Back in late-November, the B1G conference handed out its annual hardware in the form of those sometimes-great, sometimes-ridiculous hyphenated awards along with announcing the all-conference offensive and defensive teams.
Ohio State was well-represented on the hyphenated award front as Pat Elflein won the Rimington-Pace Offensive Lineman of the Year, Mike Weber won the Thompson-Randle El Freshman of the Year, J.T. Barrett captured the Griese-Brees Quarterback of the Year, Cameron Johnston snagged the Eddleman-Fields Punter of the Year, and Tyquan Lewis brought home the Smith-Brown Defensive Lineman of the Year.
That's a ship-ton of really-cool hyphenated award-hardware-thingys.
In a nod to the best conference awards in America, I took a stab at my own Ohio State-centric honors. With that, I present the 2016 Slashies.
sherman/grant leader of the year
Every great team needs a great leader.
For the Union's Civil War team, its great leaders were William Tecumseh Sherman and Ulysses S. Grant, the namesakes for this award given to Ohio State's best leader.
For this year's Ohio State Buckeyes, the most important and most impactful leader is none other than J.T. Barrett.
I wrote recently about Barrett being the most polarizing great Buckeye player to have such a prominent place in the school's history books who also happens to be 7-1 against ranked teams in his career.
Whether or not you're a fan of Barrett and his struggles with accurate downfield passing, holding onto the ball too long, or something else, I don't see how you can argue his ability as a leader.
Barrett is the steady, stoic presence on the sideline and in the huddle – seemingly at his most calm when things around him are at their most chaotic – yet also the fiery guy capable of rallying the troops with his passionate locker room speeches which hold water because the man has produced, and won.
This year's squad features other strong leaders in the form of guys like Raekwon McMillan, Tyquan Lewis and Pat Elflein but Barrett is the runaway winner of the 2016 Sherman/Grant Slashy.
STOCKTON/GINOBILI FLOP OF THE YEAR
The verb "flop" has two main definitions and neither seem very cool and good.
- "fall, move, or hang in a heavy, loose and ungainly way"
- "(of a performer or show) be completely unsuccessful ; fail totally"
For this award, I combine both definitions to come up with the John Stockton / Manu Ginobili Flop of the Year.
Unfortunately, I have little choice but to hand this Slashy to sophomore right tackle, Isaiah Prince.
Prince seized the starting right tackle job after being one of only four true freshmen to see action a season ago.
The big man out of Maryland had some positive moments this year but largely flopped especially in the loss to Penn State and most recently in the win over Michigan.
There's a good chance Prince goes the route of Taylor Decker and comes into his own as a stalwart on future version of Ohio State's offensive line but there's no denying this year has been a borderline debacle.
Prince allowed 25 combined quarterback pressures versus Michigan, Penn State and Wisconsin and his pass blocking rate is the worst on the team. For context, last year's right tackle, Chase Farris, allowed 18 pressures all season.
Again, I'm bullish on Prince becoming serviceable next year but for 2016, Prince is the landslide winner of the Stockton/Ginobili Slashy.
TATUM/WINFIELD DEFENSIVE BACK OF THE YEAR
Deciding on the namesakes for this Slashy was almost as difficult as picking the winner from what has been an outstanding Buckeye secondary.
Antoine Winfield is my second-favorite Buckeye all-time behind Chris Spielman so he was an easy choice but it was supremely difficult to land on the the other side of the slash.
Shawn Springs, Malcolm Jenkins, Mike Doss, Vonn Bell, Neal Colzie, Chris Gamble and others were in the conversation but ultimately I went with none other than The Assassin, Jack Tatum.
Awarding the Slashy came down to three guys; corners Marshon Lattimore and Gareon Conley, and safety Malik Hooker.
I have a soft spot for Lattimore because of what he's been through injury-wise to get to this point but the reality is that Hooker was already slighted when Michigan's Jourdan Lewis claimed the B1G's Tatum-Woodson Defensive Back of the Year so there was no way I could pass on Hooker as Ohio State's top man in the secondary.
Hooker's six interceptions rank him fifth nationally and three pick-sixes lead the nation. He also ranks third on the team with 67 tackles and 10 passes defensed.
Enjoy that Slashy, son. I'd love to see you repeat next year and I know you continue to say you'll be back but I have a hunch you'll soon realize turning pro is the smart play.
SICILIANO/BOLLMAN ASSISTANT OF THE YEAR
Probably the most prestigious Slashy in existence, the Siciliano/Bollman award will be given annually to the Ohio State assistant who has seemingly done the least among his peers.
If you'll recall, Nick Siciliano was a one-time OSU video coordinator masquerading as a quarterbacks coach under Jim Tressel. His results were decidedly not cool and good. Similarly, Jim Bollman was a long time offensive coordinator under Tressel who was also not cool and good. Ramzy certainly wasn't a fan of either one.
While the 2016 Siciliano/Bollman Slashy recipient may not be on the level of the award namesakes (or is he?), the facts dictate wide receivers coach Zach Smith take home the hardware.
Smith's recruiting prowess has kept him in Columbus but the question could be for how much longer?
The reality that Urban Meyer's staff could be in overhaul mode already if any combo of Luke Fickell, Kerry Coombs, Greg Schiano or Ed Warinner leave for promotional opportunities could help keep Smith in the fold if for nothing but continuity sake but the fact he has failed to develop any of the current true wide receivers and his penchant for childish behavior on social media consistently projects Ohio State in a bad light could be getting old.
The subtweeting bullshit alone has me polishing up his Slashy and the lack of player development this season compared to his peers only adds reinforcement.
DECKER/MEWHORT KING SLOB OF THE YEAR
For this Slashy, the potential award namesakes start with the arrival of Meyer since it wasn't until he got here that The Slobs became the official moniker of the offensive line.
Since 2012, legit candidates for the namesake include Corey Linsley, Jacoby Boren, Andrew Norwell and Marcus Hall but the two that stuck out the most to me for not only their effectiveness but nastiness are Taylor Decker and Jack Mewhort.
As far as awarding the Slashy for King Slob, this was a two horse race between center Pat Elflein and left tackle Jamarco Jones.
The easy answer would be to hop on the Elflein bandwagon since the senior committed to Ohio State during times of trouble, has played through injury and last night captured the Rimington Award.
While Eflein is a great player, I can't help but feel he's getting a little bit of a hype boost for being a senior and in watching the games, while he's been a stud, I don't think he's been as necessarily great as the media would lead you to believe.
Some of the hype feels like it has a lifetime achievement slant to it. In any event, my intent is not to come off as disparaging such a solid player and outstanding leader so I'll just move on.
Since Elflein isn't capturing the Slashy, I'm obviously handing the award to Jones.
Statistically speaking, Jones has the best pass blocking rate on the squad (97.4%) and it sure does feel like Ohio State has far more success running to Jamarco's side than off the right tackle.
As a first-year starter, Jones gets extra credit for being so good, so fast especially when you consider he's playing the most physically difficult offensive line spot.
It's my belief any argument against Jones as the MVP of the offensive line is simply inaccurate. With that, the King Slob Slashy goes to Happy Jamarco.
APPLE/LEE FIRST-YEAR STARTER OF THE YEAR
The reality Ohio State returned just six starters and yet finds itself in the playoff tells you the Buckeyes had a ton of guys step up as first-year starters.
Back in 2014, two dudes named Darron Lee and Eli Apple also stepped up as first-year starters (coming off redshirts, no less) and helped Ohio State capture the national title.
If you asked them, there's a good chance they'd say having a Slashy named in their honor is on par with hoisting the crystal football after blazing through Alabama and Oregon in the first ever College Football Playoff.
The candidates for this award include names like Hooker, Jones, Chris Worley, Mike Weber, Marshon Lattimore, Curtis Samuel and Jerome Baker.
It's really impossible to just pick one so I'm going to wrap up the Slashies by picking two and even then, it's a tough call.
For starters, I'm taking Samuel as one winner after a regular season in which he emerged as the only FBS player in the country to run for at least 700 yards while tallying at least 800 receiving. And that production is from a guy who probably didn't get as many touches as he should have. I'm also a fan because despite the clamoring for more touches from fans and media, Samuel never batted and eye instead focusing on making the touches he did get.
Joining Samuel, I can make a great case for Hooker in particular but I'm going with Baker for a few reasons.
Baker, despite losing the battle for Worley's starting spot in fall camp, kept his head down and was more than ready to fill in for Dante Booker after his injury in the season opener.
Not only did Baker "fill in", he put a stranglehold on the job ranking 2nd on the team in tackles (79) and 2nd in TFL (8.5) with two interceptions and fumble recovery essentially allowing the Buckeyes to medically redshirt Booker.
So what better way to cap the Slashies than awarding the Apple/Lee First-Year Starter of the Year to Samuel/Baker?
