Who's ready for another mangling of the King's English? I know I am, sire.
URBAN MEYER CAN RECRUIT COACHES TOO. Urban's talked about how winning a national title puts Ohio State "at the front of the line" at high schools. At this point, Urban's success must put him at the front of the line with coaches too.
From Austin Ward of ESPN.com:
Now three seasons into his tenure with the program, Meyer has sent two coordinators off to run their own programs and groomed two assistants for jobs in the NFL, and his track record and rapidly expanding coaching tree seemingly helped make up the mind of yet another highly regarded position coach and recruiter over the weekend. And with Tony Alford already working at a prestigious program like Notre Dame, the fact he would leave that post to take over the running backs for Meyer speaks volumes about just how much momentum the Buckeyes have in virtually every aspect coming off their national title.
“This isn’t a move for today, this is a move where I’ve tried to calculate five years out,” Alford told Irish Illustrated. “There’s forward thinking here, where it could potentially propel me to.”[...]
But it's not hard to see the trend emerging with Meyer's staff at Ohio State -- which is following a pattern he established at Florida and to some extent Utah before that -- of making sure his coaches develop professionally for their next jobs, just like turning college players into NFL draft picks.
That's the kind of equity Urban Meyer is establishing in the coaching community. Coaches know if they come onto Urban's ship and handle their damn business there will be promotions down the road.
Now, what kind of equity has Urban established in the blogging community? Well, at this point, OSU's strongman could hire the manager of the local Rally's, and I'd type things like, "Well, his store's sales went up 13% last quarter! Tell me why again people think this guy isn't equipped to run an elite collegiate offense!?"
WEBER IS ON BOARD. Birm is too polite to ever do this himself, but the Lord of Whispers deserves his props on this one.
Here's Jeremy at 7 p.m. in last night's Hurry Up; mind you, this is still when people were freaking out about a 17 year-old's workout shirt:
I'd not be surprised to see a public statement from Weber soon, but if it doesn't happen, it's not an indicator that there's anything "wrong" or in the works. He's a private kid, was during his recruitment and is now that he's signed. What he wears to a workout doesn't matter at this point.
Weber is a Buckeye and is until he's not. Ignore the theatrics created by people trying to fulfill their own agendas, because right now anyone saying anything is just that.
And here's Weber 51 minutes later:
But want to say congrats to coach drayton wish nothing but the best , but excited to have @CoachTonyAlford aboard #GoBucks
— Mike Weber (@mikeweber25) February 10, 2015
Well, I guess that settles that kerfuffle then. I look forward to Weber's "hurt" tweet being mentioned as a "DID YOU KNOW?" info nugget in the fourth quarter after Weber bulldozes his way to his third touchdown of the day in Ann Arbor.
Oh, and here's 2016's No. 1 running back:
@mikeweber25 they not ready for what's coming... That 1,2 punch Finna be crazy.. #BuckeyeBrother
— AlightyReem (@_KareemWalker) February 10, 2015
Don't sleep on 2016 RB George Hill either, because he — like every prospect with the sense to commit to Ohio State — is going to be a bona fide beast. (And to think the 2016 class could still add Demario McCall? The Kool-AId Man wouldn't be able to carry that much juice.)
LOVING STILL IN LIMBO. I tread lightly here because yesterday I infuriated a Twitter user by not knowing Shannon Scott was the son of UNC's first black scholarship athlete.
My oath to my readers, however, goes beyond any potential to my psyche:
Thad Matta with latest on Loving on 97.1 The Fan: "We're still in kind of a holding pattern and *hoping* we get Marc back."
— Lori Schmidt (@LoriSchmidt) February 9, 2015
Now, contrary to what a troll might tell you... I know who Marc Loving is, even though he's not Scoonie Penn. Loving is a sophomore basketball player from Toledo. He's also currently serving a suspension of an undetermined (at least publicly) length.
What makes this bizarre is Thad Matta (that's the coach of Marc Loving's team, by the way) seems to have about as much idea about what's going on with Loving as I do. (That may not be true, but that's what it looks like.)
Is this something more serious than the school is letting on? Because I don't understand the lack of transparency or the ambiguity surrounding the length of Loving's suspension otherwise.
Whatever it is, I hope it's resolved soon. If Loving is going to be out through March (that's when they play that big tournament, for the record), then it'd be nice to know now, rather than asking "Is Loving still out?" two days before every game.
GIVLER'S FINAL OHIO 2015 TOP 100. Birm calls Rivals' Marc Givler the top talent evaluator in the state of Ohio (non-Urban Meyer division, natch). So when Gilver releases rankings, I take note.
And yesterday, Givler published his final 2015 Ohio Top 100, and Ohio State is well represented; the Buckeyes secured five of the state's top ten:
| NAME | POSITION | TOWN | SCHOOL |
|---|---|---|---|
| JEROME BAKER | LB | CLEVELAND | OHIO STATE |
| JUSTIN HILLIARD | LB | CINCINNATI | OHIO STATE |
| SHAUN CRAWFORD | DB | LAKEWOOD | NOTRE DAME |
| LARRY SCOTT | RB | HUBBARD | MICHIGAN STATE |
| DRE'MONT JONES | DE | CLEVELAND | OHIO STATE |
| NICK CONNER | LB | DUBLIN | OHIO STATE |
| ERIC GLOVER-WILLIAMS | DB | CANTON | OHIO STATE |
| GEORGE BROWN | OL | CINCINNATI | LSU |
| TYREE KINNELL | DB | HUBER HEIGHTS | MICHIGAN |
| David Dowell | DB | LAKEWOOD | MICHIGAN STATE |
Michigan, on the other hand, got beat in Michigan by Ohio State and got beat in Ohio by Michigan State. I don't think that's a recipe for longterm success in Ann Arbor, but you never know, the Wolverines could have hundreds of jobs lined up to give to the mothers of Stanford graduate transfers.
GO ON AND BREAK YOU OFF SOME, BRUTUS. On a scale of sadness from 1 to using hot sauce to "spice up" ramen noodles, how sad is it that on my 29th birthday I want to go to the same place Zac Smith took his five-year-old?
In case u missed it-Brutus came 2 Cams 5th BDay Party-What He Did was EPIC! #UrMascotCantDoThis #AirBrutus @Court0385 pic.twitter.com/Mz1zVGSev8
— Zach Sith #Zone6 (@CoachZachSmith) February 10, 2015
You know who Brutus reminds me of in that clip? Greg Oden, a former Ohio State basketball player, who I definitely remember watching on television:
THOSE WMDs. Dominique Wilkins tells a great yarn about Larry Bird's tash talking... Kenji Ekuan, Japanese designer of the bullet train and iconic soy sauce bottle, dead at 85... What in the hell is this, Rutgers... Hurricane Sandy turned a New York City subway station into a petri dish of antarctic bacteria... I don't know anything about him, but Ohio State must sign Lil'Jordan Humphrey... 7 Truly Terrifying 1920s Photos Of The Boogeyman.
