Football is back, baby! And folks, let me be the first to say I think the national media is sleeping on the local team we all love to know.
MEYER SET TO OPEN FIFTH(!!!!) SPRING CAMP. I welcome the change in pace from last year, when the biggest concern was avoiding injury. (Braxton Miller and J.T. Barrett weren't yet healthy and #QBgeddon hadn't opened in earnest.)
Ohio State opens with two practices this week (today and Thursday), and intrigue is in the air.
From espn.com:
1. Progress with the passing game: The quarterback carousel might have been part of the issue, but key injuries at wide receiver also didn’t do the Buckeyes any favors as they tried to expand their passing attack and provide some balance for their explosive ground game. Meyer has made it no secret that he is expecting significant improvement from J.T. Barrett and his talented, but inexperienced, group of targets to give Ohio State another dimension offensively. Barrett has proven he can get the job done when healthy and confident, so all eyes will be on wideouts like Torrance Gibson, Terry McLaurin or Parris Campbell -- among others -- to figure out if they can elevate the offense.
Hopefully a full spring, summer, and fall camp with J.T. Barrett as "the guy" will do wonders for Ohio State's passing game. Even when the 2015 Buckeyes hit their final form after the Michigan State loss, Barrett never looked acclimated with his receivers.
With Ezekiel Elliott gone, that must change. I'm not worried about Noah Brown—that dude is a rock in my mind. I like Corey Smith, but a season in which he puts all his tools together would be his first. Same with Terry McLaurin.
Parris Campbell is the guy I'm hoping is ready to make a leap. Let's just hope his body cooperates.
MARTIN JARMOND, HEIR TO THE ATHLETIC THRONE? Gene Smith outlasted Jim Tressel and Gordon Gee on top of the bureaucratic behemoth that is Ohio State. Tatgate feels like it happened in 1988, and since then Smith has enjoyed a success almost unrivaled in the country.
Smith can't do it forever, though, and on Monday he shuffled his fleet with an eye to the future.
From dispatch.com:
Ohio State announced the first major reorganization of its athletic department in a decade today, with Martin Jarmond ascending to second in command under Gene Smith.
Jarmond, the executive associate athletics director for administration, will become deputy director of athletics and chief of staff starting July 1. He will have direct oversight of external relations, finance, human resources and internal operations. Jarmond will lead day-to-day operations in the department when Smith is absent.
At this rate, Smith is lock to go down as my favorite Notre Dame graduate in history. (Smith can now retire with a clear conscience after such high praise from an esteemed sports blogger.)
MALIK HOOKER HOPS. Imagine having the power to get near a basketball hoop and say "Ok I'll just hover the rest of the way." Such is the power possessed by safety Malik Hooker:
What does dunking a basketball have to do with playing defensive back? Absolutely nothing. Does this make me any less giddy to see Hooker hit the field? Not at all.
THE ILLINI ARE ALL IN. Give Illinois this: I don't recall mentioning it in two consecutive Skull Sessions in a week that didn't end with the Buckeyes hoisting the Illibuck. This is easily Illinois' best offseason since Ron Zook took his pythons waterskiing.
I questioned how new Illini coach Lovie Smith will do on the recruiting trail. It takes a special breed of grown man to not only excel at recruiting, but to love it. Maybe those questions are misguided.
From foxsports.com:
As for Smith, I'm told he was regarded as a good recruiter in his day. Prior to his season at Ohio State, he spent two seasons at Tennessee. On Monday, I spoke to David Blackburn, now the AD at Chattanooga. Blackburn used to be the assistant recruiting coordinator for the Vols when Smith was there. One of Smith's big recruits for Tennessee was landing DB Terry Fair out of Arizona. Fair emerged as a two-time all-SEC pick and left as a first-round draft choice.
"Lovie was a really good recruiter," Blackburn told FOX Sports. "He's very easy going, very calm and really good at building relationships because people can sense that he is very genuine and sincere, and that was his edge."
[...]
"I've been recruiting and selling every year since I've been a football coach, selling the way we're going to win football games, asking free agents to come on board," Smith said at his introductory presser Monday afternoon. "Recruiting is just that. You go into homes and people will trust you, or they won't. You're asking them to buy into what you believe. I'm anxious to embrace that."
Imagine being in prison since 1995, getting out and getting introduced to cell phones and the internet. This is basically how Lovie Smith will be when he re-enters the recruiting game. Wire fans know how that looks:
Illinois, for its part, is all-in with the gusto of a dude betting his life savings on the poker hand he swears is going to rectify his mortgage:
Illinois reportedly has a $4M salary pool for assistants, trailing only Michigan and Ohio State in the B1G. The #Illini have gone big-time.
— Dave Wischnowsky (@wischlist) March 7, 2016
With $21 million tied to Smith and another $4 million to assistants... it's high stakes in the non-Chicago part of Illinois! It also looks like we're at the point in CFB where $25 million gets you—at best—the rights as the Big Ten West's sacrificial offering to the Midwest Corn Gods every year in Indianapolis.
THOSE WMDs. Cheating rife in professional Bridge... Radio Shack's 1992 Video Interaction System ad... The one question I ask in every interview... Word of the Day: Peccadilloes.... Cops stop car with tree lodged in grill, charge driver... When your son embarrasses you in public.
