Urban Meyer and a handful of players were made available to the media following last night's practice, providing a handful of worthy soundbytes.
Meyer indicated the defense won't feature as much nickel against San Diego State's attack with Josh Perry expected to see increased snaps as the starting strong-side linebacker. I'm all for Perry seeing more reps as I remain unconvinced he couldn't end up being the 2nd best linebacker on the team by midseason. The downside to running more 4-3 is the lack of snaps for guys like Tyvis Powell at Star.
Bradley Roby, Rod Smith and C.J. Barnett will all see their first action of the season for a myriad of reasons and Corey Linsley should see an increase in playing time as he continues to work his way back from offseason surgery that put a screw in his foot.
Interestingly, Meyer wouldn't commit to Roby starting and would only say Smith will at least participate on special teams. Speaking of their roommate in the doghouse, Carlos Hyde, Meyer noted the suspended running back has been working with both punt teams and expects that to continue once he officially returns.
I'm sorry but unless that's to help Carlos have a better shot at the next level or the only way to keep him in shape, I'm not a fan of the team's best back moonlighting in such a capacity. And I've been mostly onboard with Meyer's "tough love" stance but considering the video evidence that came to light in Roby's situation and how Armani Reeves performed last week, the team's best corner needs to be on the field from the get go.
The fact of the matter is that we're still under the BCS format and if your schedule is going to be something voters and computers chuckle at, you best at least issue beatdowns on inferior teams in an effort to sway the human portion of the system.
The good news is that with Grant and Jordan Hall admitting separately the team let off the gas last week against Buffalo, it's a safe bet the Buckeyes won't take the privilege of playing game two for granted.
STAY CLASSY, TOLEDO. Buckeye captain and starting left tackle, Jack Mewhort, was named one of six B1G gridiron finalists for the 2013 Senior CLASS Award in college football, joining Nathan Scheelhaase, Greg Heban, Taylor Martinez, John Urschel and Chris Borland.
The criteria:
To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I FBS senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - community, classroom, character and competition. The Buckeyes' James Laurinaitis was named the inaugural football winner of the Senior CLASS Award in 2008.
It might not be the Heisman but the award which has 30 finalists in total, "focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities."
The 30 candidates will be pared to 10 at midseason with the finalists being voted upon by national media, coaches and fans. In a time where all of spend too much time talking about clowns like Johnny Manziel (yours truly included, to be sure), we shouldn't forget to acknowledge the good guys like Mewhort.
SPEAKING OF JOHNNY GENEROUS. On Tuesday, Manziel's head coach, Kevin Sumlin, downplayed what looked like a Manziel-diss as he breezed by Sumlin after drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for generally acting like a punk late in the Aggies' win over Rice. After initially saying he was "shocked" at the narrative in the national media he offered:
“I’m not shocked by anything anymore. People want to make a story out of anything that happens on this team right now. But of all the things there is to talk about in this program, of all the things you want to make an issue about, that is probably the last thing that needs to be talked about.”
“When he came off the field, I made two statements to him; neither one of which should he have responded to. They weren’t questions. They were direct statements that I can’t repeat right now.
“What’s amazing to me is the perception that he ignored me. The worst thing that could have happened was for him to reply. So for people to say, ‘He’s not listening to his coach and there’s no discipline on this team,’ they’re not around this football team. A lot of people who have made statements about that weren’t anywhere near that sideline.”
This could very well be true but when you coddle and enable a kid who loves bringing attention to himself and becomes a lightning rod in the process, you have to take the good with the bad.
Just Barry Switzer enjoying a beer and silk skivvies in the locker roomSeemingly out of nowhere, deep thinker Barry Switzer joined the fray yesterday as he told ESPN Radio:
“I’m certainly disappointed in his actions. For him to act so arrogant, I wanted to jerk his face mask and I wanted to grab him. Of course you get fired for that now; in the old days you could get away with that. It’s the world we live in. It’s a misplaced value system. When I see this happen I wonder where the core value system comes from, if he has a core value system. This young man needs a damn hell of a lot of development.”
That's some passionate chatter from a guy who ran a renegade Oklahoma program that landed on three years of NCAA probation, including a two-year bowl ban and one-year ban from live TV, had a player shoot a teammate in the chest over a cassette tape, had three more charged with first-degree rape, and another, quarterback Charles Thompson, charged with selling 17 grams of the booger sugar to an uncover FBI agent.
Never change, Switz. You are absolutely the Tark the Shark of college football.
HEADY NUGGETS. While the NFL recently settled lawsuits brought by former players accusing the league of not doing enough to educate, prevent concussion-related health issues by agreeing to pay out over $700 million in damages, the NCAA is now facing a similar lawsuit.
Former college football players Chris Walker (Tennessee, '07-'11), Ben Martin (Tennessee, '07-'11) and Dan Ahern (NC State, '72-'76) filed a class-action in a Chattanooga Federal Court yesterday alleging the NCAA "failed to meet its obligation to players" and as a result, the three are "suffering the dramatic consequences".
Interestingly, the suit was filed by Michael Hausfeld, who is also serving as lead attorney in the Ed O'Bannon case.
Walker and Martin blame recurring severe headaches on repeated head trauma suffered in during their playing days.
Ahern says he was flown from State College to Raleigh hospital following a concussion suffered against the Nittany Lions and blames the injury for ongoing issues with memory loss, ringing in his ears, an inability to concentrate and sleeping problems.
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