RIP, Robin Williams. I hate you with every fiber of my being, Depression.
THE DEFENSE HOLDS THE KEY. Fox Sports' Stewart Mandel visited Ohio State and wrote about his experience. Unsurprisingly, the defense was a topic of discussion.
Since Urban's arrived at Ohio State, the Silver Bullets haven't been close to Florida's defensive demons that wrecked Ohio State in Tempe Glendale. There's a reason for that:
“The offenses have changed so much since our days at Florida,” he said in an interview Sunday. “We were a man-free [safety], Cover 2 team. Spread offenses would tear that apart.”
As for what Ohio State fans can expect this year?
“I wanted to change our pass defense,” he said. “I wanted a challenge-every-throw mentality.”
So how is the transformation going for the players?
“I like it,” cornerback Doran Grant said of Ohio State’s new approach. “Let the athletes eat. Let the athletes be athletes.”
The good news for Ohio State fans is the Buckeyes' defense couldn't have been much worse last year for a team that came within a few minutes of going to the national title game.
Talk is cheap, but I look forward to fans losing their minds if Navy executes a seven-yard slant pass to keep the chains moving in the first quarter.
JALIN MARSHALL IS ON DECK. Braxton's raved about the weapons surrounding him this year, and one of them is a burner from Middletown, Jalin Marshall.
Marshall came in surrounded by hype, but a knee injury derailed his freshman season that saw him redshirted. An injury that prematurely ended his spring camp, but the two injuries aren't keeping him down.
From Cleveland.com's Ari Wasserman:
"I am kind of a myth," Marshall said.
[...]
"[The injuries] humbled me and it made me more hungry because I want to go out there and play. I got in with the trainers, I rehabbed and I got stronger and I think I have come back better."
[...]
"I haven't done anything yet, and I know that," Marshall said, "but I feel like I can contribute to the offensive a lot and I feel like once I'm giving the opportunity, I can make a play with it. I just have to wait my turn, keep practicing hard and keep going hard and be ready to go when they call my number."
C'mon Jalin Marshall's bones and ligaments!! BUCKEYE NATION NEEDS YOU!!
DEVIN SMITH IS HAPPY TO BE ALIVE. Devin Smith almost died over the summer, but he's okay. Like most people who have had a near-death experience, Smith has a new lease on life.
From Dave Briggs of The Toledo Blade:
“It was very scary,” Smith said on Sunday at the Buckeyes’ annual media day. “Once the car had crashed and I opened the door, as soon as I touched to the ground, I fainted.”
[...]
“I was so happy that I was still here,” he said. “It just made me realize how blessed I really am. I've always told myself that I was blessed. But when it happened, I just sat back and replayed everything that’s happened in my life: all the positive things that have happened, being able to receive a scholarship to play here, and being able to get a chance to hopefully get to the next level. I'm truly blessed.”
I was involved in a car-totaling accident (as a passenger) when I was a dipshit #teen. I can still remember the car sliding across the lawn, realizing the car was going up against two massive trees and thinking "Welp!"
Thankfully (for me, not so much for my readers), death didn't find me on that night. But I can still remember the ringing in my head, kicking out the passenger's side window, walking away and losing my mind in the process. It sends chills down my spine just thinking about it.
Let's hope Devin Smith can use this motivation to excel just not on the football field, but in everything else he does as well. Sometimes a kick in the ass is the best thing to happen to us.
BO PELINI CONTINUES HIS BLINDER. Bo Pelini has been on a blinder since the dawn of the Year of Luigi.
He's on such demigod status that he's now apparently staggering around Omaha parking lots and taking pictures with newlyweds:
Dux wedding just got crazy @FauxPelini pic.twitter.com/FTYh0ouP2v
— Nate Neuerburg (@Neuerburg02) August 9, 2014
Bo Pelini: Hardly home, but awlays reppin' (Youngstown). He also appears to love taking pictures with newlyweds.
Yesterday, I mentioned ESPN should create a segment entitled "Gettin' Drunk with Mack Brown," in which Mack travels the country and drinks malt liquor with his colleagues.
Today, I have a better idea.
I would much rather watch "Bath Salts with Bo," in which Bo Pelini gets hopped up on some bath salts and travels the countryside while interacting with everybody from homeless people to state senators.
(No, I do not know why I'm not a TV executive either.)
ESPN DOES GOOD. ESPN does a lot of awful work (paying Skip Bayless six figures, for example) but their commercial production is top-notch:
*In my Heisenberg voice* You're goddamn right Urban Meyer is in.
THOSE WMDs. Welcome, Carlton Davis...That's shameful, Steubenville... No, I don't think so... Ohio officials creating honeybee habitat in highway median... Why the O'Bannon ruling didn't go far enough... Humorous Michigan preview... People go back to campus for things other than athletic events?... Good point re: "suicide is selfish"... An anti-suicide PSA... SMH, Greg Oden, SMDH.
