*slowly crawling across this desolated hellscape to New Year's Day*
THE RISE OF CARDALE JONES. Sports Illustrated's Pete Thamel must be BFFs with Urban Meyer, because the level of access granted to the guy is unprecedented for anybody else on the beat.
Thamel's latest piece is a profile of Cardale Jones and some of the obstacles he's overcome on his way to becoming Ohio State's latest starting quarterback. (Spoiler: Life didn't come easy for Cardale.)
Perhaps the most shocking revelations (other than Jones performed the Marcus-Hall-two-guns-blazing exit in middle school) were Jones' past hatred for Tom Herman and the fact he was set on transferring after Ohio State's quarterbacks coach put him in a dunce cap during a positional meeting.
This, however, was my favorite passage. Cardale's swagger has been undeniable for quite some time.
The distrust cut both ways. Soon after Jones enrolled at Ohio State, Herman and the other coaches began to doubt his ability to make it as a Buckeye. He was out of shape, not interested in hard work and academically indifferent. Sophomore safety Tyvis Powell, Jones’s roommate and closest friend on the team, says Jones was essentially addicted to video games, especially but not exclusively Call of Duty.
A typical exchange between the two:
Powell: Aren’t you going to class?
Jones (controller in hand): Not today.
Not today. That slayed me.
Anyway, read the article in full; I promise it will make you appreciate Cardale Jones more; unless, of course, you're an incorrigible asshole like this guy:
Young man @CJ12_ get off of twitter, keep nose in study/practice. Play with twitter after the season.
— Brian Ellis (@efs3637) December 22, 2014
Someday I hope to be a well-adjusted, middle-aged man who takes to the internet at 8:30 on a Monday morning to criticize a college student for taking 20 seconds out of his day to send a tweet to a Sports Illustrated writer. Although I hope when I'm downloading my insecurities and failures as a human onto that college kid, I don't miss tweets like this:
Film Study
— Cardale Jones (@CJ12_) December 19, 2014
This:
Practice time
— Cardale Jones (@CJ12_) December 16, 2014
Or this:
Focused On ONE Thing and ONE Thing Only!
— Cardale Jones (@CJ12_) December 1, 2014
I will give Mr. Ellis this: I somewhat respect that his terrible #take is still standing on the internet all these hours later, because WOW IS THAT A BAD TWEET.
MEYER AND SABAN BONDED BY PERSONALITY. For my money, the Sugar Bowl will feature a clash of the two best college football coaches in America.
From Eric Seger of TheOzone.net:
“The comparison is they’re both really good at what they do,” said Ed Warinner, Meyer’s co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach of the No. 4 Buckeyes, who also served as a graduate assistant under Saban at Michigan State. “They know how to run programs, they know how to get an organization to run in the right direction, they know how to develop players, they know how to coach, they’re very detail-oriented, they’re very precise in what they want to do, they have high expectations for everybody in the program.”
[...]
“The similarities are that they do everything really well, they don't have weaknesses in their football program, they don't have weaknesses in how they do their business,” Warinner said. “Anything that might be construed as a weakness, they attack it, find people around them to help with those weaknesses and get better at it. Those programs are playing at high levels because they're not weaknesses in their programs.”
I remember covering Urban Meyer's introductory press conference and how he electrified a conference room filled with about 200 people.
When recruits talk about how juiced up that guy is... they aren't being star-struck #teens. That dude is a machine who probably couldn't relate to 99% of the country. (I know him and I wouldn't be two peas in a pod; "Hey, Urbz, my main man, grab a shell and come get waxed in the FIFA.")
Despite the fact it would only take Urban Meyer or Nick Saban a mere 15 seconds to be disgusted with me, I would read a book on their similarities because aliens interest me.
BUYER BEWARE. Here's a rule of thumb that has yet to disappoint me: IF IT'S TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE... IT IS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE SO DON'T BE STUPID.
From Jackie Borchadt of cleveland.com:
Attorney General Mike DeWine reported that two Buckeye fans lost $800 each trying to buy tickets on the classified ad website Craigslist for the Jan. 1 bowl game against Alabama. At least nine Ohio consumers have lost hundreds of dollars to ticket scams in 2014, DeWine reported in a news release.
"For every scam that gets reported there are probably 10 or more that don't, so we want consumers to be very careful," DeWine said. "If someone says you have to wire money to buy tickets, it's likely a scam."
According to DeWine, a Franklin County consumer found a Craigslist ad for six lower-level Sugar Bowl tickets for $800 -- about half the going rate for nosebleed seats on ticket resale site StubHub.com. The seller claimed to be a military member and showed a military ID. But the sale was a scam and the seller had stolen the identity of a real military member to make the sale seem legitimate.
Want some #sex advice? Try to love your partner half as much as Craigslist scammers love using the military as a cover. It's a practical gambit for the scumbag, because they know people will ask themselves, "Who would be degenerate enough to use the military as a front for a hustle?"
In all actuality, there's a mark getting bilked by "someone in the military" right now.
COLORADO STATE FAILED TO HIRE CHRIS ASH. Ash reportedly interviewed for the Colorado State job over the weekend, and thankfully (for Ohio State fans) he did not get the job.
Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo has agreed to be the head coach at Colorado State, the school announced Monday night.
Bobo's deal is expected to be for five years, a source told Schad.
Colorado State feels Bobo's recruiting plan, personality and demeanor are an excellent fit for the program.
When Urban Meyer replaces Tom Herman, he might as well dust off the short-list from the time he hired Chris Ash, because Ash is not long for Columbus. Still, having Ash around next year to put the final touches on his revamp will be clutch.
PAT NARDUZZI TO PITT. I've already accepted Jim Harbaugh is going to Michigan, which is a good thing, because otherwise Pitt, Houston, and Youngstown State would have all outhired Nebraska and Wisconsin.
From Yahoo!'s Pat Forde:
Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi has emerged as the leading candidate to become the next head coach at Pittsburgh, sources told Yahoo Sports on Monday.
Narduzzi had interviewed with both Pittsburgh and Colorado State within the last week, sources said. Narduzzi was the leading candidate for the CSU job as well, but sources say he was more interested in the Pittsburgh job. He’s been a candidate for several head-coaching jobs in recent years – he turned down Connecticut and interviewed with Louisville last year, and also was in the mix at Cincinnati before it hired Tommy Tuberville two years ago.
Pat Narduzzi and Tom Herman are about as close to "can't miss" as you'll find in the coordinating ranks... and they're headed to the Big 12 and whatever the hell conference Pitt belongs to these days.
Tim Beckman, he of the sterling 12-24 at Illinois, will be back, though. So at least the Big Ten has that going for them, which is cool and good.
THOSE WMDs. From Matt Terwilliger: BYU's Kai Nacura got rocked and then threw a sucker punch... A BYU player stole a Memphis flag... Rolando McClain's house burned down... At this point, it shames me to have never stepped foot in Louisiana... I would watch every episode of an American Trolljägarna... Oxford isn't even the best college town in Ohio (Athens).
