Good morning. For a Tuesday in May, yesterday sure was a busy day on the college sports news front.
Let's see: Three years later, Bruce Pearl's son still has Aaron Craft on his mind, Michigan uses footballs that are definitely not made in Ohio, TBDBITL keeps getting better, Braxton Miller now stands at 13/2, trailing just Johnny Manziel at 9/2 to capture the Heisman Trophy and the Detroit Lions want to replace the Little Caesars Bowl with a game at Ford Field that will match the ACC and Big Ten.
Then, last night, Bossier City (LA) Parkway's Brandon Harris, the nation's top-ranked dual-threat quarterback, announced plans to visit Ohio State as part of a stop in Columbus for the Elite 11 quarterback camp on June 1.
There are seven Elite 11 camps held throughout the country – Dallas, Atlanta, Washington D.C., Chicago and San Francisco are already in the books – with the top participants selected for five-day event at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. Notable alumni of the event include: Matt Leinart, Vince Young, Troy Smith, Mark Sanchez, Tim Tebow, Ryan Mallet, Landry Jones and Andrew Luck.
Harris, long thought to be an LSU or Texas A&M lean, had planned to visit Ohio State at the end of June, but will get a look at the nation's best campus much sooner. Following his announced schedule change, our Jeremy Birmingham caught up with him.
“I can't wait to spin it now,” Harris said. “Just looking forward to the chance to throw in that beautiful stadium.”
Yes, please.
PROJECTING DESHAUN. Remember when Deshaun Thomas said he wouldn't give his number to the Spurs? Apparently, that was a big misunderstanding:
Ok people the spurs got my number it was a misunderstanding no reason to blow it up .. #getback to the grind #Gn
— DeShaun Thomas (@DT1UpNComin) May 21, 2013
Look, you know we love you, Deshaun. Ever since your first game as a freshman, when you shot the ball 16 times in 20 minutes, you've held a special place in our hearts: that of a cold-blooded scorer who will do whatever it takes to get his points. But, you can't go around telling reporters things like, “I can’t go around giving it out to everyone. Now if they want to draft me, I’d be happy to give it to them.” It sends the wrong message.
Speaking of Thomas, DraftExpress, perhaps the most-trusted source on NBA mock drafts, updated their forecast and have him going to the Portland Trailblazers with the 15th pick in the second round. Jeff Goodman, of CBS Sports, has a new mock draft out as well, and he sees the Oklahoma Thunder selecting Thomas with the 29th pick in the first round. Which is a great landing spot for him as long as he understand that Kevin Durant, and not Deshaun Thomas should get the majority of the team's shots. This is not a given.
99 DAYS AND A WAKEUP. Yesterday marked the 100-day point between the football-less now and the start of the 2013 season. Technically, Buckeye fans have two more days to go, but Thursday, August 29 brings 17 college football games – two on BTN – and we'll tune into them like Bedouins descending upon an oasis.
This occasion allowed ESPN to shine doing something the network still does exceptionally well: presenting meaningful data. Their "100 numbers for 100 days countdown" was just enough of a light at the end of the tunnel to get the juices flowing.
Highlights:
12. (Ohio State win streak): No team in the country has a longer active win streak than Ohio State. The Buckeyes were a perfect 12-0 last season and bring that streak into this season, with a school record of 22 straight still a long way away.
46. (Braxton Miller rushing): Braxton Miller had 46 rushes of 10-plus yards in 2012. Since the start of the 2011 season, Miller has the most by a quarterback in the FBS (79).
80. (Braxton Miller's zone-read runs): Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller attempted 80 zone-read rushes in 2012 with Urban Meyer as his head coach. Miller attempted nine such rushes in 2011 under Luke Fickell. Miller gained 676 yards and scored six touchdowns with the zone read last season.
100. (The Granddaddy of them all): The 100th Rose Bowl will be played this season.
Get here, college football.
FREAKS! Bruce Feldman's annual "Freaks List" piece is out and it's an entertaining read, even if we must forgive Bruce for not including Braxton Miller (in fairness, he honestly could have just stopped after Clowney at No. 1 and called it a day). Here's Feldman on Wisconsin linebacker (and Ohio product) Chris Borland:
Borland does a standstill box jump of 51 inches, said strength coach Evan Simon. "He can also do a standing back flip at will and one time landed one in the splits for fun. He is as solid as two rocks and one of the hardest workers you'll find."
Not only that, Badger insiders say Borland has also been known to kick 40-yard field goals, practice catching balls either with one hand or behind his back out of the jugs gun and can throw the ball about 50 yards on a line.
PAWWWWL! The Mouth of the South, Paul Finebaum, has agreed to a five-year deal with ESPN that will see his radio show, "the voice of college football in Alabama and and throughout of the South" as described by The New Yorker, go national on ESPN networks. The show has been a guilty pleasure of college football fans both highbrow and lowbrow for years, but it will be interesting to see how casual fans react to Legend, Tammy, Shane from Centerpoint and other callers to the show.
Finebaum's new contract also calls for him to make 100 televised appearances annually on ESPN. I realize the network long ago shifted from news to simple trolling under the guise of "embracing debate," but does a network that already employs Mark May really need more of this?
Any doubt now why Stanley McClover chose Auburn after being provided free sex with an Ohio State coed.
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) March 29, 2011
Suppose now would be a good time to point out that on the same day the deal was announced – financial terms were not disclosed – ESPN laid off over 100 employees?
Good thing we have the BTN. (Yes, I'm grumpy and much prefer the old world order, when the men that covered college football were part of Northwestern's Medill Mafia, knowing that these gentlemen could be completely objective, because, Northwestern.)
A WEEK IN THE LIFE OF AL BORGES. MGoBlog scored a nice sit down with Michigan offensive coordinator Al Borges. The first part, published yesterday, covers the daily work week for Borges, members of the staff and the players. While none of his responses are particularly revelatory, the discussion does provide insight into the typical week of a major college football program. Take, for instance, the difference between practice days during game week:
So you work on something different each day of practice.
“Yeah. They’re all different. Wednesday’s more of a situational day, as is Thursday, when you’re working on two-minute, third-down periods, you recap your short-yardage, goal-line -- there’s some review involved in there, too. You have pieces of each day where you review the day before. You can’t spend a whole lot of time on that because you have to get to the next day, but certain things that were screwed up on day one that would need to be polished, you would go back to do it again on day two.”
After showing off the playcalling sheet used in the Notre Dame game, Borges discusses the mindset of a playcaller:
“You have to understand when you’re calling the plays, you can’t balk, otherwise you have a delay of game. You have to have something ready and you have to be thinking ahead before you call that play. And all this preparation’s about that. It’s about having a play that has a chance to succeed, still knowing that regardless of what you call, you’re a victim of execution. You call some good plays, you call some bad ones. At the end of the day I’ve called some really good plays that weren’t executed very well. I’ve called some bad calls where the athleticism of the player bailed me out, so it’s worked both ways.”
[Insert joke about second half plays in The Game last season.] [A wild Wolverine appears and counters with ASK BOLLMAN.]
It's a longish piece, but a solid read and well worth your time.
FLICKR, YOU SO PRETTY. We use Flickr to host our image galleries for games and other events, so we were pleasantly surprised Tuesday morning when we noticed the site had a new look. In short, it's gorgeous, but don't take my word for it. See for yourself.
ETC. Mike Conley landed a pretty floater to tie things up last night before the Spurs pulled away in overtime. And then, this happened... Bearded bros, it's time to earn some coin... Get pumped, Chicago Buckeyes... the 20 types of depressed sports fans... The Rivals250 is out... Nick Gilbert needs to play the lottery... Father of the GIF clarifies its pronunciation (but, seriously, people thought it was a hard G?)... Photoset: The Juggalos of OKCupid.
