Hello, world. Our good friend Joey landed in Chicago on Tuesday:
.@jbbigbear has arrived for the #NFLDraft.
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) April 26, 2016
The Buckeyes are starting to take over Chicago...#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/rM6cdRRiWW
Chicago is undoubtedly the Mecca of the Midwest, but I'll forever contend it's a dirtier and more expensive version of Columbus. They could've just held this year's draft in Urban Meyer's office.
BEAR DOESN'T FALL FAR FROM THE TREE. Though some speculate the Dallas Cowboys will select Ezekiel Elliott with the No. 4 pick on Thursday night, it's more likely Joey Bosa will be the first Buckeye off the board.
Bosa's dad, John, played three seasons for the Miami Dolphins in the late 80s, which were bitchin'. Though it was a disappointing career for a mid first-round pick it helped shape Bosa into the dervish he is today.
From dispatch.com:
“I went back and looked, and the numbers were incredibly comparable — height, weight, speed, everything, between John and his son Joey,” Kiper said.
John Bosa was the 16th pick of the 1987 draft, taken in the first round by the Miami Dolphins. Joey is projected to be taken Thursday during the first round in Chicago. Injuries slowed, then short-circuited John’s NFL career, but Kiper said he already sees special things about the son that he didn’t see in the father.
“He didn’t have the career that I think Joey will have because Joey is tremendously instinctive,” Kiper said. “Joey has great ability basically to be unblockable. I mean offensive tackles in college couldn’t handle him. … I just think his technique, the fundamentals, the way he studies the game — you can tell he has studied great defensive ends who can rush the passer because he knows every trick in the book.”
Hopefully this means Nick Bosa will be better than Joey. Big Ten fans that don't follow Ohio State's recruiting are going to be sick this year when they find out there's another bear in the depths.
ELI APPLE'S LONG PATH TO THE DRAFT. "Eli Apple, Cornerback, Ohio State" is another name likely to be called Thursday night, which isn't bad work for a guy who got lost in the sauce upon arrival in Columbus.
It's easy to watch these drafts, see players make two commas in a few hours, and think it was destiny for them. But genetic gifts aren't enough to get players to the NFL.
For Eli Apple, his journey started seven years ago.
From newyorkpost.com:
Eli Apple's 7th grade vision board (click to enlarge).His plan was always to play in the NFL. Annie had all her children create vision boards in their rooms of their life goals. Apple made his when he was in the seventh grade and it included reaching the U.S. Army All-American Game, playing at Ohio State, getting drafted, winning a Super Bowl and being a Hall of Famer. When he was asked in class what he wanted to do, Eli said it was to a football player. Everyone would tell him how long the odds were. Tim would recite the statistics of how few made it.
“That motivated me,” Eli said. “I don’t see it as work. I see it as something I love to do.”
It will soon become his profession. He had a standout high school career at Eastern Regional and was the No. 8-ranked cornerback in the country entering college according to Rivals.com. He went on to play for Ohio State, started the last two years after redshirting as a freshman, won a national championship and was the Fiesta Bowl Defensive MVP in January.
Who's laughing now? Definitely not Eli Apple's seventh-grade classmates. Poor scouting is a recipe for disaster in this league.
DATING TIPS FROM A YOUNG MILLIONAIRE. Another thing the average sports fan thinks is easy: Dating as a young millionaire in Los Angeles.
As it turns out, D'Angelo Russell is sliding into strange women's DMs just like that creepy friend who thinks his refusal to get tested means he's STD-free.
From espn.com:
Maybe the All-Star is playing it too cool. Athletes often shoot first. "With me, it's half and half," says Lakers rookie D'Angelo Russell, whose social score is so high, "I can't put a number on it, but there's plenty of times that you come across something that catches your attention. If she looks good, looks the part, you send a DM and go from there."
It will be interesting to see how Russell adapts his dating game when he gets traded from Los Angeles to Milwaukee this summer.
JEFFERSON HONORED. Yesterday I incorrectly identified a Johnie Dixon face swap with defensive line coach Larry Johnson and not Stan Jefferson's — Ohio State director of player personnel. (I ritualistically sacrificed the intern who failed to fact-check.)
As it turns out, Stan Jefferson delivered one of the worst defeats of my career to me in October 2000 when his Mansfield Senior Tygers defeated Tim Hinton's Marion Harding Presidents 26-21 in Mansfield after President (and future Cincinnati DB) Derick Ross fumbled after a 18-yard interception in Tyger territory. (Little known fact: The '100' emoji was created in deference to the Mansfield Senior–Marion Harding rivalry.)
Ashland University, where Jefferson coached before he landed at Ohio State, honored him last weekend at its spring game.
From richlandsource.com:
Unbelievable is a fitting way to describe Jefferson’s career. Before landing at Ohio State in 2004, Jefferson was an educator and coach in Mansfield for the better part of three decades. He was the head football coach at Senior High from 1993 to 2002, winning four Ohio Heartland Conference championships (1993, 2000-2002) and qualifying for the playoffs four times.
He left for Ohio State in 2004, serving first as the associate director of football operations under Jim Tressel. Since 2006 he has been OSU’s director of player development.
[...]
The ageless Jefferson — he’s 63 years young, for the record — was presented with Ashland University’s Lifetime Achievement Award before AU’s spring game last week. Jefferson was an assistant under College Football Hall of Fame inductee Dr. Fred Martinelli from 1982 to 1992, helping the Eagles to four conference championship and the program’s first playoff berth in 1986.
Unfortunately for him I can never like him due to the chunk of my soul he boosted from eighth-grade me.
1932: IT'S LIT! All freshmen should be thankful they go to Ohio State in 2016 and not 1932:
We're hoping for some rain to clean the Long Walk today as we no longer have these 1932 freshman to do it for us! pic.twitter.com/1usEYVgkRS
— OSU Archives (@BuckeyeHistory) April 26, 2016
I'm glad I did cooler things in college than that.
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