Today we start with high comedy thanks to the clown rodeo up north:
Michigan's efforts against OSU in 2015 were so bad that they're using 2013 plays under Hoke for recruiting edits pic.twitter.com/eOfAji146T
— Josh Winslow (@jwinslow7) April 14, 2016
Combine this with Michigan's QB camp flier which features an Air Force bomber zeroing-in on the Big House, and it's been quite the week for Michigan's graphics gurus.
ICYMI:
- Ramzy's eulogy of the late Will Smith.
- Andre Wesson, a three-star SF from Westerville South, committed to Ohio State yesterday. The Wesson Dynasty is on, folks.
- Ohio State will play Providence in next season's Big Ten–Big East challenge.
- Ohio high school football coaches are not thrilled with the NCAA's satellite camp ban.
WILL SMITH SR. SPEAKS. Attorneys for Will Smith's family and Cardell Hayes exchanged salvos on Wednesday. The Smiths' attorney said Hayes shot Smith's wife first and Smith died protecting her. Hayes' attorney countered by asking how his client knew Smith had a gun in the first place if Smith never brandished it.
The New Orleans coroner ruled Smith was shot eight times, seven of which landed in his back. According to NFL.com, cell phone footage taken moments before the shooting has been turned over to police.
But as the case works its way through the American justice system, Will Smith Sr. faces a parent's worst nightmare in burying his son.
From abc11.com:
"It's going to hit me when I'm in that funeral home, my child in a box," Smith said at his Durham home Tuesday afternoon.
[...]
"My son got out of his car with a loaded mouth, he did not get out of his car with a gun. This gentleman purposely got out, he never walked back to his car when he was out, never walked back. When my son turned his back, he shot him in the back," said Smith, Sr. "Then he walked up on him and shot him again, and then when his wife started yelling we have babies, he shot her. Now somebody in public, in society, please tell me where that was not murder."
[...]
"Do I forgive the gentleman who shot my son? Yes I do. Am I going to forget him? Hell no," said Smith Sr. "I'm not interested in his trial. Whatever the Lord is going to do to him is what the Lord is going to do"
I only joke about having son, but man is that heart-rending to read. Smith Sr. is a better man than I'll ever be.
You know what? Let's wait for my interns to finish their dusting before we continue. I offer this picture for reflection during the break:
Just came across this great 2003 pic of Will Smith at Ohio State. R.I.P. pic.twitter.com/FcqDPuC9CN
— SI Vault (@si_vault) April 13, 2016
CARDALE GOING FOR GAINZ ON DRAFT NIGHT. Had Cardale Jones gone pro last year, there's no doubt in my feeble mind a GM would've rolled the dice on him in the first round.
Alas, it's 2016 and the Iron King is riding into this year's draft, and he's not bothering to watch the first round.
From Cardale Jones' draft diary on campusrush.com:
Everyone wants me to have a draft party, but there's no way. I've been trying to stay low-key. I've changed my phone number three times since we won the 2014 national title. I'm not planning on watching the first night of the draft—I'll be doing a heavy lifting workout—but on April 29, when the second and third rounds are announced, I have a recovery day. I'm just going to watch it in my apartment in Columbus. I'm looking forward to finding out where I'm going, learning like a sponge and getting ready for my chance.
I understand why prospects watch the draft, but I would never fault anyone for avoiding that emotional rollercoaster entirely.
Perhaps Jones should stay by his phone during the first round though as it looks like his deep ball is even more lethal, if you can believe that:
My skills evolved with my body. For years I threw the ball without using the laces. My quarterback trainer in San Diego, George Whitfield, thought this was crazy. He calls the laces the ball's handle, and compares not using them to driving with only your wrist on the steering wheel in New York City traffic. Now I throw with the top knuckle of my ring finger on the laces, which helps get the nose of the ball pointed down on deep balls. The biggest adjustment has been taking snaps under center, which we didn't really do at Ohio State. Chargers center Chris Watt would come over in the mornings and work out with us in exchange for a black coffee and a breakfast sandwich. There's a science to taking the snap, so you can anticipate it. You have to wait to feel the pop of it in your hands.
Shoutout to Chris Watt for helping our boy get his game right in exchange for black coffee and a breakfast sandwich. You can't beat rates like that.
Watt is now my third favorite Notre Dame alumnus behind Gene Smith and Joe Montana, who I only respect because he loathes Rudy Ruettiger.
PROFILE OF A SLOB KINGPIN. Imagine if in three weeks your life's next chapter could be in Dallas, Oakland, Los Angeles, New York City, Tampa Bay, Seattle, Glendale, Minneapolis, or Detroit. Such is the reality of Taylor Decker, one of the highest-rated offensive linemen in this year's draft.
From yahoo.com:
Best-suited destination: Decker could be a left tackle, left guard or right tackle in a power-based, pro-style offense that huddles up, drives straight ahead and tries to overwhelm teams. In addition to the obvious options such as the Dallas Cowboys and Oakland Raiders, whose lines appear to be in great shape personnel-wise, other teams such as the Los Angeles Rams, New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Detroit Lions, Seattle Seahawks, Arizona Cardinals andMinnesota Vikings, especially now that they have hired Tony Sparano to coach their offensive line.
[...]
Reason he'll fall in draft: The drift of some teams toward using more zone-blocking schemes (or a combo of man and zone) perhaps decreases Decker's value, as he's not the most agile mover in space, even if he has good ability to recover and slide. Michigan State's Jack Conklin is viewed as the more athletic option (and with longer arms, too), and some zone-based teams might have a tackle such as Indiana's Jason Spriggs or even Texas A&M's Germain Ifedi rated higher on their boards than Decker because of scheme fit.
Scouting hot take: "Any time [Ohio State] needed tough yards, they ran behind 68 [Decker's uniform number]. He's nasty and a tone setter. Our scouts had him with shorter arms, but it's not obvious on tape.” — AFC offensive coordinator
I truly came to understand Taylor Decker's power when my life culminated in a stay at a Red Roof Inn in Vandalia last spring. As I laid in bed with the sounds of two meth fiends' early morning love-making seeping through my walls, it hit me. "Wow," I said, trying to dash the rhythmic headboard slapping from my skull. "If Taylor Decker pulled himself up by the bootstraps from a place like this then the sky is truly the limit for this fella."
I haven't been back to Vandalia, but if zone-blocking teams are thinking about passing on Decker perhaps they should think twice. They won't need a night in a Red Roof Inn either.
Here's LeCharles Bentley, offensive line sensei, on the "differences" in skillset (via ninersnation.com):
"When you're dealing with the body, and the body's going to move the way the body is designed to move. Anytime you're dealing with movement, and particularly, there's only so many rules and laws that you can apply to movement. Because movement patterns are just movement patterns. That's just what the laws of physics are gonna be, as I just outlined. And the laws of bio-mechanics that have all been outlined.
"When you start getting into the different skill sets required to play in a gap-scheme or a zone-scheme, OK, you may look for a different type of body or a different type of mentality, but at the end of the day, you always get back to movement. And that's what the root of offensive line play has always been, and will always be. It's bio-mechanics, and how the body is supposed to work."
Fans of Bentley should check that last link. Apparently he's now designing offensive line equipment being used by NFL teams. They just don't make them like LeChuck anymore.
A.J. HARRIS, RED RAIDER? A.J. Harris pulled the ripcord on his Ohio State career after one season. It appears Texas Tech might be his next stop, though it remains unclear how Tubby Smith's potential jump to Memphis might affect that.
From mydaytondailynews.com:
“I really wanted to come (to OSU). Honestly, I really did,” said Harris on Wednesday, “but it didn’t turn out. I’m just looking forward to finding something much better. I didn’t have a really good relationship with (OSU) coaches. It was a lot of things I didn’t really like. It wasn’t a good fit for me. I just want to choose different options right now.”
[...]
Harris is finishing up this semester at OSU, then will transfer. As of now he favors Texas Tech and Red Raiders coach Tubby Smith, who previously was the coach at Kentucky and Minnesota. On Wednesday, Smith was reportedly considering a jump to Memphis.
“I’m taking everything slow right now,” Harris said. “My main focus right now is Texas Tech and communicating with those guys.”
Good to see A.J. didn't end up in Columbus because Thad Matta kidnapped him. That probably would've been an NCAA violation.
As for his "relationship" comments, I thought this tweet from The Lima News' Jim Naveau summed it up best:
A.J. Harris says relationship with OSU coaches not good. Translation: They didn't think he was as good as he did.https://t.co/yFI7MhQaMe
— Jim Naveau (@Lima_Naveau) April 13, 2016
OHIO STATE: YEAH, THEY DO MEDICAL HUSTLES TOO. Look at this amazing work going on at the Ohio State Medical Center, y'all.
From newyorktimes.com:
Five years ago, a college freshman named Ian Burkhart dived into a wave at a beach off the Outer Banks in North Carolina and, in a freakish accident, broke his neck on the sandy floor, permanently losing the feeling in his hands and legs.
On Wednesday, doctors reported that Mr. Burkhart, 24, had regained control over his right hand and fingers, using technology that transmits his thoughts directly to his hand muscles and bypasses his spinal injury. The doctors’ study, published by the journal Nature, is the first account of limb reanimation, as it is known, in a person with quadriplegia.
Doctors implanted a chip in Mr. Burkhart’s brain two years ago. Seated in a lab with the implant connected through a computer to a sleeve on his arm, he was able to learn by repetition and arduous practice to focus his thoughts to make his hand pour from a bottle, and to pick up a straw and stir. He was even able to play a guitar video game.
"Using technology that transmits his thoughts directly to his hand muscles and bypasses his spinal injury."
I understand it... but I could not explain it. Props to those geniuses.
THOSE WMDs. Metro Boomin, rap's hottest producer... Your face is big data... North Korean ships with corpses aboard have been washing ashore in Japan... At Tampa Bay farm-to-table restaurants, you're being fed fiction... How to survive a disaster.
