Good morning, everyone. Welcome to July 2nd, America's birthday.
As an over-enthusiastic eighth grade social science teacher or some brainteaser may have informed you before, the United States of America was not really created on July 4th, 1776. The United States was really founded two days prior, on July 2nd, when representatives of the thirteen colonies in the Second Continental Congress voted 12-0 – New York abstained, courteously – to adopt the Lee Resolution and declare independence from Great Britain.
In stereotypical bureaucrat fashion it took the delegates another two days to sort out the wording of the Declaration of Independence, though most of the time was spent writing secret Illuminati messages on the back to troll raving conspiracy theorists.
So today, consider spending time that would've gone to bemoaning the end of Google Reader to wave a flag and grill some burgers. If you're citizen to another country or would rather wait until Thursday to celebrate, watching Braxton Miller highlights and thanking your lucky stars that you landed a Wisconsin ticket in the alumni lottery is pretty cool too.
A STAR BORN AT THE OPENING. No OSU commits scored at the top of the SPARQ Ratings like Mike Mitchell did last year, but one came close.
Wide receiver commit Terry McLaurin finished second overall behind SPARQ champion Speedy Noil of Avondale, Louisiana on Monday night. McLaurin came close to winning the competition through excellent quickness and an unmatched 44.8 inch vertical leap. His performance will doubtlessly move him up the recruiting boards before high school football resumes in August.
In another event of The Opening, the Elite 11 quarterback camp finals continue. A couple days in, the rankings for the final 11 quarterbacks are as such:
David Blough leads the field, which is a surprise not only because of his relatively low star rating but also because Blough is a Purdue commit. Think about that for a second: Purdue came within an OSU camp offer to McLaurin of having the top Elite 11 quarterback and second best athlete in the country committed to it. For the supposed pit of non-existence that West Lafayette represents, Darrell Hazell is working magic getting people excited about Purdue.
OSU commit Stephen Collier may be disappointed to not be listed among the top eleven quarterbacks, but the camp has a couple days remaining before final rankings and Collier can take solace in being one of the camp's most-improved players. With the 2014 T-shirts all of the Ohio State commits wore to The Opening, Collier and company can at least look good.
On a far cozier and more private stage, Urban Meyer made an appearance at the Urban Meyer-Dean Hood Football Camp in Geneva yesterday. Meyer had plenty to say about his post-Florida plans, which were to take more than a year off before a dream job opened up in his home state, and his personal work/family balance that affects his health.
Meyer had no comment on the Aaron Hernandez murder trial – verbatim, "I'm not going to talk about that" – and moved on. Well, that was easy.
COACH THREEBLER. With the promotion of Greg Paulus to assistant coach, Jake Diebler's addition to the Ohio State basketball as its video coordinator brings not only a two-year assistant coach at Valparaiso but Jon Diebler's brother to the staff. As Paulus received the lion's share of attention, it seems fair to give Diebler his chance to shine now.
It's pretty clear that Matta's association with Jon Diebler contributed to the hiring of Jake Diebler, but Diebler has qualities of his own: after playing at Valparaiso for four years, he was the program's director of basketball operations and helped to lead his teams to winning records and CollegeInsider.com Tournament appearances.
Little is known about Diebler's skills, beyond the work ethic that Matta touts and I assume to be a necessary part of any coach's repertoire, but Matta hasn't made a habit of cronyism before and it's reasonable to assume he won't start now.
Meanwhile, LaQuinton Ross measured in at 6'7", 227 pounds with an lengthy 7'1" wingspan at the Kevin Durant Nike Skills Academy while Sam Thompson checked in at 6'7", 192 and 6'8" respectively; the San Antonio Spurs may want Deshaun Thomas to play in Europe and prove himself for a few years before coming to the NBA; and besides including a few needlessly abysmal teams, the released full 2013-2014 non-conference schedule is consistent in its averageness.
Hyde needs opportunity, skill and luck to hit 1,000 yards in 2013. HUNTING FOR YARDAGE. It's a tale as old as time. No, not Beauty and the Beast, though that ballroom scene still holds up twenty years later. Yes, the story that no running back on an Urban Meyer team has ever rushed for 1,000 yards.
It is possible for a runner in a Meyer offense to reach that mark, as Braxton Miller's 1,271 yards last season show, but the lack of a thousand yard rusher hurts Meyer on the recruiting trail. Some coaches, not to name names, used that as a pitch as to why Bri'onte Dunn should spurn Ohio State for their school.
In Sunday's Columbus Dispatch, Tim May wrote about Carlos Hyde and his pursuit of a thousand rushing yards in 2013. Hyde is aware of the stigma surrounding Meyer and the pressure that the legacy of Ohio State feature backs places on him:
“I definitely feel that responsibility,” Hyde said. “Any running back at Ohio State should feel that responsibility. The tradition at Ohio State, the backs that have come before us, like Archie Griffin, Eddie George, Keith Byars, all those guys — they all had that 1,000-yard mark and then some in their career. So I feel like as a running back at the Ohio State University, that is something you shoot for.
“And for me to have a chance to be Coach Meyer’s first 1,000-yard rusher as a running back, that’s huge.”
There's a fine line to walk if Hyde is to get to 1,000 yards, and I'm not sure what the best option is. Obviously, Hyde will need to stay healthy for 12 games and have quality offensive line play to get close to that mark. If Hyde performs well throughout the season he's likely to get enough yardage, but if Ohio State runs roughshod over opponents, Hyde's playing time will take a cut when the backups come in. That could deflate his offensive numbers, like what happened during the blowouts Troy Smith's 2006 Heisman season.
Hyde's best bet would be for Ohio State to have a bunch of run-heavy squeakers, but that's losing sight of the larger goal of the team avoiding those dangerous games. Fewer carries means fewer hits taken, which would prolong his career. Considering Ohio State's quality and depth at running back, a committee approach may be the best way to divvy up yardage.
On the other hand, getting a thousand yard rusher makes it easier to recruit top running backs and Hyde is more durable than Beanie Wells ever was and oh no, I've gone crosseyed from all the hedging. As long as the run game is effective and efficient, who cares who gets the ball?
THE NWO INVADES THAT STATE UP NORTH. Ohio State Senior Associate Athletic Director Heather Lyke is the new Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics at Eastern Michigan University. Lyke had been at Ohio State for nine years, and her departure is the latest of a number of assistant athletic department workers finding promotions elsewhere.
The official press release plays up her tutelage under Gene Smith, who was the athletic director at Eastern Michigan from 1986-1993. Smith, for his part, is thrilled:
Some may see this as Ohio State staffers getting raises they richly deserve. I prefer to see it that and also as a New World Order-style raid. Why, just look at Eastern Michigan's new, totally-not-doodled-in-MS-Paint athletic logo:
First, Ypsilanti. Next, Mt. Pleasant and Kalamazoo, and finally East Lansing and Ann Arbor. Hey yo, Michigan: we're taking over.
PORK AND BEANS. Like everyone else, UConn doesn't know the membership of the American Athletic Conference... Stop misusing the state of Michigan's airplanes, Sparty!... Dennis Hopson is in the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame, which is long overdue... The research that goes into Civilization video games is impressive... Part of Maryland's lawsuit against the ACC is thrown out... ESPN's new ombudsman has a strong debut on the company's coverage of Jason Collins. Next, he should cover its lousy geography... Another contribution to the embarrassing team photo genre... Coca-Cola is selling a bottle made out of ice... I score this gutwrench DDT an 8.5... Arena Football League kickoff touchdowns can't be this rare, can they?... and the NCAA missed the boat by not sponsoring the fine and manly sport of frozen river wrestling.
