The #Elite15 picked up their fifth brick yesterday, and it was a big one: three-star offensive lineman Grant Schmidt became the first South Dakotan to ever commit to Ohio State's football program. 11W's Lord of Whispers, Jeremy Birmingham, was the first to officially report it; his full break down can be found over here.
Schmidt is another physical specimen who impressed coaches at last weekend's camp.
Completely unrelated, but I once slept in the back of a 1997 Grand Jeep Cherokee at a rest stop near the Badlands of South Dakota on a 12~ degree night not too long ago. I only had some sweatshirts, a quilt and periodic blasts of heat to stave off the gusting winds.
So anybody who can survive 18 years in South Dakota — whether in the back of a '97 Grand Jeep Cherokee or not — automatically has my respect. That place is not "a real good time."
Here's some other things you may have missed due to the recruiting buzz:
- Did you know Wikipedia wasn't around the last time Michigan beat Ohio State in Columbus? It's true and Michael Young is on it.
- Patrick Maks followed up his awesome look at Josh Perry with a look at a root cause of Big Ten mediocrity.
- I typed some words on why it's time to bury the hatchet with ol' Terrelle Pryor.
LET'S START THE DAY LAUGHING AT MICHIGAN. I tend to agree with the line of thinking we'll be #blessed to have another year of Brady Hoke due to the money sunk into his fancy new offensive coordinator.
I'm a bit greedy though in my hopes he's their coach for the next decade. From MLive.com:
During his first two summer offseasons at Michigan in 2012 and 2013, Hoke and Michigan gathered the team's seniors-to-be and carted them off to San Diego for a short bonding trip where the players learned leadership skills from Navy SEALs.
Sounds like a good time. But Hoke has squashed that trip this year, and he wasn't mincing words about the reason:
"To me, it was just something (that) had run its course a little bit, and maybe (created) some entitlement (for the older players)," Hoke said last week. "We need to stay here, and stay together.
"I think guys just thought that was part of being a senior. They've got to earn it."
Only a group of Michigan Men could hang out with some of our nation's most selfless warriors and come away with an entitlement problem.
Take a bow, Michigan football. You have ventured well past the territory of bad parody.
O'Bannon Stuff. I have no intention — today, anyway — of bludgeoning my readers with my self-righteous opinions on an issue we've discussed at length. Secondly, I'm not terribly sure how interested regular fans are in the O'Bannon trial.
- If it is your cup of tea, however, and you want your analysis from someone other than 11W's village idiot, CBS' John Soloman has a great breakdown of yesterday's events; he's also a great follow for live-tweet coverage. SB Nation's Kevin Trahan has a look at what each side won/lost during Ed O'Bannon's testimony yesterday.
RUTGERS IS STILL EN ROUTE. Here's an App.com article by Ryan Dunleavy I'd like to rewrite in its entirety. Here's the headline:
Is Rutgers ready on or off the field to enter Big Ten?
No.
GOOD THING WE'RE NOT PAC12 FANS. You know what the only thing worse than a noon game would be? An 11 o'clock A.M. game:
Pac-12 says no more late games on Pac-12 Net, will instead show games in new 11am PT window.
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) June 8, 2014
Yuck.
THOSE WMDs. The faded beauty of Detroit... Why is Ghana playing their best player at LB?... BTN names OSU d-line as conference's best unit... How Mack Brown influenced 47 coaches, four NFL franchises and two high schools... Every Prince hair style from 1978 to 2013... Yankees vs. Kansas City used to be a hot ticket... NYC laundry, 1934... The man who built (and bilked) US soccer... Dreams are for losers... Watch a 15 year-old dance on a pro defense and hit a game-winning goal...
