Good morning, and welcome to the December 23rd, 2013 edition of the Monday Skull Session.
ED WARINNER WATCH. With Everett Withers deciding to further his head coaching experience beyond wearing an interim tag, attention turned to other Urban Meyer assistants who may be poached.
Luke Fickell reportedly turned down the Florida Atlantic job. And this weekend it was revealed Ed Warinner had interviewed for the Army job and was in the final five.
On one hand: Army has reportedly gone another direction, opting instead for FCS Georgia Southern's Jeff Monken according to FootballScoop.com. (You may remember Monken's greatest work this season: knocking off Florida in the Swamp.)
On the other: Pete Thamel, last seen with Thayer Evans trying to burn down Oklahoma State with a janky, 99 cent lighter from a Kum & Go, is reporting Army will conclude interviews later today and a decision will be made soon thereafter.
So, hopefully the guys at FootballScoop.com are plugged deeper into the Army job search than Pete Thamel?
Warinner has worked small miracles with OSU's offensive line. RAEKWON McMILLAN HAS ANSWERS.. Raekwon McMillan, the nation's top inside linebacker and recent pledge to Ohio State's "Dream 14" class, sat down for his 11W Community Interview session last night.
Known for being a sharp guy – he carries a 3.4 grade point average with his No. 1 ranking on the football field – we also find out he likes to bake cakes during the holidays.
"Yeah I used to love baking, but as football has taken more and more of my time, I see it as a time killer when I could be working on my game (laughs). I do still love to make cakes for holidays, though."
Ohio State football in 2015: Sacking your quarterback, but also making him a cake.
BILL O'BRIEN ON THE MOVE? While this time of season brings a lot of angst for Ohio State fans as assistant coach poachers loom, at least the same speculation isn't facing head coach Urban Meyer.
That's not a luxury enjoyed by Penn State fans. For them, it's another off-season (with no bowl) filled with rumors and speculation about their head coach. From ESPN:
Penn State coach Bill O'Brien amended his contract last summer with the intent to lower the buyout any NFL team would have to pay the school and make it easier for him to jump to the pros, a copy of the Nittany Lions coach's contract provided to ESPN reveals, and there already have been conversations to reduce the NFL buyout even further.
The restated contract shows O'Brien changed the formula for his buyout and reduced the price of an NFL buyout from $19.33 million last year to $6.48 million for this year, per the contract, whereas the buyout another school would have to pay Penn State for O'Brien is $11.08 million.
One Penn State official said O'Brien's representatives recently approached the school about potentially reducing the NFL buyout even further, a source said, though it's unclear why the school would be willing to make it even easier for its head football coach to leave. O'Brien drew varying degrees of interest last year from the Philadelphia Eagles, Cleveland Browns, Arizona Cardinals and San Diego Chargers.
Poor Penn State. Held hostage by Joe Paterno's animated corpse every summer for the twilight of his career, and now they're held hostage by Bill O'Brien's NFL ambitions every year.
O'Brien deserves credit for his stewardship of Penn State through the most tumultuous time in program history. But, if O'Brien does plan on going pro, sooner would be better than later. Plus, the NCAA has already reduced their sanctions against Penn State, and there will probably be more of that as long as Penn State behaves itself. It's not the dark hole it was only a couple years ago.
LET'S TALK BEEF BOWL. If you want to watch football tonight, Ohio University takes on Eastern Carolina in the time-tested Beef O'Brady's bowl. Here's a look at Ohio University's NFL prospect cornerback, Travis Carrie:
A MAC assistant coach told me in the preseason to keep an eye on Carrie this year. The senior defensive back may not have had the breakthrough showing he was hoping for, but he did enough to stay on the NFL radar. Part of the reason is that he’s a dangerous return man — 267 yards on punt returns in 2013 and experience bringing back kicks. He’ll head into the bowl game hot, coming off a pair of INTs in Ohio’s last game against UMass.
Bring on the Beef O'Brady's bowl!!!!
RIDIC D2 MIXTAPE VIDEO. Darius Davis is a redshirt junior wide receiver for the awesomely-named New Mexico Highlands in Division II. This is his highlight tape.
THOSE WMDs. The worst parole board decision ever... This is why you don't put Christmas lights on a palm tree... About to hit the streets with my boy, Helper... There's a giant object under Seattle, but what is it?... USC player brought out the balaclava for 63 degree weather... Cool NYT interactive dialect map... New Hornets logo is pretty sweet... 2013Browns.jpeg... Bill would rein in Columbus tow companies...
