Skull Session: The Hunt for the Deep Ball, Urban Meyer Calls Out the 2015 Class (Again), and Thad Matta Wants Recruits to Know He's Not Dying

Programming note: The men's basketball team plays Rutgers during the opening round of Big Ten Tournament in Washington D.C. at 7 p.m. ET on BTN. For the unfamiliar, we could next see these two teams clash in the Final Four. Follow our Tim Shoemaker on Twitter for live updates from the scene.

The football team held its first spring practice yesterday.

ICYMI:

• Urban Meyer presser notes.
• Early enrollee heights, weights, and numbers.
• Practice observations on the offense.
• Practice observations on the defense.
• Chris Worley: Middle linebacker... for now.
• J.T. Barrett: First three-time captain in Ohio State history.
• Kyle Trout will practice with Ohio State, graduate this semester, then transfer to Cincinnati.
• Alex Stump left the team and will transfer to Vanderbilt.
• Report: James Clark visited South Florida.
• Big Ten men's basketball tournament preview.
• Details for the memorial service of the late Bob Tucker, whose family is collecting testimonials on his tribute page. 
• Help put a statue of Woody Hayes in his hometown of Newcomerstown, Ohio.

Word of the Day: Erratum.

 URBAN HEARD YOUR COMPLAINTS. One thing we all came to love and know during the 2014 championship run, besides, you know, everything, was the good football play featuring the deep ball to Devin Smith.

Smith graduated that year, and Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett failed to routinely rekindle that magic with any other receiver as Ohio State relied on its rushing attack the past two seasons.

Like Woody said, however, "getting your ass whooped can be good, actually." In comes Kevin Wilson and Meyer is suddenly stressing the long con.

From Eric Seger of That Eleven Warriors Dot Com Page:

Meyer said he wants to see more accuracy from J.T. Barrett this spring. He, Ryan Day and Kevin Wilson went back and watched every bit of film from the 2014 season:

"This is what we want it to look like and the one common denominator in all those games is we hit the deep ball. It's who we are. We're going to pound the football at you and we're going to go over the top. When that works, life's pretty good offensively. When it doesn't, when you misfire or we get sacked or have a problem, that's obviously when it doesn't.”

Meyer added that the emphasis this spring for Barrett is on the deep ball.

Damn, Ohio State's enemies better pray the Buckeyes don't get back to dabbling in the play-action game. 

Joking aside, OSU made the playoffs with a dysfunctional offense. And even if players didn't all get substantially better, you'd think the communication and execution will have been streamlined.

My read of Buckeye fans is most expect Wilson and Meyer to light the scoreboard up. But Indiana didn't always set the world on fire, either. Still, Wilson and Meyer both having something to prove while commanding that talented roster bodes well for the local team's chances.

Let's just hope civil strife in Columbus doesn't break out if the offense looks disjointed in the spring game or worse yet suffers a three-and-out in the first quarter against Indiana.

 URBAN GUT-SHOTS THE '15 CLASS (AGAIN). Urban Meyer mentioned during a National Signing Day radio show appearance that he and Mickey Marotti compared the current roster an Oreo. Tough on the ends and soft in the middle.

Judging by Meyer's comments yesterday, the 2015 class didn't get out of the dog house during the last month of winter conditioning.

Again, via @EricSeger33 (whom you should follow on Twitter):

"It's that '15, that group of players in there that haven't performed. We're very strong at the top, we're very strong at the bottom and now we gotta squeeze it to make sure everybody's productive and provides value. You do that, you'll have a very fine team. If you don't, you won't."

Here it is that '15 class, via 247sports.com (strikethrough means they left the program):

Overall ratings of pertinent classes:

Baker, Weber, Burrow, Jones, Glover-Williams, Hill, Landers, Alexander, Bowen, Prince, Ward, Hamilton, and Arnette all figure to contribute to the team in varying roles.

Those guys wouldn't be in a position like that if they were truly soft. (Prince's detractors can say what they will. There's a reason Greg Studrawa never replaced him last fall.)

Meyer wants more from all of them, but there are some big names on that list that haven't contributed a meaningful statistic yet. Hell, I'm old enough to remember when the dual commitment of Hilliard and Cornell melted our servers.

 MATTA NOT DYING. It's been a tough year for Thad Matta, who will reportedly return to Ohio State in 2017-18.

Matta, speaking at a presser yesterday ahead of tonight's clash with Rutgers, disclosed enemies have used his health against him for years now.

He said one coach told a recruit Matta had one foot in the grave.

From @Kevin_Noon:

This is a positive way of looking at things when in actuality we're all dying right now.

 WHEN HIPPIES GROW UP. The same generation that did this:

Mar 7 in University District History: Scores of streakers run naked down High St., E 15th, The Oval. Crowd of thousands cheers. In 1974.

— Univ Dist History (@UDHCMH) March 7, 2017

Now wants to trademark the "The Oval."

From Tom Knox of Columbus Business First:

OSU attorneys want to protect the name – not the shape – for use in clothing, especially T-shirts, hoodies and polo shirts, according to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office documents.

The focus on an 11-acre piece of campus land may seem strange to outsiders. But the Oval isn’t a typical college quad – most obviously it's not rectangular like most. It's also the center of campus activity, especially when the weather is warm.

“To many people, the Oval symbolizes Ohio State University,” John Herrick, the former campus planning director who has a university street named after him, wrote in an 1982 history of the Oval.

Looks like there will be a spring discount on all those "Oval Beach" hustle shirts the High Street shops sell. The cease and desist letters will be delivered the second after university and the government square away the paperwork.

 A NICE AD. Last week I said I was partial to Gumby's (peace be upon it). Only for the Two-for-One Pokey Stick Tuesday deal, though.

Adriatico's being the best campus pizza is the objective choice:

So Adriatico's got a new sign. pic.twitter.com/o3zv2zXcCg

— Univ Dist History (@UDHCMH) March 7, 2017

Going to steal this for when I win the Mega Millions and turn this place into Eleven Warios, the premiere Wario fan fiction site on the internet. "Only strong people click here."

 THOSE WMDs. B1G doesn't expect sellouts in DC; it's sending a bigger message... Make your dreams come true... Omaha's answer to costly potholes: Gravel roads... A brief survey of the great American novel(s)... Bolivia's desperate miners are doing desperate things—like murder.