Good morning Buckeyes and welcome to your Tuesday Skull Session.
Listen, I know everyone has to be Kerry Coombs-level excited about football finally starting again, but I couldn't have been more pumped to finally be reading an actual practice report.
And nothing got me more excited in Kyle's report than this:
During defensive drills, Vrabel could be heard shouting, “Perfect Adolphus, Perfect Adolphus.” After practice Meyer said a number of freshmen would play this fall. He specifically mentioned Noah Spence and Jamal Marcus. Meyer said Jamal Marcus will run over anything to get from Point A to Point B. He said he'll find a way to get him on the field.
You can't help but love that: A freshman coming in to his first full week of camp and just running over people.
While Jamal Marcus might have been undervalued by recruiting services, it looks like they got Noah Spence and Diesel Washington right. Anytime Vrabel says "perfect" to a true freshman has to be great news.
And to spread some love to the offense:
When talking about the offense, Meyer said, "I can tell you this, they did something this summer. His comments were based on the offense’s execution. He singled out Smith and his solid practice.
We're in for a fun fall.
POLLING THE PLAYERS. I know there's a lot of mostly well-directed animosity towards ESPN, but Adam Rittenberg from the Big Ten Blog posted an interesting story in which he (along with Michael Rothstein and Austin Ward) surveyed 28 B1G players about which coach they'd most like to play for.
Sure, it wasn't the most scientific poll, but the results were interesting if not surprising, with Urban getting the most votes.
Bielema didn't receive a single vote out of the 28 - I guess too many players follow Being Bielema on Twitter - but he did respond:
Of course no one voted for Biels. I strike fear in their hearts. espn.go.com/blog/bigten/po…
— BeingBielema (@BeingBielema) August 6, 2012
Also happy to see Pat Fitzgerald pick up some votes, as he has always seemed like a really likeable guy to me.
TRACK TEAM INSULTS. One thing I really can't stand is when former Florida players and fans badmouth Urban and aren't thankful for the TWO national championships his teams won while he was there.
Former quarterback Shane Matthews was let on to a radio station to talk about the current team's problems, and of course he simply blames Meyer.
Mr. SEC's John Pennington is similarly dismissive of Urban's coaching:
Bringing trophies to a university near you.. in Columbus, Oh.Meyer recruited a track team, failed to keep up any discipline off the field, and signed two of the greatest quarterbacks in college football history (Cam Newton washed out after a stolen laptop incident and wound up at Auburn, of course). That’s a pretty good recipe for short-term success...But if I were an Ohio State fan — based on what we’ve all seen play out at Florida — I would be praying that there’s another Tebow or Newton floating around out there and that Meyer can sign him. And I wouldn’t be counting on a long run of success.
Well Mr. Pennington, I really like your statistics work, but this is off-base. Programs go through cycles. They have off-years. It happens. Quarterbacks are important to every team, not just Urban Meyer's teams.
Saying that Urban had no coaching impact on these two national championships is ridiculous, as his coaching of Tebow, his Xs and Os know-how, and his brilliant coaching staffs are all testaments to his ability as a head coach.
Further, I'm not concerned about Ohio State's long-term success because we have a next great quarterback - Braxton Miller.
USA ALL THE WAY... to gold, that is.
In case you somehow missed it, the US Women's National Team won a thrilling soccer game against Canada yesterday (with time delay, who knows what time the game actually took place) that some are calling one of the top games of the year, period.
GOAL! Alex Morgan nets the winning goal in the 122nd minute, advancing
— SB Nation (@sbnation) August 6, 2012#USWNT past Canada, 4-3!#London2012
Samuel L. Jackson, patriot, is clearly Team USA's biggest supporter, and this string of tweets is just pure gold. His commentary on the #USWNT is absolutely brilliant.
DURON DURON. Not a lot more to say about this one, really:
Wow, wow, wow. RT
— Kyle Rowland (@KyleRowland) August 6, 2012@sds: Duron Carter dismissed from practice at FAU for lack of effort while his dad Cris Carter watched.
"WE'RE GOING TO LINK REALLY, REALLY HARD." Announcers for fall games... Santonio might miss a week, but at least it's not broken... Because there are some ancient history people here... The difference between Olympic swimmers and gymnasts... Oh crap, super volcano... SPACE... MORE SPACE.
