Those sirens you're hearing throughout central Ohio aren't related to last night's thunderstorm. No, my friends, that blistering sound can only mean one thing: a massive #DJByrnesFlipFlop.
More on that in a minute, though; let's bang out this news and get about conquering this 24 hour block.
CLEVELAND ROCK CITY. Cleveland St. Ignatius' Dre'Mont Jones, a four-star prospect who projects as a strongside defensive end, has pledged his fealty to The Ohio State University. (YJB — Young John Brandon — has the full profile and highlights over here.)
We're going into the third year of the Urban Meyer Experiment, and it seems he's figured out it takes talent to win football games. Hopefully, the days of losing 24 straight are forever over.
And thank you, fans who lost their minds in May about the state of 2015's class. Y'all are the heroes history will NEVER forget. This commitment burst started with YOU.
ESPN: OSU IS LINEBACKER U. Somebody send the SWAT team over to Black Shoe Diaries; the Paterno legacy has been defiled once again!
ESPN.com analyzed linebackers produced by schools during the 2000s, and awarded points as such:
- 10 points: College football award winner
- 8 points: Consensus All-Americans; NFL first-round draft pick
- 6 points: Coaches’ First Team All-Conference
- 4 points: NFL draft picks, rounds 2-4
- 2 points: NFL draft picks, rounds 5-7
The king of this thought exercise? Well, let's just say the answer won't shock you.
Move over Penn State. Ohio State is the new “Linebacker U” -- and the Buckeyes claimed the title in a blowout. In many of these positional rankings, only a handful of points separate first and second place. At linebacker, the Buckeyes finished nearly 50 points ahead of second-place Alabama. But when your players stockpile national awards and All-America honors and then many more go on to become NFL draft picks, you put your program in position to rank at the top of this list. Players such as A.J. Hawk, James Laurinaitis and most recently Ryan Shazier have done that in Columbus.
Somebody pass this on to Jerome Baker and Justin Hilliard. (If Ohio State pulls both those guys to go along with Nick Conner, their linebacker corps in a couple years could be special.)
WHY OSU NEEDS D'ANGELO. There's been a bit of a hold-up as D'Angelo Russell's high school transcripts have been caught up in the NCAA's clearinghouse.
Russell is a five-star talent, and the crown jewel of Matta's star-studded 2014 class. But if you think Ohio State will be fine with or without him, think again.
Here's SB Nation's Ricky O'Donnell:
There's still plenty of time for Russell to become eligible, and the Buckeyes better hope he's able to be cleared. The 6'4 lefty has the type of pure shooting stroke that can unclog the middle of the floor and finally let Ohio State get some easy buckets.
[...]
Russell is a combo guard with range that extends past the three-point line and the type of aggressive mindset Ohio State's offense lacked last season. He comes to Columbus after picking the Buckeyes over North Carolina, Louisville, Florida and plenty of college basketball's other blue-blood programs. After attending Montverde Academy, the same high school that produced Florida's Kasey Hill and Kentucky's Dakari Johnson, Russell is familiar with what it's like to go against high-level competition every day in practice.
If Russell is eligible, Ohio State's best lineup for closing games might be going small with Temple transfer Anthony Lee at the five, Sam Thompson at the four and Shannon Scott, Marc Loving and Russell on the perimeter. It would give Ohio State the best chance to get easy buckets in transition while also putting the most shooting possible on the court. Getting Amir Williams and Trey McDonald off the floor could be the key to igniting a stale offense.
There are times I hate the unplanned marriage of big-time sports and colleges, and this would be one of those times.
And what is taking so long with this decision? The entire direction of an 18-year-old's life is hanging in the balance.
GET 'EM CITRO. Here are two tweets for your enjoyment:
Michigan has landed 2016 QB Messiah DeWeaver (Trotwood, Ohio) after offering today.
— Tom VanHaaren (@TomVH) June 18, 2014
What else is new? Michigan always looks for its football Messiah in Ohio (Bo, Desmond, Woodson, etc.).
— Michael Citro (@11W_Michael) June 18, 2014
LEAVE THE BIG BEAR ALONE, DAMNIT. So, you may have heard by now, Joey Bosa got into a Twitter spat with a Twitter idiot, and said some harsh things about Cleveland.
I love Cleveland; it's the best city in Ohio not named Marion, but good golly are some Clevelanders defensive to a flaw... especially when it comes to LeBron James.
I've seen tween girls handle breakups better than some Clevelanders have handled LeBron fleeing crazy-ass Dan Gilbert to go play a sport with his buddies in Miami. Was "The Decision" good? Actually, I'm of the opinion it was bad. (Although, I do wish I had a "bad decision" that netted hundreds of thousands of dollars for a Boys and Girls chapter and not a gonorrhea test.)
Alas, I digress.
Bosa, only one of the most talented freshmen to ever play at Ohio State, wants the people to know there are no hard feelings:
If people still think I hate Cleveland I DONT !
— joey bosamau5 (@jbbigbear) June 19, 2014
Can we all at least agree that TTUN sucks ?
— joey bosamau5 (@jbbigbear) June 19, 2014
Yes, we can, Joey. Yes we can.
THAT #DJBYRNESFLIPFLOP. Last week, I ran a Skull Session item on Columbus-based Focus 3, and their work with Ohio State's football team. (Rowland has more on that over here, and here's a recent 95.5 segment.)
I let my hot takes overcook on the stove, and I made some disparaging, stereotypical remarks about gurus, buzzwords and my skepticism of Focus 3 in general.
Because I'm no longer anonymously and incoherently ranting on a Tumblr blog (those were the days!!!), my words found their way back to Tim and Brian Kight, the CEO and Managing Director of Focus 3, respectively.
They could've brushed my words off as those of an uniformed internet idiot, or they could've thrown their own barbs back my way. They instead chose a third route: They invited me to their coaching clinic held yesterday in Upper Arlington.
Long story (somewhat) short, I couldn't have been more wrong about Focus 3 or what they do. In fact, Tim and Brian Kight owned me so hard I literally thanked the stars for the 13th Amendment shortly after the day concluded.
I am an empty shell of a man, stripped of long ago of positive emotion by my deep-seated cynicism, but within about thirty seconds I could see why a high-octane performer like Urban Meyer would see these two as "his people." The passion for what they do oozes out of the Kights.
Distilled to its essence, their teachings are rudimentary, and that's because it's supposed to be. Simplicity is a big part of their message.
So it might seem strange Tim Kight told me it takes "months" to instill his message properly, but then you realize he's talking about rewiring hundreds of people and rebuilding a culture from the ground up. This is why Focus 3's work with Ohio State football isn't finished; this is why Urban Meyer would rather talk about Focus 3's work than X's and O's. It's that big of a deal.
I don't want to give away the Kights' shop, so I'll end with this: I could have EASILY listened to those guys for another six hours, and I have the attention span of an unmedicated toddler with ADD.
It was a clinic geared towards football coaches, and I was able to walk away with more notes than I'd taken in my 12 years of college courses. I haven't stopped decompressing the information, and it's 1:27 AM as of this writing. It's that powerful.
I can't thank Tim, Brian or their executive administrator, Brittnee Luke, enough. It was one of the most humbling experiences of my life.
*bangs skull-gavel* SO IT IS WRITTEN, SO IT IS DONE. Court on this #DJByrnesFlipFop is adjourned. You're free to go about your day.
THOSE WMDs. In 1837 a Florida Man sold his vote for a carnival ticket... The story of America through local police blotters... Yes! Mark Emmert and Jim Delany to testify in O'Bannon trial... Gregg Popovich FOR THE WIN... LeBron and Melo in Cleveland? Don't rule it out... Tim Cahill scored the goal of the World Cup thus far... My next typo isn't a typo, I'm inventing new words... The FBI maintains an 83-page glossary of internet slang, and it's hilarious...
