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.
Can you explain how off-season workouts work? How many hours can the coaches work with the players, how much can the players organize and practice/workout together, etc.? — MinnBuck
During the season, coaches are allowed 20 hours per week with their players. During the offseason, though, coaches are only allowed eight hours per week for required strength and conditioning training and two of those hours are now allowed to be skill instruction, which didn't use to be the case.
The players must have two days off from required activities during the offseason, but there's no limit on voluntary workouts so long as they're not organized by a staff member. If J.T. Barrett wants to go to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center and throw passes to some receivers, he's allowed to do so.
Can you give us a timeline of events leading up to the first game? — Toad1204
I hate to bore you, but there's not a whole lot going on right now for the next two months.
The 2016 class reported over the weekend and summer classes started Tuesday, so, for now, it's just required summer conditioning for eight hours per week as mentioned above for the next two months. Big Ten Media Days in Chicago will be held July 25 and 26 and that will be the first time we hear from many of the coaches and players around the conference.
Fall camp officially begins Aug. 7 and there's no schedule for that out yet, but that's when things start to really pick up with two-a-day workouts and such. Ohio State's on-campus media day will be held Aug. 14 and then they usually go into a media blackout for a week or so.
That takes us up to the end of August and before you know it Sept. 3 and Bowling Green will be here.
What game will the Buckeye's wear an alternate uniform? — Bucksomies
No game has been publicly announced yet for Ohio State to wear the 1916 alternates it's going to wear this year, but it's a pretty safe bet it will either be Northwestern or Nebraska.
I guess it could be the Michigan game, as well, as the Buckeyes have done that for a few years, but I think it will either be the game against Nebraska or Northwestern. I'll guess Nebraska for now.
For the lesser known teams at Ohio State, when it comes to recruiting is there a sense in those communities that Ohio State is becoming more of a power and destination similar to football? — RK84
I think wrestling, as you mentioned, is becoming more of a power in recruiting thanks to the recent success the team has had under Tom Ryan; women's basketball is also recruiting at an absurdly high level of late and that's a credit to Kevin McGuff and his staff. But as far as the rest of the sports, I usually stem back to something Thad Matta has said a few times over the last couple of years.
Matta said after the football team won the national title in 2014 that "the brand of Ohio State has never been stronger" and I think that's really true. Ohio State is all over the TV a ton, and even though it might be for football or men's basketball, people see that no matter what sport they play.
Even though brand name is hardly the only factor in recruiting, every little bit helps no matter the sport.
What gets you through the offseason? Is reading or writing a true lifeline that gets you to September? — Hovenaut
To be honest, the offseason is a time for me to unwind and enjoy myself. From August through April I don't have much of a social life as I work just about every day of the week often for long hours covering all sorts of Ohio State-related things. When May, June and July hit, I have more free time as I don't have to be at a press conference, interview session or a game. I tend to enjoy this time of year.
That's not complaining because I love what I do, but you certainly get a little burned out by the time the summer comes around. With that said, it's only the second week of June and I'm kind of getting that itch for football season to start again. I want summer to last forever, but I'm also ready to get back into the swing of things.
For your second question, reading and writing are my jobs so it's not necessarily a lifeline so much as it is just what I do for work. It's something I enjoy doing so it certainly helps pass the time, but I've written just about every day of my life since I graduated college five years ago so it's nothing out of the ordinary for me.
If you could only go to one home football game this season (excluding The Game), which one would you pick? — NavyBuckeye91
Ohio State's schedule is rather difficult in 2016 and filled with quite a few intriguing games, but none of those — outside of Michigan — come at home, which is disappointing. There are road games against Oklahoma, Penn State, Wisconsin and Michigan State, but the most interesting home games are Nebraska and Northwestern.
I guess I'd pick the Nebraska game here if I were a fan that could only get to one.
Assuming the B1G expands again in the next 5 years, who's on your realistic list of teams to be added, and who's on your dream list to be added and why? — JohnnyKozmo
I don't consider myself an expansion expert, but if the Big Ten were to expand it'd probably take two more teams to make it an even 16. Some non-Power 5 options for that might be Cincinnati, Memphis or UConn. I think from a geographical standpoint West Virginia would make some sense, too, though it would have to leave the Big 12 for that to happen.
I personally don't want the Big Ten to expand anymore, but if there's one team that I'd love to see added even though it likely won't ever happen it's Notre Dame. Anybody else after that is just kind of meh to me.
Which happens first: The Browns beat the Bengals, Ravens and Steelers en route to their second playoff appearance since 1999 or Jim Harbaugh leads Michigan to wins over Ohio State and Michigan State to reach the College Football Playoff? — InJTWeMust
This one is pretty easy to me, and the clear answer is Michigan beating Ohio State and Michigan State and going to the College Football Playoff. The reason being the Browns are so awful and so far away from being good that I don't even see a sniff of the playoffs in the future. I have no idea if it will ever happen again, honestly. That's how I feel about the Browns right now.
Go Browns.
The Indians are coming off of an impressive 4-game sweep of the defending World Series champs. Does this team have what it takes to win the whole thing? — WhiteyYD
I don't like to get too worked up in June about a baseball winning streak, but the Indians are playing well right now and I certainly think they have a team that could win the AL Central this season despite their loss in Seattle on Tuesday.
Cleveland needs Michael Brantley back and that seems to be a huge mystery right now, but the starting pitching — assuming everybody stays healthy — will be the key to how far the Indians can go as the summer rolls along. It's been superb so far for the most part.
Why is Cleveland cursed? I mean, what did we ever do to anybody to deserve this? — BuckeyeInNY
The only answer I have for this is just a giant Crying Jordan.
How many times has someone mistaken you for Aaron Craft? Have you ever used it to your immediate advantage? — Eric Seger
This happened a lot in college, but not as much anymore as the Aaron Craft stigma has somewhat worn off in these streets. I also have grown my hair out a bit and now have a beard, both things I refused to do while in college.
I absolutely tried to convince people of this when I was in school, though, and while it never actually worked I had several who were on the fence for a while.
