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.
Is there such a thing as too many QBs? — NavyBuckeye91
In light of the Tate Martell commitment Sunday, I figured this would be a good question to start with.
There's the old saying in football, "If you have two quarterbacks, you don't have one," but to me, that really only applies when the quarterbacks aren't very good players. That doesn't seem to be the case at Ohio State, where every quarterback on the roster will be talented once Martell enrolls.
You need a quarterback in every single class to ensure the position has enough depth. The young guys can sit for a year and redshirt if they have to, then compete the following year. If you get a year where there are two or three unproven players at the position that need to compete for a job, fine.
The best way to be a great football team is to have the best players. So no, you can never have too many quarterbacks.
What are your thoughts on Urban and his potential length of tenure in Columbus? — JohnnyKozmo
I don't really have any inside knowledge into Urban's thinking here, but I will say that with the way he operates I wouldn't be surprised if his Ohio State tenure came to an end sooner rather than later. Is that two years or five years or 10 years? I don't know. But he's a three-time national championship coach at age 51 who operates at a robotic-type level so I could see him hanging it up for good in a few years and retire a happy man by age 55 if he wants to do so. I do think this will be his last coaching job, though.
First offensive play and result on Sept. 3 against Bowling Green? — Goombay
I'd like to come up with a crazy answer here, like a double-reverse pass in which Torrance Gibson throws an 80-yard touchdown to J.T. Barrett, but I think the more realistic option is an inside zone run with Mike Weber that gains six yards. Ohio State moves swiftly down the field on its opening drive of the season, though, with a nine-play, 75-yard drive for a touchdown to start the year.
Does J.T. stay for his senior year or does he go pro after this year? — Bucksomies
This is another popular question after Martell's commitment.
Again, no inside knowledge here of Barrett's decision, but the staff has to be prepared for the option that he does decide to go pro after this season and not return for his fifth year. I think they've done that by adding a second quarterback to the 2017 class.
But you asked me what I think Barrett will do and, to be honest, right now I'm not really sure. I think it largely hinges on how he plays this season. If Barrett has a good year — which there's no reason right now to think he won't — I think it's a real possibility he winds up testing the NFL Draft waters.
Tate Martell commits to Ohio State after emphasizing that the one thing that is very important to him is early playing time. With Joe Burrow, Dwayne Haskins, and Danny Clark, I don't see how he expects to get early playing time. What do you think? — Rob Marson
I'm not sure this is as complicated as you think it might be.
If Tate wanted to play early, as in as a true freshman, sure, maybe Cal was the better option for him. But there's also a real possibility J.T. Barrett leaves Ohio State after this season opening up the starting job right when he arrives on campus. Neither Joe Burrow nor Dwayne Haskins will be given the starting job right away should that happen; Martell will have a chance to compete.
If Barrett decides to return for his fifth season, Tate will have no issue redshirting as a true freshman and then competing for the starting job with Burrow and Haskins the following year. It seems clear he's not worried about competition and neither are the other guys. That's a good thing.
Prediction of who the next commit will be? — MN Buckeye
Due to the tight scholarship numbers, it may be a relatively slow summer as we've discussed here before. With that said, I'll say the next commitment Ohio State lands will be Trevon Grimes. When that happens, I'm not sure, but he's my guess for who is next.
Latest news on Markell Johnson? — AlwayzABuckeye614
He has taken recent official visits to N.C. State and Texas A&M, which if you've followed Markell's recruitment, is hardly surprising considering there seems to be a new development every week.
His main contact at Virginia Tech recently took an assistant job at Texas A&M, which explains the official visit there. Ohio State seems to be fading in the race for him and it's probably because the staff doesn't enjoy dealing with recruitments of this type. They'd love to have him, obviously, but right now it still seems like Markell isn't exactly sure what he wants.
There's still no decision on what class he'll be in, so that complicates everything. Following this recruitment will give you headaches, that's for sure.
Summer TV guilty pleasure? The Bachelorette, American Ninja Warrior or something else? — BuckeyeAirGuard78
I watch Family Feud almost every night, but that's not exclusive to the summer. I usually just have the Cleveland Indians on at night during the summer, though, but I will admit I've watched The Bachelorette the last few weeks. I'm not sure that will continue now that Chad is gone, though. I'm also a big fan of Impractical Jokers, which is on just about every night and is amazing.
What is your favorite summertime meal? — Jumar
This is a great question and I don't have a particular favorite summertime food, but I will say anything on the grill is outstanding. Burgers, brats, hot dogs, chicken; give me all of it.
Who wins the US Open this week? — BeatTTUN
I'll be rooting for Jordan Spieth, but it's no fun to pick one of the favorites so I'll say Matt Kuchar gets it done this week at what's usually an impossible course.
Anybody but Sergio.
When is this year's Ohio State Confessions article scheduled to publish? — DrSpaceman
I looked up when we did this last year and it was right around this time. I don't have an answer for you, unfortunately, but I will bring it up to Jason in our next meeting. Hopefully, we'll have that for you guys soon.
