It's June (!) which means there are only two months to go until August which means there are only two months until Ohio State opens up fall camp for the 2016 season. The Eleven Warriors Offseason Mailbag is here in the meantime to bridge that gap.
Which of Mond and Martell do you think Urban and the staff want more? — Montana Silver
I try to leave the football recruiting talk here to The Lord of Whispers, but this seems to be a hot topic so I'll take a stab at it.
Birm mentioned in Monday's Hurry-Up that if Kellen Mond does wind up making a decision this week, it likely won't be Ohio State. The Buckeyes are going to try and do everything in their power to get him to push a decision back as they try and figure out which quarterback they want to add to this 2017 class.
Of course, they can only take one of Mond or Tate Martell and while the coaching staff certainly ranks prospects based on who they want more — and I don't have access to that list — I think this truly might be a situation where it's either/or and I think they'd be fine with either. It's a common recruiting tactic: Tell the two or three prospects there's only one spot left and whoever commits first gets it. I think they're comfortable enough with both to do something similar.
Many fans have an opinion regarding Tim Beck as a coordinator, but please explain his impact on the recruiting front, more specifically the Texas area and on the quarterbacks for the 2017 and 2018 class. — BuckeyeIN NY
You're quite correct in your assumption that everybody seems to have an opinion of Tim Beck, but as far as recruiting is concerned, he's pretty essential to Ohio State's pursuit of both Texas and quarterbacks.
Fair or unfair, Beck will always be compared to his predecessor, Tom Herman. And while few would argue the two are comparable as coaches, Beck is doing his fair share to make a name for himself in the recruiting world of late. He has played a key part in Ohio State's recruitment of Texas stars Jeffery Okudah and Baron Browning, as well as 2018 quarterback target Emory Jones.
Obviously, Raekwon McMillan is the man at middle linebacker this year, but how do the rest of the backups shake up? And, for 2017, who is the heir apparent assuming McMillan leaves? — JohnnyKozmo
Right now, I'm not sure who Ohio State would list as its backup middle linebacker. Nick Conner and Justin Hilliard seem to be logical choices — though Hilliard may fit in more at the Will spot — but both were recovering from injuries in the spring so neither saw a ton of playing time. The Buckeyes had players like Craig Fada, Joe Burger and early enrollee Tuf Borland repping behind McMillan this spring.
Depth behind McMillan in the middle is a major question and it's part of the reason I listed him as Ohio State's third-most indispensable player for next season. And I'd start preparing right now for next season to be McMillan's last, so the Buckeyes will have a huge hole to fill there in 2017.
Who will start at right tackle, Isaiah Prince or Malcolm Pridgeon? Or will it just be good, old-fashioned competition? — Browns88
If you're asking me to pick right now I'm going to say Prince but only because I know nothing about Pridgeon yet. It's tough for me to pencil a guy in as a starter who is not yet on campus.
With that said, Ohio State doesn't often go after junior college kids and it certainly wouldn't have gone after Pridgeon if the staff didn't believe he has a chance to help the team immediately. This will be a competition that likely won't be settled until fall camp, but I'll give Prince the advantage right now.
What is your early-June Ohio State game by game predictions? — ABuckeye15
You guys probably aren't going to be happy with my response to this, but I've got Ohio State going 9-3 next year as things stand right now. I have losses against Oklahoma, Michigan [ducks] and one of the three Big Ten road games (Wisconsin, Penn State or Michigan State). For the sake of this answer, I'll pick Penn State even though I probably shouldn't.
I think 2017 will be Ohio State's year though assuming the majority of its talent returns and it should also be noted I picked the Buckeyes to go 9-3 in 2014 as well under similar circumstances and we all know how that turned out.
As I usually tell people when asked to make predictions: I get paid to write about what happens, not predict it. If I could predict the future I'd be living in Vegas betting on every possible sporting event while sipping on a nice cocktail by a pool.
What are the chances OSU gets more than 20 to sign in 2017? — MDBuckeye2002
Knowing how Ohio State recruits, I'd venture to guess the staff will do everything in its power to get to 20. How they fit all those guys onto the roster, though? I don't have any idea. But these things usually have a tendency to work themselves out.
Now that Daniel Giddens has left, do you feel comfortable with David Bell rotating in at center with Thompson or would you prefer giving Funderbunk or Potter a shot since they might have more potential? — MacG91
I'll say this about David Bell: He held his own in the limited minutes he saw last season.
With that said, I'm still not sure if he can be relied on to play significant minutes just yet. I don't include Funderburk in this group of bigs because he's not a true center and he might be able to play alongside another big man, but if Potter is ready to go on the defensive end of the floor (I'm not worried about his offense) I think he probably gets the opportunity ahead of Bell.
Thompson had such a difficult time staying out of foul trouble a season ago, though, that Bell may need to play a more prominent role with Giddens no longer in the fold.
I have two questions both regarding CJ Jackson: Do you think we could see a roster shift at some point in the season moving him to the starting point guard and Lyle to play the 2 regularly? Also, over or under 70 made 3's for Jackson's total for the year — IronPastor
I'll start with the second part of this question first and the answer is under. Seventy is a ton of 3-pointers and, like you mentioned, Ohio State's best 3-pointer shooter a year ago made just 52 and played well over 20 minutes a game.
Additionally, and this ties into part of the first question, I'm not sure Jackson sees enough minutes to make 70 3s. I think he starts off the season as the backup point guard to Lyle and will only play 10-20 minutes a game.
If he's better than expected, however — and that's tough to judge right now since he's not here — I think it's certainly possible he could take over as the starting point guard and Lyle could move to the off-ball spot. Lyle is talented enough to play both positions, but right now I see Ohio State's starting five remaining the same as it was last year.
Objectively, which team do you think win the NBA title this year? — Brutus_SSG
I think the Cavs would have been better off facing the Thunder as I think they match up much better with OKC. It worries me there's really nowhere to hide Kyrie Irving or Kevin Love on the defensive end against the Warriors as Golden State can do so many things that can expose those two for being, let's say, below-average defenders.
I'm as cautious now as I've ever been to make predictions now that we're in the Crying Jordan era, but I'm still going with the Cavs in six. LeBron has an all-time Finals series and the Cavs ride him to their first-ever championship.
Will Cleveland residents set the lake on fire if the Cavaliers win the title? — LTWilliams
Cleveland residents will set the entire city on fire so yes, the lake will be included in that.
In lieu of the upcoming 11W's 10th birthday coming up, what's your earliest 11W memory/contribution? — Hovenaut
I've been on staff here as a beat writer for two years now, but this is still an easy question for me because I'll never forget my very first day covering Ohio State football for Eleven Warriors.
I started in August of 2014 and my very first day on the job was the day Braxton Miller suffered his season-ending shoulder injury during fall camp. I was watching a Browns preseason game while writing when I got a text and essentially had to drop everything I was doing as we gathered more information. We pretty much scrapped our entire editorial plan for the next day and had to re-write several different stories.
It made for a very long, intense first day — and week — of work, but I'll never forget that for the rest of my life.
