College football's offseason is chugging along. August will be here before too long, though spring has only just begun in the Midwest and we still have to suffer summer before a long-sweltering summer has put a bead of sweat now on your battered brow.
Alas, today we'll start with the NFL Draft. Hopefully, you don't mind.
B1G LIFE. B1G STAGE. B1G SECOND DAY DRAFT SELECTIONS. The Big Ten has been maligned in recent years for the overall quality of football it puts on the field of play and on your televisions. We can qualify this in various ways, but denying it is hard. Arguably the best conference of the 1990s (and, perhaps, unarguably the deepest), the Big Ten is better known for Legends and Leaders than many legends or leaders on the gridiron right now. If not for the Cowboys selecting Wisconsin guard Travis Frederick at 31st overall, with one pick to spare on Thursday, the B1G could've been without a first-round NFL Draft selection for the first time in ages.
The conference fared much better on Friday. Our own Johnathan Hankins found a home in the Big Apple, selected by the New York Giants in the second round (49th overall). The first Big Ten selection of the second round was Kawann Short, to the Carolina Panthers as the 44th overall pick.
It kind of grew from there. Michigan State's Le'Veon Bell was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers as the 48th overall pick, right before Hankins. Montee Ball was chosen by the Denver Broncos with the 58th overall pick. Illinois' Hugh Thornton and Penn State's Jordan Hill were selected back-to-back by the Colts and Seahawks, respectively, with the 86th and 87th overall picks.
Here are some other notable selections from Friday night.
- Manti Te'o (2nd, 38th, San Diego Chargers)
- Geno Smith (2nd, 39th, New York Jets)
- David Amerson (2nd, 51st, Washington Redskins)
- Eddie Lacy (2nd, 61st, Green Bay Packers)
- Tyrann Mathieu (3rd, 69th, Arizona Cardinals)
- Mike Glennon (3rd, 73rd, Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
- Keenan Allen (3rd, 76th, San Diego Chargers)
Some noteworthy selections that I think merit a sentence follow. Cornelius Carradine was chosen by the 49ers with 40th overall pick. He's from Cincinnati, but ultimately landed at Florida State by way of a junior college.
Margus Hunt was chosen by the Bengals with the 53rd overall pick. Hunt is that gargantuan Estonian shot-putter from Southern Methodist. I've always liked him, mostly because there's like a million Estonians in the entire world and one of them happens to have picked up American football after coming to Southern Methodist for shot put.
Texas' Marquise Goodwin, the alternate on the U.S. Olympic relay team, was picked by the Bills at 78th overall. He ran a 4.29 40-yard dash. Brennan Williams, an offensive tackle from North Carolina, was taken by the Houston Texans with the 89th overall pick. Brennan Williams is the older brother of Camren Williams, who is right now Ohio State's second-string middle linebacker.
BEISBOL UPDATE. Remember our discussion last week about Ohio State's baseball team? It was sitting middle of the pack in league standings with more than a month left to play before the Big Ten Tournament in Minneapolis, Minnesota. There is still plenty of time and, to boot, Ohio State is aided by the fact that it doesn't leave Columbus for the rest of the season, sans a trip to Evanston to play Northwestern for three games.
So how are they doing now? Fine. Ohio State won the next two games in the homestand against Illinois. It needed a walk-off double in the 10th inning to win last Saturday's game, 7-6, which was delivered by first baseman Brad Hallberg. The Buckeyes won Sunday's finale rather handily, using a 6-run second inning to cruise to a 7-3 win to take the series against the Illini.
The Buckeyes are now playing host to Penn State, the worst team in the league. Second baseman Ryan Cypret's 2-for-4 day at the plate, and solo home run, propelled Ohio State to a 3-1 win. Since rain is expected on Sunday, the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions will play a double-header today.
The Buckeyes step out of league play next to host Northern Kentucky before taking that aforementioned weekend trip to Evanston, its last three road games of the season. The Buckeyes are still two games behind the top of the Big Ten standings, which now has Nebraska on top.
Drew Barker is no stranger to Ohio State. DREW BARKER UPDATE. Ohio State's recruiting for quarterbacks has, so far, mostly been an "all eggs-one basket" approach. For 2014, Ohio State's man is Deshaun Watson, a Georgia prepster currently committed to Clemson. Though committed to Clemson, Watson had taken visits and expressed interest in a variety of programs, including Ohio State. Thus, Ohio State continued to pursue Watson in lieu of other prospects.
The clear #2 on Ohio State's list for the longest time has been Drew Barker of Hebron, Kentucky. Barker had been very high on Ohio State, to the point of possibly committing on the spot to a scholarship offer if one were extended.
However, Ohio State's coaching staff really wanted to continue pursuing Watson and had him higher on the board than Barker.
Further, Barker's skill set, while intriguing, may not necessarily be what Ohio State's offensive coaches want for the requirements of a quarterback in an Urban Meyer offense. He's a little more stationary than the quarterbacks Ohio State currently has or the quarterbacks that have brought Urban Meyer fame and fortune at his previous stops.
Our situation with Drew Barker changed when Deshaun Watson said he was tired of taking visits, which coincided with a pledge to stay true to his standing commitment to Clemson. Now, Ohio State is back in touch with Barker, who had not been communicating much with Tom Herman or Urban Meyer for the past several weeks. Miles let you know of this development yesterday.
So, if you want a Buckeye football fill this weekend, you may want to continue scanning Buckeye Twitter (especially Jeremy and Miles' respective Twitter accounts) for any updates on Drew Barker. To say he has "cooled" on Ohio State would be accurate, which is really no one's fault. Ohio State's coaches had been up front with Barker about their priorities, and Barker understood and appreciated the candor. While Ohio State looked elsewhere, he looked elsewhere. He is presently very keen on South Carolina or the in-state Kentucky Wildcats.
With that in mind, Urban Meyer is apparently going to call him personally to talk with him about recruiting. Don't expect any breaking news, per se, but it's a development worth monitoring.
...and don't look at me that way. Typically, if there is a lot of breaking news for Ohio State this time of the year, the world is ending (as it was in 2011). So, we're talking about a quarterback prospect from Kentucky, albeit a pretty good one.
MISCELLANY. Write your representative in the Ohio Senate, pronto... Steve Gleason refuses to let ALS beat him without a fight. He is a braver man than I am... Like the New York Jets? Hate the New York Jets? Keep this GIF for future reference... WOOO NOTRE DAME FAN WOOO... Go back to being just the Peach Bowl. Just stop it, Chick-fil-A... Notre Dame will host Arizona State in Jerryworld on October 5... Oregon's spring game is today, so naturally I'm linking to their uniform for it... Speaking of Oregon... A Papa John update, because you were asking for one... Get money, Aaron Rodgers.
