Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. The Ides of August are upon—wait, apparently the 15th is not considered the Ides in the month of August. Thanks for ruining my opening, facts.
Anyway, let me remind everyone that the All-Access series continues today on ESPNU at 5pm (rerun at 10pm). And I'm not just bringing that up because ESPN, as part of their sports media conspiracy, is holding my loved ones hostage so that I'm forced to give them a shout-out every week in my Skull Session1.
Honestly, I really enjoyed the behind-the-scenes look that yesterday's premiere provided, which let us confirm that Mickey Marotti is, in fact, good at his job. We also learned that Urban Meyer does not tolerate blue shirts and Tom Herman, somewhat surprisingly, is a scene-stealer.
If I had one complaint, it's that I wished the players wore their jerseys at all times so I could tell who's who. I couldn't identify one player who was just "chilling by myself" in an ice bath like a Forever Alone. One of his teammates should invite that guy out to Chipotle or something.
SMASH TEST DUMMY. Speaking of our overlords2, Austin Ward of ESPN's BuckeyeNation tackled—not literally—Nathan Williams, who has been a popular subject as of late. Yesterday, Kyle brought you a piece that focused on the microfracture surgery that he underwent and his recovery process.
Ward looked at how Williams has been dealing with his return to football. According to the senior, it hasn't been easy:
"I'm never a quitter," Williams said. "You're going to have to drag me off this field before I call it quits. I think why I was down because it's just hard to accept the fact that you're performing at such a high level one day and the next day and so on and so forth you're just like, 'Gosh, when is this going to stop? When am I going to feel right again?'
"So on and so forth"? I guess Tressel-speak lives on in his players.
Because he can't practice full-go yet, Williams has been honing his skills against a dummy and he said the two have "had a lot of bonding, one-on-one time." Okay, I think it's time for Nathan and that unidentified player taking the solo ice bath to start hanging out.
But Williams is ready to move on from the dummy and start taking on his teammates at full capacity, to show both himself and everyone else that he's back. Hopefully, that is indeed the case.
GRANDFATHER KNOWS BEST. On the other side of the ball, the Toledo Blade's David Briggs profiled former tight end and current right tackle Reid Fragel. His grandfather, Joe Stalma, has been a source of encouragement to Fragel about the position change, and considering Stalma had to switch from center to defensive end while playing at Toledo, he knows of what he speaks.
Stalma succinctly instructed his grandson to "Stay tough and hunker down", yet he remains in competition with freshman Taylor Decker for the starting spot. Although Fragel is the stronger blocker of the two in running situations3, he still has a lot to learn about playing a new position, and he and Decker are pushing each other to improve. Whoever does the most will earn the role of a starter.
MURPHY SAID. SI's Austin Murphy examined Jim Delany in all his scheming glory. At once a forward-thinker and a traditionalist, at least when it comes to Rose Bowl, the Big Ten commissioner was crafty when it came to the playoff discussion.
As Murphy put it:
A once-and-former anti-playoff zealot, Delany became a kind of shape-shifting pragmatist. Rather than engage the SEC head-on, he employed skirmishing tactics. His strategy was basically to throw a bunch of ideas against the wall and see what stuck. If that meant doubling back, contradicting himself and confusing a wide swath of football fans along the way, so be it.
Jim Delany yells, "Next time!"Though Murphy believes, like many of us, that the Big Ten shouldn't give up on the idea of on-campus playoffs, installing a selection committee is a victory for the conference. The B1G could use a national championship4, and during negotiations, Delany may have helped give his schools a better shot of that happening.
JAGUAR: THE ART OF PERFORMANCE. In alumni news, former four-year starter Mike Brewster is trying to secure a spot on the Jacksonville roster.
With backup center John Estes one of several offensive linemen out with an injury, Brewster had a chance to play in Friday's preseason game against the New York Giants.
His head coach, Mike Mularkey, was pleased with his performance, saying, "He played pretty well. He took a step forward. I was very proud of him."
Despite going from an early round draft pick to an undrafted free agent, Brewster seemingly has no regrets about returning to Ohio State last season. Even if his senior year didn't turn out as he had expected, Brewster earned his degree and was able to take the field at Ohio Stadium for another season.
He added, "I wanted to come back and help my team. We were going through a lot at the school", which reminds me of how ridiculous it was for him to not be named a team captain every week, even if he was given that honor at the end of the season. Brewster is all Buckeye and here's hoping he succeeds in the NFL.
BASKETBALL SCOOPS. Switching to hoops, Bob Baptist is not content to wait on Ohio State to unveil the basketball schedule, so he's piecing it together himself based on what's already been released. Thus far, nine of 13 nonconference matchups are listed, starting with Marquette on November 9th in the Carrier Classic.
Kansas is the final game included, though presumably there will be another between that one, on December 22nd, and the beginning of Big Ten play on December 31st. I'm not sure why Ohio State always seems to play on New Year's Eve, but I want a better outcome than last season's game at Indiana.
While I'm on the topic of Indiana BB, the Hoosiers have until Monday to figure out a solution to their oversigning problem. Will Tom Crean pull a Nick Saban and send injury-prone Maurice Creek off to Southern Indiana, or will one of the freshmen be declared academically ineligible? We'll find out in less than a week.
THAT LINKING FEELING. Extremely early bracketology projections... A better Usain Bolt vs. Denard Robinson debate... Is the NCAA coming for Oregon this week? Probably not... Bruce Weber might have been lucky to make it out of Brazil alive... Jim Bollman's calling card?... "F-bomb" is dictionary approved... Guess what happens when it reaches 88 mph?... Karma.
- 1 No matter what your opinion is of ESPN, I think this tweet pretty much nails it.
- 2 Can you at least release my grandmother, ESPN? She has spinal stenosis!
- 3 Obviously, given the offenses Fragel was used to as a tight end.
- 4 Are you listening, the 2013 Ohio State Buckeyes?
