Two-a-day practices begin today. As we say in Marion, "Better them than us."
From yesterday:
- Eric's notebook.
- Torrance Gibson will play WR this year. It was his decision, and that young man is skrong.
- The Cardale Jones-Braxton Miller speed option hydra is real.
- Videos from Day 5 of Camp Meyer 2015.
- Photos from Day 5 of Camp Meyer 2015.
- The OSU-produced highlight video of Day 5.
- Urban Meyer's the star of ESPN's latest CFP promo.
From January:
- Oregon vs. Ohio State in 30 minutes.
LET'S TALK #BRANDS. As many of you know, Michigan hitched its dying star to that of a ruthless, gambling-addicted sociopath who happened to be good at basketball almost two decades ago. This is big news in the recruiting world, because you know how #brand obsessed kids are these days.
From Ari Wasserman of Cleveland.com:
Ohio State has leaned on Nike. Its players proudly wear the gear on and off the field, but when you pay close attention to what the players are wearing -- I do -- you see tons of retro Air Jordans, not so much LeBrons.
Jordan is king of apparel, and that's what makes what Michigan did so cool. That's going to be a major selling point as the Wolverines continue to try and stack their roster in pursuit of catching Ohio State.
This is what Harbaugh brings. Jordan himself apparently reached out to Michigan to suggest the partnership, which makes sense considering how Harbaugh has been out there in the world of pop culture. You think Jordan would have reached out to Brady Hoke? Hoke is so Adidas, and that wasn't enough at Michigan.
Wasserman speculates Ohio State could pull a similar move and feature LeBron's crown logo on its jerseys. (My speculation: Maybe after LBJ captures a title in Cleveland?)
I hope not, because to me — the man who hasn't been an untalented #teen in nine years — the top recruiting lure will always be winning.
If five-star recruits are breaking each other legs to jump aboard a ship that's hauling five wins a season... then more power to them. I just don't see it happening. If Michigan is winning, then they were going to recruit well anyway.
THE HISTORIC POTENTIAL OF OSU's OFFENSE. Could Ohio State's 2015 offense be the sport's best ever? Some may say it makes me a hostage of the moment to say yes, but I'm a big proponent of the theory athletes are better now than they've ever been. (And they'll be better in 10-15 years than they are today.)
Cardale Jones agrees.
From Ben Axelrod of BleacherReport.com:
And with eight starters returning to that unit from a season ago—including six who were either freshmen or sophomores in 2014—the 2015 Ohio State offense has all of the tools to become the best we've seen in college football.
"Yes, hands down," Buckeyes quarterback Cardale Jones answered when asked if the OSU offense had the potential to be one of the best in college football history. "Because of the playmakers we got, because of the youth we got, the depth we got and because of the experience we have."
To be fair to Jones, it was a leading question that led to his proclamation. It would have been out of character for the confident signal-caller to downplay his expectations for his team, even with an inquiry that was just begging to be met with his exact answer.
It's funny to me that Axelrod leads the article with the early 2000s USC with Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, and that whole crew. I remember being amazed at those teams — including thinking Norm Chow was an an actual wizard.
Now, it's 2015, and I'd take Urban Meyer's 2015 team against any of those glory boys. Norm Chow is 8-29 at Hawaii. Those USC teams might as well have occurred in the 1980s. Funny how life shakes out sometimes.
NOT ALL ROSES WHEN COACHES COACH THEIR ALMA MATER. If you're ever unfortunate to be talking to a Michigan fan who is banging his fist about Harbaugh (redundant, I know), ask them — just for the sake of argument — what the back up option is if Harbaugh goes down in flames. It's a scenario they haven't entertained, but it's more likely than they'd think.
From Adam Rittenberg of ESPN.com:
"They think, 'Oh, good, he's back, we're all set,'" [Cam] Cameron, [who coached his alma mater, Indiana, from 1997-2001], said. "They haven't been around you in a while. You've grown. And then you came back and now you're trying to bring those people to another level. Some people will buy in real quickly, and then what you find is people who have formed bad habits or have gotten into that complacency, you watch them slide right back into their comfort zone.
"Heck, it's not a slam dunk."
Paul Chryst, a former Wisconsin quarterback entering his first year as the Badgers' coach, describes the "temporaries and permanents" found in any football organization. The permanents, or longtime staff members who knew the head coach when he played for the team, often struggle with change.
"There's still people that are involved in the decision process that were there when I was a player, and they still see me as a player, trying to sneak out of study hall," said Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy, a Cowboys quarterback from 1986 to 1989. "I had to work through that."
The good news is — should Michigan need to hire a coach again — Brady Hoke will still probably be available.
Hoke mentions Martin, Lewan & Schofield as players developed at UofM. He recruited none of them all w 3 years in program once Hoke was hired
— Tom VanHaaren (@TomVH) August 14, 2015
If only he'd gotten more time. *angrily shakes fist at the sky*
DEAN WAR EAGLES UP. Jamel Dean, formerly known as Mr. Ohio State on Twitter, is officially an Auburn Tiger.
From Wesley Sinor of Al.com:
[Dean's] enrollment was delayed as he attempted to appeal the NCAA transfer rule that will force him to sit out the 2015 season. He has four years of eligibility remaining.
"He's a really good football player," Auburn cornerbacks coach Travaris Robinson said Friday. "We're excited to have him. He's a really big body. Long, really good on the line of scrimmage playing bump-and-run...He's going to be a huge addition to what we're trying to do. Knowing that we have a bunch of seniors leaving after this year, having him here now and understanding what we do and how we do it will be very beneficial to him as we get to January and moving forward."
[...]
"I don't know what kind of rehab he's going through, but he looks like a football player," Robinson said. "The guy is running around really fast, breaking really hard and catching the ball. He isn't having any issues."
Best of luck to Dean, and #shoutout to the NCAA for being a horrible organization incapable of anything beyond rudimentary and binary thought.
SOMEBODY GRAB A DANG HOSE. How bad-ass would it have been if Darron Lee erupted into flames like this after driving a stake through the heart of Michigan back in 2014?
— Mark Pantoni (@markpantoni) August 14, 2015
Answer: Pretty bad-ass.
THOSE WMDs. The Database of the Dead... When the critics were right... We took a tour of the abandoned college campuses of SecondLife... Via @Huber76: Form for Drug Dealers to Snitch on Competitors Results in an Arrest... Google's $6 billion miscalculation on the EU... Wut.
