Monday Skull Session

The worst sports time of the year is marked by the appearance of kids on my television playing a watered-down version of baseball. (And yes, much like college football players, those kids should see a slice of the broadcast money.)

Thankfully, however, these kids will soon be pushed off my screen and replaced by a gang of young adults clad in scarlet and grey regalia. 

August 30th can't get here fast enough.

JT BARRETT MAKES HIS MOVE. Meyer said at Big Ten media days Cardale Jones would be Braxton Miller's back-up. In fact, Meyer said the competition was settled in the spring.

It appears, however, Urban spoke too soon; Ohio State's coach said over the weekend Texan JT Barrett has taken "a slight lead" over Glenville's Cardale Jones. 

Barrett was a highly-touted recruit when Tom Herman and Urban Meyer plucked him out of Texas, and even though Cardale is my favorite Buckeye (non-Mike Thomas division), I was surprised to see Cardale get the nod over JT.

Make no mistake, though: If Braxton Miller misses any sizable chunk of time, Ohio State's national title hopes have been torpedoed. 

TIM HINTON IS HIGH ON HIS TIGHT ENDS. Ohio State tight ends doubled their 2012 production in 2013, and they're looking to take another leap this year.

Marionaire/tight ends coach Tim Hinton thinks Nick Vannett and Jeff Heuerman are the best tight end combo in the country.

From Kane Anderson of BuckeyeSports.com:

The nice thing is … the past two years in our offense, we really can do a good job of getting the ball to the people who the defense isn’t defending,” Hinton said of the record-setting offense. “Our offense has been very versatile to get the ball to the weakness of the defense, and hopefully they still decide that the skill athletes on the outside are doing a great job and they single cover tight ends because I thought last year, at the end of the year, Jeff Heuerman became quite a weapon.”

[...]

It is now up to Hinton to keep Heuerman – who caught five passes apiece vs. both Iowa and Purdue and then had a reception of at least 30 yards in each of the last four games – as the weapon he became and build Vannett and third-stringer Marcus Baugh up to the same caliber.

“They’re dedicated to the game, they’re very gifted athletes and the obligation of walking in every day to get them to the level Ohio State fans expect and we expect, I take that very seriously,” Hinton said. “Coach Meyer always says to us, ‘Walk into your meeting room every day like you’re coaching Tom Brady.’ Which means you better be prepared, you better bring something else to the table and you better have your homework done so you can make them a better player because they are both intelligent, smart and articulate players and my job is to continue to raise their level.”

I think Heuerman and Vannett could be in for a big year if Ohio State's wide receivers make a similar leap. If that happens... wow, Ohio State could be even tougher to defend than they were a year ago. (They smashed damn-near every offensive record last year.)

KICKER FIGHT. Gone is the steady leg of Drew Basil, and it's a two-legged race to replace him.

From Tim May of The Columbus Dispatch:

The prize is replacing the departed Drew Basil as the starting kicker. Clinton is a fifth-year senior from Dublin Coffman who transferred from Ohio University three years ago and was the backup last season. Nuernberger is a freshman from Buckner, Ky.

[...]

"We want Cam to get his punts right, Bryce to get his snaps right, us to make our field goals,” Nuernberger said. “While I’m like, ‘I’ve got to make my kicks,’ I’m not out there looking for (Clinton) to miss. We get graded as a unit. I think it’s a healthy competition. It’s been good so far.”

[...]

“It’s very close,” Clinton said. “Everyone is going hard, and everyone is giving it their best. It’s a good competition. We’re not messing around.”

It's bad news for the fifth-year senior if the competition with a freshman is "very close." The freshman will get the nod every time. (Just a bit of coaching advice I picked up from my days of turning Ohio State-Marion into a national powerhouse on EA Sports' NCAA Football. #GoGoScarletWave.)

OHSAA FOOTBALL NUMBERS DWINDLING. If recruiting is the lifeblood of a program, and Ohio is the lifeblood of Ohio State... this article is ominous.

From Steve Blackledge of The Columbus Dispatch:

Between 2008 and 2013, the number of players in Ohio dropped from 55,392 to 45,573. Perhaps even more telling: 22 fewer schools fielded teams in 2013 than in 2010. OHSAA spokesman Tim Stried said, however, that he expects a slight uptick this fall with the addition of eight new teams, including Worthington Christian.

“A slow decline in numbers recently is due to the combination of a few reasons, including the elimination of some freshman teams due to budget cuts, the trend of sport specialization by kids, and also higher pay-to-participate fees that cause some kids to drop the sports in which they are not a varsity contributor,” Stried said. “Football numbers remain very strong in Ohio.”

In Michigan, football participation has dropped 10.5 percent since 2007. The state’s 41,507 participants last year was the lowest number since 1995.

Coaches, of course, are blaming kids wanting to sit inside and play video games in the air conditioning. That's probably because air conditioning and video games weren't invented when guys like Westerville South's Rocky Pentello were kids. (It was just a different era then, folks. Parents were still naming their kids "Rocky" after all.)

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact football is a brutal game. How many kids will actually play in the NFL, after all? It's not a difficult mathematical equation.

And yes, I know, I know; "Football builds character," someone will say, as if maiming someone on a football field is the only way to build character in today's youth.

Even though it's not a hard equation to figure out, it's still a troubling trend for football coaches considering medical research, air conditioning and video games aren't going anywhere.

URBAN AND MICKEY HAVE BEEN INTENSE. Sure, this video is from Urban Meyer's time at Florida (wow, that color combo is still hideous), and some of you have maybe seen this... BUT I'M (INTERNET) FIRED UP RIGHT NOW.

From Kirk Barton:

THOSE WMDs. Kittens learning to walk compilation... Pretty sure this kid died doing the Ice Bucket Challenge.. BOSS: "My past is littered with the bones of men who were foolish enough to think I was someone they could sleep on"... I want to get paid to weigh Owl burritos... So, you want to buy a kidney?... Randy Moss for King of the World.