Two were already set in stone. The third? Educated guesses were abound among Columbus media members.
Offensive tackle Taylor Decker and linebacker Joshua Perry were no-brainers for Urban Meyer to bring with him as part of the Ohio State contingent for Big Ten Media Days in Chicago coming at the end of the month.
Thursday marked exactly three weeks before the opening of the media circus at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, located a stone's throw from Lake Michigan in the Windy City's downtown area. With that, the conference announced each team's representatives on Twitter as if continuing to tease us with how close yet so far the season is from this moment.
The third member of Ohio State's group is defensive lineman Adolphus Washington, another senior and leader of his unit who is without a doubt worthy of getting the chance to speak for the defending national champion among his peers.
The conference made an adjustment to the schedule this year; instead of having each team stick around for both days for head coach interviews at the podium and then roundtable discussions later, seven teams will do both on Thursday with the other seven doing the same Friday. This potentially allows for a more efficient media setting and, of course, gives the conference the opportunity to have Urban Meyer (Thursday) on one day and Jim Harbaugh (Friday) on the other.
The Buckeyes also brought three seniors to last year's festivities — Braxton Miller, Michael Bennett and Jeff Heuerman. The former is still around for injury reasons that don't need to be explained, but the latter two are both now in the NFL.
Miller, perhaps the most intriguing name of the three-headed quarterback monster Urban Meyer and Tim Beck have in hand — J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones the others — heading into fall camp because of his injury history, finally broke his 11-month silence from the media Thursday.
It would have been something to have all three quarterbacks available for comment during the event in Chicago, but not really a thing that was a realistic possibility regardless how much as any of us wanted it to be.
But the lack of an Ohio State skill player is noticeable from the attendees announced Thursday. Meyer likes having seniors join him to be peppered with an onslaught of inquiries — he's had nothing but since arriving in 2012 (Etienne Sabino, John Simon and Zach Boren went then).
Usually, teams like to send leaders and those players who are well spoken and play huge roles in their team winning games.
Decker, Washington and Perry do that, but each for different reasons.
Decker and Perry are bound to earn the nod as team captains for 2015, and Washington might be in the conversation.
Decker, an animal sciences major, is well-spoken, smart and about to be a three-year starter for the Buckeyes. He almost always gives thoughtful answers and listens intently to reporters no matter if he's wearing a suit or just finished knocking heads at practice for two hours.
Perry is similar in that regard, a Columbus kid who is both philanthropic and a great player in his own right. He led the Buckeyes in tackles last season and along with Darron Lee and Raekwon McMillan will form one of the best linebacking cores in the conference.
Washington, along with junior Joey Bosa, will be counted on largely early this season as Ohio State deals with the loss of two starters on the defensive line in Bennett and Steve Miller. Bosa earned unanimous All-American, Big Ten Defensive Player and Lineman of the Year honors last season, leading some to believe he'd be picked to represent Ohio State in Chicago this year. But as just a junior, it appears Meyer went with someone a tad older.
Washington is also a solid quote and someone who's easy to talk to, but he's just someone reporters probably don't know as well as the other two. That's no offense to him, just how things worked out.
And while there's plenty of topics that deserve media attention in Chicago for a team looking to repeat as Big Ten and national champions, the following tweet continues coming to mind.
OSU sends OL (Decker), DL (Washington), LB (Perry) to Big Ten Media Days, where they will spend most of their time answering QB questions.
— Jim Naveau (@Lima_Naveau) July 9, 2015
You don't want that to be the truth, but it's the truth.
Last season, Heuerman, Bennett and Miller all grew tired of getting asked about the looming matchup with then-defending Big Ten champion Michigan State, it prompted the tight end to say this:
"If it's a Michigan State question, I'll probably blow my head off."
He was joking, yes, but the Ohio State quarterback battle is without a doubt the top college football storyline in the summer. More than half the questions in Chicago are likely to include the words "three," "quarterback," "Miller," "Jones," or "Barrett." Book it.
Washington, Decker and Perry all don't appear to mind speaking with the media. Meyer hardly changes his tone during press conferences or post-practice interviews when questioned about his team — and there's nothing wrong with that. It's just how he is.
While it would have been nice to hear from a skill player like Ezekiel Elliott or a wide receiver, Ohio State's youth (thus, the number of non-senior contributors) at the spots likely kept them away.
So while Decker and Perry were shoe-ins to get an invitation to Chicago, Washington is a more than viable third option.
