Prediction: The Columbus Blue Jackets win the 2017 Stanley Cup.
Yours truly,
— The Hockey Knower and No. 1 CBJ Fan
BEYOND THE NUMBERS. Ohio State captain and middle linebacker Raekwon McMillan suffered criticism earlier in the year. Like a lot of things in life, some of it was fair while some of it tried to paint him as a five-star bust.
But make no mistake, McMillan pearled the last two weeks. And the box score doesn't tell the whole story.
From espn.com:
Total tackles aren’t cutting it. Scrap them and count the single-digit misses or refer to the coaching grades that are so high the Buckeyes have to use a curve with the junior.
Sacks or fumble recoveries? Those are down for McMillan. But they’re up for his teammates, so start giving him credit for all the pre-snap adjustments and alignments he’s responsible for as the signal-caller for one of the nation’s toughest units.
After tipping passes two weeks in a row that directly produced interceptions for somebody else, how about assisted picks?
The secondary gets the hype (more on that in a bit), but the play of the linebackers of late can't be overlooked either. Jerome Baker and Chris Worley balled against Nebraska.
McMillian has played an instrumental role in stabilizing that group after the departure of two NFL draft picks.
What's wild is McMillan and Worley could both be in the NFL next year too, while leaving Baker — a guy who wasn't supposed to start this year — as the veteran influence of next year's linebacking corps given Dante Booker's lack of playing time.
BIA? LOOKS LIKE IT. The secondary dubbed themselves "BIA," Best in America. Normally, I roll my eyes at any man giving himself a nickname, but given the play of the secondary this year, it's hard to argue with the results.
From @CFBFilmRoom:
| PLAYER | RECEPTIONS-TARGETS | TOUCHDOWNS-INTERCEPTIONS |
|---|---|---|
| GAREON CONLEY | 3-19 | 1-1 |
| MARSHON LATTIMORE | 2-4 | 0-2 |
| DENZEL WARD | 2-16 | 0-0 |
Enjoy this special group while you can. The band will break up after this year:
Todd McShay on ESPN said NFL scouts are telling him Marshon Lattimore will be drafted in the top 10 if he leaves early.
— jbook (@jbook37) November 9, 2016
The good news is with Bradley Roby, Doran Grant, and Eli Apple all in the NFL already, Ohio State should have the pick of DBs in the coming years.
Oh, that's without mentioning Malik Hooker, who may be the secondary's best player.
Via 11Wer GVerrilli92 (trigger warning: profane rap lyrics, which are required by federal law to accompany any sports highlight video):
Of the two Bowling Green interceptions, I like the second better than the first. The way he intercepts the ball and shoulders a hapless Bowling Green receiver to the turf is the football equivalent of a chef kissing his fingers.
The local team's secondary literally has three future first-round picks. I assume that'd be a historic mark for Ohio State.
THE RECRUITMENT OF JAMARCO. Jamarco Jones, the No. 4 OT in the 2014 class, committed to Ohio State in June 2013.
As how it goes with blue-chip prospects, this didn't stop other programs from trying to flip Jones like they were coached by Urban Meyer.
One of those programs was Michigan State, which got Jones to visit East Lansing leading up to National Signing Day. (Kids, I remember everyone freaking out about it. It was the opposite of Happy Jamarco.)
Meyer planted a big ol' flag, though, by calling his mother like a telemarketer.
From 247sports.com:
Jamarco Jones nearly flipped his commitment from Ohio State to Michigan State near the end of his recruitment in January of 2014.
[...]
So, Meyer made sure that he did everything he could within the rules to retain Jones' commitment. This included Meyer making "60 calls" to Jones' mom near the end of the process. Meyer said he knew he could appeal to Jones' mother's senses since "She was all Buckeye," per Meyer.
Jones' mom confirmed Bucknuts' story via Twitter, but actually said Meyer might have been underselling the exact number of calls.
Hard to believe it worked, honestly.
If somebody called me that much, I'd unplug my phone, burn down my house, and move to Belize. But it might be different when it's a guy with two national titles and not bill collectors. (Sorry to any collectors. I ain't got it today, and tomorrow ain't looking great, either.)
Meyer loves recruiting because that's how he builds the competitive advantage he uses to demolish his competitors. But no matter what he'd say, he can't convince me he enjoys trying to nail down whimsical but #talented teens in the lead up to NSD.
JAMARCO CHOSE WISELY. On another hellacious timeline, Jones is the starting left tackle for the Michigan State Spartans. He's 2-7 and coming off a loss to Illinois.
He's also filling out a survey from legendary Spartan coach, Mike D'Antoni.
From coachingsearch.com:
“I asked our players to measure their level of commitment this week on Sunday night, level of confidence in their coach, position coach and head coach.”
“I then sort of had a town hall meeting with each position group to get things out on the table, just to make sure there’s open lines of communication, to make sure that we can identify the problems,” Dantonio went on to explain in a video posted to WLNS.com.
“When I asked our football team, I think most people know the problems. I’m sure whoever becomes president of the United States today knows the problems. But we’ve got to find the solutions. I think that’s where we have to continue to move forward.”
I respect D'Antoni for shaking things up because the definition of insanity, as MENSA founder Tom Herman once opined, is doing the same thing and expecting different results.
BIG, IF TRUE. Our distaste for Mark May is now earning us a spot in arbitrary "volatile fan base" rankings.
From thespun.com:
On ESPN Radio’s Russillo & Kanell this afternoon, Todd McShay and Danny Kanell discussed the most “volatile” fan bases in college football. Basically, the fan bases that come after you – in this case, them – when you say something about their team that they don’t like.
McShay had Ohio State fans at No. 5 in his rankings (1. Clemson, 2. FSU, 3. Notre Dame, 4. West Virginia) and talked about the distaste Buckeye fans have for Mark May as a reference point.
“What they did to Mark May, and their relentless passion…I’ll be doing sideline at Ohio State, and they’ll be screaming at me to scream at Mark May back home (at ESPN),” McShay said. “And I’m like, I haven’t seen Mark May in two years.”
If only we were lucky to not see Mark May in two years, that could go a long way to healing our spite.
But seriously, if we could figure out how to turn the hate OSU fans have for Mark May into an energy source we would no longer have need of fossil fuels or green energy.
THOSE WMDs. Venezuela: A failing state... Five cars race from NYC to California... Sega Genesis returns to production in Brazil... Liberia: A new palm oil frontier... Why read Ulysses?
