Skull Session: Ohio State Reloads, Trevon Grimes ‘Killing’ Rehab, and That Time a Buckeye Fan Stole James Laurinaitis' Gum Shield

Not watching The Americans on FX? My only question is why?

ICYMI:

J.K. Dobbins will play this fall, Demetrius Knox returns to practice and more updates from Urban Meyer's Big Ten spring teleconference call.
Marshon Lattimore and Malik Hooker went from benchwarmers to millionaires in one year.
The offense feels it regained its swagger this spring.
BTN's decision to air OSU's spring game live pushes Michigan's to tape delay.
Coaches and teammates laud Binjimen Victor's talent.

Word of the Day: Bogart.

LOCAL TEAM DOESN'T REBUILD. I pity most college football fans. Imagine being a Golden Gophers fan. What do they have to look forward to this year? An escaped inmate from a Michigan insane asylum leading them to a five-loss season.

That'd be awful. Condolences to the one Gophers fan I've seen on Twitter.

Thankfully I'm #blessed to cheer for a team with an elite coach. Despite losing 31-0 the last time they played and not having played since, THE SWAGGER IS BACK.

Don't take my word from it.

From Bruce Feldman of foxsports.com:

When Victor arrived in Columbus last June, he weighed 163 pounds. “He looked like Bambi when he walked in here,” said Mickey Marotti, OSU’s assistant AD for football sports performance. Victor’s now up to 195 while also having gotten faster, going from being a high 4.5 (40) guy to probably a high 4.4 guy, according to Marotti, but the coach cautions that he’s still got a long way to go. He holds up a pencil. “That’s Ben Victor. He just needs time. You can only get so strong, so quick. He’s gotta get stronger. Not even been here a year. He’s got all the genetics. He just needs more time. In the summer he’ll make the biggest improvement.”

[...]

Some of the issues with struggling to get the ball downfield have obviously been attributed to J.T. Barrett. Meyer praised the Buckeyes’ ability to hit the deep ball percentage-wise this spring, and he said they’re charting everything. In terms of accuracy, not factoring drops, Meyer said his QBs have been close to 90 percent on target.

[...]

All the coaches I spoke to pointed to a big improvement from the tight end group, most notably A.J. Alexander and Luke Farrell. O-lineman Demetrius Knox’s name also came up a lot. Linebacker Malik Harrison had taken a big step forward before his spring was cut short with shoulder surgery.

That Feldman article is recommended in full, despite Ohio State granting behind-the-scenes access to national writers instead of in-the-trenches-six-days-a-week-even-in-the-offseason writers like me.

Regardless, it's good to see the Ben Victor hype train rolling smoothly. Also interesting how A.J. Alexander and Luke Farrell earned more spotlight this spring than Marcus Baugh.

And 90% on the deep ball is exciting, though at this point I'm more interested in how the intermediate passing game operates if the deep ball ain't working.

GRIMES ON THE RECOVERY TRAIL. Former St. Thomas Aquinas wide receiver Trevon Grimes tore his ACL last season. Thanks to advancement in modern medicine, he's still expected to contribute to Ohio State like Nick Bosa managed to do in 2016.

From 247sports.com:

If Bosa's recovery time is any indication, and it is a good measuring stick, Grimes could also play a part during his first season as a Buckeye.

"Rehab’s going really well. He’s killing it. He’s doing really well," Smith said of the receiver.

"His rehab and kind of his benchmarks through his therapy, he’s kind of where Nick was. Nick was way ahead of schedule and Tre’s there too."

Grimes is talented, but if he walks into a sizable contribution this fall it will be because he's either a mutant or Zach Smith failed to properly develop his stable.

KINDA GROSS, BUDDY. James Laurinaitis retired from the NFL on Tuesday. With that, it's worth remembering the time a Buckeye fan stole his gum shield during the aftermath of Ohio State's victory over Michigan in 2006.

From BTN's documentary, The Game: 2006 ... Remembered:

All the best to you in retirement, @JLaurinaitis55.

Also: Thank you for this funny @OhioStateFB anecdote. https://t.co/omIKX03UsC
— Brent Yarina (@BTNBrentYarina) April 12, 2017

I can only imagine what that fan did with his loot after the game. He probably woke up from a crunken haze the next morning with an extreme sense of shame to find another man's used gum shield in his pocket.

(Why do I keep calling mouth guards "gum shields?" Because, like "sex pest," it's an amazing British innovation of the English language. Gum shields.)

THAD MATTA: ORIGINAL PISS PIONEER. Texas coach Tom Herman, who you might not know founded MENSA, the organization for geniuses, in 1947, has thoughts about proper hydration:

Went to take a leak in Moncrief and this was hanging above the toilet. Tom Herman's attention to detail is real pic.twitter.com/FoAMbkf56K
— Anwar Richardson (@AnwarRichardson) April 11, 2017

The internet ran wild with this yesterday, as the internet is wont to do. Little did they know, Thad Matta is the hydration O.G.:

Really don't think this is uncommon. OSU basketball locker rooms have had these charts since at least 2011 https://t.co/oEho2Qqfln
— Blake Williams (@BlakeJ_Williams) April 12, 2017

The lesson of the day, as always, is to drink water. Your organs will thank you by not forming a kidney stone for you to pass.

CAMPUS DURING WORLD WAR 1. I couldn't imagine attending school while our country engaged in a world war. Such was life, however, for Buckeye students during World War I.

From the Ohio State University Archives: