDE LEADER IN TOP-15 PROSPECTS. Four of the top 15 prospects in the 2027 recruiting class are committed to Ohio State, according to ESPN.
ESPN ranks defensive end commit DJ Jacobs as the No. 3 overall prospect in the country, behind only Texas Tech defensive tackle commit Jalen Brewster and Texas cornerback commit John Meredith III. ESPN also ranks Jamier Brown as the No. 11 overall prospect and No. 2 wide receiver in the 2027 class, Marcus Fakatou as the No. 13 overall prospect and No. 2 defensive tackle in the class and Caden Moss as the No. 15 overall prospect and No. 4 offensive tackle in the country.
No other school has commitments from more than two of the top 15 prospects in the ESPN 300. ESPN also ranks all four of those prospects among its top 25 prospects regardless of recruiting class, and Ohio State is the only school with four commits on that list as well.
No program in the country has more players on ESPN’s top 25 players regardless of class ranking than Ohio State @DaviddJacobss @jam1erbrown @MarcusFakatou @Caden__moss
— Billy Tucker (@TheUCReport) July 17, 2026
The future is bright in Columbus.
Full rankings: https://t.co/9aiiZPk9Dj pic.twitter.com/xjX1BArATB
Jacobs and Fakatou headline a star-studded defensive line class for Ohio State that also includes four-star prospects Wyatt Smith and the Buckeyes’ most recent commit, Karlos May. Moss headlines a six-deep offensive line class for the Buckeyes as Ohio State has placed an increased emphasis on the trenches in this year’s recruiting cycle. Brown is set to be the 10th five-star wide receiver to sign with Ohio State since 2019, continuing a trend of elite recruiting at the position for the Buckeyes.
Ohio State could add a fifth top-15 prospect in ESPN’s 2027 rankings if five-star running back David Gabriel Georges, who ESPN ranks as the No. 14 overall prospect in the 2027 class, commits to the Buckeyes on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., when he’s scheduled to announce his decision between Ohio State and Tennessee.
YOU SURE ABOUT THAT, PAT? During a radio interview with Atlanta radio station 680 The Fan at last week’s ACC Kickoff, Pittsburgh head coach Pat Narduzzi made a bold and dubious claim: The ACC is a better conference than the Big Ten.
Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi isn't backing down.
— 680 The Fan (@680TheFan) July 17, 2026
"This conference is better. It's better than the Big Ten." @JohnMichaelsU @Pitt_FB pic.twitter.com/B6CHlgRcv2
“Coming from Michigan State, spent eight seasons there as a defensive coordinator, coming to Pitt in 2015, I said it then, I said it now, after about two years in the league, I said, ‘This conference is better.’ It's better than the Big Ten. It's got more skill,” Narduzzi said. “And I just think up and down the East Coast, I just think there's so many players in our area where in the Big Ten trying to get players up there to come up north and now it's got a little West flavor to it, but I've said that for years and I'm going to stick to my guns. And you look at our record in bowl games against the SEC and the Big Ten, you look at our record in the regular season, I mean, we don't have a losing record. We have a winning record against those teams.”
Narduzzi’s argument unravels quickly once you actually look at the record like he requested. As it turns out, the ACC actually did have a losing record (2-4) against the Big Ten last season. Narduzzi’s Panthers have gone just 1-6 against Big Ten opponents in his 11-year tenure as Pittsburgh’s coach.
While the Big Ten has won three straight national championships, the ACC has won just three College Football Playoff games in the last six years – all by Miami in last year’s CFP, where the Hurricanes ultimately lost to Indiana in the national championship game.
As for Narduzzi’s claim that the ACC has “more skill,” the Big Ten has twice as many first-round NFL draft picks as the ACC (32 to 16) over the past four years and 83 more total NFL draft selections (236 to 153) over that same span.
His suggestion that Big Ten teams have a harder time recruiting top talent also fails to hold water, as the Big Ten currently has eight composite five-star commitments in the 2027 recruiting class compared to just four for the ACC (all to Miami), with a 28-to-10 advantage in top-100 composite prospects.
Looks like Narduzzi is blinded by conference pride.
SONG OF THE DAY. “Party Rock Anthem” – LMFAO feat. Lauren Bennett, GoonRock
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