Congratulations to all you college freshmen starting classes tomorrow. Being a college student is a big deal, and Ohio State has lots of opportunity. There are some important things you need to be aware of to make your first few weeks great.
The first important thing to know: syllabus day is a total waste of time. Under semesters, with fifteen weeks and most classes being 55 or 80 minutes long, you'll be done with 90% of those classes in under a half-hour. Don't text in class, but... well, this isn't the worst week to do so.
Another thing: bonding with people is important. That cute girl/boy down the hallway isn't going to invite herself/himself to a romantic dinner at Jimmy John's. That Mario Kart 64 track – or whatever vidya games you youngsters play these days – isn't going to play itself. Introduce yourself to people, immerse yourself in the club culture, play some sand volleyball or disc golf. Be sure not to let something silly like school get in the way of your college experience.
One final piece of advice as you get used to the university: if you're attending the season opener against Buffalo on August 31st, be sure to to "Scarlet and Gray the 'Shoe". For all of you considering wearing maize and/or blue, do not! This is a common freshman mistake! And if you're wearing the wrong color for your section, you'll ruin it for everyone else. Look to Kinnick Stadium for inspiration.
SOME FALL CAMP CLARITY. As football season inches closer (9 days to first contact, 11 days to the Buffalo game), the Buckeyes' depth chart is receiving some clarity. Among other things:
- As expected, Curtis Grant and Josh Perry are the second and third linebackers. Grant will be in nickel coverage.
- Tom Herman wants Braxton Miller to complete 70% of his passes, would be happy with 67%.
- Tight ends coach Tom Hinton says Jeff Heuerman and Nick Vannett are 1a and 1b at tight end.
- Luke Fickell says that Mike Mitchell and Trey Johnson have hit the wall and that linebacking depth is still a concern.
Fortunately, Braxton Miller's Heisman favorite status doesn't have teammates expecting too much from him:
Jeff Heuerman struck a Heisman pose when asked what to expect from Braxton Miller in 2013. That actually happened.
— Patrick Brennan (@PatBrennan164) August 19, 2013
Er, never mind.
Finally, with Vonn Bell losing his black stripe, he's the tenth freshman to do so. There's an easy mnemonic to remember who's lost theirs: BBBEHMMPRW. Self-explanatory, really.
POSEY LOOKS TO REBOUND. One thing Bengals fans felt this January, like every January, was crushing despair. The specific cause was the Houston Texans, and though a lackluster effort made us shudder, we could at least take satisfaction in DeVier Posey catching a touchdown pass; at least, until Posey went down on the play and was eventually diagnosed with a ruptured Achilles tendon.
After a lengthy recovery process, Posey is on his way back to playing:
WR DeVier Posey coming off PUP after undergoing Achilles tendon surgery less than 7 months ago is amazing. He'll ease back into it.
— John McClain (@McClain_on_NFL) August 20, 2013
The recovery time for Achilles injuries is usually a year or longer and more debilitating, so congratulations to Posey for having a spectacular rehabilitation period and having he opportunity to make the 53 man roster. Texans coach Gary Kubiak admires his recovery as well:
“Give the kid credit. He’s gone above and beyond. He’s lived here ever since the surgery, and what a job he’s done to get back this soon.”
Meanwhile, fellow Buckeye teammate and wide receiver Dane Sanzenbacher is trying to make the Bengals' roster – he'd be out right now, but it's close – and in spite of what bitter a-holes think about his chances of success, he's making a push for a spot.
DeVier Posey has Wolverine's healing factor. RECRUITING CAMPS CAUSE COVERAGE BIAS. Ohio State fans tend to complain about ESPN Recruiting more than any of the other services. Some of that unhappiness stems from ESPN rating Ohio State's class lower than other recruiting services and perceptions of regional bias, but some of that is a result of the company's many conflicts of interest. For example, look at The Opening.
When ESPN airs coverage of The Opening, it wants people to watch. People are more likely to watch if they believe the players at The Opening are the best football recruits in the country. Therefore, it behooves ESPN to make participants look as good as they can, and ESPN can make them look good by overrating camp attendees in the ESPN 150. Overrating camp attendees can be an unconscious decision, as appearing on national TV tends to make those people more appealing thanks to the mere-exposure effect.
This section isn't about ESPN, though; it's about Rivals and Under Armour. The Rivals camp series is sponsored by Under Armour, which creates some thorny issues about sponsorship affecting recruiting rankings. Ace Anbender at MGoBlog, which is pretty sharp at statistical analysis when not being the flagship fansite for the worst university ever, makes a strong case that the sponsorship creates a rating bias:
When running the numbers for the full set of 51 Five-Star Challenge participants and using the highest non-ESPN rank for Under Armour All-Americans, the gap between Rivals and the other services widens significantly — the prospects are ranked an average of 11.1 spots higher on Rivals than the other services.
[...]
The fact that the Five-Star Challenge participants skew to the positive, however, along with the trend of major outliers among Under Armour All-Americans, suggests that some bias is present when it comes to recruits who participate in a Rivals-sponsored event.
Meanwhile, Rivals denies that there is any bias. I love your new clothes, emperor.
QUICK TURNAROUND ON MARINE'S APPEAL. The outrage story du jour about the Marine who would have had to redshirt for a year because of military intramurals is over, as the NCAA will let Steven Rhodes play immediately. Dr. Sidney McPhee, MTSU president:
We were informed this afternoon that the NCAA has granted full approval to Steven Rhodes’ waiver. This is exciting news for Steven and Middle Tennessee State University. We express our gratitude to the NCAA for reviewing this situation and granting Steven the ability to play this fall. We are hopeful that the NCAA will look at the bylaws regarding all individuals who serve in the military before becoming a student-athlete.
There's little doubt that public pressure expedited the appeals process that led to a waiver for Rhodes being approved. Did it actually change the result for him? I doubt it. The NCAA fouls up from time to time, and when people like Todd O'Brien get screwed then jumping down the organization's throat is justifiable. People who go into perpetual histrionics about how evil the NCAA, like Patrick Hruby, end up looking silly when the NCAA eventually gets the situation right.
WALRUSBALL APOCALYPSE. After 2012's gong show of an offense, Michigan State is looking to improve this year with wide receivers who can catch and a more seasoned quarterback. On the latter point, though he later backtracked and said Andrew Maxwell would retain the starting job, Mark Dantonio didn't know who his quarterback would be:
"At the beginning of the scrimmage it was a three-horse race," Dantonio said Monday. "And at the end of the scrimmage, it was a four-horse race.
When you have two quarterbacks, you have none; when you have four quarterbacks in a Jim Bollman offense, you have the singularity that will destroy the Earth.
LINKS AHOY. If you needed more proof that football recruiting's graphic designers are fantastic, look at what Mike Gesicki received in the mail... the only counter to Wisconsin's "four tight ends" offense is an 11-0-0 defense... Protip: leaving your keys in the ignition increases the odds of your car being stolen... What do you make of this list of coaches underachieving/overachieving relative to talent? Tressel was always a little above average and Rich Rodriguez was bipolar... UTSA's gloves have a friggin' cannon on them... Billionaire scumbag Chris Hansen funds covert, subversive anti-arena drive in Sacramento in violation of campaign finance laws... In spite of anticipated record attendance, Northwestern will become Tarpwestern this season... I don't care if liking Alex Rodriguez in spite of PEDs makes me a "Looser". Do you want to know the terrifying truth, or do you want to see players like him hit some dingers?... 5,000 year old game tokens found in Turkey... Congratulations to Daniel Bryan for winning the WWE Championship with a devastating Busaiku Knee at SummerSlam. Shame about Triple H ruining everything... and Thujone has college football's funniest, if most NSFW, season preview.
