Three weeks from today, you will be in Ohio Stadium or glued to the nearest television, watching Ohio State begin its chase toward a national championship when it plays host to the Buffalo Bulls.
I am not sure I need any further introduction on top of that. Ohio State football is just around the corner.
TWO-A-DAYS. Yesterday was Ohio State's first two-a-day practice of fall camp, another indicator that the season is around the corner.
For Urban Meyer, two-a-days are supposed to focus on two things in particular: quality and intensity.
Ohio State fans who watched last year's ESPN All-Access Series on the 2012 Ohio State Buckeyes saw Meyer preach on these things during camp. Mantras like "do your job!" and "4-6 seconds of relentless effort!" are oft-repeated slogans from Meyer and his assistants. It is imperative for Meyer that his players do their jobs, do it hard, and do it fast. It is also why Meyer and his assistants will yell "Plus 2, and finish!" as instructions before a particular drill.
This year's Ohio State football team will have the benefit of having a previous year under Meyer. Nothing will be identical, nor easy, but at least this team is familiar with what Urban Meyer wants.
Namely, they are familiar with the fact they can never be totally familiar with how Urban Meyer coaches them.
“It’s always spontaneous with Coach Meyer,” senior guard Marcus Hall said. “We know that’s his style. He keeps us on our toes, throws different events.”
And Hall and his teammates never know that the next event might be.“Like just in the middle of practice sometimes we can go straight into a conditioning period when we thought we were going to team (scrimmaging session),” he said. “So we’ve got to stay on our toes, be ready for anything. Change of direction-type things, he’s big on that.”
Ohio State has two-a-days this coming Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. NCAA regulations now prohibit college football teams from having two-a-days on consecutive days.
Fall camp ends Aug. 20. Fall semester's classes at Ohio State start the next day.
THE ARTICLE WITH ZERO REDEEMING QUALITIES. This article made a splash on Friday. The first thought was to ignore it for the sake of a Saturday Skull Session that would be simpler to read, but it was too loud to ignore. It was the elephant in the room for Friday in the world of college football.
Count me as one of those guys that is bored with conversation about Johnny Manziel. I would like to fast forward to the point where Texas A&M releases a statement that says it found "no evidence" of any NCAA violations by Manziel and when the NCAA releases a follow-up statement that tries to massage its very visible fecklessness. I do not care how comical the cowboy hats are on Manziel's lawyers. I already know how this ends and I want to be done with it, post haste.
It is why I yawned when I read Jay Bilas hammering the NCAA on Manziel's behalf regarding a search function on the NCAA's official shop that would direct the visitor to a Texas A&M No. 2 jersey for purchase. Did I miss his similar rant on behalf of Terrelle Pryor and DeVier Posey? Maybe that happened and I just missed it.
While I think Bilas' intentions were superficial at best, at least they were not cro-magnon. This article, by "born-again Texan" Jen Floyd Engel, was sports writing as bad as it gets. In short: Johnny Manziel is Rosa Parks, but Terrelle Pryor was a "terrorist".
That is not exaggeration. That is the author's own words, as published by Fox Sports.
Once upon a time in this country, there were ugly, racist, tyrannical rules dictating where a black person could sit on a bus. There were all kinds of these laws, actually, created and defended by the racists who benefited from them.
What kick-started change was an average, everyday woman named Rosa Parks, who had grown tired of being tired. Hers was not the first protest, nor was it particularly the best. It was merely the tipping point for many Americans long since tired of these immoral laws.
On a much less historically significant scale, so it is with Johnny Football — and no, this is not intended in any way to compare the vast evil of Jim Crow to an incompetent NCAA investigation, or to slings from TV commentators.
It is intended to say, wrong is wrong.
A preface that needs to be clarified with "I am not saying Johnny Manziel's plight is necessarily similar to that of African-Americans in Jim Crow-era America, but…" is a preface that should not be written.
As loudly wrong as that preface was to this article, it raises the corollary question of why Terrelle Pryor, for example, was not the beneficiary of this same nationwide rally to Manziel's defense and pursuit of rational self-interest amid the NCAA's exploitative concept of amateurism. Engel is quick to mention him in this article otherwise focused on likening Johnny Manziel to Rosa Parks, but this does not square with comments she made at the time on Pryor when he was bound for the NFL Supplemental Draft.
He did not play enforcer for the NCAA. Nor did he overstep his bounds or act as a capricious holy roller, as many have implied. In this increasingly ugly and infinitely cynical time in college football, he took a stand. Roger sent a clear message that the NFL will no longer be a safe harbor for college football terrorists.
[...]
Whatever your argument against suspending Pryor — the rules are arcane and hypocritical, athletes should be paid, the NCAA is fraudulent and obsolete — none justifies his wanton disregard for his teammates and his school or entitles him to walk away without being nicked by a mess of his creation.
Please also stop with the “he’s a catalyst for change” meme.
Real change begins with a guy willing to sacrifice for a larger principle, the guy standing in front of the tank at Tiananmen Square, not a guy trying to get the Chinese word for “Buckeye” tattooed onto his bicep for free.
No revolution ever began with “Free tattoos” as a battle cry. Or “Show me the money,” as in Reggie Bush’s case, or “Hey, Nevin, pass me a stripper,” as in the allegations against The Miami 15.
I do not anymore celebrate those who fight against the NCAA's exploitation of student-athletes. It is a low-hanging fruit that is too easy to kick, and too often kicked. With all the experience we have kicking that fruit, is it too much to ask for Ms. Engel to do better than that?
Well, apparently.
She is at least sorry for calling Terrelle Pryor a terrorist, two years after the fact, though.
I absolutely regret my column on ... Terrelle Pryor. #sincereapologytohim #whenyouknowbetteryouwritebetter #opinionschange
— Jennifer Floyd Engel (@engeljen) August 9, 2013
#hashtagapology
Tyler Ferguson and Christian Hackenberg TYLER FERGUSON LEADS PENN STATE QB RACE. The third item will look at our friends and rivals in the East. Penn State has to replace Matt McGloin, a three-year starter at quarterback for the Nittany Lions. McGloin had his moments, both good and bad, but seemed to flourish in his redshirt senior year.
The difference is understandable. Bill O'Brien has NFL experience working under Bill Belichick and with Tom Brady. His previous position coach got to his position by being Joe Paterno's son.
The problem of replacing a senior quarterback is only compounded by the issue of Penn State's shrinking number of available scholarships. Bill O'Brien can still field a team, but quality depth will be hard to get at almost every position on the field to support the new Penn State quarterback.
As of right now, the heir apparent at quarterback is Tyler Ferguson, a recent arrival to Penn State via community college. Bill O'Brien gave him the tentative endorsement of being "a little bit ahead" of Christian Hackenberg, the true freshman quarterback in the same recruiting class.
"After three days, Tyler is a little bit ahead because he has more knowledge of the offense," O'Brien said at a news conference this morning. "He's taken most reps with the first team.
"It's only three days, but we're certainly pleased with where they're at right now."
O'Brien said he would likely name the starting quarterback two weeks before Penn State opens the season against Syracuse at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
Penn State will visit Ohio State on Oct. 26.
MISCELLANY. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has his own mural in the locker room at the Miami Hurricanes football complex... Not even the "King" can avoid jury duty in Akron, Ohio... Penn State loses another commitment to Michigan... Vanessa Carlton meets GTA IV Piano Car mod... Joe Girardi, Northwestern graduate, visits Alabama... Herm Edwards was there earlier this week as well... shirtless Steve Spurrier dot tumblr dot com.
