The big news yesterday was the commitment of 2016's third-ranked dual-threat quarterback to Ohio State.
DeSoto, Texas' Tristen Wallace is Ohio State's ninth(!) commitment in the '16 class. Wallace, a product of Dontre Wilson's high school, earns distinction as the first quarterback taken by the Urban Meyer-Tim Beck tandem. (OSU now sits at No. 4 in 247's composite 2016 rankings.)
The Lord of Whispers has more on the impact of Wallace's commitment. (Spoiler: It's big.)
STAY PATIENT, YOUNG JAMARCO. Many people (author included) thought Happy Jamarco would make a push for the Right Tackle spot, but it appears fifth-year man Chase Farris has that locked down.
This doesn't mean Jones is sequestered to anonymity. From Bill Landis of cleveland.com:
"I'm gonna be behind Jamarco because he's gonna be the next left tackle here," Taylor Decker said. "We don't want that level of play to drop, we want that standard of excellence for our offensive line play to maintain."
[...]
"He's a young guy with tons of potential. He's incredibly talented," Decker said. "I just think he needs to figure out how to practice better. He has streaks, and he'll show you flashes of 'Wow, this kid can be a really great player,' but I think consistency is a big thing for him."
Jones wouldn't be the first talented young player to struggle with consistency in practice, but I'm crossing my fingers that he stays patient. I'm sure it's frustrating to have minutes siphoned by fifth-year seniors in back-to-back seasons, but it's obvious Jamarco is still headed for great things.
He'll have to be ready if he's going to be thrown directly into the LT skillet next season. (It's obvious on which side I'll be betting.)
THE GRIND TO REPEAT. Ohio State has been playing football since 1890 and has never repeated as national champions. (I think this is OSU's best chance to repeat since 1969.)
Speaking of things from 46 years ago: Dave Briggs of BCSN.com caught up with Barry Switzer, Mack Brown, and Bobby Bowden to talk about the trouble with repeating.
“Urban asked me once, ‘What do you do after you win it all?’ And I said, ‘Leave,’ ” former Texas coach Mack Brown said. “You go try to win it all somewhere else, because it is a handful trying to repeat.”
Brown was kidding, but not entirely. That’s because the tag of reigning national champion comes with an outsized target and bigger expectations, not to mention more fame than players ever imagined and a creeping sense of entitlement.
[...]
“It’s hard because you don't play your best game every week,” said Bowden who led the Seminoles to titles in 1993 and 1999. “You better hope you’re not down when [your opponent] is up.”
I guess it's a good thing for us that Urban Meyer is better than all three of those icons.
Ohio State gets everybody's best shot every week, and they didn't play their best game every week last year, so I'm not worried about those aspects. Honestly, I'm not worried about a thing other than the interior defensive line, because I believe in my heart 110% that Ohio State is repeating in 2015.
I am not, however, looking forward to reading #OSUTwitter if Ohio State trails Minnesota in the third quarter. (Hey, it could happen.)
OSU, THE KING OF THE 21ST CENTURY. CollegeSpun put together a formula to compute the most successful school (in football and men's basketball, natch) since the turn of the century.
No surprise here (h/t @Propllrhead):
It’s no secret as to why Ohio State was able to make the jump up to No. 1 this year – the Buckeyes won the inaugural College Football Playoff to claim college football’s national championship. OSU’s victory – its first in a title game since 2002-2003 – isn’t the only reason the Bucks sit at the top, though. Ohio State has won at least 10 games 11 times (just like Oklahoma) and has just one losing season since 2001. The men’s basketball program hasn’t been quite as successful, but since 2006, it’s reached the NCAA Tournament nine times, with a championship game loss and one other Final Four appearance. Ohio State is your new combo champion.
It may never be as good as it is right now. (Thank you for all you do, Wario.)
REPLACING DEVIN SMITH. We talked about the void of Michael Bennett yesterday. Devin Smith's absence is the offensive equivalent of that.
From Scout.com:
Jalin Marshall is also contending for that role. Back after a productive year in the slot, he has been working on the outside this spring.
“I think for me along with Michael Thomas we can replace Devin,” Marshall said. “You know, you can’t really replace Devin, but you can use two receivers if you’ve got two guys that are good enough to do that. I think me and Michael Thomas, we’ve excelled in that role, just going out there and making that deep-ball catch.”
As Marshall said, the Buckeyes are not going to find a Smith clone. It’s unlikely that any player on the 2015 Ohio State team will have 12 touchdown catches averaging 39.1 yards per score, but perhaps a combination of players can provide a similar threat.
I've said it before, but Smith didn't even cook the crow he served me this year. He shoved a crow's corpse down my gaping maw with no remorse.
Smith's speed can be replaced, easily. What's going to be hard to replace is his deep-ball tracking ability. Smith's speed was renowned, but he played like he was 6'7" when the ball was coming down on him.
Thomas is a monster, but he'll never be the type of player Smith was. That task falls to Marshall, and I expect the Thomas/Marshall combo to drive B1G defensive coordinators to the brink of insanity.
OH HELL YEAH, GLEE CLUB. Oh come let's sing Ohio's praise:
That's damn fine stuff, fellas.
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