Well, I suppose these typos aren't going to type themselves, now are they? Let's ride.
ICYMI:
- Ohio State's Sugar Bowl victory over Alabama unleashed a tidal wave of porn on the Yellowhammer State.
- We re-upped some old classics and debuted some new products in the dry goods store. Better be quick with it!
PRYOR CLEARED FOR RETURN TO SHOE. I almost forgot Terrelle Pryor is exiled from Ohio State. Almost.
And with Pryor on the Browns, and the Browns playing in the Shoe on August 7th, I'm glad to see no stupid decisions were made.
From Tim May of Dispatch.com:
If Terrelle Pryor is still with the Cleveland Browns when they show up to stage the Orange and Brown scrimmage in Ohio Stadium on Aug. 7, he likely won’t be banned from taking part, Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith indicated Tuesday.
Pryor was hit with a five-year ban from all Ohio State athletic facilities when he discontinued cooperation with the NCAA during its probe of the football program in 2011. That investigation ultimately led to a bowl ban, reduction of scholarships for three years, forced resignation of coach Jim Tressel and the vacating of wins from the 2010 season. There is still a year left on the penalty to Pryor, who left school in spring 2011 and was taken by Oakland in a supplemental NFL draft.
“It is our understanding that there is no issue (with Pryor taking part with the Browns) but we are clarifying,” Smith texted The Dispatch on Tuesday. “The intent we believe was (to keep him from) working out (in OSU facilities), not performing through a rental arrangement with an NFL team.”
It's an interesting juxtaposition of how Jim Tressel — who was the figure of authority in Tatgate — has already been honored on the field during an Ohio State game, yet we needed clarity on if T.P. would be allowed in the Horseshoe for a scrimmage. (By "it's interesting" I mean "it's disgusting.")
I love Tressel — and Ohio State wasn't wrong to honor him — but it's as wrong for Ohio State to still exile Pryor as it is for the NCAA to still exile Jim Tressel.
All the man did was usher in a golden era of Ohio State football!
URBAN MEYER RUNS GAME NO MATTER THE RULES. Urban Meyer doesn't like the increasing speed of college football recruiting, but he's not about to sit on the sidelines and whine about it.
From Ari Wasserman of cleveland.com:
This year's camp reality? A 2019 quarterback prospect worked out on Friday. That kid hasn't even been to high school yet. Most of Ohio State's camps were focused on prospects from 2017 and beyond.
That's Ohio State's current pace, matching the pace of college football recruiting in general, at least for the most elite prospects. There's no such thing as getting started too early. That 2019 prospect, Sam Johnson of Southfield, Mich., already has three offers.
Meyer probably didn't like having to evaluate a prospect who just finished eighth grade, but he did it. He has to. In this sport, either you keep up or get left behind. Meyer won't be left behind.
And in this fast-paced race that Meyer doesn't really like, he is winning. Big.
Stockpiling College Football Trophies (really, we couldn't come up with a more regal name?) also helps slow down the recruiting timeline because kids will wait around trying to earn their offers.
That Sam Johnson kid might just be the best amateur QB in the state of Michigan right now, by the sounds of it. ("But what about Connor Cook!" Michigan State fans might cry. To which I'd say, "Well, what about him?")
SLAM FINISHED THAT DEGREE. #Shoutout to Slam Thompson, who will be playing professional basketball somewhere this fall and could've easily "finished his degree later."
From Scott Phillips of CollegeBasketballTalk.com:
Between the two-a-day workouts, weights and completing assignments, Thompson had a grueling four-week stretch where most of his free time away from basketball was spent studying. After his first two weeks in Las Vegas, Thompson returned home for a week for final exams on campus before returning to NBA Draft process.
Thompson walked at graduation May 10 with his degree in finance. Now he hopes to hear his name selected during the 2015 NBA Draft.
“I made arrangements with all of my teachers to work remotely. Turn in some assignments online and stuff like that,” Thompson said. “When I went away to workouts, it was a month before all my classes finished out. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. But I knew that coming back and taking five classes was less likely than for me to finish up here and now. So that was just my biggest motivation.”
Sam will be living better than 95% of his peers the next couple of years, but that degree will last him a lifetime.
If any students here are thinking of going the "I'll finish it later" route — don't. Take it from me, the idiot who didn't finish his degree: Finish your degree, idiot.
MEET NO. 1's NO. 1. The Skull Session is a decidedly pro-feline arena, but this doesn't mean I don't hold love in my heart for man's best friend (as long as he's feeding it).
From Heather Lloyd of ColtsRoundup.com:
Named for his jersey at Ohio State (No. 1), Uno is a ten-month-old American Bully, who quickly worked his way into Herron’s life and his heart.
“I don’t know, we’ve just got that bond. I live alone, so it sounds crazy, but he’s like my best friend,” he said. “We do a lot together. He even sleeps in the bed with me. I kind of look at him as almost a human being, like my son. I always say that, ‘That’s my little baby boy.’”
Growing up in Ohio, Herron always wanted a dog. Still, for a guy who describes himself as “a very clean person,” puppyhood had its challenges. Thankfully, Uno was a quick learner. And Herron says being an uncle helped prepare him for the role of dog dad.
Here's a look at the dad/son combo:
WADE SHINES AT CAMP. Looks like 2017 five-star DB (and OSU commit) Shaun Wade showed out this weekend at a Rivals camp on IMG Academy's campus.
From Rob Cassidy and Woody Womack of Rivals.com:
Performance: Wade is one of the best underclassman defensive backs in America. His long build, solid instincts and impressive quickness would make him a formidable 2016 prospect. The fact that he is a member of the class of 2017 makes him even more interesting. As Wade matures as a football player, he will only get better. His upside is enough to make Buckeye fans downright giddy.
Ohio State is going to be in a knife fight for this kid's services. Florida will lurk all the way until National Signing Day, and Ryan Bartow of 247Sports.com is reporting Virginia Tech and Stanford are making a play for Wade as well ($).
SNYDER TAKES A REDSHIRT. The wrestling team's chances of a repeat just went down.
From OhioStateBuckeyes.com:
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Kyle Snyder, a Big Ten and NCAA runner-up as a true freshman last season for the Ohio State wrestling team, will take an Olympic redshirt in 2015-16 as he trains for the Summer Olympics in Rio. Snyder will have three years of eligibility remaining when he returns in 2016-17.
"Kyle is the first collegiate athlete in NCAA history to win the U.S. Open and make the World Team as a freshman," said head coach Tom Ryan. "The best chance for him to win an Olympic gold medal is to spend this season building his strength and freestyle skill. Traveling overseas will be critical for Kyle as well."
"After discussing this with Coach Ryan and his staff, we are all in agreement this is the best thing for me," said Snyder. "I've always dreamed of competing in the Olympics and to now have the opportunity to chase that goal is exciting. I came to Ohio State because I knew I could get a great education, compete for titles and prepare myself for Olympic-level wrestling. While I will miss wrestling in front of our fans at St. John Arena this season, I look forward to being back and better than ever in 2016-17."
Out of all the reasons to take a redshirt during your collegiate athletic career, "I'm going to go train for the Olympics!" might be the best one.
OVERSIGNING EN ROUTE TO MICHIGAN? When 2015 signee Jamel Dean wasn't medically cleared by Ohio State's staff, Michigan fans used it as proof of Urban Meyer oversigning.
They might not have been so quick to cast that stone, however, if they had done some research into their newest savior.
From Ace Anbender of That Blog Up North's look into Harbaugh's 2010 Stanford class:
18 decommitments in one class! On its face, that's alarming, especially in the context of Michigan taking this many early commitments. To get a clearer picture of what happened at Stanford and what we can expect from Harbaugh at Michigan, I took a look at the decommitment stories of every one-time 2010 Stanford commit I could find to see what really occurred.
Sure, there were some usual recruiting mishaps, but most alarming among the string of decommitments were the cases where Stanford simply ceased contact, including two cases involving a senior year injury.
From Michael Spath of TheWolverine.com, who took a similar look at Harbaugh's 2010 class:
During his first game that fall, [Cain] Colter heard a "pop" after throwing a post route. An MRI revealed a torn labrum and biceps, but he kept playing as a running back and receiver while rehabbing a shoulder that eventually needed surgery.
Stanford originally stuck by him, but then their correspondences dwindled. They wanted his MRI results and claimed he would have to wait for clearance from the admissions office. Interesting for a kid who carried a 4.2 grade-point average.
Finally, Spencer said, "They just stopped calling. It was a bad situation. I wanted them to man up and talk to Kain."
The same thing happened to OG Joe McNamara, again via TheWolverine.com:
Tearing his ACL roughly a week before the season started, forcing McNamara to sit out his entire senior season, McNamara wanted to be sure Stanford was still behind him. After no returned calls or emails, McNamara had to start from scratch.
"The thing that took the longest was finding out if Stanford was in or out," McNamara told Badger Nation Monday. "They never came out and said I was out of the picture but at the same time, there was no communication. I would say probably November was when I re-opened the recruiting process."
Sensing a pattern yet? Anbender finishes it off:
Three-star GA S Daunte Carr opened up his recruitment because he hadn't heard back from the admissions department with less than a month to go before Signing Day. He later committed to Arkansas.
Three-star NV LB Evan Palelei committed in the spring of his junior year, then decommitted in early September of his senior year because he "lost contact with them over the summer." Palelei eventually signed with Navy.
The picture these two articles paint of Harbaugh — at least during his time at Stanford, anyway — is a guy who accepts any commitment, no matter how borderline. Then, as National Signing Day approaches, he whittles his roster down through whatever means necessary, including ignoring prospects like they're a prom date he no longer fancies.
Though the erudite MGOBLOG commentariat won't say it: Harbaugh oversigned.
Will Big Blue fans accept it at Michigan? Only if it gets them back into whatever the hell they're calling the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl these days.
THOSE WMDs. Lessons from the crypto wars of the 1990s... Stars' Wikipedia pages edited by P.R. firms... The real voice of Siri explains voiceovers... Gmail officially adds an "unsend" button... We're all internet trolls now... The financial reality of being a male model isn't pretty.
