It's a privilege to watch generations of great players filter through Columbus as part of the Buckeye legacy we've all come to know and love. Watching those great players link up after the fact? That's the chocolate on a homemade Buckeye.
About a decade and a half separates Taylor Decker's and LeCharles Bentley's time at Ohio State, but Slob Tut knew the proper dojo in which to prepare his mind, body, and soul for the manmeat market that is the NFL draft process.
Welcome @taylor_decker68 to the OLP club. Good isn't good enough for some. #OLPBuiltToDominate pic.twitter.com/uUExYX4lte
— LeCharles Bentley (@OLineWorld65) January 5, 2016
I'll be closely watching who LCB works with. He is a problem solver. https://t.co/lPygTG9doT
— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) January 5, 2016
Getting trained by a combination of Ed Warinner and LeCharles Bentley is the ceiling for any offensive lineman in America. THERE ARE NO GREATER COACHES.
NON-PANTHER NFL COULD BE GOOD NEXT YEAR. The Carolina Panthers are the only NFL team worth watching. That could soon change, however, as my intern's math tells me 50% of NFL players will be former Buckeyes next season.
#OhioState has a good chance to have 12+ draft picks this spring. Would be only the 2nd time that has happened in last 20 years.
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) January 4, 2016
The only other time it happened the last two decades? Ohio State in 2004 (14) #FootballFactory
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) January 4, 2016
Jalin Marshall and Eli Apple declared on Monday. We now await smoke signals from Vonn Bell and Mike Thomas. Bell coming back would be stunning, but Thomas? That wouldn't be half as surprising as it'd have been last week.
Trust your intuition..... #shhhh
— Mike Thomas (@Cantguardmike) January 5, 2016
Speaking of the draft, thought this was interesting:
I know I said this before (to some laughs), but I've had NFL people tell me Tyvis is a Rd 2 player, better than Bell https://t.co/ckz6zDnQeD
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) January 4, 2016
ASH SWOOPS ANOTHER MILLENNIAL. Let me first apologize to fellow Millennials. The term "Millennial" makes me want to fix myself a Draino (shaken, not stirred) on the rocks. Somebody—anybody—give me something better.
But ol' Chris Ash, who already poached a 28-year-old offensive coordinator from under Tom Herman's nose, poached a 25-year-old Ohio State assistant to lead Rutgers' recruiting.
From nj.com:
Rutgers coach Chris Ash continues to hire Ohio State staff members. Ash, who was co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State for the past two seasons, has hired Adam Caltury as director of recruiting at Rutgers, a source confirmed to NJ Advance Media. Caltury had been a recruiting assistant at Ohio State for the past year.
[...]
Caltury, 25, was the offensive coordinator at Central Valley High in Western Pennsylvania before he joined the Ohio State recruiting staff last year. Caltury attended high school Monaca, Pa., which is in Central Valley.
Caltury is the fourth staff member Ash has brought from Ohio State to Rutgers. Ash previously hired Ohio State quality control coach Vince Okruch as special teams coordinator/tight ends coach, Ohio State quality control coach Bill Busch as defensive backs coachand Ohio State assistant strength coach Kenny Parker as head strength coach.
People laughed at my labeling of Rutgers as a "potential trap game." Did we learn nothing from Tom Herman?
Ash inherited a defense that offenses treated with the respect of a phonebook in 2013. One year later it's a championship defense. Two years later it's Ohio State's best unit. That's not a coincidence.
Not saying Ash will be the Woody Hayes of Rutgers football—he'd be gone long before he could cobble that kind of legacy and Ohio State already employs the Woody Hayes of Rutgers football—but am I going to brush off Rutgers like I did in October, the seventh month of the year? Hell no. I have too much respect for Ash's work in Columbus.
WALK-ON HAS A GO. Walk-on WR Kato Mitchell riffed on his teammates' panache for screenshots of iPhone notes to declare their intentions to enter the NFL draft.
— Prince Charming (@worktoon) January 4, 2016
Mitchell is kidding (I think!??!), but if he is actually going to the NFL then we'll always have this:
Chris Fong is the walk-on announcement on which I'm waiting. If football is the next step I'll be ordering my "Fong #69" Panthers jersey within the hour.
(For those familiar with his legend, please check out the first line of his official Ohio State bio.)
MITCHELL COLLECTS HONORS. Here's something you might not know: Kelsey Mitchell is ridiculous at basketball.
The Buckeyes beat No. 24 Michigan State on Thursday and No. 6 Maryland on Saturday. The latter win shattered the Terrapins' 18-game Big Ten win streak.
Mitchell dropped 25 points against Michigan State and 28 points against Maryland. For that, she earned Big Ten Women's Basketball Player of the Week honors:
.@OhioState_WBB Kelsey Mitchell is the #B1GWBBall Player of Week after guiding the Buckeyes to a pair of #B1G wins pic.twitter.com/V0zaHZOPPE
— B1G Women's Hoops (@B1Gwbball) January 4, 2016
Mitchell is next in action on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. ET when Ohio State welcomes Indiana to town.
EVAN TURNER CREATES NEW NICKNAME FOR HIMSELF. Former Ohio State standout and current Boston Celtic Evan Turner dropped 12 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 assists in last night's 103-94 win over the hapless Brooklyn Nets.
After the win, Turner celebrated as only he can:
Great team effort and win tonight! ... I know, I know, my sweater tonight was fresh and 90s era nostalgic #NotoriousET
— evan turner (@thekidet) January 5, 2016
Fresh? You be the judge:
If I were the artist, I would call this one, "Go over there and take this picture of me standing on trash while I lean up against the wall, count this pocket change, and pretend to talk on the phone."
And Mona Lisa wouldn't have shit on me.
THOSE WMDs. The mystery of football cat... Raccoon tries to wash cotton candy... O.G. Tom Coughlin... A warm welcome in Chile's Elqui Valley... The Lost Man.
